Lead Story: Al Jazeera: Post-Election Rioting in Tehran
Recommended not just for the lead story, but also for the linked stories. Though it’s not what ‘bulo wants to believe, it appears at least possible that Ahmadinejad won fair and square:
Commenting on the dispute, Mehran Kamrava, director of the centre for international and regional studies at Georgetown University’s campus in Qatar, told Al Jazeera that Iranian elections are “notoriously unpredictable”.
“The Western media has been talking to people in north Tehran, who tend to vote overwhelmingly against Ahmadinejad,” he told Al Jazeera.
“But let’s not forget that many of the urban Iranians have priorities and proclivities that are not necessarily reflected in other areas of the main cities, and those people could easily have voted for Ahmadinejad.
The (UK) Economist: How the Rain Forest Might (Or Might Not) Be Saved
A brilliant in-depth briefing on the status, history and possible future of the Amazon Rain Forest. Must-reading for both those with an acute understanding of the issues and especially for those (like ‘bulo) with only a passing understanding of all the forces at play here. Here’s, in part, what created the problem in the first place:
All these places are part of the Amazon rainforest, an area one-and-a-half times the size of India, or nearly eight times the size of Texas. Most of it lies within Brazil. It is home to 20m Brazilians, or 10% of the country’s population. Many of them live a hardscrabble existence in places that are hot, wet, often disease-ridden and sometimes dangerous. These people have gone from being heroes who answered the government’s call to populate and subdue an empty region, to environmental criminals who are wrecking the planet, all the while standing on the same spot and doing what they have done for decades.
No government would think of condemning so many voters to persistent poverty in the name of saving trees. Moving them is impractical and would be unjust, since the state moved them in the first place, under a policy that began in the 1960s and lasted for 20 years. (Other institutions helped too; the World Bank provided a loan that financed a large migration from the south of the country to Rondônia state in the days before it cared about greenery.) A vast migration was accomplished with promises of free land, subsidies and a slightly menacing marketing campaign that exhorted people to ocupar para não entregar (“occupy it or lose it”). Parts of Brazil’s government still fret that covetous foreign powers may try to annexe the Amazon forest unless the country can find something useful to do with it.
Finding another way to assist this impoverished population earn a living is essential in any solution:
Efforts to commercialise forest products, from Amazon river fish to oils for use in cosmetics, are also under way. Amigos da Terra, in a study of these businesses, finds them to be profitable when they form clusters and turn out finished products. “I am convinced that in 20 years we will have a viable forest economy,” says Mr Smeraldi. “Only by then we will have lost a lot of forest.”
Speeding up this process is one of the motives behind the $1 billion donation for the Amazon announced in September by Norway’s government. The Brazilian government has set up an Amazon Fund for this money and any future donations. Norway will have no say in how it is used, but the amount of money it releases from the fund will be linked to Brazil’s success in slowing deforestation. Germany will give something to the fund too. Turid Rodrigues Eusébio, Norway’s ambassador to Brasília, says lots of other countries are watching Norway to see how the experiment goes, and will chip in if it is a success.
The Beast Who Slumbers encourages you to read the whole thing to develop an understanding of this essential issue.
Washington Post: The Untimely (It Should’ve Happened Much Earlier) Demise of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
A detailed and fascinating account of Rumsfeld’s last days as Defense Secretary, and a recounting of the latter portion of his disastrous reign:
Even with the heated speculation about Rumsfeld before the elections, the defense secretary’s exit stunned Washington. In bearing the brunt of attacks for the administration’s conduct of the Iraq war, Rumsfeld had to some extent shielded Bush from criticism. His departure confirmed what a damaging political liability he had become, although Bush was still unwilling to concede publicly that his defense secretary had made serious mistakes. To the contrary, the president praised Rumsfeld for having been “a superb leader during a time of change.”
Many of Rumsfeld’s friends were offended by the White House’s seemingly rushed and unceremonious handling of the announcement of Rumsfeld’s resignation. To his supporters, the day-after news conference — which concluded with the defense secretary being patted on the shoulder as Bush ushered him out of the Oval Office — was insensitive and unbefitting of Rumsfeld’s long career of public service.
To others, though, the end of Rumsfeld’s tenure came too late. A number of Republican lawmakers complained bitterly that Bush had not cut Rumsfeld loose before the election, when the move might have provided a boost at the polls for some GOP candidates. While presidential aides had anticipated some gripes about the timing, the extent of the anger within party ranks surprised them.
Good stuff from Bradley Graham, not the hatchet job you might expect or that, frankly, Rumsfeld deserves. Although the truth is more than damning enough.
NYTimes: Feuding Bank Regulators Key to Obama Policy
If the Beast Who Slumbers had a dog in this fight, it’d be Sheila Bair, Chair of the FDIC:
At a public meeting three weeks ago, John C. Dugan, the comptroller of the currency, blasted a proposal to impose stiff new insurance fees on banks as unfair to the largest banks, which he regulates. The financial crisis stemmed in part from problems at small banks, he insisted.
Sheila C. Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the regulator for many smaller, community banks, could barely hide her contempt. The large banks, she said, had wreaked havoc on the system, only to be bailed out by “hundreds of billions, if not trillions, in government assistance.” She added, “Fairness is always an issue.”
Check out the photo of the two feuding bureacrats that accompanies this article, and one is reminded of Keith Jackson, “Whoa, Nellie, these two flat-out just don’t like each other.”
LATimes: Scientists Scramble to Save World’s Wheat from ‘Stem Rust’
Up to 80% of the world’s wheat could be wiped out if scientists can’t develop strain-resistant wheat:
Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America — if it doesn’t hitch a ride with people first.“It’s a time bomb,” said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. “It moves in the air, it can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it’s going to be here. It’s a matter of how long it’s going to take.”
Though most Americans have never heard of it, Ug99 — a type of fungus called stem rust because it produces reddish-brown flakes on plant stalks — is the No. 1 threat to the world’s most widely grown crop.
Paging UI for scientific analysis…
Cristiano Ronaldo: The epitome of the loathsome genius, Ronaldo is a legend on the pitch and legendarily off-putting off it. Preening, arrogant, a serial dater of vacuous blondes and incapable of looking after a £200,000 Ferrari without trashing it. A man of whom it can only be said: it’s a good job you’re pretty.
And, with this look at deserved celebrityhood, ‘bulo signs off for this week with this plea: Don’t hate bulo just because he’s brilliant at what he does. Brilliant people need love, too. And some can’t afford to pay for it.