Appearances Can Often Be Deceiving

China is the perfect model for this situation. While the coastal cities and provinces may fare well under the modernization underway, the inner provinces suffer for it. Wretchard gives us an example of this. The Chinese leadership appears to be prostituting China's future for the sake of immediate gain. The Communists have essentially destroyed Russia, and I fear that their descendents will do the same to China.

Rock the Casbah

Dischoshaman at the Post Modern Clog has an intersting idea on how to deal with the Islamist threat.

The Newest Form of Suicide by Cop...

...to be found here. I feel sorry for the Air Marshall, there are serious emotional consequences to killing, and he has been forced to experience them unnecessarily.

Zarqawi is stupid, that much is certain...

...but is he THIS stupid? Its Debka, so I sincerely doubt that it is true. I haven't been updating Debka watch because I haven't had the time, and nobody was interested in helping me out there. This only confirms in my mind the notion that Debka is the internet's intelligence tabloid.

The Best Job in the World... and the Worst Job in the World

Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, explains.

I must admit, there is a certain amount of irony involved. A guy living in a hut is killed by somene operating a computer controlled drone from who knows how many miles away... and all because the guy in the hut rejects the kind of world that allows that drone to be built in the first place.

Death From Above

A US Predator drone made a short trip to trip to Pakistan to visit an old friend of the US, and then returned. It doesn't look like a return visit will happen anytime soon.

Hat Tip: Threatswatch

Commentary:

Once again, the US has demonstrated that careful planning and preparation , along with advanced technology, can yield significant results. This attack is significant not only because it was made by an unmanned drone launched from a nearby nation, but because it was an attack launched within the borders of a nominal US ally. I suspect that this attack was probably supported by Pakistan's government, at least tacitly. However, note that it was done by the US, and not Pakistani troops. This can indicate several things:

1) Pakistani troops are not trusted to be able to take care of such a target themselves

2) The target was time sensitive, and using ground troops would have taken too long

3) The US didn't want to involve the Pakistani military in this operation at all, for fear of the target being alerted.

Iraq Strategy for Dummies

The name says it all.

Thanks to Instapundit for the link.

I think that the "Karl Rove, Evil Genius" bit sells it.

Edit: Somehow, when I edited it, the word "better" got in there. Its been fixed.