The Long Road Out

We now have the Kurds reaching out to the last allies standing--Russia.  Remember Finland aligning with Hitler since neither the UK nor the US would help them keep the Russians out?  That's the situation on the ground in Syria. Still, for the most part, we'll be in the situation of asking Erdogan/Turkey to stop firing US-manufactured weapons at Kurds carrying (fewer and smaller) US-manufactured weapons. Even the New York Times is now agreeing that the key element of US foreign policy recently has been arming/abondoning/attacking.   The NYT's Interpreter newsletter, by Amanda Taub and Max Fisher, who comment on "the sad, cyclical nature of American interventions abroad."     Thank you, Amanda and Max, for pointing out George W Bush's hypocrisy in condemning our abandonment of the Kurds to death camps.   GWB has no standing on this issue--he did the same thing to the allies we'd armed and supported in Iraq 2.   Similarly, so did his Dad. I'd...

Once you begin to use your new Orange Holiday SIM card, the French telecom company requires that you register it prior to topping up.   In addition, you can't retain your new French phone number past the first 14 days without registering.   I suppose the international police need to know who you are. You'll need an ID photo, your new phone number--and the actual SIM card number.   There are only two places to find this number: It's the first thirteen digit number on the SIM card packaging. If, like me, you threw the packaging out after activating your phone, then there's only one other place it appears:   on the SIM card itself.   Turn off your phone, remove it, and copy it down (NOTE:   some websites say the ICCID number in Settings/General/About is the SIM card number.   It's not---and it has too many digits anyway.) Certify that your other info is correct, complete the "I'm not a Robot" CAPTCHA, and send in the form.   You should hear ...