Who Started?

“We could have withdrawn from Gaza through negotiations and coordination, while strengthening the existing Palestinian leadership, but we refused to do so. And now, we complain about ‘a lack of leadership?’ We did everything we could to undermine their society and leadership, making sure as much as possible that the disengagement would not be a new chapter in our relationship with the neighboring nation, and now we are amazed by the violence and hatred that we sowed with our own hands.”

Gideon Levy
Who Started? (Ha’aretz)
July 15, 2006

[Via: Billmon]

Help Evacuate Tunisians In Lebanon

Our fellow Tunisian blogger and friend Zied, who’s currently stranded in Beirut, appeals to the Tunisian government to help evacuate Tunisians in Lebanon and get them home safely.

All countries are currently evacuating or planning to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon, and he wishes that Tunisia would take steps to do the same too.

He asks for the government to organize through the embassy and it’s contacts with the neighbouring countries ways to get Tunisians out of Lebanon and onto flights back to Tunisia.

His post is a cry for help, and I would like to pass on this message too, hoping someone will read it and do something for our Tunisian brothers and sisters in Lebanon.

Our hearts and minds remain with our Lebanese brothers and sisters, may God stand with you all and protect you.

On The Verge Of War

Over these past couple of days, I’ve been following the news coming out of the Middle East, and it just makes me more and more dissapointed in mankind and in this world we’re living in today.

We’re on the verge of a war, if it hasn’t already started; rockets, bombs, sieges, people dying, lives ruined, buildings up in flames, ashes of what was; a sick appetite for destruction that is never satisfied.

Media on both sides spinning off stories, biased to this side or the other, propaganda and hot air; the truth as always gets lost in between, just like the innocent lives it concerns.
In a few days nobody will remember why all this started, but the death and destruction will continue.

Irresponsible speeches, stupid actions and unrealistic decisions taken by incompetent people who shouldn’t be making them, pulling the region and the world deeper into chaos and darkness.

So called super powers pouring gasoline onto the fire, spreading it for their own filthy reasons and well-known hidden agendas, planning to further dominate the world through their unfairness and empty arrogance.

The world watches on, another story unfolds, as if in a fairy tale in a land far and way, in a time that is not ours; yet it’s close, it’s around the corner, it’s real, as real as the smoke and fire devouring lives, as true as the blood of the innocent being murdered; Still the world watches without a reaction.

We’re on the verge of yet another war in this world of wars; it’s not the first and it’s certainly not the last; peace stands no chance with the likes of men who rule the world today; God save us all.

links for 2006-07-12

Decision Making: Weighing Advantages And Disadvantages

Life is full of difficult decisions for us to make, and no matter how simple we try to make our lives, how many self help books or articles we read, how much we try to learn from other people’s experience, …etc; we always end up confronted with a hard decision to take. There simply is no escaping it.

Taking decisions is a complicated process, and so many things come into play. We first have this gut feeling generated by our adaptive unconscious, some of us follow it, and some of us hesitate and need to think more, sort things out “rationally” and then take their decision.
This isn’t always good, although it seems it is, as we sometimes over-complicate things for ourselves, but well…

So we basically sit around thinking about what options we have, breaking them down to bits and pieces and weighing them to find the perfect decision.

The problem is there is often no such thing as a perfect decision or option in life.
In fact, generally speaking, there is no such thing as anything being perfect in life.
Everything has its advantages and disadvantages, its positives and negatives, and the only thing we can actually do is sort them and choose the option that has advantages that are worth the disadvantages we’re going to suffer.

Everyday we are faced with these kinds of decisions, at work, at home, at the doctor’s office, at the mall, everywhere.
Almost every thought-out decision of ours results from us putting the positives and negatives in a balance.

But still we end up taking wrong decisions, because sometimes we think we want certain things that we actually don’t want, or think we don’t need certain things that are actually very crucial to us. This explains why we hope we could undo some of our decisions.

There is no solution that will guarantee our decisions to be the right ones everytime, in fact I also think there is no such thing as a right decision, it’s all relative, and what one person thinks is the right decision, could not be quite right for another, but well in the end we’ll sometimes have to trust our instincts, in other times take a more logical approach, and generally we should try to get to know ourselves better to know what it is that really makes us happy and what we truly need, so that we have a reference to go back to when it’s decision time.

Learn Chinese Online Free

China has launched a Web site offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and use of its language abroad.

The site, called Linese, includes audio-visual presentations, interactive exercises and advice for teachers of Mandarin Chinese, with photographs and descriptions of cultural icons such as the Great Wall, kung fu actor Jackie Chan and basketball star Yao Ming.

The launch of this site comes as a move from China to try and expand its cultural influence along with its growing economic power in the world. China is also setting up a network of “Confucius Institutes” around the world to promote its culture.

The Web site is only in Chinese and English for the time being, but versions in Japanese and Korean are being developed.

Interesting move by the Chinese government that claims that over 30 million people are now learning Chinese as a foreign language and that more than 2,500 universities in 100 countries offer Chinese courses.

I wonder when Arabs will even think about doing something similar. A simple website that teaches Arabic online and a number of cultural centers around the world would be great, but unfortunately, it seems the promotion of our Arabic language and Arab culture is not on any Arab countries priority list.

FIFA World Cup – Germany 2006: My Impressions

World Cup 2006 logoThe World Cup came to an end last night, crowning the Italian team as champions of the world for the next 4 years, after their penalty shootout victory over France.
This is the fourth time Italy wins the title, making them second only to Brazil that got it 5 times up to now.

I didn’t write much about the World Cup while it was going on, but I thought I’d give a little roundup of my impressions of this big event now that it’s over.

Starting from last night’s final match; personally I didn’t want either team to win, but as it’s impossible for both of them to lose, I was siding with the Italians, although I think the French played better.
It was a shame to see Zidane end his international career with such a stupid mistake that got him sent off with a red card. I don’t know what was said to him that got him so mad, but he should know better than that.

Anyway, if it were up to me, I would have liked to see Germany win this cup. It’s not that I’m a fan of Germany really, as I actually sort of root for a different team in every world cup. It’s just that I felt Germany deserved it this year. And if not them, then maybe England.

I’d also like to go back to my country Tunisia’s dissapointing performance at this World Cup. We had a good chance of going one step further this time and qualifying to the secound round, but we blew it.
The coach took some dumb decisions, the players made some stupid mistakes and we had to leave with only 1 point that we got from our draw with Saudi Arabia.

The teams who I thought gave great surprise performances at this world cup were: Australia, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago and Angola.

Brazil were a dissapointment for me and many people this time around, but hopefully they’ll get their act together again for the next World Cup.

That’s about all I have to say about this World Cup. Looking forward to the next one in South Africa in 2010, the first one to be held in our beloved continent.

links for 2006-07-07