August 2003

BBC: Solomons warlord surrenders An early success for the largely Aussie intervention on the Solomons. Typically for a group of Pacific islands, political weirdness has been rife there. But most of them have avoided race war and the collapse of the state to the point where, as the Solomons finance minister said, the cabinet couldn’t…

As has been widely reported, those crazy folks in California have decided to recall their Democrat governor Gray Davis. Recalling is a Californian constitutional oddity, introduced in 1911, under which any citizen may raise a petition to dismiss the governor. If enough people sign up, there has to be a vote – effectively a referendum…

Jordan’s embassy to Iraq bombed The Jordanian embassy in Baghdad has been blown up by a truckbomb containing between 130-230kg of explosive. 7 dead so far. Apparently the wrecked embassy was then sacked by an angry crowd – gets to be a bit of a tradition, no?

Der Standard reports that an American PhD student who investigated the fibre-optic networks used in the USA and prepared a map has had his dissertation classified as secret. He continues to work in a windowless room with concrete walls, under supervision…what a wonderful world it is..

The following is from a public health aid worker’s blog in Senegal, link. “I was asking an elderly woman about her vision and had a hard time understanding her answers in Wolof. Generally if I ask, “Can you see well up close?” they answer with something complicated, like “Well, I can see to sew sometimes…

State of Decline As usual, Prof. Paul Krugman of MIT’s comments on economic life are well worth hearing. “California’s slide into irresponsibility, in which politicians refuse to acknowledge any connection between the government services the public demands and the taxes that pay for those services, is being replicated all across America.” Indeed. “Proposition 13, the…

Blair apologises after spin dr. called Kelly a “Walter Mitty” Walter Mitty was a man who fantasised about a life of intrigue and mystery. But Dr. Kelly went on secret missions to confront Russian bureaucrats about smallpox bombs. As Alan Watkins put it in the Indy on Sunday, he knew much more about intelligence than…