Monthly Archives: October 2004
Land of Invisible, Unmentionable Women
WOMEN ARE OPPRESSED in all Moslem societies. But among the rural Pathans, women simply don’t exist. “They’re not even in the background. They’re just not there,” said a Pathan woman who left the Northwest Frontier to live in New Jersey. … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan
Missiles Protected Food in Soviet Afghanistan
After daybreak the bombs came. The earth vibrated from the thousand-pounders dropped by the fighter jets overhead. Clouds of dust from exploding earth filled the air. The nearest bomb hit several hundred yards away from us and, as it turned … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan, malaria
The Moros and Muslim Separatism in the Philippines
Although Spain never achieved lasting sovereignty over the Moros, Mindanao and Sulu were included in the territory ceded to the United States in 1898. By 1913 Moro resistance to US rule in Mindanao and Sulu had been effectively subdued and … Continue reading
Filed under Philippines, religion, Spain
Lions Win the Series!
That’s the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions, of course, who dispatched the Central League’s Chunichi Dragons after 7 Games in the Japan Series. NAGOYA (AP) Takashi Ishii went six strong innings and Alex Cabrera hit a two-run homer Monday as the … Continue reading
Filed under baseball
The Peripatetic Remains of a French Explorer
On 5 June 1866, a party of French explorers began heading up the Mekong under the leadership of a distinguished naval veteran of the Crimean campaign, Commander Ernest Doudart de Lagrée (no relation to the fictional Simon Legree). Unfortunately, Lagrée’s … Continue reading
North Korea’s Man-made Famine
NKZone‘s Andrei Lankov’s latest article, Eating Away the Truth, in his “Another Korea” series for the Korea Times is about North Korea’s long-running famine. Few people would doubt that the famine of 1996-2000 was the worst disaster in the history … Continue reading
Filed under Korea
Kaplan on Musharraf in September 2000
Pakistan has never been well governed. After the military fought its catastrophic war with India in 1971, hopes were placed on the new democratic leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a wealthy landlord from Sind. But Bhutto turned out to be a … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan
China Crocs Crave Calories, Could Use Cialis
The New York Times reports on the tribulations of China’s Guangzhou Crocopark. China’s Forestry Department eliminated steep duties on imported breeder crocodiles nearly a decade ago. The hope was that low wages, highly skilled farmers and well-developed road and port … Continue reading
Filed under China
Maggots Regain Medical Respect
MerckSource carries an AP report on reviving the use of maggots to disinfect open sores. TOKYO – Dr. Hideya Mitsui’s patients were in trouble – diabetes-triggered lesions on their feet weren’t responding to antibiotics, and amputation was the next step. … Continue reading
Filed under science
The Fall of Saigon, 1861
Spurred on by the combined enthusiasm of the merchants of Bordeaux, the Catholic missionary lobby, and a navy thirsting for colonial glory; Napoleon III had ordered the invasion of Vietnam in 1857. The initial attack directed against the port of … Continue reading
