Russia

We are witnessing a major power play by Russia just like the world watched a major power play by the US when Bush invaded Iraq. In both cases lies surround the invasion. In both cases, a bully nation threatens a smaller nation and the bully may go unpunished, but in the long run may suffer.

But I don’t want to draw too much parallel between Bush’s war of aggression against Iraq and Putin’s war of aggression against Georgia. There is actually another parallel that may have more relevance: Russia did to Georgia what Iraq did to Kuwait. Iraq and Russia used a minor, long-smoldering border dispute as an excuse for an invasion. It is another example of a bully picking on a weak neighbor when it thinks there is no authority to stop it. Iraq miscalculated when it invaded Kuwait. So far it does not look like Russia miscalculated, but the long term effects may make them regret their actions. But for now, China doesn’t care and the US has no military resources to spare thanks to the Bush/McCain Iraq Quagmire, and Bush’s stupid and arrogant foreign policy has alienated most of our allies, leaving us more isolated than Russia these days. Russia, in essence, chose its timing perfectly for this invasion.

“First of all, stop the bleeding.”
--perhaps the most often repeated line in Khassan Baiev’s memoirs, Grief of my Heart

Grief of my Heart is the memoir of Khassan Baiev, a Chechen surgeon who was a witness to both Russo-Chechen wars since the fall of the Soviet Union. Baiev stayed in Chechnya through most of these two wars treating the wounded on all sides: wounded Chechen civilians, wounded Russian civilians who lived in Chechnya, wounded Chechen fighters, wounded Russian soldiers. He helped Chechens escape the Russians and Russians escape the Chechens. And through it all he helped keep his family alive and together.

A remarkable man with a remarkable story, but not a story for the faint of heart or for those who want simple good-vs.-evil. It is a story of how personal lives and entire cultures get subsumed in the supposedly cerebral chess game of international politics…and how the consequences are very bloody, very tragic, and full of immoral and criminal acts. It is also about how personal lives and entire cultures survive the bloody, tragic, immoral consequences and rise to heroism and kindness.

Dagestan…Chechnya…Ingushetia…North Ossetia….Georgia…Armenia….Azerbaijan

The Caucus Mountains dominate these nations, would-be nations, and territories. This has been a crossroads for millennia, the meeting point of large ethnic groups, religions and civilizations from the earliest moments of history.

Let's just say that I should have gone to see Dream Girls instead. This three hour-long attempt to give a historical account of the birth of the CIA made my butt fall asleep in the theatre at best. The plot is disjointed, and Angelina is utterly unconvincing as a disheartened uppercrust housewife of the 50s. Matt Damon's stoic performance confirms that he should just stick to the screenwriting and leave the acting to Leonardo. This boy seriously lacks versatility. Better wait for this one to come out on DVD.

Student shoots self at Philadelphia high school | Top News | Reuters.com or why can't people understand that, to some kids, school = death.

Sixty killed in Baghdad suicide truck bombing - CNN.com, or why there is more reason to listen up when Muhammed Yunus says that poverty is a threat to world peace.

Award augurs well for United 93's Oscar hopes | News | Guardian Unlimited Film, or, OK, now I am going to have to see this movie.

A dangerously nice man | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited, or how Kofi Annan cautiously takes no shit from no WASP hill-billy wannabe, but in the process effed up the United Nations reputation as the leader in world politics.

Germans find radiation linked to ex-spy contact | Top News | Reuters.com or Trace spread of nuclear death.

Jupiter, Mercury and Mars Conjunction Visible with Naked Eye - Science News - Playfuls.com - Science & Technology or triple celestial clusterfuck.

Second Russian hospital hit by fatal fire - CNN.com or Siberia is burning.

globeandmail.com : globeinvestor.com : World's richest 2% own 40% of all household wealth or a yawning global gap that invites screams of horror.

Saddam's nephew escapes Iraqi prison - Yahoo! News or it will be a Sunninsurgent christmas.