In an effort to bring y'all some of the more interesting pieces out there without drowning out the rest of our posts, We've started putting each day's interesting links in one post of short listings. If you think your blog has a worthy post in this area, feel free to let us know and we'll come take a look.
On Monday, Colombia and Spain publicly denounced Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Early on Tuesday, large explosions occurred at both the Columbian and Spanish embassies in Venezuela. Recall that Chavez is closely allied with the narco-terrorists of FARC... as usual, Instapundit has more.
A site named "CrazySaddam.com" pointed me at an excellent piece by José Ramos-Horta, East Timor's minister of foreign affairs. His island suffered terrible repression, and for most of the 90s it was one of the Left's pet causes. Isn't "War for Peace" a contradiction? His response: No. NYT requires registration, but LGF has a good excerpt.
Since people seem to think celebrities' opinions matter, I should note that Kid Rock has a similar opinion.
So does Blogcritics founder Eric Olsen, who expresses it well: "SAY YES TO PAUSE THE WORLD – AND SAY NO TO WAR on 03/03/03? Just say yes to being blown up or poisoned or infected along with your friends, neighbors and family for who you are, not what you do. Just say yes to savage dictators brutalizing their own people and their neighbors. Just say yes to a reign of terror like the world has never seen until all the world succumbs to totalitarian sharia, all women are veiled, all Jews are dead, and the Western way of life a memory."
The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent piece on the Iraqi economic interests at stake for France, Germany, Russia and China. Damian Penny has the details.
Speaking of Chinese motivations, Calpundit points to some interesting pieces the cover China's game around the Korean crisis.
The Agonist is concerned about urban warfare in Iraq... but it's not in Baghdad.
In answer to these and other questions, Donald Sensing offers a guest blog from Ranger officer Patrick Walsh (ret.) to discuss urban warfare and related issues.
Meanwhile, in answer to David's question: deploying human shields is, itself, a war crime. Attacking targets to which they have been deployed is not. Look up the articles of the Geneva Conventions.
A Real Axis? Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reports that senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards official Hamid Reza Zakiri recently defected. In an interview, Zakiri discussed IRG and Iranian intelligence cooperation with Saddam Hussein's regime, as well as terror organizations such as the Palestinian and Egyptian Jihad organizations, Al-Qa'ida, and Hizbullah. Zakiri also discussed the 1998 political murders in Iran, and stated that Iran has nuclear installations. (Hat Tip: WSJ Best of the Web)
TNR writes about some liberals the Bush Administration had better pay attention to. [JK] I'm no liberal, but I absolutely agree.
Bush Administration's back and forth driving you bannans? Relax, says liberal blogger Michael Totten. It's all just psychological warfare.
Gweilo diaries thinks US policy should be more Machiavellian... and he means that in a good way.
Martin Kirn writes about his experiences studying at Oxford. One more clear piece describing how Anti-Americanism is indistinguishable from simple racism in many cases. I've written about that before myself.
Likewise, I think this is wrong. It was wrong when other people in Denmark took a similar approach with Israelis, and it's wrong now.
This 4 Horsemen meme is getting out of hand.
Sandstorm has a good update on the Middle Eastern Studies scholars associated with Sami Al-Arian, indicted recently as the commander of Islamic Jihad in North America. LGF notes that Al-Arian has now been denied bail.
Finally, we always try to end on a humourous note. Today's selection? Osama's 72. Just read it.
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