Media Roundup: Olmert Shouts Ahmadinejad Yells - Bush Admits Failure - Experiments In Invisibility - Brown in Futre and Brown in Domination

Iran would have "a price to pay": Olmert

Jerusalem, Oct. 20 (AP): Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has warned that Iran would have "a price to pay" if it does not back down from its nuclear ambitions, hinting broadly that Israel might be forced to take action -- his strongest words yet about the Iranian threat.

This on a day when Bush admits US tactics to bring peace to Baghdad have failed. Olmert who is only in office because of a stroke suffered by Ariel Sharon obviously has not learned the lessons from his recent foray into south Lebanon.

Bush Aide Sees a Parallel Between Vietnam and Iraq

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 — President Bush's chief spokesman drew a parallel today between the latest carnage in Iraq and the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, declaring that Iraqi terrorists are trying to turn American public opinion as the Communists did in Southeast Asia nearly four decades ago.

Anyone remember the long drawn negotiations in Paris between Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho?

And the other day it was reported that Kissinger briefed the Bush Administration.

A sad and brutal question. How many more body bags before think-tanks and lobby groups pressure the Administration to pull back from Iraq? Where is that Mission Accomplished banner from the deck of USS Abraham Lincoln?

Iran warns of revenge over Israel

Ahmadinejad has questioned the extent of the Holocaust many times. Iran's president has warned that Muslims around the world will take revenge on states who supported Israel against the Palestinians.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again questioned the extent of the Holocaust, when German Nazis murdered six million Jews.

Israel was founded on "claims about the Holocaust" for which the Palestinians were paying the price, he told a rally.

He was speaking on Jerusalem Day, when there are large demonstrations in Iran in support of the Palestinians.

I'm sure nobody in Tehran or Tel Aviv loses sleep over these statements. But, I bet both get political mileage out of these. Meanwhile the rest of the world waits with bated breath for another nuclear holocaust.

Priest Admits Being Naked With Foley

A Roman Catholic diocese has opened an investigation of a priest who said he fondled and shared saunas while naked with Mark Foley when the former U.S. congressman was a boy in Florida.

As if that Bavarian Pope has not enough people-dealing problems on hand!

Cloak of invisibility fascinates

WASHINGTON - Becoming invisible has always been regarded as man's last frontier. Although the concept has so far been confined to fiction notably in the Ring of Gyges and Harry Potter, scientists have not given up on it. Now a team of scientists led by colleagues at the Duke University may have developed a new technology that can be a harbinger to bigger things.

I can think of several people who will line up to be the prototypes: Mark Foley, the real President Dickie Cheney, George Bush. Osama bin Bush and one eyed Mullah Omar stumbled upon this high-tech gear years ago.

Evolution expert fears human species will be split into two sub-species

Homo sapiens may undergo further evolution in some 100,000 years and will be split into two sub-species, an evolution expert has predicted. One of these species will acquire characteristics of being tall, healthy, attractive, intelligent and creative, while the other will be short, ugly and dim-witted creatures.

Dr Oliver Curry of the Darwin@LSE research centre at the London School of Economics, says an average human being will be of six ft. six inch in height, will have brown skin and will even live up to the age of 120 by the year 3,000 A.D, all these made possible by newer trends in nutrition, medicine and migration. More importantly racial differences will become less pronounced, he said.

Thanks Aaman for this and the next link. I bet Dr.Curry is an optimist. He talks of 100,000 years! The way the Olmerts and Ahmadinejads and Kim Il-whatever are sabre rattling, the way we are collectively abusing the environment, the way Osama is praying, this world may go up in flames a lot sooner. No wonder I have not switched to winter radials.

India's money buys ambition

The arrogance of Indian cricket at the moment beggars belief. It has become the game's imperialist and is revelling in the discomfort being felt by the rest of the cricket world.

And make no mistake, the rest of the cricket world is living in fear of the brash and bolshy Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which apparently intends to usurp the International Cricket Council (ICC).

That it has neither the wherewithal nor wisdom to convincingly run the game in its own country apparently matters not a jot. It is hell-bent on running the game throughout the world.

Notice the news source? And then this the discomfort being felt by the rest of the cricket world.?

As long as "they" exercised power it was OK. As the ground realities shift they become uncomfortable. Should someone tell them the golden rule: he who has the gold....

The Great Experiment

Is it possible to force a whole people to submit to foreign occupation by starving it?

That is, certainly, an interesting question. So interesting, indeed, that the governments of Israel and the United States, in close cooperation with Europe, are now engaged in a rigorous scientific experiment in order to obtain a definitive answer.

The laboratory for the experiment is the Gaza Strip, and the guinea pigs are the million and a quarter Palestinians living there.

This is a great humanitarian/scientific experiment. And if it works there are tremendous possibilities for its repetition in other spots - Chechenya, Darfur, North Waziristan, Southern Thailand.....

Uri Avnery ends his column with these words, "I hope the Nobel Committee is watching."

The lure of fundamentalism

What is fundamentalism? Please understand that when we talk of fundamentalism we are not talking of any particular religious group. We are not talking of Jews, we are not talking of Muslims, we are not talking of Hindus, we are not talking of Christians. We are not talking of any particular group because this is a human phenomenon and fundamentally or perhaps I shouldn't use the word fundamentally, basically all human beings are more or less alike and all of us have struggled with basically similar kinds of problems. There are two problems that we all struggle with. In fact, all human problems can be boiled down to two fundamental problems. One, that some things are impossible and two, that a few others are prohibited. If you can swallow this bitter pill, I think you are fine (you'll never need to see Dr. Sudhir Kakar, me or any other psychoanalyst!).

Kamla Bhatt wrote on "Dr. Salman Akhtar on Bollywood and Indan Unconsiousness." To me the fundamentalists of any stripe - the born-agains - have to be dealt with with utter suspicion. Be very skeptical of an Osama-Bush types who cannot communicate with us but do so easily with their gods.

Veil row woman may get legal aid

The lawyer representing the Muslim teaching assistant who was suspended for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom says he is hopeful of securing legal aid to continue her fight.

On Thursday, an employment tribunal ruled that 24-year-old Aishah Azmi was not discriminated against or harassed by Headfield Church of England Junior School, in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Sometimes, well, more times in recent times, I shake my head in utter amazement. Issues such as purdah, hijab, niqab and other cultural and traditional customs that have assumed the significance of religious dictates cause chaos and problems everywhere.

There is a very obvious and simple solution for Muslims who demand to maintain their own customs and traditions when they migrate to the west: teach them their religion.

Give them mandatory classes in their religion. Teach them about how Sharia and Islamic laws are to affect them in dar ul islam and what their religion says about the application of those laws in dar ul har'b. Brief hint: there is a leeway. Maybe "tbs" can write an article on this?