"the pope will fix all this"

The following document (front and back side are both presented here) was snagged by Ambassador At Large as he trolled through the UN conference rooms this afternoon. The document is a background paper on a lecture given about the Sephardic Jews in Greece, 94% of whom were killed during the Holocaust. The delegate listening to this speech had a few comments that he wrote in the margins. They appear to have two distinct handwritings, so I assume it was a note-passing conversation. In case you can't read them, this is what the notes say:

First delegate: "How come no one ask Kim Il Jong why he is starving his own population? Is not that a Holocost?" (sic)
First delegate: "Is not what is happening in Palestine not a Holocost?" (sic)
Second delegate: "My concern is not the loss of Holocaust memories but of the non-literate societies: Biafra, Cambodia, Rwanda, Congo ---"
First delegate: "The pope will fix all this."

Perhaps you wonder which delegation's desk this priceless document was found on? It was Saudi Arabia's.

crazy eights, part 2

The debate over how many babies is too many babies intensifies as more facts are learned in the case of the California eight.

so can they find out what makes caterpillars rampage?

Researchers discover what makes locusts swarm.. It's serotonin!

Obama supports the Steelers

While appreciating the Cinderella story of the Cardinals, the President today said the Steelers were the closest team to his heart after the Bears.

Another reason Pittsburgh will win.

the Security Council continues to steadfastly ignore the growing caterpillar threat

The b-grade horror movie that is currently playing out across much of Liberia appears to be worsening. Today the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that it's identified the caterpillars as "armyworms." The voracious beasts, numbering in the millions, have been eating everything in Liberia and have spread to over a hundred villages, spilling over into neighboring Guinea.

First of all, does this mean that the situation is now a threat to international peace and security, meaning that these caterpillars fall under the purview of the Security Council? Does this mean that the Security Council can use Chapter 7 to thwart the armyworm menace?

Second of all, are you listening Hollywood? Army Worms! Tell me this is not a low-budget disaster flick waiting to happen. It can even be based on a true story. I haven't seen Jeff Goldblum in any movies lately. I'm sure you can dig him up to play the bespeckled Cassandra who warned everyone that global warming would make this happen. Which reminds me...

Hammond could offer no reason for the Armyworms' abnormal behaviour, which will be verified by experts in the field in about 3-4 days. As to why the insects have reached such large numbers, he speculated it could be climate-related.

So when Tom Friedman says it's "global weirding" rather than "global warming," I think this is Example A. Apparently, warmer temperatures = more rampaging caterpillars. Better get used to it.

Moreover, warns FAO, it's about to get worse. Many of the armyworms have burrowed into the ground, unreachable by pesticides, and are cocooning before turning into moths. Each moth can fly a thousand miles and lay a thousand eggs. In short order, Army Worms shall spawn its own readymade sequels. Get ready for Army Worms II: Flight of the Moths! And, once the moths lay their eggs... Army Worms III: The Spawning!

Come on, Hollywood, where are you?

so where's the Ad Hoc United Nations Committee For the Realization of the Inalienable Rights of the Tamil People to Self-Determination?

The UN leads an evacuation of wounded civilians from the worsening bloodshed as the Sri Lankan government attempts to wipe out Tamil Tiger resistance once and for all. If they succeed, they'd become perhaps the first country to eliminate an ethnic secessionist bid through overwhelming violence since... well... I'm not coming up with any off-hand. Carthage, maybe? Point is, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this fails. (Update: the BBC has an interesting article about how the Tamils' sophisticated weaponry has been rendered useless by the military offensive. But, as they point out, suicide bombers don't require sophisticated weaponry.)

It is interesting, though, that the UN and the international community supports the 2-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state in the Israel-Palestine conflict, but doesn't support the creation of an independent Tamil state in northeastern Sri Lanka. Why, you ask? I think geopolitics is the only answer.

Sidenote: when I was a boy, I thought the Tamil Tigers and Black Panthers were sports teams. Ooops.

when the world economy is in shambles... blame other countries

Tim Geithner gets flack from the IMF for going after China's manipulated currency.

Wen Jiabao has a different explanation: capitalists. Really.

The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, left little doubt that Beijing blamed the United States for the economic breakdown. "Inappropriate macroeconomic policies," an "unsustainable model of development characterized by prolonged low savings and high consumption," the "blind pursuit of profit" and "the failure of financial supervision" all contributed, he said.

This is one problem with the global economy. Any one country can vote its leaders out, but as for who is actually responsible, but the buck stops nowhere.