Slashdot Mirror

Consider the feedback loop. In response to our actions, the flu itself will change.

We're already seeing how microbes are developing resistance to antibiotics, and how germs acquired during healthcare are more virulent than those out there in the wild.

Do we want to incentivize the flu to mutate into something more vicious and fast-acting?

Sometimes, mother nature represents a balance between extremes. Somewhere between no-flu and a flu that resembles airborne superfast Ebola is the current balance.

I am not saying we should not explore this technology, but with our current record, we should move cautiously.

Yes. These are the "Mujahadeen" networks - used since the Russo-Afghan war, also known as "Al Qaeda" when convenient.

Syria:
The armed opposition which conducted terrorist attacks in Syria is represented by a number of groups from a military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood to the Libyan radical Islamists and Al Qaeda. According to the information we receive from our Syrian colleagues there are training camps for insurgents in Lebanon and Turkey. The officers of security services of NATO, Turkey and some Arab states are in charge for the training and armament of the insurgents, while the monarchies of the Persian Gulf provide the financing.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30412.htm

Libya:
"Some of these groups formed the National Transitional Council (TNC) in Benghazi on February 27, 2011 to act as the political face of the revolution. Politicians, former military officers, tribal leaders, academics and businessmen from Eastern Libya created the Council to serve as a transitional government and to wrap the opposition in an aura of respectability.

But the three well organized movements are the NFSL, its military arm LNA and the Islamist LIFG.

The National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL) established on October 7, 1981, was trained and supported by the CIA and was involved in an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Gadhafi on May 8, 1984.

The Libyan National Army (LNA), military wing of the NFSL, was founded on June 21, 1988 by Khalifa Hafter who, according to a Washington-based think tank, the Jamestown Foundation, had: "strong backing from the Central Intelligence agency". The think tank also reports that the CIA arranged the entry of LNA officers into the United States where they established a training camp. Hafter arrived in Benghazi in March 2011 to join the forces attempting to overthrow Gadhafi.

Another major organization engaged in overthrowing Gadhafi is the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) which has close ties to al Qaida and has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the US State Department in 2004. The LIFG was established in 1995 to oppose Gadhafi's secular state by Libyans who had fought in Afghanistan. They have been committed to supporting jihadi groups everywhere and contributed a significant number of people to fight the U.S. in Iraq."
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/08/22/gaddafi-under-siege-two-cia-backed-groups-al-qaeda-linked-lifg-top-power-stakes

But I guess Soledad O'Brien and Wolf Blitzer didn't deliver the message, so it can't be true.

haha, you're so fucking ignorant..

NO U

1) They KICKED OUT the prime minister Taksin for CORRUPTION.

1) FYI, his name is Thaksin. Taksin is a former king.

2) The ARMY TOOK OVER (I was there when it happened, where the fuck were you fatass american?)

Hat Yai, IIRC.

3) The ARMY PUT prime minister SAMAK IN CHARGE (no vote)

Haha, you really are clueless, aren't you? Some farang trying to sound smart, I bet. The army appointed Surayud Chulanont as PM [source]. Samak Sundaravej most certainly was elected democratically. He won 310 to 163 [source].

4) SAMAK resigns due to (surprise) corruption

He did not resign, he was forced out [source]. And it wasn't for corruption, it was for being paid to host a cooking show while being PM.

5) The party that was kicked out with Taksin for corruption puts Taksin's brother-in-law in charge. (no vote again and now Taksin is back in charge of the country via his brother-in-law)

The People's Power Party wasn't kicked out; they still have numerous seats in parliament. Thaksin's party, which was dissolved by court order, was the Thai Rak Thai party. And Thaksin's (note the spelling) brother in law was voted in 298 to 163 [source].

You have a mouth for asshole? All you're saying is bullshit!

I guess you can only resort to personal attacks, since you don't actually know anything about Thailand. I'm done with you.

That would be something I agree on. The way I see it there is only two ways the world could solve Africa's problems, with force or ignore it.

A third way is to stop supporting bad actors.

Next solution would be to basically wall off Africa, noting and nobody goes in or out. Cut them off from the rest of the world. Famine, war, and plague will pretty much take care of the rest.

Yea right. Not much can be done about the Sudan, the Chinese supports them because of the oil.

Yes, it's heartless and pretty fucking sick but its the best I can think of. We've poured hundreds of billions of dollars of aid in to Africa over the last 60 years and all it has done is make it worse.

That's because the aid was the wrong type of aid. Much of the aid was based on the Washington Consensus, it's predecessors, and followers like neoliberalism. One part of this was to get most of the population to move into cities then let large scale farms grow food, when the west didn't export food. So, many small hold farmers were basically driven off farms, the same thing happened in Central America. The "Wilson Quarterly" had a pretty good article on how small farms are increasing in numbers and are producing more food than large operations, "The Coming Revolution in Africa". Though not the same, Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of southern Africa. They used to produce enough food to feed everyone yet still had plenty of food left to export, food was Zimbabwe's major export earner. But now it's a basketcase and needs food aid.

Falcon

The problem is financial, not political. There are millions of people in Africa who are hungry

When the African country of Zimbabwe went from being a breadbasket, growing enough food to feed the populations and still leaving plenty for export, to a nation need aid to feed the country it was not financial in nature. President Robert Mugabe forced all of the commercial farmers, many of them white, off of the farms and gave the farms to his cronies and supporters. Because these people did not know how to farm Zimbabwe now depends on foreign aid to feed the population.

According to Asian Tribune, the satellite channel was part of the ceasefire agreement between the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka. Since Ranil Wickremasinghe hasn't been Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since 2004, this agreement that LTTE could broadcast obviously isn't exactly new.

Speculation time:

Some people are claiming that the LTTE is paying for the broadcasts. It sounds like someone at Intelsat may have accepted a contract based on the ceasefire agreement, only to get burned now that a different political party is in charge in Sri Lanka.

Read this:
Denmark and Jyllands-Posten: The background to a provocation
http://www.asiantribune.com/show_article.php?id=30 04/

This covers more ground about the background to this and makes it clear that factions of the Danish government (we're not talking about all Danes here) and supporters of neocon fanatics like Daniel Pipes are to blame for this provocation.