The World is Talking About…

Brazil and Israel are Talking About...Baseball

Today's sporting news: Baseball isn't just played in North America, Central America, and Japan, though it's received slightly different receptions in other places:

America’s Pastime Is Only a Blip in Soccer-Crazed Brazil

North American sport by way of Japan

By Larry Rohter, New York Times

Ibiúna , São Paulo, Brazil - Baseball and Brazil? That combination is evoked about as often as the Yankees and the samba.

But, yes, Brazil does have a national amateur team, and at its training center here, the squad has been preparing for months for the Pan American Games, which open July 13 in Rio de Janeiro. The team’s hope is that a strong performance in the competition, a sort of Olympics of the Americas, can help put baseball on the map in a country where the most popular sports are soccer, soccer and more soccer.

“This is a rare opportunity for us and our sport, and we want to make sure we take as much advantage of it as we possibly can,” said infielder Ronaldo Ono, 33, the team captain. “It’s a great responsibility playing at home, and that’s what motivates us. We want to win and attract Brazil’s attention, and we think we can. We respect the other teams, but we fear none.”

Though virtually ignored in the news media here, the Brazilian team has shown improvement in recent years. After failing to qualify for the 1995 Games, it finished eighth in 1999 and fifth in 2003, and in other recent tournaments has presented surprisingly strong challenges to Cuba, losing once by one run, and to Puerto Rico, losing a game in the 18th inning.

“Brazilians like rooting for their fellow countrymen, so once we get a Brazilian playing in Major League Baseball, that will help popularize the sport,” said Everaldo Marques, one of the broadcasters for the Brazilian feed of ESPN’s Sunday night game of the week. “Just look what happened with tennis when Gustavo Kuerten was doing well, or with the N.B.A. when Brazilian players like Anderson Varejão, Nenê Hilário and Leandro Barbosa showed up.”

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And a doubleheader from the Middle East:

Hits and Hot Dogs Under a Lox-Colored Sky

Three hours at a professional Israeli baseball game

By Scott Wilson, Washington Post

Petah Tikva, Israel - "Ladies and gentlemen," the voice over the portable speakers intoned, "please rise for the singing of 'Hatikva.' " About 75 people stood up from plank-board bleachers as Israel's national anthem filled the twilight. Only a few sang the Hebrew words, though, because only a few knew the language.

Minutes later, members of the Raanana Express -- in Oakland A's green and yellow -- sprinted onto their home turf of Yarkon Field. A cheer rippled through the rooting section of American moms and dads here for the summer to watch their sons play in the inaugural 45-game season of Israel's professional baseball league. It was just before 7 p.m.

Over the next three hours on a balmy Mediterranean evening, a crowd of U.S. transplants, Israeli natives, Russian immigrants and proud visiting parents-cum-tourists watched a drama of exported Americana.

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Baseball Makes Game Try in Israel

Most of the fans are transplanted Americans

By John Murphy, Baltimore Sun

Petah Tikva, Israel -  In this land that is holy for Jews, Muslims and Christians, Benjamin Engelhart is hoping to find believers in America's favorite pastime: baseball.

The 26-year-old switch-hitter from Silver Spring took to the field last month to play in Israel's first professional baseball league

A bold new experiment to export hardball to the United States' closest Middle East ally, the Israel Baseball League is the latest evidence of the steady Americanization of the Jewish state.

But many here wonder whether the often slow-moving game with a complex, almost Talmudic set of rules will gain followers in a country raised on soccer and basketball. Most Israelis would likely have trouble finding first base, let alone know whether a ball is foul or fair.

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Basra is Talking About...Man-eating Badgers

British blamed for Basra badgers

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area," says UK military

From BBC News

Basra, Iraq - British forces have denied rumours that they released a plague of ferocious badgers into the Iraqi city of Basra.

Word spread among the populace that UK troops had introduced strange man-eating, bear-like beasts into the area to sow panic.

But several of the creatures, caught and killed by local farmers, have been identified by experts as honey badgers.

The rumours spread because the animals had appeared near the British base at Basra airport.

UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area. We have been told these are indigenous nocturnal carnivores that don't attack humans unless cornered."

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The USMC is Talking About...Letter from Iraq

This item isn't from the media -- at least, not directly, though part of it was published in Time magazine. I learned of it courtesy of Kevin Drum's "Political Animal" blog, and think it's worth, part of fine tradition of U.S. military service personnel writing about the stresses, oddities, and absurdities of being on the front lines. Here, a Marine officer based in Iraq writes home about his day-to-day realities. He begins:

All: I haven't written very much from Iraq. There's really not much to write about. More exactly, there's not much I can write about because practically everything I do, read or hear is classified military information or is depressing to the point that I'd rather just forget about it, never mind write about it. The gaps in between all of that are filled with the pure tedium of daily life in an armed camp. So it's a bit of a struggle to think of anything to put into a letter that's worth reading. Worse, this place just consumes you. I work 18-20-hour days, every day. The quest to draw a clear picture of what the insurgents are up to never ends. Problems and frictions crop up faster than solutions. Every challenge demands a response. It's like this every day. Before I know it, I can't see straight, because it's 0400 [four o'clock in the morning] and I've been at work for twenty hours straight, somehow missing dinner again in the process. And once again I haven't written to anyone. It starts all over again four hours later. It's not really like Ground Hog Day, it's more like a level from Dante's Inferno.

Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I'd just hit the record setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the events and experiences I'll remember best.

Some highlights:

Most Surreal Moment - Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. I had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels.

Most Profound Man in Iraq - an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines (searching for Syrians) if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied "Yes, you." [Can't argue with that.]

Best Piece of U.S. Gear - new, bullet-proof flak jackets. O.K., they weigh 40 lbs and aren't exactly comfortable in 120 degree heat, but they've saved countless lives out here.

Best Piece of Bad Guy Gear - Armor Piercing ammunition that goes right through the new flak jackets and the Marines inside them.

Favorite Iraqi TV Show - Oprah. I have no idea. They all have satellite TV.

Biggest Ass-Chewing - 10 July immediately following a visit by the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Zobai. The Deputy Prime Minister brought along an American security contractor (read mercenary), who told my Commanding General that he was there to act as a mediator between us and the Bad Guys. I immediately told him what I thought of him and his asinine ideas in terms that made clear my disgust and which, unfortunately, are unrepeatable here. I thought my boss was going to have a heart attack. Fortunately, the translator couldn't figure out the best Arabic words to convey my meaning for the Deputy Prime Minister. Later, the boss had no difficulty in convening his meaning to me in English regarding my Irish temper, even though he agreed with me. At least the guy from the State Department thought it was hilarious. We never saw the mercenary again.

Read the whole thing here. Trust me, it's worth it.

Iran is Talking About...Cosmetic Surgery

Under the Shrouds, a Nation of Nose Jobs

Young Iranians love that sculpted look, flashing the flesh they can in prudish culture

By Christine Spolar, Chicago Tribune

Tehran, Iran - Along this capital's best boulevards, some young women go about their days in distinctive style: They cover their hair with silks, drape their torsos with smartly cut wraps and, with some aplomb, maneuver the streets peering through layers of white gauze on their faces.

They are part of a nose-job nation.

Black-shrouded matrons are still the backbone of Iranian society. But being young, urban and Iranian these days means tinkering with the look of and some less-than-spiritual ideals within the Islamic Republic.

Iranians, in increasing numbers and at surprisingly young ages, are altering flesh in the pursuit of beauty.

"It's very common in our society," said Zahra Kalantar, an 18-year-old swathed in heavy black robes and a face full of gauze whose father paid $1,200 to make her nose new. "I really didn't want to have a nose job, but there was a lot of pressure. My classmates made fun of my nose. So did my cousins. ... My nose was big and wide. And here, appearances matter."

Plastic surgery is commonplace in countries such as Lebanon and Syria, but patients in Iran exude a remarkable enthusiasm about their decision. Bandages are worn openly and youngsters routinely discuss the benefits of looking like Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie...

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Baghdad is Talking About...Booksellers

Violence Changes Fortunes Of Storied Baghdad Street

Mutanabi Street is a link to Baghdad's past glory, less a place than an extension of Baghdadis' souls.

By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service

Baghdad , Iraq - A silence has fallen upon Mutanabi Street.

In the buttery sunlight, faded billboards hang from old buildings. Iron gates seal entrances to bookstores and stationery shops. On this Friday, like the past 13 Fridays, the violence has taken its toll. There is not a customer around, only ghosts.

Perched on a red chair outside a closet-sized bookshop, the only one open, Naim al-Shatri is nearly in tears. Short, with thin gray hair and dark, brooding eyes, his voice is grim. This is normally his busiest day, but he hasn't had a single sale. A curfew is approaching.

Soon, his sobs break the stillness. "Is this Iraq?" he asked no one in particular, pointing at the gritty, trash-covered street as the scent of rotting paper and sewage mingled in the air.

It is a question many of the booksellers on Mutanabi Street are asking. Here, in the intellectual ground zero of Baghdad, they are the guardians of a literary tradition that has survived empire and colonialism, monarchy and dictatorship. In the heady days after the U.S.-led invasion, Mutanabi Street pulsed with the promise of freedom.

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See also

• From December 2003, " The Booksellers of Mutanabi Street", by Jackie Lyden, National Public Radio

Beirut is Talking About...Environmental Damage

Beirut's Anger Over Lasting Damage

Major environmental damage caused by Israeli bombing

By Chris Morris, BBC World Service's From Our Own Correspondent

Beirut, Lebanon - The port of Beirut has welcomed its first big cargo ships since Israel lifted its eight-week blockade of Lebanese territorial waters and air space on Friday imposed after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants.

While the lifting of the embargo is clearly a significant step for Lebanon, Chris Morris has been finding out that the repercussions of the conflict are still keenly felt, even outside those areas most badly damaged in Israel's military offensive.

Abu Ali is 49-years-old. In a small open boat, he has been fishing off the coast of Beirut for a quarter of a century. It is a familiar routine - make money in the summer when the fish are plentiful and the seas are calm. It helps tide you through the winter.

But there has been nothing familiar about the summer of 2006.

The small port of Dalieh is a tiny inlet, little more than a stone's throw from the posh sea-front apartment blocks of West Beirut. About 100 fishermen usually set out from here, Abu Ali among them, to ply their trade in the Mediterranean.

But Dalieh has died, it has been smothered.

Everything is covered in a thick slick of heavy fuel oil. The smell sticks in the throat, the oil sloshes against blackened boats and rocks, polluting everything it touches. It is filthy, it is toxic, and it is right in the heart of the city...

Read more..., or listen to the story at the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent.

Beirut is Talking About...Johnnie Walker

On Advertising: An Idea with Legs

A Brash Message to a Wounded Country

By Eric Pfanner, International Herald Tribune

Beirut, Lebanon - Drivers heading north out of Beirut through the suburb of Jal el Dib have been greeted in recent days by a giant billboard for Johnnie Walker whisky stretching across the side of a multistory building and showing a drawing of a bridge with a big chunk missing.

In an allusion to the recent Israeli airstrikes, which destroyed dozens of bridges across Lebanon, the iconic Johnnie Walker character, cane in hand, strides across the bridge on the poster, which urges the Lebanese to "keep walking."

Multinational companies often go out of their way to insulate their marketing from any reference to sensitive international disputes. That makes this ad notable, since Johnnie Walker is owned by Diageo, the London-based company whose other brands include Smirnoff, Guinness and Baileys. It sells Johnnie Walker in dozens of markets, including Lebanon and Israel.

Diageo's internal marketing code prohibits the company's ads from taking political positions, said Alicia Tetlow, a spokeswoman, adding that the campaign in Lebanon had simply been intended to "capture a popular mood about moving forward...

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