Aside

Here’s what I’m reading today: Iranian fundamentalists preach in cyberspace (The Guardian Newsblog) DC’s Best Embassies (Washingtonian) The Legend of Barack Obama (Washingtonian) The Demise of Hyphy (SF Weekly) Oops: Columbia j-school dean sends self-evaluation to class (Romenesko) Here’s what I did today: Cover the GDC for the CBC.

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the eBay boycott will air on Morning Edition tomorrow (Jan. 20)! It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams). New York – 5 am to 9 am Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 5 am to 10 am Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 2 am to 9 am Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM…

Or, if you prefer, direct from the source (Spanish), or in translation (English).

AP: By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 6:14 p.m. ET FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — A hunger for carnitas nearly led to some carnage after a Fontana man was robbed of a bag of tacos at gunpoint. Police Sergeant Jeff Decker said the 35-year-old victim had just bought about $20 in tacos from a street-corner stand Sunday night and was bicycling home when the suspect confronted him and said ”Give me your tacos.” Decker said the suspect grabbed the bag of…

I’m looking for a backup phone to take on an upcoming trip to Europe and as a phone to take while skiing. I’d like it to be new/used, under $100, quad-band, and ideally with GPRS/EDGE support that lets me download POP email from anywhere I want. Seems like the Motorola SLVR or the RIZR would fit the bill, but I’m willing to entertain other ideas. I ended up buying a Motorola RIZR for $80 on craigslist.

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on Middle Eastern comics will be airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern – WGBH – 89.7 FM –…

NYT: BRUSSELS — The United States formally joined France and Britain in recognizing the independence of Kosovo on Monday, a day after the breakaway province declared itself independent of Serbia. Earlier, France and Britain had led European nations in recognizing Kosovo. In a statement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States “has today formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state. We congratulate the people of Kosovo on this historic occasion.”

So Kosovo hasn’t officially been recognized by anyone yet. But lots of countries are lining up to refuse to recognize it: Azerbaijan Vietnam China Spain Russia Serbia (obviously) Also: Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have indicated they will not recognize. Last I checked Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain are all EU states. Seems like Brussels will have a problem if some people don’t want to play along.

So Kosovo is independent now. The last two lines in this NYT story make no sense to me: European Union officials said Britain, France, and Germany were expected to recognize Kosovo 24 hours after the declaration, to try to stop prevent Moscow and Belgrade from trying to rally opposition to the independence declaration. The recognition of Kosovo by the United States [and] other European Union member states was expected to follow in the coming days. President Bush, speaking Sunday in…

Apparently Kosovo is poised for independence this Sunday. Remember this map, kids: Update: George Kenney points to this recent interview he did with Sir Ivor Roberts, former UK Ambassador to Yugoslavia in the mid-1990s.