Politics: Hey, Sarge, Why Are They Shooting At Us with American Guns? (Three-Toed Sloth).
An interesting article, with one central thesis that had never occurred to me before; why should exports of guns, automatic weapons, and landmines be as free and easy as they are now?
In recent weeks, small arms have brought down several U.S. helicopters in Iraq, killing dozens of soldiers. Given the historically unprecedented military strength of the American armed forces, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to be flooding the world with weapons that could someday be used in guerilla warfare — arguably the only kind of war that an enemy can successfully wage against the U.S. military.
Sanchez cited Afghanistan as a perfect example of this phenomenon. ‘No sale of weapons is ever completely safe,’ he said, ‘as yesterday’s allies become today’s terrorists.’
Environment: excerpts from Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (via NTK). Eek! Check this out…
