Karzai: Don't forget Afghanistan as attention turns towards Iraq
Afghan president Hamid Karzai is urging the US not to forget its commitment to the security and rebuilding of Afghanistan as it turns its attention to disarming Iraq. He meets with President Bush on Thursday, and will remind him that the job in Afghanistan is far from finished. Militants, including Al Qaeda elements, are still active on the border against Pakistan.
Still, Karzai also talked about the progress made in Afghanistan. Three million children are enrolled in schools, and two million refugees have returned home to help rebuild the country. A new constitution draft will be presented in october, and in July 2004 the country expects to have its first general election. Karzai even saw the traffic jams in Kabul as a sign of progress.
Yet, the Afghan government lacks tax income to pay for its work, in particular the building and training of an Afghan National Army has suffered from lack of cash. The US presence is needed to assure stability and security. In two to four years, he hoped Afghanistan should be able to stand on its own feet, but right now it would be a mistake to leave the country to itself.
John Naughton in the Observer thinks Google sees what most mainstream media don't see: that blogging is the Next Big Thing. He mentions a few examples of blggers writing what the traditional media daren't, and he compares Google's recent acquisition of Blogger with its takeover of DejaNews Usenet archive.
Putin remains opposed to war, but appears to be backing away from a hardline position (read: using the veto). Putin has been a close ally of Bush on the war on terror, and it's unlikely that he is willing to risk that over differences on Iraq.
Aage's Pizza on the Feroe islands has banned French and Germans over their negative attitude towards the United States. He'll allow Germans to visit if the country joins in against Iraq, but the French are banned for life, as they "will never change."
Bush has outlined his hopes for a new, democratic Iraq after the coming war, which will be a shining light for democracy for all the Middle East. He hopes the new Iraq will bring lasting peace and stability to the region.
I think it's a safe prediction that nothing will be as great as the optimists hope, especially not in the Middle East. Then again, it will probably not be as bad as the pessimists fear, either.
The Metrepolitan Mueum of Art in New York has received one of its most important gifts of modern art ever. A foundation named after a son of the artist Henri Matisse has donated more than 100 works of art, including nearly 50 works my Matisse himself, to the museum.
The gift also includes artworks by surrealist artists like René Magritte who were not previously respresented at the Met (to my surprise, at least).
The value of the art collection is estimated at nearly $100 million.
The MET is not known to have had a major commitment to modern art, because of its broad scope, and this gift should greatly improve its collection of 20th century art.
Picture: Henri Matisse, The Italian Woman(L’Italienne), 1916. Otherwise unrelated to article text.
A guest comment by Amir Taheri at NRO (via InstaPundit) makes the case that the anti/war activists are deaf to the iraqis themselves. He writes:
Khalid Kishtaini, Iraq's most famous satirical writer, added his complaint.
"Don't these marchers know that the only march possible in Iraq under Saddam Hussein is from the prison to the firing-squad?" he asked. "The Western marchers behave as if the US wanted to invade Switzerland, not Iraq under Saddam Hussein."
With all doors shutting in our faces we decided to drop out of the show and watch the political zoology of the march from the sidelines.
Who were these people who felt such hatred of their democratic governments and such intense self-loathing?
The Iraqis Amir Taheri writes about may or may not be representative, but he makes a very strong case that the celebrity peaceniks totally ignores the voice of the actual Iraqis. Quite a few western journalists, originally opposed to war, has been surprised to find that many ordinary Iraqis will risk being exposed to a violent invasion if it will help them get rid of Saddam Hussein.
Britain's normally puritan advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), had received complaints from sixteen puritans who were deeply offended by Gucci's new advertising campaign, which showed a woman's pubic hair in the shape of the letter G.
However, for once the ASA ruled against the complaints, saying that the ad was sophisticated and unlikely to offend the target audience. On the contrary, "the image addressed today's reality that men and women's sexual roles were changing," as Gucci had argued, and ASA actually agreed with this in its ruling.
In another development, French brewer Kronenbourg poked fun at British prudes by displaying a naked woman with her breasts blacked out, with the text "If Britain were French, this poster wouldn't be censored."
Anglo-Saxons and their descendants have always tended to prefer violence and bloodshed to s-e-x. Strange priorities.
Overture Services has made clear its intentions to purchase the small but respected Norwegian company Fast Search & Transfer for $100 million. Last week, overture said it would purchase the legendary but faded web engine AltaVista.
It is believed that the decision to buy Fast was a preemptive strike to prevent Google from acquiring it. Overture makes most of its money by selling paid advertising on search engines like MSN and Yahoo. Overture tried to tone down suggestions that the new acquisitions indicates they are now also going for performance searches, which has been Google's domain. After google started its text-only ads program, Overture's revenue has been hurt.
I think Overture has set its sight on Google's dominant position. They know that there will not be room for both in the long term, and are making an attempt to dig themselves in both in the performance-search and ad-search markets.
How long before Google buys Overture and gets it over with?
Blair wins approval of tough line on Iraq, but faces labour rebellion
UK prime minister Tony Blair has won the approval for his tactic on Iraq, but has faced a rebellion in his own Labour party as 120 MPs supported an amandement arguing that the case for military action against Iraq is "as yet unproven".
Conversely, French president Jacques Chirac faces opposition from those in his own party in the French national assembly that worries about lasting damage between France and the United States.
The Metrepolitan Mueum of Art in New York has received one of its most important 
Britain's normally puritan advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), had received complaints from sixteen puritans who were deeply offended by Gucci's new advertising campaign, which showed a woman's pubic hair in the shape of the letter G.
