Nuclear Stockpiles

Israel neither acknowledges nor denies that it has nuclear weapons. Israel is generally regarded as a de facto nuclear weapon state.

It seems to me that something has to be done about Israel’s nukes too, otherwise they will keep blackmailing us into defending them. The fact that Israel has nukes destabilizes the reigon. It makes us look like hypocrites for going after Iraq. It hurts our credibility with Arab states and Arab people. It makes it harder for Arab states to take a moderate line with Israel. It is a big problem, and its one that is difficult to talk about as long as the polite fiction continues.

I have been one of those people who, in lamenting the left’s dismal inablity to grasp the public imagination the way some Right-wing gassbag can, puts it down to an inbred willingless among liberals to frame the world in black and white.

I’m a fool for thinking so, of course. The slogan “no war for oil,” and others like it now, and in the past, show that no such bloodline is evident.

It isn’t heartening, for a variety of reasons. Dissenting voices are rising in the country, but the debate is still framed in Bush’s terms. Whats more, the anti-war movement doesn’t really speak for me and I don’t think I want to throw in with their lot for the sake of expedience.

Salon.com
Rumor has it that Salon won’t be long for this world. My hope is that the end, when it comes, is a quick one. I still have memories of Spy magazine, a rotting corpse, risen briefly from the dead, filled with ads for second rate sexual aids and third rate liquor, devoid of the wit and humor that once defined it.

Of course, I hope the end doesn’t come, and not because I still hold some worthless stock in the company. Salon is in many ways, a shadow of its former self, but it is still a great publication. If it goes under, I’ll have to go back to reading paper magazines.

Silicon Valley – Dan Gillmor’s eJournal – Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time
Now things are getting interesting! The move away from document centric computing picks up speed, and some companies are still tying their shoelaces.

Our world leaders seem to be showing a distinct lack of leadership lately, eh? Europe’s leaders are bound and determined to ensure their own irrelevance on the world stage. Their eagerness to puff up reports of Iraq’s transparent stalling tactics as hopeful developments just baffles me. My only explanation is that they are pandering to anti-American elements at home by giving Saddam a handjob, a truly sickening thought.

Whatever the reason, I think their soft-peddling , in the short term, greatly diminishes their influence over how things proceed with Iraq. If they took a hard line, a line consistent with their earlier, unanimous apporoval of the UN resolution demanding the resumption of inspections, then they might be in a position to argue that inspections should continue. They should be holding Iraq’s balls to the fire, instead, they sound a hopeful tone over reports of the same old Iraqi bullshit. They have proven that they lack the courage of their own convictions, leaving the US and Britan no choice but to go it more or less alone.

For good or ill, going it alone probably means going to war, especially since the UNs wishy-washyness is going to embolden Saddam Hussien further. Which, of course, brings us to George W. Bush’s own questionable leadership on the world stage, or it would, if I had the energy to write about it.

Let it suffice to say, I, like much of the rest of the world, don’t trust him.

Together, they are making the world a more dangerous place.

DJ FORMAT
Furry mascots perform in a hip-hop video. This says something about LA, but I am not sure what.