| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
05 Jun 2007 03:54:11 AM |
| Object: |
OT: Our Germania |
Our Germania
Edward Pearce
June 5, 2007 8:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/edward_pearce/2007/06/our_germania.html
Fans of France's recently elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy, should
pay more attention. What was the first thing he did after being given
the nuclear codes? Why, he flew off to Berlin to kiss hands with
Angela Merkel, who is Chancellor of Germany - and also supreme ruler
of France. When will people grasp what the European Union is all
about?
So wrote Peter Hitchens in a recent Mail on Sunday column. I am not
going to berate Hitchens ... well, not much. Compared to his bloat
brother, Chris, Peter isn't so bad. He has been magnificent on the
Iraq war and the people who made it; he simply lacks a sense of
proportion and has this need to turn a tut into a scream.
The price of victory
Martin Woollacott
June 5, 2007 5:45 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_woollacott/2007/06/the_price_of_=
victory.html
The completeness of Israeli victory in 1967 shackled the peoples of
the Middle East to a ball and chain which has ever since crippled
their development. The shackle was Israeli military dominance, the
chain was the unwavering alliance between Israel and America, the ball
was the ever more oppressive and onerous occupation of Palestinian
lands.
The character of the regimes in both the Arab states and Israel, the
policies of their governments, and the psychological state of their
citizens have all been shaped, or distorted, by the consequences of
the Six Day War.
Day that changed the Middle East
Georgina Henry
June 5, 2007 5:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/georgina_henry/2007/06/day_that_changed=
_the_middle_east.html
Forty years ago this morning, at 7.45am, Israel and its neighbouring
Arab states went to war. Six days later, when the ceasefire was
declared, "the completeness of Israeli victory [had] shackled the
peoples of the Middle East to a ball and chain which has ever since
crippled their development," writes Martin Woollacott, whose piece on
the consequences of the Six Day War kicks off six days of coverage on
Comment is free.
The Hilton experience
Sasha Abramsky
June 5, 2007 1:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sasha_abramsky/2007/06/the_hilton_exper=
ience.html
This afternoon, not much more than twelve hours after Paris Hilton
checked herself into the LA County Jail system, I typed three keywords
into Google: Paris, Hilton and Jail. The search engine retrieved an
astounding 13,400,000 references. Not all of these references, of
course, were directly related to the Paris Hilton and her current
legal woes, but a good proportion of them were.
In an era as obsessed with celebrity as ours, perhaps this isn't
surprising. After all, ever since Judge Michael Sauer gave the spoiled
and vacuous hotel heiress a 45-day sentence for violating the terms of
her probation on a reckless driving charge, the story has become one
of the great will-she-won't-she staples of the gossip world. Could the
one-time porn star, the reality TV sensation, the party girl-
extraordinaire, really be heading to jail, there to spend time with
all those nasty, dirty hoi polloi? (After all, if Martha Stewart could
go to prison, arguably nobody was really safe.) Would she serve the
full month and a half or would her sentence be cut? Would she have to
eat regular prison food, poor dear, or would she be able to order in
from one or another chic Hollywood restaurant?
Why I wrote for Hustler
Ian Williams
June 4, 2007 10:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ian_williams/2007/06/flynts_naked_ambit=
ion_freedom.html
In a full-page ad in yesterday's Washington Post, Hustler magazine
publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million to anyone who could provide
proof of an illicit sexual encounter with a high-ranking government
official. Flynt's offer, which asked for "documented evidence" that
could be verified and published in the magazine, has set off a new
round of collective discomfort with the wheelchair-bound pornographer.
Why would anyone want to associate with Flynt? And who would want to
have his work appear in a magazine like Hustler?
Well, I would. He's certainly not hypocritical - unlike the
politicians he's after. So when an old colleague who is now working
there, Ed Rampell called with a commission a few months ago, I had no
such high-minded scruples. The July issue of Flynt's raunchy magazine,
usually found, if at all, prophylacticly sealed in plastic envelopes
on the top shelf of newsvendors, carries my first contribution.
My hopes and fears for Brown's security policy
Shami Chakrabarti
June 4, 2007 9:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/shami_chakrabarti/2007/06/we_have_come_=
a_long.html
We have come a long way together in the long and dark days of the "War
on Terror". We have lived through moments of optimism in rational and
non-partisan leadership and years of lost opportunity, division and
despair. After yet another weekend of terror spin, let me share my
hopes and fears for our prospective prime minister's security policy.
Firstly, let us consider the timing and manner of Gordon Brown's
intervention in the security debate. When Tony Blair finally leaves
government later this month, he will be accompanied by his Praetorian
Guardsman Reid. This news will have come as relief to many. However,
recent days and weeks have spawned so many Reidish grunts about last
minute terror legislation and threats to "modernise" the human rights
framework that the Men in Brown might be forgiven for fearing that the
initiative on security matters might be stolen by the outgoing
tenants.
Dacha diplomacy
Tom Parfitt
June 4, 2007 8:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tom_parfitt/2007/06/dacha_diplomacy.html
You might think the gardens at President Vladimir Putin's Novo-
Ogaryovo residence on the edge of Moscow would have a calming effect
on the Russian leader and his visitors. It's here under the boughs of
great trees that Putin relaxes with his wife and daughters, walks his
labrador Connie and - just maybe - practises the odd judo roll on the
lawn when no one is looking.
Vadik, the president's miniature horse from Tatarstan, is a useful ice-
breaker - it charmed Silvio Berlusconi when the Italian leader
(admittedly, an old chum of Putin) visited Sochi on the Black Sea
coast in 2005. (Vadik later moved to the capital.)
Return of the Taliban
Hamida Ghafour
June 4, 2007 8:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/hamida_ghafour/2007/06/return_of_the_ta=
liban.html
When I lived in Kabul a couple of years ago, it seemed unimaginable
that the Taliban could return. The regime was considered a spent force
and generally disliked by Afghans. Mullah Omar gathered his
associates, told them they were on their own and fled on his
motorcycle.
Today there are reports of Taliban attacks as close as two hours from
the capital. Nato's forces are getting hammered in the south by an
astonishingly strong insurgency. Suicide bombs, utterly alien to the
Afghan fighting culture, are now common.
Paris's prison sentence is, like, whatever
Hadley Freeman
June 4, 2007 7:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/hadley_freeman/2007/06/pariss_prison_se=
ntence_is_like.html
In her last hours of freedom before commencing her 23-day prison
sentence for driving offences, Paris Hilton stayed true to form until
the bitter end, ensuring she soaked up as much attention as possible
before submitting to her punishment.
Wearing a ruffled black gown and diamante hair clips, the author,
actress, perfume manufacturer and heiress attended the MTV movie
awards in Los Angeles, walking straight from the red carpet into the
hands of the authorities after the ceremony.
Civil liberties and war in Mexico
John Ackerman
June 4, 2007 7:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_ackerman/2007/06/civil_liberties_a=
nd_war_in_mex.html
Like George Bush, Mexico's Felipe Calderon came into office after a
bitterly contested election. And he is using the same methods to unite
his people behind him. Just as President Bush's war on terror
successfully boosted his support during his early years, President
Calderon is now declaring war on both crime and terror.
Calderon's war promises to be even more destructive for civil
liberties. In an attempt to combat narco-violence and discourage
subversive activities, he has already ordered unilateral military
takeovers of seven states and disarmed local police corps. The
military has begun operating random checkpoints throughout the
country.
A short-term solution
Tim Luckhurst
June 4, 2007 6:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tim_luckhurst/2007/06/a_short_term_solu=
tion.html
Iran's interior minister, Moustafa Pourmohammadi, is on the
conservative wing of his country's establishment. Appointed by the
president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this cleric-turned-politician shares
his sponsor's contempt for secular liberalism. His promotion of the
ancient Shia Muslim tradition of temporary marriage is not, therefore,
intended to promote a sexual revolution. Iranian women will remain
draped in the robes and head scarves demanded by law. Public
executions and the state persecution of dissidents will persist.
Some Iranian women's groups have attacked the suggestion, and it would
be demented for me to imagine that they understand the likely
consequences less well than me. But it is plain that Mr
Pourmohammadi's endorsement of the "sigheh" concept exposes official
concern about the political power of Iran's huge youth population. He
has, after all, explained his disinterment of the concept by reference
to the needs of "a 15-year-old youth into whom God has put lust". In
the circumstances, is there not a possibility that unintended positive
consequences may emerge as well?
A force to be reckoned with
Simon Tisdall
June 4, 2007 6:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/06/a_force_to_be_rec=
koned_with.html
Since marching unexpectedly on to the world stage in 2000, Vladimir
Putin has by turns baffled, encouraged and outraged Russia's
international interlocutors. But in one key respect, the former KGB
officer with a smile like broken ice has been remarkably consistent.
After the humiliations of the Yeltsin years, he set out to re-
establish Russia as a force to be reckoned with. And now he has
achieved it.
His aim could have been achieved in collaboration with the west;
instead Russia's reassertive power is now defined in opposition to it.
It might have been different. Ignoring Chechnya and other raw nerves,
Tony Blair tried hard to befriend Mr Putin in 2000, regaling him with
shirt-sleeve bonhomie in a Moscow bierkeller. George Bush famously
declared, when the two first met in 2001, that he had glimpsed Mr
Putin's soul and liked what he saw.
Power politics
Ngaire Woods
June 4, 2007 5:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ngaire_woods/2007/06/power_politics.html
A year ago, I set up an independent taskforce to examine UK energy
security, climate change, and development assistance. It seemed
crucial because across the UK government nobody seemed to be in charge
of working out how these three policies intersect. Energy politics
looked like a juggernaut heading towards British efforts to do
something about climate change and global poverty. But the juggernaut
was on nobody's radar screen.
Energy policy is supposed to assure affordable and reliable energy for
the UK. As it turns out, it has been failing adequately to assist the
UK in meeting its own emissions targets to address climate change. It
has also been failing to help the poorest in the world who are already
suffering most from climate change. Paradoxically, energy policies
have also been failing to provide affordable and reliable energy. Poor
infrastructure within the UK, an uncertain and disunited approach to
Russia, and a failure carefully to plan and regulate the nuclear
industry are just some of the features of that failure.
Cut the censorship
David Beresford
June 4, 2007 5:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_beresford/2007/06/cut_the_censors=
hip.html
The desire to control the sexual mores of fellow human beings seems to
be compulsive, as South Africa's latest troubles over censorship
demonstrate.
South Africa has no censorship system as such. Subject to the common
law, citizens are allowed to watch, see and read virtually anything.
But an attempt to upset this happy (libertarian) state of affairs was
made recently by a little-known government agency, the Film and
Publication Board.
The board has responsibility for providing guidance, essentially to
parents, as to the suitability of films, videos and books for their
children. This innocuous task is done by way of the standard
classification system, recommending such as "parental guidance", or
that it be watched by specified age groups and warning of such as sex,
nudity, foul language and violence.
The Democrats' debate
Michael Tomasky
June 4, 2007 4:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_tomasky/2007/06/the_democrats_d=
ebate.html
The eight Democratic presidential candidates slogged their way through
a two-hour debate last night in the crucial early-primary state of New
Hampshire hosted by CNN. As is usually the case after these things,
I'm left wondering if I watched the same contest as the TV experts and
my fellow Americans.
That's because it appears that a fair number of people thought Barack
Obama won. Those who voted in CNN's online straw poll gave Obama a 34
to 31% edge over Hillary Clinton.
Evolution giveth ...
Zia Haider Rahman
June 4, 2007 4:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/zia_haider_rahman/2007/06/evolution_giv=
eth.html
It's open season on theism with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and
Christopher Hitchens, among others, baying for the blood of believers
everywhere. Apart from their dreary hostility, these religion-bashers
evidently share a particular notion of how people come to believe and
how people might be dissuaded.
The godless brethren presumably have aspirations to convert the
religious and not just preach to fellow atheists. They assume that
renouncing faith can be achieved by the same means as rejecting a view
about, say, the validity of British government policy in Iraq. Read a
book or an article, think about it, and let go of your delusions.
Up your street?
Ros Taylor
June 4, 2007 3:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ros_taylor/2007/06/up_your_street.html
Google's latest wheeze, Street View, is a Google Maps enhancement that
lets you zoom in on a street-level photo of neighbourhoods. Think
Google Earth, but close-up and photographed from the roof of a car
with a built-in camera. So far, only New York, San Francisco and three
other US cities are covered, but the company intends to expand its
range. Naturally, half NYC duly typed in their address and the
location of their favourite deli. Some of them were delighted to find
themselves helping to pioneer the latest GoogleGadget. Others were
distinctly nonplussed.
One San Franciscan objected that her cat was visible through the
window; others stumbled upon the kind of jolly snaps we normally rely
on paparazzi to provide - thongs climbing into cars, blokes caught
short on the freeway and "someone making a phone call". Already, a
dedicated blog is monitoring these transgressions for the public's
edification.
Explosive issues
Martin Kettle
June 4, 2007 2:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_kettle/2007/06/explosive_issues.=
html
Vladimir Putin is wrong about several international questions but -
though he approaches the issue from his own preoccupations - he is
right about the deliberate destabilising intention of the missile
defence system that the United States is attempting to deploy in
Europe (among other places) as an ostensible defence against rogue
state nuclear threats.
Back in the late 1990s, American Republican neoconservatives lighted
on two litmus test foreign policies which embodied their sense of
historic mission and that would burnish their "not-Clinton"
credentials with conservative voters. The first was the invasion of
Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The second was the
abrogation of international arms control agreements and the promotion
of the "son of Star Wars" missile defence system.
Will justice prevail?
Clare da Silva
June 4, 2007 2:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/clare_da_silva/2007/06/will_justice_pre=
vail.html
While Tony Blair has recently enjoyed a new position as a Sierra
Leonean paramount chief, other important events are taking place for
the tiny West African country. Today, the trial of former Liberian
president Charles Taylor began in The Hague, although Mr Taylor
himself failed to make an appearance. Mr Taylor faces 11 counts of war
crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of
international humanitarian law for his role in the decade-long civil
war that engulfed Sierra Leone. This trial, taking place at a special
court for Sierra Leone, is part of the international community's
efforts to bring to justice those who bear the greatest responsibility
for the atrocities committed. Nine others from the three main factions
involved in the war are also facing trial.
While many see the special court and the trial of Charles Taylor as a
triumph for international justice, what, if anything, does this mean
for justice in Sierra Leone?
Wake-up calls
Open Thread
June 4, 2007 1:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_thread/2007/06/wake_up_calls.html
The Polish railway worker, who was hit by a train in 1988, yesterday
spoke to journalists for the first time since emerging from his coma
in April. He told them about his recovery and his own unique take on
the modern world; a world he hadn't seen since Poland's last communist
leader was in power, food was still rationed and the Berlin wall was
still standing.
A select gathering
Simon Jenkins
June 4, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_jenkins/2007/06/a_select_gatherin=
g=2Ehtml
How has Cameron made a mess of being right on grammar schools? Every
good political reform starts with a good intention, hits a brick wall
of controversy and is then dismissed as badly handled. If Cameron
wanted to face down the right on one archaic issue he could hardly
have chosen a better one: whatever polls say, less than 10% of Britain
has any experience of grammar schools for more than a generation. It
was like Blair opposing Clause Four against those in his party who
could remember the Great Depression. Why now is he derided?
In the mass of emails to the Guardian on this issue, two topics recur.
The first is that those who buy private education, in truth to protect
their children from mixing with the local masses, can hardly complain
about the state offering similar protection to those slightly less
fortunate than themselves. As everyone knows, secondary schooling is
first and foremost about social branding.
You wouldn't treat a dog that way
Erwin James
June 4, 2007 12:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/erwin_james/2007/06/you_wouldnt_treat_a=
_dog_that_way.html
The young dog had a reputation for being stubborn, a bit of a
complainer, always going back to its cage reluctantly after exercise
periods, that type of thing. But on the whole it got on well with the
other young dogs, and even though it had its own mind it never really
caused the staff any serious problems. They knew it had had a
difficult life before arriving at the pound. It had lived on the
streets, getting by on its wits for most of its early years. And it
was a survivor. It knew how to be mean if it felt it had no option,
and it could appear a little dangerous sometimes. It never caused
anyone any real trouble however, until the day it bit and was picked
up and sent to the pound.
Then came the bad day. The dog had grown fed up of the institutional
regime. Fed up of having no control. Fed up of the cage. A suitably
qualified person might have said that it was the institution that was
causing the young dog's behaviour to deteriorate. Perhaps it needed
care, not control. When it refused to go back to its cage this day the
staff knew what they had to do. "Restraint!" they cried. Four members
of staff to one young dog - that was the form. Quickly they seized the
dog, pinning down its legs as it scrambled to get a grip with its
paws. "Hold it!" called a staff member, bearing down on the young
dog's body. The dog fought back the only way it knew how. It bit. But
the staff knew what they had to do. The bravest among them
administered a sharp blow to the dog's nose, and then another. The
dog, now in fear and exhausted, gave up and allowed itself to be
dragged into the cage. When the cage door was locked and all was quiet
again the dog lay still, wishing it was dead.
In with the old
Derek Wall
June 4, 2007 12:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/derek_wall/2007/06/in_with_the_old.html
I think I must have had a different 1970s to Hazel Blears. Where she
remembers tank-tops and Austin Allegros, I think fondly back to punk
rock and Tom Baker as Dr Who. I also remember a Britain where one
could afford to take a train and where the gap between rich and poor
was narrowing instead of increasing. Hazel Blears does not want to
return to the land that time forgot, Britain before Thatcher.
However, unless we adapt the best of old Labour, I doubt that we will
be able to sustain our economy in the late noughties. Regulation and
redistribution are necessary in several areas.
A cool reception
John Sauven
June 4, 2007 11:15 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_sauven/2007/06/a_cool_reception.ht=
ml
So this is it. After years of denial, evasion and hostility George
Bush has finally been forced to play defence on climate change. It's
good news, right? Tony Blair called the president's speech yesterday
"a big step forward". Well I call it a disaster. Last week George Bush
committed a squalid street mugging on the G8 process and the Kyoto
protocol, and Tony Blair just stood behind him grinning.
Bush's proposal - to develop a non-binding set of global emissions
reduction targets by the end of 2008 - is a classic spoiler, intended
to show his domestic audience and the wider world that the US is
taking the issue seriously. The administration knows it has no place
to hide and so, like so many times before, it has announced a plan to
create the impression of action, a pathetic attempt to pull the wool
over the eyes of the world and an increasingly concerned US
electorate.
Thumbs down to hands up
Oli de Botton
June 4, 2007 9:45 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/oli_de_botton/2007/06/thumbs_down_to_ha=
nds_up.html
I am not sure the education debate in this country is getting us
anywhere. On Friday we were treated to yet another pointless and
anachronistic row (to partner the one about grammar schools) about
whether it was right for teachers to ask all their students direct
questions and therefore not call for hands up every time.
The rightwing media was appalled, armed as it was with images of 1950s
classrooms where students sit in rows (they mainly sit in groups now)
wearing pristine boater hats (baseball caps are in vogue these days)
and holding blackboards (laptops are more common today). To them this
was yet another sign of political correctness gone mad, of an over-
centralising government penalising the hard-working moral majority of
Britons who just want to get their fair share out of "swamped" state
schools. For the government on the other hand it was a means of
justifying the very utility of the DfES and a way to show they were
trying to support teachers to "personalise learning" (whatever that
means this week). The reality is that the idea of no hands up is an
entirely uncontroversial one. It is a strategy, one of many, to help
engage all students in a classroom. It does not mark a dividing line
in British politics.
Emerging hope from Africa
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
June 4, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ellen_johnson_sirleaf/2007/06/emerging_=
hope_from_africa.html
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has put Africa squarely on the
agenda of next week's G8 summit. We in Liberia and across Africa
welcome her leadership, and are grateful for the G8's support for
Africa, particularly its commitments in recent years to reduce debt
burdens, double aid by 2010, expand trade access and fight HIV/Aids.
Strong efforts by Africans, coupled with the investments of the G8 and
other partners, are paying off in important ways that are often
unnoticed by the outside world.
Consider three major historical trends. First, in 1989, there were
just four democracies in Africa. Today, there are at least 18,
including South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Benin, Mali, Ghana,
Senegal, with Liberia the most recent to join the group. Second,
economic policies have greatly improved. With few exceptions, gone are
the days of dual exchange rates, hyperinflation and extensive trade
barriers. Third, for many countries, the 25-year-old debt crisis is
finally over, allowing much higher investment in health, education and
infrastructure.
Don't listen to what the rich world's leaders say - look at what they
do
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2095325,00.html
Take the thousands of Filipino children who die every year courtesy of
the formula milk corporates, backed by US lobbying
George Monbiot
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
It is time once again for that touching annual ritual, in which the
world's most powerful people move themselves to tears. At Heiligendamm
they will emote with the wretched of the earth. They will beat their
breasts and say many worthy and necessary things - about climate
change, Africa, poverty, trade - but one word will not leave their
lips. Power. Amid the patrician goodwill, there will be no
acknowledgement that the power they wield over other nations destroys
everything they claim to stand for.
The best chance for Iraq is to bring American troops home
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2095442,00.html
This war has diverted us from the struggle against terror. We need to
refocus on Israel/Palestine, so long neglected by Bush
Barack Obama
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
At moments of great peril in the past century, American leaders such
as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F Kennedy managed both
to protect the American people and to expand opportunity for the next
generation. What is more, they ensured that America, by deed and
example, led and lifted the world - that we stood for and fought for
the freedoms sought by billions of people beyond our borders.
Today, we are again called to provide visionary leadership. This
century's threats are at least as dangerous as and in some ways more
complex than those we have confronted in the past.
This wild west capitalism is born of servility to the City
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2095395,00.html
The private equity sector, with its attendant risks to employees,
pensioners and tax revenue, should be reined in and regulated
Polly Toynbee
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Private equity executives are "paying less tax than a cleaning lady".
This is not some trade union malcontent talking, but Nicolas Ferguson,
chairman of SVG Capital, which built Permira, Europe's biggest private
equity fund. Private equity owners pay only 10%, sometimes much less.
When even a chief protagonist starts to question their tax breaks, no
wonder it hits the front page of the Financial Times. Until now
private equity corsairs have vigorously denied they get any special
treatment, but their avoidance of just about every personal and
corporate tax is their greatest financial skill, accounting for much
of their phenomenal wealth.
Encircled and humiliated
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2095441,00.html
The source of the current tension between Moscow and the west is US
and Nato military provocation
Martin Jacques
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Those who feel a certain sense of deja vu about the deteriorating
relationship between Russia and the west can be forgiven. But this is
no simple return to the cold war. Russia is far weaker than even the
atrophied superpower of the late 80s. Its population has been more
than halved, its gross domestic product halved, and living standards
diminished. It simply does not have the capacity to be what it once
was.
Geekological endgame
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2095394,00.html
The first Star Wars trilogy achieved a carefree brilliance that was
never matched by its progeny
Bidisha
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
The original Star Wars trilogy, which is celebrating its 30th
anniversary, has attained geekological supremacy and enthralled
generations of film fans. It's not true that these films have
something for everyone, but they do have something for every science
fiction fan, so once you suspend your disbelief there's nothing to
interrupt the flow of thrillingly detailed adventure.
What's admirable about the trilogy is its utterly carefree
inventiveness, which is never dragged down by the weight of any deep
allegorical concerns, nor is it so desperate to have fun that it
becomes an exercise in hyper-hipster kitsch, like The Fifth Element.
You have a sense of the genuine attention paid to the story by its
creator. George Lucas really means it, Buddhist-Taoist-Manichean
symbolism, wipe-clean totalitarian chic, neurotic robots, Freudian
fantasy and all. And of course there's the sheer coolness of the light
sabres, the spectacle of Harrison Ford pouting his way through the
story as though it's a zero-gravity version of American Gigolo and the
creation of one of the best villain icons in film. It's amazing what
you can do with a Vocoder and a black plastic mask.
Missed opportunity turns ugly
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldbriefing/story/0,,2095655,00.html
Simon Tisdall
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Since marching unexpectedly on to the world stage in 2000, Vladimir
Putin has by turns baffled, encouraged and outraged Russia's
international interlocutors. But in one key respect, the former KGB
officer with a smile like broken ice has been remarkably consistent.
After the humiliations of the Yeltsin years, he set out to re-
establish Russia as a force to be reckoned with. And now he has
achieved it.
His aim could have been achieved in collaboration with the west;
instead Russia's reassertive power is now defined in opposition to it.
It might have been different. Ignoring Chechnya and other raw nerves,
Tony Blair tried hard to befriend Mr Putin in 2000, regaling him with
shirt-sleeve bonhomie in a Moscow bierkeller. George Bush famously
declared, when the two first met in 2001, that he had glimpsed Mr
Putin's soul and liked what he saw.
Back to nature
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2095401,00.html
Overprotective parents, too much TV and not enough time to mooch
around mean most children now know more about the Amazonian rainforest
than their nearest riverbank. It's time to fight this 'nature-deficit
disorder', says Stephen Moss
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Memories are sometimes the best thing about encounters with wildlife.
I can remember walking through the sun-lit meadow, net in hand, in
search of our quarry. With a deft sweep of the net it was ours: a
stunning male orange-tip butterfly, a wondrous sight to a child's
eyes. On our way home, we picked daisies and buttercups, and listened
to the chorus of spring birdsong.
But I don't need to cast my mind back decades, or even years, to
recall this idyllic moment. It happened last month, as I tried to give
my own young children a genuine, hands-on experience of nature.
Bush flies into missile storm with Putin
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2095534,00.html
=B7 Europe tour may anger Kremlin before G8 summit
=B7 Moscow comments are unhelpful, says Nato
Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Luke Harding in Moscow
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
President George Bush yesterday flew to Europe where he will confront
Vladimir Putin over US plans to base a new missile defence system in
former Russian satellite countries.
The White House described as unhelpful a warning by Mr Putin that if
the US goes ahead with its plan, Russia will retaliate by training its
missiles on European targets. Echoing the White House line, a Nato
spokesman, James Appathurai, said: "These kind of comments are
unhelpful and unwelcome."
Guant=E1namo trials in chaos after judge throws out two cases
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,2095552,00.html
=B7 Technicality applies to all 385 inmates, colonel rules
=B7 Canadian and Bin Laden's driver see cases dismissed
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
The Bush administration's plans to bring detainees at Guant=E1namo Bay
to trial were thrown into chaos yesterday when military judges threw
out all charges against a detainee held there since he was 15 and
dismissed charges against another detainee who chauffeured Osama bin
Laden.
In back-to-back arraignments for the Canadian Omar Khadr and Salim
Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni national, the US military's cases against the
alleged al-Qaida figures were dismissed because, the judges said, the
government had failed to establish jurisdiction.
Six days of war, 40 years of failure
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2095621,00.html
The world was gripped by Israel's swift triumph in 1967. But today the
bitter conflict with the Palestinians seems more intractable than
ever
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
It was Moshe Dayan, the hero of Israel's 1967 victory, who set the
tone for what was to follow: "We are waiting for a telephone call,"
the one-eyed general said disdainfully as the frontline Arab states -
Egypt, Jordan and Syria - reeled from their crushing defeat. Of the
Palestinians - the newly conquered population of East Jerusalem, the
West Bank and Gaza Strip - little was said at the time. But the six-
day war put them back at centre stage in their conflict with Israel.
They have stayed there ever since.
"Rarely has so short and localised a conflict had such prolonged,
global consequences," commented the historian Michael Oren. "Seldom
has the world's attention been gripped, and remained seized, by a
single event and its ramifications." Israel's triumph, someone else
observed wisely, was "a cursed blessing".
Britain to urge US to set climate goal
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2095531,00.html
=B7 Bush has responsibility to world, Miliband will say
=B7 Pressure grows ahead of this week's G8 summit
Patrick Wintour and Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Britain will today step up the pressure on George Bush to commit
himself at this week's G8 summit to a specific target on cutting
greenhouse gas emissions. David Miliband, the environment secretary,
will travel to Washington to warn that the US has a responsibility to
save the world from "a climate change implosion", just as it had a
responsibility to save Europe from fascism in the 20th century.
He will describe President Bush's speech last week as a first step
forward, but will pointedly say that 2007 is the year of decision. Mr
Bush's speech was welcomed overall by Britain, but criticised by
campaigners who feared it was calculated to disrupt moves towards a
global deal on emissions. Mr Bush suggested that it would be possible
to defer until 2008 talks on a UN framework to replace the Kyoto
targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which expire in 2012.
Taylor boycotts start of his war crimes trial
http://www.guardian.co.uk/westafrica/story/0,,2095639,00.html
=B7 Liberia's ex-leader claims he will not get fair hearing
=B7 Conflict ugliest in living memory, says prosecutor
David Pallister
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Liberia's former president, Charles Taylor, failed to appear at the
opening of his trial for war crimes in The Hague yesterday, with his
English lawyer walking out of the court after a furious row with the
presiding judge. The prolonged disruption, coupled with embarrassing
procedural confusions, delayed the first ever trial of a former
African head of state for crimes against humanity.
During the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, between 1996 and
2002, it is alleged that Mr Taylor supported the main rebel group
there, the Revolutionary United Front, in order to exploit the
country's resources, especially diamonds, which were used to buy guns
and ammunition. He is accused of having directed child soldiers,
fuelled with drugs and alcohol, to kill their parents in a conflict
that saw tens of thousands of murders, mutilations and rapes.
Soldiers seized in Baghdad ambush are all dead, says video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2095641,00.html
Ed Pilkington in New York
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of insurgents that
includes al-Qaida in Iraq, released a video yesterday in which it
claimed to have killed all three American soldiers who went missing in
the country last month.
The body of one of the three was found floating in the Euphrates two
weeks ago and identified as Private Joseph Anzack. A postmortem showed
he had been tortured and then shot twice. The status of the other two
captives, Private Byron Fouty and Specialist Alex Jimenez, had
remained unconfirmed.
'Pearl of Kamchatka' geysers lost under mudslide lake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2095579,00.html
Luke Harding in Moscow
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
It is one of the world's last natural wonders, a lunar landscape of
spewing volcanic craters and gurgling eruptions. But yesterday
environmentalists were assessing the damage done by a landslide to one
of Russia's most famous attractions.
The Valley of the Geysers in the Kronotsky national reserve has 90 or
so geysers and a dazzling array of thermal pools.
The valley is the most popular tourist attraction in the far-east
region of Kamchatka - even if visitors must be rich enough to fly in
by helicopter before walking beside geothermals blasting off mud and
steam.
Fighting between Islamists and Lebanese spreads south
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,2095583,00.html
Clancy Chassay in Nahr al-Bared
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Fighting between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army has spread
to the southern refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh as Fatah Islam's deputy
commander predicted that other Sunni fighters would join the
confrontation.
"Soon there will be an official statement in the name of Fatah Islam
partisans, and we will start to see an expansion [to the fighting in
the north], and there will be a similar military situation there [Ain
al-Hilweh]," said Abu Hureira, Fatah al-Islam's deputy commander.
Russian ban on body parts exports hits drug testing firm
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2095456,00.html
Terry Macalister
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
The Russian government has cited fears of bioterrorism for a sudden
decision to ban the export of body parts and human tissues, a move
that has hit the drug testing industry.
Shares in Asterand, which undertakes clinical trials for some of the
world's biggest pharmaceutical groups, plummeted 22% yesterday, making
it the biggest faller on the main London stock market.
Martyn Coombs, the Asterand chief executive in Britain, said: "Any
company sourcing supplies from Russia is vulnerable to this kind of
sudden change in regulations. To the extent that these exports affect
supply of biological materials to Asterand, we will work on mitigating
the impact of these restrictions and on contingency planning as a
priority."
Massacres and paramilitary land seizures behind the biofuel revolution
http://www.guardian.co.uk/colombia/story/0,,2095348,00.html
=B7 Colombian farmers driven out as armed groups profit
=B7 Lucrative 'green' crop less risky to grow than coca
Oliver Balch in Mutat and Rory Carroll in Cartagena
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Armed groups in Colombia are driving peasants off their land to make
way for plantations of palm oil, a biofuel that is being promoted as
an environmentally friendly source of energy.
Surging demand for "green" fuel has prompted rightwing paramilitaries
to seize swaths of territory, according to activists and farmers.
Thousands of families are believed to have fled a campaign of killing
and intimidation, swelling Colombia's population of 3 million
displaced people and adding to one of the world's worst refugee crises
after Darfur and Congo.
Musharraf closes TV stations as democracy calls grow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2095603,00.html
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
President Pervez Musharraf has cracked down on Pakistan's television
networks in a move against growing calls for a return to democracy.
Several stations were taken off the air at the weekend and yesterday
Gen Musharraf introduced emergency legislation providing for stiff
fines and the closure of channels deemed to have broken the law.
The military-dominated government is angry at what it calls
"sensationalist" coverage of the crisis surrounding the suspended
chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. On Sunday the largest
channel, Geo News, which claims 30 million viewers, was taken off air
after it ignored warnings not to broadcast a popular current affairs
show.
New fears of state takeover of BP gas field
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,2095611,00.html
Terry Macalister
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Vladimir Putin turned up the pressure on Britain's biggest company
yesterday saying it was intolerable that BP and its local partners
were "doing nothing" to meet their obligations by fully developing
Kovykta, a huge gas field in Siberia.
The president's words will increase fears within BP that the state
could try to effectively take over its Russian business by buying up a
half share in the TNK-BP joint venture.
"I would like to stress that the [Kovykta] field has reserves of three
trillion cubic metres. To understand its importance for our country,
it is equal to almost all reserves of Canada," said Mr Putin in an
interview posted on his website, www.kremlin.ru. "But if members of
the consortium are doing nothing to meet licence obligations, how much
longer do we have to tolerate this?"
Rats show gene cure can help in impotence
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2095576,00.html
James Randerson
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
Scientists are a step closer to curing erectile dysfunction with gene
therapy following prostate or bladder surgery. The technique, which
involves stimulating the growth of a crucial nerve during surgery, has
been successfully tested in rats. The next stage will be safety trials
in human patients.
Men undergoing bladder surgery or removal of a prostate tumour
frequently suffer damage to a nerve crucial in controlling erection.
This can take months or weeks to heal, if at all, and drug treatments
for erectile dysfunction such as Viagra are not effective. Prostate
cancer is the most common cancer in men.
Divide and rule?
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2094952,00.html
The move to boycott Israel will damage research and, ultimately,
efforts to foster peace in the region. Colin Shindler reports
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The Guardian
As reader in Israeli studies at Soas, University of London, I teach
the Israel-Palestine conflict to large classes that include
Palestinians, Israelis, Jews and Muslims. I do this without any
difficulties in the multicultural environment at Soas, and I work hard
for all my students. I am also a loyal trade unionist. While my union,
the University and College Union (UCU), does not directly call for a
boycott of Israeli academic institutions - presumably for fear of
legal action - the spirit of last week's motion is just that.
The UCU initiative effectively hinders me in doing my job, since it
frowns upon contacts with Israeli universities and, implicitly, with
its academics. It would impede archival research. Should I now tell my
students who spend time researching in Israel not to do so? If they
disregard this advice, how should I approach the eventual marking of
their theses?
Democrat rivals clash over Iraq and healthcare
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2614538.ece
By Leonard Doyle in Manchester, New Hampshire
Published: 05 June 2007
Sixteen United States flags flapped in a bracing wind at a truck stop
where the first of two New Hampshire presidential campaign debates
took place on Sunday night.
A trucker waiting in line for his coffee turned to a woman in uniform:
"I just want to thank you," he told the soldier, a sergeant in the New
Hampshire National Guard. "You're welcome," she replied as though such
encounters with strangers were commonplace.
The nuclear stand-off in Europe between US and Russia
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2614597.ece
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 05 June 2007
Vladimir Putin's threat to once again target western Europe with
Russian missiles brought back the spectre of the worst days of the
Cold War and the start of a new arms race.
Taken at its bleakest interpretation this would mean that a whole
swathe of military targets, some in cities such as London and
Brussels, will in future be considered legitimate targets for Russian
attack.
Reunited with images which defined the Six-Day War
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2614570.ece
By Donald Macintyre in Marka refugee camp, Jordan
Published: 05 June 2007
Mohammed Kardash, 73, was speechless yesterday as he examined =AD for
the first time in his life =AD the pictures of him packing up for the
hurried flight from the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza all those long
years ago.
After a very long pause, he said: "It brings back all the memories."
And the images captured by a photographer from the UN's refugee agency
UNRWA when Mohammed was too busy to notice certainly did that.
An appeal for Africa: A lesson in the benefit of aid
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2614534.ece
Fresh from promoting his latest film, Bill Nighy travelled to Tanzania
to see how the G8 can help some of the world's poorest people
Published: 05 June 2007
Sunday: Arusha
It's late but still warm when we arrived in Kilimanjaro. I've only
been to Africa once before - to Kenya for a film called The Constant
Gardener where I remained confined to the set so didn't see very much
at all. It has been an extraordinary three weeks: I have been to LA to
launch Pirates of the Caribbean III and then to Tokyo to do the same
thing. To come from Tokyo - one of the most technologically advanced
and affluent cities - in the world, to Africa is an unexpected shift.
I'm not quite sure what's in store for me. I'm here to do something
useful, I hope. I feel a great degree of responsibility and it's not
something I'm used to, but I'm anxious to be of maximum use. Tonight
we'll stay in Arusha - about 40 minutes from the airport - and
probably the last comfortable place we'll be for a few days.
G8 nations urged to stand by Gleneagles Aids pledge
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2614598.ece
By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent
Published: 05 June 2007
The world's richest nations were urged not to back away from pledges
to tackle poverty in Africa as a leaked communiqu=E9 from this week's G8
summit suggested that plans to tackle Aids would fall far short of
demand.
Campaigners expressed anger that the document pledged to provide life-
saving antiretroviral drugs for five million Aids sufferers, just half
of the 10 million expected to have the disease in Africa by 2010.
Yelena Tregubova: Why I fled Putin's Russia. And why the West must
appease him no longer
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2614548.ece
An open letter to the G8 from the best-selling author and prominent
critic of the Putin regime
Published: 05 June 2007
I have personal experience of Vladimir Putin's regime and the way the
Russian President operates. I have been forced to seek asylum in
Britain for criticising the Kremlin as an independent journalist. I
have come to realise that to return to my homeland would be suicidal
for me.
But this letter is not about me. I am writing to you because I fear
that a tragedy is befalling Russia, with the restrictions on political
and personal freedoms worsening every day. Having done away with the
domestic opposition, Putin, on the eve of the G8 summit, has now
decided to deal with the external "enemies".
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| User: "Thurisaz, Germanic barbarian" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Our Germania |
05 Jun 2007 01:34:32 PM |
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maff:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/edward_pearce/2007/06/our_germania.html
Fans of France's recently elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy, should
pay more attention. What was the first thing he did after being given
the nuclear codes? Why, he flew off to Berlin to kiss hands with
Angela Merkel, who is Chancellor of Germany - and also supreme ruler
of France. When will people grasp what the European Union is all
about?
Supreme ruler of France?
MERKEL?!
Frankly, the only thing I've seen her being capable of is masking the
still-lurking trouble and problems in our country with a female smile.
Well, more or less female. *cough cough*
I hardly consider her something resembling a chancellor of Germany... let
alone anything worthwhile in the governmental structures or spheres of
influence in any other country.
Of course that's just my opinion... oh well.
--
"To his friend a man a friend shall prove, and gifts with gifts requite;
But men shall mocking with mockery answer, and fraud with falsehood meet."
(The Poetic Edda)
Must have been written with fundies in mind...
My personal judgment of monotheism:
http://www.carcosa.de/nojebus
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