Russian attack on Georgia

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/08/07/russia.georgia/index.html

Recently, Georgia has began to draw away from Russia and has turned more toward Western influences which I can imagine has been slightly difficult considering several rebel regions of Georgia still receive support from Russia. Allegedly, a bomb was dropped near Georgia's capital, and although no one was killed (because it didn't go off), witnesses say the fighter planes came from the direction of Russia, dropped the bomb, and then turned around and flew back toward Russia. While Russian officials are denying the allegation, it seems a little unlikely it wasn't them because of growing tensions in the past few months; not only is Georgia turning away from Russian influence, but they have accused Russia in 2002 of flying fighter planes over Georgian territory and Georgia also deported four Russians claiming they were spys. I don't know much about Russia and its foreign relations, but from what I have gathered they can be a little intense; I would definitely not want to be on Russia's bad side-- especially if I was a neighboring country. What I am wondering is how can Russia get away with accusations of murdering ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko and journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and now this, without so much as a raised eyebrow from the western world?

Bush and Global Warming

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6930105.stm

So it's not entirely shocking that if the President were to address the issue of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, that he would do so now with only a year remaining in his term. Actually, I have to give him props for actually following through with it BUT I don't think inviting the most economically progressive countries to discuss solutions is the best alternative. While these countries are creating the most emissions, they aren't necessarily being affected to the extent of developing and indigenous countries. I also think not much will come of the meeting, considering (1) it is doubtful Bush even believes in global warming, and (2) the deadline Bush promised the UN would make progress is in 2009...after he is out of office.

American Media is Poopy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6927389.stm

The past few days have been filled with stories about the bridge collapse in Minnesota; it is estimated that up to 30 people are missing, and there is an insane about of frenzy in the local media making sure our bridges are "up to par". My internet has been down lately, and I just figured that surely there must be nothing else going on in the world if all of our media is so focused on this collapse. But this morning on BBC I found in article that mentioned that 20 million people in South Asia have been displaced because of flooding, and an additional 200 are dead. If this were to happen in the United States, in that 20 million of us were displaced, it would be impossible to imagine the damage to our communities and our way of life. I fully sympathize with the families of the people missing in the bridge collapse, but I think more attention could have been on the victims of the flooding in Asia.