Soccer: the World's Game

I have been reluctant to be one of those who follows soccer (futbol for all those who prefer the more authentic term) even after I played soccer for nine years as a child. I just never could get into it; they score so few goals, and it just looks like boredom punctuated by moments of sheer ecstasy (or pain, depending on which side you're on). I have just recently found the patience for soccer and now I'll never go back.

What changed my mind was the second half of the US-Spain match in the FIFA Confederation Cup. This was compounded today watching the Brazil-South Africa match.

IBM commercials will try to convince you that math is the only language that all cultures share. I call BS! Soccer will join that elite club as soon as it catches on further in the US. But I think changes need to be made, we need some cool teams to root for; I'm sorry, but I cannot get behind a team called "Galaxy" or "Chivas USA," forgive me Galaxy and Chivas fans. I can't even get behind a league called Major Leage Soccer. Take a look at the name of teams from abroad:

Fulham
Chelsea
AC Milan

and leagues named:
Premiere League
Champions League

I am sorry, but those named are just so cool! Galaxy just pales in comparison. Let's start naming our teams after where they're from, the Galaxy can be Los Angeles FC, that's WAY better.

But back to the topic at hand. Soccer has the power to unite war torn countries, Siera Leone is currently trying to unite the country behind their soccer team which will compete in the World Cup in 2010 (hosted by South Africa). I *believe* there was a mutual temporary cease fire in Sierra Leone during the last World Cup (hosted by Germany in 2006). Did you see those fans during the Confed Cup? They go NUTS for their team, this is nationalism manifesting itself through sport, it's beautiful. Jump on board America.

How Twitter Saved Iran

As most of you know, Iran has come uncorked in the past few weeks since the presidential election. Protests have marred the top international headlines everyday in protest of President Ahmadinejad's win. Even under pressure from the government to silence the protests which have continued to this day (check BBC). But there was one source of information that Iran could not silence: Twitter.

I will be the first to admit, I loathe those who update their Twitter constantly. I just cannot stand to think about sitting around telling the world what I am doing every second of every day. Life has a tendency to make me wrong lately, and this time Twitter and Iran proved me wrong. Even when the government struck back and arrested hundreds and silenced crowds; the protesters went to Twitter, and it became a live news feed from Iran. The developers of Twitter had routine maintenance scheduled for the middle of day in Iran, but changed it due to the importance of what was occurring.

Just scanning "Iran election" on the Twitter search results, I have 18 new "Tweets" in about 3 minutes, and one (without refreshing to get the new results) reads ""Iran: Release All Those Detained for Peacefully Opposing the Election Results." Please sign this petition and retweet. http://bit.ly/17iqS7"

As you can see even though the government will continue to try and crush protests, the movement will live on through Twitter.

France Gets Religious

French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently made a major policy speech condemning the wearing of a Burka in France. This speech comes after the 2004 decision to outlaw headscarfs in public schools.

This is a terrible thing for Sarkozy to do. He faces dwindling popularity among supporters and continously alienates the large Muslim population in France.

The Lighter Side of IR

Here's a funny post I found on Foreign Policy's website. Antonio Castro (yes, Fidel's son) got duped into an 8 month online relationship with a man, posing as a woman named, "Claudia." Along with being fooled into talking with this man for 8 months, Antonio gave "Claudia" advanced information about a trip to Mexico, and details of a far from average lifestyle that included gorgeous beaches, and Lacoste shirts. You can read the article here.

Pictures from the Election

For those of you who have been following the Iranian election, here are some beautiful pictures from the past few weeks.

North Korea Threatens the US

Last night I was reading my last batch of news before going to sleep when I see a small article on BBC.com saying the state television station of North Korea has carried a message the US:

Any attempt to interfere with North Korean ships would be seen as an act of war and would require military action.

My question is; Who is North Korea kidding? The UNSC just UNANIMOUSLY approved new sanctions against the pariah state. China and Russia, typically defenders of North Korea in the UN, surprisingly voiced no opposition to the new sanctions. If North Korea launched an attack against the South, or even US property abroad, do they really think they would survive? The South and Japan would most definitely take part in this military operation. What makes them think they would not be the next Afghanistan or Iraq?

Even if they did threaten a nuclear attack, most of the world is not completely sure they would be able to effectively launch the weapon.

Maybe after the transition of power between Kim Jong-il and his son this situation will settle down.

More Thoughts On North Korea's Nuclear Tests

Geoffrey Forden over at armscontrolwonk.com raises an interesting question about North Korea's nuclear tests. The question is, why did North Korea test both weapons underground?

Atmospheric testing allows scientists to photograph the explosion and the sun in the same frame in order to accurately determine the calibration of the bomb. All of China's nuclear tests have been atmospheric tests.

Could they really be trying to hide the tests from the international community? That doesn't seem like Kim Jong-il's style; he mocks the international community on a regular basis and probably would love to show off a shiny new nuclear weapon to the world. Even if he was trying to hide it, do you think the world would not have noticed the signature of a nuclear event? The ground shaking, gasses leaked, especially in the same area as the last test.

But maybe Kim Jong-il is caving to international norms of testing underground now.

Early Synopsis

Early Synopsis of The Road to Hell by Michael Maren:

So far Maren has mainly been telling a story of Chris Cassidy, who is an aid worker in Somalia (presumably before Maren arrives). The story illustrates the failures of US aid abroad. So many things get in the way of the aid helping those who are in need. The entire process is so politicized and so incredibly poorly put together, it is really remarkable more hasn't been said about these problems.

What most people do not realize is many of these "starving" countries have enough food to feed their citizens, in fact, in some cases they are exporting food. If the corrupt government exports food and starves people, aid agencies roll in with their bags of food and Land Rovers (Maren makes a point about how aid workers always drive Land Rovers. He mentions them almost ever other sentence; utilizing them as a means to show the inefficiencies and corruption in aid agencies). The aid workers bring contracts to the government who allows big mansions and beach clubs to be made for the aid workers while they skim some money off the top, making themselves rich. So as long as we come there and give them contracts, we fuel starvation; it is a self perpetuating system. Along with that, as soon as we give food, we make people reliant on our food, never allowing them to find a way to become self sustainable. It's a terribly cruel system.

More to come in a few days.

New Paper Ideas

Thinking about beginning a new paper but I can't decide on a topic, here are the few I am considering:

1. Paper on the future of a world with more nuclear weapons. In the past 70 years, 9 states have been able to attain nuclear weapons, what does the future hold? I will contend we are entering the age where nuclear weapons proliferation is an inevitability. How do we deal with this problem?

2. "Minorities of Influence." I came up with this phrase while writing a paper on Druze in Israel. The paper would examine a couple minorities who either, a) have almost more influence than the majority or b) those minorities that could have tremendous influence, but have not seized the opportunity yet.

3. A further exploration of the Druze culture and religion. Could involve relationships between Druze in Arab, Syria/Lebanon and Jewish Israel. Also could involve diasporic Druze relationships between those in the Middle East and those in the US/Latin America.

If anyone randomly finds this blog, let me know what you think!

The Road to Hell

Reading a new book loaned to me by a friend of mine. It's called The Road to Hell by Michael Maren. It's about US foreign aid failures. I looked forward to writing a synopsis of the book after I finish.

The Nuclear Future

I think the world is just now starting to realize that nuclear weapons are an inevitable part of the world's future. North Korea has about 2-5 nuclear weapons, and Iran is vigilantly pursuing nukes much to the discontent of the Western World. It is time to realize, nuclear weapons are not going away. They are only going to spread over the next couple of decades. While I would love to be able to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and crazed dictators throughout the world, it is simply not going to happen. North Korea is a recent failure of the international community in preventing nuclear proliferation. Many of my detractors will say the North Korean example is counteracted by the example of Libya giving up its nuclear program years ago. I contend that Libya's reversal of policy is the last of its type. It is far too easy to figure out how to make a nuclear weapon for countries with the scientific know-how and access to Plutonium or Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) (I've read enough books on nuclear weapons to be able to simply explain two ways to create a nuke without help).

I do not contend we should stop from trying to stem the spread of nuclear weapons, but instead we should also work on international safeguards beyond the toothless treaties to which all states are signatories (NPT). Instead we need to work on having all nuclear devices outfitted with Permissive Action Links (PALs). PALs simply are a mechanism which by which nukes are safeguarded from unintential activation or detonation. Along with PALs there needs to be a more concerted international effort to secure weapons grade Plutonium and HEU to ensure it does not fall into the hands of terrorists.

North Korea names a successor...or not?

BBC reported this morning that North Korea has named a new leader, the youngest son of current leader, Kim Jong-Il. This news comes in the wake of the North's second nuclear test in three years. Along with this test they have also tested five missiles in the past two weeks. At the time of the nuclear test many analysts speculated that the nuclear test was to cover up a transfer of power. Those speculators have been proven correct, or so they think.


The news of a new leader of North Korea is not without its detractors. Andrei Lankov from the Australian National University is posted on BBC as saying this is just another rumor. The rumor of a new leader has been circulating since Kim Jong-Il suffered a stroke in August 2008. Lankov cites the waves of rumors that have circulated since the stroke. "We had rumours in September, October that it will be Chang Song-taek, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law, then briefly there were rumours about his second son, then stories about his third son,..."