Most of this story is about plans, and hopes and dreams. But the actual news is interesting, especially for the men who fought in and around that terrain in the Vietnam War. Click through for the entire piece.

A seemingly obscure agreement on traffic rights between Vietnam, Laos and Thailand now allows trucks to transit the three countries without having to unload cargo at border crossings for trans-shipment.

This will cut costs and time for regional trade, funding agencies say, and is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the region’s trade.

The formal opening of the East-West Corridor is part of a regional plan to break down barriers at borders across mainland South-East Asia, and later, beyond.

Overland transport time between Vietnam and Thailand has been shortened by the agreement for commercial trucks from Thailand and Vietnam to be able to enter each others’ territory for the first time to deliver and pick up goods.

Ceremonies were held last week at the two major border gates along the East-West Economic Corridor: between Lao Bao in Vietnam and Dansavanh in Laos, and between Savannakhet in Laos and Mukdahan in Thailand.

BBC

In celebration of the UN’s Year of the Potato, I asked myself: Just what the heck are those green edges on some potato chips?

I don’t eat them. I heard they were poison.

Well, they are, kinda.

A potato turns green when it gets sunburned. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln says:

Ultra-violet radiation as well as visible rays are contained in many light sources such as flourescent bulbs and sunlight. Ultra-violet and visible light in the blue-violet region promotes the formation of glycoalkaloids, steroid-like compounds, and, for potatoes, most notably solanine. When potato tubers are exposed to light, the solanine content in the peel may increase as much as ten times. Toxic levels for people are about one-hundredth of an ounce for a 200-lb person. This 200-lb person would need to eat about 20 lb of normal whole potatoes in a day to reach this level. But, with UV light-exposed whole tubers in which solanine had increased ten-fold, only two pounds could cause a reaction. Potentially high levels for a 100-lb and 50-lb person would be 16 and 8 ounces of a fully green potato, respectively. Removing the green areas, skin and underlying core, the light-induced solanine is removed. A large baked potato frequently weighs about one pound (16 ounces), but common sizes in restaurants are six to 11 ounces. Potatoes containing more than 0.1 percent solanine (.01 oz/10 oz potato) are considered unfit for eating. Cooked potatoes cannot turn green or produce solanine because cooking destroys the enzyme mechanism required for its production; however, any chlorophyll and solanine produced before cooking will remain after cooking. A good guide is “if the potato tastes bitter, don’t eat it.”

OK, this also explains why we had a potato cellar. Cool.

Celebrate by eating a non-green potato.

Not suds, spuds. It’s the UN’s International Year of the Potato.

What is a potato?

The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an herbaceous annual that grows up to 100 cm (40 inches) tall and produces a tuber – also called potato – so rich in starch that it ranks as the world’s fourth most important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice. The potato belongs to the Solanaceae – or “nightshade”- family of flowering plants, and shares the genus Solanum with at least 1,000 other species, including tomato and eggplant. S. tuberosum is divided into two, only slightly different, subspecies: andigena, which is adapted to short day conditions and is mainly grown in the Andes, and tuberosum, the potato now cultivated around the world, which is believed to be descended from a small introduction to Europe of andigena potatoes that later adapted to longer day lengths.

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At last the UN has a program I can support. They have declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato.

Next to bacon, potatoes are my favorite fruit. So, expect lots of potato content for the next year or so.

BBC

More than half the suicide bombers used by the Taleban to launch attacks in Afghanistan are not Afghan nationals, the United Nations says in a report.

It says more than 80% are recruited, trained or sheltered in neighbouring Pakistan, noting a steep increase in attacks over the past two years.

The UN mission in Afghanistan released the report on the sixth anniversary of the country’s first suicide attack.

It killed the mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

But it was only after 2005 that suicide strikes became common here, used by the Taleban in their insurgency. Last year there were 123 and this year 103 by the end of August.

During the first six months of the year, such attacks killed 193 people – 121 of them Afghan civilians, 62 Afghan security forces, and 10 foreign troops.

The report says Afghans should accept the fact that their compatriots do mount such attacks. In the past, Afghan leaders have sometimes said Afghans simply do not commit suicide.

Nonetheless, the UN believes more than half the attackers here are foreign, coming mainly from Pakistan and also Arab and Central Asian states.

Many are Afghans who have spent much of their lives in refugee camps in Pakistan.

It says that in several ways, suicide attackers in Afghanistan differ from those in other countries. They tend to be poor and little educated, very often groomed in madrassas in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

None have been women, and there have never been pre-attack statements from them or acts to venerate their families. Indeed, often the families are unaware their son has died in a suicide mission.