The draft European Constitution, which still awaits approval by the people of Europe, will in the meantime be launched into outer space.
EUROPA - Rapid - Press Releases
Extract from the press release:
"Once in orbit, the Constitution will circle not only Europe, but the globe. It is to be hoped that this symbol of European identity will be welcomed by both Europeans and their counterparts throughout the world."
Indeed. It is also to be hoped that the people who dreamt this one up will be sacked without further ado.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Friday, February 11, 2005
Nazi and Communist Symbols Equally Offensive, Says People´s Party
Last month, Franco Frattini, Vice President of the EU Commission, proposed banning Nazi symbols across Europe.
Nobody hates Nazis more than this blog does, but Frattini´s proposal is pettyfogging interference of the worst kind: it will prove ineffective (as experience in Germany has shown) and counterproductive.
Now Eastern European MPs, in a fit of reductio ad absurdam, are demanding that if swastikas are to be outlawed, then hammers and sickles should be binned as well.
The effects on fancy dress parties across Europe are incalculable. Let´s hope Frattini and his fellow activist chums on the European Commission see sense before they proceed with this act of mad censorship.
Corriere.it
Nobody hates Nazis more than this blog does, but Frattini´s proposal is pettyfogging interference of the worst kind: it will prove ineffective (as experience in Germany has shown) and counterproductive.
Now Eastern European MPs, in a fit of reductio ad absurdam, are demanding that if swastikas are to be outlawed, then hammers and sickles should be binned as well.
The effects on fancy dress parties across Europe are incalculable. Let´s hope Frattini and his fellow activist chums on the European Commission see sense before they proceed with this act of mad censorship.
Corriere.it
Germany Won't Prosecute Rumsfeld but Annan Wins Medal
It looks like Donald Rumsfeld can enter Germany without running the risk of being arrested as a suspected war criminal, says Germany´s Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm.
Rumsfeld was in Nice earlier this week before making his surprise visit to Iraq. He´s been weighing up whether to attend the Conference on Security Policy in Munich, which starts later, but fears of being arrested means he´ll be represented there today by Paul Wolfowitz.
Kofi Annan of the UN (who is not under threat of arrest in Germany either) will be presented with the Conference´s Peace Plaque, for the conference´s theme is "Peace through Dialogue" - an approach which is famously more Annan´s cup of tea than Rumsfeld´s!
Germany Won't Prosecute Rumsfeld Germany Deutsche Welle
Rumsfeld was in Nice earlier this week before making his surprise visit to Iraq. He´s been weighing up whether to attend the Conference on Security Policy in Munich, which starts later, but fears of being arrested means he´ll be represented there today by Paul Wolfowitz.
Kofi Annan of the UN (who is not under threat of arrest in Germany either) will be presented with the Conference´s Peace Plaque, for the conference´s theme is "Peace through Dialogue" - an approach which is famously more Annan´s cup of tea than Rumsfeld´s!
Germany Won't Prosecute Rumsfeld Germany Deutsche Welle
Moron Defends Doubling MPs Pay
Edgar Moron, the Chairman of the Nordrhein-Westphalen socialist SPD party, today defends the proposal to double MP´s pay to 9500 euros per month.
Moron dismissed opposition suggestions that doubling their salaries might not be the best move, politically, at a time of record unemployment (over 5 million people are out of work in Germany). Moron said that such criticism smacked of "populism" and advised the opposition CDU party not to "isolate itself further" on the matter. Moron´s barefaced cheek in shouting down any criticism of his fat-cat package can only be seen as recklessly honest.
Edgar Moron MdL
In fairness to Moron, the doubling of the MPs salary will coincide with the removal of some tax-free benefits. All the same, it´s a damn fine paypacket for a part-time job, most taxpayers would agree.
Moron dismissed opposition suggestions that doubling their salaries might not be the best move, politically, at a time of record unemployment (over 5 million people are out of work in Germany). Moron said that such criticism smacked of "populism" and advised the opposition CDU party not to "isolate itself further" on the matter. Moron´s barefaced cheek in shouting down any criticism of his fat-cat package can only be seen as recklessly honest.
Edgar Moron MdL
In fairness to Moron, the doubling of the MPs salary will coincide with the removal of some tax-free benefits. All the same, it´s a damn fine paypacket for a part-time job, most taxpayers would agree.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Russian Missile Makes U.S. Defences Obsolete?
Today´s Moscow News not only states that Russia´s new Topol missile can get round US Star Wars defences, but implies that Iran and North Korea are trying to get their hands on it..
New Russian Topol Missile Makes U.S. Defenses Obsolete?? Expert - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
New Russian Topol Missile Makes U.S. Defenses Obsolete?? Expert - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Film Festival Opens in North Korea
In a dramatic development in North Korea, a ten day film festival has opened as part of the run-up to nationwide celebrations of the birth of leader Kim Jong Il on 16 February.
One of the highlights of the festival will be the seminal feature "Holding Great Brilliant Commander in High Esteem" which concerns Kim Jong Il´s feats of arms in spearheading the Songun revolution to glory.
Say what you like about the North Koreans, they certainly know how to celebrate with a bang!
News From KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK
One of the highlights of the festival will be the seminal feature "Holding Great Brilliant Commander in High Esteem" which concerns Kim Jong Il´s feats of arms in spearheading the Songun revolution to glory.
Say what you like about the North Koreans, they certainly know how to celebrate with a bang!
News From KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK
The Royal Engagement: Trials of Foffi and Sweety (3)
Prince Ferfried von Hohenzollern ("Foffi") and his gorgeous bride-to-be, tragic widow Tatjana Gsell ("Sweety"), could tell Prince Charles and Camilla a thing or two about star-crossed romances (See The Prince and the Widow below), but with characteristic modesty, they haven´t spoken out on the matter yet.
Instead, they have been fending off an extraordinary deluge of lèse majesté. Many mocked them for the John Lennon-inspired "bed-in", with which they got the Ball rolling in Vienna last week. And yet who shall deny that a bit of love, peace and understanding is sorely needed in these horrid times? And who better to show the way than the shapely, pouting widow and her prancing Prince Foffi?
This blog called on the people of Vienna to honour the new royal pair (see Foffi and Sweety 2 below). It seems that Vienna has not responded with quite the enthusiasm which is Foffi and Sweety´s due. Their Right Royal Highnesses appear not to have had such a ripping time at the Ball - there were a lot of upstarts and, frankly, frightfully common characters there, of course, and the social mix was to neither Foffi´s nor Sweety´s liking.
But this blog will not desert them in this their hour of social purgatory. Let us be the first to acclaim the lovely couple´s dazzling performance. And until royalty is afforded the respect it deserves in Europe (a long wait, I fear), we shall simply have to stiffen our upper lips into a snarl of defiant contempt each time Foffi and Sweety´s names are dragged through the mud by that rabble of recalcitrant republican rascals.
Instead, they have been fending off an extraordinary deluge of lèse majesté. Many mocked them for the John Lennon-inspired "bed-in", with which they got the Ball rolling in Vienna last week. And yet who shall deny that a bit of love, peace and understanding is sorely needed in these horrid times? And who better to show the way than the shapely, pouting widow and her prancing Prince Foffi?
This blog called on the people of Vienna to honour the new royal pair (see Foffi and Sweety 2 below). It seems that Vienna has not responded with quite the enthusiasm which is Foffi and Sweety´s due. Their Right Royal Highnesses appear not to have had such a ripping time at the Ball - there were a lot of upstarts and, frankly, frightfully common characters there, of course, and the social mix was to neither Foffi´s nor Sweety´s liking.
But this blog will not desert them in this their hour of social purgatory. Let us be the first to acclaim the lovely couple´s dazzling performance. And until royalty is afforded the respect it deserves in Europe (a long wait, I fear), we shall simply have to stiffen our upper lips into a snarl of defiant contempt each time Foffi and Sweety´s names are dragged through the mud by that rabble of recalcitrant republican rascals.
NATO and Iraq
The US is preparing the ground for NATO to take on a bigger role in Iraq.
NATO as a body has been broadly supportive of President Bush´s approach after 9/11, something recently reconfirmed, in the most ringing tones, by NATO´s Dutch Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who said of the Iraq elections that "Bush was right... and the cynics were wrong."
If the US seeks support from NATO, it´ll be pushing at an open door. The last thing de Hoop Scheffer wants is to follow poor Kofi Annan on the road to perdition.
Rice, Rumsfeld Make Overtures to NATO (washingtonpost.com)
NATO as a body has been broadly supportive of President Bush´s approach after 9/11, something recently reconfirmed, in the most ringing tones, by NATO´s Dutch Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who said of the Iraq elections that "Bush was right... and the cynics were wrong."
If the US seeks support from NATO, it´ll be pushing at an open door. The last thing de Hoop Scheffer wants is to follow poor Kofi Annan on the road to perdition.
Rice, Rumsfeld Make Overtures to NATO (washingtonpost.com)
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
ETA bombs Madrid
This morning´s bomb, the worst since the al Qaeda train bombing of March last year, was preceded by a telephone warning from the Basque separatist ETA group. 43 people were injured. As predicted here on January 14th, it appears ETA won´t accept any dilution of plans for autonomy. The bomb happened despite the fact that a referendum on the matter is set for April.
World News Article Reuters.co.uk
A separate fall-out is that this bomb may well represent the end of the road for Madrid´s hopes of hosting the 2012 Olympics. It offers a grisly coda to the Olympic Committee´s visit of last week, reminding everyone that Spain has home-grown terrorists to destabilise it as well.
World News Article Reuters.co.uk
A separate fall-out is that this bomb may well represent the end of the road for Madrid´s hopes of hosting the 2012 Olympics. It offers a grisly coda to the Olympic Committee´s visit of last week, reminding everyone that Spain has home-grown terrorists to destabilise it as well.
Moron says Government´s critics undermine democracy
A few days ago I mentioned that record-high jobless figures in Germany were causing political unrest. Edmund Stoiber, leader of the CSU, said that increased unemployment could cause increased support for extremist groups such as the neo-Nazi NPD, with its seats in the Saxony parliament. Although his remarks were harmless enough (and he has been reiterating them in Passau today), German politicians have been queuing up to scorn the "irresponsible" Stoiber for daring to bring the topic up.
Now Edgar Moron, Chairman of the socialist SPD party in Nordrhein-Westphalen, wades in with his own measured contribution. He says that to criticise Chancellor Schroeder by linking his government to unemployment and so to neo-Nazis is to undermine the very foundations of German democracy.
Funny, that. I´d always thought that criticising your government - especially when unemployment goes through the roof - was an eminently respectable and democratic thing to do. I clearly needed a Moron to put me in the right about that one.
Moron´s remarks were released on his own website earlier today:
Edgar Moron MdL
As the mudslinging continues, it is hard to see exactly who - apart from the NPD and the childish politicians themselves - will benefit from this Moronic attempt to seize the moral high-ground. Shutting down a debate about unemployment, its causes and its consequences, is unworthy of such a senior politician. Yet this is what Herr Moron is trying to do. None of this posturing will do anything to reduce unemployment. Edgar Moron should hang his head in shame.
Now Edgar Moron, Chairman of the socialist SPD party in Nordrhein-Westphalen, wades in with his own measured contribution. He says that to criticise Chancellor Schroeder by linking his government to unemployment and so to neo-Nazis is to undermine the very foundations of German democracy.
Funny, that. I´d always thought that criticising your government - especially when unemployment goes through the roof - was an eminently respectable and democratic thing to do. I clearly needed a Moron to put me in the right about that one.
Moron´s remarks were released on his own website earlier today:
Edgar Moron MdL
As the mudslinging continues, it is hard to see exactly who - apart from the NPD and the childish politicians themselves - will benefit from this Moronic attempt to seize the moral high-ground. Shutting down a debate about unemployment, its causes and its consequences, is unworthy of such a senior politician. Yet this is what Herr Moron is trying to do. None of this posturing will do anything to reduce unemployment. Edgar Moron should hang his head in shame.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Europe's Soft Power: the "Invisible Hand"
This richly comic article by Mark Leonard, foreign policy director of the pro-EU think-tank the Centre for European Reform, contrasts Europe´s "soft" with the USA´s "hard" power.
Leonard prophesies that the soft variant will rule the world, and that we will all soon be living in the "New European Century". Among claims that Europe has dragged "successive waves of countries out of dictatorship and into democracy", he is also remarkably forthright about the way the EU´s soft power insinuates itself into national institutions, chameleon-like, so as to defuse opposition. By disguising itself as weakness, Leonard writes, European power suffers none of the hostility aroused by American power. As a result, the European Way will become the World´s Way before too long, and the USA will be sidelined.
Europe's transformative power by Mark Leonard
Leonard prophesies that the soft variant will rule the world, and that we will all soon be living in the "New European Century". Among claims that Europe has dragged "successive waves of countries out of dictatorship and into democracy", he is also remarkably forthright about the way the EU´s soft power insinuates itself into national institutions, chameleon-like, so as to defuse opposition. By disguising itself as weakness, Leonard writes, European power suffers none of the hostility aroused by American power. As a result, the European Way will become the World´s Way before too long, and the USA will be sidelined.
Europe's transformative power by Mark Leonard
Visa Scandal Enmeshes Fischer
For the second time in as many months, a high profile minister has enmeshed himself in a tricky visa scandal. First it was David Blunkett, who came unstuck in the UK having fast-tracked his lover´s nanny´s visa application. This time the scandal´s in Germany, and it´s Joschka Fischer´s turn.
Unlike Blunkett, however, who restricted himself to just the one visa, the German Foreign Minister fast-tracked the visas of millions. Not all of these people - maybe none of them - were his lovers. For he wasn´t deluded, as Blunkett was, by personal love of a woman, but by his blinkered Green Party enthusiasm for economic migrants of all sorts.
And all sorts seems to be precisely what he, and Germany, have got. Despite receiving warnings from all sides that his policy was a disaster in the making, Fischer stuck to it, with the result that the German consulate in Kiev alone - to take just one example - processed nearly a million visas in the 4 years to October 2004. It is a prime example of something noted before, that the Greens have ditched most of their beliefs and principles, but those few which still survive, such as the liberal encouragement of immigration into Germany, can still do untold damage (see Peaceniks and Realpolitik - Germany´s Greens post of 13th January).
The scandal is unlikely to sink Fischer, though. He´s pivotal to the SPD/Green coalition government, and won´t be dispensed with for a mere bagatelle like towering incompetence and putting party dogma before the interests of his country.
Unlike Blunkett, however, who restricted himself to just the one visa, the German Foreign Minister fast-tracked the visas of millions. Not all of these people - maybe none of them - were his lovers. For he wasn´t deluded, as Blunkett was, by personal love of a woman, but by his blinkered Green Party enthusiasm for economic migrants of all sorts.
And all sorts seems to be precisely what he, and Germany, have got. Despite receiving warnings from all sides that his policy was a disaster in the making, Fischer stuck to it, with the result that the German consulate in Kiev alone - to take just one example - processed nearly a million visas in the 4 years to October 2004. It is a prime example of something noted before, that the Greens have ditched most of their beliefs and principles, but those few which still survive, such as the liberal encouragement of immigration into Germany, can still do untold damage (see Peaceniks and Realpolitik - Germany´s Greens post of 13th January).
The scandal is unlikely to sink Fischer, though. He´s pivotal to the SPD/Green coalition government, and won´t be dispensed with for a mere bagatelle like towering incompetence and putting party dogma before the interests of his country.
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