0
POPSTemple of Artemis to be rebuilt continues: To find the best sculptures to adorn the restored temple, a lottery will be held to form a selection committee chosen from representatives of 196 U.N. member countries. Each selected representative will then select two sculptors from the nation they represent. The selected sculptors will then take part in workshops run by the Artemis Culture, Arts and Education Foundation. The sculptors will first begin work on the cubic bases for the columns, with sculptures to be inspired by either of two sayings attributed to Heracleitos of Ephesus: “War is the father of everything” and “Everything flows and nothing abides.”
4
POPSGulf War syndrome is real "I've had vets go to the VA and be turned away and told that this is something that doesn't exist," said John Schwertfager, vice president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans advocacy group.
2
POPSCertify Congo Tin? Lydia Polgreen's story on a Congolese mine is a fantastic piece of reporting that deserves to be read in its entirety. Towards the end she raises an interesting question: U.S. politicians have suggested certifying the source of minerals from Congo, in an effort to avoid funding conflicts. I'm not totally sold on such labeling programs -- diamond-certifying schemes have been another popular one. Money being money, won't military groups cut off from one resource just move on to another? Are there strong examples of commodity certification schemes that have actually stopped a conflict? If so I'd love to hear about it.
4
POPSCarter and Annan to visit Zimbabwe They will travel with rights activist Graca Machel, wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, on November 22-23 on a mission to prevent the crisis from worsening, Annan said in a statement. Annan, Carter and Machel are members of the Elders: 12 world-respected statesmen with hands-on experience in conflict resolution. The group was formed last year by Machel and Mandela on his 89th birthday.
9
POPSWhy did the West ignore the truth about the war in Georgia?
Thank goodness, they might be thinking at the US State Department and the British Foreign Office, for the financial crisis. Were it not for the ever-blacker news about the Western world's economy, another scandal would be vying for the headlines – and one where the blame would be easier to apportion. It concerns our two countries' relations with Russia and the truth about this summer's Georgia-Russia war. Over the past couple of weeks, a spate of reports has appeared in the American and British media, questioning many assumptions about that war, chief among them that Russia was the guilty party. Journalists from the BBC, The New York Times and Canada's Embassy magazine, among others, travelled to South Ossetia, the region at the centre of the conflict, in an effort to establish the facts. Not the "facts" as told by the super-slick Georgian PR machine at the time, nor the "facts" as eventually dragged from the hyper-defensive and clod-hopping communicators of the Kremlin. But the
5
POPSThe Russians Are Coming The energy resources of Central Asia are also attractive to Russia "Where their energy comes from Central Asia, then I think that you will find that they will be moving to secure that because that is what they are using to fuel their resurgence." "Recently, we see the politics of China also, which does not have a military base but which is gradually and persistently advancing its influence in this region and in many other regions," After the Russia-Georgia conflict in the Caucasus, Russia has found the grounds to expand its presence in Central Asia
5
POPSZeitgeist of the US Clipped is the preamble to a very short article explaining what is meant by anti-science and some of the ramifications of it. Since there is an undercurrent in the US that is anti-science I thought this would be a nice introduction to this topic.
2
POPSThe Australian: I Come to Hail Bush, not Bury Him There will come a time when most Americans will miss President Bush. This sea change will be enabled when Dear Leader begins to reveal his weird nefarious radical visions revealed in Mein Kampt... er... Dreams of My Fathers.
4
POPSOn Veterans Day, Don't Forget About the War (cont.)Most Americans want to put the war behind them, but this feeling is based not on a coherent critique but on a kind of collective exhaustion. In many ways, we as a country find ourselves in a mood like the one towards the end of the Vietnam War: we are tired and simply want to move on and forget the conflict ever happened. Yet this feeling can come at a great cost, because it is this same dynamic that led to the betrayal of more than three million Vietnam veterans.
2
POPS United Nations American Agenda Getting to work during the Obama administration. By Anne Bayefsky President Obama will have what his friends will call an unprecedented opportunity to tie American foreign policy to the U.N. ship of state, lance it down, and sail off into the sunset, never to be separated again. The predicament of the Saudi wife would be an apt comparison. The U.N. apparatus has mapped out the priorities for President Obama’s early days in office (taking it for granted he’ll be hightailing it out of Iraq) Run for election to the U.N. Human Rights Council as a vote of confidence in the U.N. “human rights” apparatus and the ability to change it from the inside. Decide to participate in the Durban II “anti-racism” conference in April 2009, and send along a high-level emissary such as the Secretary of State. Revitalize the Middle East Quartet, which drives the Arab-Israeli conflict through a multilateral prism with the U.N. as a full and equal partner.
1
POPSMashup on DR Congo This is a an interesting site that allows information to be published on a map, and people on the ground to submit updates by text. The site is called ushahidi.com
3
POPSSplit Over Russia Grows in Europe, Re: Missiles. Georgia
Russia moving up missiles to their border with Poland (in response to the USA missile base being built there) is no joke. The Russians have also said they have re-targeted their nukes to aim at European cities. This is no joke. Russia is right, imo, and it won't backdown. It can't let a warmongering nation like the U.S. A. put a nuke missile base right on it's border. This is like the Cuban missile crisis of the 60's, except the shoe is on the other foot - and full-tilt nuclear war was threatened. Is anybody in Europe reading this news? What are they going to do? I think hundreds of thousands of their lives are in danger and don't hear much talk or anything be done about it? Obama won't do anything on his own. (long story) IMO, if the people in Europe don't stop this U.S. missile base nobody else will and they are in grave danger. The missile base in Poland, btw, -- for the real joke...the USA claims is to protect against nuke missiles from Iran That mak
1
POPSOSCE 'failed' in Georgia warnings Was it deliberate that the reports were ignored? Who else knew of Saakashvili intent to invade? How much more blood is on Bush's hands? The killing of civilians to achieve ethnic cleansing is so reminiscent of Israel methods in the M-East. Of course the Georgian troops were all trained by IDF officers, so any regard for human life is pointless.
1
POPSGeorgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question The war was started at the night of opening Olympic Games in Beijing, when ancient traditions of mankind do requiring to stop any hostile actions anywhere in a world. That did means nothing for challenged medieval vassal, blinded by his grandiose ambitions and brainless geopilitic from overseas. It is the shame Georgian and Russian people, centuries living together in peace and friendship, now become enemies. Who's malicious mind have denigrate them to that low point?
2
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update