Trial/Conviction of Aafia Siddique

"... The case raises more questions than answers. Not least of all, why a Pakistani national is on trial in New York for a crime committed in an Afghan police station."

(Source: Al Jazeera English)

Note that the trial/conviction was not regarding her involvement in terrorism but rather her alleged seizing and firing of an interviewer's gun during interrogation.

Afghanistan / 50 dollars

American Soldier A: "Why did President Obama take so long to announce his plan for Afghanistan? "

American Soldier B: "Maybe because his exit strategy had to be translated from the original Russian."

(Source: KAL's cartoon in the November 26th issue of The Economist, link below)

http://www.economist.com/daily/kallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14972922

ps. See Dispatches video in comment...

Iraq / 25 dollars 95 cents

$25.95

"Price of off-the-shelf software used by Iraqi insurgents to intercept live video feeds from US Predator drones."

(Source: Wired, March 2010 issue)

Chechnya

"... Mr Jagielski's book is equally compelling about the lives of the more humble people among whom he has lived: Chechan fathers do not cuddle or play with their sons for fear of making them weak. Chechan women have become emancipated, unwillingly, by war: they spend a lot of time touring Russian prisons trying to recover their menfolk."

Quote taken from December 12th 2009 issue of The Economist, review of Wojciech Jagielski's book 'Towers of Stone: The Battle of Willis in Chechnya' (translated by Soren Gauger).

Steve Jobs selling the new Apple IPad

Say it like you mean it,
like you're sure and certain,
and they'll believe you,
and buy it...

"... very thin... it's very thin... what this device does is extraordinary... it is the best browsing experience you've ever had... it's phenomenal... it's unbelievably great. Way better than a laptop. Way better than a smart phone... to see a whole web page is phenomenal... holding the internet in your hands, it's an incredible experience..."

All that is from a one-minute clip. All that in one minute!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zI21XEo0Q

MI5's 11th Commandment

"Thou shalt not get caught."

Taken from a paper written for/by The Guardian entitled 'The truth about torture: Britain's catalogue of shame'.

Recommended viewing: Tony Blair at the Iraq (Chilcot) inquiry yesterday.

The battle for booze

"I rely on God"
(Iraqi booze seller whose shop was shot at for selling booze)

"Freedom won this time round in the battle for Iraq's future"
(Some other booze seller)

"Once, during prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water"
(W.C. Fields, American funny man)

Quotes taken from an article in the December 12th 2009 issue of the Economist entitled 'The battle for booze'.