To the world he is a classic paranoid dictator, to his victims, a sadistic tyrant, and to himself a hero in the fight to prevent his nation from being controlled by foreigners. As thousands of his countrymen fought hunger and thirst and the devastation caused by the cyclone, Geneeral Shwe ordered his military to concentrate their energy making certain starving people voted in his referendum to sanctify a new constitution which enshrines the military in power. Although his nation is facing incredible poverty, he threw a milti-million dollar wedding for his daughter in which the bride was bedecked with jewels as the guests drank their way through an ocean of champagne.

This two bit dictator began his career as a humble postal clerk and then entered the army where he worked himself up to the pinnacle of power. He has an abhorent fear of foreigners and believe they are plotting to rid him of power and gain control of his nation. Thousands of students, monks and other dissidents have been beaten or killed along his path to power. In the Burma which he renamed, Myanmar, minorities are violently subdued, villages destroyed, children kiidnapped and forced into labor as virtual slaves or made to serve in the army, and women are raped.

Than Shwe is a cold and calculating dictator who insists on complete control and will not tolerate any opposition to his ideas. Unfortunately, the nations of southeast Asia and India and China support the petty tyrant because he allows them to exploit the wealth of his nation. Until the outside world takes action, Than Shwe will enjoy his power while the Burmese people suffer.

Alhough most German Muslims have not shown any major interest or support for islamic militants, they are more prone to tap into the spread of anti-Jewish feeling within their country. Farfur is a carbn copy of the Walt Disney Mickey Mouse character but he spouts anti-Jewish feeling as part of the comedy associated with the cartoon show. Children are encouraged to say things like “We don’t like Jews because they are like dogs. We will fight them.” In 2004, Fran ce banned such shows from being shown due to their anti-=semtism, but the use of cartoon characters to insult Jews is all too common on Muslim based TV programs

Last fall, Rabbi Zaiman Gurevitch, was attacked on the street n Frankurt on the Sabbath and stabbed by a 22 year-old German of Afghan descent who said: “You shit Jew, I’m going to kill you.” German educators increasngly are coming across young children who use the expression, “you Jew” as an insult when angry at another child. In 2007, the Grman Interior Ministry published a study which indicated that German Muslims were more prone to attack and insult Jews than any other group in Germany. The report noted, “the pervasiveness of sweeping anti-Semitic prejudice among Muslim students was also noticeable.”

The reality is that anti-semistism is linked to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians. Until that issue is resolved, there is scant prospect Hamas propaganda willl not cease. Perhaps, as part of any resolution of the conflict is the necessity of including an educational program between the parties that aims at ending bigotry and prejudice.

Once again, President Bush attempted to persuade the King of Arabia to pump out more oil in order to lower prices and once again nothing happened except an exchange of pleasantries. Bush tried to sweeten the request by including promises to help Saudi Arabia develop civilian nuclear power and to protect those facilities from attack. The main Saudi response to Bush’s request is that no nation is complaining they lack access to oil. “Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they will not be able to satisfy.” According to Saudi oil minister, Ali Namimi, “supply and demand are in baqlance today. How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?”

Many econmists believe oil is being impacted by rising demand much more than the desire of OPEC to control oil and prices. Bush came, he talked, and once again, his requests for lower oil prices and more oil production were rebuffed by his good friends in Saudi Arabia.

There is no doubt Bush had wonderful meals from pleasant hosts. Unfortunately, the American people are the ones who ar paying for those lavish feasts.

The European Union is preparing to introduce tough new rules governing car advertisements whch will require ncluding in a conspicuou manner and in easy to understand information, the gas consumption and mileage. These rules are consisten with procedures that will compel alchol, tobacco and food products to provide information about health risks entailed in consuming the product. There will be an attempt by the EU to make advertisers avoid using certain imagery that is sexual in nature as part of advertisng campaigns. The campaign is particularly focusing on gas guzzler cars which means German car manufacturers will be most impacted by the changes.

Two factors are impacting the purchase of cars– the rising price of gasoline, and new government restrictions on advertising. There is a strong likelihood the price of gasoline will do the job for governments by placing tremendous pressure on consumers to purchase cars with good gas mileage. This is one situation in which events have out run legislation.

Kristian Dahl of the Danish People’s Party sent out a press release saying he regetted his coment the previous day that the party was “anti-Muslim.” He noted, “if I had to do it over I would have chosen a different ways of saying it.” He was commenting after Birthe Ronn Hombech, of the Liberal Party, called the DPP “fanatically anti-Muslim.” Dahl explained the source of his anti-Muslim feeling in the following way: “We are in many ways anti-Muslim becassue we can see some deeply problematic things about the way Islam functions. When we fight against 10 year-old girls getting castrated or are against segregated swimming classes, then it is those types of examples I think of when I say we are anti-Muslim.”

In a sense, Dahl raises important issues. What if an individual finds a group’s practices violate his/her own sense of democracy and respect for human dignity. If the individual makes comments about the practices, does that mean the person is biased and prejudiced or does it convey a sense the person simply does not agree with certain religious practices.

Thailand was able to send a medical team into Burma on the 14th day of a disaster that has had scant impact on the thinking of the ruling military junta. The Myanmar government insists the death total is about 43,000 but UN estimates range as high as 130,000. The Burmese government is only using six helicopters each day and has turned down offers of addditional planes from Western nations claiming everything is under control. US aid is only trickling in since the Burmese are maintaining close watch over any aid coming from a western nation.

The reality is nothing much can be done for the Burmese people since western and Asian nations lack the will to enforce tough actions which might upset the thugs who run Burma. India, Indonesia, and China have invested billions into Burma and are making money from trade with that nation. There is no economic incentve to take any action which would result in antagonizing the military leaders. In the meantime, the people suffer.

The Indian Defense establshment was shocked by satellite pictures which reveal the existence of a large area in central China which contains 58 launch pads for nuclear-capable missiles which appartently target north India and south Russia. This news comes shortly after the discovery of the incredible extent of China’s underground nuclear submarine base at Hainan Island in the South China sea. The head of India’s navy is upset at the large number of nuclear submarines which are operating in close proximity to the Indian nation.

An analysis of the photos done by the Federation of American Scientists concldes, “the sites are for targeting Russia and India.” India, of course, has her own nuclear capability and has a vigorous and expanding trade relationship with China. Russia still retains the vast nuclear armament that was developed by the old Soviet Union. Perhaps, it is time for all nations with nculear capability to get back to the table of negotiation.

Australian pollice raided two homes in Sydney allegedly containing two men who were planning or maybe planning or the police assumed were planning some terrorist action. The men were believed to have extreme “Islamic views” which undoubtedly made them targets of a police search for terrorists. The police have been monitoring the two men for over two years and had yet to catch them in the act of committing a terrorist act, but in this day and age, suspicion of maybe committing an act or terror is sufficient to arrest people.

Police sources comented: “These are a couple of blokes who may have been thinking about something. We wanted t satisfy ourselved that nothing is going to happen. We also wanted to send out a message to them.” The men undoubtedly got the message — if you are a Muslim, then, by definiton, you just might be planning something. We of course don’t know exactly what you are planning despite keeping close tabs for two years, but since you are Muslims with beards and all that stuff, we knew you were concocting some devilish action.

The behavior of the police comes across as though it was a scene in an old Keystone cops serial. Since when do police check out the thinking process of suspects who have never committed any action? If thinking about a crime is a crime, then we might as well lock up the entire population of Sydney, including its police department.

Great Britain is launching over the coming several years, a large effort to assist poorer nations in their work to deal with climate change. Nearly $2 Billion will be given out to countries experiencing severe droughts, storms and rising sea levels. These nations assumed the money was a grant, but they apparently did not look closely at the small prnt which indicated the recipient of the money would have to repay it with interest. The money will be administrated by the World Bank as part of its efforts to provide loans to those experiencing economic hardships. A letter uncovered by the Manchester Guardian revealed the British government said its money “will ned to be primariy concessional loans” although it urged other EU members to provide grants. The United States most often focuses on grants rather than loans.

Nations in need of economic assistance to cope with environmental change are horrified that Britain would insist on repayment. The issue is how to persuade nations in the world to halt environmental disaster and offering grants makes more sense if that is the goal. Most of the nations in need of this money are already poor and unable to expend large amounts of money on issues pertaining to climate change.

The major economic powers of the world are most responsible for the growing ecological crisis which is impacting the world. It is somewhat ironic they now insist those nations suffering because of their actions be compelled to pay for the sins of the economic leaders.

One of the tragedies of the invasion of Iraq has ben the destruction of the deployment system for the American armed forces. There was a time when a soldier knew if he/she was going oversease for a year, he/she would be able to spend a year at least back in the states with family. Today, the deployment system can not guarantee anything. The Air Force is overhauling the deployment calendar for over half the active duty airmen. The new calendar dos away with the promise of four-month deployments for everyone, acknowledging that about half of all airmen will be gone for six months or more, and that they may deploy more often than once every 20 months.

The Air Force standard has been each airman deploying for four months once every 20 months. But that standard couldn’t keep up with the demands of filling all the demands for airmen with special talents. From now on, if an individual has the wrong job description it could mean more deployments and less time at home.