Yearly Archives: 2006

Iran Talks?

This entry was posted in Iran on by

Apparently Iran has been trying for some time to initiate talks with the bush administration and the bushies won’t talk.
Kevin Drum has some backgound material and the question:

If the talks fail, then they fail. But what possible reason can there be to refuse to even discuss things with Iran — unless you’re trying to leave no alternative to war?

Which, given this administrations history, is probably an accurate assessment.

Yahoo…Chinese Agent

This entry was posted in Anarchism on by

Do you really want to use Yahoo email?

Yahoo has again turned over information to the Chinese government that lead to a user being jailed, a human rights group says, for the third time. What makes this case a little different from earlier cases of Yahoo acceding to the Chinese is that Yahoo turned over a draft email to the authorities, not one that had been sent or received.

Yahoo may not be the only one bowing to government force but they are certainly getting some play.
We really shouldn’t expect these corporations to do any different. They are creatures of governments and in turn expect governments to not only protect them but also to assist them when adequate grease is applied.

If you want to see different behavior then you will need to ensure that governments do not interfere with the voluntary exchange of goods and services between individuals. Government and the corps will fight you just a bit on this one.

What ahmadinejad and bush have in common

This entry was posted in bush Iran on by

Neither one knows much about anything. Bryan reports on a piece from BBC World Today:

…about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, essentially saying that the office of President actually is not that powerful, and there is no reason to believe that Ahmadinejad actually knows what he is talking about when it comes to the nuclear program. Mr. Ahmadinejad has no scientific training and was the mayor of Tehran until his election.

In other words, don’t pay any more attention to ahmadinejad than you would to the former Texas governor who also has no scientific training.