Ten years since the Iraq war

The tenth anniversary of America's invasion of Iraq has generated some commentary about who was "right" about that proposal back when it was being debated. Many people who supported the war at the time now agree that it was somewhere been a mistake and a disaster. A few of them, though, have been been writing lately that they were misled by the war's opponents, who looked to them like far-left radical extremists. They figured that if those people were against the invasion, then it must not be such a bad idea, although they now grudgingly agree that they should have taken the criticisms more seriously.

In response to this, Conor Friedersdorf writes that opposition to the war ten years ago, although a minority view, was actually widespread and mainstream, not limited to pacifists or "radicals." I thought his item was particularly interesting because he quotes some of the pro-war arguments of the time. His point is that those were really the extremist arguments. Whether you agree with that or not, the quotes are a useful window into American public opinion on foreign policy, or one influential element of it. In the terms of our last class discussion, they reflect the "neoconservative" orientation (the Iraq war was basically a neoconservative project), but also the "populist" idea that the right way to solve international problems is to stomp in with overwhelming force, kill some people and set a warning example for others, but otherwise not spend a lot of time thinking about the world's real complexities. That approach didn't work too well in this case.

And if you don't want to read about war, how about dogs? George W. Bush, the president who ordered the invasion, is spending his retirement learning to paint, and recently painted a couple of dogs. Some critics are claiming that one of these looks a lot like him.

North Korea threatens USA with nuclear strike

North Korea threatened a pre-amptive nuclear strike on the United States after UN unanimously approved sanctions against Pyongyang because of its recent nucelar test. North Korea justifies this threat by the statement that US is pushing to start a war and that they have right to take pre-amptive measures:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21701020

White House responded with assurance that the US is able to protect itself against any North Korean nucelar attack:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/07/north-korea-nuclear-threat/1969965/

Kereru birds have their own local pubs

Many kereru (birds living in New Zealand) endanger their lives by gorging themselves with summer fruit. More you can read here.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10866998 There is a question if is it possible to protect kereru from waking up with a hangover?

Batman is alive!

I am sorry but I couldn't not share this piece of news. It seems that Batman does really exist and apparently his Gotham City is Bradford, UK. To see the whole coverage please click here. I think we need more superheroes, don't you? :-)

The Nobel Prize

There is a record number (it comes up to 259) of candidates for the Nobel Prize this year. No list of official nominees exists, however it is known that one of them is Bill Clinton, the ex-prezident of the USA. The prize will be awarded in October.

Last year's "winner" was the EU which was criticized. Barack Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2009, also wasn't accepted easily. We will see whether the prize will go to the USA this year as well... Personally, my favourite is Malalaj Júsuvzáí, a Pakistani girl. She tries to change the situation of girls in her country.

Will Britain be "lost"?

The big political story in Britain in the past few days was the result of the "byelection" in Eastleigh, a special election in one district to fill a vacant seat in the House of Commons. The Liberal Democratic candidate won, which was predicted, since the Liberal Democrats had held the seat before it was vacated (by a member who resigned in a scandal). But the "headline news" was the fact that the UK Independence Party or UKIP, a tiny party whose agenda is based on hostility to the EU, came in second, ahead of both the Conservatives and Labour (the two largest parties nationally).

That startling result is aggravating a crisis that was that was already developing within the ruling Conservative Party, which cannot afford to lose conservative voters to the more right-wing UKIP. Prime Minister Cameron is now under pressure to find a response to UKIP that will prevent this. One move the Tories promptly made is to promise to repeal the Human Rights Act if they win the next general election. That Act is one of the requirements that EU membership imposed on the UK.

Commentator Andrew Rawnsley points out that in desperation, "In the last gasps of the campaign, the Conservatives resorted to putting out their leaflets in Ukip colours." But attempts like this to imitate UKIP aren't working:: "The result of apeing Ukip while attacking their more centrist coalition partners? The Tories were beaten by both of them. ...Nigel Farage's outfit now attracts the plague-on-all-your houses, two-fingers-to-the-lot-of-you vote that used to go to the Lib Dems before they became a party of government." (Nigel Farage is the leader of UKIP. "Two fingers" is a rude hand gesture in the UK.)

How big is this event? It's "a crisis of capitalism and of democracy, as acute in Britain as anywhere else in Europe," according to another editorial in the Guarian newspaper. The Guardian links UKIP's victory to the surprising success of the "anti-politics Five Star Movement" in the Italian elections. European voters may be  rejecting mainstream political parties in general, in a way that could be very dangerous: "The time has come for the best to engage with the political system. If that fails, then Britain really will be lost." Conservatives normally don't agree with the Guardian, but the paper's views are echoed in this case by a former Conservative Pary vice-chairman, who says, "This is not a crisis for a government: it is a crisis of governance. Politicians talk about fixing things like immigration, like over-regulation, like high taxation, but they seem powerless to deal with it."

What is so special about the Super Bowl?

I know it's been weeks since the last Super Bowl game but this topic has always been some kind of a mystery to me. I've seen this sport event portrayed in many TV shows (e.g. How I Met Your Mother, Friends...) and many people were discussing it on talk shows and social networks and let me say that they seemed quite obsessed with this game. It looked like EVERYONE watched it and they were even discussing things like commercials and songs which were played throughout the game. So I was wondering - why is it such a big deal and why this particular sport? What do you think about that? Have you ever been to the US during this time? Or have you ever discussed this topic with anyone from the USA? (Maybe Professor Smith has something interesting to say about that ;) )

And what about the Czech Republic? Do you think there is a sport (e.g. Ice hockey) which we can enjoy as much as Americans do their Super Bowl or even more?

Religion in the USA

Following our discussion on religion, here is a little bit different take on that subject. The Book of Mormon is a musical by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of a popular cartoon South Park, has taken Broadway by storm last year and is planning to do the same with London this year. If you want to read more about it, click here :-)