SiMX Down! E-mail down! Me DOWN!!!

The SiMX server is down – which means that if you send me e-mail to nikita@simx.com, I ain’t getting it!!! However, if you send it to me@nikitab.com, that’s a different story – I have that shoot me a copy over to gmail, so…

The server will be back soon. Hopefully toninght…

Looting in Iraq or Crying “Wolf”?

http://www.meforum.org/article/609

Another link: emotional

http://www.europundits.blogspot.com/2004_10_01_europundits_archive.html#109826310049739077

This is a look from someone on the outside (Brazil) – titled, interestingly enough, “Why I won’t vote for Bush”.

Another reason to take UN with a huge grain of salt.

http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/2004/10/some-are-more-equal-than-others-joshua.html

Iraq…

A friend asked for me to send some links showing my point of view, so I figured it may be a good idea to post a chunk of it here:

I saw one of Kerry’s advisors on O’Reilly today, and he was asked point-blank: what will Kerry do if he becomes president – what will you advise him to do about Iraq as his foreign policy advisor. And this guy’s answer was “evaluate the situation”, “talk to allies”, and “put more pressure on Israel, Syria, and Saudi Arabia”. Israel being the first in the list when the issue at hand is battling Islamofascism? I mean, you and I, we are allowed to make statements, then consider what we said, and admit we were stupid (or at least I reserve that right for myself 😉 ), but someone who is going to be advising the president on foreign policy saying things demonstrably ignorant (and that is not even taking into account the pointlessness of rhetoric of “evaluate” and “talk”)?

I read a bit of “Unfit for command”, and let me tell you, my perception if Kerry keeps deteriorating. Give me something, some indication of the man’s integrity, as no matter how hard I search, very few people seem at all concerned with his integrity, when compared to Bush. Now getting to the links, from me, to you. I’ll start with some right-ish literature and then move into some analysis that I like.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/813stdef.asp – emotional, but points out the main problem with citing Clinton as the good days

Iraq and terrorism – http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/807aspxm.asp
Unless you have information otherwise, you should find this at least disturbing.

Bush and Stupidity – http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/730avutr.asp
Is this a lie? Can you cite the studies? Because this article claims that the study circulating the internet (and that, I suspect, you are citing) is fiction.

Emotional position of the elite and why it is dangerous – http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/580vwath.asp
A bit extreme of an article for my taste, but at the same time it scares me to see in you the resolve to find fault with Bush at all cost like that of the intelligentsia mentioned in the article.

On weak US foreign policy over the past years: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/197abanc.asp – I think this is interesting from a historical perspective, though it is a bit too patriotic for my liking.

And to move away from the Weekly Standard into more analytical stuff:

http://denbeste.nu/essays/strategic_overview.shtml – I think this is pretty solid analysis that, before the events took place, actually suggested that there will be resistance. Not many numbers, which is its weak point, but seems ideologically sound. I don’t agree with everything, but I think this guy has a pretty good grip on reality.

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson100804.html – a more recent overview of what is going on and projections also glancing sideways at Kerry as an alternative.

http://stratfor.ecnext.com/stratfor/corp/CorporateSample.html – very interesting analysis of events in Iraq in context with Iran, and, in particular, note the bit about Saudi Arabia.

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=181980640
I heard from dad that MacGregor talked very interestingly about the military problems in Iraq, but cautioned that neither Bush nor Rumsefeld are to blame for the current state of affairs that is indeed far from peachy. If you can find the actual clip, I’d be grateful.

A lot of interesting info is available on: http://www.c-span.org/resources/iraq.asp but this is more of just all-around information – including 1441, which you should read if you are still questioning the legality of this war.

www.eThought.info

Ladies and gentlemen, please check out www.eThought.info – a forum-meets-voting system, whose purpose it is to create a medium where people can discuss and expose themselves and respond to the leading opinions, ideas, and information from all sides. Currently geared towards political debate.

Idea…

Okie… an idea: LifeTracker.info (or some such) – to keep track of sleep, diet, etc. and to make recommendations. Most people eat whatever they feel like, and the results are evident. Moreover, this could be an excellent source to discover correlations between diet, lifestyle, and health.

What else is new? eThought.info is online.

Update du jour…

Now, I doubt that anyone would understand this except for the people directly involved, but today I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I have been chosen to represent the male population segment. The bad news is that I (stress on I) have been selected to represent the male population segment. Hmmm… responsibility….

Saw the Motorcycle Diary today – about young Che Guevara. The most interesting realiztion I have had about that movie is that this is such a serious issue that I am not allowed to have an opinion until I educate myself on the subject. Antagonizing or promoting Guevara would be madness without reading more about his actions. After all, a man who had medical background and was exposed to many wrongs of this world and who did something about it, while I am sitting in my cozy Manhattan room typing away on a 71 inch screen (projectors kick ass) with my wireless keyboard…

Anyway, 4am… really not the best time to think….

Disservice…

I am lame. Lame lame lame lame lame. Thinking myself an independent thinker with something resembling taste, it is ironic that I am stuck in my own judgements and fears thereof, sex drive stuck in 5th gear, and other entertaining pleasantries of a healthy male specimen in his mid twenties. Cumulative effect? A very truly strange state of mind. Ioshik v tumane.

The worst thing is that I am not sure whose judgement it is that I fear. My own? Those around me? But single out individuals whose opinion actually matters to me, and you can count them on the fingers of one hand. Judgement is a disservice to society… to individuals… albeit there are those who should be judged and consequently ostracized, but what about those above a certain threshold?

Perhaps judgement is a defense mechanism that prevents people from seeing the humanity in others: a mechanism of psychological protection to strengthen the idea of family in the society – the older we get, the less incentive is there to see, to be open. Today I want to talk to a girl because, ultimately, I want to end up in her arms. Consequently we’ll become closer intellectually, we’ll develop a relationship, and perhaps even become friends. Is this hypocricy?

On the other hand, we get older, the sex drive dies down, and of those who do develop intellectually, most end up focusing on a particular field – will it be hard to find conversation partners rather than those to lecture or be lectured by?

And all this depression is caused by what? Ladies and Gents, you guessed right – by lack of a beautiful woman in my bed. Why is there no beautiful woman in your bed, you might ask? Because I am a schmuck. Either that, or an incomplete hypocrite – the worst sort of hypocrite.

Why am I putting all this online? Hmm… see previous paragraph…