The US, EU and Russia have said partition could be an option for Kosovo.
Have they learned nothing from Northern Ireland?
Not the very best idea in the world
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Monthly Archives: August 2007
Far beyond Terra
There’s a nice opinion piece in the latest issue of Cosmos about why we should colonise other planets. Interestingly, Wilson da Silva, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, doesn’t talk about expanding beyond the solar system but rather highlights the possibilties within Sol: Mars, orbital habitats around Earth, the Moon, asteroids and worlds further out.
The article does tend to glorify our species of monkey men and women:
So what if humans pass into history? It’s not just a tragedy for us, but also one for nature. Without us, there is no one to witness its infinite beauty; no one to marvel at a sunset, revel in a view, or thrill to the breaking of a wave on a beach. As the late astronomer and author Carl Sagan once said, “we are a way for the universe to know itself”.
The comments are quite interesting too. One anonymous poster leads off with “The article is an astonish [sic] example of wishful thinking” to which someone else writes “Your reply is an astonishing example of doomsaying and defeatist attitude”… ah the internet.
Russia's military revival
Russia has begun a major air defence programme, the first step of which is a radar station near St Petersburg.
I’ve blogged in the past about Russia’s newfound confidence, partially based on the assertiveness of president Vladimir Putin but partially on its oil wealth.
The defence project, which will continue until 2015 and is in response to US plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe, is another example of this. However, it’s ominous in the context of what else the Russian military has been getting up to.
It has resumed flights into US and NATO-controlled airspace, for instance over Guam when US jets were scrambled to intercept the bombers.
Major General Pavel Androsov said:
Whenever we saw US planes during our flights over the ocean, we greeted them. On Wednesday, we renewed the tradition when our young pilots flew by Guam in two planes. We exchanged smiles with our counterparts who flew up from a US carrier and returned home.
However, a Pentagon spokesman said:
We prepared to intercept the bombers but they did not come close enough to a US Navy ship or to the island of Guam to warrant an air-to-air intercept.
Flights toward enemy territory was standard practice for both sides during the Cold War, when bombers and jets were constantly in the air as a deterrent and to enable a rapid response to any hostilities.
It’s worrying Russia has resumed the strategy, even if it was in response to a US military exercise. In a tense situation a slight error can have catastrophic consequences.
Also of concern is the deployment along the Georgian border. About 1,500 troops have been sent to the region to tackle “bandits”. Given the history between Russia and Georgia, this could be simply more manoeuvring and sabre rattling — particularly after the missile incident near South Ossetia.
Madeleine
One hundred days since her disappearance, Portuguese police have finally admitted publicly that Madeleine McCann may be dead. Investigator Olegario Sousa said:
“In the past few days there have been some developments, some clues that have been found that could point to the possible death of the little child. All lines of inquiry are open, but this line has a little more intensity.”
Sousa’s comments come a day after Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate spoke of how they hoped a “shift” in the police probe would yield vital clues about the abduction.
The possibility of her death is something they will not want to face, for reasons you don’t have to be a parent to understand. Whatever naivete they may have demonstrated by leaving their children unattended, everybody with the least familiarity with the case hoped there would be a happy ending. Sadly, this was always going to be unlikely.
Natascha Kampusch proved there is always a tiny chance of a vanished child coming home. However, Madeleine’s parents will never be able to move on with their lives if they dwell on hope. I would never urge them to give up hope but if they don’t accept the possibility their daughter will not return they will be remain in stasis.
There have been many supposed sightings of the child and many theories as to what happened to her. I’m not sure we will ever know for sure unless her abductor breaks his or her silence.
Market madness
As much of the world’s media freaks out over how the stock markets plummeted on Thursday and Friday, I’d like to draw attention to these two paragraphs buried in this Reuters report:
Despite the market’s slide on Thursday and Friday, all three major U.S. stock indexes ended this volatile week higher: The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.3 percent.
For the year so far, stocks are still in positive territory. The Dow is up 6.2 percent, while the S&P 500 is up 2.5 percent and the Nasdaq is up 5.4 percent.
So, despite some markets suffering their worst one-day fall in four years, it seems all may not be as bleak as it appears. That said we’ll only know on Monday if the drop looks to be bottoming out or if there’s more bad news to come.
The great firewall of China
Apparently I’m blocked in China… not that I’m of any threat to the nation’s establishment. Mine is just one of the many websites that has fallen foul of Chinese internet censorship.
