Markos Kyprianou, the EU Commissioner for Goats, has looked at some figures showing European obesity is fast catching up with US levels. It´s the only area in which the EU is less than 20 years behind the US. The obesity is affecting not the goats Kyprianou has been testing (see EU Tests 200,000 Goats), but humans.
But instead of celebrating this great good fortune and announcing an end to hunger in the EU, Kyprianou immediately says there's an "epidemic" on and calls for tax money to be spent to tell people that the more they eat, the fatter they get.
Kyprianou began quite promisingly earlier this year when he identified a dangerous tendency amongst goats sometimes to get sick. His response was that more money needed to be spent to test the goats and tell their masters how to stop their goats getting sick again.
But now Kyprianou, perhaps encouraged by his great success among the goats, is simply repeating the reflex formula: spend more tax money to tell people what they already know. It's actionism, pure and simple - no good will come of it and Kyprianou should find something useful to do before the Curse of von Esens sweeps him away into the unregarded footnotes of history.
EUobserver.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
John O'Neill of the Swift Boats Vets
The link is to an article on John O'Neill, and how, in the face of mainstream US media indifference and apathy, he got out the story about John Kerry's Vietnam service, effectively forcing Kerry to abandon his heroic pose. This story is an instant classic and confirms - for those who remain sceptical - just how strong the oft-cited "liberal bias" really was.
The American Enterprise: John O'Neill
The American Enterprise: John O'Neill
Nazi Jibes Hurt Turkey
Turkey is going through a sticky patch as far as its international image is concerned.
Last week a lot of publicity attended a brutal police clampdown of a women's demo, this week we learn how Hitler's Mein Kampf is a runaway bestseller in Turkey.
The EU is watching all this with a beady eye, wondering which politically correct attitude to assume. The unpleasantness compromises Turkey's EU accession ambitions.
Another incident is muddying the waters: on February 25th 2005, Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily stopped the distribution of Vakit, a Turkish paper in Germany (circulation in Turkey: 60,000). The paper had been reported for anti-semitism last year but had continued to write anti-Jewish, Holocaust-denying pieces - a crime in Germany.
Germany's interior minister has the power to close down papers without the need for a court order or other formalities. The Turkish paper clearly believes this power is overweening and has been mocking Schily since the shutdown - writing of his "Hitler-methods" and saying "The Oven's Ready!" in reference to Schily's alleged desire to burn the paper. Vakit is positioning the issue as one of freedom of speech; the German political mainstream sees it as shutting down a fount of criminal anti-Jewish propaganda.
Schily is now asking his Turkish counteparts to help him out in taming the paper's Nazi comparisons. It'll be interesting to see how much power his Turkish colleagues have to modulate a paper's stance in light of Turkey's wish to be salonfähig for the EU. But it's a shame that this censorship is being foisted onto the Turks at a time when they may have hoped they'd finally put such things behind them.
(Link in Turkish only: H?rriyetim)
Last week a lot of publicity attended a brutal police clampdown of a women's demo, this week we learn how Hitler's Mein Kampf is a runaway bestseller in Turkey.
The EU is watching all this with a beady eye, wondering which politically correct attitude to assume. The unpleasantness compromises Turkey's EU accession ambitions.
Another incident is muddying the waters: on February 25th 2005, Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily stopped the distribution of Vakit, a Turkish paper in Germany (circulation in Turkey: 60,000). The paper had been reported for anti-semitism last year but had continued to write anti-Jewish, Holocaust-denying pieces - a crime in Germany.
Germany's interior minister has the power to close down papers without the need for a court order or other formalities. The Turkish paper clearly believes this power is overweening and has been mocking Schily since the shutdown - writing of his "Hitler-methods" and saying "The Oven's Ready!" in reference to Schily's alleged desire to burn the paper. Vakit is positioning the issue as one of freedom of speech; the German political mainstream sees it as shutting down a fount of criminal anti-Jewish propaganda.
Schily is now asking his Turkish counteparts to help him out in taming the paper's Nazi comparisons. It'll be interesting to see how much power his Turkish colleagues have to modulate a paper's stance in light of Turkey's wish to be salonfähig for the EU. But it's a shame that this censorship is being foisted onto the Turks at a time when they may have hoped they'd finally put such things behind them.
(Link in Turkish only: H?rriyetim)
Monday, March 14, 2005
Beirut Protests
Today around half a million protesters are demonstrating in Beirut to keep up the momentum against the Syrian-backed government. The demonstrators accuse their government of murdering ex-PM Hariri.
The US, meanwhile, is keeping up the pressure on Syria to get its troops and intelligence advisors out before the Lebanese elections. And Syria has been making moves to be seen to comply.
All of this sounds like good news, and one is almost disappointed to find that the EU is not busily attempting to sell Syria some weapons or surveillance systems to help deal with this pesky demonstration of "people power". The Russians were quicker off the mark in that respect. Maybe, the blog reflects, the EU effort is going on behind the scenes. The beans will be spilled soon enough, we'll warrant.
Naharnet News Desk
The US, meanwhile, is keeping up the pressure on Syria to get its troops and intelligence advisors out before the Lebanese elections. And Syria has been making moves to be seen to comply.
All of this sounds like good news, and one is almost disappointed to find that the EU is not busily attempting to sell Syria some weapons or surveillance systems to help deal with this pesky demonstration of "people power". The Russians were quicker off the mark in that respect. Maybe, the blog reflects, the EU effort is going on behind the scenes. The beans will be spilled soon enough, we'll warrant.
Naharnet News Desk
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Country Branding
Clay Risen´s article looks at country branding. It's especially difficult for democracies to do, because a change of government and its policies by definition lead to an inconsistency of message which is anathema to brand-building. As a result, "country branding", inasmusch as it claims to do anything beyond burnishing a country's timeless values, or selling a particular product or set of services, is a misnomer. Too many of the impulses which shape a country's brand values are beyond the control of the country's (hypothetical) brand manager. If it's about selling a specific country's specific policy or strategic direction, it really boils down to PR or spin, which are already much in use. Or, come to that, diplomacy, which may have an old-fashioned ring to it but was always about the distinctly modern pursuit of being "sent abroad to lie for one's country".
Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Ideas / Re-branding America
Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Ideas / Re-branding America
Saturday, March 12, 2005
North Korea Threatens Nuclear War
In the attached release from the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea's news agency, the US is warned it will set off a nuclear war if it proceeds with a planned "test war" aimed at "stifling (the DPRK) by force of arms." Should this come to pass, North Korea will forcibly remove all threats to it from the Korean peninsula using the nuclear weaponry available to it.
The world evoked in the current batch of North Korean press releases has a distinctly overheated temper: it is an otherworld peopled by cartoon citizens, veering between manic extremes of icy condemnation and unrestrained happiness. Japanese traitors are "flailed" in one story, whilst in another, we learn that for the past 30 days, people of more than 100 nations have been gaily celebrating a fete in honour of Kim Il Jong's birthday. This blog's invite must have got lost in the post. For a bit of comic relief, the paragraph "US-Advertised ´Freedom and Democracy´ Debunked" has a pungent, nostalgic effectiveness.
But that threat of nuclear war takes the biscuit and no good will come of it.
News From KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK
The world evoked in the current batch of North Korean press releases has a distinctly overheated temper: it is an otherworld peopled by cartoon citizens, veering between manic extremes of icy condemnation and unrestrained happiness. Japanese traitors are "flailed" in one story, whilst in another, we learn that for the past 30 days, people of more than 100 nations have been gaily celebrating a fete in honour of Kim Il Jong's birthday. This blog's invite must have got lost in the post. For a bit of comic relief, the paragraph "US-Advertised ´Freedom and Democracy´ Debunked" has a pungent, nostalgic effectiveness.
But that threat of nuclear war takes the biscuit and no good will come of it.
News From KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK
Friday, March 11, 2005
How Sick Is the EU?
A study released today claims that Europe´s economic performance is at least 20 years behind that of the US.
It sounds like the study and its timing is primarily designed to provoke controversy and publicity for its creators, an organisation called Eurochambres. Even so, it will be interesting to see the EU Commission´s reaction, and how quickly it gets round to rubbishing the report's data and conclusions. A good case for Margot Wallstrom (see Margot´s Nice Blog) and her communications team to get to grips with. It would be depressing if they just ignored it, wouldn't it?
EUobserver.com
It sounds like the study and its timing is primarily designed to provoke controversy and publicity for its creators, an organisation called Eurochambres. Even so, it will be interesting to see the EU Commission´s reaction, and how quickly it gets round to rubbishing the report's data and conclusions. A good case for Margot Wallstrom (see Margot´s Nice Blog) and her communications team to get to grips with. It would be depressing if they just ignored it, wouldn't it?
EUobserver.com
EU Shock: Troops May Have to Fight
NATO's Secretary General, Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, seems to know a thing or two about expectation management.
Talking to El Pais yesterday, he sought to remind European leaders that soldiers, to be effective, may sometimes be called on to fight.
"Why is the EU creating battle groups?" he asks rhetorically. "It is not just to help rebuild a country. It may be, that to keep the peace, combat is necessary."
He also pours some cold water on the distinction, much vaunted within the EU, between the "hard power" (military) of the US and NATO, and the "soft power" (essentially diplomacy) championed by the EU (as in the attempt to deal with Iran´s nuclear ambitions by the so-called "EU 3" - France, Germany and Britain).
A nicely-judged intervention from the NATO chief. It makes explicit what some of the more pacifist EU participants, such as Germany and Sweden, may prefer not to have spelled out too clearly, but which needs to be spelled out now if tears are to be avoided later. One of the things which most hamstrung UN troops at Srebrenica, to take just one example, was the injunction that as mere "peacekeepers" they were not allowed to intervene with armed force even when that was transparently required. NATO wants to avoid being sucked into that kind of inactive turpitude. De Hoop Scheffer is trying to clear such nagging issues out of the way - before soldiers are formed into units. When soldiers are asked to do the work of diplomats and diplomats the work of soldiers, as seems to be the wish in certain European capitals, it raises expectations which can only be dashed. Good that NATO sees it this way, and even better that the EU will be made to see it too.
EUobserver.com
Talking to El Pais yesterday, he sought to remind European leaders that soldiers, to be effective, may sometimes be called on to fight.
"Why is the EU creating battle groups?" he asks rhetorically. "It is not just to help rebuild a country. It may be, that to keep the peace, combat is necessary."
He also pours some cold water on the distinction, much vaunted within the EU, between the "hard power" (military) of the US and NATO, and the "soft power" (essentially diplomacy) championed by the EU (as in the attempt to deal with Iran´s nuclear ambitions by the so-called "EU 3" - France, Germany and Britain).
A nicely-judged intervention from the NATO chief. It makes explicit what some of the more pacifist EU participants, such as Germany and Sweden, may prefer not to have spelled out too clearly, but which needs to be spelled out now if tears are to be avoided later. One of the things which most hamstrung UN troops at Srebrenica, to take just one example, was the injunction that as mere "peacekeepers" they were not allowed to intervene with armed force even when that was transparently required. NATO wants to avoid being sucked into that kind of inactive turpitude. De Hoop Scheffer is trying to clear such nagging issues out of the way - before soldiers are formed into units. When soldiers are asked to do the work of diplomats and diplomats the work of soldiers, as seems to be the wish in certain European capitals, it raises expectations which can only be dashed. Good that NATO sees it this way, and even better that the EU will be made to see it too.
EUobserver.com
German Clampdown on Nazi Demo's
After weeks of near-hysterical inter-party discussions about what to do about a few shrill, unpopular, spotty neo-Nazi's, the German Bundestag today passed a proposal to ban the wrong sort of demonstrations at memorials to Nazi victims. The aim is to prevent a demonstation by neo-Nazi's at the new Jewish memorial on 8th May (the 60th anniversary of Germany's surrender in 1945).
The legislation will be rushed through so as to be active in time.
Some see the legislation as a sign that Germany is a strong democracy. Maybe. This blog thinks that kneejerk legislation of this sort, demanding weeks of concentrated work, and culminating in further censorship, is a sign of distraction, uncertainty and weakness.
Clearly the paramount desire was to make impossible a global rash of pictures showing repulsive shavenheaded neoNazi's, posturing at the Jewish memorial, mocking the dead and staining the image of Germany. A fair enough objective. The more so given the wretched situation of the German government. With well over 5 million unemployed and counting, parallels with Weimar (which never had an unemployment tally so high) would be most discomfiting to the current set of arrogant and deadbeat career leftists.
The pity of it, though, is that the measure isn´t going to be especially effective, for all the government and legal-expert time that has been put into formulating it. It merely repeats an existing law against unlawful assembly, which would have served perfectly well to stop neo-Nazi's posing at Jewish memorials, and it will be equally powerless to prevent them from demonstrating at visually symbolic locations unconnected with Nazi victims.
Rudolf Hess' grave in Winsiedel, for example, has long been - and will continue to be, a magnet for publicity-seeking neo-Nazi gatherings.
All in all, the shiny new measure is another fine example of German political actionism in practice (see Action vs Actionism). This blog much prefers Berlin's police plan simply to strip the Nazi's naked (see Nazi's will be Stripped). Would've made for more eyepopping visuals, too.
ignal einer wehrhaften Demokratie? - FAZ.NET - Politik (link article in German only)
The legislation will be rushed through so as to be active in time.
Some see the legislation as a sign that Germany is a strong democracy. Maybe. This blog thinks that kneejerk legislation of this sort, demanding weeks of concentrated work, and culminating in further censorship, is a sign of distraction, uncertainty and weakness.
Clearly the paramount desire was to make impossible a global rash of pictures showing repulsive shavenheaded neoNazi's, posturing at the Jewish memorial, mocking the dead and staining the image of Germany. A fair enough objective. The more so given the wretched situation of the German government. With well over 5 million unemployed and counting, parallels with Weimar (which never had an unemployment tally so high) would be most discomfiting to the current set of arrogant and deadbeat career leftists.
The pity of it, though, is that the measure isn´t going to be especially effective, for all the government and legal-expert time that has been put into formulating it. It merely repeats an existing law against unlawful assembly, which would have served perfectly well to stop neo-Nazi's posing at Jewish memorials, and it will be equally powerless to prevent them from demonstrating at visually symbolic locations unconnected with Nazi victims.
Rudolf Hess' grave in Winsiedel, for example, has long been - and will continue to be, a magnet for publicity-seeking neo-Nazi gatherings.
All in all, the shiny new measure is another fine example of German political actionism in practice (see Action vs Actionism). This blog much prefers Berlin's police plan simply to strip the Nazi's naked (see Nazi's will be Stripped). Would've made for more eyepopping visuals, too.
ignal einer wehrhaften Demokratie? - FAZ.NET - Politik (link article in German only)
NeoNazi Band Is "Criminal Organisation"
A rock band can be defined as primarily a criminal organisation, the German Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) confirmed today. In order to be officially condemned in this fashion, a band´s lyrics need to encourage criminal activity such as hate of foreigners, or act as "propoganda" for anti-constitutional groups.
This opens up an amazingly wide field for potential lyrical crimes, the blog´s musical correspondent reckons, and it´s not too difficult a brief for new bands looking for a cheap shot of controversial "defenders of free speech" type publicity either.
The case in question concerned a skinhead band called Landser, whose lead singer and songwriter, Michael Regener, was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months for his musical crimes.
(The link is to the Press Office of the Bundesgerichtshof and is in German only.Der Bundesgerichtshof)
This opens up an amazingly wide field for potential lyrical crimes, the blog´s musical correspondent reckons, and it´s not too difficult a brief for new bands looking for a cheap shot of controversial "defenders of free speech" type publicity either.
The case in question concerned a skinhead band called Landser, whose lead singer and songwriter, Michael Regener, was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months for his musical crimes.
(The link is to the Press Office of the Bundesgerichtshof and is in German only.Der Bundesgerichtshof)
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Bush on Terror
This blog preserves strict political impartiality. In that spirit, it posts a link to a speech by President Bush today on terrorism, and wonders whether any of the President´s opponents on this issue have ever committed their thoughts into as well-considered and eloquent a form. It would be nice, for the sake of balance if nothing else.
President Discusses War on Terror
President Discusses War on Terror
Monday, March 07, 2005
EU and the China Arms Embargo
Difficult to know exactly what motivates this French-led desire of the EU to sell arms to China, beyond the ongoing wish to oppose the US for the sake of it, and the wish to get on side with the Chinese government in the hope they will buy more Airbuses (5 and counting, so far).
At any rate, the repeated signals to China regarding Europe´s desires (see Is that a Gun in your Pocket?, and the downplaying of US concerns about the move, don´t give any sense that the EU has a strategy of any sort on the matter. The sabre-rattling and dangers of war looming menacingly around Taiwan and North Korea leave European politicians cold, when set beside the chance to cash in on China´s growing economy.
Some American commentators wonder whether Europoliticians have "lost their moral compass." This blog doubts they ever had such an instrument to start with. A moral compass, in Brussels, is useful only for showing the other fellow exactly where he´s going wrong.
But regarding this particular issue of selling arms to China, a compass of some sort is surely called for - Realpolitik and raison d´etat may be splendid for oiling the wheels of weapons-deals and aircraft sales, but if the cost is falling out of step with the US' regional strategy, you have to ask yourself whether it's really worth it. The two reasons often quoted: if we sell the Chinese arms, maybe they won't get round to making their own, and "it's only a symbolic sop to Chinese amour-propre" - are pathetic beyond the need for mockery.
The US regional strategy tries to balance engagement with China with the overall desire for regional stability, guarantees for Taiwan and human rights. Bush's repeated eloquence in the cause of freedom and democracy set an unambiguous direction from his moral compass. For Europe to sell the Chinese arms at this juncture might make sense if it would further strategic interests, but, beyond anti-US posturing and increased Chinese income, no European interests could possibly be furthered by selling arms to China. So why this bizarre determination behind the arms-lifting initiative? Does it really boil down to the childish ego thing, of wanting to spite the US and show that Europe still matters?
It's all a bit rum, the blog reckons. It would be a lot better if the EU, instead of agitating to sell arms to China, started buying some more themselves.
The China Arms Embargo: Sketching Out the Next Trans-Atlantic Crisis - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE
At any rate, the repeated signals to China regarding Europe´s desires (see Is that a Gun in your Pocket?, and the downplaying of US concerns about the move, don´t give any sense that the EU has a strategy of any sort on the matter. The sabre-rattling and dangers of war looming menacingly around Taiwan and North Korea leave European politicians cold, when set beside the chance to cash in on China´s growing economy.
Some American commentators wonder whether Europoliticians have "lost their moral compass." This blog doubts they ever had such an instrument to start with. A moral compass, in Brussels, is useful only for showing the other fellow exactly where he´s going wrong.
But regarding this particular issue of selling arms to China, a compass of some sort is surely called for - Realpolitik and raison d´etat may be splendid for oiling the wheels of weapons-deals and aircraft sales, but if the cost is falling out of step with the US' regional strategy, you have to ask yourself whether it's really worth it. The two reasons often quoted: if we sell the Chinese arms, maybe they won't get round to making their own, and "it's only a symbolic sop to Chinese amour-propre" - are pathetic beyond the need for mockery.
The US regional strategy tries to balance engagement with China with the overall desire for regional stability, guarantees for Taiwan and human rights. Bush's repeated eloquence in the cause of freedom and democracy set an unambiguous direction from his moral compass. For Europe to sell the Chinese arms at this juncture might make sense if it would further strategic interests, but, beyond anti-US posturing and increased Chinese income, no European interests could possibly be furthered by selling arms to China. So why this bizarre determination behind the arms-lifting initiative? Does it really boil down to the childish ego thing, of wanting to spite the US and show that Europe still matters?
It's all a bit rum, the blog reckons. It would be a lot better if the EU, instead of agitating to sell arms to China, started buying some more themselves.
The China Arms Embargo: Sketching Out the Next Trans-Atlantic Crisis - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE
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