Governors of Eastern Ukraine threaten to cede if the rigged election result is not upheld.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Let´s imagine that after a joint US-Israeli air strike against Iran´s nuclear facilities Iran would then attack US troops in Iraq and win. What would the US government do? A third of the US army destroyed, would they accept a defeat, continue to fight conventionally, or use nuclear weapons? I bet they would use nuclear weapons. They are that crazy, and they know that they would be finished at homefront too if they would lose in the Middle East and not to lose face - even if the public in US would unite against their deranged leadership - they would have to act quickly. And only real way to do so would be to use nuclear weapons. Air strikes from carriers in the Red Sea and the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean(as Iran could take control of the Persian Gulf) would not accomplish that.
Official: FARC Sought Bush Assassination.
Sad thing that the plot failed. FARC has committed so many atrocities - even if it ain´t the worst participant in Colombia´s endless civil war - that it really should do something good, like killing Bush, to amend (a small amount of) it´s crimes.
Sad thing that the plot failed. FARC has committed so many atrocities - even if it ain´t the worst participant in Colombia´s endless civil war - that it really should do something good, like killing Bush, to amend (a small amount of) it´s crimes.
One of Britain´s leading comedians, Jack Straw, knew of the coup plot in Equatorial Guinea months before, but choose to do nothing. His ministerial colleague Blunkett, on the other hand, has chosen to model his personal life to follow the script of a Hollywood movie.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Barghouti pulls out of Fatah race. More.
Pity. Even if the Palestinians are in an extremely dire situation, where their very future is in jeopardy, there should be room for different voices and more than one real candidate for the voters tho chose, especially as Abbas seems rather desperate and makes promises that make him both look weak and which he simply can´t fulfill, as much as he may try.
Pity. Even if the Palestinians are in an extremely dire situation, where their very future is in jeopardy, there should be room for different voices and more than one real candidate for the voters tho chose, especially as Abbas seems rather desperate and makes promises that make him both look weak and which he simply can´t fulfill, as much as he may try.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
How to Create a WIA -- Worthless Intelligence Agency.
It´s a funny thing how people that couldn´t stand CIA ran for it´s defence when George W. and his handlers started to bully the agency.
It´s a funny thing how people that couldn´t stand CIA ran for it´s defence when George W. and his handlers started to bully the agency.
Biographer takes shine off Spielberg's Schindler.
"Spielberg´s Schindler"? The movie character is an artistic creation. What the biographer says is that the myth is bigger than the man himself, which is just how things usually are.
"Spielberg´s Schindler"? The movie character is an artistic creation. What the biographer says is that the myth is bigger than the man himself, which is just how things usually are.
US 'alienating' world's Muslims say Pentagon advisers.
But isn´t that just the goal of the US foreign policy? Creating enemies?
But isn´t that just the goal of the US foreign policy? Creating enemies?
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Ukraine set for talks on crisis.
What´s there to talk about, really? Kutshma and Yanukovitsh are hardly ready to step down...
What´s there to talk about, really? Kutshma and Yanukovitsh are hardly ready to step down...
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Kiev crowds circle president's HQ. More.
If the opposition fails, Ukraine will become a vassal state of Russia. If the opposition wins, Crimea and the eastern Ukraine, where Russians are a majority, may try to run to the arms of Mother Russia. Putin, whose (and Kutshma´s) puppet Yanukovitsh is, could not say no to them. After all, Crimea was a part of Russia until 1954, and the loss of it and especially that of Ukraine - for both historical and economical reasons - was and is a hard pill to swallow for the Russians. Even moderate Russians´ view of Ukrainian independence, nationalism and the Ukrainians themselves is very often blatantly negative and racist. The Russians can´t understand why the Ukrainians would want to be Ukrainians and independent, when they could be Russians and Ukraine a part of Russia.
If the opposition fails, Ukraine will become a vassal state of Russia. If the opposition wins, Crimea and the eastern Ukraine, where Russians are a majority, may try to run to the arms of Mother Russia. Putin, whose (and Kutshma´s) puppet Yanukovitsh is, could not say no to them. After all, Crimea was a part of Russia until 1954, and the loss of it and especially that of Ukraine - for both historical and economical reasons - was and is a hard pill to swallow for the Russians. Even moderate Russians´ view of Ukrainian independence, nationalism and the Ukrainians themselves is very often blatantly negative and racist. The Russians can´t understand why the Ukrainians would want to be Ukrainians and independent, when they could be Russians and Ukraine a part of Russia.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Chronicles of Ice.
Quote:
A glacier is time incarnate. When we lose a glacier -- and we are losing most of them -- we lose history, an eye into the past; we lose stories of how living beings evolved, how weather vacillated, why plants and animals died. The retreat and disappearance of glaciers -- there are only 160,000 left -- means we're burning libraries and damaging the planet, possibly beyond repair. Bit by bit, glacier by glacier, rib by rib, we're living the Fall.
Quote:
A glacier is time incarnate. When we lose a glacier -- and we are losing most of them -- we lose history, an eye into the past; we lose stories of how living beings evolved, how weather vacillated, why plants and animals died. The retreat and disappearance of glaciers -- there are only 160,000 left -- means we're burning libraries and damaging the planet, possibly beyond repair. Bit by bit, glacier by glacier, rib by rib, we're living the Fall.
Democracy - the new excuse.
Quote:
...are those who are demanding democracy in Palestine willing to also define the borders of the Palestinian democratic state before they demand democracy? Or is the idea to create a virtual democracy and only then foist it on every bit of land that will be liberated? This is all only hairsplitting, because the Israelis (and the Americans) who are demanding democracy in the PA would do well to rub their eyes (with astonishment, as usual) and take note of what's happening: The Palestinians themselves are demanding their democracy. They are not waiting for Israel to force them.
Quote:
...are those who are demanding democracy in Palestine willing to also define the borders of the Palestinian democratic state before they demand democracy? Or is the idea to create a virtual democracy and only then foist it on every bit of land that will be liberated? This is all only hairsplitting, because the Israelis (and the Americans) who are demanding democracy in the PA would do well to rub their eyes (with astonishment, as usual) and take note of what's happening: The Palestinians themselves are demanding their democracy. They are not waiting for Israel to force them.
Friday, November 19, 2004
US marine commander declares victory in Iraq. I know that the American military isn´t known for the genius of it´s top brass, but even they should know that a)it´s stupid to declare these kind of things, when they will be certainly proved to be false and that b)these kinds of claims only make the guerillas to intensify their attacks to show that the claims are wrong, which means that more soldiers and especially civilians will die.
The possible last common ancestor of all the great apes - humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutangs - have been found from Catalonia. Pierolapithecus catalaunicus lived about 13 million years ago, weighted about 35 kilograms and had a spine more like the great apes than their closest living relatives, like gibbons. More.
US tries to destroy the EU-Iran agreement on the enrichment of uranium by Iran. Claims to have "evidence" of Iran´s supposed nuclear weapons program - courtecy of Iranian resistance fighters/terrorists(formerly funded by one Saddam Hussein).
I suppose the old story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is not known to members of the US administration?
I suppose the old story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is not known to members of the US administration?
Thursday, November 18, 2004
If the US can't fix it, it's the wrong kind of democracy.
Without Arafat, a Middle East peace settlement is in fact far less likely.
Quote:
Meanwhile, pressure for democratic reform of pro-western dictatorships remains striking by its absence. The presidents of Egypt, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are free to carry on torturing and jailing their opponents without the inconvenience of the democratic reforms demanded of the Palestinians and others... The Palestinian problem is instead primarily one of colonisation and occupation - and the denial of self-determination and refugee rights. Those are the issues, rather than democracy, that the US and its allies have to address if they want to draw the poison of the conflict. But that is manifestly not what Bush and Blair have in mind when they call for Palestinian democratic reform. Instead, as elsewhere, they mean the promotion of politicians and institutions which will entrench western-friendly policies: in the Palestinian case, those prepared to crack down on the armed groups, sign up to Israeli terms for a limited bantustan-style statehood and abandon wider Palestinian national aspirations. Hence the effort Britain, the US and Israel have put into cultivating and building up local leaders - such as Muhammad Dahlan, Arafat's former head of security in Gaza - who they hope will play such a role. Of course, this has nothing to do with democracy or reflecting Palestinian opinion: it is the very opposite. Indeed, when it comes to new elections to the Palestinian legislative council, the only shift is likely to be towards greater radicalism, if the Islamist Hamas movement decides to take part.. Many of those who have been rubbishing Yasser Arafat's record so enthusiastically, and crowing about the opportunities offered by his death, fail to grasp the pivotal nature of his leadership. Only he drew support from all sections of the Palestinian people - in the occupied territories, the diaspora and Israel itself - and had the authority to make a comprehensive agreement stick. That is also why the US and Israel tried so hard to destroy or marginalise him in the name of "reform" when he refused to do so on their terms. What it surely means now is that the chances of a settlement have receded: if Arafat didn't believe he could win Palestinian support for the kind of deal likely to be on offer in the near future, then certainly no other Palestinian leader can.
One reason why the Anglo-Saxons claim they want "democractic reforms" from Palestinians is that a)no one can seriously oppose "democratic reforms" without looking bad b)it sounds good, yet you don´t have to define any clear demands, which the Palestinians could claim to have fulfilled and which would make it´s future use in extortion unpossible. And why then Egypt, Pakistan, Uzbekistan etc don´t have to listen to these kind of demands that are made to an oppressed people in a occupied land? Because the leaders of those countries are loyal collaborators. The only thing that they have to fear is a total US success in it´s plans for the Middle East and Central Asia, and the chance of that has already gone. The Americans need them. They can´t make these kinds of demands to them. If their regimes would fall, there would be no loyal servants of US ready to take over. The countries would become enemies of the US.
Without Arafat, a Middle East peace settlement is in fact far less likely.
Quote:
Meanwhile, pressure for democratic reform of pro-western dictatorships remains striking by its absence. The presidents of Egypt, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are free to carry on torturing and jailing their opponents without the inconvenience of the democratic reforms demanded of the Palestinians and others... The Palestinian problem is instead primarily one of colonisation and occupation - and the denial of self-determination and refugee rights. Those are the issues, rather than democracy, that the US and its allies have to address if they want to draw the poison of the conflict. But that is manifestly not what Bush and Blair have in mind when they call for Palestinian democratic reform. Instead, as elsewhere, they mean the promotion of politicians and institutions which will entrench western-friendly policies: in the Palestinian case, those prepared to crack down on the armed groups, sign up to Israeli terms for a limited bantustan-style statehood and abandon wider Palestinian national aspirations. Hence the effort Britain, the US and Israel have put into cultivating and building up local leaders - such as Muhammad Dahlan, Arafat's former head of security in Gaza - who they hope will play such a role. Of course, this has nothing to do with democracy or reflecting Palestinian opinion: it is the very opposite. Indeed, when it comes to new elections to the Palestinian legislative council, the only shift is likely to be towards greater radicalism, if the Islamist Hamas movement decides to take part.. Many of those who have been rubbishing Yasser Arafat's record so enthusiastically, and crowing about the opportunities offered by his death, fail to grasp the pivotal nature of his leadership. Only he drew support from all sections of the Palestinian people - in the occupied territories, the diaspora and Israel itself - and had the authority to make a comprehensive agreement stick. That is also why the US and Israel tried so hard to destroy or marginalise him in the name of "reform" when he refused to do so on their terms. What it surely means now is that the chances of a settlement have receded: if Arafat didn't believe he could win Palestinian support for the kind of deal likely to be on offer in the near future, then certainly no other Palestinian leader can.
One reason why the Anglo-Saxons claim they want "democractic reforms" from Palestinians is that a)no one can seriously oppose "democratic reforms" without looking bad b)it sounds good, yet you don´t have to define any clear demands, which the Palestinians could claim to have fulfilled and which would make it´s future use in extortion unpossible. And why then Egypt, Pakistan, Uzbekistan etc don´t have to listen to these kind of demands that are made to an oppressed people in a occupied land? Because the leaders of those countries are loyal collaborators. The only thing that they have to fear is a total US success in it´s plans for the Middle East and Central Asia, and the chance of that has already gone. The Americans need them. They can´t make these kinds of demands to them. If their regimes would fall, there would be no loyal servants of US ready to take over. The countries would become enemies of the US.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
CIA plans to purge its agency.
Sources say White House has ordered new chief to eliminate officers who were disloyal to Bush.
Partisan politics in CIA can only signal good times for the foes of the USA, because an intelligence agency whose leadership is selected because of their ideology and their loyalty, instead of competence and ability, will be an impaired one. It will not give the country´s leaders information that they need, but information that they want. It´s operations will not be dictated by the needs of the country, but by the dreams of it´s leaders.
Sources say White House has ordered new chief to eliminate officers who were disloyal to Bush.
Partisan politics in CIA can only signal good times for the foes of the USA, because an intelligence agency whose leadership is selected because of their ideology and their loyalty, instead of competence and ability, will be an impaired one. It will not give the country´s leaders information that they need, but information that they want. It´s operations will not be dictated by the needs of the country, but by the dreams of it´s leaders.
Any truthful history is also objective history. Bad history is written by people who can´t shed their political, ideological, religious and etc views. A good historian is not "in love" with her or his subject. There must be a certain remotessness, which makes it possible for the historian to see things more clearly than the people whose lives and actions she or he studies. If the historian lacks this detachment from her or his subject, she or he ends writing fiction instead of fact.
The Arafat Voids.
Thomas Friedman writes nowadays like a village idiot who has just fallen on his head and thinks that Göbbels should be the role model for journalists. What ever happened to truth and impartiality, mister Friedman?
The Irony of Arafat.
Quote:
To understand that requires clearing away the obfuscation around the so-called “generous offer” of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that Arafat refused at Camp David in 2000. That offer included Israeli withdrawal from Gaza but would have allowed Israel to annex valuable and strategically crucial sections of the West Bank and retain “security control” over other parts, including all Palestinian borders. The net effect would have been to institutionalize some of the worst aspects of the occupation. Arafat could not, and should not, have accepted it.
This is one of the things that are "forgotten" by critics of Arafat. Imagine what the same people would write if Israel would be demanded to give up the control of it´s borders and hand it to Syria?
Quote:
To understand that requires clearing away the obfuscation around the so-called “generous offer” of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that Arafat refused at Camp David in 2000. That offer included Israeli withdrawal from Gaza but would have allowed Israel to annex valuable and strategically crucial sections of the West Bank and retain “security control” over other parts, including all Palestinian borders. The net effect would have been to institutionalize some of the worst aspects of the occupation. Arafat could not, and should not, have accepted it.
This is one of the things that are "forgotten" by critics of Arafat. Imagine what the same people would write if Israel would be demanded to give up the control of it´s borders and hand it to Syria?
The two-state solution has to work this time.
Marwan Barghouti, held in an Israeli jail, may be the man to halt the Middle East killings.
Quote:
There is a real stupidity in this argument, demonstrating that it's not only the protagonists in the struggle who become mad. It isn't just the impressionistic problem of getting Tel Avivians used to the idea of being a minority in a country run by people who like their funerals to be full of gunfire and death-chants. It is the idea that the Jews of Israel will voluntarily give up their statehood - where no-one else in history ever has - that is so bizarre.
Well, people have given up their statehood. Or at least their leaders in the name of the people they led. Few examples:Texas in 1845, Sansibar in 1964, Sikkim in 1977. And then there´s Scotland in 1707. And of course there are the demands now made to Nauru, independent since 1968, that it should surrender itself to Australia, because it´s economy is a mess. Going deeper, one will find more examples of cases where people, or their leaders, "gave up their statehood". There´s nothing bizarre in these cases, usually only simple politics, less at least than there´s in writing an article in a big British newspaper, which contains descriptions of funerals among foreign peoples using racist stereotypes. After all, even in Britain there are still occasionally - and nowadays little more often - held funerals, where people fire guns towards the skies. And sometimes the dreadful Westerners even celebrate by firing cannons, can you believe it?
If you want to find an example of what unification of Palestine under a single state would mean, a better example is South Africa. It´s not a paradise - crime is rampant - but when the Afrikaaners gave up THEIR statehood in 1994, the sky didn´t fall and the oppressed didn´t massacre the oppressors, as doomsayers predicted. The fact is, that there´s a single state in Palestine now. The question is, which is easier:Giving equal rights to all people that live under it´s rule or to try to separate it in to a big and a small state so that even the small state, with a land area 1/5 of the bigger one and a population of 66% of the bigger one - if no refugees return (or will be returned by neighbouring countries, by force) - is, as Tony Blair tells us time after time(without telling what he exactly means by it), viable.
Of these, the latter would still be the easier solution, the more realistic one, but as time goes on, the former becomes more and more certain - minus the acceleration of the even now ongoing ethnic cleansing and acceptance of it by the international community. And the one-state solution doesn´t necessarily have to be that bad. People have to eventually learn to live side by side, whether one-state or two-state solution will prevail, even after terrible things have happened. Like they are trying to do in Ruanda, Burundi and many other places around the world. Surprisingly, most people can. Even if the mental wounds take generations to heal.
Marwan Barghouti, held in an Israeli jail, may be the man to halt the Middle East killings.
Quote:
There is a real stupidity in this argument, demonstrating that it's not only the protagonists in the struggle who become mad. It isn't just the impressionistic problem of getting Tel Avivians used to the idea of being a minority in a country run by people who like their funerals to be full of gunfire and death-chants. It is the idea that the Jews of Israel will voluntarily give up their statehood - where no-one else in history ever has - that is so bizarre.
Well, people have given up their statehood. Or at least their leaders in the name of the people they led. Few examples:Texas in 1845, Sansibar in 1964, Sikkim in 1977. And then there´s Scotland in 1707. And of course there are the demands now made to Nauru, independent since 1968, that it should surrender itself to Australia, because it´s economy is a mess. Going deeper, one will find more examples of cases where people, or their leaders, "gave up their statehood". There´s nothing bizarre in these cases, usually only simple politics, less at least than there´s in writing an article in a big British newspaper, which contains descriptions of funerals among foreign peoples using racist stereotypes. After all, even in Britain there are still occasionally - and nowadays little more often - held funerals, where people fire guns towards the skies. And sometimes the dreadful Westerners even celebrate by firing cannons, can you believe it?
If you want to find an example of what unification of Palestine under a single state would mean, a better example is South Africa. It´s not a paradise - crime is rampant - but when the Afrikaaners gave up THEIR statehood in 1994, the sky didn´t fall and the oppressed didn´t massacre the oppressors, as doomsayers predicted. The fact is, that there´s a single state in Palestine now. The question is, which is easier:Giving equal rights to all people that live under it´s rule or to try to separate it in to a big and a small state so that even the small state, with a land area 1/5 of the bigger one and a population of 66% of the bigger one - if no refugees return (or will be returned by neighbouring countries, by force) - is, as Tony Blair tells us time after time(without telling what he exactly means by it), viable.
Of these, the latter would still be the easier solution, the more realistic one, but as time goes on, the former becomes more and more certain - minus the acceleration of the even now ongoing ethnic cleansing and acceptance of it by the international community. And the one-state solution doesn´t necessarily have to be that bad. People have to eventually learn to live side by side, whether one-state or two-state solution will prevail, even after terrible things have happened. Like they are trying to do in Ruanda, Burundi and many other places around the world. Surprisingly, most people can. Even if the mental wounds take generations to heal.
Arafat Was the Excuse, Not the Reason, for the Failure of the Peace Process.
Quote:
The Bush administration insisted that, as a condition for receiving U.S. support for an end of the Israeli occupation, the corrupt and autocratic Palestine Authority under Arafat had to clean up its act and become more democratic. However, the United States did not insist that the corrupt and autocratic government of Kuwait allow for more transparency and democracy as a condition for supporting its freedom from Iraqi occupation.
Much of this - and of the whole - article is more in the style of presenting personal opinions as facts - and the writer not telling that he´s doing so - but this is a nice inscight.
But Kuwait? Well, according to the US, Kuwait doesn´t need more democracy - like right to vote for women - and more open use of the country´s money as long as it has oil.
Quote:
The Bush administration insisted that, as a condition for receiving U.S. support for an end of the Israeli occupation, the corrupt and autocratic Palestine Authority under Arafat had to clean up its act and become more democratic. However, the United States did not insist that the corrupt and autocratic government of Kuwait allow for more transparency and democracy as a condition for supporting its freedom from Iraqi occupation.
Much of this - and of the whole - article is more in the style of presenting personal opinions as facts - and the writer not telling that he´s doing so - but this is a nice inscight.
But Kuwait? Well, according to the US, Kuwait doesn´t need more democracy - like right to vote for women - and more open use of the country´s money as long as it has oil.
Considering that USA prepared for the attack for months and that the US army created a tight siege around the city only a day before their attack, the news of al-Zarqawi´s "escape" - if he even has been in Fallulah during the last months - are certainly not surprising.
Sharon and the Future of Palestine.
Quote:Sharon is not about to agree to the minimal conditions for a workable Palestinian state. His unshakable resolve to avoid dealing with the Palestinians—even to prevent chaos in the wake of the promised withdrawal from Gaza—and to widen Jewish settlement activity throughout the West Bank, which has increased following the announcement of his disengagement plans, gives the lie to such wishful thinking.
The latest report from Israel's Peace Now Settlement Watch found that building and infrastructure construction is taking place at 474 settlement sites in the West Bank and Gaza, including fifty sites where expansion or new construction deviates from the existing boundaries of the settlements, in violation of promises made by Sharon to President Bush. As of the end of August, there were around 3,700 housing units under construction throughout the occupied territories. Moreover, the ground was being prepared for thousands of additional houses—even in locations earmarked by Sharon for evacuation under the disengagement plan. The growth and extension of major settlements in the West Bank now being carried out help to divide it into three noncontiguous Palestinian cantons, in effect Bantustans that Palestinians could inhabit under Israeli surveillance without having a unified state of their own.
Under the guise of "state lands" Sharon's government has continued to expropriate territory in the West Bank to expand the settlements, according to data from Israel's Civil Administration. Since the start of 2004, some 2,200 dunams of land (550 acres) in the West Bank have been declared state lands, compared to 1,700 dunams designated as such last year. As noted by Peace Now's Settlement Watch, this designation consistently allowed Israeli governments to establish and expand the settlements, enabling them to circumvent their commitment not to expropriate any more Palestinian territory for settlement construction.
For Sharon, withdrawal from Gaza is the price Israel must pay if it is to complete the cantonization of the West Bank under Israel's control. Just as important, Gaza is to be turned into a living example of why Palestinians are undeserving of an independent state. Under the conditions attached by Sharon to the disengagement, Gaza —an area that makes up only 1.25 percent of the Palestine Mandate but contains 37 percent of the Palestinian population—will exist essentially as a large prison isolated from the world, including its immediate neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and the West Bank. Its population will be denied the freedom of movement essential to any possibility of economic recovery and outside investment. Sharon's insistence that withdrawal from Gaza will be entirely an Israeli initiative and will not be negotiated with any Palestinian leaders seems designed to produce a state of anarchy in Gaza, one that will enable him to say, "Look at the violent, corrupt, and primitive people we must contend with; they can't run anything on their own.
Dedicated to Democracy.
How USA destroyed democracy - and budding capitalism - in an effort to "save" countries from Communism in Latin America.
No government of the USA has ever thought the Latin American countries and their citizens fit to decide which is best for them. The USA, so the Americans think, always knows better.
How USA destroyed democracy - and budding capitalism - in an effort to "save" countries from Communism in Latin America.
No government of the USA has ever thought the Latin American countries and their citizens fit to decide which is best for them. The USA, so the Americans think, always knows better.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Maybe Discovery could next make a documentary that claimes to offer proof that the ancestors of Romans really did came from Troy...
But speaking of bad science:
In Discovery Channel's RAMESES: WRATH OF GOD OR MAN?, a Find in a Massive Tomb Could Be a Crown Prince Who Provides Ties to the Story of Exodus.
This kind of archaeology should have really died with 19th century.
The Exodus story is a myth. Even these folks don´t believe in the biblical account, but they seem to have a need to believe in what we could call an "Exodus light" scenario.
These kind of stories of decades long wanderings of peoples in a search of a homeland are not that uncommon, especially in Mesoamerica, and are more symbolical than historical in account. Even in Western Europe the aristocrats long held strong in belief that they were descendent from foreign, German conquerors, which gave them right to rule over the "native" population.
The Exodus story also connects the people of the kingdom of Judea with one of the most powerful states in the world known to them, Egypt - which was partly responsible for the destruction of the kingdom as it supported their rebellions against Babylonia, after Egypt had lost the battle over Syria and Palestine to Babylonia in the years after the fall of the Assyrian empire in 612 BCE - like the story of Abraham connects them with the major cultural and religious center of Ur, in Mesopotamia. The stories of mythical kings like David and Solomon then gave the kingdom - which had lived in the shadow of the more powerful northern kingdom of Samaria, now known as Israel, until that kingdom´s destruction by Assyria in 721 BCE - a great, glorious past, which could be used to rally people "around the flag", so to say, and used as a model for the future of the kingdom.
In Discovery Channel's RAMESES: WRATH OF GOD OR MAN?, a Find in a Massive Tomb Could Be a Crown Prince Who Provides Ties to the Story of Exodus.
This kind of archaeology should have really died with 19th century.
The Exodus story is a myth. Even these folks don´t believe in the biblical account, but they seem to have a need to believe in what we could call an "Exodus light" scenario.
These kind of stories of decades long wanderings of peoples in a search of a homeland are not that uncommon, especially in Mesoamerica, and are more symbolical than historical in account. Even in Western Europe the aristocrats long held strong in belief that they were descendent from foreign, German conquerors, which gave them right to rule over the "native" population.
The Exodus story also connects the people of the kingdom of Judea with one of the most powerful states in the world known to them, Egypt - which was partly responsible for the destruction of the kingdom as it supported their rebellions against Babylonia, after Egypt had lost the battle over Syria and Palestine to Babylonia in the years after the fall of the Assyrian empire in 612 BCE - like the story of Abraham connects them with the major cultural and religious center of Ur, in Mesopotamia. The stories of mythical kings like David and Solomon then gave the kingdom - which had lived in the shadow of the more powerful northern kingdom of Samaria, now known as Israel, until that kingdom´s destruction by Assyria in 721 BCE - a great, glorious past, which could be used to rally people "around the flag", so to say, and used as a model for the future of the kingdom.
Stormy Uranus takes astronomers by surprise.
These "Uranus surprises astronomers" things have come common during the last years. So one could imagine that the astronomers shouldn´t be surprised as they see the same things - but more clearly - that they have seen for years now. But of course, misleading headings are sometimes essential part of good PR - even in science.
These "Uranus surprises astronomers" things have come common during the last years. So one could imagine that the astronomers shouldn´t be surprised as they see the same things - but more clearly - that they have seen for years now. But of course, misleading headings are sometimes essential part of good PR - even in science.
US states defy Bush over greenhouse gases.
Well, the Republican party says it opposes strong federal government, so they should be pleased by this...
Well, the Republican party says it opposes strong federal government, so they should be pleased by this...
Beyond Arafat on the Road to Peace.
Quote:
Chances like this aren't likely to come again in Mr. Sharon's lifetime. If he wants to avoid Mr. Arafat's fate - dying as a former hero turned obstacle to his people's progress - he has to take advantage of it. As Israel's greatest friend, the United States must do everything it can to make that happen. Unfortunately, Bush officials are tap-dancing, spouting the same tired excuses that America can't do anything to restart the road map to peace until Palestinian extremists end their violence against Israel, and until Palestine has a leader America can trust.
No surprises here. These excuses will be spouted by US officials as long as there isn´t a leadership in Israel that wants peace instead of more land and continued conflict. After all, according to both leading Democrats and Republicans, the United States is loyal to Israel.
After Arafat
There is little to suggest Sharon will seize this chance.
Nor that the Yankees will pressurize him to seize this chance.
Let´s be frank. There´s probably no chance of a lasting and just peace until on the Israeli side the funerals of not only Ariel Sharon, but also Benjamin Netanyahu have been kept. After Netanyahu has been also removed from the scene along with Israel´s very own Jabba the Hutt, there´s a chance for a moderate leadership to emerge in Israel, but not before, I fear. At least that´s what polls in Israel are telling us.
There is little to suggest Sharon will seize this chance.
Nor that the Yankees will pressurize him to seize this chance.
Let´s be frank. There´s probably no chance of a lasting and just peace until on the Israeli side the funerals of not only Ariel Sharon, but also Benjamin Netanyahu have been kept. After Netanyahu has been also removed from the scene along with Israel´s very own Jabba the Hutt, there´s a chance for a moderate leadership to emerge in Israel, but not before, I fear. At least that´s what polls in Israel are telling us.
Israel's death festival.
Such unabashed glee is disrespectful and dangerous.
The majority of the Israeli Jews have been brought up to hate and fear Arabs - if not by their parents, then the state and the media - and are racists - if not in action, then in words - so there´s nothing surprising here. And they have deliberately demonized the Palestinians and their elected leader so that they themselves could pretend to be blameless.
On the other hand, it should be remembered that there were large number of Israeli Jews whose attitude towards Rabin´s assassination was the same as towards Arafat´s death.
Such unabashed glee is disrespectful and dangerous.
The majority of the Israeli Jews have been brought up to hate and fear Arabs - if not by their parents, then the state and the media - and are racists - if not in action, then in words - so there´s nothing surprising here. And they have deliberately demonized the Palestinians and their elected leader so that they themselves could pretend to be blameless.
On the other hand, it should be remembered that there were large number of Israeli Jews whose attitude towards Rabin´s assassination was the same as towards Arafat´s death.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Away from the Earth and the human miseries, Mars Express has taken one of the most high-resolution pictures of Martian moon Phobos in color.
CNN has declared the Zionist colonial settlements, basically fortresses, in the remaining Palestinian lands - in a style reminiscent of Orwellian newspeak - as "Jewish Zone".
Frankly speaking, the Americans and their beloved Jews can go to hell. The Americans are garbage and the Jews are too occupied of being the center of the entire universe to be able to be human beings.
Frankly speaking, the Americans and their beloved Jews can go to hell. The Americans are garbage and the Jews are too occupied of being the center of the entire universe to be able to be human beings.
Mordechai Vanunu arrested by Israeli police.
One would have thought that they would have had enough decency to let the man be.
One would have thought that they would have had enough decency to let the man be.
Veteran leader Yasser Arafat dies.
Great loss, but his dream of free and independent Palestine lives on and will come true.
Great loss, but his dream of free and independent Palestine lives on and will come true.
Blair to promote foreign policy in election.
Pretty much in contradiction with The Guardian´s article below.
Pretty much in contradiction with The Guardian´s article below.
Downing Street plays down hopes on Middle East as Blair meets Bush.
Yasser Arafat maybe living his final moments, but Tony Blair is living the final months of his political life if he can´t produce solid proof that his foreign policy hasn´t been a total disaster. As there´s little real difference between the three major parties considering Britain´s economy, education and etc, then European integration and Iraq could be the deciding factors when people go to the polls next year. And of Tony hasn´t got any achievements to show, then he could quite well this time next year not be making history, but be himself a historical figure.
Yasser Arafat maybe living his final moments, but Tony Blair is living the final months of his political life if he can´t produce solid proof that his foreign policy hasn´t been a total disaster. As there´s little real difference between the three major parties considering Britain´s economy, education and etc, then European integration and Iraq could be the deciding factors when people go to the polls next year. And of Tony hasn´t got any achievements to show, then he could quite well this time next year not be making history, but be himself a historical figure.
I´m not in an agreement with this Literary Saloon (and Renaudot proze jury chairman Brincourt) claim that book prizes are about promoting writers and so shouldn´t be given to books by dead now dead authors, because the writers are not the only ones that prizes promote; they promote also the book.
Lifetime achievement awards belong to people who are alive, but there´s nothing wrong giving a prize to a book that has been published just for the first time and whose author is dead. Goncourt prize is really about promoting the book, for example. All the money that the author will gain by getting the prize comes from the increased sales - which the prize causes - of the book.
Lifetime achievement awards belong to people who are alive, but there´s nothing wrong giving a prize to a book that has been published just for the first time and whose author is dead. Goncourt prize is really about promoting the book, for example. All the money that the author will gain by getting the prize comes from the increased sales - which the prize causes - of the book.
The mastermind behind excuses of US government´s use of torture is the new US attorney general. Gonzales claimed that if US soldiers or staff of government agencies torture people on the orders of the president, then they can´t be prosecuted, and that international treaties considering prisoners of war are not binding if Bush says so. And now he gets his reward.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Kicking the hobbit habit.
The nickname for the new hominid Homo floresiensis has its advantages, but will the label obscure the true importance of the find...
Natural disorder .
A God-fearing majority is set to tyrannise the US.
59 million people voted for the chimp. There are 293 million inhabitants in the USA.
But still, tens of millions of people who think they know what an invisible, omnipotent being wants and who have succeeded in putting their own people in total control of the most powerful country in the world... Nothing good will come out of it. Even if much of it will be comical, in the same manner that we can now say that Adolf Hitler, raving madly to his cohorts in some old movie reel, is comical.
A God-fearing majority is set to tyrannise the US.
59 million people voted for the chimp. There are 293 million inhabitants in the USA.
But still, tens of millions of people who think they know what an invisible, omnipotent being wants and who have succeeded in putting their own people in total control of the most powerful country in the world... Nothing good will come out of it. Even if much of it will be comical, in the same manner that we can now say that Adolf Hitler, raving madly to his cohorts in some old movie reel, is comical.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
New York Times’ Friedman gloats as Arafat lies near death.
The same thing that I wrote of. Not a nice picture of Friedman himself.
The problems in the peace negoations in Palestine are not really individual persons or their personality. There´s one simple problem, which by the way is the same in the question of Western Sahara; the international community, where the Western countries, especially the USA, hold the reins, are not ready to force the occupying power to make concessions. Instead they pressurize the people that are the victims, the whose land is occupied, demanding concessions from them, and if they get them, then the government of the occupying country demands more concessions, seeing the concessions already made as a sign of weakness and as nobody is ready to pressurize them, they have no qualms about the way the negotiations proceed and eventually get stuck.
As the futile battle continues in Fallujah - futile because the guerillas can´t win this fight and the Yankees haven´t got enough troops of their own nor enough loyal Iraqi troops to keep the city under their control when they have eventually conquered it, as the current situation in Samarra shows - Tony Blair continues to disregard the facts.
Why the claim that al-Zarqawi would be in Fallujah is almost certainly wrong? Very simply, the remains of victims, whose death has been shown on videos where al-Zarqawi kills them himself, have been found in Baghdad or near it. As it´s unlikely that al-Zarqawi´s group would transport the remains from Fallujah to Baghdad, the likeliest scenario is that al-Zarqawi himself is living in either Baghdad itself or very close to the city.
Why the claim that al-Zarqawi would be in Fallujah is almost certainly wrong? Very simply, the remains of victims, whose death has been shown on videos where al-Zarqawi kills them himself, have been found in Baghdad or near it. As it´s unlikely that al-Zarqawi´s group would transport the remains from Fallujah to Baghdad, the likeliest scenario is that al-Zarqawi himself is living in either Baghdad itself or very close to the city.
Darfur peace deal 'to be signed'.
There´s a long way from a signing a peace deal to making it effective on the ground.
There´s a long way from a signing a peace deal to making it effective on the ground.
Sadly it seems that Yasser Arafat´s death is near. He´s suffering from a brain hemorrhage.
His death will be a great loss. He has his faults, but they are not the ones he´s usually accused of. Surely he has made mistakes, but the people that accuse him of making them are often themselves far worse. During his leadership, PLO has in it´s 40 years of fight for Palestine killed less than 2000 people. There are very few liberation movements with a record like that. And leaders of countries who are now fighting Iraq, countries who first supported the Baath-regime 1968-91(when it killed at least tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and started a war against Iran that caused the death of a 1 000 000 people) and then turned against it and have since killed 100 000 - 250 000 people in the Gulf War, 500 000 - 1 000 000 people by the use of sanctions and 30 000 - 150 000 people during this Iraq war are not in any kind of position to accuse him of anything. Nor are the arrogant, murderous, racist bastards who rule Israel and to whom Judaism and it´s history is a license to kill people and steal their lands.
His death will be a great loss. He has his faults, but they are not the ones he´s usually accused of. Surely he has made mistakes, but the people that accuse him of making them are often themselves far worse. During his leadership, PLO has in it´s 40 years of fight for Palestine killed less than 2000 people. There are very few liberation movements with a record like that. And leaders of countries who are now fighting Iraq, countries who first supported the Baath-regime 1968-91(when it killed at least tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and started a war against Iran that caused the death of a 1 000 000 people) and then turned against it and have since killed 100 000 - 250 000 people in the Gulf War, 500 000 - 1 000 000 people by the use of sanctions and 30 000 - 150 000 people during this Iraq war are not in any kind of position to accuse him of anything. Nor are the arrogant, murderous, racist bastards who rule Israel and to whom Judaism and it´s history is a license to kill people and steal their lands.
Earliest tracks of 4-legged stroll.
Quote:
Our four-legged, five-toed ancestors conquered the land earlier and more independently than expected, say paleontologists studying newfound 345 to 359-million-year-old tracks at an eroding beach in eastern Canada. At least six different kinds of four-limbed reptile-like animals -- a.k.a. tetrapods -- with five digits on their feet left their tromping prints in the mud of what was once a tropical swamp at Blue Beach, Nova Scotia. The five-digit tracks range in size from four inches to less than an inch and seem to contradict the prevailing idea that the first tetrapods had wide variety of other-than-five-toed (polydactyl) feet, out of which five-toed (pentadactyl) animals later won out as the most efficient on land.
Quote:
Our four-legged, five-toed ancestors conquered the land earlier and more independently than expected, say paleontologists studying newfound 345 to 359-million-year-old tracks at an eroding beach in eastern Canada. At least six different kinds of four-limbed reptile-like animals -- a.k.a. tetrapods -- with five digits on their feet left their tromping prints in the mud of what was once a tropical swamp at Blue Beach, Nova Scotia. The five-digit tracks range in size from four inches to less than an inch and seem to contradict the prevailing idea that the first tetrapods had wide variety of other-than-five-toed (polydactyl) feet, out of which five-toed (pentadactyl) animals later won out as the most efficient on land.
Monday, November 08, 2004
Pressure on Europe´s bird species.
More than 200 of Europe's bird species - including 70 in the UK - face an uncertain future, a study has warned.
Quote:
It found 226 species - 43% of Europe's total - were threatened by intensive agriculture and changes in climate. Forty-five species had declined in the past 10 years and a number could disappear soon without action, the coalition of groups said.
More than 200 of Europe's bird species - including 70 in the UK - face an uncertain future, a study has warned.
Quote:
It found 226 species - 43% of Europe's total - were threatened by intensive agriculture and changes in climate. Forty-five species had declined in the past 10 years and a number could disappear soon without action, the coalition of groups said.
Rebuilding lives in southern Sudan after 21 years of war that killed between 1.5-2.5 million people.
Screams will not be heard
This is an information age, but it will be months before we learn the truth about the assault on Falluja.
Media claims that "most civilians have fled Falluja", but this is a town of 300 000 people - where are the refugees? Shouldn´t they be filling the roads? Shouldn´t there be huge refugee camps being build for them?
This is an information age, but it will be months before we learn the truth about the assault on Falluja.
Media claims that "most civilians have fled Falluja", but this is a town of 300 000 people - where are the refugees? Shouldn´t they be filling the roads? Shouldn´t there be huge refugee camps being build for them?
In here, even those that don´t worship Israel like the true believers do, tend to believe this myth of the "warrior people of Israel", in which sadly even professional historians sometimes fall. I really can´t bring to my mind in the history of humanity "a warrior people" who would have so much problem stomaching their own casualties and accepting the cost of a conflift, which is their own creation, as the Israelis do. They really believe that in a proper conflict, only people from the other side should die, not a single one from their own side. Even leaders of the Israeli military act hysterically when the Israeli army experiences losses. I don´t think there´s any other modern army that would publicly call it´s attacks against civilians as "revenge".
Ailing Arafat deserves fair judgment.
Quote:
A double consensus is forming around Yasser Arafat: one, that the old man is dying and two, that he was a failure. The first assumption is, alas, all too plausible. The second is based almost entirely on an Israeli perspective.... Abu Amar, the old man, won his father-of-the-nation tag by being a fighter. His undisputed courage as a guerrilla leader was put into the shade by his extraordinary courage in accepting the basic premise of Oslo: the Palestinians would, for the first time, recognise Israel and accept an inferior state of their own.Inferior, because it would comprise less than a quarter of the land of Palestine, and because that land would be the poorest and least productive. Inferior, because Israel would still be the regional superpower, and would dictate defence, economic and development issues. Inferior, not least, because Israel would control the water supplies. All this Arafat swallowed. What he did not realise is that the Israelis saw Oslo not as a compromise, but as a victory. And as victors, they demanded more and more spoils: permanent sovereignty over Arafat's beloved Jerusalem; a permanent settler presence in the West Bank; a permanent security cordon along the Jordan, and complete control of airspace and coastline. There was to be no question of any right of return for the Palestinian diaspora, nor any compensation for up to six million refugees and their descendants... Many Israelis are genuinely bewildered Arafat did not grasp, with both hands, what the then prime minister, Ehud Barak, offered. The common cliche is Israel was prepared to give way to 95% of Palestinian demands. That was, and remains, a complete nonsense, as is the myth Arafat lacked the courage to accept. He didn't because he couldn't. It would have meant giving up Jerusalem, giving up chunks of the West Bank, giving up dignity itself. It would have meant betraying the refugees, the most sensitive of all Palestinian issues. And in that winter of 2000-01, Palestinians were dying by the score in the intifada provoked by Ariel Sharon's infamous walkabout in the Haram as-Sharif, Islam's holiest site in Jerusalem. To have surrendered to Barak in that context, would have been political - and possibly literal - suicide. Israelis were dying too, of course, in unprecedented numbers. The present ratio of death is 3.5 Palestinians for every Israeli; about 4,500 in all. However, it has always been a given in Israel that Jewish lives are more important than any others, and the death toll of the past four years has stunned, shocked and enraged Israelis.
Quote:
A double consensus is forming around Yasser Arafat: one, that the old man is dying and two, that he was a failure. The first assumption is, alas, all too plausible. The second is based almost entirely on an Israeli perspective.... Abu Amar, the old man, won his father-of-the-nation tag by being a fighter. His undisputed courage as a guerrilla leader was put into the shade by his extraordinary courage in accepting the basic premise of Oslo: the Palestinians would, for the first time, recognise Israel and accept an inferior state of their own.Inferior, because it would comprise less than a quarter of the land of Palestine, and because that land would be the poorest and least productive. Inferior, because Israel would still be the regional superpower, and would dictate defence, economic and development issues. Inferior, not least, because Israel would control the water supplies. All this Arafat swallowed. What he did not realise is that the Israelis saw Oslo not as a compromise, but as a victory. And as victors, they demanded more and more spoils: permanent sovereignty over Arafat's beloved Jerusalem; a permanent settler presence in the West Bank; a permanent security cordon along the Jordan, and complete control of airspace and coastline. There was to be no question of any right of return for the Palestinian diaspora, nor any compensation for up to six million refugees and their descendants... Many Israelis are genuinely bewildered Arafat did not grasp, with both hands, what the then prime minister, Ehud Barak, offered. The common cliche is Israel was prepared to give way to 95% of Palestinian demands. That was, and remains, a complete nonsense, as is the myth Arafat lacked the courage to accept. He didn't because he couldn't. It would have meant giving up Jerusalem, giving up chunks of the West Bank, giving up dignity itself. It would have meant betraying the refugees, the most sensitive of all Palestinian issues. And in that winter of 2000-01, Palestinians were dying by the score in the intifada provoked by Ariel Sharon's infamous walkabout in the Haram as-Sharif, Islam's holiest site in Jerusalem. To have surrendered to Barak in that context, would have been political - and possibly literal - suicide. Israelis were dying too, of course, in unprecedented numbers. The present ratio of death is 3.5 Palestinians for every Israeli; about 4,500 in all. However, it has always been a given in Israel that Jewish lives are more important than any others, and the death toll of the past four years has stunned, shocked and enraged Israelis.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
After reading another rubbish nonsense from Dennis Ross, I was left thinking his accusations against Arafat. There was something familiar in them and then I understood what troubled me in them. The accusations that Dennis Ross hurles against Arafat brought to my mind Shimon Peres. He´s really more the kind of person Ross accuses Arafat of being. One could say that Shimon Peres has failed in everything in the last 30 years and somehow that hasn´t been able to send him out of the political stage. He´s now again the leader of Labor Party and contender for the office of prime minister. He´s a political survivor who rises from his political grave like Dracula in an old Hammer movie and after he´s yet again defeated, you know that his return can´t be far ahead. In reality, of course, one reason for this is the sad state of the Israeli Labor Party - the return of another political corpse, Ehud Barak, is another sign of this - which, like the Democrats in the US, seems to be unable to gain power again in the foreseable future.
The re-election of Israel's enemy.
Quote:
The United States has re-elected an enemy of Israel as its president. If George W. Bush's next four years in office are anything like the first four, the damage he will do Israel will be all but irreversible.
The current American leadership is incapable of separating states and their leaders. They are hostile toward Yasser Arafat, so they are hostile towards the Palestinians. They have a warm view of Ariel Sharon and by helping him they think they are helping Israel. After all, Israel is seen as monolithic entity, kind of hive mind - not in the United States only, but among it´s most fervent supporters everywhere. When you know one Israeli, you know them all, is their view. Ariel Sharon is Israel, Yasser Arafat represents the Palestinians for the Americans.
Quote:
The United States has re-elected an enemy of Israel as its president. If George W. Bush's next four years in office are anything like the first four, the damage he will do Israel will be all but irreversible.
The current American leadership is incapable of separating states and their leaders. They are hostile toward Yasser Arafat, so they are hostile towards the Palestinians. They have a warm view of Ariel Sharon and by helping him they think they are helping Israel. After all, Israel is seen as monolithic entity, kind of hive mind - not in the United States only, but among it´s most fervent supporters everywhere. When you know one Israeli, you know them all, is their view. Ariel Sharon is Israel, Yasser Arafat represents the Palestinians for the Americans.
Newest fiction from New York Times´ Thomas Friedman.
There are so many (deliberate?) mistakes that pointing out them would make the list of them as long as the column itself. As the facts don´t suit Friedman, he turns to fiction and creates very American nonsense about the all powerful Yasser Arafat, who is to be blaimed for everything. Here´s an example:
The fact that he didn't was not a mistake in judgment but an expression of character. For him, it was better to die in Paris, and have two generations of Palestinians die in exile, than be the Arab leader who officially and unambiguously agreed to share Jerusalem with the Jews.
Of course Friedman is an American, which means that his understanding of even simple facts are limited and that that doesn´t bother him, like the one that NO US-ISRAELI PROPOSITION TO THE PALESTINIANS HAS EVER INCLUDED THE RIGHT OF RETURN FOR REFUGEES. Arafat and the other Palestinian leadership on the other hand is ready to share Jerusalem, but name one current Israeli cabinet minister who is ready to share Jerusalem? Most of them are not even ready to let Arab citizens of Israel to live in West Jerusalem... And it´s truly a "classy" accusation from Friedman to accuse Arafat of not wanting to die. When the time comes, will Friedman himself rather die than to seek expert medical help? Let´s hope that he doesn´t demand from others what he wouldn´t do himself...
There are so many (deliberate?) mistakes that pointing out them would make the list of them as long as the column itself. As the facts don´t suit Friedman, he turns to fiction and creates very American nonsense about the all powerful Yasser Arafat, who is to be blaimed for everything. Here´s an example:
The fact that he didn't was not a mistake in judgment but an expression of character. For him, it was better to die in Paris, and have two generations of Palestinians die in exile, than be the Arab leader who officially and unambiguously agreed to share Jerusalem with the Jews.
Of course Friedman is an American, which means that his understanding of even simple facts are limited and that that doesn´t bother him, like the one that NO US-ISRAELI PROPOSITION TO THE PALESTINIANS HAS EVER INCLUDED THE RIGHT OF RETURN FOR REFUGEES. Arafat and the other Palestinian leadership on the other hand is ready to share Jerusalem, but name one current Israeli cabinet minister who is ready to share Jerusalem? Most of them are not even ready to let Arab citizens of Israel to live in West Jerusalem... And it´s truly a "classy" accusation from Friedman to accuse Arafat of not wanting to die. When the time comes, will Friedman himself rather die than to seek expert medical help? Let´s hope that he doesn´t demand from others what he wouldn´t do himself...
Gay community fears new era of intolerance in the Unites States.
Equality campaigners are in despair at the rise of the homophobic right.
Equality campaigners are in despair at the rise of the homophobic right.
Is George W. Bush becoming idolized by Republicans and the Christian Right in the same manner as Vladimir Putin is in Russia?
Couple of articles on Yasser Arafat:
A Thorn in Sharon's Side.
Life without Arafat.
Arafat, I wish you full recovery.
Hopefully he recovers.
One of the great problems in the question of Palestine, that especially in Israeli and the West that more or less supports Israel - even EU supports Israel, as it pays the bill of Israel´s occupation and constant attacks in the occupied areas even if under international law these things are for Israel to pay - personalities play are far larger share then they should have. US, Great Britain and Israel claim that they will not negotiate with Arafat, even if all but the most partisan commentators tell them again again that no other Palestinian leader will be ready for less favourable peace agreement. But still they don´t get it. The support that monster like Ariel Sharon enjoys among Israeli public and the Americans is not about what he does, because what has he to show for his long career except tens of thousands of dead people? No, it´s about his public personality. The Israelis think that this strongman will protect them and the Americans, ever the worshippers of men who shoot first and ask later, see in him a man who does what he things he has to do and who doesn´t care how much blood he has to shed on all sides. To him only the goal matters and this fact the Israeli public doesn´t get. They think that he cares about the lives of Israelis. But he doesn´t care. He cares for Israel, I admit that, or more to the point, he cares about the kind of Israel he wants, but he isn´t a man who ain´t ready to throw few Israelis to lions if that´s what makes his goal to become closer.
A Thorn in Sharon's Side.
Life without Arafat.
Arafat, I wish you full recovery.
Hopefully he recovers.
One of the great problems in the question of Palestine, that especially in Israeli and the West that more or less supports Israel - even EU supports Israel, as it pays the bill of Israel´s occupation and constant attacks in the occupied areas even if under international law these things are for Israel to pay - personalities play are far larger share then they should have. US, Great Britain and Israel claim that they will not negotiate with Arafat, even if all but the most partisan commentators tell them again again that no other Palestinian leader will be ready for less favourable peace agreement. But still they don´t get it. The support that monster like Ariel Sharon enjoys among Israeli public and the Americans is not about what he does, because what has he to show for his long career except tens of thousands of dead people? No, it´s about his public personality. The Israelis think that this strongman will protect them and the Americans, ever the worshippers of men who shoot first and ask later, see in him a man who does what he things he has to do and who doesn´t care how much blood he has to shed on all sides. To him only the goal matters and this fact the Israeli public doesn´t get. They think that he cares about the lives of Israelis. But he doesn´t care. He cares for Israel, I admit that, or more to the point, he cares about the kind of Israel he wants, but he isn´t a man who ain´t ready to throw few Israelis to lions if that´s what makes his goal to become closer.
Bernard Lewis Revisited.
What if Islam isn't an obstacle to democracy in the Middle East but the secret to achieving it?
Was Christianity an obstacle to democracy in Europe or the countries created by European colonialism elsewhere? No, but different Christian Churches tried to be. But then they were part of the elite and true democracy was not a goal for the traditional elites and not to the new bourgeois elite either. We have to shed this idea of democracy as some pre-determined goal towards which European history has moved. The development of modern democracy was not a certainty. Even in so-called Western Europe there were several non-democratic countries until the mid-1970s. In those that were democractic, all adult men got the right to vote usually from the 1910s to the 1930s - before that the right to vote belonged to only those who were considered wealthy enough - and women gained it usually little later. In Switzlerland, women were given right to vote in national elections in 1971 and the last canton to give women the right to vote did so only in 1987. This democratization process in Europe could have been stopped or reversed several times.
In the Muslim countries the situation is even trickier, as Islam really has far greater part in the lives of average persons than Christianity has ever had in Europe. Islam is as much a culture as it is a religion. Exaggerating, one could claim that trying to make the Arab countries democratic without taking Islam in to the equation is like trying to make the autonomous republic of Athos a democracy without taking Orthodox Christianity as integral part of the process. And in the end all these efforts towards change that are directed from outside - even if the people behind these efforts wouldn´t be ignorant and incompetent - would be futile if the populations themselves wouldn´t accept these changes. And in all human societies, outsiders even if they have good intentions, don´t have great record of persuating the natives to go with their schemes. The simple fact is that if some foreigner thinks that he knows which is best for you, your country and your religious group better than you and you countrymen and fellow worshippers, then you don´t do as he says. Nobody likes to be pushed around and told what to do.
What if Islam isn't an obstacle to democracy in the Middle East but the secret to achieving it?
Was Christianity an obstacle to democracy in Europe or the countries created by European colonialism elsewhere? No, but different Christian Churches tried to be. But then they were part of the elite and true democracy was not a goal for the traditional elites and not to the new bourgeois elite either. We have to shed this idea of democracy as some pre-determined goal towards which European history has moved. The development of modern democracy was not a certainty. Even in so-called Western Europe there were several non-democratic countries until the mid-1970s. In those that were democractic, all adult men got the right to vote usually from the 1910s to the 1930s - before that the right to vote belonged to only those who were considered wealthy enough - and women gained it usually little later. In Switzlerland, women were given right to vote in national elections in 1971 and the last canton to give women the right to vote did so only in 1987. This democratization process in Europe could have been stopped or reversed several times.
In the Muslim countries the situation is even trickier, as Islam really has far greater part in the lives of average persons than Christianity has ever had in Europe. Islam is as much a culture as it is a religion. Exaggerating, one could claim that trying to make the Arab countries democratic without taking Islam in to the equation is like trying to make the autonomous republic of Athos a democracy without taking Orthodox Christianity as integral part of the process. And in the end all these efforts towards change that are directed from outside - even if the people behind these efforts wouldn´t be ignorant and incompetent - would be futile if the populations themselves wouldn´t accept these changes. And in all human societies, outsiders even if they have good intentions, don´t have great record of persuating the natives to go with their schemes. The simple fact is that if some foreigner thinks that he knows which is best for you, your country and your religious group better than you and you countrymen and fellow worshippers, then you don´t do as he says. Nobody likes to be pushed around and told what to do.
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Time for an Israeli initiative.
Quote:
From the past, we have learned that when we get an opportunity for a major change, it usually arouses fear and trembling in the hearts of the politicians.
Instead of demonstrating courage, the tendency is to freeze everything and to wait until perhaps we receive divine confirmation for the step.
Quote:
From the past, we have learned that when we get an opportunity for a major change, it usually arouses fear and trembling in the hearts of the politicians.
Instead of demonstrating courage, the tendency is to freeze everything and to wait until perhaps we receive divine confirmation for the step.
Population boom set to stabilise at 9bn by 2300.
UN study predicts falls in fertility but greater life expectancy.
Quote:
But the report, issued by the UN's population division, gives warning that even slight variations - "as little as one-quarter of a child" - below or above this two-child norm could produce dramatic swings, resulting in world totals ranging from as little as 2.3 billion up to 36.4 billion. If fertility levels remained unchanged at today's levels, the current world population of 6.4 billion would rise to 44 billion in 2100, 244 billion in 2150 and 1.34 trillion in 2300, the UN says.
UN study predicts falls in fertility but greater life expectancy.
Quote:
But the report, issued by the UN's population division, gives warning that even slight variations - "as little as one-quarter of a child" - below or above this two-child norm could produce dramatic swings, resulting in world totals ranging from as little as 2.3 billion up to 36.4 billion. If fertility levels remained unchanged at today's levels, the current world population of 6.4 billion would rise to 44 billion in 2100, 244 billion in 2150 and 1.34 trillion in 2300, the UN says.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Four more years - but not with Powell.
CSM doesn´t mention that those who decide these things in the Republican Party want in his place a person who foremost is even more "pro-Israel" - which should be read as pro-Likud, not pro-Israel.
CSM doesn´t mention that those who decide these things in the Republican Party want in his place a person who foremost is even more "pro-Israel" - which should be read as pro-Likud, not pro-Israel.
U.S. Wants No Warming Proposal.
Administration Aims to Prevent Arctic Council Suggestions.
Quote:
The Bush administration has been working for months to keep an upcoming eight-nation report from endorsing broad policies aimed at curbing global warming, according to domestic and foreign participants, despite the group's conclusion that Arctic latitudes are facing historic increases in temperature, glacial melting and abrupt weather changes.
The Bush supporters hope an end to the world, but instead of a Godly action, the US government is going for a secular Armageddon.
Administration Aims to Prevent Arctic Council Suggestions.
Quote:
The Bush administration has been working for months to keep an upcoming eight-nation report from endorsing broad policies aimed at curbing global warming, according to domestic and foreign participants, despite the group's conclusion that Arctic latitudes are facing historic increases in temperature, glacial melting and abrupt weather changes.
The Bush supporters hope an end to the world, but instead of a Godly action, the US government is going for a secular Armageddon.
Religious right relishes chance to push agenda.
Abortion and gay marriage to be targeted as moral crusaders demand election payback.
The United Fundamentalist States of America.
Abortion and gay marriage to be targeted as moral crusaders demand election payback.
The United Fundamentalist States of America.
Indonesian Supreme Court saves another war criminal from jail.
The Indonesian judicial system encourages war crimes and terrorism. Every Indonesian accused of crimes in East Timor has either walked free or given a tiny sentence, like those who lead the murders of UN employees in West Timor. Also many of those accused of terrorism have been given light sentences by the Indonesian courts.
The Indonesian judicial system encourages war crimes and terrorism. Every Indonesian accused of crimes in East Timor has either walked free or given a tiny sentence, like those who lead the murders of UN employees in West Timor. Also many of those accused of terrorism have been given light sentences by the Indonesian courts.
A tragedy and an opportunity.
Quote:
Many Palestinians are convinced that Ariel Sharon, the implacable opponent with whom he had first duelled in exile in Lebanon, had a hand in Arafat's collapse. They remember Sharon's statement earlier this year that he no longer felt bound by his promise "not to harm" Arafat. In a cunningly vague article in the Jerusalem Post his confidant, Uri Dan, yesterday hinted that Sharon "eliminated" Arafat via one of his chefs. So it is not surprising that rumours are swirling that Arafat was surreptitiously poisoned or infected.
I don´t think that if person A claims that person B has poisoned person C with the help of person D this claim is then "cunning". It´s just a claim of a murder conspiracy. There´s nothing cunning about it.
Even this claim could well lead to loss of lives on both sides and imagine what would happen if Jasser Arafat would die and an autopsy would confirm that he would be poisoned? Murder would be madness - but madness that typical of the Israeli leadership - and claiming to have tried to murder Arafat when that wouldn´t be the case is also madness. These Israeli Jews are crazy bastards.
Well, it´s their own grave they are digging - and Israel´s. If they think that they can win, that they don´t have to give up the lands that they have occupied since 1967 they are truly wrong and make it certain that it´s Israel which has no future. Of course the West is largely to blame. By letting Israel to get away with anything it does they have made the Israeli leadership to believe themselves to be invincible.
Quote:
Many Palestinians are convinced that Ariel Sharon, the implacable opponent with whom he had first duelled in exile in Lebanon, had a hand in Arafat's collapse. They remember Sharon's statement earlier this year that he no longer felt bound by his promise "not to harm" Arafat. In a cunningly vague article in the Jerusalem Post his confidant, Uri Dan, yesterday hinted that Sharon "eliminated" Arafat via one of his chefs. So it is not surprising that rumours are swirling that Arafat was surreptitiously poisoned or infected.
I don´t think that if person A claims that person B has poisoned person C with the help of person D this claim is then "cunning". It´s just a claim of a murder conspiracy. There´s nothing cunning about it.
Even this claim could well lead to loss of lives on both sides and imagine what would happen if Jasser Arafat would die and an autopsy would confirm that he would be poisoned? Murder would be madness - but madness that typical of the Israeli leadership - and claiming to have tried to murder Arafat when that wouldn´t be the case is also madness. These Israeli Jews are crazy bastards.
Well, it´s their own grave they are digging - and Israel´s. If they think that they can win, that they don´t have to give up the lands that they have occupied since 1967 they are truly wrong and make it certain that it´s Israel which has no future. Of course the West is largely to blame. By letting Israel to get away with anything it does they have made the Israeli leadership to believe themselves to be invincible.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Missing evidence could foil Saddam prosecution, claims report. More.
If we would be talking of a true trial, where Saddam Hussein and other leaders of the former Iraqi regime would have the chance to walk from the court room as free men, it would be so. But that most likely is not the case. He and the other leaders will be found guilty, even if the evidence would be far from certain. That´s probably one of the reasons why the occupiers have been less than eager to carry out large scale forensic studies of the mass graves - they don´t have to, as long as they and their collaborators control the courts. This is a sad thing, because producing hard evidence against the former Iraqi leadership wouldn´t have been the most difficult of things to do and would have made it less likely that they would be seen as martyrs. If things go as bad in Iraq next year as many analysis predict, then the Sunnis may flock to follow the memory of the martyred leaders of the Baath party. If the trials against them are to be seen as show trials, then that makes it likelier.
If we would be talking of a true trial, where Saddam Hussein and other leaders of the former Iraqi regime would have the chance to walk from the court room as free men, it would be so. But that most likely is not the case. He and the other leaders will be found guilty, even if the evidence would be far from certain. That´s probably one of the reasons why the occupiers have been less than eager to carry out large scale forensic studies of the mass graves - they don´t have to, as long as they and their collaborators control the courts. This is a sad thing, because producing hard evidence against the former Iraqi leadership wouldn´t have been the most difficult of things to do and would have made it less likely that they would be seen as martyrs. If things go as bad in Iraq next year as many analysis predict, then the Sunnis may flock to follow the memory of the martyred leaders of the Baath party. If the trials against them are to be seen as show trials, then that makes it likelier.
Nobel peace prize winning Medecins Sans Frontieres -organization withdraws from Iraq, from which Tony Blair today got bad news that probably spoiled large part of the joy he felt for the victory of the faux-Texan chimp. Already the Scots were claiming that the sending of the Black Watch regiment and the proposition of sending in it´s place later two more Scottish regiments are a betrayal of the regiments and their soldiers, if not of the whole of Scotland. Some more nationalistic Scots have been dreaming aloud that in the future the Scottish parlament could decide of the sending of Scottish troops to foreign wars.
Rising crisis over Arafat health. More.
BBC is wrong to claim that there are no "clear succession". If the president dies, the speaker of the parlament becomes the acting president for two months, if I remember correctly, during which time presidential elections will be held. The problem is of course that Israel will try to sabotage them in the East Jerusalem. Palestinians can´t give up in this, as it would mean losing East Jerusalem and probably violence would flare up in the West Bank as worse as it has been in Gaza, where most of the 165 Palestinians that Israel murdered last month died.
Imagine the amount of whining and crocodile tears in the West if 165 Israeli Jews would have died in a single month killed by Palestinians... The lives of Jews are more important than the lives of Arabs because Germans and their collaborators committed a genocide against the Jews 60 years ago. There´s probably some great inscight in to the human nature here, but I think that I rather let the facts to speak for themselves.
BBC is wrong to claim that there are no "clear succession". If the president dies, the speaker of the parlament becomes the acting president for two months, if I remember correctly, during which time presidential elections will be held. The problem is of course that Israel will try to sabotage them in the East Jerusalem. Palestinians can´t give up in this, as it would mean losing East Jerusalem and probably violence would flare up in the West Bank as worse as it has been in Gaza, where most of the 165 Palestinians that Israel murdered last month died.
Imagine the amount of whining and crocodile tears in the West if 165 Israeli Jews would have died in a single month killed by Palestinians... The lives of Jews are more important than the lives of Arabs because Germans and their collaborators committed a genocide against the Jews 60 years ago. There´s probably some great inscight in to the human nature here, but I think that I rather let the facts to speak for themselves.
Antarctic food web under pressure.
Quote:
Since the 1970s, numbers of the shrimp-like creatures have fallen by 80% in waters near the Antarctic Peninsula, UK scientists tell Nature magazine. The crustacean feeds on algae under the ice so the fall may be linked to recent warming that has reduced sea-ice cover. The change could have a big impact on the whole Southern Ocean food web. "Krill are a central species [to this] web; they are a major food item for species such as penguins, seals, albatrosses and whales," Dr Angus Atkinson, from British Antarctic Survey, told BBC News.
Quote:
Since the 1970s, numbers of the shrimp-like creatures have fallen by 80% in waters near the Antarctic Peninsula, UK scientists tell Nature magazine. The crustacean feeds on algae under the ice so the fall may be linked to recent warming that has reduced sea-ice cover. The change could have a big impact on the whole Southern Ocean food web. "Krill are a central species [to this] web; they are a major food item for species such as penguins, seals, albatrosses and whales," Dr Angus Atkinson, from British Antarctic Survey, told BBC News.
What more there is to say about the US presidential election?
Not much anymore. Well, the collapse of the Democratic Party was quite humiliating for themselves and pretty painful to watch as they didn´t fight, their spine just snapped and they surrendered. Pretty much like Karl Rove´s Norwegians in 1814. Coward Kerry and his Wimp Party betrayed their voters. Before the elections they said that Al Gore gave up too easily, but now they lasted less than a day.
The claims that I have heard and read about how counting every vote in Ohio and checking the legitimacy of every vote would be too much and practically impossible are odd coming from a country that claims itself to be democratic - and not just that, the most democratic country in the world. Odd is also the fact that Bush claimed himself winner as millions of votes were uncounted, and then the hapless Democrats, who had in the presidential election one chance to salvage something from the election disaster gave up as even this simple psychological game was too much for them. After this, they shouldn´t except much from the voters in the future. If they would have fought they could have salvaged at least their reputation, but they didn´t. I wouldn´t be surprised if there would be a split in the party or that they would lose part of their voters to independents in the future elections.
Not much anymore. Well, the collapse of the Democratic Party was quite humiliating for themselves and pretty painful to watch as they didn´t fight, their spine just snapped and they surrendered. Pretty much like Karl Rove´s Norwegians in 1814. Coward Kerry and his Wimp Party betrayed their voters. Before the elections they said that Al Gore gave up too easily, but now they lasted less than a day.
The claims that I have heard and read about how counting every vote in Ohio and checking the legitimacy of every vote would be too much and practically impossible are odd coming from a country that claims itself to be democratic - and not just that, the most democratic country in the world. Odd is also the fact that Bush claimed himself winner as millions of votes were uncounted, and then the hapless Democrats, who had in the presidential election one chance to salvage something from the election disaster gave up as even this simple psychological game was too much for them. After this, they shouldn´t except much from the voters in the future. If they would have fought they could have salvaged at least their reputation, but they didn´t. I wouldn´t be surprised if there would be a split in the party or that they would lose part of their voters to independents in the future elections.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Supporters of manned space exploration in the US have been hoping for Bush to win because of his support for eventual manned space mission to Mars etc, but Bush is handling the US economy badly - huge deficit, evergrowing debt of federal state and individuals - and when one also takes in the equation the rising of the US Medicare and pension costs as the baby boomers retire and the unwilligness of the US political leaders to raise taxes to pay for these - it´s pretty certain that US doesn´t have the money to enlargened publicly funded manned space exploration.
Allawi tells to "prepare for civilian losses" in Fallulah.
I don´t where I dead read it, but a one commentator claimed that Allawi can only make himself hated, not feared, by an American planned and led attack and conquest of Fallulah. If he´s not in charge, if the soldiers are mostly foreign and in a foreign command, he´s not even a cruel tyrant to be feared, he´s just a foreign puppet to be eliminated.
I don´t where I dead read it, but a one commentator claimed that Allawi can only make himself hated, not feared, by an American planned and led attack and conquest of Fallulah. If he´s not in charge, if the soldiers are mostly foreign and in a foreign command, he´s not even a cruel tyrant to be feared, he´s just a foreign puppet to be eliminated.
The only comfort for the Democrats is that the Republicans are "Old People´s Party", but as younger Americans don´t bother to vote, that ain´t much of a consolation. But it gives an idea why the Republicans are not bothered so much by the Iraq war; if you are in your late middle-age or a pensioner, there´s a pretty low probablity of finding yourself to be given a rifle and put on a airplane to Iraq.
Maybe a quarter million votes are uncounted in Ohio, but that hasn´t stopped the White House from declaring Bush winner. That´s democracy - in the American style. If Kerry would now get ahead in Ohio, Bush supportes would cry that he steal the election, them not caring that all the votes are not counted. They have this habit of believing in victory at all means, whatever the cost.
It seems that there were four reasons why Kerry didn´t win Ohio:1)The younger people voted less eagerly than the elderly Bush lovers. 2)33% of Ohio voters consider themselves to be "born again Christian" fundamentalists, comrades in arms of Bush (which probably makes them feel really good in the shadow of abandoned factories). 3)Ohio voters don´t like gays having marriage rights. 4)The people of Ohio are really scared about terrorists and believe that the chimp will protect them, even if the only terrorists in Ohio have been of the homegrown variety, ideologically not faraway from the chimp.
Another yankee has bitten the dust in Iraq. About 1124 Yankee soldiers have now died during the crusade against Iraq. The number of Yankee civilians who have died is not at all clear, especially the number of dead mercenaries, but it´s something like 50.
It seems that there were four reasons why Kerry didn´t win Ohio:1)The younger people voted less eagerly than the elderly Bush lovers. 2)33% of Ohio voters consider themselves to be "born again Christian" fundamentalists, comrades in arms of Bush (which probably makes them feel really good in the shadow of abandoned factories). 3)Ohio voters don´t like gays having marriage rights. 4)The people of Ohio are really scared about terrorists and believe that the chimp will protect them, even if the only terrorists in Ohio have been of the homegrown variety, ideologically not faraway from the chimp.
Another yankee has bitten the dust in Iraq. About 1124 Yankee soldiers have now died during the crusade against Iraq. The number of Yankee civilians who have died is not at all clear, especially the number of dead mercenaries, but it´s something like 50.
Bush supporters have declared him president for the next 4 years, but it will probably need the US Supreme Court´s intervention to give the presidency.
Bush has got 254 electoral votes, Kerry 252. Post votes etc will probably give New Mexico and Iowa to Kerry, bringing him up to 264. The little chance that the progressives have is that the about 200 000 provisional, postal and oversees ballots in Ohio that haven´t been counted yet will bring the state to him. The Republicans - the mean, intentionally fact distorting bastards that they are - would probably cry foul if that would happen. Recount would probably help Kerry, but the family friends of the Bush dynasty in the US Supreme Court would probably be quick to stop that.
Even darker times are ahead. If it be just about the US, for all I care they could elect a mentally retarded Christian fundamentalist on a mission from God as their president, but we don´t need another Iraq, four more years of "elephant in the porcelain shop" antics from the US in international politics, we don´t need George W. Bush muttering his stupidities, believing himself to be a puppet of God.
What the world needs now is a Lee Harvey Oswald. And then another, to give Penis Cheney what he justly deserves.
Bush has got 254 electoral votes, Kerry 252. Post votes etc will probably give New Mexico and Iowa to Kerry, bringing him up to 264. The little chance that the progressives have is that the about 200 000 provisional, postal and oversees ballots in Ohio that haven´t been counted yet will bring the state to him. The Republicans - the mean, intentionally fact distorting bastards that they are - would probably cry foul if that would happen. Recount would probably help Kerry, but the family friends of the Bush dynasty in the US Supreme Court would probably be quick to stop that.
Even darker times are ahead. If it be just about the US, for all I care they could elect a mentally retarded Christian fundamentalist on a mission from God as their president, but we don´t need another Iraq, four more years of "elephant in the porcelain shop" antics from the US in international politics, we don´t need George W. Bush muttering his stupidities, believing himself to be a puppet of God.
What the world needs now is a Lee Harvey Oswald. And then another, to give Penis Cheney what he justly deserves.
Democratic party doesn´t really exist in the federal level at least for the next two years in the US. The Republicans control the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate. One American myth that failed now (again) is the one which claims that the American voters "balance" their vote, for example voting a Democrat as a President and Republican for the Senate, and thus make sure that one party doesn´t get too much power.
If Kerry could get closer in Ohio, things would be frozen for 10 days. The Ohio provisitional ballots are not counted until the 12th day of this month.
Chimp leads with 97 000 votes in Ohio. There should be almost as much absentee ballots or so, so it could take a long time before Bush takes Ohio, as he will at some point do; with the help of his family friends in the US judicial system, if nothing else doesn´t give him victory first.
Theoretically Florida could still go for Kerry. Theoretically.
Chimp´s lead has increased again, now to 103 000.
Theoretically Florida could still go for Kerry. Theoretically.
Chimp´s lead has increased again, now to 103 000.
Turnout is excepted to be about 121 million voters - 15 million bigger than in 2000(but then there are several more million people living in the US now than four years ago).
US elections are only for old folk it seems. The percentage of 18-44 year old Americans who voted in these elections so far is lower than in 2000.
Good omen for the future of American democracy. Or should that be American gerontocracy?
Good omen for the future of American democracy. Or should that be American gerontocracy?
Democrats lose seats in the US senate.
There simply doesn´t seem to be any way for the Democrats anymore to win anything in the US. From two party system to one party system.
There simply doesn´t seem to be any way for the Democrats anymore to win anything in the US. From two party system to one party system.
And now according to a Florida official, the result from Florida will not be ready until tomorrow. Hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots have to be counted and that will strech things. Still, the chimp leads with 299 000 votes when 94% of precincts are counted.
Ohio seems to be a something of a mess.
One thing that people should remember is, that one should vote early if they can.
CNN chimp 193, Kerry 133. ABC chimp 195, Kerry 112. CBS chimp 196, Kerry 133.
One thing that people should remember is, that one should vote early if they can.
CNN chimp 193, Kerry 133. ABC chimp 195, Kerry 112. CBS chimp 196, Kerry 133.
According to CNN, it´s now chimp 155, Kerry 112. ABC says the same, CBS is still stuck with chimp 108, Kerry 77.
Climate gas cuts 'are affordable'
The world can ward off a dangerous rise in temperature much more cheaply than many people think, a UK scientist says.
The world can ward off a dangerous rise in temperature much more cheaply than many people think, a UK scientist says.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Arctic heads into warmer future
The Arctic is undergoing rapid and possibly irreversible change, according to a new report prepared for the eight nations which rim the region.
The Arctic is undergoing rapid and possibly irreversible change, according to a new report prepared for the eight nations which rim the region.
Monday, November 01, 2004
The rebel
The political right and left have been fighting for Albert Camus' legacy, but Europe's most influential literary export remains stubbornly elusive.
Quote:
Indeed they do not, as so many French, English and American intellectuals discovered when the Algerian nationalist group they endorsed proved to be as brutal and despotic as any fascist engine
Any fascist regime? As bad as Nazi Germany, which caused a war where at least 50 million people died? As bad as fascist Italy, which attacked and occupied Ethiopia in 1935-36, Albania in 1939 and Greece in 1941? As bad as Franco´s Spain? As bad as Portugal´s fascist regime(up to 1974), which not only oppressed it´s own populace, but millions of people in Africa too?
Let´s not be naive. The Algerian state that formed after 1962 wasn´t ruled by great humanists, but it wasn´t worse than many other countries of the time, counting both newly independent and established states; the Algeria of the 1990s was still in the future with it´s maybe 150 000 victims of the civil war.
And what comes to Albert Camus, it´s false to claim that he wouldn´t have endorsed the Algerian war of independence because of some great revelation to the nature of the FNL and it´s leaders. He clearly says in his own writings enough times that he doesn´t support the Algerian independence movement because the French settlers, the blackfoots, were his people, and even if the opposition of the French settlers to any kind of compromise prior to the start of the rebellion in 1954 - like giving the native Algerians right to vote - was the reason of the bloodshed, he still wanted to give them as large a part in Algeria as possible. To Camus, blood was thicker than his principles. What should be done to native Arabs and Berbers was never certain him, and he really didn´t have much interest on them, at least based on his writings. He truly was a child of the European Mediterranean, not the southern part of the Mediterranean and certainly not Africa. He didn´t want the native Algerians to be oppressed forever, but he wasn´t ready to give them what they wanted, as he knew that the French Algeria was founded on the basis of military occupation. The world of his childhood and adolescence would be gone if the majority of the people living in Algeria could chose what road the country would take in the future.
That after 1962 thing went as they went is no reason to claim that Albert Camus was right when it came to Algeria. There was no way that Algeria could have stayd under French rule and the million French settlers could have continue to rule the country. The chance of any reconciliation between them and the native Algerians was gone by 1954, and Camus just couldn´t accept the truth when it was bad for the people he considered his own.
The political right and left have been fighting for Albert Camus' legacy, but Europe's most influential literary export remains stubbornly elusive.
Quote:
Indeed they do not, as so many French, English and American intellectuals discovered when the Algerian nationalist group they endorsed proved to be as brutal and despotic as any fascist engine
Any fascist regime? As bad as Nazi Germany, which caused a war where at least 50 million people died? As bad as fascist Italy, which attacked and occupied Ethiopia in 1935-36, Albania in 1939 and Greece in 1941? As bad as Franco´s Spain? As bad as Portugal´s fascist regime(up to 1974), which not only oppressed it´s own populace, but millions of people in Africa too?
Let´s not be naive. The Algerian state that formed after 1962 wasn´t ruled by great humanists, but it wasn´t worse than many other countries of the time, counting both newly independent and established states; the Algeria of the 1990s was still in the future with it´s maybe 150 000 victims of the civil war.
And what comes to Albert Camus, it´s false to claim that he wouldn´t have endorsed the Algerian war of independence because of some great revelation to the nature of the FNL and it´s leaders. He clearly says in his own writings enough times that he doesn´t support the Algerian independence movement because the French settlers, the blackfoots, were his people, and even if the opposition of the French settlers to any kind of compromise prior to the start of the rebellion in 1954 - like giving the native Algerians right to vote - was the reason of the bloodshed, he still wanted to give them as large a part in Algeria as possible. To Camus, blood was thicker than his principles. What should be done to native Arabs and Berbers was never certain him, and he really didn´t have much interest on them, at least based on his writings. He truly was a child of the European Mediterranean, not the southern part of the Mediterranean and certainly not Africa. He didn´t want the native Algerians to be oppressed forever, but he wasn´t ready to give them what they wanted, as he knew that the French Algeria was founded on the basis of military occupation. The world of his childhood and adolescence would be gone if the majority of the people living in Algeria could chose what road the country would take in the future.
That after 1962 thing went as they went is no reason to claim that Albert Camus was right when it came to Algeria. There was no way that Algeria could have stayd under French rule and the million French settlers could have continue to rule the country. The chance of any reconciliation between them and the native Algerians was gone by 1954, and Camus just couldn´t accept the truth when it was bad for the people he considered his own.
I take the same kind of view of the Palestinian attacks against the occupiers as the West takes of Israel´s constant attacks against the Palestinians. I don´t condemn Palestinian attacks but just hope that they wouldn´t use disproportionate violence against Israel.
It´s always a sad to see how western leaders declare that a occupying force has a right to defend itself against those that it´s enslaving, whereas when the victims attack their oppressors, then these same brace voices of the West come to declare their utter shock and to pronounce that they condemn the Palestinian acts of self-defense.
And if you wail about blowing a bomb on a market, then you should wail when the Israelis machine-gun the Khan Younis school etc. But usually to these people, "it´s a different thing". And bluntly, when a citizen of an occupying, brutal state dies, it´s a different thing to me too. I can´t feel as much compassion towards them than towards the victims of their country. And if you find this odd, try to feel as much compassion towards the German civilian victims of the II World War as you feel towards the people the German state murdered (of course, supposing that you feel compassion in the first place). If you can, you are a true saint.
It´s always a sad to see how western leaders declare that a occupying force has a right to defend itself against those that it´s enslaving, whereas when the victims attack their oppressors, then these same brace voices of the West come to declare their utter shock and to pronounce that they condemn the Palestinian acts of self-defense.
And if you wail about blowing a bomb on a market, then you should wail when the Israelis machine-gun the Khan Younis school etc. But usually to these people, "it´s a different thing". And bluntly, when a citizen of an occupying, brutal state dies, it´s a different thing to me too. I can´t feel as much compassion towards them than towards the victims of their country. And if you find this odd, try to feel as much compassion towards the German civilian victims of the II World War as you feel towards the people the German state murdered (of course, supposing that you feel compassion in the first place). If you can, you are a true saint.
Deadly Embrace
Quote:
Suicide bombing kills far fewer people than conventional warfare; the reactions it provokes must, therefore, reside somewhere other than in the number of the dead... The horror would appear to be associated with the fact that the attacker also dies. Dropping cluster bombs from the air is not only less repugnant: it is somehow deemed, by Western leaders at least, to be morally superior.
It´s a curious thing how the same people who claim that suicide bombers can´t be understood or they actions accepted can themselves admire people who for example commit suicide by burning themselves in a public place as a protest. Horrible way to die too. And if somebody claim that the difference is in it that the suicide bomber kills others than himself too, then certainly we should condemn every soldier who has ever died in a war.
I personally can´t understand why somebody can accept for example the actions of a fighter pilot or an artillery officer - in the Iraq war, 95% of civilian casualties caused by the US and it´s vassal states have been caused by air strikes and artillery bombardments - and not accept the actions of a suicide bomber. Simply put it, they are hypocrites. Anyway, suicide bombing is not really the result of anything else than lack of alternative ways to wage war. If some side has attack helicopters, jet fighters and cruise missiles, they don´t have to use suicide bombers (or non-suicide bombs of the "amateur" variety). But if they don´t have, then they use what they have. Sometimes that may not be more than human beings and crude explosives.
So, if the Palestinians would have the same kind of weapons that Israel has, then instead of this latest suicide bombing they could have used more "acceptable" way to attack their occupiers - and kill far more people.
Quote:
Suicide bombing kills far fewer people than conventional warfare; the reactions it provokes must, therefore, reside somewhere other than in the number of the dead... The horror would appear to be associated with the fact that the attacker also dies. Dropping cluster bombs from the air is not only less repugnant: it is somehow deemed, by Western leaders at least, to be morally superior.
It´s a curious thing how the same people who claim that suicide bombers can´t be understood or they actions accepted can themselves admire people who for example commit suicide by burning themselves in a public place as a protest. Horrible way to die too. And if somebody claim that the difference is in it that the suicide bomber kills others than himself too, then certainly we should condemn every soldier who has ever died in a war.
I personally can´t understand why somebody can accept for example the actions of a fighter pilot or an artillery officer - in the Iraq war, 95% of civilian casualties caused by the US and it´s vassal states have been caused by air strikes and artillery bombardments - and not accept the actions of a suicide bomber. Simply put it, they are hypocrites. Anyway, suicide bombing is not really the result of anything else than lack of alternative ways to wage war. If some side has attack helicopters, jet fighters and cruise missiles, they don´t have to use suicide bombers (or non-suicide bombs of the "amateur" variety). But if they don´t have, then they use what they have. Sometimes that may not be more than human beings and crude explosives.
So, if the Palestinians would have the same kind of weapons that Israel has, then instead of this latest suicide bombing they could have used more "acceptable" way to attack their occupiers - and kill far more people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)