za3tar

As i am surfing YouTube for some videos, i come across the following entry discussing the behavior of US media when former US president Carter said that Israel has nuclear weapons (Fox News’ reaction made me laugh ). The commentator in this video is a very calm Indian journalist; While discussing the history of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, he mentions that there have been many proposals that were pushed to the UN Security Council to make the Middle East a zone free of nuclear weapons (in ‘74 by Iran, ‘85 by Egypt, ‘89 by Syria, and ‘03 by Syria).

This is weird. If the United States and other nations are worried about the volatility of the region, why don’t they approve such proposals ? After all, the US and other nations can come to the rescue if any country breaks that agreement. Well, i am not that naive, i know the reason. But, how can people in the US or UK live with such contradiction ? If their countries are truly committed to stabilizing that region, why don’t they push for such resolutions ?

Anyway, here is an article about an even more recent push for such treaty.

It is perplexing to me that the US and other countries can continuously claim rightousness and moral superiority publicly then do a ton of dirty work under the hood without the majority of the public turning against them.

… so if you find anything broken, please let me know.

Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana was shot dead by an Israeli tank shell in April of this year. Of course it is internationally illegal and forbidden to shoot at journalists covering conflict zones. An Israeli investigation was opened as to why was Shana shot dead even though he was wearing a “press vest”, and was moving in a car clearly marked as “TV”.

Today, the investigation concluded, and i quote:

The Israeli troops that were responsible for firing a shell at him [Shana], were not responsible for his death nor the death of eight other civilians who also died in the attack.

At first, this may seem illogical to you, but a deeper look reveals that Palestinians in this area have evolved what is now called “Armored Skin Cells” (ASC) that protects them from tank shells and surface missiles. So, it very likely that an Israeli tank can shoot a shell at a reporter or a civilian without them getting hurt. Ridiculous! Just Ridiculous.

Argh, there are countries under the rule of international law, and there are countries that are above the rule of international law. Go figure!

Here is the Reuters report if you are interested

Scientists have created material which could cover objects and render them invisible. They have been able to cloak two-dimensional objects before, but now they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects for the first time, bringing them one step closer to actual, working, invisibility cloths. (Read more about it here).

I like how the article tries to dilute the objective of such discovery by saying:

The new work moves scientists a step closer to hiding people and objects from visible light, which could have broad applications, *including military ones*.

I can hardly imagine any uses for such technology except for military ones. Sure, i guess companies could use them to hide ugly fixtures in residential areas, or they could be used in magical and entertainment shows. But, let’s face it, this technology is created for the military.

I feel very uneasy about this advancement. Because what is even worse than an enemy that you can see, is an enemy that you can’t see. So, if this technology fell into the wrong hands, it could really wreak some havoc on the population. Imagine a serial killer roaming the streets invisibly killing people. Imagine a gang of mad men invisibly hiding out and pouncing on innocent civilians to deliver lethal blows! People who are already paranoid will become super-duper ultra paranoid!!

Although this technology is super cool, it could really do a lot of harm if it fell into the wrong hands.Personally i wish it won’t be developed (or at least not commercialized without a good antidote), What do you think ?

We have been blessed to live in the same time as the great poet Mahmoud Darwish. We have been lucky to see him express our concerns and convey our message to the world. But alas, he is a mortal, and yesterday he departed us and left us in this cold world of ours.

We have lost a great poet, a great Palestinian, a great Arab, a great human being.
We might have lost the poet, but his work is eternal. Poetry is immortal.

Rest in peace Mahmoud Darwish. May God bless your soul.

Note: The following pages have nice brief accounts for his life. In English here, In Arabic here and here.