What Caught My Eye Today

Oman - Lemme see here...Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Yeman. Do I have seven? Who wants to make it seven? Anyone? Omani troops fired into the air in Sohar, Oman's main industrial center, to clear a fourth day of protests by people demanding jobs and political reforms. The unrest was a rare outbreak of discontent in the normally tranquil Gulf state, ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said for four decades. I'm not sure I'd classify this unrest as a rare occurrence anymore. The fact that Arab regimes have been falling like dominoes over the past couple of weeks--that's what I would say is rare. Oman has strong military and political ties with the United States and is a non-OPEC oil exporter that pumps around 850,000 barrels per day. First Bahrain, now Oman. Dude, the U.S. just cannot cut a break. You would think that it would be enough for these people, that they are on good terms with "us", but no... these malcontents want representation in their government too. I gotta be honest here. Democracy is not all its cracked up to be. We have a bunch of whack jobs pretending to run our government. Look how well that is working out for us.

Yemen - Yemen's embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, accused the U.S., his closest ally, of instigating the mounting protests against him, but the gambit failed to slow the momentum for his ouster. I wonder what boyfriend says about his worst enemies? In a speech to about 500 students and lecturers, he claimed the U.S., along with Israel, is behind the protest movement. The momentum against the president, who refuses to step down until elections in 2013, has kept growing since protests erupted a month ago. Saleh's government is widely seen as corrupt, with relatives of the president holding key positions in government and business. Grievances about the growing disparity between Yemen's poor — nearly half the population of some 23 million — and a small ruling clique have helped drive the protests. Yemen is the Arab world's poorest country. Damn, we're good. Who would have thought that the Americans and Israelis would be clever enough to orchestrate enough government corruption to drive have the nation's population into poverty. Oh sure, we're pretty good at screwing ourselves on our home turf, but pulling something of this scale off half way around the world...that takes skill, my friend.

Libya - The UN General Assembly suspended Libya from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Say it ain't so! The Human Rights Council in Geneva had called for the suspension over leader Moamer Kadhafi's brutal crackdown on opposition protests. Nobody spoke up for the Libyan regime at the brief debate. I wouldn't say nobody... Venezuela called upon all countries to "put a stop to the invasion plans against Libya" which ambassador Jorge Valero said the United States was leading. Is it just me or are there a whole bunch of countries out there that hold the U.S. in much higher regard than perhaps they should. Seriously, guys, you all need to pick up a newspaper and see just how brilliant the brain trust in Washington D.C. really is. And lets not forget that it isn't as if the U.S. hasn't tried this sort of thing in the past. Anyone remember that Bay of Pigs debacle? Libya, and Yemen for that matter, is a lot bigger and much further away than Cuba.

At last check, it appears that Kuwait, Iran and the Palestinian territories are getting geared up to jump into the fray. The Palestinian territories? Shouldn't you all be focused on first becoming a sovereign state before you try to overthrow yourselves?

Amazingly, there is news beyond the Middle East.

Kyrgyzstan - I know it is early in the year, but I'm thinking this item has to be a contender for biggest 'ass kisser' of the year. In a bid to curry favor with its main trading partner, Kyrgyszstan has named a mountain after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Parliament voted nearly unanimously to bestow his name upon a 14,000-foot peak in the Tian Shan mountains. Did you notice that the vote was nearly unanimous? Apparently, there was some controversy associated with the vote. One lawmaker was concerned that the Russian leader might be offended by the relatively small size of the peak. So many phallic symbol jokes...so little time. Mount Vladimir Putin is higher than Mount Boris Yeltsin, but lower than Lenin Peak. Good grief...there's more than one?

Sarah Palin - Sarah Palin recently spoke at the Long Island Association, a business group in New York. The event was notable for the fact that Palin invited the press--something she does rarely. And it was newsworthy in that she gave another sign she might actually run for president: News reports say she hinted with a smile that someone who is good at multitasking ("a woman, a mom"), as well as someone who's already run for something ("a vice-presidential candidate?") would be most qualified for the job. Shockingly, neither of these are the top headline. When the conversation turned to the escalating price of gas and groceries, Palin reportedly said, "It's no wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breastfeed your baby--yeah, you better--because the price of milk is so high right now!" I love public figures for whom the concept of filtering mean nothing.