I read Shazad’s writings on Pakistan and the Taliban for years. Every single story of his informed me as to the real, on the ground situation. Never once did I close the Asia Times window and not sit back and think hard on what I had just learned from Shazad. Often I wondered how in […]
terrorism
So, what now?
I find myself asking this question after reading stories like this one by the late Michael Kreca. This information is not new to me — the fact that FDR, Churchill and Stalin steered America into a war that did not need to be fought. The consequences reverberate today in the Empire that emerged from the […]
Rape is the Consort of War
That just kind of came to me earlier today while reading this story here about Somalis in Minneapolis becoming “radicalized” and then heading back to Somalia to be warriors. I was envisioning the journalist interviewing one of the young boys who went back to fight and having the young boy go into a tirade about […]
The Coming Storm in Xinjiang
A Muslim pilgrim near Hotan This post here (with accompanying IHT article) tells of the latest heavy-handed policies used by the Chinese government to win the hearts and minds of the Uighers in East Turkestan/Xinjiang Province. Here is Reporters Without Borders with more bad news. Has everyone forgotten or ignored the fact that during […]
Days 7, 8 and going on 9 … Sleep Deprived
The last few days I have been running on fumes a bit. And for those of you who have done that, it means alternating between falling asleep while someone talks to you and being unable to shut your mouth at odd hours of the night. The Chinese look to have the Gold Medal count locked […]
Day 6 – The Calm Before the Storm
The second week is just around the corner and I felt the lull today. Indeed, the preliminaries and qualifying rounds are almost over. The Chinese blitz on the gold medals will have its Dunkirk in a couple days when athletics begins and “their” sports come to a close. On ticket sales, one noticed a slight […]
Day 5 – I Love China
What a difference a day makes. Today I went and watched the China-Spain B-Ball game and it was off the chains. The big difference between yesterday’s tennis and today’s hoops was that the Chinese know and love hoops. The guys in front of me loved Clyde “the Glide” Drexler and the old man in back […]
No Fun Olympics
Check out my no-fun dork shoes: China’s “top-down” approach to security in the Olympics guarantees that there will be very little mirthful exchanges between the people (in public places at least) and the Games here will be … well … all business. 2am curfew. anti-drunken partying behavior by the coppers. random security checks. jumpy cops […]