What's Better With Apartments And Worse With Mali In the News

      Let's begin with the worse and finish with the better. This month France hopes to draw down 2,000 of its 3,000 troops in Mali. Cheick Aoussa, an Islamofascist commander of Ansar Dine militia in Mali calmly admitted to Wall Street reporters that he is waiting for the French to reduce their number of troops so he can begin fighting again. Asar Dine is a Islamic fundamentalist militia of the Tuareg tribe. Tuareg are desert dwellers in several countries. The Ansar Dine militia briefly ruled Mali until the French entered the country and defeated them. One of the problems with drawdowns is that they often leave the people who have worked with the entering country defenseless against the enemy. Not only is that morally wrong, but if the entering country goes back into that country, the people know it cannot be counted on to remain and they will not cooperate because they know the enemy will remain unless he is eliminated. It is a struggle of wills, and often the will to do evil is stronger than the one to do good.
  Tiny apartments, 200 to 300 square feet, are entering the market in mid-sized American cities such as Atlanta. These cubbyholes are ideal for people who have left their families to find and hold good jobs and return to their families on weekends. But for most people these apartments are desirable only because their rent is about half that of a full-sized apartment. The claustrophobia is perhaps ameliorated by the common areas that many of these apartment buildings have. These mini-apartments are in response to the lack of apartments in America due to the mortgage crisis putting so many people out of their homes. The good news is that people have apartments to rent at about half the price.
    These commentaries are based upon news from the Wall Street Journal, America's most trustworthy national newspaper.
    Peter Nickerson