Two UESers gave speeches today at the Gators for Israel Rally. First was Zach Moller, the VP of North Florida for the Florida College Democrats, speaking on behalf of the Democratic Party. He mentioned President Carter and President Clinton’s attempts to broker peace in the Middle East, then focused on Seeds of Peace. He was [...]
Archive for the 'Asia' Category
Speeches at Gators for Israel Rally
Published by November 8th, 2007 in Asia, International Affairs, Miscellaneous and UES. 4 CommentsI encourage you to read this article on my 2003 home, Brisbane, Australia in the NYT. Gives it a good write-up, but it’s meant for rich people. Part of its appeal has always been that it mixes the old Australian country splendor with the new urbanity of a growing country.
That’s right: if you are an economist, and best of all, Indonesian, you just might have a shot at becoming Indonesia’s next Vice President! This seems more for show (a PhD degree in Indonesia is huge and people respond with deference to one), as is so much in the country, but who knows…
Nuclear Reactors in Syria
Published by October 27th, 2007 in Asia and International Affairs. 4 CommentsWe have all been receiving mixed signals for weeks now on the Israeli strike in Syria. Common sense indicates that Israel acted on reliable intelligence that something being built there posed a threat to its security. It is very unlike Israel to violate another country’s sovereignty without just cause in my opinion. For a good [...]
[Warning: major fluff post.] Bahasa Indonesia is spoken by a few hundred million people. It is the lingua franca of the tens of thousands of islands that comprise the country. Unfortunately, while I was there, I shied away from adopting any slang or personal dialects, preferring the textbook forms. As such, as far as I [...]
Registan Round-up
Published by September 26th, 2007 in Asia, International Affairs and New Europe. 0 CommentsThis is no Multum in Parvo, but there are a few blogs that amount to mandatory reading and I think deserve round-ups. Registan, linked from Awkward Utopia, is one such blog. I have made mild criticisms of the tone of the posts in the past (here, here), but the truth is that the quality of [...]
So, the APEC conference is getting into swing Down Under, and so is the Syndey sex industry. (Whoever thought up the marketing term “presidential platter” needs to be shot.) Methinks the crowding out of the local sex market is really what might have the lefties up in arms.
This time, Registan lights into this article: “They are a bad magazine, and their child’s excuse for wit cannot cover up their steep dive in critical thinking skills.” The usual whiny nit-picking, but also some good points.
The Economist: Freefall Watch
Published by August 4th, 2007 in Asia and Entertainment & Culture. 0 CommentsI decided that if I posted all the stuff I want to about this “newspaper’s” current decline, I’d run out of Roman numerals somewhere along the way. Hence the column “Freefall Watch.”
While most of the time, I find the author’s tone extremely off-putting because he seems to go out of his way to tease ignorance [...]
A thought-provoking editorial appeared in the Washington Times today about the conflict in Iraq. I say “conflict” because we won the so-called war. Now it is a battle in the larger War on Terror, which is a very real, serious war that threatens the United States as well as every other country in the [...]
The BBC reports that, according to a local tradition in Japan, Jesus escaped the passion and died peacefully as a rice farmer in Japan. The article contains an interview with the Last Scion and discussion of Christianity in Japan.
[This post belongs more, in some senses, on East Asia Watch, which I hope you all read. Since WWII, our destiny as a country intricately entangled with Asia has been clear. In any case, since we try to keep it to news over there, I post here.]
As you all know, Singapore has no prohibition [...]
As legend has it, there exists a tuft of black hair in some kind of circular form on the small of many an Asian woman’s back. Some say it’s a blue patch on the butt. This is called the “Mongolian Patch” and can be seen by a mere tug up on the back of an [...]
