United Nations Use of Force

So i was interested to see the United Nations authorize a use for force against Libya with the US appearing to be in the background.  Once it passed, I assumed since the european nations were pushing for it they would take the lead on this one.  Then the next thing I hear is the Americans are doing the bulk of the bombing and taking the heat.  So it got me thinking , how was this process supposed to work as per the UN Charter? 

Take a look at wikipedia’s entry on the Libyan use of force resolution:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1973.  Note under the key points of this resolution is listed “establishes a panel of experts to monitor and promote sanctions implementation.”  It also states this resolution was adopted “under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter “.  If you look at Chapter VII, it is pretty vague about all this stuff.  You would think after 66 years this process would of been defined.  Instead, the process appears to be this panel of experts gets together and determine who can spare what to help in the cause.  So how did America come to get such a big role when probably any other country or group of countries have the firepower to handle Libya?  

 I find it hard to believe that a president so opposed to force in Iraq would authorize such a big role against Libya.   So I came up with these possibilities:

1.  President Obama is corrupted by power, and has abandoned his vision of what America’s role in the world should be.

2.  President Obama does not have the power to stop the military industrial complex that funds and controls the government.

3.  President Obama has a valid reason for taking control of the operation, and has yet to communicate it or has not communicated it effectively. 

I hope its the third reason.  Anybody else has any other possibilities?

Tablets coming to the enterprise

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-admits-that-ipads-and-other-devices-are-invading-businesses-2011-3

The start of the ‘Post PC’ era for big business is coming – and Microsoft has decided to adapt?  My prediction:  Microsoft focuses on Enterprise software – Look for Ballmer in the next 6 months to a year to spend his pile of cash on some Large Enterprise software corporation.  Maybe Adobe?  F5 Networks?  He will spend it on something as his last big gamble.

The end of Zune

So rumor has it the Zune is to be discontinued, likely merged with the windows phone.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/03/14/r-i-p-microsoft-zune-2006-2011/

Assuming the Zune will just merge into the Windows phone, that gives Microsoft a conundrum as to what to name such a new machine. What name would market better – ‘Windows Phone’ – which conjures up an image of a phone with bloated software, or the Zune Phone, images of a failed platform that couldnt compete with the iPod.

Side note – I am a very satisified owner of a Zune – The software is great for managing podcasts – probably the easiest Microsoft software to use. Sad to see its demise.

Our first nuclear winter

If you look at the weather records for the northwest, you will notice that the winters in the 1950’s had some amazingly cold weather – most record lows were set in the 1950s.  I was always curious about that – this article presents an interesting hypothesis about what caused this.

http://ams.confex.com/ams/90annual/techprogram/paper_157971.htm

Keep this in mind regarding global warming – more  articles are appearing regarding  geo-engineering as the solution to global warming.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoengineering.  Makes me pretty nervous.