For news junkies like me the week started on a sour note. North Korea conducted its first reported nuclear test at an underground facility located in the Hamgyongbuk-do region, roughly 240 miles northeast of Pyongyang.
The news then started moving as usual from sad to absurd, with our president and his incompetent government officials arguing that the Korean test was a failure, because the explosion is only one kiloton, taking in consideration that the Hiroshima bomb was thirteen kilotons left me wondering.
The news took another turn when the next day the so-called experts were all over the airwaves making the case that the explosion was not even nuclear, and despite it is not nuclear the Clinton administration is at fault. It was Clinton after all who negotiated an allegedly failing agreement with Korea, and this is why there is a test on Monday October 09 of 2006.
These talking heads failed to realize that Clinton is not our president for the last six years, but then again this is a side issue!
In addition, the officials who are paid by our tax money forgot that North Korea was a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but withdrew in 2003, which is three years in the rein of George W. and his wonderful strategy of not negotiating or even talking to any government unless we are in full agreement with this government. This is the same reason our government doesn't negotiate with Iran or syria!
The North Koreans cited the failure of the United States government to fulfill its end of the 1994 Agreed Framework between the two countries as the reason for their decision to withdraw in 2003, which in turn resulted in the building of the war heads and the first North Korean nuclear test.
At that point, the whole issue became almost funny. A few years ago the same bunch of people were arguing that Sadam has WMD and developing his nuclear weapon, which Sadam denied and now we know they were wrong and he was right.
It is also the same trustworthy government of US that is arguing now and wondering why the world does not believe that Iran is in the process of acquiring nuclear weapons in a short period, this is regardless of what the Iranians say and what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) finds. click here
I guess if the Iranians are smart they should announce that they already have the bomb maybe then the US government will argue that they do not!
The week also was full of the regular garbage, starting from the fallout of the Foley scandel to who knew what and when. The Republican Ohio congrssman Ney admit guilt in the congressional corruption probe spawned by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
On the other hand a press conference by the president fell on deaf ears as he explained for the millionth time why he is right on Iraq and the whole world is wrong. A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists released study estimating that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred. The president outright rejected the study, he knows epidemiology best!
The UK army chief in Iraq called for a pullout of British troops stating that the foreign presence exacerbates security problems. The British and US government started backpedaling to control the damage immediately.
By Friday, I was disgusted and tired. I was not in the mood for any more news and I would not care to understand why a fetus worth more than 665,000 souls, or if getting our people killed in Iraq is better than being attacked at home. The Foley, the Hastert, the underage boys, and the Iranians started to blur in a single big painful headache.
Then suddenly and out of nowhere it happened like a miracle, there was at last good news and it is Mohamed Yunus.
Mohamed Yunus is an economist and a banker; he received his bachelor and masters degrees from a small and unknown Bangladesh university and later a PhD in economics from Vanderbilt.
The announcement on Friday stated that Mohamed Yunus is the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
I am an Egyptian American born in Alexandria. I immigrated to the US in the late eighties, during this time lived in many places in US and Europe. I work as an IT manager and love it. I love to travel, it makes me feel young, and it awakes in me sense of adventure and curiosity. I love knowing people from different cultures; it never fails to amaze me how we all live in our little worlds that never meet. History is my second amazement, it always differ depending on who is winning, that leads me to my third hobby, politics is it history or human nature that is the culprit?
