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.