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16. februar 2003
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Belgium digs in deeper
Contrary to claims issues earlier, Belgium has done nothing to easen the deep conflict in NATO over military aid to Turkey. Belgium has now demanded that any decision to send defensive military hardware to Turkey be linked to a second UN Security Council resolution on Iraq. This demand is impossible to meet for the other members, both practically and on principle, and Belgium insists it will not back down.
10:58:08 PM 
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History repeating?
I wonder if whoever made the above sign knew its historical significance, and really intended to undermine the war protest, or if he or he really was that clueless. From yesterday's anti-war protests in London.
10:22:33 PM
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Monsters with and without tentacles
Don't miss the brand-new Scary Monsters edition of Virtual Occoquan. This issue has topics ranging from yours truly's article on legal troubles for tentacle porn to the usual suspects telling off Rumsfeld, Bush and Osama Bin Laden.
9:56:38 PM
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Grant for Americans with special needs
The Beaumont Foundation will give 2000 net-capable PCs to Americans in eligeble states who are disabled, ill, elderly or have other special problems. Access to a PC and the Net may change the life of somebody! If you know of somebody in your area who may qualify, let them know about this.
8:42:23 PM
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"Europeans are sissies"
An interesting interview with Robert Kagan, a favourite of Washington hawks, in New York Times Magazine. He says many things I agree with, and some things I don't (Americans, on the whole, seem very eager to talk about Europe, more so than learning about it). Here is one thing I disagree with:
"Europe is not up to the challenge of meeting the war on terrorism."
Perhaps he should check the results so far on the war on terrorism. How many terrorist cells have been destroyed in France, Britain, Germany and France compared to the US? Europe has been fighting these terrorists for years, and terrorism generally for decades. What did the US do for all these years? For years they turned a blind eye to the IRA receiving money from their own Irish communities.
The US was sound asleep until 9/11. Security on US airports are still not anywhere near the level they were in Europe before 9/11.What he means is that the US is big on large-scale wars, aircraft carrier groups and bombing runs. While important, that isn't always what gives the best results in the war on terror. On security, special forces operations, intelligence and the conduct of assymetric wars, the US has a spectacularly worse record than in particular the UK.
Instead of beating their chests, Americans should realise that on some things, other nations are better, and be willing to listen and learn.
7:43:06 PM
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Blogging going mainstream: Google buys Pyra
The company behind Google, the net's largest search engine, has obtained Pyra Labs, the company behind some of the earliest blogging tools on the Net, in a move that again shows the big money is coming into blogging.
Obviously, blogs is the Next Big Thing happening online. And, as with everything, there are ups and downs to that. Ups: more attention and more readers for bloggers; and more people getting into blogging. Downs: see above. And, like, all "next big things," at some stage some big bubble will burst.
6:05:58 PM
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Environmentalists brings Asian antilopes to brink of extinction
 It will come across as one of the worst examples of environmentalist tampering gone awry. In a bid to save the endangered rhino, conservationists like the WWF actively supported the hunt for the Asian saiga antelopes, which in the early 1990s roamed the steppes from Ukraine to Mongolia.
The animals have always been hunted for food, skins and horns without endangering the species. The WWF thought it a good idea to promote hunting the animals, hoping that the horn could outcompete the rhino horns.
The result was that gangs on motorbikes, armed with heavy firepower, have slaughtered the animals by the millions. And, this is the tricky point: the hunters only target the males. A decade later, the hunt is over. There are still 30,000 animals left in the wild, but almost all of them are females. The wild antilopes looks doomed, likely to survive only in zoos, as a monument to environmentalist stupidity.
4:58:58 PM
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Victory or death
Hunting the water speed record is an all-or-nothing enterprise. Either you succeed, or you are dead. In fact, even those who succeed have a tendency to die soon afterwards. A recent Wired article about the current contestants for the water speed record examines the different approaches and the different teams hunting the record, which hasn't been broken in 25 years.
4:38:06 PM
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Iraq sees antiwar demonstrations as a victory
Iraqi media expresses delight in the worldwide anti-war demonstrations yesterday, seeing it as widespread opposition to US aggression (true) and support for Saddam Hussein's regime (more debatable).
The newspaper Al-Jumhuriya wrote: "These demonstrations expressed in their spirit, meaning and slogans the decisive Iraqi victory and the defeat and isolation of America."
Which is only true as far as the Bush administration listens to its opponents.
Picture: Demonstrators in Sydney combine protesting the war with protesting Australian prime minister John Howard.
4:13:34 PM
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NATO compromise in the works
Diplomats are scrutinizing a Belgian plan to end the impasse over military aid to Turkey. Both Belgium and France has made it clear that NATO equipment to Turkey should not be a part of the buildup against Iraq, but be of a purely defensive nature.
2:26:33 PM
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Losing your last religion
Lots of westerners have been attracted to Buddhism. Unlike theistic religions, Buddhism doesn't run counter to what science has taught us about the universe. Buddhist leaders, in particular the Dalai Lama, are moral leaders in the world, not fanatics trying desperately to cling to outdated moralism like the leaders of Christianity or Islam. John Horgan of Slate argues, however, that there is a downside also to Buddhism.
2:54:35 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.03.2003; 00:15:03.
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