Syrian General Mohammad Suleiman who ran guns to Hezbollah found dead.

Well not really that much of a surprise, given his alleged role in shipping weapons to Hezbollah.

A Syrian general shot to death at a beach resort over the weekend was a top overseer of his country’s weapons shipments to Hezbollah, according to opposition Web sites and Arab and Israeli news media.

Syria by late Monday had issued no reaction to widespread reports of the assassination of Brig. Gen. Mohammad Suleiman near the Syrian port city of Tartous on Friday night.

Apparently he was shot four times by a man on a yacht, who apparently escaped.

Now before you go blaming the Mossad, there is already some information (or disinformation) in the Israeli press. The Jerusalem Post is citing anti-Syrian dissidents of saying ‘he knew too much’:

Suleiman, 49, was responsible for “sensitive security files” in the Syrian president’s office and in charge of the financing and reform of the Syrian army, the source said. But he added that it was too early to know whether the assassination had to do with particular files Suleiman handled.

Maybe when the spin calms down we’ll get a better idea why this happened.

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Children in South Ossetia being evacuated before war starts

The BBC is reporting on more preparations for the Russian Georgian war of 2008. Bus loads of children from the border area are being put on buses and sent to Russia to escape the fighting (that may take place). Not surprisingly, both sides are blaming the other for increased tensions.

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Rising oil = higher shipping $ = < Chinese imports: NYTimes

Today’s New York Times has some interesting bits about energy costs and the effect on the US and Chinese manufacturing sector (made all the more relevant by the fact I’m reading a book on the history of the shipping container). Basically, the cheap underwear that you buy from WalMart is going to go up in price.

The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the United States has risen to $8,000, compared with $3,000 early in the decade, according to a recent study of transportation costs. Big container ships, the pack mules of the 21st-century economy, have shaved their top speed by nearly 20 percent to save on fuel costs, substantially slowing shipping times.

The study, published in May by the Canadian investment bank CIBC World Markets, calculates that the recent surge in shipping costs is on average the equivalent of a 9 percent tariff on trade. “The cost of moving goods, not the cost of tariffs, is the largest barrier to global trade today,” the report concluded, and as a result “has effectively offset all the trade liberalization efforts of the last three decades.”

While many feel the effects of globalization will be very hard to undo, they also point out that oil prices are not about to drop anytime soon. The article mentions the maquiladora factories in Mexico (closed back when oil was $10 a barrel) will soon be reopening. It also cites as an example the decision by Telsa motors to build their car in California instead of bringing all the parts together globally in one massively expensive shipping operation.

When I was in China, I was shocked at how little energy is available in some of the industrial areas. Three to four days a week see black or brown outs, and many of the factories have large scale (and inefficient) generators to keep operations functioning. I seem to recall the figure that energy requirements were 3x those in the to produce the same goods because of all the problems in the electrical grid.

Related: The head of Alibaba, sort of the ‘gateway’ to Chinese manufacturers, is predicting hard times ahead for his company (which relies in large part by doing introductions between Western buyers and Chinese factories).

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Movie Review — Kolya

Yea, it’s an old one, but I was watching it the other night and by the time it was over all I wanted to do was go and spend some time with my son.

The plot’s pretty simple. Czech musician and playboy does a sham wedding to a Russian to help her get a travel visa (married people were more likely to return to Communist countries, so the thinking goes). Nonetheless, she bails out to West Germany in the final days of the Soviet empire and leaves her son with a relative. That relative gets sick, and sham husband gets stuck with the boy.

The bond eventually grows between them despite some language problems (the boy speaks Russian, the husband Czech) and they fight off the secret police investigating him for the sham marriage and eventually become very close.

It’s definitely worth seeing. I’m a bit of a sap (according to basically everyone) so I probably liked it more than the cynics, but if you are a father with a young boy I’d strongly recommend seeing this film and then spending a little more time with your child enjoying life and whatnot.

Oscar for best Foreign Language Film in 1997. More on it here – Koyla Wikipedia.

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White House briefed: Something more important than water found on Mars–NASA

Well this is an interesting development.

It would appear that the US President has been briefed by Phoenix scientists about the discovery of something more “provocative” than the discovery of water existing on the Martian surface…. Whilst NASA scientists are not claiming that life once existed on the Red Planet’s surface, new data appears to indicate the “potential for life” more conclusively than the TEGA water results. Apparently these new results are being kept under wraps until further, more detailed analysis can be carried out, but we are assured that this announcement will be huge…

So what could it be? More chemical elements, or maybe the fossilized remains of a Martian. God hope it isn’t as Transformers said and a giant man-killing robot.

Expect more though August and September as this comes to light. Apparently NASA is holding it close to the vest for awhile.

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WINAMP remote for the iPhone now released

A remote control program for WinAmp fans is now available on the iPhone. It connects by wifi to your computer playing WinAmp and lets you move around your library, see what is playing, along with the bouncing visualization layout.

Of course, the $4.99 price tag might turn some off, but those who are wedded to winamp as a platform (instead of say iTunes) may find this of value. Itunes has its own remote (free) which lets you control the content in much the same manner.

Itunes Store –> App Store –> Music –>

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Obama needs to get away from the trendy 'urbanites uber alles'

This is an interesting article about how cities have basically become political ‘monocultures’ where one party dominates overwhelmingly. The trend has accelerated in the last 20 years (much to the demise of the city overall, many would say). Places like San Francisco are now so closed-minded politically they have very few new ideas despite a constantly changing population, and utter contempt for people ‘not living in urban environments’ is starting to creep into more and more political discourse. The term and mentality ‘fly over states’ to describe that area between the East and West coast is what cost Kerry the 2004 election.

Obama is strong in these places, but can run into problems if he follows city-dweller’s advices and biases (a la the ‘bitter remark’ that most city folks just accept as a fact, despite the fact that it played like crap in other areas of the country). The article points out that Obama, if he wants to win, should really ignore his base (basically) and concentrate on puling enough votes out of red areas to make things competitive.

In recent months, the city-centered media such as CNN, The New York Times and National Public Radio have jumped on the urbanist bandwagon. They have promoted urban chauvinists’ contention that high gas prices and legislation to limit global warming would end the era of dispersion. This return to a more urbanized demography, some Democratic bloggers suggest, would assure a new liberal ascendancy.

Whatever Obama may believe personally, he would be well-advised to distance himself from such sentiments. For one thing, identifying with people who celebrate the demise of other geographies may offend the majority of Americans who prefer to live in “retro,” lower-density environments. Suburb- and countryside-bashing may turn on editors and readers of The New York Times, but it hardly constitutes good politics.

It’s a good article, and I’m not an Obama supporter by a long stretch, but this does talk about some interesting demographics worth noting.

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