Chinese efficiency: LHR-PEK 27, February 2008
Posted by thegulfblog.com in China.Tags: beijing, China, Heathrow, International Airport, Scottish Parliament, T5
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China has just announced the opening of their new terminal at Beijing International Airport. To give it some perspective, this single terminal is bigger than all of Heathrow’s terminals put together and – better still – this gargantuan building, which is now officially the largest building in the world, was built for half the cost of T5 and took only four years from ground breaking to grand opening. T5, on the other hand, will have taken nearly twenty years. Obviously there are good reasons as to why T5 was so expensive, which hardly need explaining. However, my biggest problem is the time scale disparity: 20 to 4. Twenty years is simply a ludicrously long time. If only we could resign ourselves and say ‘perfection takes time’ but we all know that like the Scottish Parliament (another staggering example of an utter waste of time and money, not to mention a complete and utter taste bypass), bits will be falling off in no time…
The Gulf blog 
Christofacism? 27, February 2008
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Random, Western-Muslim Relations.Tags: Belgrade, Christians, Christofascism, Informed Comment, Juan Cole, Muslims, US embassy
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Juan Cole, President of the Global Americana Institute, made a brief but excellent point last Friday. He was commenting on the attack on the American Embassy in Belgrade by angry (Christian) Serbians and compared this act of violence to similar situations but involving Muslims. He quotes the neoconservative argument that “there was something deeply wrong with Muslims for protesting when they were kicked or expelled, saying that look, the Serbs have been harmed by US policies but they don’t go around attacking US embassies. ” As Cole succinctly puts it, “I guess they’ll have to find a new argument.” He goes on to sagely ask whether Fox news and the Republican Party will now start vociferously complaining about “Christofascism” – I some how doubt they will.
http://www.juancole.com/2008/02/three-events-that-changed-world.html