Caring for the people

Internationally a few things of interest happened lately, there was of course the Iraqi election outcome, but I'll get to that in a minute. In North Korea, Kim Jong Il's government has confirmed to the world that it possesses nuclear weapons. In response, the United States has razed every city in the small nation, completely obliterating it... well not really. They're instead continuing the 6 member nation talks to try to get the North Korean government to disarm. I really think Kim Jong Il is one of the most disgusting and heinous leaders in the world. Not because he hates America or anything (which I don't really think he does, considering his obsession with American culture), and not because he's seeking nuclear weapons, but because he's doing that and much more at the expense of the people of North Korea. I don't know much about the Ethiopian famine in the 80's (I was too young at the time) but I shudder when I see pictures and video of the people in North Korea starving and withering away.

In Palestine, an attack on Israeli settlers was followed by Mahmoud Abbas sacking some of the top security officials in the PA who were members of Arafat's old guard. The move was greeted with great appreciation by Sharon's government. Sharon's government also approved another set of settlements in the West Bank.
A little north of there, the Lebanese people were protesting against their Syrian occupiers. Lebanon had a three day general strike (others referred to it as three days of mouring). The Syrian government continues to protest its innocence and is now trying to find those responsible for the assassination.

In Iraq, as expected, the election outcome has given the strongest share of power to the Shiites and the Kurds. Interim Prime Minister Allawi said the election was a great victory even though he's not expected to be Prime Minister for much longer. The successful elections have not stopped the violence however. Explosions, attacks and car bombs continue to kill dozens of people every few days. Furthermore, successful elections don't make a country, most Iraqis are still without power, jobs or running water. And considering how much influence some of the hyper-capitalist corporations have had in determining policy, I'm not sure how long it will take to restore these things to the Iraqi people.

Finally, Gmail is now giving a load of invites to everyone and almost everyone I know either already has a Gmail account or doesn't want one. So I'm giving away my invites. Anyone interested can contact me... don't know if anyone will bother... oh well...