What Caugh My Eye Today

Christmas - Nice to know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could take time out of his busy schedule to wish the world a Merry Christmas. The world's troubles are rooted in a rejection of God and if Jesus Christ lived today he would stand up against bullying powers, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. The message was broadcast on the BBC Christmas evening as an alternative to the traditional Christmas television and radio address from Queen Elizabeth. Yeah, I'd say that's definitely an alternative. Here are some excerpts from our jolly old friend. "The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy ... have come about because the prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God. If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly he would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers. Maybe something got garbled in the translation, but those sentiments don't exactly scream 'Merry Christmas' to me. Then again, this is Ahmadinejad that we're talking about. Maybe next yea he'll just send out a cheesy newsletter like the rest of us.

Speaking of Christmas, it would seem that the Christmas spirit was short-lived in many places around the world.

Gaza - Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes, killing more than 200 people and wounding nearly 400 in the single bloodiest day of fighting in years. The offensive began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have fired some 300 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets over the past week, and in recent days, Israeli leaders had threatened to launch a major offensive. I know that hindsight is 20-20, but I'm thinking that someone should have been working on an extension to that truce. It's not like this sort of thing hasn't happened before. I have a hard time believing that anyone would be delusional enough to think that Hamas and the Israelis would somehow have worked out all their differences during that last truce. More than likely both sides probably used that time to replenish their stockpiles of weapons, which they are now using with wreckless abandon.

Pakistan - Pakistan told India it did not want war and was committed to fighting terrorism — a move apparently aimed at reducing tensions after Pakistan moved troops toward their shared border. Gee whiz. Why would India have been alarmed about that? Intelligence officials said that the army was redeploying thousands of troops from the country's fight against militants along the Afghan border to the Indian frontier — an alarming scenario for the West as it tries to get Pakistan to neutralize the al-Qaida threat. Many analysts have speculated that the assailants who carried out the Mumbai attacks sought to distract Pakistan by redirecting its focus toward India and away from the military campaign against al-Qaida and Taliban militants on the Afghan border. Say what you will about these terrorists, but this particular ploy certainly appears to be working. Pakistan's latest moves, including the troop redeployment, were seen as an indication that it will retaliate if India launches air or missile strikes against militant targets on Pakistani soil — rather than as a signal that a fourth war between the two countries was imminent. Maybe someone could explain to me the difference between a retaliation and a war. I'm thinking that if Pakistan feels compelled to retaliate against India, India will probably retaliate right back, thereby creating a vicious cycle of retaliations from both sides. In my book, that's pretty much a war.

Zimbabwe - International aid agencies warned that Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis is deepening, with a sharp rise in acute child malnutrition and a worsening cholera epidemic. President Robert Mugabe's government has acknowledged the collapse of Zimbabwe's health system, but he also claimed earlier this month that the epidemic had been brought under control and that there was "no cholera" in the country. So let me see if I've got my facts straight here. International aid agencies are disputing claims made by that bastion of truthfulness, Robert Mugabe, that the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe is over. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't read it. The World Health Organization said that 1,518 people have died of cholera and a total of 26,497 cases have been recorded since the start of the outbreak in August. The U.N. agency said more than two-thirds of deaths occurred in December. The percentage of cholera patients dying from the disease has risen to 5.7% from 4% at the beginning of the month, the agency said. Normally only 1% of patients die in large outbreaks. Usually I would applaud a population that manages to overachieve despite having the odds overwhelmingly stacked against it. Unfortunately, as seems to always be the case in Zimbabwe, things can and in fact are getting worse.