Obama Conveys Condolences to Pakistan

An air strike by NATO that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last week has been a hot topic. NATO and the United States have claimed that it was unintended and now Obama has offered his condolences to the president of Pakistan. This call was made in order to reduce tensions between the two countries. The Prime Minister of Pakistan has stated that they were "re-evaluating its relationship with the United States." He also said in an interview with CNN that they would continue to maintain a relationship with the U.S. as long as they was a mutual respect between the countries. When asked if that respect was in place, he said no.

After the attack, Pakistan began taking steps against NATO. For example, they are no longer allowing NATO supplies to be routed through Pakistan.

Turkey and the E.U.

I had heard for some time that Turkey was trying to become a member of the European Union with little success. Today I read an article about how this is rapidly changing. In 2002, Turkey's prime minister, Erdogan, made it his goal to become a member of the E.U. This bid has been unsuccessful so far, but now it seems as if Turkey no longer wants to pursue this course. They believe that the E.U. is currently in it's own financial crisis and would therefore no longer benefit them. The prime minister also feels like the "betrayed him" and no longer wants to be a part of "such a mess."

This is interesting to me, because in my Genocide class last Spring we spoke about different things that Turkey would have to do in order to become a member of the European Union. One of which would be admitting to the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century.

Old U.S. Prison Bases in Iraq

The United States used to have 505 prison bases in Iraq. They currently only own six, and plan to be rid of them by the end of the year. The U.S. has been handing these bases over to the Iraqi government and from there they have been used for a variety of purposes. Most become bases for the Iraqi military however others are being re-purposed in more creative ways. For example, one base, Camp Bucca, was purchased by an Iraqi company, Kufan Group, and converted into a hotel. Kufan hopes that this new hotel will be used by oil workers in the region.

Around 150 oil executives stayed in the hotel during an convention that was held nearby. They did not have a smooth start however, as many guests were unaware that they were staying in an old prison camp. A group of men from Sweden checked out early because they were not comfortable in the hotel. Kufan is not deterred however, and plans to continue to create a more "homey" environment for future guests.

U.S. Drone Shot Down in Iran

A drone crashed in eastern Iran last week but it is unclear the cause of the accident. The Iranian military claimed they shot the drone down, however NATO claims the operators of the drone merely lost control. The drone, an RQ-170, was flying over western Afghanistan (which borders Iran) during a mission when it crashed. The U.S. has not said whether it was the military or the U.S. intelligence community was in control of the drone at the time of the crash. While the United States denies that the drone was flying of Iran, an Iranian military official has called it a "clear example of aggression."

Last July Iran's military claimed that it had shot down a spy drone near its nuclear enrichment plant. However, they later retracted the statement saying that the incident was part of a training exercise.

Explosion in Bahrain

A bomb exploded last night at approximately midnight near the British Embassy in Bahrain. There were no injuries and the building was not damaged. The bomb blast was around 50 meters from the main building. The bomb was planted on a minibus near the embassy's fence and an investigation is underway. It is still uncertain how large the bomb was, although it did blow a wheel off of the minivan. It is also unknown whether or not the embassy was the intended target.

Some believe that it may have been in response to last week's developments in Iran. The explosion comes just days after protestors in stormed the British Embassy in Tehran.

Evacuations in a German Town

In the city of Koblenz in west Germany, several World War II bombs were discovered leading to the evacuation of over 45,000 people. Bomb squads were able to defuse two bombs, and dispose of a third. One bomb was an air mine that weighed 4,000 pounds and another was a smaller but high-density explosive. The third they detonated in a controlled manner. The three bombs were dropped by American and British warplanes during WWII and had been hidden by the Rhine River. When the water dropped last week, the bombs were discovered. A wall of over 2,500 sandbags was created in order to divert the water away from the bombs to ensure that "the two four-men teams [could] defuse the bombs precisely."

Germany is used to finding bombs, and just last year three members of a bomb squad were killed attempting to deactivate a bomb in Gottingen.

Most Corrupt Country?

The Transparency International Organization has conducted an investigation in order to rank countries according to their corruption level. They used a variety of information including, "questions relating to the bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds and questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of public-sector and anti-corruption efforts." The list included 182 countries, the last of which being the most corrupt. The spot for most corrupt is tied between Somalia and North Korea. At the top of the list is New Zealand. The United States are ranked 24th, Canada 10th, and Singapore 5th.

It is interesting to go through the list of countries and see where they are on this list. I was surprised by the rankings of some countries but not of others.