U.S. to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011!!

Ahhhh the supreme irony, any remark is superfluous:

"The United States is pleased to announce that it will host UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 - May 3 in Washington, D.C. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press.

The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21^st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age."

(from the State Department web site)

the Economist: America more religious than Iran

Lexington blogs on the Economist:

"More than eight out of ten Americans say they belong to a religion. More Americans than Iranians (four out of ten) say they attend a religious service nearly once a week or more."

Is a nation high on the 'opium of the people' the global enforcer?

image of God

15% probability of oil in the Portuguese offshore

Despite decades of exploration activity, and some sub-commercial production in the Lusitanian basin, Portugal has yet to discover a commercially viable oil deposit.

However the she search for oil is on again in the Portuguese offshore. This time Petrobas, Petrogal and Partex are the main players.

In a first phase USD$90 millions is being spent in 2 and 3D analysis of the the local formations. A test well is expected to cost USD$20 million. Petrobras estimates the chances of success at 15%, but reveals that their research points to a positive EMV, i.e. either very large reserves or an even larger disappointment.

Sources at the Colorado School of Mines were very skeptical about the conclusions reached by Petrobras and suggested other reasons beyond pure economics may explain the investment at this stage.

Can Portugal be the new Norway?

map of the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone in the Atlantic

Combating piracy with Drones, not warships

Indian Ocean piracy area off Somalia

source: Google Earth blog

Millions of Euros have been spent in the inglorious mission of "Combined Task Force 150", the fleet based in Djibouti responsible for fighting piracy in Horn of Africa region.

Over and over again the fleet has captured pirates only to free them, allowing for repeated piracy acts to continue. Seldom have pirates been prosecuted with success.

Interested countries have a much more effective and economical way of solving this issue: Drones.

Drones have been used multiple times over Somalia and have to range to cover the area effectively. They also have the cameras and sensors to identify pirates beyond doubt without being detected. (Often pirates just drop their weapons on the water after seeing a naval vessel in the horizon). Furthermore, drones have the perfect weapons to sink with precision the pirates' vessels. Furthermore no risk of collateral damage exists!

The US can launch them from the usual places (the equipments are already in place). France can use bases in Djibouti... China and Russia also have their Unmanned Aerial Vehicles...

Will anyone miss the sunk pirates?

NATO / US, China, Russia - what are you waiting for?

MQ-9 Reaper / Predator drone in flight

Wikileaks - Silver lining for the US

The Cablegate scandal provides a very public way of scrutinizing the quantity and quality of the work of American diplomatic missions throughout the planet.

So, if you are a US diplomat you are probably keeping your fingers crossed to see your cables published, and hopefully discussed for the relevance of their content. Otherwise it is going to look like you've been slacking...

Clearly Wikileaks is doing a favour to the State Department. Can't people in DC see that and give Julian Assange some credit? Maybe even a job offer?

In previous leaks the Department of Defense and the US Armed Forces kept some semblance of dignity, whereas the State Department screams like an operetta virgin!

Furthermore it seems the US Government has not learned to live in the Internet age: it tries to use dirty tricks to deal with Wikileaks in a way that only further sinks its image.

The rape accusations*, the DNS issues, the dumping from Amazon, the end of Paypal service, the DDS attacks...

Altogether, these ongoing actions show a lack of dignity and an Obama administration that is not up to the challenges of the XXI century. At least Bush had an excuse, simply by who he was, while we are now starting to see that Obama's main line is not "change", but "pretense". The US reacted to the changing nature of the world in a way that makes China's handling of the Internet almost elegant.

The emperor's clothes are no more!

Warning to Assange:

Mr Assange has expressed his fears of extradition to the US. Many outraged souls across the Atlantic have demanded he be brought there to face "justice". However it is our belief that will never happen:

- for a minute imagine Mr Assange is put on trial by a US Federal Court using World War I espionage legislation. Further, imagine he gets a long custodial sentence.

- the would make Mr Assange the world's most famous political prisoner, and his jailer would be the Nobel peace winner, President Hussein Obama. What a delight for China, Cuba or even North Korea. The US would be further shamed on a daily basis for as long as Mr Assange would be in jail.

- so, Mr Assange should fear something else: he should fear for his own life. If the the US "intelligence" community gets its act together, he will have an accident on of these days, probably a fatal one. I'm sure the US still have some expertise from cold war times, certainly not all Americans in power think that the only way to solve issues it to invade countries...

* the sordid details:

- woman 1: had consensual intercourse once, but she complains that she was asleep during the second time.

- woman 2: had consensual intercourse but the condom came out in the process.

Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks

Outlawing SLRs - the good use of freedom in Kuwait

Photographing in the Muslim world has always been a royal pain in the neck, but new extremes are coming: Kuwait has banned the use of DSLRs cameras in public, according to local media.

The English-language Kuwait Times says the country’s Ministry of Information, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Finance have ruled photography with digital reflex cameras should be done only by accredited journalists. There is currently no official confirmation of the decision, why it has been introduced or detail about how precise a definition of the term 'DSLR' will be applied.

History has proved that Iraq would be better under Saddam Hussein, maybe Saddam would also be better for Kuwait?

map of Iraq including Kuwait as a province

Private Universities in Portugal

At the entrance to Universidade Lusófona (Lisbon) there is a large bronze map highlighting Portugal and the Portuguese colonies, now the so called PALOP's, all joined in the dysfunctional CPLP "community".

It is interesting to see that these highly "qualified" professors cannot tell Britain and Madagascar apart.

Would you hire anyone who has graduated from this so-called university?

The images are self explanatory:

Hummm.... something moved next to Ireland... and it is not Britain?

(big parties in Dublin by now, I guess...)

Now, what is that island on the South Eastern coast of Africa, just to the left of Mozambique?

These people also run in Portugal the GMAT, GRE and TOEFL tests, used by prospective students to US and British universities....

Makes you feel extra confident...