Author Archives: the editor

Fun and Games in Pakistan

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From the Belmont Club on Sunday…..

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s government continues to implode. The VOA reports that it has put a former Prime Minister under arrest and sealed off the capital against protesters.

Only he did not stay in jail very long. This from Economist today….

IF PAKISTAN’S president, Asif Zardari, had ever wondered who rules the roost in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, he found out on Sunday March 15th. As an angry crowd gathered outside the house—and temporary prison—of Nawaz Sharif, Mr Zardari’s great rival, the provincial police melted away.

With a roar of sports utility vehicles, Mr Sharif, the “lion of Punjab”, then swept forth to lead a protest march to Islamabad. “This is a prelude to a revolution,” he declared. Faced, at least, with a continuation of political unrest that had included a small riot that day in Lahore, Punjab’s capital, Mr Zardari proceeded to bow to his rival’s main demands.

3 links worth reading

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A post from the Danger Room on how the US is making new advances in using emp effects to destroy enemy electronic hardware. But the US had better hope the technology does not spread or they will be the ones who are hurt the most by it.

A post from A Fistful of Euros on how Russia is trying to keep things calm in Ingushetia. Just a friendly little reminder that Russia is always one step away from falling apart. That is why historically Russia has favored strong autocratic leaders.

Speaking of strong Russia leaders, here is a story from the Telegraph on the growing rivalry between Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev. If the story is accurate, Medvedev is a fool. How may assassins owe their loyalty to him? As Mao said, power flows from the barrel of a gun, and there is no evidence that the people with the guns are about to follow Medvedev.

China to run a trade deficit?

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From The Times….

The global financial crisis has taken its toll on China, sending exports from the workshop of the world tumbling in February, slashing its trade surplus and raising the possibility of a deficit.

Exports in February slid 25.7 per cent from a year earlier, dwarfing forecasts of a 5.0 per cent fall, while imports dropped 24.1 per cent, close to projections of a 25.0 percent decline.

The resulting trade surplus was only $4.84 billion (£3.5 billion), a three-year low, compared with $39.1 billion in January and a record $40.1 billion in November, the customs administration said.

That was far short of market expectations of a figure of $27.3 billion.

Brad Setser has a more nuanced take.

Roman Engineering in the Middle East

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From Spiegel…..

Roman engineers chipped an aqueduct through more than 100 kilometers of stone to connect water to cities in the ancient province of Syria. The monumental effort took more than a century, says the German researcher who discovered it.

From later on in the article…..

“Amazing” is the word that the researcher uses to describe the achievement of the construction crews, who were most likely legionnaires. The soldiers chiseled over 600,000 cubic meters of stone from the ground — or the equivalent of one-quarter of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. This colossal waterworks project supplied the great cities of the “Decapolis” — a league originally consisting of 10 ancient communities — with spring water. The aqueduct ended in Gadara, a city with a population of approximately 50,000. According to the Bible, this is where Jesus exorcized demons and chased them into a herd of pigs.

I am skeptical about the 100 year figure. They seem to have a good idea of when this project started. But reading between the lines, I don’t think they have that good of an idea of when it ended.

We could ask China

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From the Sunday Herald……

PLANS TO refurbish Trident nuclear weapons had to be put on hold because US scientists forgot how to manufacture a component of the warhead, a US congressional investigation has revealed.

The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) “lost knowledge” of how to make a mysterious but very hazardous material codenamed Fogbank. As a result, the warhead refurbishment programme was put back by at least a year, and racked up an extra $69 million.

Rumor has it that China stole everything there was to steal when it came to making of the US strategic arsenal. Maybe they can help use remember how to make Fogbank.

One Reason Eastern Europe Has A Demographic Problem

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From the New York Times….

Alina Lungu, 30, said she did everything necessary to ensure a healthy pregnancy in Romania: she ate organic food, swam daily and bribed her gynecologist with an extra $255 in cash, paid in monthly installments handed over discreetly in white envelopes.

She paid a nurse about $32 extra to guarantee an epidural and even gave about $13 to the orderly to make sure he did not drop the stretcher.

But on the day of her delivery, she said, her gynecologist never arrived. Twelve hours into labor, she was left alone in her room for an hour. A doctor finally appeared and found that the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around her baby’s neck and had nearly suffocated him. He was born blind and deaf and is severely brain damaged.