January 2009
8 posts
Thomas Friedman - Abdullah II: The 5-State... →
In February 2002, I traveled to Saudi Arabia and interviewed the then crown prince, now king, Abdullah, at his Riyadh horse farm. I asked him why the next Arab summit wouldn’t just propose to Israel full peace and normalization of relations, by all 22 Arab states, for full withdrawal from all occupied lands and creation of a Palestinian state. Abdullah said that I had read his mind…
Australian writer Harry Nicolaides jailed for... →
Melbourne writer Harry Nicolaides, 41, was sentenced on Monday to three years imprisonment for defaming the Royal Family of Thailand. He had pled guilty to the Lèse majesté indictment that arose from a self-published 2005 novel, Verisimilitude, of which only 50 copies were printed, and just seven sold.
How not to close the Gaza tunnels →
What ever happened to basic economics? If people want stuff, and people are willing to supply it at the demanded price - whether it’s illegal drugs, weapons, or televisions - they will find a way to supply it, and they will take extreme risks if the expected payoff exceeds their expected costs. Full stop.
WatchApes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man:
Savage-Rumbaugh’s work with bonobo apes, which can understand spoken language and learn tasks by watching, forces the audience to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology — and how much by cultural exposure.
OK for young girls to wed intones top Saudi cleric →
“It is incorrect to say that it’s not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger. A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she’s too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her.”
Student auctions off virginity for offers of more... →
Natalie Dylan, 22, claims her offer of a one-night stand has persuaded 10,000 men to bid for sex with her. No wonder she looks so smug.
“The attack on Gaza may be a test-run for Iran’s nuclear sites. In that...”
– Andrew Sullivan from The Atlantic Monthly speculates on Israel’s motives.