Curious editorial...

from the Washington Post.

WaPo, not known in journalism circles as Sam Huntington's mouthpiece, says that the US -- indeed the West (they capitalized it, not me!) -- needs to demonstrate that "sticks as well as carrots remain in the multilateral initiative."

The problem with this is that Washington and the West need to postulate a few things: first, that Russia and China will agree to a sanctions regime, and themselves comply. If sanctions wouldn't work in Iraq -- the Oil-For-Food program was a joke, and even France was busy undermining it, to say nothing of Russia and China -- why should anyone expect that they would work in Iran? If anything, the Iranians can do "more with less." Assuming China and Russia comply (highly unlikely), the Iranian regime is already too far along on its program.

The last line of the Post's editorial is helpful: "Until his government is disabused of the notion that there is no cost in defying the West, his response to new offers will be more of the same rhetoric."

The problem is that at this point, there is no cost in defying the West. The militaries of the West are busy, those who would support sanctions would be the same ones undermining them, and, as Ahmadinejad correctly pointed out recently, sanctions would hurt other countries far more than they would hurt Iran.

Oriana Fallaci

This from the WSJ's opinion pages is tragic, moving, etc. It's an interview with Oriana Fallaci. She's very interesting, and I don't know her work very well, so I think I'm fixing to learn about her.
How frustrated she sounds. It is a curse of conservatism that as they age, conservatives tend to become more pessimistic (even more pessimistic?).
Nevertheless, I can't shake the feeling that something big, important, and bad is going on over here. Huge demographic and cultural shifts are taking place in Europe, religious freedom -- including the ability to criticize other religions -- is being chopped down, and the EU is currently working on harmonizing sunscreen labeling requirements!

Weltmeisterschaftsprostitutinen

This from National Review Online, concerning the World Cup (a soccer event, very important in these parts) and prostitution.
The argument is that organized crime stands to benefit from brothels during the World Cup more than anybody else.

But don't worry, I'm sure that human trafficking facilitates women's empowerment.

$$$$

The dollar is falling!

Please call President Bush and get him to kick China in the economic balls, and prevent my education from getting substantially more expensive in a short amount of time.

Wrocław, Poland

This weekend the International Students Club took off to Wrocław (pronounced "Vraht-swaf") Poland and its environs. I was impressed. Wrocław, known in the German-speaking world as Breslau, is the main city in the region known as Silesia. Silesia has been a rather important strategic area for various peoples over the years, and has been fought over by Czechs, Germans, Austrians, Russians, and of course, Poles. It's really a very nice region, and I enjoyed everything but the weather. Wrocław is very nice, and, as is typical in Poland, dominated by churches. Our brilliant guide Wojciek (spelled almost certainly incorrectly -- I will fix this later) discussed the ecumenism of the town due to the different nations that have ruled Silesia over the course of the last millenium. "Cathedral Island" is home to 3 different Catholic sects, (who have differing rites and allegiances to the pope), a Russian Orthodox bishopric, a protestant church, a synagogue, and a Greek Orthodox church. This is unique in Poland, and unusual in Europe -- it may be unique in Europe as well; I can't recall, but it seems reasonable.

The first night we stayed in Świdnica, about 2 hours from Wrocław, and we traveled around a hollowed-out mountain that Hitler used to built, well, something. Nobody seems to know, though it was suspected that the Nazis either built V-2 rockets or were working on a nuclear program there, as the rocks around Silesia are some of the most stable and most shielded areas in Europe. It is also unknown how comprehensive the system of tunnels around Silesia was, as the Nazis destroyed most of them during their retreat from the area in 1944 and 45.

I found it interesting that after 60 years, we still don't have any idea of the extent of a declassified German WMD program. How presumptive must people be to assume that since we haven't found one in Iraq after 3 years, one never could have existed.

Świdnica is also home to the oldest Protestant Church built for Protestants in the world, which is ironic in one of the most Catholic nations of Europe. Of course, at the time, this was a German-dominated area.

The King of Sweden agreed to finance the Church of Peace, but maintained that it would have to be built on the outskirts of town, built entirely of wood, and had to be built within one year. It is 350 years old, and marvelous.


Here is the Wikipedia article on Wrocław and its history.
Here is the Świdnica website, in English.
Here is the Wrocław website, in English.