There’s been quite a bit of speculation in the blogosphere on the mysterious illness of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko:

As Ukraine’s popular pro-Western opposition leader claimed victory Tuesday in hotly contested presidential elections, the mystery surrounding an appearance-altering illness that twice prompted him to check into a Vienna hospital persisted.

Yushchenko accused the Ukrainian authorities of poisoning him. His detractors suggested he’d eaten some bad sushi.

Adding to the intrigue, the Austrian doctors who treated him have asked foreign experts to help determine if his symptoms may have been caused by toxins found in biological weapons.

Medical experts said they may never know for sure what befell Yushchenko.

But the illness, whatever it was, has dramatically changed his appearance since he first sought treatment at Vienna’s private Rudolfinerhaus clinic on September 10.

There’s a rather repulsive before-and-after picture here.

Some medbloggers have weighed in and Dr. Thomas Boyle (goaded, perhaps, by a blogger who shall remain nameless) of CodeBlueBlog has an absolutely fabulous diagnosis-at-a-distance for you. What is it? I won’t steal his thunder—you’ll just have to read it yourself.

There’s a lot to chew on in this post from American Future and the column by Anton La Guardia from the Telegraph to which he draws our attention. Noting a proposal for reform of the UN, Mr. La Guardia writes:

There is much in the 80-page report of the “High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change” to interest America. It takes Mr Bush’s unilateral security policy, and tries to turn it into a new international doctrine. It seeks to convince the US that it can deal with threats more effectively through collective action than alone.

The report accepts America’s conviction that the risk of terrorists obtaining weapons of mass destruction is one of the main threats facing the world. However, it argues that other threats are as important because globalisation has linked them together. For example, poverty exacerbates the danger of states collapsing, and failed states are ideal breeding grounds for terrorists. The report accepts “pre-emptive” military action against an imminent threat as part of the traditional right to self-defence. It also adopts America’s belief in “preventive” action to stop more distant threats, but only subject to approval by the Security Council.

The entire discussion of the UN and its future leaves me with far more questions than answers.

1. How has the UN Security Council contributed to collective security? US security?
2. How has the UN General Assembly contributed to collective security? US security?
3. However ineffective they might be, which body has been more effective in contributing to collective security? US security?
4. If the Security Council is more effective—as seems obvious—how does making it more closely resemble the General Assembly contribute to collective security? US security?

Marc has a number of good questions of his own.

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American Future continues to do yeoman’s service on covering developments in Iran. If you want to stay informed you could do a lot worse than checking in there on a daily basis.

As I read the most recent post on American Digest:

In a stunning move to reverse the threat to democracy in the Ukraine George Soros wrote a check on Sunday to take possession of the Kiev Holiday Inn and Bali-Themed singles Bar in order the guarantee housing for some 15,000 Blue State Human Shields now inbound to the beleaguered Republic.

I thought “Let them have one-way tickets!” But I should have realized it was a cruel hoax: there is no Holiday Inn in Kiev.

Ann Althouse noticed something on a recent night out:

Speaking of sweeping (and things Japanese), on Friday evening, we parked the car on the street in front of a lit up Aikido place. Inside were about ten men in traditional Japanese clothes, holding what at first I thought were swords. But they were brooms. They were sweeping the place, possibly ritualistically, and it was such a fascinating sight that I watched them as I walked a couple steps and knocked into a telephone pole.

In every dojo to which I’ve belonged over the years we cleaned the dojo after every practice. There were the practical considerations, of course. If we didn’t clean the dojo, who would? We wouldn’t want to practice in a dirty dojo. But there were other considerations as well.

Cleaning the dojo after practice is an obligation. It shows respect for your sensei and the dojo. It reflects the appropriate martial spirit. When I taught classes it was a tradition that I always maintained.

Those aikidokas should be be happy they didn’t have to do what we did after every kendo practice. After practice we’d fasten the legs of our hakama up and wash the floor of the dojo with only our hands, feet, rags, and water. It was considered bad form for your knees to touch the ground. We’d bend over with a rag grasped in our two hands in front of us and push with our feet, our bodies effectively becoming the mops that cleaned the dojo.

We had a certain amount of disdain for the tai chi class that preceded our kendo class. They never cleaned the dojo and left it to us to sweep up after them. No martial spirit.

Nadezhda of Chez Nadezhda has a good post up on the pension crisis that United Airlines and other dinosaur airlines are dealing with. Follow the links for lots of good information.

As I mentioned in the comments section over there I don’t believe that their pension plans are these airlines’ main problem or even their only problem (although they certainly don’t help). What the success of the new breed of airlines like Southwest Airlines demonstates is that the old hub-and-spoke business model that United, American, and Delta among others employ is fatally flawed. They have too many built-in costs. These airlines were fine as long as they were receiving government subsidies but when the industry was de-regulated it quickly became clear that these dinosaurs were dying and, like the real dinosaurs, they didn’t die all at once but a little at a time.

But these dinosaurs have another problem as well. When you compare the top management of United Airlines and Southwest something jumps out at you. UAL CEO Glenn F. Tilton, is an oil salesman whose main contact with the airline industry is with them as buyers of fuel.
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As I’ve said before I just love Thanksgiving and one of the reasons I love it is that the leftover turkey from the Thanksgiving meal is perfect for making this dish. I always make it the Sunday after Thanksgiving and now you can, too.

Turkey chilaquiles salsa verde
serves four

Salsa Verde (recipe follows)
10 corn tortillas, cut into ½ inch strips
1 lb. leftover turkey in bite-sized pieces
1 cup sour cream (or crema if you’ve got it)
1 cup grated Jack cheese

1. Grease an ovenproof casserole (at least 3 qt.)
2. Spread a layer of salsa verde in the bottom of the casserole
3. Place one-third of the tortilla strips in the casserole.
4. Place one-third of the turkey on top of the tortilla strips.
5. Spread one-third of the sour cream (or crema) over the turkey.
6. Sprinkle one-third of the cheese over the sour cream (or crema)
7. Repeat with remainder of the ingredients—salsa, tortilla strips, turkey, sour cream, cheese, salsa, tortilla strips, turkey, sour cream, cheese
8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a pre-heated 375°F oven for 40 minutes or until heated through and bubbling. You can remove the foil for the last five minutes of cooking to let the cheese brown if you like.

And if you don’t think that this dish is faaaannntastic when made with the leftover smoked turkey that I’ve got well, then, you’ll just have to try it yourself and see.

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As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.
Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

Roger Ebert’s review of Oliver Stone’s film Alexander in three words: pan-nationalism, pan-sexualism, pan.

UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson—a classics scholar—comments on Stone’s film. His take: history gets short shrift. Not to mention the investors:

I’ve heard so many inane things mouthed by Stone that I would like someone at last to address this question—why would supposedly smart insiders turn over $160 million to someone of such meager talent to make such an embarrassing film? Alexander the Great is third-rate Cecil B. Demille in drag.