Ya Bass

I've just recently discovered that this blog looked a bit messed up in Internet Explorer so i've changed the template and also moved a couple of other things which should hopefully improve things. According to sitemeter the vast majority of visitors still use Internet Explorer, which I also used up until about 6 months ago. It did everything I needed and whenever someone would recommend Firefox as an alternative to me I would never pay much attention thinking it was just a programme that would require more computer knowledge than I had and that I was better off sticking to something I already knew how to use. Eventually the faults of Internet Explorer got to be too much (mainly as a result of it being unable to render images correctly on a new widescreen laptop I got - a pretty basic fault considering the shift towards widescreen particularly for those with home media centers).

So this forced a shift to Firefox, which could render the images correctly, and I haven't looked back since. If anything it is even simpler to use than Internet Explorer, but it's also faster and (apparently) safer too. Best of all though, thanks to a couple of extensions i've added, it gives me a version of the web that is virtually advert and commercial free. I never thought i'd be one of these guys but I cannot recommend it highly enough:

As mentioned previously in this piece Live Up To Your Words

The old "he may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch" shouldn't protect him [President Karimov of Uzbekistan] any more - not only is the promotion of freedom the right thing to do it also make sense in a strategic sense because such short sighted policies nearly always end up creating more problems in the long term. Karimov may well be able to hold onto power this time but he will eventually fall in the medium to long term and it's in US interests in the region as well as those of the Uzbek people that the United States' does not disqualify itself from participating in the process of democratisation which Uzbekistan desperately needs.

It's still not enough yet (I would prefer to hear more outspoken criticism and more financial pressure) but at least this news is a step in the right direction - one that many cynics believed would not happen.Last US plane leaves Uzbek base

The US has flown its last plane out of an air base in Uzbekistan that has been an important staging point for US military operations in Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan in July gave the US six months to leave the base, after it joined international condemnation of the suppression of a May uprising.

In a ceremony, troops lowered the US flag and handed to Uzbek officials the keys to the Karshi-Khanabad base.

Sadly for some this news will inevitably just lead to a shift of their views on President Karimov and his regime - from that of a despicable tyrant who boils his opponents to that of the plucky underdog standing up to George W. Bush and US Imperialism.