Foreign Affairs

Eugene Tsui, Architect: The last attempt at a bridge designed to span the Strait of Gibraltar was a design by U.S. engineer T.Y.Lin in 1986 which would require three support pylons one mile high and footings that plunge to the sea bottom one half mile down underwater and then sink an additional quarter of a mile destroying the existing ecology of the sea bottom surrounding it significantly disturbing the marine environment of the area. Lin’s design was based on previous…

According to a piece in Computerworld, one of Macworld’s sister publications. About 8 million passports are renewed annually out of some 57 million passports in circulation. Last I tried to get this information from State Dept. I was told that I couldn’t have it due to “security reasons.”

Gen. Wesley Clark: On the military side, the vast effort underway to train an army must be matched by efforts to train police and local justices. Canada, France and Germany should be engaged to assist. Neighboring states should also provide observers and technical assistance. In military terms, striking at insurgents and terrorists is necessary but insufficient. Military and security operations must return primarily to the tried-and-true methods of counterinsurgency: winning the hearts and minds of the populace through civic action,…

University of Arizona: The current warming trends in the Arctic may shove the Arctic system into a seasonally ice-free state not seen for more than one million years, according to a new report. The melting is accelerating, and a team of researchers were unable to identify any natural processes that might slow the de-icing of the Arctic. Such substantial additional melting of Arctic glaciers and ice sheets will raise sea level worldwide, flooding the coastal areas where many of the…

WashPost: Iran announced that it resumed work at a key nuclear facility today, effectively ending a suspension of its nuclear program and severing more than two years of negotiations with Europe that held out the promise of closer ties with the West. The Bush administration, along with allies Britain, France and Germany, had warned they would try to take the issue of Iran’s program to the U.N. Security Council if Tehran made good, as it did today, on promises to…

WashPost: By Steve Coll and Susan B. Glasser Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, August 7, 2005; A01 In the snow-draped mountains near Jalalabad in November 2001, as the Taliban collapsed and al Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary, Osama bin Laden biographer Hamid Mir watched “every second al Qaeda member carrying a laptop computer along with a Kalashnikov” as they prepared to scatter into hiding and exile. On the screens were photographs of Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. Nearly four years…

Ed: Ok, here’s my idea for the next Slate explainer. How do you start a bloodless coup? Really, do you just waltz in and say, “Ok, I’m taking over.” and all the mindless lackeys look up from their desk and say: “Yeah, ok.” AP: NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) – A military junta overthrew Mauritania’s U.S.-allied president while he was abroad Wednesday, prompting celebrations in this oil-rich Islamic nation that looked increasingly to the West amid alleged threats from al-Qaida linked militants.…

LA Times: Teacher: Han Il Nam, how do you spell the word “revolution”? Student A: R-e-v-o-l-u-t-i-o-n. Teacher: Very good, thank you. Sit down. Ri Chol Su. What’s the Korean for “revolution”? Student B: Hyekmyeng. Teacher: Fine, thank you. Have you any questions? Student C: No questions. Teacher: Well, Kim In Su, what do you learn English for? Student D: For our revolution. Teacher: That’s right. It’s true that we learn English for our revolution.

NYT Magazine: Well, you could say, ”That’s sovereignty for you.” The international community cannot force the Congolese people to choose the good guy, any more than they can bomb the bad guys into submission; those days are over. But the only Congolese official I met who talked about sovereignty was an unrepentant servitor to the Mobutu government. The Congolese I talked to want to be saved from themselves, or at least from their desperate predicament. Even those who accuse Monuc…

WashPost: The CIA declined comment on Alliance Base, as did a spokesman for the French Embassy in Washington. Most French officials and other intelligence veterans would talk about the partnership only if their names were withheld because the specifics are classified and the politics are sensitive. John E. McLaughlin, the former acting CIA director who retired recently after a 32-year career, described the relationship between the CIA and its French counterparts as “one of the best in the world. What…