The Future of Iraq?

This isn’t an optimal solution, but if it stops the sectarian mayhem going on in Iraq these days, then maybe it’s worth considering….

“Iraq as a political project is finished,” a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: “The parties have moved to plan B.” He said that the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties were now looking at ways to divide Iraq between them and to decide the future of Baghdad, where there is a mixed population. “There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into [Shia] east and [Sunni] west,” he said.

I’m Home

And jetlagged, and very happy to be with Scott & the kitties again.

I had a great time in Barcelona. About half my photos are already on Flickr. I have more photos still to upload, and I want to add some commentary to the travel blog.

I read a fascinating book on the flight home that I want to talk about, and that will find its way online fairly soon. Plus other stuff.

However, it’s hot as hell in San Mateo and we have at best spotty A/C, so what I can’t get done in the cooler hours will have to wait.

Hola

Greetings from Barcelona. I’m running around like mad and generally having a good time.

With all that’s going on here, frankly I wasn’t really focusing on exactly how badly things are going over in the Middle East. Then Dad forwarded an update e-mail from the cousins in Haifa and it started to sink in that this isn’t just another crisis. With the news that shells have started to fall in Haifa, all I can do is to hope some sanity prevails before more people get killed.

Doves of Peace

Doves of Peace, looking out over Barcelona.

Let us all keep a thought for peace tonight.

Leaving On a Jet Plane

Less than 3 hours and I’ll be in the air.

I have a new travel blog set up for tourist blogging here although right now all that’s there is a placeholder post.

Whether I will actually have time to blog much I don’t know. This trip feels like a huge leap into the unknown right now; I’m just going to have to see what happens once I get there.

In other words, consider this fair warning: there may not be much new here until the 23rd. Or maybe there’ll be a new post later today. There’s only one way to find out.

And with that, I need to hit the showers and toss a last few odds and ends into my suitcase. Ciao!

Last-Minute Argh!

I have officially had it with my 3G iPod. Although it works beautifully as a stand-alone MP3 player, I’m sick to death of having to spend 1-2 hours hammering on my PC trying to get the damn FireWire connection to work every time I want to sync it with iTunes.

I’m going to put them both up on eBay when I get home.