Titan too has recovered from Pesach

Rings of Saturn, Enceladus in front and Titan in the background: Cassini Imaging Team

 Titan enjoyed the nice blog that sister Pollyanna put up last week, but now feels obliged to bring us all back to the real and very unPollyanna-like world in which we live.  First, however, let us take a look at a picture in which Papa Kronos and his rings along with little brother Enceladus and our namesake feature. We also strongly recommend taking a look at the sky especially a short time after sunset.  In the west, Venus is still blazing away  and Jupiter is withdrawing.  In the east, Saturn which is now in opposition is shining at us very nicely.  

 You might want to watch a tour of the April sky from PBS. We also invite you to look at the Space Calendar for the past week with interesting anniversaries mentioned.






SOMETHING POSITIVE
Even Titan is showing a bit of a smiley over the good news about the deal that saved a significant piece of real estate along the coastline of California.

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAYS
On Thursday, April 19, Holocaust Memorial Day was marked by ceremonies in various places in Israel. The theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel is I Am My Brother's Keeper.  We are somewhat unconvinced by the sincerity of the official marking of the day since, during the other 364 days of the year, as pointed out eloquently by Deborah Garel in Haaretz, out of the 250,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, more than a quarter live below the poverty line. This means that many of the people who survived the Nazis' atrocities, and sought shelter in Israel, do not have enough money to cover basic living costs, such as a home, food, medical treatment and clothes. Above all, this means that Jews who were hungry in the ghettos and in the death camps 70 years ago are still hungry today, in the Jewish state.  To us, this bitter reality renders the official ceremonies and the speeches of politicians hollow and meaningless.
Our Holocaust is by no means unique.  During WWI there was a genocide of the Armenian people by the Turks.  Armenian Memorial Day will be next Tuesday, April 24.  Thanks to Ishai Menuchin for calling this to our attention.  The day will be marked on Radio All For Peace by a special program in Hebrew by Ishai, embedded in the link.

AN APOLOGY IS CALLED FOR
 Maher Arar suffered torture as a result of the U.S. extraordinary rendition program. An apology is long overdue.  His sad tale is as follows: Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, was traveling home to Canada from visiting relatives in Tunisia in 2002. While changing planes at New York City's JFK airport, he was detained by U.S. authorities and then transferred secretly to Syria, where he was held for a year and tortured.
"It was so painful," Maher Arar said of the beatings he endured, "that I forgot every enjoyable moment in my life."
Released without charge and allowed to return home to Canada, Maher Arar received an apology and compensation from the Canadian government for its role in his treatment. But the U.S. government has failed to apologize or offer Maher Arar any form of redress - despite its obligation to do so under the UN Convention Against Torture and other human rights treaties. (Read more details about Arar’s case.)
We might add that there is a great deal of Canadian guilt in this case, but the Canadian government paid a major compensation to Maher Arar, apologized to him and took disciplinary steps against the idiots in the Mounties who sent the raw and unverified allegations against Maher Arar to the Americans.
THAILAND AND ITS THIN-SKINNED KING: LESE -MAJESTE
In Thailand there is a law against offending or insulting his royal majesty, something truly medieval.  We would like to call your attention to a case described in the following letter from the Clean Clothes Campaign, a human rights defense group:
On Wednesday, April 18, the trial of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, well known editor and long time labour rights activist, resumed in Bangkok and will continue until 4 May. Somyot was arrested on 30 April 2011 following publication in his magazine of two articles which the authorities claim offended the country's ruling monarch. He was accused of lèse majesté, a crime that carries up to 30 years of imprisonment, and has been refused bail on eight separate occasions.

The Clean Clothes Campaign will send an observer to attend the trial during the last week of April. She has over 30 years experience working on Asia development and human rights issues and will join observers sent by the International Committee for Jurists (ICJ) and the EU mission.

The Global Union Federation ICEM (International Chemical, Engineering and Mining Workers) launched a public campaign to request Somyot's release.
Please take action today by signing and sending a protest letter to the Thai Prime Minister. In an open letter to the Thai authorities last February CCC, together with several other key groups, including FIDH (Federation International de Droits de L'Homme), Forum Asia and Protection International, reiterated its serious concerns about the ongoing use of the lèse majesté law, particularly against human rights defenders, and its deleterious effect on fundamental freedoms.

Please act on this: we find it offensive against all human decency that such a law can exist and be used against human rights defenders.  In Israel there is a silly law, left over from colonial times, against insulting a public servant, but it is effectively a dead letter because the State Attorney has basically emasculated  and refused to prosecute under it and more power to him.

INTERNET PRIVACY AND ABUSE OF WOMEN: AVAAZ
Avaaz has called our attention to a legislative initiative in the US that would effectively give the US government carte blanche to snoop on our Internet activities.  Microsoft, Facebook and others to whom we have entrusted personal information are supporting this.  Please click and act to let these companies know that you object to this intrusion into your privacy.   Big Brother is watching!

Avaaz also wants to call our attention to the terrible abuse of women in Kazakhstan. Forced sterilization and hysterectomies are happening in a country that has huge amounts of US money flowing into it.  Borat hardly exaggerated here.  Please tell Hilary Clinton to apply some leverage.
BEWARE OF CHINESE HERBAL TEA
We are informed that not only do Chinese herbal teas marketed in the name of traditional medicine contain toxic materials, they also contain the DNA of endangered species.  In particular, Australian customs authorities have found that medicines like Chinese herbal tea often contain the DNA of endangered Asiatic bears or Saiga antelopes. Both of these animals are perilously close to extinction. It is time to put a stop to this practice. Besides being dangerous to those who consume them, these medicines threaten the existence of endangered animals that could soon become extinct.  Titan asks you to add your names to this petition.
MYANMAR SANCTIONS
Major powers including the USA and the EU are on the verge of relaxing the international sanctions against Myanmar/Burma on the grounds that the recent democratic reforms are sufficient and  that the sanctions are no longer needed.

Western leaders have welcomed the reform process in Burma and promised reciprocal steps

Key advocates for Burmese political prisoners are calling for the international community to keep economic and trade sanctions in place until Burma’s government releases all political prisoners, including those detained in ethnic areas. United Nations agencies in Burma say an easing of sanctions is crucial to allow funds to support poverty alleviation programs in the country.   Although the National League for Democracy drubbed the generals in the by-election, the Parliament is still dominated by the old regime and it is not clear where the future will lead. 

David Cameron meets pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her lakeside home in Rangoon, Burma, today. Photograph: Stefan Rouseau/

Certainly Aung Sa Suu Kyi will play a major role, but she cannot carry the burden alone.  We must watch warily.
ON CLIMATE CHANGE
We have recently seen a resurgence of climate change skepticism, fueled mainly by the deep pockets of Exxon-Mobile and the other stakeholders of the status quo.   A company that turns a profit of $40 billion in a year can well afford to bribe a few scientists and put up big media campaigns. Let us call your attention to the statements of Dr. James Hanson who has led the fight to control carbon emissions.

Prof Jim Hansen: 'We’re handing future generations a climate system which is potentially out of their control'. Photograph: Melanie Patterson/AP

Indeed the Bush administration tried to muzzle him but failed.  We heard him speak when he came to Israel to receive the Dan David prize for contributions to the future of humanity  It was clear from his data that the tipping point beyond which the planet will undergo irreversible change is near.  We also refer you to Dr. Philip Duffy  whose credentials are most impressive and who lays it clearly on the line. We are getting fed up with stupid statements from people who should know better.  Look at the data:

Temperature changes during a similar period and possibly responsible for causing the observed sea level rise.

The melting of the polar and Greenland ice caps will put coastal regions under water.  Think ahead, please!  This we are marking Earth Day, so please try to do your share to save the planet.

HOME SWEET HOME
THE SLUGGING COMMANDER
The main brouhaha in Israel has been the story of the officer who struck a Danish cyclist with his weapon and had the misfortune to have a camera aimed at him and his actions. 




The Army has reacted by relieving him of his command and suspending him as a commander of troops for two years.  He remains unrepentant and only regrets the cameras.  He has, alas, support among our fascist public.   We think that the Army let him off easy.  In fact, the claim that he is a unique "bad apple" is nonsense.  No Palestinian is surprised by this, since it is routine for them.  The only difference is that he was on camera and the victim of his stupid cruelty happened to be a Danish activist, blond and blue-eyed, with a European country behind him.  As we are told in Irma la Douce, "Don't get caught, 'cause that's a crime."

INDEPENDENCE AND MEMORIAL DAY COMING UP
This is the time of year in which our government and public put on a solemn face for 24 hours, have memorial ceremonies at military cemeteries to assure the bereaved that the sacrifice was worth their loss and then, with a flip of a switch, the wild joy of Independence Day begins.  This year, the celebration will be muted because in the process of setting up for the generals marching around with the flags in monkey suits gig at Mt. Herzl, a lighting rig collapsed, killing a young woman officer and injuring several other people.  It now turns out that the the whole thing was jerry-built, with no proper safety inspections or documentation and the usual Israeli way of doing things.  It is a source of outrage that this young woman, Hila Betzaleli,died because of a combination of incompetence, neglect and corruption.
We have, for many years, ignored this blather and choose to participate in the alternate lighting ceremony held in Jerusalem by Yesh Gvul, the peace activism organization that we support fully.  It will take place at Emil Gruenzweig Square opposite the Knesset  at 1945 on Wednesday evening.  Details are in the press.  We also call your attention to an alternate memorial ceremony for Israeli and Palestinians conducted by Combatants for Peace.  The event will take place at the "Hangar 11", Tel-Aviv port, on Tuesday, 24/4, 21:00.
DUCK SOUP A LA THE MARX BROTHERS
You will recall the famous Marx Brothers comedy Duck Soup in which the hapless country of Fredonia goes to war for no real reason.  The film was banned by Mussolini at the time.  Now Richard Silverstein in his Tikkun Olam blog invokes the image of Fredonia and its silly war in analogy to the Iran war hysteria that our government is trying to hard to whip up.  Right on, Richard.  A commenter thought that a Three Stooges film was a better analogy.  Read and decide for yourself.
CHEERS FOR OUR CONSERVATIVE JEWISH FRIENDS IN ISRAEL
We are pleased to salute the Conservative Movement in Israel for their decision to ignore sexual orientation in the ordination criteria for rabbis.  The movement made that decision in the US years ago, but Israel and Latin America lagged behind and there was almost a rift in the movement.

A Conservative rabbi marries a same-sex couple in the U.S.
Photo by: Courtesy of Gregg Drinkwater / Forward

Our Reform movement passed this milestone of openness long ago.
BOOK REVIEW
We have long liked the writing of Stephen King, even his most fantasy-ridden dabbling with the supernatural.  Last year, he wrote a book that made the ten best books of the year list of the New York Times: 11/22/63 By Stephen King 849 pp. Scribner. $35
We invite you to read a review By ERROL MORRIS
Published: November 10, 2011 .

THE IGPULITZER PRIZE  as announced by Andy Borowitz is well deserved and speaks for itself.

POST SEDER WOES 
Twas the Night after Seder
Twas the night after Seder, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The fish and the kugel, (oh my, what a taste)
After both of the seders, went straight to my waist.
When I got on the scale, I couldn't believe it!
The treadmill and bicycle wouldn't relieve it.
I remembered the marvelous meals I prepared;
The light airy matzah balls everyone shared.
The brisket, the turkey, the tzimmes so sweet;
Oy, let me recline and get off of my feet.
I know we made kiddish and recited each plague,
But right now I'm foggy, and my memory is vague.
So, don't give me matzoh, chopped liver or wine
I'll do my aerobics and never more dine.
I'm walking to temple, so what if it's far?
I'm not even thinking of taking the car.
With 10 lbs. to lose and 10 inches to shrink,
Eating a latka? Don't even think!
Macaroons when wrapped tightly, can so nicely freeze.
Pack the sponge cake and tayglakh away, if you please.
Out of sight, out of mind - by this oath I'll abide;
Bring me the boiled chicken with romaine on the side.
I'll keep on that program, to my diet adhere,
And let's all get together for Pesach next year!
 On Behalf of Students  Everywhere

We wind up with Wally in the Quantum World...

 

Titan exits Egypt for freedom at last

Titan, Pollyanna and Yanda all wish you all a happy Pesach (Passover) or Easter, whatever you celebrate.  May you all enjoy your holidays and let us look forward to a better world.

Can you imagine, Titan with nothing to rant about and as glad as his sister Pollyanna?  OK, we tried...
Our differences with Pharaoh did not yield to negotiation and we felt that we had to leave.

We did manage to get through the Red Sea with a little divine intervention and a leader who was almost good enough to please the Jews.

IN MEMORIAM
Seven innocent people were gunned down at Oikos University in Oakland CA, USA by One L. Goh, who  was reportedly looking for a particular female administrator before he went on his shooting spree.  The school, a small religious institution, devotes its efforts to helping immigrants, primarily from Asia and Africa, to  learn English and acquire work skills needed to integrate into American society.  Goh had been expelled and was carrying a heavy grudge against the school.  The victims were six women and one man, ranging in age from 21 to 40 and originally from Korea, Nigeria, and Nepal, according to police. Three others were also reportedly injured.  In Tulsa OK a gunman is on the loose, shooting at black people.  So far three persons  have been killed and the manhunt is still going on.   Titan is outraged that the high frequency of such events in the US has not led anyone from the political leadership to do something about the far too easy accessibility of firearms.
BOSNIA MEMORIAL
We also have this week the 20th anniversary of outbreak of the war in Yugoslavia.

Toys and flowers left on red chairs are displayed along a street in Sarajevo to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of the Bosnian War on Friday, April 6. City officials have lined up 11,541 red chairs arranged in 825 rows that looks like a red river.

Amel Emric/AP

 We can add nothing to this picture, but you are invited to follow the link.
BURMA
Burma presents a patchy picture.  On the one hand, we had reasonably democratic and open by-elections in which the Grand Lady of the struggle for freedom Aung Sung Suu Kyi along with other members of the NLD won seats In Parliament.  Let us hope that this is not some cynical ploy and that real democratic reform is on the way.  OTOH, we see the terrible situation in Kachin province where tens of thousands are in refugee camps and terror holds sway. 
Women in  particular are  targeted,

Twelve-year-old Myitung Brang Shawng found his mother shot and dumped in a cesspit

 “Rape is used in my country as a weapon against those who only want to live in peace, who only want to assert their basic human rights, especially in the areas of the ethnic nationalities. Rape is rife. It is used as a weapon by the armed forces to intimidate the ethnic nationalities and to divide our country.”
—Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
We are told that the US plans to relax sanctions.  It might be said that this is premature, but then the  counterargument is the old carrot and stick metaphor.  Certainly we think that the license to rape of the Burmese army needs to be revoked.
CHINA
Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen is serving a six-year prison sentence in China for "subversion of state power" -- simply because he dared to speak out about Tibetan human rights through his filmmaking.

Demand his release now!

USA
For nearly 40 years, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace have been held in solitary confinement, mostly in the Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola prison).

 Please call for an end to this torture.  It just takes a few minutes and a click.

IRAN TO ISRAEL
When J Street went to Capitol Hill, one of our messages regarded the dangers of Israel/US/Iran war talk, and the necessity for committed diplomacy. Meanwhile, a 'citizen diplomacy' movement has been born between Israelis and Iranians, including this piece by gifted Iranian graphic artist, Mana Neyestani.  Thanks to Robbie Gringras of Makom for posting this cartoon on Facebook. We have shamelessly lifted it.

 More on Israel and Iran below.  A propos J Street, at their conference in Washington, there were some wonderful speeches, especially by three Israelis, Michael Biton, the Mayor of Yerucham, Stav Shafir, a leader of the protest movement and Amos Oz, the distinguished writer.  We recommend listening, especially to Oz.

GOOD NEWS FROM AUCKLAND NZ
We are please to pass on the word from Eric Lee that our campaign for workers in Auckland has succeeded.  If anyone still doubts the efficacy of protest by human rights activists, here is an example of how it works.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
We would like to call your attention to the Women under Siege project  of the Women's Media Center.  The victimization of women is as old as the history of warfare, i.e. as old as our species, alas.  During the Yugoslav civil war, the Serbs ordered their soldiers to rape Muslim women in Bosnia, with the idea that a rape victim would have trouble getting married and  having children.  Thus the Serbs could attack the fertility of the people of Bosnia.  Similarly women have been the targets of brutality in Darfur, Syria, Afghanistan, you name it.  In the Book of Deuteronomy, there is an attempt to mitigate it by requiring the soldier who takes a female captive to marry her.  Whether she wants to marry her rapist is not even asked (vid.this blog two weeks ago on the law in present day Morocco).  Here in Israel, a rabbi who holds a senior position in the military rabbinate implied in a rabbinical opinion that not only is rape permitted in a combat situation, but even essential for victory.  The Army is of course jumping up and down with denials and indeed Israeli soldiers are not accused of rape in the long list of their abuses of Palestinians, male and female. We can refer you, if you read Hebrew, to the blog of Yossi Gurevich  for more detail.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN JORDAN
Just across the river in Jordan we have an egregious case of repression of public protest and expression of opinions. A  law which allows the Jordanian authorities to detain activists on the basis of “insulting the king” must be repealed, Amnesty International said after 30 to 40 apparently peaceful protesters were detained in Amman. This sort of behavior on the part of the regime is totally unacceptable. 
We might mention that in Israel there is on the books a law mandating punishment for "insulting a public servant", which is apparently something left over from the days of British colonial rule.  It is usually not implemented, even when Rabin was depicted in SS uniform at a Likud rally, shortly before his assassination.  The publication of photomontages showing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in SS uniform and giving a Nazi salute do not constitute “insulting a public servant,” Deputy Attorney General Shai Nitzan informed the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel.  Nitzan’s statement was made in reply to a request by Attorney Hila Cohen, on behalf of the  Forum. Cohen asked the Attorney General to launch an investigation against the Haotzer Haezrachi blog that published the montages.
This decision follows an earlier one, not to investigate the blog’s publisher for incitement, either.  Nitzan wrote the Legal Forum that, while the photos are offensive, he has “decided not to launch a criminal investigation in the matter.  While there was “suspicion” of an offense of insulting a public official, as defined in Section 288 of the Criminal Code, in order for such an offense to exist, the insult needs to be “a deep one, which strikes the core of the public servant’s dignity in discharging his duties.” In addition, near certainty is required that the insult “will lead to a serious disruption of the public servant’s ability to carry out his duties.”  Since these two elements will be very hard to prove in a court of law in this case, the AG decided not to launch investigations, Nitzan added. He expressed hope that “public discourse will eject from its midst people who use offensive comparisons like this.”
We concur and think that Nitzan was right in refusing to sell out freedom of expression for political correctness.

HOME SWEET HOME
Now that we are on the subject of Israel, let us share the Pesach goodies with you.  We will start you with an interview with Michael Sfard, a renowned human rights lawyer, who has brought many Palestinian cases to the courts in Israel including the Supreme Court.  He discusses where we are on the road to fascism--we have gone quite far.  In general, the "Putinization" of the body politic in Israel is gathering pace and it seems to go over well with the general public, which is frightening.

THREE PUNDITS ON  THE CONFLICT IN  ISRAEL/PALESTINE
We would like to bring you the views of three pundits on the situation in Israel/Palestine and add our comments.

Thanks to the New Yorker

 Let us start with the gloomiest, Gideon Levy, who essentially throws up his hands and says that the shared wet dream of the radical right settler community and the radical left anti-Zionist camp is being realized and that there is nothing we, the rational Zionist left-liberal segment of the political spectrum, can do about it.  Indeed, the one state solution will lead to an end of Israel as we know and  love it.  The right wing phantasy is an apartheid state and the left wing vision is a democratic state with a Muslim majority.  In either case, the ideal of  realization of political independence and self-determination for the Jewish people in a liberal democracy goes out the window.
We beg to differ with Gideon.  Indeed things look terrible, but we cannot give up.  In all our work on human rights in the framework of Amnesty International, we always took our cue from Rabbi Tarphon (executed as a rebel by the Romans in 135CE for teaching Torah) who says in Pirkei Avot  "It is not up to you to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it."
Carlo Strenger takes a different tack.  He agrees that there is no hope of selling the liberal agenda to the Israeli public and that talk of peace and human rights are anathema here.  He points out that what we have to sell is not marketable and our moral protests fall on deaf ears. This is a tough world. Indeed Obama has ordered more assassinations than Israel has.  He points at the ideas of a Palestinian leader and philosopher:
"It is time to regroup and to rethink what realistic position Jewish Liberals can take at this juncture in history. We might take some pointers from Sari Nusseibeh, the Palestinian philosopher and long-time peace activist. In his unsettling book What is a Palestinian State Worth?, he argues that given Jewish history, from pogroms to the Holocaust to the second Intifada, it is completely unrealistic to expect Israel to give up security control over large parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.
He calls up on his compatriots to give up on the idea of a Palestinian state for the time being; to accept that they will live without political rights for the foreseeable future, and to focus on their human rights.
What does accepting Nusseibeh’s realism mean in practice for Jewish Liberals? "
Strenger then proceeds to delineate several short of peace options.  He at least sees some hope and thinks that we and the  Palestinians can possibly work out a modus vivendi based on a pragmatic rather than an idealistic world view.
It looks to us that if an apartheid state is established with the tacit agreement (brought about by despair) of the Palestinian side, Israel will do a better job of perpetuating it than the South Africans did, if only by waving the Holocaust flag forever.  We hope we are wrong.

Finally Thomas Friedman writing in the NYTimes outlines a process under which progress can, in his opinion, be made towards a settlement of the conflict.  In fact, he offers two separate ideas, both in the form of suggestions to the Palestinians. They are both good and reasonable suggestions.  The first is the Barghouti idea of passive resistance and civil disobedience, since the armed struggle is getting them nowhere.  He qualifies it with the demand that the Palestinians come up with a realistic plan including border maps.  He says that to win you must cause Israelis to feel morally insecure and strategically secure--to quote:
"By Palestinians engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience in the West Bank with one hand and carrying a map of a reasonable two-state settlement in the other, they will be adopting the only strategy that will end the Israeli occupation: Making Israelis feel morally insecure but strategically secure. The Iron Law of the peace process is that whoever makes the Israeli silent majority feel morally insecure about occupation but strategically secure in Israel wins." 
The second idea that he puts forward is that the Palestinian Spring if it comes about as a break from Islamist obscurantism will give them a better life than the Hamas can offer them in Gaza.
We take issue with Friedman on several counts.  His analogy to the Sadat-Begin agreement is factually flawed.  Begin had difficulty selling the idea of giving up Sinai for peace and needed the support of the Labor opposition to get it ratified.  He had difficulty in his own cabinet with it and coupled it with a vague idea of autonomy for the Palestinians that ensured that the West Bank would never be evacuated nor settlements there dismantled.  As long as the Hamas and its splinter associates find it politically expedient and advantageous to sell the phantasy of a successful armed struggle against Israel, the Israeli mainstream will not feel strategically secure.  A few rockets fired from time to time into the Negev suffice to block any real progress towards peace.   Friedman is also deluded if he thinks moral insecurity is an option of the Israeli mainstream.  As Strenger points out correctly, the component of the population that is morally troubled by the occupation and the repression is totally marginalized and in general despised.    Below we give a link to an analysis of the general political scene in Israel.
The issue is indeed complicated and our prognosis is not good.  This BEK cartoon from the New Yorker says it all.

OUR POLITICAL SCENE
Anyone who looks at the political landscape in Israel must shudder unless he or she is an insider of the right wing or one of their tycoon buddies.  The public seem to have been mesmerized by the fearmongering of the government, coupled with the story of Grandpa's DDT at the port inflicted by those terrible leftists, and it would appear that for the foreseeable future  we are stuck with the Likud and its neofascist buddies.  Zvi Barel points out how badly we too need a political horizon and suggests that we try to get it from the Palestinians...lots of luck Charlie Brown.
WHO IS DOING WHAT IN IRAN?
Iran has become the big boogieman of Israeli politics.  It is also causing waves in the US and it is not clear how the prospect of nuclear weapons in the hands of the regime there is to be handled.  Computer hacking and assassinating a physicist here and there will certainly not provide an answer, but an attack on Iran will not pull it off either.  Seymour Hersh writing in the New Yorker describes the approach taken by the US government, namely support for violent dissident groups in Iran itself.  It is discouraging that anyone believes that the efforts of the Iranian government to achieve nuclear energy, peaceful or warlike, can be derailed by investment in what amounts to a terrorist organization.

LACUNAE
We apologize for leaving out the solar system tour and the book review.  The blog is overlong and we have had complaints about too much text.  We are trying to strike a balance between text and links and to keep the blog interesting to both readers. 

IN A LIGHTER VEIN, our friend at xkcd explores the future of boy-girl relationships in our high tech world: (click to enlarge)


We also should devote some thought to the issue of the safety of Somali pirates who are at risk of hijacking cruise ships that can go up in flames without warning.  Andy Borowitz updates us on the problem and the steps being taken by the cruise industry to reassure their pirate colleagues.  Frederick and his Pirate King would certainly have empathy for the poor blokes.