“Prime Minister Putin is the most authoritative politician in our country, and his approval ratings are somewhat higher.” Wow, nothing complex about that inferiority.
I didn’t really read this article but I guess ICP played in Yemen? No wonder Saleh wasn’t trying to step down yet.
What does wood have to do with a concert in Madagascar? Just get DJ Rajo on the 1′s and 2′s.
I feel kind of sad that “narco pets” is now in my lexicon. Just glad there were no “drug mule” puns. (Thanks, Melinda!)
Zambia’s new president is nicknamed “King Cobra,” supports Robert Mugabe, and is maybe warding off evil spirits in this picture.
Rick Perry pronounces “Palestine” as “Pahl-ee-steen.” This is actually shrewd. No matter what happens at the UN he can always just say he was talking about something else.
Thanks to a reader from Denver for pointing out this fucked up and weird comic to us. Credit to commenter “Kaiser Dragon” not only for the Final Fantasy reference but also for noting the obvious point of this comic: “I like the part where they talk like stereotypical black people, cause they are from Africa and that makes it funnier.”
“Dude, check it out I’m in Libya revolutionizing in my throwback and shit.”
Now this is a strange one. Maybe well-intentioned? Still, nothing is ever gonna make me feel comfortable about seeing “asylum-seeker” and “game show” in the same sentence. Plus, how much an asylum-seeker knows about Dutch culture is pretty low on the list of reasons to allow them to stay in the Netherlands. And, as Joshua Keating points out, “You have to wonder about anyone who would actually enjoy watching this.” Also, that slow zoom on Geert Wilders in the video is probably the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. That is all.
According to Foreign Policy’s blog Passport, al-Shabab militants in Somalia recently added samosas (known locally, and at New York Ethiopian restaurants, as sambusas) to the long list of things they can’t stand.
Already famous for hating bras and fun, the terrorist group, which controls a significant chunk of territory in Somalia, has not released a reason for the latest prohibition. However, news coverage of the edict surmises that it was samosas’ shape that got them into trouble. Apparently, they’re a smidge too reminiscent of the Christian symbol for the Holy Trinity for al-Shabab’s comfort. Accordingly, we must proceed as if all of our triangular foods are under threat. Today it’s sambusas, but tomorrow it could be slices of pizza, ice cream cones, or wedges of gouda.
All I’m saying is, be careful how you cut your grilled cheese sammiches…
Thanks to Nathan Yaffe of the Haiti Justice Alliance for this submission about a foolish and harmful USAID agricultural program in Haiti. “Monsanto’s seeds are treated with extremely dangerous chemicals…Because of this, Monsanto and Chemonics have a moral responsibility to educate farmers about health precautions. Yet they not only failed to do so, they even distributed seeds in unmarked bags – thus endangering people and the environment without their knowledge.” Good looking out, a-holes.
Sarah Palin bailed on her planned Sudan trip with Franklin Graham. Here’s what Franklin had to say: “She would be a very good person to help draw attention to the plight of the Christians in South Sudan,” Graham told The Post. “We’ve got George Clooney, we’ve got some Hollywood-type people. I’m very grateful for what Mr. Clooney has done. But we need everybody we can find.” That is everybody you can find? Well apparently he only found Christians with a plight in South Sudan so maybe this guy needs some LASEK.
In honor of the acquittal of Geert Wilder in his hate speech trial, here are some of his greatest hits!
Big thanks to Tara for this gem. Gotta give credit to anyone who can give a humanitarian spin to sex slavery. Bravo.
Speaking of spin, three cheers for Syria’s state TV director, Reem Haddad, for making the country’s refugee crisis sound like a family reunion. I think it’s time for the UN to impose a “no spin zone” on Syria.
Hey, at least he didn’t just compare him to Hitler and take the easy way out. Ratko Mladic, the war criminal of choice for connoisseurs of hyperbole.
Killing: definitely unbearable. Also unbearable: this headline.
Wow, someone is really trying to push the guilt buttons with this initiative.
I have less of a problem with the fact that the South Korean army was using pictures of the Kim family as target practice, and more a problem with how obvious that is! Gotta throw em some curve balls. Observe.
This dude is going HAM with his racism. He not only claims that black women are “objectively less physically attractive than other women,” but also that African countries are poor because African people have low IQs! Dr. Kanazawa, you are a prolific racist.
Kim Jong-un, in his first official trip outside North Korea, visited China, allegedly to strengthen economic ties and coordinate policy for inter-Korean nuclear talks. However, if he’s anything like his brother, I suspect he had other things on his mind.
Update: Forgot to give a hat tip to Julienne, a Wronging Rights loyalist, for the 2nd item. Thanks!
Bill Easterly and Laura Freschi announced yesterday that they are shutting down the Aid Watch blog so that they can devote more of their time to longer projects.
The announcement has, predictably, been greeted by great wailing and gnashing of teeth, and I count myself among the wailers and gnashers.
Aid Watch, you will be missed. 
Perhaps, like me, you remember hearing about three American hikers who were detained in Iran in 2009. And maybe, like I did, you sort of vaguely assumed that the situation had been resolved long ago.
Well, we were wrong. A friend of theirs wrote to me the other day, and it turns out that nearly two years later, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are still in prison in Iran. The third hiker, Sarah Shourd, was released on humanitarian grounds last September. All three are charged with illegal entry (they were hiking near an unmarked border between Iraq and Iran) and with espionage.
Bauer and Fattal were due in court yesterday morning, and their families were hopeful that they would finally be freed. Instead, they were not brought to the courthouse, and the hearing was postponed indefinitely. Their lawyer, Masoud Shafii, was not able to meet with them and has not been able to discover the reason for the postponement.
Baseless accusations and subsequent egregious rights abuses against young men are not uncommon in Iran. As one friend from there points out, this is a country where “everyone knows at least one young dude who has disappeared or been overtly extrajudicially executed.” However, in Bauer and Fattal’s case, the arbitrary violation of their rights is almost certainly grounded in an attempt to piss off America, rather than run of the mill regime paranoia.
My thoughts are with these guys and their families, and yours should be too. For more information, check out Free the Hikers.
