War in the Middle East

Since Saturday, Israel has launched an air raid on Gaza, killed over 300 Palestinians already, to fight Hamas. Read an Al Jazeera article from today here.

Some extracts:

"Israel's military is in an "all-out war" with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ehud Barak, the defence minister, says.

...Israel said it began pounding the Gaza Strip with missiles fired from warplanes and helicopter gunships in order to halt the rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian fighters.

...Four young girls from the same family in the northern town of Jabaliya and two young boy from Rafah were among those killed in the latest raids, Palestinian medics said."

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is deeply ingrained in land disputes which have spilled into cultural and religious divides. To read on about the history of this conflict, check out the Wiki article.

<above photo from BBC news homepage, 12/29/2008.>

Comments

Tanzania is not Tasmania

Dear friends: Please let's stop refering to Tanzania as Tasmania. Here is why. Tanzania is located on the coast of East Africa, below Kenya. It is not origin of the the cartoon character from your childhood. Tasmania is an island which is part of Australia. The animal known to exist only on Tasmania is the Tasmanian Devil. Once again, you will see this is not the cartoon character you remember from your childhood. Let's summarize: Tanzania is not Tasmania.

Serving up the fix

Originally published on Vijana FM | 22nd July 2012 On a recent album release by Nas called Life is Good , Anthony Hamilton sings “The world is an addiction / serving up a fix”. The track goes on to discuss the dangers of selling out in pursuit of irrational dreams; indeed, “you gain your life just to lose your soul”. Sometimes I wonder if Tanzania is losing her soul. Perhaps – as time passes – it is me growing more conscious, or media becoming more pervasive to drama. But it seems like this country is chasing grandeur that is alien to her history and at odds with what she needs today. Her history and her needs; what do these mean? For the purpose of this post, I am pointing to Tanzania’s historical pursuit to be an independent nation-state, free of international dues and reliance on help. I am also referring to her current state of affairs, mainly consisting of an inefficient system of education coupled with an unbalanced system of trade. There are a few example...

Stationary

Ever get the feeling you're stationary? No, not like in the picture above, but stationary as in you're not moving? It seems that when we define goals for ourselves, they need to substantiate daily actions, because otherwise, it seems we lack purpose. And when we lack purpose, anything we do seems to go to nothing. Why did we start calling stationary (like in the above photo) "stationary", anyway?

mink

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