This is disheartening:
Slovak and Hungarian police seized enriched uranium that could be used in a “dirty bomb” when they arrested three traffickers in a joint operation, officials said Thursday.
“According to preliminary information, the material could have been used to make a so-called dirty bomb,” Slovak deputy police president Michal Kopcik told a news conference in Bratislava.
We’ve known for a long time that this stuff is floating around out there, but it’s still not fun to see it.
The War on Terror, coming soon to a laptop near you:
NATO is acknowledging YouTube as its new battleground in the six-year war on Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, as the military alliance posts formerly secret surveillance and attack video.
Newly declassified video shows NATO forces destroying a truck in Afghanistan.
The strategy aims to counter years of propaganda video posted on the Internet showing Taliban attacks on NATO forces which fighters use to claim that NATO’s position in the Afghan war is deteriorating.
The article goes on to note that we’ve been losing this cyber war on terror, which is inexplicable and inexcusable given that our enemies are literally hiding in caves.
P.T. Barnum said it best. There’s a great examination of the “NAFTA Superhighway” hysteria over at Reason Magazine.
Via Glen Dean
I was among those who opposed Columbia University’s decision to invite Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on campus, but after watching it unfold, I am revising my position. Columbia president Lee Bolinger’s introduction was classic and may just earn him a few fatwas. The questions were also good, and only confirmed what most of us already knew: Ahmadinejad is a colossal nutcase worthy of ridicule and derision. My personal favorite moment of the whole event was this:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/4_3RUwAJ_MI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
The Iranian people are seeing this, and it can’t be improving their already low perceptions of their thug-in-chief. The decision to invite him was certainly a questionable but, having been made, I don’t think it could have been handled any better than it was.
Hillary Clinton and John Edwards would be surprised by this:
Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, who is battling breast cancer, travelled to California last June for an operation that was recommended as part of her treatment, says a report.
I certainly wish Stronach a full and speedy recovery, but I think it should tell us something that she comes to the US for this treatment instead of utilizing Canada’s universal health care system.
This is certainly good news:
The top American commander in Iraq said Wednesday he was preparing recommendations on troop cuts before he returns to Washington next month for a report to Congress, and believes the U.S. footprint in Iraq will have to be “a good bit smaller” by next summer.
But he cautioned against a quick or significant U.S. withdrawal that could surrender “the gains we have fought so hard to achieve.”
It’s been hotly debated whether globalization is good or bad for the developing world. The consensus in the wealthy nations seems to be that it is bad for the developed world, as the chart below shows:
The U.S. isn’t quite as anti-globalization as Europe, but the results here aren’t too great either.
Good news from Iran:
Most Iranians support nuclear inspections, a democratic government and normal relations with the United States, a poll by a U.S.-based organization has found.
The news from the poll is mostly good, and I don’t doubt its general accuracy. We’ve been hearing quite a bit about the pro-liberty Iranians for several years now. I am sure they exist, but I wish they would more strongly demand their rights.
CNN reports:
Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy greeted news of his election Sunday to a five-year term as France’s president with a vow to serve as a leader for all people of France.
“The president of the republic must love and respect all the French,” he told cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters. “I will be the president of all the French people.
Sarkozy won with 53 percent of the vote, according to polls for France’s state-run network, France 2.
“The French people have called for change. I will carry out that change, because that’s the mandate I have received from the French people.”
Sarkozy added that he wanted to tell his “American friends that they can rely on our friendship … France will always be next to them when they need us.”
But, he added, “Friends can think differently.”
Obviously, French opinion will probably constrain Sarkozy a little in his willingness to be a friend to America, but he is clearly pro-America. His election continues a minor shift in European politics. Just four years ago, France and Germany were being called the “axis of weasels” due to their opposition to U.S. policy. Today, Germany is governed by Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkzozy is soon to be president of France. Both are friends to America.
With the departure of Tony Blair, it’s not unreasonable to think that France may become America’s best friend in Europe. Who wouldathunk it?
