Oh.... my.... god.... You really need to check this out. It's so amazing!! Maybe Singapore should commission one for our island.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7472722.stm

Fwoah! If the concept is not amazing enough, then check out the video and computer animation in the middle of the page. It really looks like something from science fiction.

Frigging hell! I think the UAE has way too much capital to spend on such mind-boggling projects. And just as mind-boggling is the price tag of each apartment; from US$3.7m to US$36m. For the rest of us, I guess just sitting in the park and watching it transform from afar is entertaining enough.

This architectural marvel is designed by Dynamic Architecture and is scheduled to be up and running in Dubai by 2010. Plans are afoot for a similar one in Moscow in the future

Labels: architecture, middle-east

Four years on, bombs are still going off and no one seems to be winning. The only thing that is certain is that scores of people die everyday. For the lucky few who manage to flee to Jordan and surrounding countries, life has not been that kind either. Caught up in a limbo and in a country that is not their own, their stories have never really been told. Not only did they leave a country where they were in mortal danger, but they have left behind lives, relatives and loved ones (dead or alive) that they may never see again.

In less than a year, George Bush Jr will leave the Oval Office. He has it easy, former presidents lead pretty comfy lives with lucrative deals waiting for them. But the lives of those destroyed by his war in Iraq will never return to the way it was once he is out. And I guess the current lives of families like those of Amira, Aseel Qaradaghi, Hassan Jabr and Zeinab Majid in Amman is not a concern for the man whose irresponsible stupidity have destroyed.

Read their stories in the link below. I know a majority of us are suffering from Iraq fatigue. But reading their stories serves to remind us that even though Saddam Hussein was a murdering tyrant, their lives under him was relatively much more stable and comfortable then what it currently is under Bush. And no, the democracy and freedom that was promised with the invasion force has not arrived. I doubt those two ideals are even remotely in the minds of Iraqis who struggle just to survive on a day to day basis. The only "freedom" they have now is a lawless one that allows extreme groups (local and foreign) to kill as many Iraqis as they want.

New York Times - Jordan Yields Poverty and Pain for the Well-Off Fleeing Iraq

I can't believe the news today
I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long, how long?
'Cos tonight
We can be as one, tonight.

Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead-end street.
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Oh, let's go.

And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
The trenches dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
Torn apart.

Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long, how long?
'Cos tonight
We can be as one, tonight.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away.
I'll wipe your tears away.
I'll wipe your tears away.
I'll wipe your bloodshot eyes.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.
Sunday, bloody Sunday.

And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality.
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.

The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On...

Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday...

Labels: iraq, middle-east

After almost four months, Alan Johnston is free at last...




Period of captivity under a terror/criminal group calling itself the Army of Islam: 12^th of March 2007 to 4^th of July 2007.

BBC News - BBC's Alan Johnston is released

BBC News- In pictures: Alan Johnston release

(First posted on 20^th of April 2007)

And in other news this week, a (or two) major fuck up in our judicial caning system.

AsiaOne - Govt takes caning error seriously

Going off tangent a bit, a person MAY recover physically from caning, but with hanging, how does one "recover" if a major fuck up happened?

Labels: middle-east, singapore

Bush and Olmert are playing a very dangerous game. The longer Bush waits to respond and stop Israel's attack on Lebanon, the more intractable the conflict will become.

Death toll so far: 230 Lebanese dead, most of them civilians, to 25 Israeli dead, 13 of them civilians.

Now Bush wants to wait a week for Israel to finish its "job" of "degrading" Hezbollah position before sending Rice in. By then, it might be too late. By then World War III may have already started. I have a feeling that if it goes on for too long, Iran and Syria will join in the fray and then the rest will get dragged in as well.

I have said repeatedly that Bush is a dangerous man to have as the president of the US. He is not cut out for the international/foreign affairs aspect of the role and he will end up making a mess of everything. Just like now.

Anyway, the US has lost whatever "moral authority" they may have had before. No one will buy whatever they say. Their opinions are worth the same as every other country. Their only "authority" left is force and armed might.

Then again, everyone involved in this are villains: Hezbollah, Israel, some of the neighbouring countries, the US and the paralysed international community. There are no good guys. Well, the only innocent parties are the ordinary non-Hezbollah Lebanese and foreigners in Lebanon (both Muslims and Christians) as well as Haifans who are caught like ducks in a cross fire.

BBC News - East conflict: Who stands where

BBC News - Haifa hospital in the firing line

CNN.com - Dobbs: Not so smart when it comes to the Middle East

Labels: america, israeli-palestinian, middle-east, politics

...As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

Just when you thought that things might (and a big "might" at that) have a chance to quieten down after Ariel Sharon is gone, it gets worse.

Just what the hell is Hezbollah thinking? I am not trying to justify the Israeli political and military position, but what does Hezbollah think it can achieve by practically declaring war on Israel? Bolster its status in Lebanon after the Syrian pull out? Try to be more relevant by being the greater enemy of Israel than all the other anti-Israel factions?

Just when Lebanon is starting to rebuild and move towards some sense of normality, this has to happen. What's the point? I don't get it. Why sabotage their country this way?

The way I see it, I think Iran (Hezbollah's backers) may have a strong hand in this. They are probably trying to distract the world away from their nuclear issue. And what better way to do this than by getting Hezbollah to attack Israel and provoking them to retaliate. Maybe their aim is to start another war and possibly giving them the needed excuse to launch a nuclear strike against Israel. After all, the professed aim of the Iranian President Ahmadinejad is to wipe Israel off the map.

On the other hand, Hezbollah may be trying to reassert itself against an Israel led by a supposed peacenik, Ehud Olmert; possibly thinking that Israel may not retaliate.

But if I see it correctly, Olmert may end up even more aggressive than Sharon.

Why so?

I have a feeling that Olmert realises a lot of people see him as a softie for (1) agreeing to Israel's pull-out from the Gaza and some occupied territories, and (2) for his agenda in trying to define the final borders and hence trying for lasting peace in a two-state settlement.

In such a case, Olmert will have no choice but to show that he is just as strong or even stronger than his predecessors.

No matter how we would like to see it, I frankly doubt Hamas or Hezbollah wants peace with Israel. In which case, a two-state scenario wouldn't even be in the picture. As far they are concern, they seem to only want a one-state situation, and that state would be Palestine with no room for Israelis or Jews.

How will this end? I really don't know. None of them are obviously in the mood to sit and talk. The only way it can end is when the international community get their act together and twist the arms of all the parties concern. Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah cannot be trusted to resolve this on their own. It's plain stupidity to even think they can.

Meanwhile, oil prices will go up and so will the cost of everything else.

You know what would be great? The whole Middle-East sinking into the sea and disappearing forever, taking their stupid wars and stupid accursed leaders along with them and sparing us their stupid drama.

Peace is obviously not in their dictionary. To them, peace is probably only for cowards.

      "Only violence pays," has been the lesson often taught both by Israel, and by the many militant groups who oppose her in the Middle East. And pupils on both sides have graduated with honours - Nick Thorpe for BBC News, "Becoming Israel's greatest enemy"

Labels: israeli-palestinian, middle-east, politics