Be careful how you kid around in Israel

Via MSNBC - Rabbis rule joking teens legally married

It all began as a lark, in a schoolyard where a 17-year-old boy recently declared the girl his wife, reciting a Jewish ritual vow in front of witnesses, and she accepted his ring.

That, and what a spokeswoman for Israel's Rabbinical Courts said was the consummation of their marriage, was enough to make them man and wife in the Jewish state.

I came across this headline in a google search while working on writing my ANG midterm exam questions. Of course, I had to click on the story. Once I read it, I had to share.

Fidel Castro will not accept another term

Via WaPo - Fidel Castro retires

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday that he will not return to lead the communist country, retiring as president 49 years after he seized power in a revolution and became a central figure of the Cold War.

Castro, 81, who has not appeared in public since undergoing stomach surgery almost 19 months ago, said he would not seek a new term as president or leader of Cuba's armed forces when the National Assembly meets on Sunday.

"To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honor in recent days of electing me a member of parliament ... I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept -- I repeat not aspire to or accept -- the positions of president of the Council of State and commander-in-chief," Castro said in a statement published in the Communist Party's Granma newspaper.

This is an interesting development I guess. Of course on the one hand it can't be too surprising given his obvious failing health and the fact that Raul has been de facto president for over a year now. But on the other hand I really expected him to die in office. Who knows, maybe he already is dead and they just aren't telling anyone yet.

What I find most interesting in the story is the seeming lack of a reaction, or at least lack of a visible reaction, from the Cuban people. The story notes:

In a deserted Revolution Square, the site of many hours-long speeches by Castro to massive crowds, a lone soldier stood guard at government headquarters. The city was calm.

It would seem that the transition has been gradual enough for the people to be able to accept it. I will be curious to see what Raul does once Fidel dies and is totally out of the picture.

Averting danger or testing a new weapon?

Via the BBC - US spy satellite plan 'a cover'

The US said last week that it would use a missile to destroy the satellite, to stop it from crash landing.

Officials say the satellite contains hazardous fuel which could kill humans.

But Russia's defence ministry said the US planned to test its "anti-missile defence system's capability to destroy other countries' satellites".

You can hardly blame the Russians for distrusting US motives. If roles were reversed we certainly wouldn't trust them. Plus, considering Bush's history with pulling out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and all, it is quite understandable that they would feel the way that they do. And while it may not have been a setup from the beginning, I'm sure it is at best a convenient excuse.

What an odd choice

Via Reuters - FACTBOX: Vladimir Putin - man of the year

Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2007 on Wednesday for bringing stability and renewed status to his country.

And for the record, it would seem that the authors of the Reuters article find it an odd choice as well. The majority of the article actually talks about all the things that Putin has done while in office as President, none of which seems particularly good from a Western view point. What was Time magazine thinking?

Addicted to the Internet?

I don't doubt it. I know a few people that probably fall into that category, myself included.

Via NYT - In Korea, a Boot Camp Cure for Web Obsession

Up to 30 percent of South Koreans under 18, or about 2.4 million people, are at risk of Internet addiction, said Ahn Dong-hyun, a child psychiatrist at Hanyang University in Seoul who just completed a three-year government-financed survey of the problem.

They spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting. Of those, up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction, like an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms like anger and craving when prevented from logging on.

I don't really get angry when I can't log on, but I often spend waaaay more than 2 hours a day on the Internet. But if I have to go to boot camp, I can think of at least a couple of people that I'm planning to drag along with me.

For anyone who mistakenly thought the CIA was made up of civilized human beings. . .

Via the BBC - Lock of "Che's" hair sold at Dallas auction

A lock of socialist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara's hair and related items were auctioned on Thursday in Dallas to a Houston-area bookstore owner for the very capitalist sum of $119,500 (52,000 pounds).

[. . .]

The curious collection had belonged to Gustavo Villoldo, 71, a former CIA operative who helped hunt Guevara down in the jungles of Bolivia in 1967 and who claims he cut off the lock before burying the guerrilla fighter with two of his comrades.

[. . .]

A scrapbook containing what Heritage says are previously unpublished photos of the dead guerrilla went with the hair. One shows a group of rag-tag soldiers brandishing rifles and standing proudly around his corpse like hunters posing with a trophy. Others show his corpse propped up, eyes wide open.

And Europeans had the gaul to say that Native Americans were savages for taking scalps over a century ago. Well, tell me how this is any different. But then again, what's more civilized than taking "fun" pictures with a dead guy? Puleez!

H/T: Yvette via e-mail

And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to. . .

Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Via WaPo - Gore, U.N. Body Win Nobel Peace Prize

Former vice president Al Gore and a United Nations panel that monitors climate change were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for their work educating the world about global warming and pressing for political action to control it.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee characterized Gore as "the single individual who has done most" to convince world governments and leaders that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and poses a grave threat. Gore has focused on the issue through books, promotional events and his Academy Award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

And if, like me, you are wondering what global climate change has to do with world peace, here's your answer:

As with last year's award to Bangladeshi banker Muhammad Yunus, whose pioneering use of small loans to the very poor contributes to the stability of developing nations, this year's prize focused on an issue not directly involving war and peace, but seen as critical to maintaining social stability.

I have to say that there is something a little ironic about the fact that the man who won the office of President in 2000 started a war and the one who lost the office won the Nobel Peace Prize. Interesting.

This is bothersome on so many levels

Via the BBC - Germany 'drops CIA extradition'

Germany has dropped a request to the US to extradite 13 suspected CIA agents accused of abducting a German citizen, officials and media reports say.
A justice ministry official reportedly confirmed an article in the German weekly Der Spiegel that said the US had refused the extradition request.

[. . .]

A spokeswoman for the justice ministry in Berlin told the Associated Press news agency Germany had decided against passing on to US authorities the extradition demand of the prosecutors in Munich.

[. . .]

"Mr Masri has pursued litigation for civil damages here in the US and this litigation is ongoing," he said.

"To date, US courts have barred his suit based on the US government's assertion of state secrecy concerns."

[. . .]

Mr Masri says he was kidnapped in Macedonia in 2003, flown to a secret jail in Afghanistan and tortured there.

He says he was detained for five months before being released in Albania after the Americans realised they had got the wrong man.

Okay, where to begin? The US sends CIA agents to kidnap a foreign national, take him to another country, and torture him. I have a problem with that right off.

Next, the man doesn't seem to have any legal recourse in his own country or in ours. This too seems wrong. The German are apparently afraid of pissing off the US, which seems a little odd at this point, but that's how they are telling it. And the US seems to have very little sense of justice anymore because everything has become a matter of national security. Where (or when) will it all end?

The EU makes a request

Via the BBC - EU urges Texas to end executions

The European Union has urged the governor of Texas to stop all executions as the state prepares to carry out its 400th death penalty.

[. . .]

The statement from the Portuguese presidency of the 27-nation bloc said: "The European Union strongly urges Governor Rick Perry to exercise all powers vested in his office to halt all upcoming executions and to consider the introduction of a moratorium in the State of Texas."

It continued: "There is no evidence to suggest that the use of the death penalty serves as a deterrent against violent crime and the irreversibility of the punishment means that miscarriages of justice, which are inevitable in all legal systems, cannot be redressed."

And it is a request that I am sure will not be granted, or at least I would be utterly amazed if it were.

I agree that the death penalty is not really a deterrent. According to what I have read on the matter, studies seem to indicate that both the death penalty and murder are evidence of a society's belief that killing someone is the answer to a problem, whether it be the problem of the individual or the problem of the society. Therefore, the two will continue to go hand-in-hand.

I find it interesting how often the US is finding itself on the receiving end of calls for ending inhumane activities. It is, however, nothing new that the EU would like to see an end to the death penalty.

A closer look at the recalls of Chinese products (placing the blame edition)

NYT - As More Toys Are Recalled, the Trail Ends in China

China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.

[. . .]

China today is responsible for about 60 percent of all product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000.

Much of the rise in China’s ranking on the recall list has to do with its corresponding surge as the world’s toy chest: toys made in China make up 70 to 80 percent of the toys sold in the country, according to the Toy Industry Association.

Okay, it makes sense that if China is producing a vast majority of the toys, then the vast majority of toy recalls would come from Chinese products. That sounds like a no-brainer. But still, how can one justify ever producing some of the products that have been recalled, for example:

Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene.

Seriously, kerosene filled children's toys?!? Whose bright idea was that.

There is another twist to the Thomas the Tank Engine toys as well.

The toy trains and railroad pieces are made directly for RC2 at plants it oversees in China, presumably giving it some control over the quality and safety of the toys made there. Staci Rubinstein, a spokeswoman for RC2 [RC2 Corporation of Oak Brook, Ill.], declined on Monday to comment on safety control measures at company plants in China.

So, one has to wonder, at least in this example, how much to blame the Chinese and how much blame is retained by the American Corp. that oversees the plant. And it also brings to mind the question of how much RC2 is taking advantage of the more lax regulations that often accompany doing business in a third world country.

And then there is the blame that falls on the US government (speaking of lax regulators):

In the last two years, the staff of the consumer product commission has been cut by more than 10 percent, leaving fewer regulators to monitor the safety of the growing flood of imports.

Some consumer advocates say that such staff cuts under the Bush administration have made the commission a lax regulator. The commission, for example, acknowledged in a recent budget document that “because of resource limitations,” it was planning next year to curtail its efforts aimed at preventing children from drowning in swimming pools and bathtubs.

I wonder how one prioritizes such a thing.

So anyway, a word to the wise: don't assume that the toys are safe!

China’s own government auditing agency reported last month that 20 percent of the toys made and sold in China had safety hazards such as small parts that could be swallowed or sharp edges that could cut a child, according to a report in China Daily.

As parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, etc., anyone who purchases toys for children, we have some responsibility to check these toys out. We can no longer just assume that they are safe simply because they are marketed and sold to children. We have now been warned. We may not be able to identify lead paint with our naked eyes, but we can certainly check for sharp edges and small swallowable parts.

Should these products be allowed to be sold here? Certainly the answer is no. Are they being sold here? Obviously the answer is yes. If our government isn't going to look out for us and our children, then we have to learn to take that responsibility back onto ourselves. And of course, we should elect a new administration that will take these issues a bit more seriously than this most recent administration has.

Denuclearization for N. Korea?

Via The Hindi - North Korea hints at de-nuclearisation

North Korea on Saturday signalled its willingness to engage the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the possible "suspension" of operations at the Yongbyon complex.

Pyongyang's intriguingly worded announcement has been interpreted in Seoul, the listening post for matters concerning North Korea, as an invitation to the IAEA inspectors to monitor its commitment to shut down the Yongbyon facility as the first step towards de-nuclearisation.

May it be so.

An interesting development (US-Russian Relations edition)

NYT - Putin Surprises Bush With Plan on Missile Shield

After months of angrily rejecting a White House plan for missile defense in Europe, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia surprised President Bush on Thursday with an offer to build a joint system in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.

The proposed system, designed to guard against a missile attack from Iran, poses serious diplomatic and technical challenges, experts said. But the fact that it was suggested by Mr. Putin, and not immediately rejected by Mr. Bush, indicated a desire on both sides to cool the hostile exchanges that in recent months had driven relations to a low point in the post-cold-war era.

[. . .]

Experts say that Mr. Putin’s proposal faces a number of daunting, and possibly insurmountable, hurdles. Russia leases but does not own the radar station in Azerbaijan, and it is an early warning system, not the X-band radar that is used to guide antimissile interceptors, and which the Bush administration wants to build in the Czech Republic.

Trust between the nations is also an issue. The plan would require the kind of intense cooperation in which only the closest allies could engage. With the two sides already embroiled in disputes over the future of Kosovo, the state of democratic institutions in Russia and how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program, some experts raised questions about whether Mr. Putin was serious — and, if he was, whether the White House would ever accept the offer.

[. . .]

In recent weeks, the Russian president has made a veiled comparison between the United States and the Third Reich, complained of “diktat and imperialism,” and, most recently, threatened to once more aim Russian missiles at Europe if Mr. Bush went through with his missile defense plan.

This is an interesting tactic by Putin. The Bush Administration has long insisted that the missile defense system was not about US-Russian relations, but about threats from rogue states. By offering this proposal, it seems to me, Putin is trying to make Bush prove that his argument is sincere. I think the fact that Bush did not turn down the deal right away is a step in the right direction. I find it hard to believe that we would go so far as to accept the deal, but the fact that civilized communication is taking the forefront over veiled threats is a definite improvement. Hopefully a true compromise can eventually be worked out.

Bush and Merkel reach an agreement

Via the BBC - G8 leaders agree to climate deal

Leaders of the G8 nations have agreed to seek "substantial" cuts in emissions in an effort to tackle climate change.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G8 would negotiate within a UN framework to seek a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2009.

No mandatory target was set for the cuts, but Mrs Merkel's preference for a 50% emissions cut by the year 2050 was included in the agreed statement.

[. . .]

Speaking to reporters in Heiligendamm, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair deflected concerns about the absence of a precise definition of the term "substantial cuts".

"I'm both surprised and very pleased at how far we have come forward in the couple of years since [the 2005 G8 summit at] Gleneagles," he told reporters.

"Now we have an agreement that there will be a climate change deal, it will involve everyone, including the US and China, and it will involve substantial cuts."

Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it in action. It is often easier to agree to act than to actually act.

The rest of the world reacts

WaPo - Va. Killings Widely Seen as Reflecting a Violent Society

Officials, newspaper columnists and citizens around the world Tuesday described the Virginia Tech massacre as the tragic reflection of an America that fosters violence at home and abroad, even as it attempts to dictate behavior to the rest of the world.

From European countries with strict gun-control laws to war-ravaged Iraq, where dozens of people are killed in shootings and bombings each day, foreigners and their news media used the university attack to condemn what they depicted as U.S. policies to arm friends, attack enemies and rely on violence rather than dialogue to settle disputes.

It is difficult to know how to react to such reactions. On the one hand, it gives some insight into how the citizens of other countries feel about the U.S., that their condolences are tempered with a dose of "but it was your own fault." But to some degree I have to agree. Our culture is awfully violent and some of the blogospheric reaction to Monday's events shows that our view of reality has become skewed by exposure to movie violence (Poliblog has some good commentary on the subject with links to examples). And I personally am in favor of stricter gun laws.

However, on the other hand, the article quotes an Iraqi who makes a good point, but not the point that I think he intended to make:

"We did not have this violence in the Saddam era because the law was so tough on guns."

No, they didn't have that violence, they had a ruthless dictator. And although I do not believe that the Second Amendment to the Constitution should be interpreted as broadly as it currently is, I think it was designed to defend against situations exactly like what existed in Iraq under Saddam.

The Effects of Rising Sealevels

NYT - Sea’s Rise in India Buries Islands and a Way of Life

The sinking of Ghoramara can be attributed to a confluence of disasters, natural and human, not least the rising sea. The rivers that pour down from the Himalayas and empty into the bay have swelled and shifted in recent decades, placing this and the rest of the delicate islands known as the Sundarbans in the mouth of daily danger.

Certainly nature would have forced these islands to shift size and shape, drowning some, giving rise to others. But there is little doubt, scientists say, that human-induced climate change has made them particularly vulnerable.

A recent study by Sugata Hazra, an oceanographer at Jadavpur University in nearby Calcutta, found that in the last 30 years, nearly 31 square miles of the Sundarbans have vanished entirely.

Now obviously all of the problems here are not global warming/global climate change related. But it seems to me that if it is at all accentuated by the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere then those responsible should shoulder some of the burden. Doesn't that comport with our own sense of justice? If you are at least partially responsible then you bear at least part of the burden of the consequences?

And even if human activities is not totally to blame for global climate change, shouldn't we try to reduce our contributions. As my sister loves to say, human activities don't cause it to get warmer in the summer time, but we all have sense enough to stop running our heaters when it gets hot outside.

Terrorism more likely

BBC News - Iraq policy 'spawned new terror'

The countries had tried to "keep the lid on" problems by military force and had failed to address the root causes, the Oxford Research Group warned.

[. . .]

Its latest report said these issues were still the greatest threats, but added that the ongoing war on terror and the war in Iraq were increasing the risk of future terrorist attacks on the scale of 9/11.

So much for the idea that by fighting them there we are making ourselves safer at home - an argument I've never bought into personally.

Progress with N. Korea?

Via TVNZ - Macau to unfreeze N.Korea funds

The United States has announced that millions of dollars frozen in a Macau bank will soon be released to North Korea, and has told Pyongyang it must now start shutting down a nuclear reactor days before a deadline.

The reclusive state has insisted it will only close the reactor, which supplies it with weapons-grade plutonium, once $US25 million dollars in funds linked to North Korean interests and frozen since 2005 in Macau's Banco Delta Asia are freed.

Under an international deal agreed two months ago to end its nuclear weapons programme, North Korea has until Saturday to start shutting down its Yongbyon atomic plant.

Hopefully this will allow the process to continue and eventually lead to the end of North Korea's nuclear program.

The article also notes this fact:

On Monday, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson flew to North Korea where he is to receive the remains of six US soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

NBC television reported that North Korean officials had told Richardson that once the money was released, UN nuclear inspectors, expelled in 2002, would be allowed back in.

Richardson plans on Wednesday to cross the demilitarised zone which has divided the peninsula since 1953 and enter South Korea with the soldiers' remains. They are to be flown to Hawaii for identification.

It is a pity that Richardson, who is currently running for the Democratic nomination for president, gets so little attention from the American press. I hear next to nothing about him unless I actively look for it. He seems like such a strong candidate on paper.

From an Iranian perspective

The BBC has some brief comments from some Iranians on the street about the capture and release of the British sailors. These comments seem to generally confirm the ideas I already had about the whole situation. For example:

SINA, TEHRAN, IRAN
"It's very interesting! Passing through VIP lounge with suits and gifts!

On the other side of the Atlantic they dress them in orange clothes, blindfolded and shackled while being threatened by dogs.

By releasing the sailors the way they did, I felt like they were trying to hold themselves up as an example of civility and humane treatment of prisoners, in contrast to the view the world has of US-held prisoners at Guantanamo.

And there is also the issue of British/Iranian history at work here:

ALI ALIAKBARI, BUSINESSMAN, TEHRAN
There is a long way to go in the relationship between Britain and Iran. This crisis has been resolved but there is a lot of fence-mending to do.

I think we need an urgent review of British policy in Iran.

There is a long history of animosity between the British and the Iranians and I am sure that played into this whole affair.

International He said She said

NYT - Britain Steps Up Pressure on Iran, Freezing Business Ties

Escalating its dispute with Iran, Britain today froze all “bilateral business” with Tehran to retaliate for the seizure of 15 British naval personnel six days ago in what the Royal Navy insists were Iraqi territorial waters.

“It is now time to ratchet up international and diplomatic pressure” on Iran to demonstrate its “total isolation,” Prime Minister Tony Blair told parliament after the Royal Navy made public details of what it said was the sailors’ position when they were apprehended.

[. . .]

He said the boarding took place at these coordinates: 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north, 048 degrees 43.08 minutes East. That placed it 1.7 nautical miles — around two miles on land — inside Iraqi waters.

In diplomatic contacts, Iran had provided Britain with an initial set of coordinates for the position of the boats that placed the incident in Iraqi waters.

“We pointed this out to them on Sunday in diplomatic contacts,” Vice Admiral Style said. “After we did this they then provided a second set of coordinates that places the incident in Iranian waters” over two nautical miles away from where they were said to be by Britain, he said.

“It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates,” he said.

Iran says they were in Iranian waters; the British say they were in Iraqi waters. I'm not sure how it will ever be proven one way or the other. It's not like this is an episode of CSI or Numb3rs, and it's not like the Iraqi are just gonna say, "Oops, we were wrong" even if the British can produce strong evidence for their side of the argument. And now this game of he said, she said appears to be heating up. I hope that a diplomatic solution can be found (and feel certain it will) because we really don't want a regional war on our hands.

The state of Russian Democracy

BBC News - Russian opposition demo quashed

Russian riot police have arrested dozens of demonstrators who staged an anti-government rally in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on Saturday.

Protesters were dragged into waiting police vans and driven away.

The marchers were defying a ban on protests to demonstrate against what they see as attempts by President Vladimir Putin to stifle democracy.

It appears that Russian democracy continues to suffer under the rule of President Putin (for earlier evidence see here). Far be it from me to defend Putin or Russian democracy, but it certainly could be worse. Arresting protesters happens in the most consolidated of democracies. It is also significant to note that the people are willing to hold such protests, something that would not have been too likely two decades ago. The fact that the protesters were arrested and taken away in vans is a far cry from being ran over by tanks. There are certainly problems, and Russia may be headed in the wrong direction, I don't know, but I wouldn't count the Russian people out just yet.