Thursday Morning Thoughts

Liverpool got through :) If only they perform just as well in the EPL.

4th day of studying and I'm slowly gaining momentum, as in it is getting better, my concentration level. Coming from a fast paced working environment to an environment that requires more attention to details and longer span of concentration can be quite taxing. I have less than 6 weeks before my exams and I still have much to do.

My withdrawal symptoms, from not working, is suprisingly non-existent :P Yup, I'm not an incurable workaholic afterall. I guess it is because I'm occupying myself with studying, reading and more studying. I think I may get the withdrawal effects in June when my exams are over. Which is why I need some concrete things to do.

The scary thing about yesterday was reading this report on how vials of a pandemic flu strain from the US has been sent out by mistake. It makes us all very vulnerable actually. Sometimes I wonder why do they still keep stockpiles of the smallpox virus when there is a risk of it ending up in the wrong hands.

What is even scarier is Ariel Sharon exhorting to Bush that Iran is a threat to the region. Oh please. Give me a break. Iran is no more dangerous than Syria or even Saudi. Don't forget that we have Khatami there to keep the conservative (correction. not conservative, but radical rather) mullahs in check. And there is a large number of people who are dissenters to the hardliners. The majority (simple majority though) in fact are not hardliners. Attack Iran in anyway, the hardliners are the ones that will gain power. There is nothing quite like a common enemy to unite a country.

I don't want to sound intrusive. But democracy is growing in Iran and we must give the chance to those that are fighting for their democratic rights to be heard, and perhaps change things for the better in Iran.

I am not a proponent of nuclear defence/offence. But I think it is not fair to even ask Iran not to develop nuclear arms when it's enemies (or possible enemies) have WMDs in their arsenal. Anyhow, it looks like you can't develop any nuclear power even for civillian use, in peace. Of all the countries with proven nuclear capability, in my humble opinion, the ones likely not to have any qualms about using it are China, North Korea and Israel. I say this because these countries do not behave like the rest in terms of foreign policy. They have this mindset that it is us against them which makes things worse. Why not India and Pakistan? I find them posturing too much, but it is unlikely that they will do anything (unless hardliners of BJP control India, or hardliners in Pakistan win power) at the moment. The collateral damage is too much. And economically, there is much at stake. For China and Israel, I find their extra-territorial records a damning sign that they care no more for their neighbours as long as they survive. These 2 countries have annexed more territories than anyone else in the past 50 years. They are also constantly building their armed forces and constantly drumming propaganda about perceived threats from enemies (such as China's distracting propaganda against Japan). As for North Korea, they are just mad.