Playing for A TV

Conditions: Warmer. Slightly.


Cold War Diplomacy Returns

The British government was last night bracing itself for an inevitable diplomatic backlash after expelling four Russian intelligence officers in protest at the Kremlin's refusal to hand over the prime suspect in the polonium-210 poisoning affair.

In an attempt to underline the government's anger and alarm over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the Foreign Office announced it was ceasing cooperation with Moscow on a range of issues, starting with the imposition of restrictions on visas issued to Russian officials seeking to visit the UK. - The Guardian

I understand why the Russians had the guy killed, I guess. What I can't understand is why the method was as messy and as obvious as it was. Traceable radioactive poison that affected a lot of other people, and caused a very public and lingering death. This is not how things were done in the cold war. The nature of the murder 'weapon' means it was not an amateur effort, but the use of it was very sloppy.

This whole drama centers down on Britain wanting to publicly punish someone for running around London with radioactive poisons, and Russia wanting to cover up exactly who did it and therefore why. Russia cannot afford to have someone on the stand talking about who killed Litvinenko, and why, and London is determined to pin the Russians against the wall. Neither side is going to blink, so I guess we'll just have to wait until things eventually calm down again. As Simon Taylor writes:

Russia in the final year of Putin's regime is clearly going to be a troublesome, bullying country as its chauvinist president attempts to prepare the international ground for his successor. He will thrive on western antagonism. When he goes too far, as over Litvinenko, he must be countered emphatically. But "post-communism" is a far cry from democracy, and will be so for decades. The west has time on its side and a historical affinity with its old adversary. Pointlessly rubbing salt into Russia's wounds is not in its interest, and therefore makes no sense.

Military Occup... I mean, "Intervention."

So, in the abstract and public failure of Iraq, that haunts the news still like some familiar ghost that keeps freaking us out, but won't go away, the question must be asked: can military intervention actually work?

Professor Paul Collier, the director of Oxford's centre for the study of African economics, has just published an important book entitled The Bottom Billion, in which he argues that western troops can be indispensable to salvaging a collapsing society. He recognises that, post Iraq, it has become very hard to gain consent for this to happen. But he cites Sierra Leone as an example of a British military intervention which really worked, and won the lasting gratitude of the country's people.

Collier explores the plight of some 58 countries, inhabited by the poorest one-sixth of the world's inhabitants - "stuck in a train that is rolling slowly backward downhill". He is sceptical about much currently done for them by the outside world. Military intervention can at best, of course, only create a foundation for reconstruction, though without it nothing else may be possible. The efforts of NGOs, he says brutally, often represent populist action of a kind that pleases donors, rather than promises lasting good: "Popular thinking on development is fogged by lazy images." He singles out Christian Aid for special scorn.
[...]

The problem that he does not address is that - with the notable exception of Sierra Leone - the west has shown itself shockingly incompetent at managing military interventions, whatever the principled case for them. The US army has an especially poor record as a peacekeeping force.

Both the British and Americans are conducting studies on the vital issue of strengthening the civil follow-up to troop commitments abroad. If we have learned one lesson from Iraq and Afghanistan, it is that all military deployments are futile unless what follows is done right. Without law and order, electricity, tax collection, and honest administration of school and hospital budgets, no society can advance out of abject poverty. - The Guardian

It seems the most important ingredient in any conflict is common sense. Whether the lack of that is due to a failure of leadership, or on purpose (in that it's easier to "accidentally" knock over a sand castle if you're not paying attention) is hard to say.



Summer Blockbusters Recipe

What are the ingredients that make up today's summer blockbuster? Script? No, not really. Toy potential? Absolutely. Phil Hoad at the Guardian runs down the modern day list here.




The Disappearing Door

The one real problem with cars, other than the pollution thing, is the fact that when you try to get out of them they become momentarily bigger. The door opens outwards, so space also must be found outside of the car to accommodate the door. A rare few overt cars have the doors rotating forward, or swinging upward, and that's all fine and good - but what if the space you park in won't allow doors swinging upward or forward either? Well check this out.



This is a 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII Prototype, normally a thoroughly forgetful luxury car, but look at the modifications Joalto Design Inc did on the doors - They electrically slide underneath the car!! And, it's for sale! Go to eBay.com.
(Be sure to watch the video demonstrating how it works)

P.S: no one bought it. How ...expected.



Bumblebee For Sale

Staying with the international rummage sale that is eBay, this is amazing. Not the item, the potential bidder. The old and busted Camaro used as Bumblebee in the 'hit' 'movie' Transformers is for sale.

Check the questions section:

Q: DOES THIS CAR REALY TURN INTO BUMBLEBEE THE ROBOT? WILL IT DRIVE ITSELF? PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP THANKS! Jul-15-07
A: This car does not transform and will not drive itself. It is a real, drivable car.

...There are no words.




Getting Away From Nothing.

When I go on vacation, I like to take one bag. Just one bag, full generally of clothes and books. That's pretty much it. I figure the point of a vacation is to get away from it all. Meet the family who obviously think the exact opposite.

http://email-junk.com/pictures/luxurious-bus.php

Why yes, that is a luxury car that slides under the camper van. Yeesh.



More Perspective

Another exercise in perspective, this time it's a demonstation of how big an atom is, in relation to the things an atom is made up of.

Free your mind.

And considering that, I'm now feeling a little hollow.


Eye's On You.

Google Earth someday may well become the way in which we interact with our planet. From a bunker. On Mars. Anyway, here's a little ditty about cheating and the internet. Enjoy.

Happy Anniversary



Music Corner

A claymation presentation of The Devil went down to Georgia - by Primus. Brill.






End transmission.