October: Kingdoms rise and fall

October
And kingdoms rise
And kingdoms fall
--U2

Just a brief round up of what's going down:

Fascinating: Russia has been behind so many efforts to keep Iran in the clear at the UN and now this. Hmmm, it could be some freelance jihadis looking to avenge Chechnya, but motives are unclear at this point. More importantly, Russia disclosed this info... why?

Turkey still denies their holocaust of the Armenians and Pelosi is going to hold their feet to the fire on the issue (and good on her)...but the timing couldn't be worse: the US is trying to stave off an Turkish invasion of northern Iraq. You really have to pick your spots.

Israel is moving forward with negotiations with the Palestinians, thank God, Jehovah, and Allah, but the apparently, some lawmakers aren't down with good faith negotiations:

From our point of view, any discussion of Jerusalem is out of the question

Uh, and you expect these negotiations to produce peace? Jerusalem is also Arab, and that is a fact of geography, history, and politics. Better get back to the drawing board with the attitude.

More peace talks, mo' problems, as they say. Taiwan, the democratic country no one wants to recognize recently held a huge military exercise, and now China wants peace talks. What's diplomacy again? Ah, yes: a velvet glove which covers an iron fist.

Interesting move: Machiavelli has some followers at 24 Sussex, apparently.