Watch the smoke

What's going to burn next? Today it was an Italian consulate in Libya. Yesterday it was a KFC in some Pakistani city. Before that Danish embassies.

Clash of civilizations? It is here. I read the morning paper and if I disagree with an editorial I fire off a cranky letter, these people literally set fire to things when the get honked off. There are many comparisons to WWII made but I think WWI a more apt comparison. We are now somewhere in July 1914. Diplomatic lines are being staked out and crossed and inescapably momentum is building. Once again the only ones home before the leaves fall will be the dead...

Who's afraid of history?

Islam. In a sort of solipsism Islam denies that there was any meaningful history before it. That may have something to do with the problems it creates as it spreads into the West. While many Westerners are not very knowledgeable about even their own history they are not likely to pretend that nothing much happened before the 7th century AD. [note to self: there's an Islamic term for the period before Mo and his "prophecy", must look it up and provide some additional info]

I suppose I should see an episode to know how accurate this is...

You scored as Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica). You are leery of your surroundings, and with good reason. Anyone could be a cylon. But you have close friends and you know they would never hurt you. Now if only the damn XO would stop drinking. Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 88% Serenity (Firefly) 81% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 69% SG-1 (Stargate) 63% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 63% Moya (Farscape) 63% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 56% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 56% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 44% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 44% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 38% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 19% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

Mo' is da bomb!

Evidently some people, approximately 1.3 billion in fact, have no discernible sense of irony. In reaction to a dozen rather tame editorial cartoons of Mohammed in a Danish paper they've burned down embassies and rallied around banners with such witty messages as "Freedom Go To Hell". And then just to make sure that nobody gets the wrong impression, they vow to retaliate with a dozen cartoons about the Holocaust. It does make it easier to understand why the Islamic world lags so far behind the West: they're far too busy being offended and drawing antisemitic cartoons to do anything productive.

Somehow this feels like a June 28, 1914 moment. The Djinni is out and I don't think it is going back in the bottle any time soon. Although there is every reason to be sceptical of the notion that the UNSC will do anything serious about Iran, I think it might just be possible that external circumstances will make it a moot point.