From: bob lewis
Date: 11/5/2008 12:36:25 PM
To
Subject: Can't disagree with Freidman
"Incidentally, this was exactly what happened to the shah of Iran: 1) Sudden surge in oil prices. 2) Delusions of grandeur. 3) Sudden contraction of oil prices. 4) Dramatic downfall. 5) You’re toast.)"
"But the one thing Ahmadinejad couldn’t buy was real economic growth. Iran today has 30 percent inflation, 11 percent unemployment and huge underemployment with thousands of young college grads, engineers and architects selling pizzas and driving taxis. And now with oil prices falling, Iran — just like the Soviet Union — is going to have to pull back spending across the board. Fasten your seat belts."
"The U.N. Has imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran since Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 because of Iran’s refusal to halt uranium enrichment. But high oil prices minimized those sanctions; collapsing oil prices will now magnify those sanctions. If prices stay low, there is a good chance Iran will be open to negotiating over its nuclear program with the next U.S. President. "
OR START A WAR
"The other lesson from the carpet bazaar, says Sadjadpour, “is that there is never a price tag on any carpet. The dealer is not looking for a fixed price, but the highest price he can get — and the Iran price is constantly fluctuating depending on the price of oil.” Let’s now use that to our advantage."
Can you imagine the stock market without quoted prices or the housing market?
"Barack Hussein Obama would present another challenge for Iran’s mullahs. Their whole rationale for being is that they are resisting a hegemonic American power that wants to keep everyone down. Suddenly, next week, Iranians may look up and see that the country their leaders call “The Great Satan” has just elected “a guy whose middle name is the central figure in Shiite Islam — Hussein — and whose last name — Obama — when transliterated into Farsi, means ‘He is with us,’ ” said Sadjadpour."
"I’ve always been dubious about Barack Obama’s offer to negotiate with Iran — not because I didn’t believe that it was the right strategy, but because I didn’t believe we had enough leverage to succeed. And negotiating in the Middle East without leverage is like playing baseball without a bat."
This exercise just shows me how quotable Thom Freidman is when he writes these Op Ed's. He is planting virals which then can be spread across the wires and the Inrernet and quoted in other newspapers. It seems like much more than just making points in an essay.
The Joy of Trump
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
van Gogh
One night I went for a walk by the sea along the empty shore. It was not gay, but neither was it sad – it was beautiful. The deep blue sky was flecked with clouds of a blue deeper than the fundamental blue of intense cobalt, and others of a clearer blue, like the blue whiteness of the Milky Way. In the blue depth the stars were sparkling, greenish, yellow, white, pink, more brilliant, more sparkling gemlike than at home – even in Paris: opals you might call them, emeralds, lapis luzuli, rubies, sapphires. The sea was very deep ultramarine – the shore a sort of violet and faint russet as I saw it, and on the dunes (they are about seventeen feet high) some bushes Prussian blue.
—Vincent van Gogh, in a letter to his brother Theo
—Vincent van Gogh, in a letter to his brother Theo
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Afghanistan
Three bloody summers in Afghanistan
By Alastair Leithead
BBC News, Kabul
Three summers ago, Britain's war in Afghanistan began in earnest when 3,300 troops set up camp on a small, remote patch of desert in a little-known place called Helmand.
Some of the fiercest fighting has been in Helmand province
It's now a name most associate with war - a place where more than 100 British troops have died - and where efforts to bring stability and defeat a fierce insurgency have so far failed.
Some say there aren't enough troops, others say there are too many, and even commanders now admit this war won't be won by military force alone.
Based in Kabul, I have followed British troops over the last three years, and before leaving my posting in Afghanistan, went on one final trip to Helmand to try and answer the question of whether this mission is worthwhile.
In April 2006 it was sold, politically, as a peace-building mission.
"We'd be perfectly happy to leave in three years' time without firing one shot," the then Defence Secretary, John Reid, announced in Kabul.
But the following day the commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler gave another insight: "The greatest danger is we know very little about Helmand province, so it is a lack of information that will be the greatest challenge."
Just a few months later, troops were fighting for their lives, defending small isolated bases from wave after wave of attacks, dropping bombs on their doorsteps to keep insurgents at bay.
Since then, the nature of the fighting has changed, but the violence has continued.
2008 has been the bloodiest year yet for coalition troops
We experienced first hand the violence again this year - a third bloody summer for British forces in Helmand and at a forward base on the fringes of the town of Sangin.
We were met by incoming fire, as rockets crashed down close to the camp and British forces scrambled to return fire.
The next day, out on patrol, troops were dropping mortar bombs just ahead of their own positions as the Taleban moved forward into battle.
One mortar fell short through some technical fault and a soldier was injured, and the troops scrambled back to base with the insurgents in hot pursuit.
The next day they did it all over again, and on that occasion a 24-year-old dog handler was killed.
Since 2001 more than 120 British servicemen and women have died in Afghanistan.
Finding a way to win
The Taleban have lost many more men in the fighting, among them key commanders. They may wear flip-flops and fight a guerrilla war with old-fashioned weapons, but they are still a force capable of taking on the world's finest armies and not losing.
The definition of "winning" or "losing" is vitally important when it comes to what British and other international forces want to achieve in Afghanistan.
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, who commanded British forces in Helmand this summer, told Panorama: "There is no exclusively military solution to the nature of the insurgency in Afghanistan."
This power turbine will help provide electricity for more than a million
It's become clear over the months and years that this counter-insurgency campaign can't be won by fighting alone.
What then are the options for troops who are taking on a force prepared to die in battle, to blow themselves up in suicide attacks, and to plant roadside bombs in an effort to kill international and Afghan soldiers?
British forces came here to stop Afghanistan from again becoming the haven for al-Qaeda it was when the Twin Towers were hit on 9/11.
Troops are supporting the Afghan government, helping them to bring peace and prosperity and at the same time trying to tackle the huge problem of opium production, the raw material for most of the heroin on Britain's streets.
It has meant fighting to bring enough security to allow civilian experts to bring development projects to the people and better government to their town halls.
The strategy is to persuade Afghan people their lives will be better in a stable, secure, democratic Afghanistan.
This year more than £20m ($32m) will be spent on development projects in Helmand, including a river scheme which will bring irrigation water to 20,000 people and schools, clinics and wells.
However money has also been spent on a £300,000 road that, so far, goes nowhere, and a £400,000 park which few people use as security is so bad.
We met farmers and businessmen who laughed at the idea there was security in the towns and villages across much of Helmand.
People's opinions of the international efforts to help their country have changed over the past seven years.
In 2001 after the Taleban were forced from power, optimism was overflowing as first a new democratic constitution, then a president, then a parliament all took up office.
Millions of Afghans, living in exile after nearly 30 years of war, headed home with high hopes that finally their country was on track.
Millions of girls went to school, billions of dollars arrived in aid and the West felt confident it could change regimes and stabilise countries.
The battle for democracy
President Karzai questions Britain's tactics in Helmand
But this is Afghanistan: a fiercely tribal, staunchly Islamic, traditional society where warlords and drug barons, human rights abusers and criminals held sway amid the chaos and gained power as the Taleban fled.
Afghans were disappointed as the West failed to meet the expectations or bring the basics such as security and justice, but they now put up with the foreign involvement knowing it would be civil war if they left.
The Afghan government is struggling to keep a hold as the situation is gradually deteriorating.
President Hamid Karzai believes the British in Helmand have taken the wrong approach.
"The problem in the West was they felt they could copy in a day a system of administration and management which has been practiced in your country for more than a century," he told Panorama.
The troop presence continues and more US forces will soon be deployed to Afghanistan, an important and strategic country wedged between Iran and an increasingly chaotic Pakistan.
Can the multinational forces "win" in Afghanistan? Only if winning means staying and not "losing" long enough for Afghanistan to shape a stable future.
However, with the insurgency filtering
By Alastair Leithead
BBC News, Kabul
Three summers ago, Britain's war in Afghanistan began in earnest when 3,300 troops set up camp on a small, remote patch of desert in a little-known place called Helmand.
Some of the fiercest fighting has been in Helmand province
It's now a name most associate with war - a place where more than 100 British troops have died - and where efforts to bring stability and defeat a fierce insurgency have so far failed.
Some say there aren't enough troops, others say there are too many, and even commanders now admit this war won't be won by military force alone.
Based in Kabul, I have followed British troops over the last three years, and before leaving my posting in Afghanistan, went on one final trip to Helmand to try and answer the question of whether this mission is worthwhile.
In April 2006 it was sold, politically, as a peace-building mission.
"We'd be perfectly happy to leave in three years' time without firing one shot," the then Defence Secretary, John Reid, announced in Kabul.
But the following day the commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler gave another insight: "The greatest danger is we know very little about Helmand province, so it is a lack of information that will be the greatest challenge."
Just a few months later, troops were fighting for their lives, defending small isolated bases from wave after wave of attacks, dropping bombs on their doorsteps to keep insurgents at bay.
Since then, the nature of the fighting has changed, but the violence has continued.
2008 has been the bloodiest year yet for coalition troops
We experienced first hand the violence again this year - a third bloody summer for British forces in Helmand and at a forward base on the fringes of the town of Sangin.
We were met by incoming fire, as rockets crashed down close to the camp and British forces scrambled to return fire.
The next day, out on patrol, troops were dropping mortar bombs just ahead of their own positions as the Taleban moved forward into battle.
One mortar fell short through some technical fault and a soldier was injured, and the troops scrambled back to base with the insurgents in hot pursuit.
The next day they did it all over again, and on that occasion a 24-year-old dog handler was killed.
Since 2001 more than 120 British servicemen and women have died in Afghanistan.
Finding a way to win
The Taleban have lost many more men in the fighting, among them key commanders. They may wear flip-flops and fight a guerrilla war with old-fashioned weapons, but they are still a force capable of taking on the world's finest armies and not losing.
The definition of "winning" or "losing" is vitally important when it comes to what British and other international forces want to achieve in Afghanistan.
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, who commanded British forces in Helmand this summer, told Panorama: "There is no exclusively military solution to the nature of the insurgency in Afghanistan."
This power turbine will help provide electricity for more than a million
It's become clear over the months and years that this counter-insurgency campaign can't be won by fighting alone.
What then are the options for troops who are taking on a force prepared to die in battle, to blow themselves up in suicide attacks, and to plant roadside bombs in an effort to kill international and Afghan soldiers?
British forces came here to stop Afghanistan from again becoming the haven for al-Qaeda it was when the Twin Towers were hit on 9/11.
Troops are supporting the Afghan government, helping them to bring peace and prosperity and at the same time trying to tackle the huge problem of opium production, the raw material for most of the heroin on Britain's streets.
It has meant fighting to bring enough security to allow civilian experts to bring development projects to the people and better government to their town halls.
The strategy is to persuade Afghan people their lives will be better in a stable, secure, democratic Afghanistan.
This year more than £20m ($32m) will be spent on development projects in Helmand, including a river scheme which will bring irrigation water to 20,000 people and schools, clinics and wells.
However money has also been spent on a £300,000 road that, so far, goes nowhere, and a £400,000 park which few people use as security is so bad.
We met farmers and businessmen who laughed at the idea there was security in the towns and villages across much of Helmand.
People's opinions of the international efforts to help their country have changed over the past seven years.
In 2001 after the Taleban were forced from power, optimism was overflowing as first a new democratic constitution, then a president, then a parliament all took up office.
Millions of Afghans, living in exile after nearly 30 years of war, headed home with high hopes that finally their country was on track.
Millions of girls went to school, billions of dollars arrived in aid and the West felt confident it could change regimes and stabilise countries.
The battle for democracy
President Karzai questions Britain's tactics in Helmand
But this is Afghanistan: a fiercely tribal, staunchly Islamic, traditional society where warlords and drug barons, human rights abusers and criminals held sway amid the chaos and gained power as the Taleban fled.
Afghans were disappointed as the West failed to meet the expectations or bring the basics such as security and justice, but they now put up with the foreign involvement knowing it would be civil war if they left.
The Afghan government is struggling to keep a hold as the situation is gradually deteriorating.
President Hamid Karzai believes the British in Helmand have taken the wrong approach.
"The problem in the West was they felt they could copy in a day a system of administration and management which has been practiced in your country for more than a century," he told Panorama.
The troop presence continues and more US forces will soon be deployed to Afghanistan, an important and strategic country wedged between Iran and an increasingly chaotic Pakistan.
Can the multinational forces "win" in Afghanistan? Only if winning means staying and not "losing" long enough for Afghanistan to shape a stable future.
However, with the insurgency filtering
Thursday, September 11, 2008
New Developments
US 'must target Pakistan havens'
America is beefing up its troops in Afghanistan
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan to deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan.
Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Admiral Mike Mullen called for a military strategy that covered both sides of the border.
The US must work closely with Pakistan to "eliminate [the enemy's] safe havens", he told Congress.
But Pakistan insists it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory.
"There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border," Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said.
However, the New York Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that President George Bush had approved orders in July to allow US Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without Pakistani approval.
"The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable," an unnamed senior US official told the newspaper. "We have to be more assertive. Orders have been given."
A surge of US attacks in Pakistan's border region over the past week has prompted outrage from the government and army.
America is beefing up its troops in Afghanistan
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan to deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan.
Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Admiral Mike Mullen called for a military strategy that covered both sides of the border.
The US must work closely with Pakistan to "eliminate [the enemy's] safe havens", he told Congress.
But Pakistan insists it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory.
"There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border," Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said.
However, the New York Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that President George Bush had approved orders in July to allow US Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without Pakistani approval.
"The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable," an unnamed senior US official told the newspaper. "We have to be more assertive. Orders have been given."
A surge of US attacks in Pakistan's border region over the past week has prompted outrage from the government and army.
Pakistan Havens
US 'must target Pakistan havens'
America is beefing up its troops in Afghanistan
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan to deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan.
Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Admiral Mike Mullen called for a military strategy that covered both sides of the border.
The US must work closely with Pakistan to "eliminate [the enemy's] safe havens", he told Congress.
But Pakistan insists it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory.
"There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border," Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said.
However, the New York Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that President George Bush had approved.
America is beefing up its troops in Afghanistan
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan to deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan.
Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Admiral Mike Mullen called for a military strategy that covered both sides of the border.
The US must work closely with Pakistan to "eliminate [the enemy's] safe havens", he told Congress.
But Pakistan insists it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory.
"There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border," Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said.
However, the New York Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that President George Bush had approved.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Navaho word hozho, translated into English as “beauty,” also means harmony, wholeness, goodness. One story that suggests the dynamic way that beauty comes alive between us concerns a contemporary Navajo weaver. “A man ordered a rug of an especially complex pattern on two separate occasions from the same weaver. Both rugs came out perfectly and the weaver remarked to her brother that there must have been something special about the owner. It was understood that the outcome of the rugs was dependent not on the weaver’s skill and ability but upon the hozho in the owners life. The hozho of his life evoked the beauty in the rugs. In the Navaho world view, beauty exists not simply in the object, or in the artist who made the object; it is expressed in relationships.
- J. Ruth Gendler, Notes on the Need for Beauty
Doublespeak
In the same talk Harper says we're out but not quite. We'll stay on as technical advisors. Maybe he should look at the statistics of how many foreign aid workers are being targeted and killed.
Harper says 2011 'end date' for Afghanistan mission
'The mission, as we've known it, we intend to end,' PM tells reporters
A decade at war is enough, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said on Wednesday. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)
Canada will withdraw the bulk of its military forces in Afghanistan as scheduled in 2011, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper pledged on Wednesday, saying the Afghan government "at some point has to be able to be primarily responsible" for the country's security.
Speaking to reporters at a breakfast briefing in Toronto, Harper said the Canadian public has no appetite to keep soldiers in the war-torn country any longer than the pullout date agreed on by Parliament.
"You have to put an end date on these things," Harper said.
He added that while Canada's military leaders have not acknowledged it publicly, a decade of war is enough.
"By 2011, we will have been in Kandahar, which is probably the toughest province in the country, for six years," Harper said.
"Not only have we done our bit at that point, I think our goal has to be after six years to see the government of Afghanistan able to carry the lion's share of responsibility for its own security.
"At that point, the mission, as we've known it, we intend to end."
Troops would stay 'in some technical capacities'
The Tory government, supported by the Liberals, extended the military mission in Kandahar province to 2011 earlier this year, with a shift to emphasize the mission's priorities to reconstruction and development in the region.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Google chrome
Chrome a serious challenger in browser battle
By David Pogue
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Does the world really need another Web browser? Google thinks so. Chrome, its new browser, was developed in secrecy and released to the world Tuesday. The Windows version is available for download now at google.com/chrome; the Mac and Linux versions will take a little longer.
Google argues that current Web browsers were designed eons ago, before so many of the developments that characterize today's Web: video everywhere, scams and spyware, viruses that lurk even on legitimate sites, Web-based games and ambitious Web-based programs like Google's own Docs word processor.
As Google's blog puts it, "We realized that the Web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser."
What this early version of Chrome accomplishes isn't quite that grand. But it is a first-rate beginning.
With no status bar, no menu bar and only a single toolbar (for bookmarks), Chrome is minimalist in the extreme.
Some might even call it stripped-down. This initial version is labeled "beta," meaning still in testing. True, Google labels almost everything beta - the four-year-old Gmail program is still in beta - but this time it's serious.
At the moment, for example, there's no way to e-mail a Web page to someone, no full-screen mode, no way to magnify the page (rather than just the text), and no screen for organizing bookmarks. Google says that these features are at the top of its to-do list.
Chrome is, nonetheless, full of really smart features that seem to have been inspired by other browsers - or ripped off from them, depending on your level of cynicism.
Take the address bar. As you start to type, a menu of suggestions appears immediately beneath - a list culled not just from pages you have already visited, but also from your bookmarks, search suggestions and popular Web pages that you haven't been to before. That works even the first time you try it, since Chrome auto-imports your bookmarks, history and even stored passwords from your old browser. (See also: the similar address bars in Firefox and Internet Explorer 8, also now in beta testing.)
If you have ever searched Amazon, eBay, or other popular sites, another cool shortcut awaits. You can just type the site's first letter in the address bar and then press Tab. Do that with "A," for example, and the address bar changes to "Search amazon.com," allowing you to search within that site without even going there first. You've saved one big step.
As your start-up page, Chrome displays pictures of nine mini-Web pages, representing your most frequently visited sites. (See also: the Speed Dial feature on the Opera browser.)
This start-up page also lists several of your most recently visited sites and searches, making it a natural, time-saving starting point. (You can designate a more standard Home page if you prefer by clicking on the Options command that hides in one of the two menu icons.)
The "Create application shortcuts" command (also hiding in those menus) generates an icon on your desktop. When you click it, the corresponding site opens without the usual address bar and buttons - in other words, it now works exactly like a regular desktop program. For services like Gmail or blogging software, this feature further blurs the line between online and offline software.
Downloading files is really easy. A status button appears at the bottom of your browser window - there is no Downloads window to get in your way. You click that button to open the downloaded file, without having to worry about what folder it wound up in.
If you believe Google, though, the best stuff is all under the hood. For example, Google chose, as the underlying Web-page processing software, the same existing "rendering engine" inside Apple's Safari browser.
As a result, Chrome is quick - faster than Internet Explorer, although not quite as fast as Firefox or Safari. Since Chrome came out on Tuesday, I haven't had time to test it on all 40 billion Web pages on the Internet (I gave up around dinnertime).
Very few Web sites gave Chrome problems, though. NBCOlympics.com, for example, failed to recognize Chrome and therefore refused to play its videos, but that will change; nobody ignores Google these days.
Also under the hood are what Google considers some of Chrome's most important features - the security enhancements. Google says that each tab runs in its own "sandbox," so that if there's nasty spyware-type software running on one Web site, it has no access to the rest of your computer, or even the other tabs. Google asserts that this is much stronger protection than Internet Explorer 8 gives you, especially in Windows XP. (Internet Explorer 8 supplies its best protection only in Windows Vista.)
Also in the security category, something called Incognito mode, in which no cookies, passwords or cache files are saved, and the browser's History list records no trace of your activity. (See also: Safari, Internet Explorer 8.) Google cheerfully suggests that you can use Incognito mode "to plan surprises like gifts or birthdays," but they're not fooling anyone; the bloggers call it "porn mode."
For more of the technological details about Chrome security, Google has created what may be the most innovative feature of all: an utterly charming comic book - yes, a comic book - that explains the browser and its features.
Already, speculation is running rampant online. Will Chrome catch on? What about Google's business relationships with its competitors?
And above all: What is Google up to?
Is it trying to build a platform for running the software of the future, thereby de-emphasizing Windows and other operating systems?
That's a yes. Google even went to the trouble of rewriting Javascript, the programming language that underlies many such online programs. According to online Javascript speed tests, Google's version is twice as fast as Internet Explorer 7.
Will Google ensure that its own services run better in Chrome than in other browsers? Is this part of Google's great conspiracy?
That's a no and a no. Chrome is based on open-source programming, meaning that its code is available to everyone for inspection or improvement - even to its rivals. That's a huge, promising twist that ought to shut up the conspiracy theorists.
For now, it's best to think of Chrome as exactly what it purports to be: a promising, modern, streamlined, nonbloated, very secure alternative to the browsers currently available. You should do exactly what Microsoft, Apple and the Firefox folks will all be doing: Try it out and keep your eye on it.
Because every now and then, Google's fresh approach ends up dominating its once much bigger competitors (See also: Ask, AltaVista, Lycos...)
Correction:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
By David Pogue
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Does the world really need another Web browser? Google thinks so. Chrome, its new browser, was developed in secrecy and released to the world Tuesday. The Windows version is available for download now at google.com/chrome; the Mac and Linux versions will take a little longer.
Google argues that current Web browsers were designed eons ago, before so many of the developments that characterize today's Web: video everywhere, scams and spyware, viruses that lurk even on legitimate sites, Web-based games and ambitious Web-based programs like Google's own Docs word processor.
As Google's blog puts it, "We realized that the Web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser."
What this early version of Chrome accomplishes isn't quite that grand. But it is a first-rate beginning.
With no status bar, no menu bar and only a single toolbar (for bookmarks), Chrome is minimalist in the extreme.
Some might even call it stripped-down. This initial version is labeled "beta," meaning still in testing. True, Google labels almost everything beta - the four-year-old Gmail program is still in beta - but this time it's serious.
At the moment, for example, there's no way to e-mail a Web page to someone, no full-screen mode, no way to magnify the page (rather than just the text), and no screen for organizing bookmarks. Google says that these features are at the top of its to-do list.
Chrome is, nonetheless, full of really smart features that seem to have been inspired by other browsers - or ripped off from them, depending on your level of cynicism.
Take the address bar. As you start to type, a menu of suggestions appears immediately beneath - a list culled not just from pages you have already visited, but also from your bookmarks, search suggestions and popular Web pages that you haven't been to before. That works even the first time you try it, since Chrome auto-imports your bookmarks, history and even stored passwords from your old browser. (See also: the similar address bars in Firefox and Internet Explorer 8, also now in beta testing.)
If you have ever searched Amazon, eBay, or other popular sites, another cool shortcut awaits. You can just type the site's first letter in the address bar and then press Tab. Do that with "A," for example, and the address bar changes to "Search amazon.com," allowing you to search within that site without even going there first. You've saved one big step.
As your start-up page, Chrome displays pictures of nine mini-Web pages, representing your most frequently visited sites. (See also: the Speed Dial feature on the Opera browser.)
This start-up page also lists several of your most recently visited sites and searches, making it a natural, time-saving starting point. (You can designate a more standard Home page if you prefer by clicking on the Options command that hides in one of the two menu icons.)
The "Create application shortcuts" command (also hiding in those menus) generates an icon on your desktop. When you click it, the corresponding site opens without the usual address bar and buttons - in other words, it now works exactly like a regular desktop program. For services like Gmail or blogging software, this feature further blurs the line between online and offline software.
Downloading files is really easy. A status button appears at the bottom of your browser window - there is no Downloads window to get in your way. You click that button to open the downloaded file, without having to worry about what folder it wound up in.
If you believe Google, though, the best stuff is all under the hood. For example, Google chose, as the underlying Web-page processing software, the same existing "rendering engine" inside Apple's Safari browser.
As a result, Chrome is quick - faster than Internet Explorer, although not quite as fast as Firefox or Safari. Since Chrome came out on Tuesday, I haven't had time to test it on all 40 billion Web pages on the Internet (I gave up around dinnertime).
Very few Web sites gave Chrome problems, though. NBCOlympics.com, for example, failed to recognize Chrome and therefore refused to play its videos, but that will change; nobody ignores Google these days.
Also under the hood are what Google considers some of Chrome's most important features - the security enhancements. Google says that each tab runs in its own "sandbox," so that if there's nasty spyware-type software running on one Web site, it has no access to the rest of your computer, or even the other tabs. Google asserts that this is much stronger protection than Internet Explorer 8 gives you, especially in Windows XP. (Internet Explorer 8 supplies its best protection only in Windows Vista.)
Also in the security category, something called Incognito mode, in which no cookies, passwords or cache files are saved, and the browser's History list records no trace of your activity. (See also: Safari, Internet Explorer 8.) Google cheerfully suggests that you can use Incognito mode "to plan surprises like gifts or birthdays," but they're not fooling anyone; the bloggers call it "porn mode."
For more of the technological details about Chrome security, Google has created what may be the most innovative feature of all: an utterly charming comic book - yes, a comic book - that explains the browser and its features.
Already, speculation is running rampant online. Will Chrome catch on? What about Google's business relationships with its competitors?
And above all: What is Google up to?
Is it trying to build a platform for running the software of the future, thereby de-emphasizing Windows and other operating systems?
That's a yes. Google even went to the trouble of rewriting Javascript, the programming language that underlies many such online programs. According to online Javascript speed tests, Google's version is twice as fast as Internet Explorer 7.
Will Google ensure that its own services run better in Chrome than in other browsers? Is this part of Google's great conspiracy?
That's a no and a no. Chrome is based on open-source programming, meaning that its code is available to everyone for inspection or improvement - even to its rivals. That's a huge, promising twist that ought to shut up the conspiracy theorists.
For now, it's best to think of Chrome as exactly what it purports to be: a promising, modern, streamlined, nonbloated, very secure alternative to the browsers currently available. You should do exactly what Microsoft, Apple and the Firefox folks will all be doing: Try it out and keep your eye on it.
Because every now and then, Google's fresh approach ends up dominating its once much bigger competitors (See also: Ask, AltaVista, Lycos...)
Correction:
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Notes:
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Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
Corruption rules in the third world
In destitute kingdom, ruler lives like a king
By Barry Bearak
Saturday, September 6, 2008
LUDZIDZINI, Swaziland: Once upon a time, a young and handsome king ruled over a land of mountainous splendor near the southern tip of Africa. He liked to marry, and as the years passed he took 13 wives, each of them a great beauty.
His countrymen wanted His Majesty to be happy, but some also thought so many spouses were an extravagance for a poor, tiny nation. After all, the king, Mswati III, often provided these wives a retinue, a palace and a new BMW.
A great event was soon forthcoming — on Saturday, in fact. To prepare for the day — the 40-40 Celebration, so-named to honor the king's 40th birthday and the nation's 40th year of independence — a 15,000-seat stadium was built and a fleet of top-of-the-line BMW sedans was ordered for the comfort of visiting dignitaries.
Once again, some people wondered how the kingdom, Swaziland, could afford the expense. Some 1,500 of them grumpily marched in protest through the capital after news reports said that several of the queens and their entourages had gone on an overseas shopping trip aboard a chartered plane.
Indeed, as the big day neared, other protests drew thousands more into the streets of the country's two biggest cities. "The king spends our money and is not answerable to anyone!" complained Mario Masuku, the head of an outlawed political party and a familiar figure of Swazi discontent.
The rowdiest of the demonstrators flung rocks, looted goods from sidewalk vendors and even set off a few small explosions. Others made impromptu placards with torn up cardboard. "Down with 40-40!" read one, while another demanded, "Democracy now!" A few protesters chanted things meant to make rich people feel guilty: "My mother was a kitchen girl. My father was a garden boy. That's why I'm a Socialist."
The angriest of them went so far as to insist that the nation had little to celebrate. Yes, Swazis have enjoyed decades of peace and are proud of their culture. But poverty has entrapped two-thirds of the people, leaving hundreds of thousands malnourished. And these days death casually sweeps away even the strong. The country has one of the worst rates of HIV infection in the world. Life expectancy has fallen from 60 years in 1997 to barely half that now. Nearly a third of all children have lost a parent.
"How can the king live in luxury while his people suffer?" asked Siphiwe Hlophe, a human rights activist. "How much money does he need, anyway?"
That question was as confounding as it was impertinent. In the government's latest budget, about $30 million was set aside for "royal emoluments."
But surely the king's income exceeds that, people said. The royal family also controls a corporate business empire "in trust for the nation," investing in sugar cane, commercial property and a newspaper. Forbes.com recently listed Mswati III as the world's 15th wealthiest monarch, estimating his fortune at $200 million.
But is this not the way of the world? The king, after all, is the king. The poor, after all, are the poor. Percy Simelane, the government's spokesman, was quoted by Agence France-Presse last week as saying: "Poverty has been with us for many years. We cannot then sit by the roadside and weep just because the country is faced with poverty. We have made great strides as a country that gives us pleasure in celebrating 40 years of independence and the king's birthday."
Indeed, most of Swaziland's 1.1 million people love their monarch. God gave the country to the king, many of them say, and the king was given to the people by God. Mswati III's father, Sobhuza II, had been especially revered. He was more frugal than his son, transporting the royal family in buses instead of BMWs. But he, too, liked to marry. It was said that he took 70 wives, though some put the number as high as 110.
Sobhuza II was king when the nation shed the yoke of colonialism, finally free of Britain yet left with a British-style Constitution. The esteemed monarch did not abide by this document for long. In 1973, he dissolved Parliament and rid himself of the annoyance of political parties.
In the years ahead, political reformers, primarily city people, pushed for democracy. Mswati III succeeded his father in 1986, and in 2005, after much give and take, signed a new Constitution. But it was a peculiar document, guaranteeing individual liberties with one hand and preserving the absolute monarchy with the other. The king would continue to appoint the prime minister and members of the governing cabinet and the judiciary.
Under this arrangement, it was hard for an outsider to tell where the monarchy ended and the government began. But most Swazis see things entirely otherwise. As a local saying goes, "A king is a mouth that does not lie." The government is bad, people tend to conclude, but the king is good. "Others in authority abuse their power, not the king," explained Ncoyi Mkhonta, the acting chief of the village of Mahlangatsha.
Corruption is bleeding the treasury, but His Majesty's exalted status has complicated the work of law enforcement. The finance minister has publicly estimated that $5 million — and maybe as much as $8 million — is siphoned off each month. Various anti-graft bureaus have failed to exact justice.
The latest corruption-fighting commission is headed by H. M. Mtegha, a retired judge from Malawi. He is not optimistic: "If we go after someone high up and he says the king told me to do this, what can I do? To be satisfied, I'd have to ask the king himself, and this cannot be done. The king is immune."
Of course, being king is not without its own difficulties. In 2001, faced with the relentlessness of the AIDS pandemic, Mswati III invoked an ancient chastity rite, asking Swazi maidens to refrain from sex for five years. He then violated his own rule by selecting a 17-year-old as his ninth wife. To show the extent of his regret, he paid the customary fine of one cow.
In 2003, an 18-year-old caught the king's eye, and some of the royal aides fetched the young woman from her school. The teenager's mother was unwilling to part with her daughter in this manner and had the audacity to sue the king in a Swazi court. This dispute ended only when the girl convinced her mother that she was happy to become the king's next bride.
With the ways of the royal family so often misunderstood, the king agreed to cooperate with an American filmmaker on a documentary, perhaps presuming a flattering portrayal. Instead, the movie, "Without the King," directed by Michael Skolnik and released last year, juxtaposed the gilded furnishings of a royal palace with scenes of the Swazi destitute eating animal intestines scavenged from a dump site.
In the film, Mswati III acknowledged the poor: "It's always very sad when you see a lot of them sick about their lives, how difficult it is, how difficult they are coping, looking after their families and so on. And then you see sometimes that you wish to help them but the funds are always not enough."
One of Swaziland's greatest traditions is the annual Reed Dance, when colorfully adorned, bare-breasted young women — all proclaiming purity as virgins — parade before the royal family and others. This year's ceremony — last Monday, in fact — took place in the Ludzidzini Arena with the Mdzima Mountains as a jagged backdrop and a record 60,000 dancers performing on the grassy field.
It seemed an inspiring display of Swazi pride, and yet there have been critics of the king who consider such festivities a manipulation of culture for political gain. "As people challenge the monarchy, demands increase to show that the king remains popular," said Musa Hlophe, leader of a coalition of civic groups. "Thousands of girls are transported by the government to the Reed Dance as if it were a referendum on the system itself."
In recent years, the ritual has acquired additional excitement, for Mswati III sometimes selects his next queen from the throng of virgins.
Cinsile Maseko, a 13-year-old from a village 50 miles away, did not suppose the choice would be her, but she fantasized anyway about a marital transformation from poverty to plenty, becoming a queen dressed in stylish clothes and traveling the kingdom in a fancy automobile.
She relished the idea for a few seconds and then added one more joyous thought. "You'd be with the king," she said.
More Articles in World » A version of this article appeared in print on September 6, 2008, on page A1 of the New York edition.
Correction:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
By Barry Bearak
Saturday, September 6, 2008
LUDZIDZINI, Swaziland: Once upon a time, a young and handsome king ruled over a land of mountainous splendor near the southern tip of Africa. He liked to marry, and as the years passed he took 13 wives, each of them a great beauty.
His countrymen wanted His Majesty to be happy, but some also thought so many spouses were an extravagance for a poor, tiny nation. After all, the king, Mswati III, often provided these wives a retinue, a palace and a new BMW.
A great event was soon forthcoming — on Saturday, in fact. To prepare for the day — the 40-40 Celebration, so-named to honor the king's 40th birthday and the nation's 40th year of independence — a 15,000-seat stadium was built and a fleet of top-of-the-line BMW sedans was ordered for the comfort of visiting dignitaries.
Once again, some people wondered how the kingdom, Swaziland, could afford the expense. Some 1,500 of them grumpily marched in protest through the capital after news reports said that several of the queens and their entourages had gone on an overseas shopping trip aboard a chartered plane.
Indeed, as the big day neared, other protests drew thousands more into the streets of the country's two biggest cities. "The king spends our money and is not answerable to anyone!" complained Mario Masuku, the head of an outlawed political party and a familiar figure of Swazi discontent.
The rowdiest of the demonstrators flung rocks, looted goods from sidewalk vendors and even set off a few small explosions. Others made impromptu placards with torn up cardboard. "Down with 40-40!" read one, while another demanded, "Democracy now!" A few protesters chanted things meant to make rich people feel guilty: "My mother was a kitchen girl. My father was a garden boy. That's why I'm a Socialist."
The angriest of them went so far as to insist that the nation had little to celebrate. Yes, Swazis have enjoyed decades of peace and are proud of their culture. But poverty has entrapped two-thirds of the people, leaving hundreds of thousands malnourished. And these days death casually sweeps away even the strong. The country has one of the worst rates of HIV infection in the world. Life expectancy has fallen from 60 years in 1997 to barely half that now. Nearly a third of all children have lost a parent.
"How can the king live in luxury while his people suffer?" asked Siphiwe Hlophe, a human rights activist. "How much money does he need, anyway?"
That question was as confounding as it was impertinent. In the government's latest budget, about $30 million was set aside for "royal emoluments."
But surely the king's income exceeds that, people said. The royal family also controls a corporate business empire "in trust for the nation," investing in sugar cane, commercial property and a newspaper. Forbes.com recently listed Mswati III as the world's 15th wealthiest monarch, estimating his fortune at $200 million.
But is this not the way of the world? The king, after all, is the king. The poor, after all, are the poor. Percy Simelane, the government's spokesman, was quoted by Agence France-Presse last week as saying: "Poverty has been with us for many years. We cannot then sit by the roadside and weep just because the country is faced with poverty. We have made great strides as a country that gives us pleasure in celebrating 40 years of independence and the king's birthday."
Indeed, most of Swaziland's 1.1 million people love their monarch. God gave the country to the king, many of them say, and the king was given to the people by God. Mswati III's father, Sobhuza II, had been especially revered. He was more frugal than his son, transporting the royal family in buses instead of BMWs. But he, too, liked to marry. It was said that he took 70 wives, though some put the number as high as 110.
Sobhuza II was king when the nation shed the yoke of colonialism, finally free of Britain yet left with a British-style Constitution. The esteemed monarch did not abide by this document for long. In 1973, he dissolved Parliament and rid himself of the annoyance of political parties.
In the years ahead, political reformers, primarily city people, pushed for democracy. Mswati III succeeded his father in 1986, and in 2005, after much give and take, signed a new Constitution. But it was a peculiar document, guaranteeing individual liberties with one hand and preserving the absolute monarchy with the other. The king would continue to appoint the prime minister and members of the governing cabinet and the judiciary.
Under this arrangement, it was hard for an outsider to tell where the monarchy ended and the government began. But most Swazis see things entirely otherwise. As a local saying goes, "A king is a mouth that does not lie." The government is bad, people tend to conclude, but the king is good. "Others in authority abuse their power, not the king," explained Ncoyi Mkhonta, the acting chief of the village of Mahlangatsha.
Corruption is bleeding the treasury, but His Majesty's exalted status has complicated the work of law enforcement. The finance minister has publicly estimated that $5 million — and maybe as much as $8 million — is siphoned off each month. Various anti-graft bureaus have failed to exact justice.
The latest corruption-fighting commission is headed by H. M. Mtegha, a retired judge from Malawi. He is not optimistic: "If we go after someone high up and he says the king told me to do this, what can I do? To be satisfied, I'd have to ask the king himself, and this cannot be done. The king is immune."
Of course, being king is not without its own difficulties. In 2001, faced with the relentlessness of the AIDS pandemic, Mswati III invoked an ancient chastity rite, asking Swazi maidens to refrain from sex for five years. He then violated his own rule by selecting a 17-year-old as his ninth wife. To show the extent of his regret, he paid the customary fine of one cow.
In 2003, an 18-year-old caught the king's eye, and some of the royal aides fetched the young woman from her school. The teenager's mother was unwilling to part with her daughter in this manner and had the audacity to sue the king in a Swazi court. This dispute ended only when the girl convinced her mother that she was happy to become the king's next bride.
With the ways of the royal family so often misunderstood, the king agreed to cooperate with an American filmmaker on a documentary, perhaps presuming a flattering portrayal. Instead, the movie, "Without the King," directed by Michael Skolnik and released last year, juxtaposed the gilded furnishings of a royal palace with scenes of the Swazi destitute eating animal intestines scavenged from a dump site.
In the film, Mswati III acknowledged the poor: "It's always very sad when you see a lot of them sick about their lives, how difficult it is, how difficult they are coping, looking after their families and so on. And then you see sometimes that you wish to help them but the funds are always not enough."
One of Swaziland's greatest traditions is the annual Reed Dance, when colorfully adorned, bare-breasted young women — all proclaiming purity as virgins — parade before the royal family and others. This year's ceremony — last Monday, in fact — took place in the Ludzidzini Arena with the Mdzima Mountains as a jagged backdrop and a record 60,000 dancers performing on the grassy field.
It seemed an inspiring display of Swazi pride, and yet there have been critics of the king who consider such festivities a manipulation of culture for political gain. "As people challenge the monarchy, demands increase to show that the king remains popular," said Musa Hlophe, leader of a coalition of civic groups. "Thousands of girls are transported by the government to the Reed Dance as if it were a referendum on the system itself."
In recent years, the ritual has acquired additional excitement, for Mswati III sometimes selects his next queen from the throng of virgins.
Cinsile Maseko, a 13-year-old from a village 50 miles away, did not suppose the choice would be her, but she fantasized anyway about a marital transformation from poverty to plenty, becoming a queen dressed in stylish clothes and traveling the kingdom in a fancy automobile.
She relished the idea for a few seconds and then added one more joyous thought. "You'd be with the king," she said.
More Articles in World » A version of this article appeared in print on September 6, 2008, on page A1 of the New York edition.
Correction:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
Pakistan
Bhutto's widower elected in Pakistan
By Jane Perlez and Salman Masood Pub'd: September 7, 2000
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who has little experience in governing, was elected president of Pakistan on Saturday by a wide margin.
Zardari, 53, who spent 11 years in jail on corruption charges that remain unproved, succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month under the threat of impeachment. He is expected to be sworn in on Monday or Tuesday, Pakistani officials said.
Zardari has the tacit approval of the United States, which views him as an ally in the campaign against terrorism. He has promised a tougher fight against members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda ensconced in the nation's tribal areas, from where they mount assaults on American and NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.
His election coincides with a stepped-up effort by the United States to root out the Taliban and Al Qaeda from the tribal areas. American commandos attacked militants in a village near the Afghan border on Wednesday, in what American military officials said could be a continuing campaign in Pakistan's tribal region.
Zardari becomes president amid increasing evidence that the Pakistani government and military face almost overwhelming difficulties in battling the militants, who now virtually control the tribal areas. In a reminder of that challenge, a suicide bomber killed at least 30 people and wounded 80 at a police checkpoint near Peshawar on Saturday.
Official results from voting in the two houses of Parliament and four provincial assemblies showed that Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, won 481 of 702 votes. His closest competitor, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, won 153 votes, and a third candidate, Mushahid Hussain Syed, received 44 votes.
After Bhutto was killed in December, Zardari became the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which was founded by Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and is considered to be almost a cult of the Bhutto dynasty.
Zardari led the party to victory in a parliamentary election on Feb. 18 and formed a coalition with Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.
That coalition collapsed last month amid recriminations over the reinstatement of some 60 judges fired by President Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule in November.
In a sign of conciliation, Sharif telephoned Zardari on Saturday to congratulate him on his victory and pledge his support, according to television accounts of the call.
The White House issued a supportive statement on Saturday. "The United States congratulates Asif Ali Zardari on his election as president," said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman. "President Bush looks forward to working with him, Prime Minister Gilani and the government of Pakistan on issues important to both countries, including counterterrorism and making sure Pakistan has a stable and secure economy."
Zardari's aides have promised that as president, Zardari would agree to the elimination of a constitutional provision that allows the president to dismiss Parliament, long considered a weak institution.
The minister of information, Sherry Rehman, a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said the relationship between the presidency and Parliament would be better balanced under Zardari, resulting in a "new era of democratic stability." Rehman added, "Today, every Pakistani can raise his head with pride."
After the vote, Zardari spoke briefly outside the prime minister's residence. Flanked by his two teenage daughters, Bakhtawar and Asifa, Zardari said he would uphold the democratic philosophy of Bhutto.
"Parliament will be sovereign," he said. "This president shall be subservient to the Parliament."
But there was considerable skepticism among politicians and in the news media that Zardari would agree to a diminution of power. An editorial on Saturday in the daily newspaper Dawn said it hoped that "his commitment to make himself a titular head of state will not waver."
Most Pakistanis looked on the presidential vote with considerable indifference, a sharp contrast to the excitement during the campaign leading to parliamentary elections.
In the Aabpara market in Islamabad, some storekeepers viewed Zardari's victory as a foregone conclusion.
Several said it was good for Pakistan to have a president and a prime minister from the same party, reflecting the official line of the Pakistan Peoples Party. "He can be a good president because the whole party is behind him," said Malik Zahoor, 50.
But some vendors said the corruption charges against Zardari made him unsuitable for the presidency.
"He's a certified thief," said Akhlaq Abbasi, 60, the owner of a fabric and tailoring shop.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Three Cups of Tea
"Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson.
His mission is to build schools in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan in remote villages outside of large cities to educate young girls. He sees girls as the instruments for change in these struggling areas.
Greg Mortenson was climbing the Himalayan mountain named K2, a member of his team needed to be evacuated for medical reasons, Mortenson got lost descending and wandered into a tiny village whose members nursed him to health. He promised to return and build them a school for the boys and GIRLS to be educated. Moslem Pakistan is a political hotbed and he faces many challenges in achieving his aim. He started with the goal of building one school and is up to 55 schools today. This is a well told story.
Greg Mortenson lived in Africa and Mount Kilamajaro (left) was the first mountain to catch his interest. His father built Tanzania's first hospital. Greg seems to have learned many lessons observing his father's struggle to build the first hospital in a very poor nation.
My review is simplistic. You will find the book is fascinating and an easy read. You learn something new on every page. For instance,
" If you want to thrive in Baltisan, you must respect our ways... The first time you share a cup of tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we will do anything, even die. You must take time to share 3 cups of tea."
This is the kind of messages you find in this book. Hence, the name.
His mission is to build schools in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan in remote villages outside of large cities to educate young girls. He sees girls as the instruments for change in these struggling areas.
Greg Mortenson was climbing the Himalayan mountain named K2, a member of his team needed to be evacuated for medical reasons, Mortenson got lost descending and wandered into a tiny village whose members nursed him to health. He promised to return and build them a school for the boys and GIRLS to be educated. Moslem Pakistan is a political hotbed and he faces many challenges in achieving his aim. He started with the goal of building one school and is up to 55 schools today. This is a well told story.
Greg Mortenson lived in Africa and Mount Kilamajaro (left) was the first mountain to catch his interest. His father built Tanzania's first hospital. Greg seems to have learned many lessons observing his father's struggle to build the first hospital in a very poor nation.
My review is simplistic. You will find the book is fascinating and an easy read. You learn something new on every page. For instance,
" If you want to thrive in Baltisan, you must respect our ways... The first time you share a cup of tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we will do anything, even die. You must take time to share 3 cups of tea."
This is the kind of messages you find in this book. Hence, the name.
One Man's Mission To Promote Peace One School at a Time
Just read a very inspiring book called:
"Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Chapter 23's opening quote:
Our earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers are like running sores; the air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily smoke of countless hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women, scattered from homeland, family, friends, wander desolate and uncertain, scorched by a toxic sun...
In the desert of frightened, blind uncertainty, some take refuge in the pursuit of power. Some become manipulators of illusion and deceit.
If wisdom and harmony still dwell in this world, as other than a dream lost in an unopened book, they are hidden in our heartbeat.
And it is from our hearts that we cry out. We cry out and our voices are the single voice of this wounded earth. Our cries are a great wind across the earth.
________from the Warrior Song of King Gezar
This quote caught my attention. Mortenson seeks to end the tragic lack of basic education, particularly of young girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He offers a way to tolerance, peace and justice while empowering the people he works alongside. He learned to sit down, be quiet, and let the people do the work after being lectured for micromanaging his first school building project. He adapted to the customs of the villagers and they completed the work in first class fashion.
He has some good things to say about helping, such as, to start small -one seed, one penny, one pencil, one child at a time - make that happen and go on from there.
Think outside of the box and do not be afraid of failure. He reminds you to think of the Persian Proverb: "When it is dark, you can see the stars" to deal with failures.
Basic education needs to come before you entertain bigger ideas like critical thinking to deal with extremist dogma. He constantly directs his efforts to the practical and allows the people to take it from there.
Basic tools provide much more than might be expected if considered on the surface , like bringing communities together by simply being able to write letters to distant relatives. Stuff we take for granted. There is no perfect time to begin, now is the time! Ideal conditions seldom arrive.
He quotes Judith Campbell, "When your heart speaks, take good notes." and says he keeps that wisdom on a sticky note on his bathroom mirror. Have a dream, believe its possible, take some actions to get on your path, and periodically evaluate if you are getting any closer.
Mortenson has been working long enough in Northern Pakistan to see some girls go on to higher education in a bigger population center where the girls continue to have even bigger dreams for themselves. The basic education is providing the building blocks to an unimagined future for these and other girls and boys in the remote villages Mortenson has set on a course to better education and all its benefits.
Ask a woman in the Third World what she wants and she will tell you that she wants her children to get an education and that her babies not die. Hence, the schools' curricula includes basic hygiene, sanitation and nutrition. Simple but effective ways to curb the plague of infant mortality in the remote villages where Mortenson works.
Tea is about happenstance, grit, endurance, hostilities and unlikely friendships, sweat equity's undeniable value, community and HOPE. Paradise is in our hearts and our communities so Mortenson rallies and empowers individual communities to build schools and gain an education for their children. He tells of an African proverb:
"If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community."
Thus educate girls to change the life of a community.
Research is quoted saying,
"If you educate a girl (to at least) fifth grade level you accomplish 3 things:
1) reduce infant mortality
2)reduce the population explosion
3)improve the basic qualities of life and health itself."
Other research says, "$1 invested in a girl's education returns $34 value to her community after 20 years - a very good Return On Investment.
Some of my notes have been taken from listening to Mortenson give a speech on Google which he says he has given to about 80,000 people in 140 cities in the U.S. in the last year (as of Feb 08). That is commitment from a guy who dislikes the public spotlight and speaking in front of audiences.
Push Back Fundamentalism and Bring Peace One School at a Time
In the fight for the minds and the hearts of these people there is competition from the fundamentalist schools funded by the Saudi's, run by the Taliban, called Wahhabi madrassas that are popping up all over Afghanistan and Pakistan. These schools provide a fundamentalist education and turn out right wing male extremists instead of graduating students with a well balanced education. Young men educated to see the West as an enemy or Great Satan. This to me makes his quest all the more urgent and worthwhile and deserving of wide support by the people of free societies like Canada.
Mortenson points out that not everyone needs to drop what they are doing and move to the third world to do charitable works. There are plenty of good causes in our own communities. Underfunded libraries and children graduating illiterate and with few life skills from our modern school system are examples of places to make a difference and to contribute locally.
Mortenson asks that we tell our friends and help him spread the word so I thought it would be a good start to review his book. We support our local library and a Literacy non-profit by buying all our used books from them.
"Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Chapter 23's opening quote:
Our earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers are like running sores; the air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily smoke of countless hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women, scattered from homeland, family, friends, wander desolate and uncertain, scorched by a toxic sun...
In the desert of frightened, blind uncertainty, some take refuge in the pursuit of power. Some become manipulators of illusion and deceit.
If wisdom and harmony still dwell in this world, as other than a dream lost in an unopened book, they are hidden in our heartbeat.
And it is from our hearts that we cry out. We cry out and our voices are the single voice of this wounded earth. Our cries are a great wind across the earth.
________from the Warrior Song of King Gezar
This quote caught my attention. Mortenson seeks to end the tragic lack of basic education, particularly of young girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He offers a way to tolerance, peace and justice while empowering the people he works alongside. He learned to sit down, be quiet, and let the people do the work after being lectured for micromanaging his first school building project. He adapted to the customs of the villagers and they completed the work in first class fashion.
He has some good things to say about helping, such as, to start small -one seed, one penny, one pencil, one child at a time - make that happen and go on from there.
Think outside of the box and do not be afraid of failure. He reminds you to think of the Persian Proverb: "When it is dark, you can see the stars" to deal with failures.
Basic education needs to come before you entertain bigger ideas like critical thinking to deal with extremist dogma. He constantly directs his efforts to the practical and allows the people to take it from there.
Basic tools provide much more than might be expected if considered on the surface , like bringing communities together by simply being able to write letters to distant relatives. Stuff we take for granted. There is no perfect time to begin, now is the time! Ideal conditions seldom arrive.
He quotes Judith Campbell, "When your heart speaks, take good notes." and says he keeps that wisdom on a sticky note on his bathroom mirror. Have a dream, believe its possible, take some actions to get on your path, and periodically evaluate if you are getting any closer.
Mortenson has been working long enough in Northern Pakistan to see some girls go on to higher education in a bigger population center where the girls continue to have even bigger dreams for themselves. The basic education is providing the building blocks to an unimagined future for these and other girls and boys in the remote villages Mortenson has set on a course to better education and all its benefits.
Ask a woman in the Third World what she wants and she will tell you that she wants her children to get an education and that her babies not die. Hence, the schools' curricula includes basic hygiene, sanitation and nutrition. Simple but effective ways to curb the plague of infant mortality in the remote villages where Mortenson works.
Tea is about happenstance, grit, endurance, hostilities and unlikely friendships, sweat equity's undeniable value, community and HOPE. Paradise is in our hearts and our communities so Mortenson rallies and empowers individual communities to build schools and gain an education for their children. He tells of an African proverb:
"If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community."
Thus educate girls to change the life of a community.
Research is quoted saying,
"If you educate a girl (to at least) fifth grade level you accomplish 3 things:
1) reduce infant mortality
2)reduce the population explosion
3)improve the basic qualities of life and health itself."
Other research says, "$1 invested in a girl's education returns $34 value to her community after 20 years - a very good Return On Investment.
Some of my notes have been taken from listening to Mortenson give a speech on Google which he says he has given to about 80,000 people in 140 cities in the U.S. in the last year (as of Feb 08). That is commitment from a guy who dislikes the public spotlight and speaking in front of audiences.
Push Back Fundamentalism and Bring Peace One School at a Time
In the fight for the minds and the hearts of these people there is competition from the fundamentalist schools funded by the Saudi's, run by the Taliban, called Wahhabi madrassas that are popping up all over Afghanistan and Pakistan. These schools provide a fundamentalist education and turn out right wing male extremists instead of graduating students with a well balanced education. Young men educated to see the West as an enemy or Great Satan. This to me makes his quest all the more urgent and worthwhile and deserving of wide support by the people of free societies like Canada.
Mortenson points out that not everyone needs to drop what they are doing and move to the third world to do charitable works. There are plenty of good causes in our own communities. Underfunded libraries and children graduating illiterate and with few life skills from our modern school system are examples of places to make a difference and to contribute locally.
Mortenson asks that we tell our friends and help him spread the word so I thought it would be a good start to review his book. We support our local library and a Literacy non-profit by buying all our used books from them.
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