My Chavez really is doing a brilliant job over there...
(apparently deaths for "resisting the authorities" have risen 254% since 1999 :( )

It looks like more and more evidence has come up suggesting that Isreali pilots knew they were strafing and napalming an American warship during the six day war (the full article is pretty damning)

Side note: Why does the US indulge Isreal so much more than any other nation? Its just odd honestly...

Title says it all. Getting some serious Bruce Sterling deja vu.

The story below absolutely fascinated me, as robots advance and become increasingly part of our lives (and not just in the military realm, though that will probably where their initial presence will be the most striking) what will our relationship with them be? A really good article from the Washington Post.

"At the Yuma Test Grounds in Arizona, the autonomous robot, 5 feet long and modeled on a stick-insect, strutted out for a live-fire test and worked beautifully, he says. Every time it found a mine, blew it up and lost a limb, it picked itself up and readjusted to move forward on its remaining legs, continuing to clear a path through the minefield.

Finally it was down to one leg. Still, it pulled itself forward. Tilden was ecstatic. The machine was working splendidly.

The human in command of the exercise, however -- an Army colonel -- blew a fuse.

The colonel ordered the test stopped.

Why? asked Tilden. What's wrong?

The colonel just could not stand the pathos of watching the burned, scarred and crippled machine drag itself forward on its last leg.

This test, he charged, was inhumane."

I think this sheds some light on what a McCain presidency would look like(!) Now don't get me wrong, Iran is a strange country up to strange things, (and posseses an abominable human rights record) but the decision to engage in military conflict is not a frivolous thing, imho. And if the United States has any desire to gain the worlds support in its effort to contain Iran this kind of stuff REALLY hurts.

Personally I suspect that this is only the tip of the iceberg. The United States (and other 1st world nations) will continue to massively automatic all elements of the military. The long term implications of this could be very strange.

"After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian gouvernment destroyed 125,000 weapons across the country.In this time Neil Wilford, a small arms specialist with the European Union, and British artist Sasha Constable, saw an opportunity, and decided to create The Peace Art Project Cambodia (PAPC) in November 2003. The Peace Art Project Cambodia was a sculpture project turning weapons into art as expressions of peace."

Fascinating.

So Halliburton wants to move to Dubai. So here's how I see it: 1. If they're claiming that they're an international entity and not an American corporation then why are we trusting them with so many sensitive military details, perhaps that needs to stop. Perhaps the US government ought to stop dealing with them entirely (Dubai is one of our best 'friends' in the middle east. Unfortunately the bar on that is exceedingly LOW) or 2. If they're saying they're still an American company then this is just a giant tax evasion scheme and someone needs to come down on them pretty hard about it.

Weirdly then, I find myself agreeing with Patrick Leahy...

This is a gallery intended to show the other side of Iran. Without any doubt there are some absolutely gorgeous pictures here. I don't know whether the fact that there is a great deal of beauty in Iran is necessarily relevant to the political standoff occuring around it... However, I do think it is useful to see other countries from multiple viewpoints, and particularly to understand how they see themselves whatever judgement we may wish to come to regarding that countries policies and leadership.