I’ve been reading the Ayatollah Begs To Differ and recently hung out with some Iranians. The two I met support the US sanctions on Iran. I wouldn’t say I beg to differ, but I really don’t know. I don’t think a nuclear Iran is an existential threat and I don’t think half boycotts work (ie Cuba, or anywhere). I think the hostility towards Iran, like too much American policy, is driven by Israeli aggression and is not really in the interests of anybody.

Governments are almost uniformly disliked, because they suck. Their main selling point is that they suck significantly less than no government, or really bad government, but that’s a hard sell.

The latest reports sound exactly like Pakistan is breaking up with America – ‘A senior US official said “Pakistan has told us very clearly that they are re-evaluating the entire relationship.”‘ ‘Mushahid Hussain Sayed, summed up the anger that he said many harbored: “We feel like the U.S. treats Pakistan like a rainy-day girlfriend.”‘

Sri Lanka today gets most of its foreign financing as loans from China. This graph shows that China has given 38% of financing this year, overtaking Japan (2012 FMR). Compare that to 2004, when they gave only 0.5% (2006 Annual Report).

Drive opens with a muted car chase, a stunning view of LA, and electro-pop. It’s very Scarface, the quiet parts. Ryan Gosling probably says a total of 100 words in the film, acting mostly through gazes and eye dilation. It’s intense, the violence gratuitous, the music over-powering but, at the center, extremely reserved. It’s nice.

As mentioned, I grew up in America, in a Republican town. I always thought Republicans were evil, but never dumb. Something has happened to that party, however, and they’ve literally gone insane. This Presidential race (primary) is like watching Jersey Shore, except one of them could become President. It’s kinda scary.

I grew up with Joe Paterno, at least, on TV. Football is a passion in Columbus, Ohio, even for an immigrant Sri Lankan boy. I wanted to grow up and be Quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes, until Brett Hughes broke my collarbone in third grade and I realized that my indic frame could never compete. It’s really quite unfair. It’s physically impossible for the average brown person to play football or basketball.

The Economist has an interesting take on hypocrisy and the west: The end of the war in Sri Lanka was marked by little of the celebratory tone that has marked some of the reporting of the death of Muammar Qaddafi this month… Over Libya, there was no such call for restraint in the battle for Sirte, and on Qaddafi’s death, Mr Obama was quick to hail “the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya”.

Michael Silberman is the thirty-something grandfather of Obama’s online campaign. You could say. He ran MeetUps for the Howard Dean campaign in 2004, which laid the groundwork for the successful online organizing to come. He was speaking at the American Center in Colombo and I went to see.

The US voted to ban aid to Sri Lanka unless the government ‘shows accountability’ for the war. So, they effectively ban aid. I could get into how the US is hypocritical (HRW recently recommended that Bush and Cheney be investigate for war crimes) or unfair (aid to Afghanistan, Bahrain, etc) but besides the point. The point is that US aid to Sri Lanka is paltry and will be replaced by money from China. The net effect is bad for the interests the US professes, bad for the Sri Lankan people, and generally dumb.