A distinction between “old” and “new” wars is vital. “Old wars” are wars between states where the aim is the military capture of territory and the decisive encounter is battle between armed forces. “New wars”, in contrast, take place in the context of failing states. They are wars fought by networks of state and non-state actors, where battles are rare and violence is directed mainly against civilians, and which are characterised by a new type of political economy that combines extremist politics and criminality... I argue in this article that the United States viewed its invasion of Iraq as an updated version of “old war” that made use of new technology. The US failure to understand the reality on the ground in Iraq and the tendency to impose its own view of what war should be like is immensely dangerous and carries the risk of being self-perpetuating. It does not have to be this way.
Iraq: the wrong war - Mary Kaldor writes of what was happening in pre-invasion Iraq, what happened thereafter and what the alternatives were. Well, there is always Exit strategy: Civil war. And on that, note this: Kurdish Officials Sanction Abductions in Kirkuk--a city from which, I am afraid, we will hear more and more as time goes by.
posted by y2karl on Jun 15, 2005 - 20 comments

The Temple of Hayah: a religion that renders its followers immune to the any laws other than the Ten Commandments. Followers need not pay taxes. But TOH is mad at Wikipedia because Wikipedia hate-crimed TOH. So TOH suggests that you tip off the FBI.
posted by ba on Jan 21, 2005 - 22 comments

Think you've got a problem? Then discover how you should pick your nose with a fish fork. Some guys really don't get all the luck. Not when they bleed to death from eating blueberries.
posted by Cancergiggles on Dec 7, 2004 - 23 comments

High-school bans traditional crossdressing day because parents complained it was part of the "homosexual agenda." It's replacement? The manly "Camo Day" complete with military fatigues and combat boots. No word on whether there is a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
posted by hipnerd on Nov 17, 2004 - 99 comments

Liberal Christian groups start a poll war challenging the evangelicals claim to the Christian vote publishing findings that the war and poverty were more important moral issues voters than Iraq. Other views at The Washington Post (subscription required), and The Catholic News
posted by KirkJobSluder on Nov 11, 2004 - 18 comments

Lord of Rings Flatulence Mashup. [NSF mature people] [wmv 53 seconds]
posted by srboisvert on Sep 25, 2004 - 7 comments

Half the man he used to be or Copper John can't go to the john anymore.
posted by Bag Man on Sep 1, 2004 - 8 comments

The Blissful Life in Utopia
SUGAR LAND, Tex. -- This is the home of Britton Stein, who describes George W. Bush as "a man, a man's man, a manly man," and Al Gore as "a ranting and raving little whiny baby." Forty-nine years old, Stein is a husband, a father, a landscaper and a Republican. He lives in a house that has six guns in the closets and 21 crosses in the main hallway.

Diary of a Freeper. Fascinating read. Insightful.
posted by nofundy on Apr 28, 2004 - 130 comments

September 11th panel working to overcome conspiracy theories.
posted by thedailygrowl on Apr 25, 2004 - 33 comments

Camera Obscura trolls the attics and abandoned dressers of the world, finding the great lost portraits of the past, then burying them and posting these laughable ones instead. Develop Dutchophobia and learn to fear the Irma!
posted by snarkout on Mar 29, 2004 - 9 comments

Techies Left Behind James Pace Jr. used to work as a steamfitter in a General Electric plant in Bridgeport. That was back in the early '70s, when the grapevine was alive with warnings: These jobs are going overseas. Go back to school. There's no future here. Pace left the plant, enrolled in computer school, studied information technology and never looked back. That is, not until 23 years later, on the day he was told his $100,000-a-year job as an IT (information technology) consultant had been sent to India
posted by Postroad on Jan 16, 2004 - 80 comments

Nuclear plant operation correlates with increased infant mortality rate. Correlation may not prove causation, but these numbers are pretty dramatic.
posted by alms on Nov 3, 2003 - 19 comments

"Buildings of Disaster are miniature replicas of famous structures where some tragic or terrible events happened to take place. The images of burning or exploded buildings make a different, populist history of architecture, one based on emotional involvement rather than scholarly appreciation."
posted by MrMoonPie on Aug 11, 2003 - 27 comments

Ever had the urge to don a pair of tight pants, oil yourself up and grapple another man? Then you should head on over to the Kirkpinar Greased Wrestling Festival in Edirne, held each year at the end of June. But beware; the moves can be highly dirty and involve battering your opponent around the head, pulling their ears and even pushing your hand into your opponents shorts and squeezing their testicles. This sure isn't your father's wrasslin'!
posted by debralee on Jun 26, 2003 - 8 comments

Putting you off your breakfast: A searchable bonanza of disturbing galleries of plastic food and drinks. Mad props! Find the pancake! Claes Oldenberg! [From the impressive Barnard Ltd. Store, via Linkfilter.]
posted by Carlos Quevedo on May 2, 2003 - 6 comments

A Special Kind of Poverty This great article appeared in yesterday's Washington Post Sunday Magazine. Its subject: the trials and tribulations of the poor seeking treatment for their infertility. I don't think I have to list the whole raft of issues this subject raises. As touching as it is thought-provoking.
posted by tommyspoon on Apr 21, 2003 - 77 comments

Bush and Chirac debate Iraq
"I will bomb him in his car; I will bomb him from afar.
I will bomb him in his house; I do not like him, he’s a louse.
I’m going to bomb him here and there.
I’m going to bomb him everywhere."
posted by Perigee on Mar 20, 2003 - 12 comments

Introducing the FPS Personal Backpack Audio System: With Sound This Fresh, Who Needs Headphones? A Japanese loudspeaker company specializing in flat panel technology has released a backpack that allows "music fans on the go ... to crank up the volume and express themselves in a whole new way." [more]
posted by Irontom on Jan 6, 2003 - 30 comments

"You are now clear to engage the vehicles." (Warning: 5.5 meg Windows Media video.) This video purports to be the gunsight view of an American AC-130 gunship targetting a compound, and its inhabitants and vehicles, in Afghanistan. Complete with battlefield audio. While I can't guarantee its provenance, it does appear to show what it says. Leaving that aside: How do you react to this footage? Does it change your view of the engagement in Afghanistan? Should more people see this footage? What has the lack of this sort of footage -- didn't we see much more of this sort of battlefield view during the Gulf War? -- meant to the war effort, and the war at home?
posted by lupus_yonderboy on Dec 17, 2002 - 126 comments

Even unto the grave, still the little LEGOmen smile. [Flash]
posted by Pretty_Generic on Dec 16, 2002 - 14 comments

The man who wrote 10,000 Grooks (grooks, grooks, grooks), Piet Hein, was also the inventor of Hex and the creator of the Soma Cube. In the design world, he is most famous for the SuperEllipse, a figure that rivals Buckminster Fuller's geodesics in ingenuity, an aesthetic balance between a circle and a square, and a mathematical figure which has been used to design a square in Stockholm. From the SuperEllipse, you can get the SuperEgg, a strange solid which will unexpectedly balance on one end and has been mistaken for an alien artifact.
posted by Winterfell on Oct 28, 2002 - 11 comments

Theologian of the Year: Ms. Buffy. "We need someone who can not only deconstruct the problem of evil, but kick it's hiney; someone with a preternatural sense of comic timing and an eye for fashion."
posted by jacknose on Sep 30, 2002 - 13 comments

Agency disavows report on Iraq arms "The International Atomic Energy Agency says that a report cited by President Bush as evidence that Iraq in 1998 was 'six months away' from developing a nuclear weapon does not exist. 'There's never been a report like that issued from this agency,' Mark Gwozdecky, the IAEA's chief spokesman, said yesterday in a telephone interview from the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria."
posted by owillis on Sep 29, 2002 - 52 comments

Avast, ye MeFi mateys!! I be Red Roger Rackham -- what be ye pirate name?? Nyar!!
posted by PeteyStock on Sep 20, 2002 - 86 comments

The problem with America's colleges - Are schools of higher education too liberal minded?
posted by Macboy on Sep 9, 2002 - 76 comments

Followup on Houston's great K-Mart roundup To the great relief of many in Houston, it does indeed appear that heads are going to roll over the mass arrest last week. Or at least, one head will.
posted by John Smallberries on Aug 24, 2002 - 17 comments

The Ant Farm: A small inventor success story. Levine, who never attended college, gave lectures, wrote chatty books about ants and made appearances on "The Shari Lewis Show." "I spoke to Lamb Chop for a half an hour about ants," he said. "I felt like an idiot." Reg: cpunks/cpunks
posted by skallas on Aug 5, 2002 - 9 comments

Cracked Magazine is back. I used to read this back in the day, but I hadn't seen it in ages. I always thought it was inferior to Mad, but I liked it anyway. Supposedly it's on shelves now. Has anyone seen a new copy?
posted by SisterHavana on Jun 5, 2002 - 11 comments

Feeling evil? Raise a little hell with your comrades and cohorts...report them via a faux news report for commiting a crime.
posted by pedantic on May 10, 2002 - 8 comments

Celine Dion can make your computer cringe, too. (Standup comics take note, this tidbit has the inspiration for a real zinger!)
posted by Fofer on Apr 5, 2002 - 7 comments

Challenging the Goliath of Environmentalism This piece is a brief chronicle of the (mis)adventures of a "green" whose only sin is optimism. Are the environmentalists too doomsday-ish for their own good? Is technology the problem, or part of the solution? Link via The Daily Grail.
posted by yesster on Feb 22, 2002 - 8 comments

Religion, Government, and Media When all three are combined, as in Saudi Arabia, you get interesting newspaper articles. It would seem very strange to have a mainstream paper such as the New York Times having a section like this.
posted by LinemanBear on Feb 12, 2002 - 29 comments

Happy Mardi Gras
posted by danOstuporStar on Feb 12, 2002 - 19 comments

AOL's Netscape sues Microsoft for damage done to its Netscape Internet browser by violations of antitrust law found in a separate government case against the software giant. "I don't see this case as primarily about money. I see it as primarily about injunctive relief,'' said Steve Salop, a Georgetown University law professor.
posted by hitsman on Jan 22, 2002 - 9 comments

I've been burned with FPPosting before, but this story has made my Friday. Bring on the weekend!
posted by Frasermoo on Nov 16, 2001 - 8 comments

civilization III interview with Sid Meier and Jeff Briggs. the return of turn-based games? :) looks like you'll be able to build the internet, small wonder!
posted by kliuless on Oct 20, 2001 - 21 comments

BotFighters: BotFighters is a brand new type of action game. The mission of the game is to track down and battle with other players, but in BotFighters, the real world is the game arena. You have to move yourself physically close enough to be able to hit. The game concept is similar to "Gotcha!", or virtual paintball. Your mobile phone is used as a weapon and a radar device to track down opponents. When playing, you can at all times be attacked by other players, so be careful! You play with your mobile phone by sending SMS commands to number 6688. (from play)
posted by andrew cooke on Oct 19, 2001 - 8 comments

I'm usually not a big fan of optical illusions (unless there's a nice magic trick built around it), but this one is pretty brain-burning. (Yes, that's my entire front-page post. But hey: at least it ain't a news story.)
posted by Shadowkeeper on Oct 18, 2001 - 29 comments

Comedy College
Steve Martin begins hosting a weekly public radio show, profiling legendary comics. This week: The Cos. (Real Player required)
posted by Optamystic on Oct 7, 2001 - 2 comments

New US National Anthem? Slate's Dialogue this week is about alternatives to "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the US national anthem. Should we keep it? If we replaced it, what should we replace it with?
posted by kirkaracha on Oct 1, 2001 - 57 comments

80's plan to lock up Arab Americans. I thought that all of that crap stopped after WWII.
posted by Atom Heart Mother on Sep 30, 2001 - 16 comments

RIP, Mr. Dressup. For Canadians who were growing up in the 70s and 80s, the loss of this icon is a sad, sad happening. If only there were people to teach today's kids how to have fun with pipecleaners and cardboard instead of whining for $300 in video games. What became of old-fashioned imagination?
posted by Electric Jesus on Sep 18, 2001 - 12 comments

A glimpse into the "Ivory Tower" - The online community at Swarthmore College is abuzz with reflections, debates, insults and demands for revenge prompted by the recent tragedies. After being physically threatened by a member of my college community after commenting that I thought that the Netherlands was a more "free" nation than the US, I've stopped going to the site myself; however, a look at the forum may demonstrate that such reactionary thought isn't limited to "middle America" or the "unenlightened," as some intellectual snobs/idealists seem to think. (Swarthmore was tied with Amherst as the number one liberal arts college in the country according to U.S. World and News Report.)
posted by surblimity on Sep 13, 2001 - 10 comments

In need of a chuckle? With all the horror that's come to light these past two days thought I'd share this, pretty funny (not sure how new it is though)
posted by zeoslap on Sep 12, 2001 - 7 comments

Caution: This links might be inflamatory
A friend runs a site that is a portal dealing with middle-eastern news (for his safety, I will not link to it). He often receives hate-filled emails urging him to act out against various ethnic groups. This link was sent to him a couple of months ago; it is Islamic Resistance Support Association and is loaded with anti-american propaganda. [view at your own risk]
posted by hotdoughnutsnow on Sep 11, 2001 - 4 comments

Heroes by James - James doesn't like the some of the action fugres he buys, so he modifies them to get what he wants. Check out the Hulk and Iron Man figures. Pretty nice.
posted by plinth on Sep 4, 2001 - 6 comments

Local government and business conspire against artist. At least that's what it looks like to me. Artist is commissioned to make scrap based art by company, city says his 3 acre junk/art lot is an eyesore and forces artist to pay to move all his junk/art to the company in question.
posted by skallas on Aug 24, 2001 - 7 comments

Environmentally Correct Dance Party Set for Amazon. "Brazil's lush Amazon rain forest may be best known for its isolated Indian tribes and abundant wildlife, but local officials hope it will soon be a hotbed of techno music ... [the] four-day 'rave' that is expected to lure tens of thousands of clubbers from around the world to all-night 'environmentally correct' dance parties." Can any one give me a ride?
posted by madreblu on Aug 3, 2001 - 7 comments

Vikings' Stringer dead after being stricken with heat stroke. For much of Monday and Tuesday just about every Twin Cities media outlet was warning people to stay inside and take it easy. The Vikings decided to go ahead with their summer training anyway.
posted by mrbula on Aug 1, 2001 - 15 comments

Answer Yes or No and don't lie. Do you blame the society? If you answer yes to this and 39 other questions (Do you believe in bad eye?), you may qualify to donate $40 to $39,000 to Saeid Yomtobian and "your life will turn into a positive mode immediately because of your decision to bond with the universe." The man who brings you www.iwantjesus.com is looking for a little help in his mission to "promote the message of peace www.iwantjesus.com Through out the world." You can also find the site via some of its alternate urls, including www.fucksf.com, www.iwanttokillyou.com, www.sexbyanimals.com, and many more. Don't miss this crazy story about his meeting with the Dalai Lama from the man who registered www.killthepresident.com for a beastiality site. Would the man who pledged to me that he would "continue to fight until all the injustices and corruptions come to stop" really be responsible for an strangely brilliant ad banner scam? Maybe, maybe not. At least his weird sex education school is only $39.99 a month! Indeed, the internet life of Saeid Yomtobian is a complicated and mysterious one.
posted by ztt on Jun 27, 2001 - 10 comments