20. desember 2003

Throwaway email address Need a throwaway read-only email address for a quick registration to a site you don't trust very much? Check out DodgeIt. Thanks to BoingBoing. You don't really create a mailbox; you just read any email address as if it was a channel. Remember if you duplicate somebody else's address, you will both be able to read it. You can read incoming email on web or has rss/xml. If you really need to look like you have sent something from that "address", I guess you can fakemail it. 4:48:05 PM    comment []  trackback []

This orc's a running After watching The Return of the King, it doesn't surprise me that the automated agents programmed to act as independent warriors in the large-scale battles tended to want to chicken out from the slaughter. 4:49:37 AM    comment []  trackback []

Will Mbeki become the new Mugabe? South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki (picture) has been a total supporter and apologist for Zimbabwe's brutal dictator Robert Mugabe, including the policies of grabbing land from white citizens without compensation to "redistribute" it. Last week South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a moral giant in the fight against apartheid, delivered a scathing attack against Mugabe's supporters, though without naming Mbeki directly. In particular, he chided those who argued Zimbabwe should be readmitted into the Commonwealth as hypocritical, especially the anti-apartheid fighters who once called for sanctions against South Africa. Tutu said that if the logic Mbeki and other Mugabe apologists apply to Zimbabwe today had been applied to South Africa in the 70s and 80s, apartheid may well have persisted. "Had the international community invoked the rubric of non-interference then we would have been in dire straits in our anti-apartheid struggle," the former archbishop of Cape Town said in a statement released yesterday by his office. "We appealed for the world to intervene and interfere in South Africa's internal affairs. We could not have defeated apartheid on our own. What is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander too." The former head of the Anglican Church in South Africa also said he was "baffled" by the behaviour of Mr Mbeki and other apologists for the Mugabe regime. "I am sad that we South Africans declared that the last elections in Zimbabwe, though not free, were yet legitimate," the statement said. "That is distressing semantic games. "Human rights are human rights and they are of universal validity or they are nothing. "There are no peculiarly African human rights, what has been reported as happening in Zimbabwe is totally unacceptable and reprehensible and we ought to say so regretting that it should have been necessary to condemn erstwhile comrades. The credibility of our democracy demands this. "If we are seemingly indifferent to human rights violations happening in a neighbouring country what is to stop us one day being indifferent to that in our own?" Mbeki faces growing opposition at home and abroad to his apologism for the brutal dictature of Mugabe, and his attempts to play the race card by arguing Mugabe's opponents is a "white club" is failing in the face of a huge opposition also in southern Africa. Mbeki is still unapologetic. Coming home from a visit to Mugabe, he brought no concessions and continued his praise of the tyrant, and even hinted that his land-grab policies may be a good idea for South Africa: "Our countries have shared common problems," Mr Mbeki said. "As they shared the common problems of oppression, they share common problems today. "President Mugabe can assist us to confront the problems we have in South Africa so that we can assist you to solve the problems that face Zimbabwe." Opposition politicians took the remarks as a threat by Mr Mbeki of Zimbabwe-style land invasions in South Africa. Mugabe on his side continues his form of "reverse apartheid," in addition to the destruction of Zimbabwe's economy and the suppression of all opposition. Last week he announced that he will be stealing the tractors and other farm tools from the farmers who previously lost their land. 2:40:26 AM    comment []  trackback []

Libya cancels its WMD programmes Libya has admitted that it had been working to develop weapons of mass destruction, but after negotiating with UK and the US it is planning to dismantle these programmes, and also its plans for long range missiles. This was announced by George Bush and Tony Blair today. Bush said Libya's decision -- which would open the country to international weapons inspectors -- would be "of great importance" in stopping weapons of mass destruction in a global fight against terrorism. [...] In London, Blair said that Britain and the United States had been talking about the issue with Libya for nine months said. "Libya came to us in March following successful negotiations on Lockerbie to see if it could resolve its weapons of mass destruction issue in a similarly cooperative manner," Blair said in England. The North African country's foreign ministry said in a statement Libya "had decided on its free will to... completely eliminate the internationally banned weapons of mass destruction." This can hardly be interpreted as anything but a justification for the British-American hard line on Libya. But does it justify the hard line on WMDs generally, especially with respect to Iraq? Critics have argued that the difference between the attitudes to North Korea and Iraq has actually given the opposite signal to would-be rogue states: get nukes, and the US will not dare touch you. Both views have some merit, but apply to different situations. NK would be hands-off even if it did not have nukes, because of its proximity to China and because its huge armed forces could inflict huge casualties on the South Korean population even with conventional weapons. So, it is doubtful that other nations could take their example. At least in the case of Libya, which seems strongly bent on leaving the "rogue nations" club, a long-term strategy of western containment and isolation has been successful. And the example made of Iraq, even as no WMDs were actually found, at least proves that the life expectancy of dictators that are perceived as a danger to the west is shortening. 12:56:58 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.2004; 02:46:58.