It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, but it does take intellectual honesty, to realize that all the “change” that is happening in the Middle East and the Arab world has its roots in George W. Bush’s 2003 “illegal” invasion of Iraq. Love this or hate this, Republican or Democrat, Valerie Plame or not – you really can’t trace this thing back to any particular point prior to Army and Marine Combat Teams penetrating Baghdad and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. You can debate the role of Twitter and da internetz in Egypt all you want. But it was April 2003 that lit this candle. As Ross Perot would say: ”You know it, I know it, and the American People know it.”

Hole In The Sky

I’m looking through a hole in the sky
I’m seeing nowhere through the eyes of a lie
I’m getting closer to the end of the line
I’m living easy where the sun doesn’t shine

I’m living in a room without any view
I’m living free because the rent’s never due
The synonyms of all the things that I’ve said
Are just the riddles that are built in my head

Hole in the sky, gateway to Heaven Window in time, through it I fly

I’m seeing the stars that disappear in the sun
The shooting’s easy if you’ve got the right gun
And even though I’m sitting waiting for miles
I don’t believe there’s any future in cars

Hole in the sky, gateway to Heaven
Window in time, through it I fly

I’ve watched the dogs of war enjoying their feast
I’ve seen the western world go down in the east
The food of love became the greed of our time
But now we’re living on the profits of crime

After Cairo, Twitter Still Sucks

“Why would you willingly restrict communication to 140 characters unless you were playing a board game? Why would you want to broadcast your most diaristic, most diarrhetic thoughts to an uninterested world?”

Russia Embraces Risky Offshore Arctic Drilling

As its Siberian oil fields mature, daily output in Russia, without new development, could be reduced by nearly a million barrels by the year 2035, according to the International Energy Agency. With its economy dependent on oil and gas, which make up about 60 percent of all exports, Russia sees little choice but to go offshore — using foreign partners to provide expertise and share the billions of dollars in development costs.

And if anything, the gulf disaster encouraged Russia to push ahead with BP as its first partner. In the view of Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, BP is the safest company to hire for offshore work today, having learned its lesson in the gulf.

“One beaten man is worth two unbeaten men,” Mr. Putin said, citing a Russian proverb, after BP signed its Arctic deal with Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company. The joint venture calls for the companies to explore three sections in the Kara Sea, an icebound coastal backwater north of central Russia.