Obama-Mccain on Middle East

With the Democratic Party primaries over, American voters can focus on issues of political substance. For instance: How do the two leading candidates for U.S. president differ in their approach to Israel and related topics? Parallel interviews with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, who spoke in early May with Democrat Barack Obama and in late May with Republican John McCain, offer some important insights.

John McCain and Barack Obama, in close discussion.

Asked roughly the same set of questions, they went off in opposite directions. Obama used the interview to convince readers of his pro-Israel and pro-Jewish bona fides. He thrice reiterated his support for Israel: "the idea of a secure Jewish state is a fundamentally just idea, and a necessary idea"; "the need to preserve a Jewish state that is secure is … a just idea and one that should be supported here in the United States and around the world"; and "You will not see, under my presidency, any slackening in commitment to Israel's security."

Obama then detailed his support within four specifically Jewish contexts.

• Personal development: "when I think about the Zionist idea, I think about how my feelings about Israel were shaped as a young man—as a child, in fact. I had a camp counselor when I was in sixth grade who was Jewish-American but who had spent time in Israel."
• Political career: "When I started organizing, the two fellow organizers in Chicago were Jews, and I was attacked for associating with them. So I've been in the foxhole with my Jewish friends."
• Ideas: "I always joke that my intellectual formation was through Jewish scholars and writers, even though I didn't know it at the time. Whether it was theologians or Philip Roth who helped shape my sensibility, or some of the more popular writers like Leon Uris."
• Philosophy: "My staff teases me sometimes about anguishing over moral questions. I think I learned that partly from Jewish thought, that your actions have consequences and that they matter and that we have moral imperatives."

In contrast, McCain felt no need to establish his Zionism nor his pro-Jewish credentials. Taking them as a given, he used his interview to raise practical policy issues, particularly the threat from Iran. For example, asked about the justness of Zionism, he replied that "it's remarkable that Zionism has been in the middle of wars and great trials and it has held fast to the ideals of democracy and social justice and human rights," then went on: "I think that the State of Israel remains under significant threat from terrorist organizations as well as the continued advocacy of the Iranians to wipe Israel off the map." Again referring to Iran, McCain committed himself "to never allowing another Holocaust." He referred to the threatened destruction of Israel as having "profound national security consequences" for the United States and he stressed that Tehran sponsors terrorist organizations intent "on the destruction of the United States of America."

A second difference concerns the importance of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Obama presented it as an "open wound" and an "open sore" that infects "all of our foreign policy." In particular, he said, its lack of resolution "provides an excuse for anti-American militant jihadists to engage in inexcusable actions." Asked about Obama's statement, McCain slammed the idea that radical Islam results mainly from the Arab-Israeli confrontation: "I don't think the conflict is a sore. I think it's a national security challenge." Were the Israeli-Palestinian issue resolved tomorrow, he pointedly continued, "we would still face the enormous threat of radical Islamic extremism."

Finally, the two disagree on the import of Israelis continuing to live on the West Bank. Obama placed great emphasis on the topic, commenting that if their numbers continue to grow, "we're going to be stuck in the same status quo that we've been stuck in for decades now." McCain acknowledged this as a major issue but quickly changed the topic to the Hamas campaign of shelling Sderot, the besieged Israeli town that he personally visited in March, and whose predicament he explicitly compares to the mainland United States coming under attack from one of its borders.

Goldberg's twin interviews underscore two facts. First, major-party candidates for the U.S. presidency must still pay homage to warm American ties to Israel, no matter how, as in Obama's case, dramatically this may contradict their previously-held views. Second, whereas McCain is secure on the topic, Obama worries about winning the pro-Israel vote.

*Taken from Mr. Daniel Pipes Web

Go Problem 3

Tebak kondisi grup yang bersimbol segitiga, kotak, dan lingkaran apakah hidup atau mati. Untuk setiap asumsi jika hitam jalan dulu dan asumsi jika putih jalan dulu

About Go

Introduction

Go is a board game played with black and white counters generally referred to as "stones".

All estimates of the birthdate and original form are based on conjecture, but it is proven that Go was in China some thousands of years ago. The spread of Go elsewhere began at least as early as 500 AD when it was introduced to Japan or hundreds of years before that when it spread to Korea. Nowadays, Go is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world as the ignorant are enlightened on the enjoyment that can be achieved through Go. It is still mainly played in the three Go powers of Japan, China, and Korea.

Go has been described as a "Game of War" and is a game of no chance, the winner arising entirely out of skill. It has infinite strategical depth and tactical profundity, therefore making it arguably the most fascinating and exciting of all games.

Board

Go is usually played on a 19 by 19 board, but it can be played on other size boards (mostly 9 by 9 and 13 by 13).

Starting

Two players sit face to face with the Go board, an empty grid, between them. In an even game, Black plays first. In a handicap game, Black begins with stones already on the board, and White makes the first move. Players take turns, playing one stone at a time, on the intersections on the grid, called points.

As you put your stones down and see the patterns and situations develop, you will be learning how to play.

Object

The object of the game is to coordinate your stones to surround more points than your opponent.

A key concept is liberties, which are adjacent empty points.

Every stone on the board will have from two to four grid lines extending from it. If it has no liberties but is connected by one or more of those lines to stones of the same color that do have at least one liberty, the group is currently safe. If all the liberties are blocked, the stone or group of stones is said to be captured. Captured stones are removed from the board. Once played, stones do not move, unless they are captured.

You can't normally play on a point without liberties, as a stone played there is immediately removed; however, the exception is when you are capturing stones, as you gain liberties by capturing.

Eyes

As a consequence of these rules, you will discover that some stones are safe, that is, they can never be captured, if they have surrounded two separate points, called eyes. Groups that have or can make two eyes are said to be alive. Stones or groups of stones that can be captured are said to be dead. An exception is the rare situation called seki, where neither side has two eyes, yet neither side can capture.

Ko

A consequence of the rule that you gain liberties by capturing, therefore you may play on a point without liberties if you are capturing, is that a shape called ko may develop. The rule of ko is important because it allows the game to continue. In some situations players could immediately capture a stone that has just captured, resulting in an endless stalemate. In these cases, the rule of ko states that you may not immediately capture a stone that has just captured in ko until you have played somewhere else on the board first.

If there are three kos on the board, you could consider playing another ko as somewhere else on the board (known as triple ko). To prevent this, a rule is often used which states you may not repeat the board position.

Ending

The game is over when both sides pass. Players should only pass when no more points can be surrounded. In practice knowing when there are no more points to be surrounded and passing at the correct time is difficult. You may cost yourself points by continuing to play, or lose the opportunity to make points by passing too early. Once both players have passed, count the number of points belonging to each player. The player with more points is the winner.

Go Problem 2

Tebak kondisi grup yang bersimbol segitiga, kotak, dan lingkaran apakah hidup atau mati. Untuk setiap asumsi jika hitam jalan dulu dan asumsi jika putih jalan dulu

Football Manager on Rene Mihelic

Perhatikan gambar di samping. gambar atas adalah statistik Rene Mihelic saat ini. Perhatikan harganya. 5.250.000 Pound
Gambar bawah-nya menunjukkan berapa harga yang saya keluarkan waktu saya beli dari Maribor. hanya 500.000 Pound! Wew....investasi bagus, bukan? :p

Saya main FM yang 2007, lom di patch sama sekali alias masih versi 7.0

Manfaat Belajar Igo

Belajar igo mempunyai dua tujuan secara umum. Yakni untuk melatih otak atau sekedar refreshing, dan yang kedua untuk prestasi. Setiap komunitas igo yang ada di seluruh dunia pasti memiliki dua macam alasan tersebut sebagai landasan berdirinya komunitas mereka.

Sebab dengan belajar igo, kemampuan nalar dan daya analisis kita akan meningkat. Selain itu igo juga sangat besar manfaatnya dalam menciptakan daya kreasi dan imajinasi bagi anak. Di luar semuanya itu, igo memiliki pengaruh terhadap kemampuan otak manusia dalam menilai sesuatu secara sekilas melalui daya komparasi melalui efek visual (hanya dengan melihat).

Dengan belajar igo, seseorang nantinya diharapkan tidak hanya muncul sebagai pemain (dari segi hiburan / refreshing), tapi juga atlet (dari segi prestasi). Di samping itu juga membuat seseorang dapat menjadi penikmat (penonton), pengajar / guru, pe-review (orang yang mengajar dengan cara memberikan review / pembahasan dari game orang lain),da n masih banyak lagi profesi igo lainnya, termasuk profesi-profesid ari segi bisnis.

Testimoni

Jika anda merasa puas dengan content atau materi dalam blog saya ini, atau dirasa masih ada yang kurang atau malah kurang berkenan, silahkan isi testimony dengan cara membalas post ini. Kritik dan saran anda sangat dibutuhkan :D

Sankyuw...... ^^

Go Problem 1

Bagaimana? Apakah anda sudah mempelajari panduan yang saya berikan cuma-cuma? Kalau belum anda bisa mendownload pdf nya melalui link yang ada di sisi kanan blog ini (di atas tulisan "Pay Attention"). Jika sudah, maka saya ada problem yang (iseng-iseng) saya buat hari ini. Pertanyaannya simpel. Perhatikan gambar di samping. Tebak kondisi grup bersimbol segitiga, kotak, dan lingkaran apakah hidup atau mati, untuk setiap asumsi jika hitam jalan dulu dan asumsi jika putih jalan dulu. Selamat berpikir ^^

**Gunakan cara-cara di panduan untuk menjawabnya**

Cho U defends 33rd Gosei title

Cho U has successfully rebuffed the challenge of Yamashita Keigo Kisei for his Gosei title, defeating him 3-1 in the best-of-five title match.
　 Game Two was played at the Nagaoka Grand Hotel in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, on 27 July. Cho U (B) won by resignation. Game Three was played in Naha City in Okinawa just four days later on 31 July. The hectic scheduling is mainly because of Cho's tight schedule. It worked to the advantage of Cho, who, taking white, again won by resignation.
　 The fourth game was held at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on 15 August. Playing black, Cho forced a resignation after 153 moves. Cho has now won this title three years in a row.
　 So far, these two have played each other in four title matches, of which Cho has won three. In each case, Cho was defending a title. In the victory interview, Cho said: ‘Next time, I'd like to attack him.' He was presumably referring to the Oza tournament, in which he has to win just one more game to become the challenger to Yamashita Oza. Looking further ahead, we could also take it as referring to the Kisei title, as Cho is leading in one of the leagues