Saturday, February 17, 2007

Irony, Thy Name is Nisshin Maru

The Nisshin Maru, Japanese whaling vessel, is dead in Antarctic waters after a fire that's killed one crewmember, and currently refusing assistance from...wait for it...the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza. (Full story at BBC here.)

What an interesting polarity here: on the one side, the law of the sea, which demands you render aid. On the other, the Japanese desire to not lose face.

There is also some concern from New Zealand that pride may goeth before a leak, here, and the Ross Sea is a sensitive area, ecologically speaking.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Monday, February 12, 2007

70 Million, and he "chuckles"

Commentary: Theaters of the absurd, By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE.

At a farewell reception at Blair House for the retiring chief of protocol, Don Ensenat, who was President Bush's Yale roommate, the president shook hands with Washington Life Magazine's Soroush Shehabi. "I'm the grandson of one of the late Shah's ministers," said Soroush, "and I simply want to say one U.S. bomb on Iran and the regime we all despise will remain in power for another 20 or 30 years and 70 million Iranians will become radicalized."

"I know," President Bush answered.

"But does Vice President Cheney know?" asked Soroush.

President Bush chuckled and walked away.