I haven't read anything by Charles Krauthammer recently. I was introduced to his work by my former boss last summer and I think that he writes very well. Everytime I read his column, his points come across very, very clearly. Compare this piece to this one by David Aaronovitch of The Times -pretty interesting material, but none entirely original and too waffly in my humblest opinion.
He poses an important point towards the end of his piece. He says:
For Fukuyama to assert that I characterized it as "a virtually unqualified success" is simply breathtaking. My argument then, as now, was the necessity of this undertaking, never its ensured success. And it was necessary because, as I said, there is not a single, remotely plausible, alternative strategy for attacking the root causes of Sept. 11: "The cauldron of political oppression, religious intolerance, and social ruin in the Arab-Islamic world -- oppression transmuted and deflected by regimes with no legitimacy into virulent, murderous anti-Americanism."
Since anti-Americanism was the root cause of the Sept. 11th attacks, could it not be the case that the root cause of these sentiments was the over extension of American power? Proceeding to over-extend even more by attempting regime change in Iraq may have been a bad move. If one of the reasons why these people are so upset is because you've messed around in their affairs for too long then maybe you should have swallowed your pride rather than exacerbating the problem. Maybe a semi-isolationist foreign policy would mean more funds for health care and social security services which have been left wanting in America.
Random: I was MSN-ing with a friend tonight and I sent him the link to Mr Aaronovitch's piece. I was very kindly informed that this whole "the Jews are taking over the world" hypothesis isn't something entirely groundbreaking.Anyway, said friend mentioned that banks, press and politics in the US are under strong Jewish influences. Interestingly, I wiki-ed (don't you just LOVE Wikipedia) both Krauthammer and Aaronovitch's names. And what do you know? They're both at least half-Jew and they both studied at the same college in Oxford around the same time as well!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Breakfast
I thought I'd treat myself to a nice, big breakfast today so:
Cereal; yoghurt and mandarins, prunes, banana chips + maple pecan crunch; toast with LOTS of butter + some jam and honey; apple juice; coffee (I'm buzzing now, whee!)
This was one of the headlines in today's Telegraph. It's about JK Rowling's take on girls having waif-thin women as their role models. I checked out her site, and managed to find her alleged rant. It's a little difficult to maneuver but if you click the hair brush you'll get to some other page with a pin-up board thing. If you click the miscellaneous option there you'll find a link to "For Girls Only, Probably...".
I must admit that I would like to look like Madonna when I turn 75. But right now, this is what inspires me. Isn't that something? One of the busiest people in the world.
Cereal; yoghurt and mandarins, prunes, banana chips + maple pecan crunch; toast with LOTS of butter + some jam and honey; apple juice; coffee (I'm buzzing now, whee!)
This was one of the headlines in today's Telegraph. It's about JK Rowling's take on girls having waif-thin women as their role models. I checked out her site, and managed to find her alleged rant. It's a little difficult to maneuver but if you click the hair brush you'll get to some other page with a pin-up board thing. If you click the miscellaneous option there you'll find a link to "For Girls Only, Probably...".
I must admit that I would like to look like Madonna when I turn 75. But right now, this is what inspires me. Isn't that something? One of the busiest people in the world.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Monday, April 03, 2006
FT Internship
The details for this journalism scheme only came out this week. I initially wanted to try out for it and I waited for the whole of my Lent term for information about it. But I think it's a little too late now as I've got exams to mug for. Was also thinking about going back to KL by August because I miss my sister. But anyway, this 3 month-stint with the Financial Times does look quite promising if anyone's interested. Click here.
Turning 80
Here's a depressing article on growing old.
"In an injustice that is bitterly resented, people with savings or homes worth more than £20,500 have to use them to pay for residential care, which — by contrast — is free for anyone with no assets."
What other choice is there? Wouldn't it be worse if lower income groups received zero residential care. Frankly, I would think that in your old age your care for all things material would cease.
"In an injustice that is bitterly resented, people with savings or homes worth more than £20,500 have to use them to pay for residential care, which — by contrast — is free for anyone with no assets."
What other choice is there? Wouldn't it be worse if lower income groups received zero residential care. Frankly, I would think that in your old age your care for all things material would cease.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The End of History
I've just read a piece on Francis Fukuyama whose name has recently become a buzzword again in the international political-world. Notice the use of again: He initially gained attention when he wrote a paper titled "The End of History" which I think I've may have mentioned before.
Mr Fukuyama was among those who urged the Bush administration to take out Saddam Hussein in Iraq during President Bush's first term in office. But now he's making a roundabout turn and says that the Iraq War has been, "wrong in theory and practice".
Mr Fukuyama believes that although Saddam Hussein was leading a very oppressive regime in Iraq, he implies that perhaps the "human costs" of removing him may have outweighed the benefits.
The article was pretty informative and it gave me a better idea on what Mr Fukuyama stood for. I'd like to think that the Iraq War was a necessary evil because of the potential threat posed by the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction. But on the other hand, the amount of damage that this unilateral act has done in terms of sunken military costs, military casualties, civilian casualties, American credibility, UN credibility, oil prices etc. begs me to think otherwise.
Here's a random ramble from an excerpt I picked up from an excerpt of his new book, "After the Neocons":
"Much of the campaign against jihadist terrorism will be fought out in Western Europe by our allies; we will have little direct role in this struggle since many of the terrorists will be European citizens.Outside of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the anti-jihadist campaign will look more like a police and intelligence operation than a war."
The first part is quite a bold claim and he hasn't backed it up. Maybe I'll need to read the actual book for more info on this. I agree with the second part. My lecturer said the other day that we're all being monitored 24/7.There are CCTVs everywhere; using your Oyster Card when taking public transport allows the system to keep records of all your journey details(that's probably why using your Oyster is so much cheaper now compared to buying single tickets).
Mr Fukuyama was among those who urged the Bush administration to take out Saddam Hussein in Iraq during President Bush's first term in office. But now he's making a roundabout turn and says that the Iraq War has been, "wrong in theory and practice".
Mr Fukuyama believes that although Saddam Hussein was leading a very oppressive regime in Iraq, he implies that perhaps the "human costs" of removing him may have outweighed the benefits.
The article was pretty informative and it gave me a better idea on what Mr Fukuyama stood for. I'd like to think that the Iraq War was a necessary evil because of the potential threat posed by the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction. But on the other hand, the amount of damage that this unilateral act has done in terms of sunken military costs, military casualties, civilian casualties, American credibility, UN credibility, oil prices etc. begs me to think otherwise.
Here's a random ramble from an excerpt I picked up from an excerpt of his new book, "After the Neocons":
"Much of the campaign against jihadist terrorism will be fought out in Western Europe by our allies; we will have little direct role in this struggle since many of the terrorists will be European citizens.Outside of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the anti-jihadist campaign will look more like a police and intelligence operation than a war."
The first part is quite a bold claim and he hasn't backed it up. Maybe I'll need to read the actual book for more info on this. I agree with the second part. My lecturer said the other day that we're all being monitored 24/7.There are CCTVs everywhere; using your Oyster Card when taking public transport allows the system to keep records of all your journey details(that's probably why using your Oyster is so much cheaper now compared to buying single tickets).
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