Saturday, July 26, 2003
Korea
The BBC has excellent background information on the Korean War. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the armistice which ended the fighting — but technically didn't end the actual war. North and South Korea have yet to sign an actual peace treaty.
CBS produced another excellent piece three years ago on the 50th anniversary of the start of the conflict.
I don't have much to add to these sources, but I do see a telling parallel between the start of the Korean War and the start of the first Gulf War. In both cases, ambiguous US foreign policy statements contributed directly to the start of hostilities.
Truman's Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, in January of 1950 gave a speech outlining the American "perimeter of defense" against the USSR and China. He didn't mention Korea, and the North Koreans took that to mean that the US wouldn't rise to South Korea's defense. Had we voiced our intentions more accurately, the North Koreans might never have invaded.
Similarly, on July 25, 1990, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, met with Saddam Hussein to discuss Iraq's conflict with Kuwait. Glaspie voiced the opinion "...we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait." Hussein apparently regarded the statement as a "green light" to invade Kuwait, because eight days after his meeting with Glaspie, that's exactly what he did. Glaspie later said "Obviously, I didn't think, and nobody else did, that the Iraqis were going to take all of Kuwait." If she had outlined the US position more explicitly, though, that conflict, too, might have been avoided.
Posted by Me at 23:41 link
Friday, July 25, 2003
Liberia
From the Washington Post:President Bush directed the Pentagon to position a limited number of U.S. Marines off the coast of Liberia yesterday to assist the arrival of West African peacekeepers, as intensified fighting between government and rebel forces in the country's capital drew renewed appeals for American help to end the violence.
U.S. defense officials said a three-ship Amphibious Ready Group with 2,200 Marines led by the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima would arrive in the region from the Mediterranean in early August, about the time Nigeria has pledged to dispatch the first battalion of Nigerian peacekeepers into Liberia.
But one senior U.S. official cautioned that the presence of the 2,200-member 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit did not necessarily mean that all or even most of the U.S. forces would go ashore to participate in a peacekeeping mission. Bush noted that the commitment of U.S. forces is only to support West African peacekeepers and said he expects the United Nations to be responsible for "relieving the U.S. troops in short order."
[full story]
This is how our troops should be used — to restore or maintain peace. Better late than never.
Today I took my exams, and did well! This evening I watched a bicycle race downtown, the first I've ever seen live. A lot more fun than I would have thought. My only regret is that I didn't have a camera with me. I've now moved digital camera to the very top of my wishlist...
Music in my head:
- Bob Marley — "One Love" (woke with it in my head; cool, huh?)
- Propellerheads — "Spybreak" (heard it at the bike race)
- Boz Scaggs — "Lido" (heard it on the radio while driving recently)
- Tchaikovsky — "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" (go figure)
- Junkie XL — "Legion"
"Legion" is another blatant Beatles rip ("Dear Prudence"), but much more energetic than its source!
Posted by Me at 21:53 link
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Vote For Safe Elections
University researchers delivered a serious blow to the current crop of electronic voting systems in an analysis of one such system's source code in which they concluded that a voter could cast unlimited ballots without detection.
Using an earlier version of the source code that powers machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems, the security experts--three from Johns Hopkins University and a colleague from Rice University--performed an audit and found numerous security holes.
"Our analysis shows that this voting system is far below even the most minimal security standards applicable in other contexts," said the researchers in a paper published Wednesday on the Internet, concluding that "as a society, we must carefully consider the risks inherent in electronic voting, as it places our very democracy at risk."
The criticisms echo a fundamental issue that many security researchers have raised with most current systems: There is no way to verify that a vote was correctly recorded and no permanent record is kept.
[full story]
If you live in the US, I encourage you to contact your US Senators and Representative about this, even if you've already done so before. Encourage your Representative to support HR 2239, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003, which would amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require that hard copy records be kept with any electronic voting systems. Encourage your Senator to introduce similar legislation in the Senate.
I'm studying for my summer finals. In 24 hours, summer session will be over. Wish me luck! I think I'm going to need it — there's a rumor circulating that IBM now requires all applicants (even for janitorial positions) to have at least an associate degree, and that the resumé of anyone with a GPA of less than 3.9 is automatically discarded. The facts aren't much more encouraging.
Maybe instead of Spanish, I should study Mandarin Chinese?
Posted by Me at 23:00 link
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Don't Panic
I didn't get much more research done on Korea today. Tomorrow is the last day of summer session, so I've had a bit of work to do. Today I finished the last of it. All that remains is to take two tests, one of which is open book. Tomorrow I'll help other students finish their final programs. That seems to be my favorite thing, helping others. Gives me a deeper understanding of the work and also gives me a sense of satisfaction maybe greater than when I finish my own work. After the tests, I'm looking forward to some down time. Fall semester will start very soon....
Also today, I got a bit of exercise, which I've been neglecting somewhat lately. 18 months ago, I was running at least 3 times a week, for at least 45 minutes each session. In 45 minutes I'd run 5 miles. Now, that might take me over an hour! Today I ran two miles, walked half a mile, then ran another mile. This took over 45 minutes. I'm slow! I get a bit winded biking the two miles back from Mom's. Well, it is all uphill....
Scary News
The Bush administration is preparing to tighten an economic noose around North Korea, even as it considers new talks to persuade the regime of Kim Jong Il to give up nuclear weapons.
The administration has lined up 10 other nations to join a so-called proliferation security initiative. These countries — Japan, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Spain — have agreed to intercept North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons and illegal drugs, major sources of hard currency for Kim's government.
A State Department official who is familiar with the program but asks not to be named says, "We're ready to rock and roll right now" on the interception program. "All we need is actionable intelligence" on a suspect North Korean shipment, he says.
[full story]
If the reason I find this "scary" isn't obvious enough, here's a report about a North Korean statement on this subject from less than one month ago:Pyongyang has responded angrily to plans by the international community to step up checks on North Korean ships.
North Korea, in a state-run newspaper commentary, threatened an "immediate physical retaliatory step against the US once it judges that its sovereignty is infringed upon by Washington's blockade operation".
[full story]
Are the North Koreans bluffing? I think we may be about to find out.
If that's not scary enough for you...
A vast reservoir of carbon is stashed beneath the Earth's crust and could be released by a major volcanic eruption, unleashing a mass extinction of the kind that last occurred 200 million years ago, German geologists report.
Researchers know that carbon is stored in the mantle, a layer of plastic-like rock beneath Earth's fragile crust, said Professor Hans Keppler of the Institute of Sciences at Germany's University of Tuebingen, whose report appears in today's [24 Jul 2003] issue of Nature.
[full story]
Don't worry. It's all going to be OK. Really! Even if not, what good is worrying about it going to do? Maybe the best idea is to live well today. That's my plan. It's not patented or anything. :-)
Posted by Me at 23:53 link
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Bigmouth Strikes Again
I was going to write about the current Korea situation today, but I've decided to continue my research for awhile instead, so that I might say something intelligent, as opposed to merely saying something. Today I read about the original "conflict." All I feel comfortable saying at this point is that Truman appears to have been way out of his depth and MacArthur was a hothead. I welcome your flames feedback.
Music in my head:
Musically, the McMurtry song is a complete rip-off of the Beatles' "Come Together", but the lyrics remind me of the Midwest.
I had a strange, but pleasant dream last night: I was playing tennis with several current and former college instructors/professors. Several of my favorite teachers were my partners; we were playing against some of the instructors/administrators I haven't liked so much. Each time any of my partners served, they first came to me for advice. We were winning quite handily!
A few news items seem especially worthy of mention. US Soldiers have killed Saddam's sons Qusay and Uday; and Bush's deputy national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, today made a public statement that he "should have recalled . . . that there was controversy associated with the uranium issue . . . it is now clear to me that I failed."
Howard Dean on Iraq:
Presidential candidate Howard Dean, a staunch opponent of the U.S.-led war against Iraq, shrugged off the deaths of Saddam Hussein's two sons Tuesday, saying "the ends do not justify the means." He scolded Democratic rivals for backing the conflict.
"Why is it that those in Congress have waited until now to question the intelligence, to question the lack of postwar planning, to question the skyrocketing costs of this war?" Dean said. "Why were they not asking these questions and seeking the truth nine months ago, before they voted to give go to war?"
[full story]
Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans are debating the best way to prevent massive fires in our nation's forests.
The Bush administration on Tuesday criticized Senate Democrats' legislation that would direct most forest thinning to be conducted near communities at risk of wildfires rather than giving local foresters the flexibility determine where such work should be carried out.
Democrats have complained that a Republican measure passed in the House in May stripped out environmental safeguards and public participation.
They countered with two bills, including one by Democrats Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, that would direct 70 percent of funding to fire-prone areas near communities and where water supplies could be threatened.
But Mark Rey, undersecretary of natural resources at the U.S. Agriculture Department, said the Democratic legislation would not help.
"If legislation doesn't result in (work being done cheaper and faster) then our land managing agencies will fail," Rey told a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.
[full story]
Prevailing scientific opinion favors the Democrats' plans. [click here for several in-depth reports] Many feel the Republican plan is a thinly-disguised giveaway to logging interests, and may actually increase the risk of devastating fires.
Fascinating facts about the Earth
101 Amazing Earth Facts from Space.com. I'm definitely not moving to "Lloro, Colombia [which] averages 523.6 inches of rainfall a year, or more than 40 feet (13 meters)."
Posted by Me at 22:53 link
Monday, July 21, 2003
Dream A Little Dream
I wish my blog entries were like this:Well the forecast was for warm temp and sun for the weekend. Had some hiking plans for Sunday but on Saturday I went for a scouting mission up California Creek Trail to see if I could get to the summit of Penguin Ridge (girdwood side). I ended up finding the correct trail/route and made it to the summit around 4200 vertical feet above my starting point. The trail was almost completely overgrown at times but was still there. I was making a good amount of noise on the hike in and out for it is bear country and with all the tall vegetation It would be easy to walk right up to a bear without knowing it. after getting to the summit and back down out of the valley I finally made it all the way down to the old jeep trail which leads back to the main road when I encountered 2 Black Bears. These bears were acting very aggressive and I ended up having to fight one off in the woods for over an hour (with a big stick) till I slowly made my way in a big loop back down to the main road where the bear gave up the fight. Sprained my knee slightly during the ordeal so just rested today.
[read the whole thing] (with beautiful pictures)
If a genie were to appear before me, offering three wishes, my first would be to live that guy's life until I got tired of it. Or died of old age. Whichever came first.
My second wish would be to be a couple of inches taller, a few pounds lighter, and a few dollars richer.
And, of course, my third wish would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace.
Oh, well. My life's pretty cool as is. Still, I can dream — and believe me, I do!
Posted by Me at 22:55 link
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Not much to report
Plenty happened — a Time/CNN poll shows a majority of Americans now think Bush is doing a poor job of managing the economy, our soldiers continue to die in Iraq, the weapons intelligence scandal continues to get worse for the Bush administration, the official investigation into the death of UK scientist Dr. David Kelly is set to begin, the underreported North Korea situation continues to worsen, and, as they say, much much more...
All I can report firsthand, though, is that it's stoopid hot and humid here, and that Morningstar soy hot dogs taste better than meat hot dogs. I like mine with mustard, ketchup and pickle relish. Have a beautiful day!
Posted by Me at 23:23 link
