October 2006
Monthly Archive
Sun 29 Oct 2006
An Interesting interview with Scott Ritter, a former weapons inspector for Iraq, by Democracy Now. Below is a quote from transcript of interview:
SCOTT RITTER: The biggest similarity that we need to point out is that in both cases no evidence was put forward to sustain the allegations that are being made. Iraq was accused of having weapons of mass destruction programs, reconstituting chemical, biological, nuclear, long-range ballistic missile programs. There was an inspection process in place that had access, full access to the facilities in question, and no data was derived from these inspections that backed up the Bush administration’s allegations. And yet, Iraq was told, it’s not up to the inspectors to find the weapons. It’s up to Iraq to prove they don’t exist. Iraq had to prove a negative. And they couldn’t. We now know that in 1991, Saddam Hussein had destroyed the totality of his weapons programs. There weren’t any left to find, discover. There was no threat.
We now have Iran. It’s alleged to have a nuclear weapons program. And yet the International Atomic Energy Agency, the inspectors who have had full access to the sites in Iran, have come out and said, “Well, we can’t say that there isn’t a secret program that we don’t know about. What we can say, as a direct result of our investigations, there is no data whatsoever to sustain the Bush administration’s claims that there is a nuclear weapons program.” And yet, the Bush administration once again is putting the onus on Iran, saying, “It’s not up to the inspectors to find the nuclear weapons program. It’s up to the Iranians to prove that one doesn’t exist.” Why do we go down this path? Because you can’t prove a negative. There’s nothing Iran can do that will satisfy the Bush administration, because the policy at the end of the day is not about nonproliferation, it’s not about disarmament. It’s about regime change. And all the Bush administration wants to do is to create the conditions that support their ultimate objective of military intervention.
The transcript also in CASMII websites.
Thu 26 Oct 2006
Quote from BBC report
Bush warned that if Iraq became a failed state, extremists could gain access to oil wealth and launch fresh attacks. If the US was not successful in Iraq, he said, extremists could use it as a base from which to try to establish a “radical empire from Spain to Indonesia”.
As an Indonesian, I’m very offensed by his comment. Because I’m sure, Indonesia cannot become part of a radical empire as long as mr.Bush and his neo conserfative guys is not in power for another decade.
The radicalism and extremism are fuel by another similar actions by opponent, so what US administration did in Afganistan and Iraq and any other conflicts related to the muslim in the world, is just fueling and supporting the radicalism and extremism in muslim part.
I hope the world will be live in peace without extremism from a powerful one and also a weaker one.
Sat 21 Oct 2006
Mon 16 Oct 2006
Posted by arully under
What ever :)No Comments
If you are an Indonesian with a Malaysian friend, you already knew about mistranslation between both country’s language. I just laughing if I remembered asking for spoon (sendok in Bahasa Indonesia), and my Malaysian friend give me a big spoon used to be a rice cooker spoon. It is because spoon in Bahasa Melayu is sudu.
Thus, I remembered this little problem again when I read article from BBC about Chinglish.
Emergency exits at Beijing airport read “No entry on peacetime” and the Ethnic Minorities Park is named “Racist Park”.
Please don’t go to Help Desk in Beijing, as you will find your place in jail 
Mon 16 Oct 2006
Posted by arully under
What ever :)No Comments
for joke sake
Sat 7 Oct 2006
According to an article, Google is in talk with YouTube to buy it for US$1.6 billion.
(updated) Google bought YouTube!. Some argue that Google is crazy.
But I think, in the long term, it will make video based information market to mature.
Wed 4 Oct 2006
No body can monopolize the truth. But what Google’s CEO said in his statement is somewhat a starking reminder that maybe in the future we can said the truth and only the truth.
Google boss warns politicians about Internet power – Yahoo! News
He predicted that “truth predictor” software would, within five years, “hold politicians to account.” People would be able to use programmes to check seemingly factual statements against historical data to see to see if they were correct.
“One of my messages to them (politicians) is to think about having every one of your voters online all the time, then inputting ‘is this true or false.’ We (at Google) are not in charge of truth but we might be able to give a probability,” he told the newspaper.
Wed 4 Oct 2006
Posted by arully under
Finance ,
Law&Ethics1 Comment
Peringkat negara dengan perusahaan yang sulit menyuap:
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Australia
- Austria
- Canada
Peringkat negara dengan perusahaan yang mudah menyuap:
- India
- China
- Russia
- Turkey
- Taiwan
Source: Transparency International; Article from BBC
Wed 4 Oct 2006
Posted by arully under
Politics[2] Comments Sun 1 Oct 2006
Posted by arully under
Way of LifeNo Comments
The best way to gauge a true meaning of messages brought by a prophet is by examining the way the scholar practice it.
One of the scholar of Islam is Cheng Ho, a Muslim from China who also made expedition to travel around the world with 62 ships, along with around 8000 army and 20000 personnel. Rather than practicing “evil and inhuman” by “the sword” as Pope Benedict quoted, he brought prosperity through cooperation, without conquering.
Look at what the Columbus army did in America’s Indian with Vatican blessing, look at what happen in Philippine, what happen in Australia’s Aborigin, and you will find a different history pattern. He did not established colonies (can we call it occupation?) in area he visited, but forged cooperation along the route.
There is a short article in Indonesian Language about Admiral Cheng Ho which reported about effort to highlight his achievement.
Quote:
Kesetiaan Sejarawan Meneliti Cheng Ho
Bukan hal yang berlebihan apabila sosok Cheng Ho kini diharapkan bisa dianugerahi penghormatan besar dalam catatan sejarah, setara Columbus dan Magellan. “Sebab dia punya tujuan perdamaian. Dengan armada yang kuat, didukung 8.000 tentara, dia tidak ambil satu inci pun tanah orang. Kalau mau menjajah, itu barangkali persoalan mudah,” kata Tan sembari ter-bahak.
Bayangkan, saat disinggahi Cheng Ho, orang Melaka ketika itu baru berjumlah 3.000 jiwa. Ini sangat tidak sebanding dengan kekuatan armada Cheng Ho yang ditopang sekitar 28.000 tentara dan awak kapal. “Tapi Cheng Ho tidak merampas tanah orang. Dia hanya mau berdagang, menyebarkan Islam dan memperkuat hubungan diplomatik. Ia ingin banyak kawan, penyokong-penyokong bagi sang kaisar (China). Maka, dia tidak mau datang untuk menguasai orang,” ujarnya.
(more…)
