You Can Judge a Man by His Friends, part 2

Here we see Russian President & Dictator Vladimir Putin and American President Barack Obama at the G 20 Summit in Mexico in June, 2012. Unlike the pictures, below, of Putin with Assad and Ahmadinejad, these men are not smiling. They don't seem pleased to be in each other's company.

As an American, I am proud that the President of the United States does not seem happy to be in the company of the dictator of Russia.

Thanks to the NY Times for the image of Obama and Putin. 

Future of Civilization

State of the world, 2012, a companion to the World Watch Institute's papers, here.

Civilization
what will there be tomorrow
may we drink the rain

see only today
ignore toxic mountains seas
child tomorrow dies

we know not of worth
but cash flows, prices, some costs
happy counting beans
 
Fukushima and
the Deep Water Horizon
one map from Malthus

then there's energy
from Sun and Earth wind, water
we will then flourish

Civilization
what will there be tomorrow
may we drink the rain

You Can Judge a Man By His Friends, part 1

You can tell a lot about a man from his friends, and their body language. Above we see Russia's President / Dictator Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Achmadinejad, his counterpart in Iran. Below we see Putin with Bashir Al Assad, his counterpart in Syria.  In the first picture, Putin has rotated his hand so that it is on top of Achmadinejad's. Note the smiles. They appear genuine.And why not? These guys like and understand each other. Just as Putin has a firm grip on Achmadinejad's hand, they all have a firm grip on power. Russia sells weapons to Syria and probably sells weapons to Iran.