"Maybe the NBA really is America's game"

Bill Simmons says the NBA is now the "No Benjamins Association" because everyone is running out of money, attendance is deceptively down, revenues are crashing out, and teams would rather buy Raef LaFrentz's expiring deal than 4-time all-star Amare Stoudemire, just to save money. Whoa. A must read.

Christopher Hitchens slams Avigdor Lieberman

Properly.

hope for Somalia?

The Economist sees "a glimmer of hope" in Somalia if only America would pay more attention. Myself, I'm skeptical, but at least the guys have the credit to lay blame where blame is due:

The original Shabab was shredded by Ethiopian artillery and American air strikes two years ago. The revitalised Shabab is sustained by a martyrdom complex. But its success is also due partly to money: it pays young Somalis to fight for it. It has also benefited from the decision of President George Bush’s administration to isolate moderate Islamists such as Mr Ahmed and to embrace secular warlords with a history of terrorising civilians.

Shabab's numbers have mushroomed and turned a previously fringe group into a force to be reckoned with. Virulently anti-Ethiopian sentiments have given the movement a shot in the arm, and now it threatens to take over the country. But The Economist sees a way forward:

Many Somalia-watchers think Somalis should work out their own political settlement—and that foreigners should keep out. Somehow the Shabab has to be crushed, perhaps bringing some of its more amenable members into Mr Ahmed’s apparently moderate Islamist fold. The Shabab may not be as cohesive as it claims to be. The recent departure of the hated Ethiopians and the Shabab’s own record of bullying the impious and smashing the gravestones of Sufi saints have lost it some support. Its two top commanders, Muqtar Robow and Hassan Turki, may become isolated if Mr Ahmed’s government holds up, especially as many of the Shabab fighters come from the new president’s own Hawiye clan. Thanks to some back-channel talks, some Shabab, including an influential commander in the town of Jowhar, have already changed sides.

Put me in the "foreigners should keep out" strategy, at least physically. However, Mr. Ahmed is probably the best hope for the country, given the success the Union of Islamic Courts had in pacifying Somalia before being conquered by Ethiopia's foolish invasion. So we should support him, I guess... but not too much.

Burma to the ICC?

An independent report says so:

Military checkpoints were set up across the delta as the regime treated the disaster not as a humanitarian emergency but as a security crisis.

The report claims some people who attempted to distribute private aid were arrested. It details allegations of aid being stolen and resold by the military authorities.

The researchers also claim the army used forced labour, including of children, in the aftermath of the disaster.

Like everyone else, I was horrified by the Burmese regime's response to the cyclone, although unlike everyone else I was not particularly surprised. Still, I seriously question whether this sort of gross negligence is grounds for shipping people to the Hague. A lot of countries have responded ineptly to disasters in recent years, including at least a couple permanent members of the Security Council. Will Michael Brown be at the Hague for the deadly debacle of Hurricane Katrina? Probably not.

make New York a walking city

Bloomberg to announce he's closing a swath of Broadway to auto traffic. I'm delighted.

Obviously, Senator Kerry doesn't recall the famous Uruguaryan Cheese Defense of 1847

Foreign Policy blog reports, via Haaretz, that Israel was blocking shipments of pasta into the Gaza strip, saying that only rice was permitted. After US delegates pointed out the arbitrary stupidity of such restrictions, the Israelis backed off.

"When have lentil bombs been going off lately? Is someone going to kill you with a piece of macaroni?" asked Laird.

Clearly, American officials do not recall the resourceful Uruguayan use of cheese as cannonfire in a naval battle in the 1840s. (Note: different accounts have them fighting the Argentinians or the Brazilians, and offer up different years for the skirmish. So this story may be apocryphal, but I hope not.)

Obvious Statement of the Year

US drone attacks in Pakistan are destabilizing, the Pakistani military reports. They've killed a lot of al Qaeda people, but they've also killed a lot of civilians, radicalized the population, and of course al Qaeda is recruiting newer and even more ideological people to fill out the ranks.

Amazingly, the US military has once again underestimated the degree to which dropping bombs on a population will upset them.