Magic Statistics

Two days I posted that the African Union (AU) was considering asking the United Nations to take over its peacekeeping operation in Darfur. The AU today announced its formal decision "in principle" requesting the UN to do this.

"The council decided to support in principle a transition of AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan) towards a UN mission… in the promotion of peace and security," said an African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) statement read by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.

The PSC reached the decision in a meeting in the Ethiopian capital despite spirited opposition from Sudan, which argued that the transfer would risk worsening the situation in Darfur.

"Spirited"? I'll say. Demonstrators threatening violence against all things Western thronged the streets of Khartoum just a few days ago.

Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "pleased" with the decision, but indicated that transition to a UN peacekeeping force cannot be implemented until the Security Council approves the mission.

via Paul Tuns at Sobering Thoughts, who says that "peacekeepers" here means "genocide watchers".

For over four centuries, the annual Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain, has featured mockery and satire of the pompous and powerful. This year, however, there has been a slight change in plans. Certain targets of satirical barbs have been declared off limits. Can you guess which ones and why?

The Fallas season is now underway until March 19 but as it approached, Valencians watched global protests against newspaper cartoons of Mohammed with growing alarm. Last month, the mayor, Rita Barberá, urged artists to "temper freedom with a sense of responsibility" when referring to religious subjects.

At least one well known local Fallas artist admitted to removing elements from his display of comic sculptures.

He had sculpted three life-size figures of illegal Arab immigrants storming the Spanish border, in a reference to last year's crisis in Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's enclaves in North Africa, involving thousands of migrants. The artist has now removed details that identified them as Arabs.

The word came down from the festival's head honcho.

Félix Crespo, the senior official in charge of the Central Fallas Council that runs the festival, urged the neighbourhood committees that raise funds to build the sculptures to avoid mixing humour with religion, "because that can be misunderstood".

Yeah, except that Roman Catholic prelates have always been fair game in the Fallas, so what "religion" do you suppose he wants everyone to tip-toe around?

"The ordinary people do not know all the intricacies of Islam, they just saw that there was a very extreme reaction to these [Danish] cartoons, they heard that embassies were attacked, and so people felt cautious," said Mr Crespo.

"Cautious"? That's one way to put it.

"No one knows the Rapture is coming as the clock silently ticks down."

Actually, now we do know: 6 June 2006. That's 06.06.06, i.e., 666. How subtle is that? Not a minute too soon, as far as I'm concerned.

As Carl Olson puts it, "It just goes to show that all bad things must finally come to an end, no matter how much money they make…"