Here’s a theory why Iraqis might hold up signs calling Human Shields ‘wankers’, straight from the horse’s mouth. Salam Pax:

What really got my goat this time was finding out that they get food coupons worth 15,000 dinars per meal, 3 for every day. Fifteen thousand. Do you know how much the monthly food ration for a 4 person family is worth, for a whole month not per meal (real cost, not subsidized)? 30,000 dinars, if you get someone to buy the bad rice they give you for a decent price. 15,000. What are they eating? A whole lamb every meal?

Of course, wankers being such a curious word, unless you regularly dabble in en-gb, it’s also possible that particular sign may have been made up by a (British) human shield as a last sign of defiance, but was co-opted into a Iraqi quickie demonstration.

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Best Indian editorial on the Iraq war so far: from India Today (subscribers only):

Gulf War II will reshape the world… [Indian protestations about the war] only betrays an overstated idea of how much India counts. India cannot stop the conflict, cannot influence its outcome. What it can do is make a realistic appraisal of where its interests lie and how they can be safeguarded.

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…And here’s hoping the proto-journos at the MediaSci Dept at Anna U will do better than their seniors at Outlook Magazine are doing. Or Indiatimes, for that matter. Which kind of nutcase newspaper (or online portal) sets up a portal specifically for anti-war tripe, with not a pixel devoted to readers who might have rational arguments for the war? (Pro-war comments to this board are edited out.) Balance, obviously, has been thrown to the winds, and Indiatimes has never heard of providing an equal opportunity to all opinions. This one is worth remembering the next time the anyone from the Times Group talks crap about freedom of speech and freedom of the press, for it is obvious that the Times is not above censoring opinion when it suits their own editorial point of view.

PS. Yes, I know Indiatimes is a private entity and can do what it likes on its own webspace, but it is a portal for the public, but seeing that even CNN (the much maligned lap-dog of the American establishment) allows viewers to phone in with anti-war comments, Indiatimes’ editorial policy ré this war has been reminiscent of a Communist Party rag.

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I’m only about 10 days late (thanks, Blogger!) to thank Kribs, Anand and the fabulous crowd at Anna U MediaSciDept for doing such a great job at the National Panel Discussion on Blogging (which even got a Dave Winer Link, as well as some coverage from The Hindu). I had a great panelist in OJ (whose motorcycle just rocks, btw) who didn’t mind in the least as I blathered on.

To Anita: I live (and wait) in hope

To Kingsley, who’s full of good ideas: dunno if you’ve read this, but it sounds interesting and worth thinking about.

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The Telegraph, bless its Calcutta heart, headlines its reprint of Reuters’ story on the liberation of Baghdad: America and Anarchy March In, no doubt referring to all the looting around Baghdad and Basra. Meanwhile Scrappleface writes that the looting has suddenly stopped in Baghdad:

The looting in Baghdad stopped suddenly today as Iraq’s largest organized crime family disappeared from the city.

Thousands of Baghdad residents entered government buildings in an attempt to retrieve some small portion of what had been stolen from them for the past 24 years.

Touché.

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On Rediff, Varsha Bhosle wrote on April 7:

No matter what America’s politicians and generals are saying now, it is evident that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s shock-and-awe theory envisioned one combat division coolly strolling into Baghdad and taking over Iraq after a dramatic and precise aerial bombardment had shattered the enemy’s will to resist. Alas, the enemy didn’t cooperate: The war-planners had underestimated Iraqi resistance and miscalculated local support, leading to inadequacy of US troops on the battlefield…

Three days later, statues were falling in Baghdad. Of course, it isn’t over yet, but Pizza Hut was seen beefing up its stocks of crow-flavored pizza for immediate delivery to the Bhonsle residence.

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Blogger’s working again! (finally!) Boy, that was one long break, mostly because of this problem, which seemed to affect me for longer than it did most others. Note to self: upgrade web hosting and move to MT asap.

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Either these people really have no clue about how to do online polls, or this
was a cutesy attempt at editorial comment by way of an "interactive" feature.
Note the "86% oppose" link at the bottom and the juvenile cartoon at the top. Here’s the survey
and here’s the (probably temporary) link to the results. The poll closes April 29.

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Only The Guardian could bring in a reference (twice!) to the Hundred Years’ War in a war that’s lasted 13 days ’til now. (via Inside Ventura County)

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