My timing is as always steeped in fate.  I leave for Vietnam in August and make a stop-over in Seoul, South Korea as the North Koreans are having a missile tantrum.  Recently the Vietnam area was of interest for being at the epi-center of the Bird Flu.  At least the Bird Flu paranoia hype by the American media is at a low roar now as the world is preoccupied with other problems.  However, I leave for Turkey and Kurdistan later in the fall as apparently the Middle East theater of war expands from Iraq to include Israel and Lebanon.  
   I see most of the millionaire talking-head pundits have scrambled to do their news and talk shows from Israel.  I understand how busy they are and I am sure that is why they never return my calls.  I like the theme music on MSNBC during the war coverage.  They also use a talk-over technique while showing war scenes.  The speaker sounds like the voice on the old Batman TV show - "will the European diplomatic core make it in time to save the Middle East from world war?" -  the pensive music plays in the background -  "Will the dynamic duo of Batman an Robin make it in time to save Lebanon?" Jeeze! Total Orwellian media.