Not Intent on Arriving

Are the ladies of "Desperate Housewives" the key to peace

So claims a WikiLeaks cable, released last week. The message, first reported in the UK’s Guardian, cited increased broadcasts of popular American sitcoms as one of the main reasons for cooling of tensions among young people in the Middle East.

“It’s still all about the war of ideas here, and the American programming on MBC and Rotana [a channel part-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation] is winning over ordinary Saudis in a way that al-Hurra and other US propaganda never could,” two Saudi media executives told a US official in a meeting at a Jeddah branch of Starbucks. “Saudis are now very interested in the outside world and everybody wants to study in the US if they can. They are fascinated by US culture in a way they never were before.”

These broadcasts have been more effective than US-funded propaganda campaigns in the area, according to the cable. What do you think?

Yeah, I know I’ve been writing a lot about China of late. But, these stories are really interesting.

Today, I read on CNN about a new type of profession that is emerging along the Yellow River in China. A group of fisherman has taken to fishing out and removing bodies found in the river. According to one of the men, more than 100 bodies have been located this year alone. The story claims these bodies are murder victims or people who committed suicide in the nearby city of Lanzhou.

He charges $450 to turn the body over for identification and advertises his services by spray painting his cell phone number along the river. For what it’s worth, the locals approve of this service.

“They are working a job like anyone else,” said Ms. Wei of nearby Shangping village. “And somebody has to do it, right? Otherwise our river might get too full with bodies.”