Seven songs I listened to during January 2007, and why. Includes thoughts about Last.fm, Iraq, and other sundry topics.
Although Adlai Stevenson has been dead for more than 40 years, he came alive for me again earlier this week when I heard his song, named after the Democratic presidental candidate in 1952 and 1956. Although Pitchfork did not like it, I found it uniquely compelling. A relatively short track at just under two minutes, [...]
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Gnome developer Miguel de Icaza pointed to Howard Zinn's editorial on war in next month's issue of The Progressive. In it, Zinn posits that the conflict in Iraq might be the last war that the United States takes part in. He claims that war is not the natural state of humanity, and armed conflict only [...]
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
I found the op-ed "Switched Off in Basra" a particularly good read, so I was a bit dismayed to find that its author, Stephen Vincent, was murdered yesterday:
Mr. Vincent and Ms. Tuaiz [his interpreter] were kidnapped around 7 p.m. Tuesday, as they left a moneychanger's shop in downtown Basra, by at least two men dressed [...]
James Traub's article in today's New York Times Magazine is an interesting treatment of the problems facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alas, a number of factors (including the corrupt government, a lack of international interest, inaction by locally-based diplomats) cause him to take a gloomy outlook toward the country's future. However, I found [...]
From Ben Tesch's del.icio.us feed comes a Flash application called "Iraqi War Fatalities." It shows deaths of Coalition personnel chronologically, marking them on a map of Iraq and Kuwait with small black dots and "tic" sounds. During times when the insurgency has been particularly troublesome (like the summer months), the ticking increases in volume. While [...]
Via TalkLeft comes a New York Times article I overlooked that explores why our troops in Iraq do not have the armored vehicles necessary to properly protect them from IEDs. Part of the problem is that the chassis design of the Humvee allows it to absorb much of the force from explosions that occur underneath [...]
I find it interesting that the week after Francophobic Republican congressmen suggest that we should leave Iraq and polls show that public support for keeping troops there is at its lowest level ever, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is suggesting that we send more troops.
Maybe it is too late, but before we give up [...]
It would be difficult for me to judge what conditions are like on the ground in Iraq (receiving all my news for various large media outlets), but based on its Internet topography, Iraq is not doing too well. While searching for the official government's website (since the CPA disbanded, they decided to stop updating their [...]
A New York Times article from today's edition talks about the travails of Iraqi doctors, which include kidnapping and revenge killings when their patients croak. Never fear! The new Iraqi government is here:
The Ministry of the Interior has already responded to the threats: it simplified gun license procedures for doctors, allowing them to get licensed [...]
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From the end of a New York Times article on an increase in foreign kidnappings and the delay of a national conference important for the January elections:
Iraqi employees of The New York Times, whose names have been withheld for their safety, [emphasis mine] contributed reporting for this article.
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This is in slightly bad taste, considering his violent death, but when I read this previous BBC News article, I thought that the comments made by Kim Sun-il, the South Korean hostage kidnapped in Iraq, were a bit strange.
In the video released by the militants, Kim Sun-il, a 33-year-old translator working for a company that [...]
This blog started in December of last year, well after the war in Iraq began and ended, mission accomplished!, leading what seems to be a new era in American foreign policy.
There are those that would have you, dear reader, believe that Iraq also represents the growing divide in American politics. On one side, this [...]
The Userland New York Times International RSS Feed: 12 Marines Believed Dead in Fight in Iraqi City, Military Says
The New York Times International Page
If I remember correctly, several military pundits had the opinion that the army would become bogged down in urban warfare after a quick invasion of Iraq. They would have to capture the city "block by block."
U.S. forces faced a tough urban battle Tuesday in their drive to pacify one of Iraq's most dangerous cities. [...]
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