Some lighthearted musings on the significance of NATO’s withdrawal schedule from Libya:

The UN Security Council voted unanimously today to end the authorization for humanitarian intervention in Libya at 11:59pm on October 31^st. The UN did not comment on whether the ominous hour of NATO’s withdrawal—midnight on All Hallow’s Eve—is a sign of dire events to come. Let’s just all remember who was responsible when the Hellgate opens in Tripoli next weekend, and no-one has any air support to bomb the demon hordes that spew forth from its fiery maw.

This decision comes despite a request from Libya’s National Transitional Council to maintain military presence in the country until the new government can determine their security needs. The NTC, similarly, did not comment on whether those security needs included the possibility that Colonel Muammar Qaddafi might rise from his shallow grave as a Revenant Lich King, commanding an army of wights, ghouls, and inexpensive Sudanese mercenaries.

Full article can be found here.

And not only because between the three of them they have six.

A good friend of mine, Andrew Jensen, is about to set out to trek across Antarctica to the South Pole. His team-members include Richard Smith, a genial Briton who just completed an Iron Man in Switzerland, and Alan Lock, who will shortly become the first visually impaired person to trek to the South Pole.

Their undertaking is incredible on its own merits. But not content with shaming our courage and physical prowess, they challenge our moral gumption by doing it to raise money for two incredible charities: Sightsavers International and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Their IndieGoGo fundraising page can be found here. Check it out; I hear it does wonders for moral gumption.

For The Faster Times:

On November 22^nd, the three team members of Polar Vision—Alan Lock, Andrew Jensen, and Richard Smith—will set a new record for Antarctic exploration. Alan Lock will become the first blind person to trek to the south pole. Because, as Lock puts it, “I would have done this anyways.”

Lock, 32, suffered from early onset macular degeneration eight years ago. An active duty navigator in Her Majesty’s Navy, he was forced to abandon his career as all but his extreme peripheral vision was reduced to an impenetrable white haze. As despondently furious as any rational human being would be at his loss, Lock rallied in spectacular fashion. He has risen from the ashes and set about conquering the world, one geographical monstrosity at a time.

Full article here. A much more in depth magazine article should be forthcoming.

Some thoughts on the resurgence of protests in Syria, following Qaddafi’s downfall. The Arab Spring has carried on into the fall; whether it can add another dictator to the body count remains to be seen. Assad’s regime is considerably more cutthroat, powerful, and entrenched than any of the regimes overthrown thus far. It also has (perhaps had) Iranian backing. The effort necessary to topple each regime so far–Tunisia, Egypt, Libya–has increased exponentially as time goes on. The price of change in Syria will only be higher, and it is a bloody price to pay.

With news of the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi sweeping the world yesterday, Syrian protests against the government of Bashar Al-Assad have taken on renewed energy. This resurgence has drawn international attention, as they maneuver to become the next potential domino in the sequence of violent change sweeping the region. The Arab Spring has toppled three governments thus far. Syria would represent the fourth, and possibly most the significant; certainly the most difficult.

President Assad, who has ruled Syria since his father’s death in 2000, has built a regime noted for its iron-fisted policies on dissent, aggressive foreign policy, and careful cultivation of Syria’s economy. Protesters in Syria took to the streets seven months ago, inspired by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. Despite a brutal and widespread military crackdown,  which is estimated to have cost over 3,000 lives thus far, their momentum has not abated.

Full article here: The Faster Times–Syrian Protests Become New Eye of the Arab Spring Storm