Archive for December, 2006
December 29, 2006 at · Filed under books
the places in between is the account of rory stewart walk from heart to kabul shortly after the fall of the taliban in 2002. i bought the book after i heard an interview with rory about his latest book (prince of the marshes) about his time as lt. governor in a province in iraq.. he is a special guy.
he walked in asia (india, pakistan, iran, afghanistan) for 16 months, but the timing of his trip to afghanistan and the way he went about it (staying every night in the houses of people willing to take him in and feed him) is extraordinary.
he walks in rural afghanistan and most of the people he meets are illiterate, don't have access to media and never went too far outside their village. unfortunately this is true for most of afghanistan. their country has just been bombarded and conquered by the coalition, and they don't really have a clue of the context. quite amazing.
reading this book it is hard to be optimistic about afghanistan's future. i hope the UN, NATO the US are spending real time and resources trying to understand the situation there, and help the local population make real progress.
the book is easy and quick to read. i felt rory was very honest in his writing. he is not making himself to be a hero, not every sentence he says is full of wit or wisdom, and his behavior is not always admirable. he is also not being very dramatic (beside a few understandable slips). he has a good sense of humor and it comes out in many of the passages in the book.
December 27, 2006 at · Filed under middle east, politics
i read tony blair's piece in foreign affairs titled "a battle for global values", and was really disappointed. tony blair always seemed to me to be very intelligent and eloquent (maybe it is i usually see him talking in press conferences next to bush.. or just his british accent).
it is supposed to lay out his view for what he believes is the real battle of the 21st century (i.e. a battle for the values we stand for), and that is much more than a "war on terror", but it reads more like an attempt to justify his decision regarding iraq.
in his defense of the iraq situation he sounds very much like bush, blaming the naive-peace-protesting-tree-huggers in the west for buying into the propaganda that is coming from the terrorists, calling for a "broader" perspective, and more common excuses…
he is probably right about the values issue. the west should stand for human-rights, environmental protection, individual freedoms, democracy, equal opportunities and economic development. the problem is that the west is not acting consistently according to these values (not domestically and not in foreign policy), and specifically neither bush nor blair can lead the west in such a charge. they are both tainted by the decision to invade iraq, their execution of the occupation and their stubbornness to stay the course.
blair would have done a much better service to humanity if he would have not been bush's puppy on the "war on terror". for him to now write this piece is a bit pathetic and way too late. he should just go home quietly and spare us his dogma.
December 26, 2006 at · Filed under television
yesterday instead of reading i spent most of the day watching the entire first season of heroes… i have tom to blame for this latest addiction.
the series seems to be a cross of x-men and lost, which makes for a really engaging and fast moving (unlike lost) experience. also unlike lost i believe the writers of heroes know where they are going with the story, and are not worried about where to take the series once the climax of the current theme is reached.
the cast also looks a bit like it was put together in the mold of the lost characters.
two main foreigners: in lost it is a korean and an iraqi, in heroes it is a japanese and an indian.
good looking lead female: in lost it is kate, in heroes it is nikki/jessica
black guy + kid: in lost it is michael and his son, in heroes it is DL and Micah
and there are more similarities. it seems like lost really created a new genre.
December 17, 2006 at · Filed under games, internet, technology
i have been playing with the wii console for a week now. i had to pay a premium to get it (on ebay) cause i could not find any in the stores in our area.
tom came over for the weekend and we spent a good chunk of time playing with the wii. as a testament to the poor shape of both us, we had more workout playing baseball on the wii than we had otherwise for months.. (tom actually complained about sore muscles…)
nintendo did a GREAT job in putting together a fun experience. while microsoft and sony focused on technology, developing chips and processors, nintendo focused on the user experience.
it is a new gaming experience, and it is easy to imagine where it will go from here (actually no need to imagine i saw the future of gaming in wired's nextfest a couple of months ago). gamers will not only be great consumers for energy drinks, but will also have to buy deodorants and shower gel, cause they'll be running, jumping, fighting and dancing for real in a virtual world.
we played till every night till 1am or so when we had to quit, since our reflexes were not as sharp and we started losing games and dropping points in our rankings. it is addictive, and it is really a good workout.
December 13, 2006 at · Filed under books, middle east, politics
i got the iraq study group report yesterday and stayed up late to finish reading it.
i find the approach of co-chaired, bi-partisan, old-men groups that are supposed to come up with conclusions and recommendations a bit weird. 5 republicans and 5 democrats, all greatly honored for serving with each other on the committee, quickly establish a group-think and reach consensus.
it is a system than guarantees that not the best solution will be offered, but rather the lowest common denominator.
so i was surprised that the report actually did a reasonably fair job in describing how dire is the situation in iraq, and hopefully put an end to the "we're making progress", "the media is only covering the bad news out of iraq..", mantra from bush and his aides.
with regard to the specific recommendations:
- the general approach - i think what they are trying to suggest with regard to a graceful exit from iraq is a scenario in which the US will be able to say "we did all we could to help the iraqis govern themselves, the iraqi government is unable/not willing to make the progress required from a sovereign body and we no longer feel it is our responsibility to support them". which will allow the US to pull out most of its troops and not call it a defeat.
they are offering real measures to improve things on the ground, but at this stage the situation is so hopeless, that it will not account for much. i don't think they really believe their operational recommendations to better the situation in iraq have a real chance of succeeding.
- the diplomatic offensive - i believe the US can get everyone to cooperate beside iran. the path to syria probably lies with getting israel to return the golan heights (one of the recommendations), which i believe israel will have to do, but this is not going to happen quickly enough to have an impact on the situation in iraq.
the US will not be able to create strong enough incentives or disincentives to move iran. iran is just having too much fun watching the US bleed in iraq, and the international community will not side with the US as long as this administration is in power.
actually i doubt that the current administration can not lead any "diplomatic offensive". it's not just that they are not competent to do it, bush is too stubborn and too you're-either-with-us-or-against-us kind of guy. as he is so proudly admits he lacks this type of nuance.
- the milestones to the iraqi government - great milestones. no chance what so ever they are going to meet (or even try to meet) these milestones.
- the military recommendations - sounds good. i am not sure why it took these wise old men to come up with this list, and why these issues are only being addressed 3.5 years into the war, but i guess it is better later than never.
changing the main military mission to training is a very clear path for the US to reduce the number of troops and gradually pull-out.
considering the fact that the ISG was not supposed to look on the past, but rather focus on where do we go from here there are a few interesting comments in the report
- strong criticism of the administration handling of the funding to the war outside of the main budget
- calling for the administration to be more open and honest with the public
- pointing out inaccurate reporting of violence level
- criticizing the number of arabic speaking officials in the embassy (6 out of 1000)
now i understand why bush looked like a ghost when he received the report last week (i'll be interested to know whether he actually read it, or did someone just summarize it for him in a few bulletpoints in powerpoint).
i think he'll wait a few more weeks till the pentagon finish its own review, and while he speaks with "advisors" and members of congress. he will then have a prime-time TV address where he will say "over the past few weeks i have conducted an intensive review of the situation in iraq. i would like to thank the iraq study group, the pentagon analysts, and all those who dedicated their time and efforts to think about this challenge…. blah, blah, blah. i believe there is a path for victory in iraq… there were some great ideas offered by the different groups that looked into the situation… i am planning to adopt some of these ideas into a new comprehensive plan that will clear the path to a successful conclusion of the mission in iraq… blah blah blah"
bush will embrace some of the operational recommendations in the report, he will set milestones (but will not link them to troop levels), he will send a special envoy to the middle-east, he will call for a "stakeholders" conference of all the countries that have an interest to see iraq come out of its crisis.
the bottom line will be that troop levels will not come down significantly and there will be no end in sight for the current US approach in iraq as long as bush is president.
john mccain will not win the 2008 elections (and maybe not even the republican primaries) because of his position on iraq. a democrat will win 2008, and will pledge to be out of iraq by any meaningful measure by Jan 2010.
too many predictions for one post.. 
December 11, 2006 at · Filed under books
i had this book on my "to read" shelf for a while. the problem with my shelf is that there are books there that could be there for years, because i am kind of implementing a last-in-first-out algorithm to picking the book i will read next. i chose gilead because i wanted a non-fiction for my next read, and i didn't have much space in the bag i was carrying to hong-kong..
gilead is a great book. one that deserves all the critical acclaim it got. it is written in a form of an extended letter from an old father that is about to die to his young son.
the old-father is a preacher in a small shabby town in iowa, and the text is full of references to his sermons and describes a life in which religion plays a major role (not a setting i will usually relate to), but it is full of wisdom and knowledge of the human heart.
it struck a cord with me from the beginning, not just because it written so well and inspiring, but also because it immediately got me thinking of myself being put in the same situation. i could not get that thought out of my head through out the book.
highly, highly recommended.
December 4, 2006 at · Filed under internet, mobile
i went to walk around the street markets in hong kong last night. it is divided so there are several markets each focused on a specific category: electronics (the biggest), clothes, gold fish?! (these guys are weird in more way than one), food, and "all the rest".
being the impulsive shopper that i am i looked to buy a compact digital camera. i made the mistake of asking sellers what would they recommend. each one recommended a different model and bad mouthed models recommended by others (they all had good arguments..).
the amount of choice was overwhelming. so i found it hard to make a decision.. at the end i decided on a panasonic. now i assumed (like many other shoppers i suppose) that this type of market will offer very attractive pricing, especially that many of them have stickers claiming their products are not fake..
when i got the quotes and started to bargain i used my blackberry to access shopping.com and see what is the best price i can get for the product if i was shopping online in the US.
to my surprise the prices online in the US were ALWAYS cheaper than the prices in the market. only in one case i was able to get the seller to match the price (and throw in a bigger memory card), but he was out of stock…
when i got back to the hotel i checked the reviews for the camera, and was happy i didn't buy it..
this does not bode well for these small merchants. as mobile comparison shopping will hit the mass market (and it will) these guys will be left with very little or no margin. consumers will be smarter and will negotiate better. information is king.
December 3, 2006 at · Filed under general
i used my 16 hour flight from new york to hong kong to finish this book. “against all enemies” is a book i should have read when it came out, but for some reason i postponed it till now..
dick clarke is providing the ultimate insider story of how the US was handling the terrorism threat prior to 9/11. unlike the looming tower or ghost wars which focus on the environment and conditions that created al qaeda, this book focuses on the US response (or lack there of) to it.
dick was the “terrorism czar” in the white house. although it is not clear to me what authority he had, it seems (if you believe his account) that he had a lot of power and ability to push the different players (DOD, CIA, FBI, State Department, etc.) to give more attention to the terrorist threat.
as you read the book you can’t but feel frustrated, since the US had so many chances to stop 9/11 from happening.
it also offers a strong critic of the bush administration and its behavior pre and post 9/11. specifically its fixation with iraq. if what described in the book is true, bush should be impeached. no question about it.
the book itself is engaging, though dick clarke portrayal of himself is funny. he seems like a james bond wanna be, yet he sits behind a desk all his life, willing to sacrifice his life if needed..
a highly recommended read for anyone interested in 9/11, iraq and the current bush administration.
December 2, 2006 at · Filed under movies, religion
mel gibson’s new movie apocalypto is coming out December 8th.
as i was driving to the airport today i saw billboards promoting the movie, and i also caught a couple of TV ads for it.
i am amazed that the marketing of the movie is “the new mel gibson movie”. i thought that after he exposed himself to be an antisemite that the studio will try to bury his name rather than promote it.
since i don’t believe they are trying to market to the antisemite niche, i can only assume that mel had enough muscle to make them put his name out front.
in any case there is no way i am going to the theatre to watch this movie. i have no intention to put another dime into his pocket.
so if the reviews will be good, i intend to download the movie over the internet rather than going to the theatre. in the case of this movie, i believe it will be a “mitzvah” to get a pirated version
