A Different Drummer

It's not easy being the Great Satan. Thirty years of influence peddling in the Middle East and those damn hotblooded folk still haven't learned to embrace democracy and nonviolence like they were supposed to. But hey, heres an awesome strategy for helping to solve the myriad of conflicts and repression in the Middle East: Arm the fuckers to the teeth.

Yep, its the old sell-them-sixty-billion-dollars-worth-of-weapons method of world peace. Because as we all know, there's no problem in the world that arming the Saudis doesn't fix. And just to keep things chilled out in the Holy Land, thirty billion bucks worth of boom going straight into Israeli hands is sure to make an end to the conflict much more likely.

Name two countries in the world that you really don't want to see armed to the teeth with the world's most powerful weapons. Israel and Saudi Arabia? At the very least, it demonstrates a keen, well developed sense of evil among US weapon mongers — if they chose ambiguously evil yet still somehow respectable countries like Bahrain and Tunisia, you'd just slap your forehead in frustration. This way it's a much more vigorous kind of wide eyed 'thanks for bringing forward the armageddon' feeling, which is far more authentic and intense — two qualities that audiences really search for in the days of reality TV.

The joint Zimbabwe-North Korea weapons deal is progressing nicely...

It's Revolution Day in Egypt.

Raise your fists to the sky, peoples. All tyrants and empires will crumble like cliffs into sand.

UPDATE - The best leader Egypt has ever had? Read more about Mohamed Naguib, the first President of Egypt. The Free Officers Movement that led the revolution produced three of the four leaders Egypt has had since 1952. Two of them were cool — Naguib and Anwar Sadat — and one of them, Nasser, was not.

A random chain of events led me to be checking out what is the deal with San Marino, one of the smallest countries in the world. Thanks to the Oracle, I now know that it is also home to the world's trippiest, most surreally badass castle. This shit is real, people...



It's the most real-thing-that-looks-like-a-fantasy-painting looking thing I've ever seen. It blows my mind. It is one of three...

(in case you're interested, or are a geography nerd, the thing that led me to be wondering about San Merino was the question: What is the only country that completely surrounds two other countries? The answer, as you can probably imagine by now, is Italy, which totally surrounds The Vatican and San Marino. I though it was South Africa, with Lesotho and Swaziland, but it turns out Swaziland has a border with Mozambique)

Yeah, I know, way to turn a dreamy castle post into a geeky discourse on land borders. I do that a lot I guess...

It the Dubai Ports fiasco didn't freak out 'concerned' Americans enough, how about trying this one on for size?:

"Caracal International, an Abu Dhabi-based light weapons manufacturer, has bought German gunmaker Merkel, Emirates Today reported. Under the terms of the deal, Caracal will acquire the 150-year-old firm's production lines in Germany and the US. Financial terms were not disclosed."

First they came for the ports. Then they took the rifles...I think we all know where this is going...

What has been occupying my mind in the last few days:

- Since 1999 I have lived with 38 different housemates, all special in their own ways. But Meaghan Roberts makes the prettiest sounding music of them all. Go listen to Meaghan's gorgeous music. And here's a picture of Meaghan - looking wonderful as always - in our old flat in Dublin, with Adam Lemmon enjoying a cigarette more than anyone else in history.

- "If I was President....I'd get elected on Friday...Assasinated on Saturday...Buried on Sunday...Back to work on Monday" - such is the genius of "If I Was President" by the always-awesome Wyclef Jean. Check out the video...

- For one of the better discussions you will see on how the West should deal with Iran, check out this bloggingheads.tv conversation between Reza Aslan (author of the awesome No God But God) and Eli Lake, one of the few neoconservative Iran-watchers who doesn't seem to glow bright green with evil.

- And finally, for the Cairo massive - Three awesome things are coming to Cairo:

1) Ozomatli, the sweet Latino/Hip Hop band from the US - these guys kick massive ass when playing live. They will be at the Citadel on July 30. Thank you, US State Department black-ops!

2) Easy All Stars, the dubwise geniuses behind the incomparable Radiodread and Dub Side of the Moon, are also coming to Cairo - September 6 and 7. Should be totally sweet.

3) Wagamama is opening in Caio, this summer at Citystars. Epic. Anyone who's spent much time in London or Amsterdam probably knows this place already - ass kicking fusion Japanese/pan-Asian noodle bar. Prepare for some furious eating of Ramen, Soba, etc... Grrrrrr

You know what the prophecies said - when hip hop, dub reggae and noodle bars all converge on Cairo in the space of a single summer, the coming of the Awesome One is near...

"Taleban-like beard sees Metallica frontman James Hetfield detained at airport"