Random Thoughts

Today I am pretty much all over the place so here are some random thoughts/occurrences that I thought I would share:

- Last night we watched "Surf's Up" on TV. Apparently we have HBO (I don't even have HBO at home :). In my apartment the movie was in black and white or "gray" as my goddaughters would say but still good to watch nonetheless. We watched the movie while cooking a delicious and nutritious pot of vegetables. We had carrots, brocolli, green beans and cucumbers. We bought all these veggies for about $2.00. It was really good and exciting to have something that did not have a lot of carbs. The vegetables took about an hour and 15 minutes to cook though b/c we do not have a great stove. So, Michelle and I attempted to do a workout while we watched "Surfs Up" and cooked. HBO seems to be an Indian channel here b/c there were a lot of Indian commercials during the movie. We even saw one commercial, we could not understand what they were saying, but it seemed from the portrayal that it was a commercial for the morning after pill for an abortion. I have never seen that advertised on TV so that was interesting.
- After "Surf's Up" I watched another random movie b/c it was only 8pm and wasn't sure what else to do. I came across a "movie" channel. I am not sure how this channel works exactly but at the end of the movie I saw the screen come up that you would see when you come to the end of a dvd and you load another dvd into the dvd player. I am assuming that all this channel does is play movies through a dvd player and somehow we have access to it. "Enter the Dragon" came on after the movie I was watching and I saw the screen with the main menu for the movie where you could select different scenes or start the movie. Oh, TIA!
- This morning I woke up to the sound of the call to prayer mixed in with the dog chorus again. I am trying to figure out a way to capture the sound and post it on my blog so other people can hear it.
- Since I woke up early this morning, I continued reading a great book that we got from the UN. It is called "We Did Nothing: Why the Truth doesn't always come out when the UN comes in." It is written by Linda Polman who was a journalist and spent time in Haiti, Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia. It tells about some of the UN's struggles and sheds new light on the UN in both positive and negative aspects. Here are some interesting things I have learned so far:

- "UN Resolutions are like hotdogs. If you know how they make them, you don't want to eat them. You just swallow. No questions asked."

Somalia
- UN peacekeeping soldiers are sent for a little R&R at a resort in Kenya where they are encouraged to visit the local clubs and bars, get drunk and have sex.
- at the camps set up by the UN, the soldiers from developing countries are placed on the outskirts of the camp with less resources (i.e. they are sleeping outside or in tents) and less protection. The soldiers from the developed countries are located closer to the center of the camp with great protection and resources (i.e. make-shift houses flown in from their repsective countries equipped with air-conditioning, ample food supply, a gym, and other luxuries)
- Headline: "The UN pays out more for rich dead than poor dead" Industrialized countries whose soldiers die in UN peacekeeping missions get paid $85,000 from the UN while 3rd World countries get paid $19,500 for every soldier that dies.
- Quote from the US representative delivering a message from George Bush as the US came into Somalia with Operation Restore Hope
" Under American leadership the world is going to stop this country from committing suicide. The President of the US is quite determined. We come in peace but you know what the American army can do. You saw it for yourselves in Desert Storm. Now those same American forces will be landing here. If you don't cooperate, we will pulverize you."
- The US initiated the mission in Somalia under Operation Restore Hope but then pulled out expecting the UN to come in with less resources and "clean up" Somalia under Operation Continue Hope. Needless to say it was not successful and we still see the effects of it today in Somalia.

Haiti
-The US initiated the entry into Haiti under the Operation Restore Democracy. Many people say there was no democracy to restore in the first place and the country was bankrupt.
- The Organization of American States (OAS) imposed an embargo on Haiti to try to put pressure on the military coup and drive them out of the country. However, this had an adverse effect and ended up driving many innocent civilians out of the country. Many refugees tried to flee to the US and Clinton eventually granted some asylum. Others were allowed to live in a refugee camp set up at Guantanamo Bay (which was soon overflowing so cruise ships were rented to house more people).
- Clinton gave a speech at the UN saying that the UN needs to learn how to say "no" to missions that it does not have the resources to handle. 2 days later, he requested that the UN come into Haiti to pick up where the Americans had left off with Operation Support Democracy.

Just some food for thought....