Let's Get Some Sleep!

Conditions: Who the hell knows.



Iraq Still On The Ropes.

In the continuing quest to get the hell out of Iraq while yet still remaining in it, The British forces have handed Basra over to Iraqi security forces. But don't go declaring victory and peace in our time just yet.

There has been an improvement in security in large parts of central and northern Iraq, although how irreversible the decline in the insurgency is, remains as yet unproven. More than 260 Iraqis have been killed so far this month, showing that if the violence can be turned off, it can just as easily be turned on again. US attempts to undermine the insurgency by arming Sunni militias in the north and west of Baghdad have helped counter the al-Qaida campaign. But no one should see in this stand-off a victory.

It is not difficult to foresee the future regrouping of armed forces in Iraq or future targets for them. The major oil companies are lining up for contracts to exploit the world's third largest oil reserves. The government of Nouri al-Maliki is poised to award contracts for existing oilfields, as it is unable to get a national oil law though parliament. A substantial US military presence will be left behind to protect a vital US national interest. To talk of peace, reconciliation and the Iraqi government's determination to rid the land of foreign troops in these circumstances is stretching it. We should stop talking about who won and who lost in Iraq. We should stop imagining it will become a pro-western democracy. We should start addressing ourselves to Iraq as it really is. Not least because we share a major responsibility for it.

- The Guardian

Much like most big responsibilities though, they quickly pass from merely being a burden to being a full-on resentment, before being abandoned. Much like pet alligators.



Iran: Still Irrationally Wanting To Learn To Fish.

For a long time, Russia has been working to supply Iran with Uranium fuel for their Nuclear power plant in Bushehr. Additionally, Iran has been trying to refine their own Uranium, the better to be more self-sufficient in their quest for Nuclear power. Now that Russia has started delivering the fuel that was agreed on, America has jumped back into the argument again.

Washington says Iran has no need to continue its own nuclear programme now that Russia has started delivering fuel to the Bushehr power plant.
[...]

Confirming that Moscow had notified the US about the shipment, President George W Bush said the Russian shipment proved the Iranians did "not need to learn how to enrich" uranium for themselves.

He said that Iran remained a "threat to peace" if its own enrichment, a crucial step towards constructing nuclear weapons, was not stopped.
[...]

Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's atomic energy agency, said the plant would begin operating some time in the new year.

He stressed that nuclear enrichment work would not stop as a result of the Russian deliveries, saying fuel was needed for a reactor under construction in Darkhovin, south-west Iran.

- BBC.co.uk

Frankly, I consider it an insult to everyone's intelligence that the U.S President would say that Iran doesn't need to learn how to do it themselves. Obviously in Bush's world, he is the only one with a fishing pole, and everyone else has to ask him for something to eat. An attitude that is mirrored in so many American foreign policies.




The Human Calendar.

Tired of looking at a digital calender of just numbers? Wish there was a more humanised version of an online character? Want to hurry up and get to the point? Click thus: http://www.humancalendar.com/



Fun With eBay.

Here's an odd way for someone to spend a vacation: terrorising some random person for money. Postcard Attack.



Hi 8 us.

As 2007 draws to a merciful end, thoughts inevitably gather about how it went, how it could have gone, and how we go about fixing it next year. Looking back over the year that was, it strikes me just how willfully stupid and ignorant the human race has yet again demonstrated itself to be, fighting unwinnable wars on abstract concepts like terror or oppression, pretending to support global environmental campaigns whilst in the background doing everything to prevent having to actually reduce emissions, and generally just running about and acting like a pack of total assholes. With various parts of the world either in conflict with other parts, or suffering through economic or climactic disasters, and no real hope on the horizon of humans finally waking up to the obvious and working together to find peace and support, I must say it amazes me that we don't all just wander off in disgust. If only. So, with no hope of improvement, and the likelihood of further conflict and suffering in the near future, not to mention the prospect of spending 2008 watching the world economy rapidly collapse yet again while a new bunch of politicians make a run for the White House, I retire to my xmas bunker in the hopes of shutting out everyone's problems for a few weeks at least. Try to keep your heads down in the meantime.



Last Word.

"The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question: "Is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey, don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we kill those people."

- Bill Hicks

And Finally.

Peace Out.