Saturday, March 29, 2003

It Didn't Work for Japan Either: Someone Please Send Saddam the Time-Life Videos of WW2 Iraq threatens more suicide bombs. 4.15pm: Bomb at Najaf checkpoint · 58 killed in Baghdad strike · Bodies of servicemen brought home [Guardian Unlimited] 10:39:54 AM    comment []

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter Calls "Shock and Awe an Illiusion" at Cornell On the other head. Common Dreams carries this report of a Scott Ritter speech at Cornell in which the former weapons inspector says the U.S. will lose the war. Ritter is much reviled by the warblog community, who think he's fulla shit. I sure hope so. [The Doc Searls Weblog] 10:37:16 AM    comment []

Infamous Foreign Policy Discussed in LA Times by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Uncommon wisdom. The Sunday Los Angeles Times carried an outstanding piece by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. with the dual title Good Foreign Policy is a Casualty of War and Today, It is We Americans Who Live in Infamy. It's already behind the costwall at the LA Times, but Common Dreams is hosting it at the links above. An excellent read. Highly recommended. [The Doc Searls Weblog] 10:34:16 AM    comment []

Pyongyang Vows to Not Repeat Iraq's Mistake of Allowing Inspectors: UN, US Will Not Make the Same Mistake Either N Korea defiant over inspections. Pyongyang vows not to repeat Iraq's "mistake" of allowing UN inspections and to resist calls to disarm. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] 10:26:44 AM    comment []

Australia Pledges $50 Million to United Nations Aid for Iraq Australia Pledges $50M More Aid to Iraq. Amid warnings of a looming humanitarian crisis, Australia announced Saturday it would significantly increase its aid to Iraq. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government would donate $50 million to a United Nations appeal for Iraq, adding to the $10.5 million Australia has already sent through U.N. agencies and aid groups. [Associated Press war headlines via GoUpstate.com] 10:23:38 AM    comment []

Iraqi Suicide Bomber Kills 4 US Troops: Is This the Beginning of Asymetrical Warfare? Suicide Bomb Kills 4 U.S. Troops in Iraq. A suicide bomber killed four Americans in an attack Saturday north of the city of Najaf, U.S. military officers said. Capt. Andrew Wallace said the victims were part of the Army's 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. The attack occurred at a U.S. checkpoint on the highway north of Najaf. [Associated Press war headlines via GoUpstate.com] 10:17:29 AM    comment []

United Nations Urged to Play Critical Role in Post-War Iraq: Blair, Chirac Chirac, Blair Favor Big U.N. Role in Iraq. French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed Saturday that the United Nations must play a large role in running Iraq after the war, Chirac's office said. Blair telephoned Chirac to tell him about his talks with President Bush at Camp David on Wednesday and Thursday, the presidential office said. [Associated Press war headlines via GoUpstate.com] 10:14:52 AM    comment []

Sikhs and Muslims Report US Hate Crimes Arabs, Muslims Report U.S. Hate Crimes. Muslim, Arab and Sikh groups say reports of backlash crimes are trickling in, and they fear an increase if the war in Iraq drags on. Advocates who track such incidents say they've heard about a dozen potential hate crimes - most involving verbal harassment or property damage to Arabs, Muslims and Sikhs - since the war began last week. [Associated Press war headlines via GoUpstate.com] 10:13:21 AM    comment []

UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix Steps Down in June Embattled U.N. Weapons Chief to Step Down. His inspectors are becoming valuable commodities for the United States but Hans Blix isn't. The chief U.N. inspector, blamed by Washington for hurting its drive for international support in the run-up to the war, will be stepping down at the end of June. [Associated Press war headlines via GoUpstate.com] 10:12:14 AM    comment []

Microsoft Office XML Editors First look at InfoPath. InfoPath in design mode Gathering XML data A streamlined view of the data A minimal view of the data The next version of Microsoft Office is, among other things, a family of XML editors. I have discussed the XML modes of Word and Excel (see XML for the rest of us and "Exploring XML in Office 11"), and described the newest member of this family, InfoPath 2003, a tool for gathering XML data (see "Ten things to know about Xdocs"). Now that I've had a chance to work with InfoPath, its role and value are becoming clearer. [Full story at InfoWorld.com] ... [Jon's Radio] 10:09:17 AM    comment []

Saddam's German Designed Command Bunker Would Require Nuclear Strike Saddam's Bunker Stands Tough. According to the German architect of the bunker underneath Saddam's main presidential palace in Baghdad, the Iraqi leader can withstand anything save a direct hit with a nuclear bomb -- as long he stays within its walls. [Wired News] 10:04:59 AM    comment []

Total Information Awareness or Totalitarian Privacy Invasion? The Search for Total Information. The federal government's Total Information Awareness program promises to consign Google to the Stone Age. So what's all the fuss? A commentary by Howard Bloom from Wired magazine. [Wired News] 9:58:11 AM    comment []

Warblogs Invade Conventional Journalism's Domain? Newsweek's Steven Levy on warblogging + big media (and, kevinsites.net). Steven Levy tackles a much-blogged subject of late -- blogs, war, and conventional media -- with fresh insight in a Newsweek story today. He also coins a handy new term: embloggers. If you find this of interest, you may also want to check out this blog that Anil Dash recently built to document press coverage of the recently-suspended-by-CNN kevinsites.net. The items in that press clip archive are tracked because they reference Sites' blog, but they all explore broader issues of blogs as a tranformative force in modern media, as does Steven Levy's story below. The role of professional reporters is another matter. One blogger, freelancer Chris Allbritton, used his site to solicit $10,000 from readers to fund a trip to blog from the northern front. (He's just arrived in Turkey and will be in-country soon.) The BBC has a blog, and a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter has been using a blog to describe her stay on the USS Abraham Lincoln. But when CNN reporter Kevin Sites' bosses found out he’d been blogging his experiences on an unaffiliated site, they told him to stop. CNN's response was seen in the Blogosphere as one more sign that the media dinosaurs are determined to stamp out this subversive new form of reporting. But judging from the television and print reports from journalists embedded in military units, there’s another way to look at things. Consider the reports from embedded journalists working for media institutions. They're ad hoc, using quick-and-dirty high-tech tools to pinpoint the reality of a single moment. They are shaped by the personal experience of the creator rather than gathering news from after-the-fact interviewing and document collection. They are delivered in the first person, creating a connection with the viewer that sometimes bulldozes over the deeper realties of the events In other words, they're a hell of a lot like blogs. Not the heavily linked Weblogs like The Agonist or Instapundit but the personal accounts of Salam--or the thousands of bloggers who use the technology to keep a running diary of their activities for a small circle of friends--or anyone who cares to listen in. Instead of documenting a trip to the video store and a random encounter with an old girlfriend, these "Embloggers" describe firefights at Umm Qasr and MRE cuisine. So while the war in Iraq might only be beginning, the pundits of the Blogosphere can already register a victory. It’s a blogger's world. We only link to it. Link to Newsweek story, Link to press clips blog, Discuss [Boing Boing Blog] 9:54:18 AM    comment []