Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University for over two hours. In what could probably only happen in America, the president ripped the US which it claimed was sponsoring terrorist organizations.

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Why do I have to watch Russia slip further away from the global landscape and what seems to be more of the old “Iron Curtain” attitude. I really thought they were heading in the right direction. It seems Putin who has been a lousy leader IMO, wants to really shape his legacy send off. I’m not saying we’re blessed with great leadership at the moment ourselves, but when you see quotes such as

“Although Kremlin officials have tried to portray the groups as independent players, Nashi and the others owe their financing and political support to their status as creations of Mr. Putin’s administration. They are allowed to hold marches, while demonstrations by the opposition are prohibited or curtailed. Their activities are covered favorably on state television, while the opposition’s are disparaged or ignored.” you have to wonder what the real motives are. Obviously these guys are pretending to be a democratic country, but are far from that as anyone can see. I was kind of hoping my children were not going to have to grow up with things such as fallout shelters and the like. I guess it’s all just wishful thinking. It’s bad enough the future generations will have to deal with in terrorism, but do we really need another cold war brewing? Why can’t we all just get along?

Full article here

Here’s a real shocker. Russia and china are spying on us. I guess the fact that it’s at cold war levels would shock some, but why would anyone expect anything less? It’s not like we’re not spying on them. In this day and age the act of spying is as simple as pulling up google maps(ok maybe a bit dramatic),and clicking the mouse while zooming in. Something tells me this is the backdrop for Uncle Sam getting his wish with the “Protect America Act”. I’m all for protecting our national interests, but let’s not use “cold war levels” to strike fears to get your way. Does anyone think that we’re not being spied on with todays technology?

It appears congress is threatening action against china for the rather high gap in the trade deficit. I see this obviously being the biggest thing that will hold China back. They still are sticky on telecom and other such industries open to competition. I mean really though do we have much of a leg to stand on after the port deal. I don’t know I mean we sound like we’re trying to cocoon ourselves up here as well. I’m far from a Bush apologist, and I hate to agree with him even though I think he created his own enemy. We can’t in the name of terror and politics selectively reduce our decisions down to what part of the world a company is from. We should investigate every company who wants a stake in our national security interests, but really I mean the ports were still secured by our men, with our rules. It’s hard to talk out of both sides of our mouths for equality. As far as china goes if you want to play with the big boys you’re going to have to truly open that economy up.

What once would have been seen as impossible it seems the Chinese Govt is opening up a little bit more. Allowing it’s lawmakers to make use of the popular blogging medium may just be one more small step in the right direction. You can check out the blogs for yourself here while most tote the party line there are what could be seen as liberal entries. While obviously heavily censored, we can only hope that they continue to open up to a more democractic ideology. As a note you will need to translate the blogs to english.

With the latest developments in Iran it looks more and more like we either directly or indirectly are going to be forced into some sort of conflict. Who sees the CIA staging a coup on this one? Is it possible we could garner enough support? It’s almost impossible anymore to keep nuclear proliferation from spreading, and one has to wonder and tackle these problems from the outside in. We must not be quick to condemn; instead we must somehow educate the people of these repressive regimes that it’s not in their best interest to continue to be led by dictactors. I know it’s much easier said then done, but it’s really in my opinion what we are going to be facing as technology brings us all closer. We must learn, and adapt to each others cultures and not fear, but instead embrace the differences we have. It’s scary to think that some kooky religous leader thinking he’s somehow doing this in gods name, can get the power to commit such atrocities. Obviously it goes beyond even rogue leaders as the suitcase dirty bomb seems to be one of the real possibilties we will be up against in our various nations.