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- HANS BLIX -
The UN IRAQ weapons inspector Blix said words to the effect "It is not justified to say that something exists just because it is unaccounted for". He was challenging the reasoning of President Bush for the invasion of Iraq. The President pointed out that certain prohibited WMD were known to have existed, and evidence of their destruction had not been produced.
I believe that circumstances determine whether it is justified to assume that something might exist when it's destruction is unproven. One determinant of those circumstances is when the cost of a wrong assumption is extreme, as with for instance the assumption of the non-existence of either a few kilograms of anthrax spores or a few grams of live smallpox, or a few kilograms of plutonium.
This unreasonable rationalization demonstrates that
those appointed to the most powerful adjudicatory positions in the world
sometimes have prejudices. Hans Blix should have controlled
his pontification to matters in his acknowledged area of
expertise. By his statement he has clearly demonstrated that he is
unfit for the high position that he holds.
- HAMAS, ISLAM JIHAD & Al-AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADES -
The latest terror committed by the joint Hamas, Islam Jihad & Al-Aqsa murder of Israeli soldiers is a refutation of Clinton's roadmap, and a clear demonstration to the rest of the world that the cause of the problems in Israel is arab intransigence. I have heard fellow Australians argue that the Israelis are a gang of Nazi style Jews who wrongfully invaded Palestine after being unfairly given a patch of land by the UN, and who were now committing atrocities against the residual of arabs in the occupied territory. They are coming to understand that nothing could be further from the truth. The UN partitioned Palestine because there was a civil war, much like Rwanda or Yugoslavia.
Back in July 2001 I argued that only the Jews could provide a solution. They are already implementing part of the suggested solution by supporting Prime Minister Abbas. Abbas has stated that he is prepared to "get tough" with terrorists. Unfortunately the man who carries the name of a mountain near Mecca is living up to the intransigence symbolized by a mountain, and his mana is such that Abbas is in trouble.
The solution is to provide Abbas with resources to win the hearts of the Palestinian population, and to arrest and hold incommunicado as many important terrorists & their supporters (including Arafat) as possible. The Palestinian people seem to believe that they have the wholehearted support of one billion Muslims worldwide. The Palestinians do not seem realize it yet, but the rest of the world (including most of the Muslim world) is fatigued by the issue of Palestine, and want it to go away.
- SARS(5) -
If the data being provided by China, HK, Canada & Taiwan is accurate, then SARS is well on the way towards eradication. Here is a graph produced from WHO data. The graph shows that the number of actually sick people has more than halved in the past 25 days.
It can be seen from the data that the fatality rate
seems to be very much a function of which country the person lives
in. For instance, nobody in the USA or Australia has died, the
rate in Vietnam was about 8%, the rate in Singapore & Hong Kong was
about 16%----17%, while the fatality rate in Canada & Taiwan seems
to be converging to about 21%. Possible reasons for this
difference could be (i) that there are different "strains" of SARS
involved, (ii) that the age spectrum of the infected people was
different, or (iii) that the climate has an effect.