Links For Thursday

Stuff to read:

If at first you don't succeed, try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try again.

They say Kim Jong might be Il (geddit?) but could he be dead? One Japanese scholar thinks so, arguing that the North Korean regime has been using a body double since 2003. (Courtesy Wasay)

Why is that Samuel Eto'o ALWAYS has some sort of issue? I really think this guy is cursed. Even when he means well (this latest episode stemmed from his helping out UNICEF) something always seems to happen. Well, except for him sitting on the bench, Henry starting in the middle, Iniesta starting on the left-wing, and Hleb, Xavi and Yaya Toure manning the midfield. That would never happen.

Which search terms are people using when googling Sarah Palin? (Hint: it's exactly what you think). (Courtesy Adeel)

Cyril Almedia captures the essence of Pakistani politics:

Pakistani politics has much in common with one of the stranger thought exercises I have come across. As a student of law grappling with the seemingly innocuous question ‘what is law?’ I was asked to imagine that an alien descends from the heavens above and exits his space capsule next to a traffic signal. By observation alone the alien will be able to deduce the rules of traffic: stop when red; slow down or get ready to go when amber; go when green. But what the alien will never be able to figure out is the reason that people stop stop, day or night, traffic or no traffic. The alien observer is an outsider to the system of rules, so while he can discern a pattern he isn’t able to understand the reason people follow it.

This being Oxford the state of Pakistan’s roads was never really considered. If that poor alien landed besides a traffic signal in Pakistan, he would scarcely be able to avoid being run over — let alone figure out the rules of traffic. That’s Pakistani politics: no rules and plenty dangerous for anyone trying to discern any.

Sarah Palin's rise is making one of the Obsidian Wings guys cynical again.

Finally, General Kayani criticizes U.S. moves to conduct ground operations in Pakistan, leading hearts to flutter and people to conclude this is the Army's first "salvo" against the civilian set up. Gillani tries to lay those concerns to rest, but since nothing he says or does actually matters, people are still concerned.