Mr Newman is a brilliant and explosive mixture: comedian, historian, anarchist and activist. His show about oil is intelligent and insightful. You might learn more about this dark substance and it’s political influence than watching a whole year of CNN and the Discovery Channel together.
And it’s bloody funny too!
Don’t forget to visit Mr Newman’s great website and buy some of his stuff?!
*Update: This is a repost, because the old video was deleted.*
BBC News: A ‘George Washington’ for Europe
Starting next year the European Union will get it’s first “head honcho” - some sort of President of the European Councils who resides over our endless squabbles about milk quotes and that the Poles are unthankful bastards.
Too be honest I don’t thing we need a “permanent” el Presidente - I think that rotating chairman worked pretty well by not giving anyone a lot of power for only six months.
Most of all I despise the mere chance of Tony Blair or maybe later Berlusconi speaking for all of Europe. Yuck! Plus this President will be elected by other politicians - and not by us mere mortal (Europeans).
I would rather have some real monarch getting a ceremonial job to bring the people of Europe together (I hereby nominate Price Charles for the job, because he will never be King, but he is extremely wacky and therefore well suited for the job). But another super-politician on top other head of states is usually a bad idea.
More politicians just breed more politics, but not solutions. Doesn’t matter if it’s the EU or any other place in the world.
Geert Wilder should be happy, instead of starting a new war between Muslims and Europe he has delivered a useful challenge to both sides. Of course there were the usual Muslim riots in some countries (and mostly by people who haven’t seen the movie anyway), but overall the reaction of European Muslims was neither angry nor violent.
Well, once again Italy has lost another government and is maybe facing a new election. Once again the nasty Mr. Berlusconi is waiting in the wings - hoping to overtake (and ruin) Italy once again. I think hardly any other country has such a long list of Prime Ministers like Italy?
But the reason behind the politic indecision behind this situation is not just limited to Italy these days: in many countries the fight between left and right parties produces no longer any majorities for any side. Usually only a few votes decide who runs the country - in the case of Germany this has created a Grand Coalition between left and right.
Voters are disillusioned with political labels and programs - they regard politicians from all parties with equal disgust or ignorance. They vote no longer for political ideas - since all campaign slogans are a remix of the same old promises again and again.
Political, economical and social stability seems to have reached a certain level were we hardly care for pushing for further advancement. And no side has proven to have the right recipe for economic success and social justice for all. So the number of non-voters are steadily rising - while the political cultures in all rich countries look more and more the same - and the left and right have only superficial differences - which are artificially blown up to get voters excited anyway (especially in the US).
BBC News: China in Africa: Developing ties
An excellent BBC article about China’s efforts in Africa. Highly recommended when you want to know why the US and Europe are loosing ground to the Chinese long term strategy.
We are marching for new gimmicks!
Telegraph: Vladimir Putin rearms his Cold War military
Tsar Putin’s strong man rhetoric is a necessity of Russia tough internal politics. Showing strength and determination is important for a country that has lost it’s strength and social integrity.
So Putin’s plan to massively update the Russian armed forces makes perfect sense: since the fall of the Soviet Union the formerly huge Army, Navy and Airforce is in total disarray. Many ships, tanks, atomic subs and airplanes are no more than scrap metal and often a health hazards for soldiers and civilians alike. In the darkest days after the fall of the Soviet empire soldiers went for months without pay - the troops moral and integrity totally wrecked.
From the Telegraph article.
Russia desperately needs modernization and a moral boost. So the oil money from the recent years is used to buy new military hardware, upgrade the infrastructure and show strength - internally and externally.
I need new legs!
Compared to the US budget the Russian military spending is a joke. Plus the US has military bases all around Russia. Many former satellite states - which have been like buffer zones - have broken away. Many of them are now in bed with America and some are even host to US military bases. So no surprise the Russians feel the extra need to boost their own military power.
BBC article: UK ‘landfill dustbin of Europe’
According a EU study there is a huge difference between the recycling rates in Europe and how much trash is thrown onto landfills per person.
As one can expect the Nordic countries are the cleanest while nations like Ireland, Britain and Spain have a long way to go to reduce their dirty lifestyles.
Don’t forget to read this article (also BBC) how some nations approach recycling and handling trash.
Shock and Awe Georgian style. A troubled former Soviet state still under the influence of Russia. Most of the former satellites struggle to keep their nations and democracies running - like the Ukraine.
Georgia actually is a very old nation - goes way back to antiquity. We can only hope for the best and support these emerging states to find their own peaceful way. One way is to oppose Tsar Putin and offer these vulnerable countries trade and security treaties. The EU and the US have both been slow to give staunch support. (And no, giving a missile shield and military bases to some of them is rather a military provocation to Russia instead of steady trade and exchange).
BBC News: Sarkozy applauded by US Congress
With Tony gone and Gordon Brown not as cuddly as Bush wants him to be - but a new ally seems to be more than willing to take Mr Blair’s place.
Here is a video excerpt from his speech before the US congress.
BBC News: Guilty verdicts over Madrid bombs and The Defendants and The Legacy
Politics has been served, justice … maybe. Even in times of terror the normal justice procedures have to be respected and followed. Spain had the sanity to treat this as normal as can be done - since the Spaniards are used to terrorism from ETA for many years.
Europe can only keep it’s human face and values if it doesn’t give into the culture of fear. No matter if the terrorists are from the PLO, Red Brigades (in Germany and Italy), ETA, IRA or Al-Queda.
But many European countries used 9/11 and the following attacks to introduce new Anti-Terror legislation. Politicians in every country love opportunities to grab even more power.
After the second world war many western nations became more socialist then many people would have admitted at the time. The social welfare of their citizens was very important to European countries - especially in fear of another working class uprising like in the Soviet Union, but also to keep another Hitler from happening.
But in search of social consensus many countries overdid it. Instead of building social societies they build nanny states that would infiltrate people’s life instead allowing them to make a living. In the attempt to bring social peace and equality they took out the vitality of the society itself and strangled any innovation and development within.
Hardly forty years later the welfare states ran out of money - countries like Britain, Sweden and Germany started to cut down on social budgets. Suddenly social welfare became a war against social parasites. Profit was more interesting then social consensus and support.
Welcome to the new old world of total capitalism - with it’s new saints Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher.
Working together - to survive.
In the search of efficiency and ever tighter budgets the main victims of this new spirit were the kids and the educational system. It is a harsh joke that child poverty is on the rise in many western countries. The educational systems in many countries are failing or under siege as well.
Plus the real income of white and blue collar workers in industrialized countries actually has declined in many countries for the last 30 years. The middle class is thinning out in many countries. A new lower class has developed in highly sophisticated countries.
Education is a human right and should be free. The same should be true for health care. A smart, healthy and educated citizen is the most valuable investment for any countriy. It’s not a question of money, but dedication, moral and priority within a society.
Here you see my countries highly intelligent leader: Frau Angela Merkel. Once sponsored by Helmut Kohl after reunification she never governed anything in a leading position: no city, no Bundesland - not even a serious ministerial position. Yep, she studied physics, so she must know what comes up must go down. I honestly can’t wait for the second part of the equation. Some people hailed her as a German Maggie Thatcher, but she does not have the stomach nor the political vision to really turn Germany around.
The grand coalition under her leadership has made VERY little progress over the past year, energy prices are still extremely high (controlled by an industrial electricity monopoly) and all reforms are crawling to a standstill.
More? Wikipedia
This old, but still tragic events at the Spanish-Moroccan border just uncover an old truth: rich countries despise economic refugees. We Europeans can only thank nature for the Mediterranean sea - otherwise we would be ‘invaded’ by a gazillion Africans and Arabs.
Europe has tried to keep these people out - because we want to enjoy our privileged lifestyle quietly. Yeah, send them some development money and blankets when another earthquake or whatever happens. And some AIDS medicine.
The tragic is, that neither Europe nor the US has done enough to develop democratic nations ‘down there’ with a working economy. But Arabs and Africans haven’t done enough either. Corruption and cronyism are not imported ‘ideas’, but local failures. It doesn’t matter if rich Arabs rather buy at Harrods or African kings another wife, they fail their own people.
So Europe simply builds higher fences and flies those poor souls back to their shit holes. Lets hope that these people find a way to make their own nations worth staying there - and let’s also hope that Europe and the US get better at ‘helping’ these nations.
So far most of the help was a failure.
BBC News: NATO plans more Afghan resources
On one side I am really pissed off that NATO has to clean up America’s act in Afghanistan - since most resources have been sent to Iraq. But I think it’s worth the risk to TRY to make Afghanistan a normal country after several decades of war - even by using force to secure the country against the Taliban.
But I have to say that NATO has to try harder - look at some of the troop contributions stated in the BBC article. Austria just three (3!!!) fucking soldiers? Switzerland (not part of NATO) has two - wow! I am sure the Taliban are really scared of your mighty army knifes?
Germany has been unwilling so far to engage in any serious combat - they have focused mostly on rebuilding. The brunt of the fighting has been done by Canadians, Dutch and Americans (click links for some YouTube war porn).
The idea of ‘Peak Oil‘ is pretty simple: there is a limited amount of oil in the ground and there will be the day when we will see a decline in production (sucking it out). Have we already reached that point? The Guardian thinks so.
Almost all big countries have been lying about their reserves - and we can’t be sure how many big fields are still undiscovered (but it can’t be that many and none as big as those in Saudi Arabia).
But there is also another factor: once an oilfield is seriously depleted it will yield less and less black gold. The pressure drops and therefore production. Pumping salt water down helps a bit.
So we already reached a point where production is less than demand. So no surprise prices are up and up and up. At the moment we are at $80 a barrel - but a $100 or more is pretty realistic in the near future. Especially if President Shrub bombs Iran.
Again and again in recent years the Muslim world exploded. Once again pride is more important then sanity. Once again people say ‘we have to respect religion’. Once again flags are burned and artists are threatened. Once again the west doesn’t ‘respect’ Islam.
I am sick and tired of this - and I guess this is also a growing feeling here in Europe from what I have read in European news and blogs.
Sure we Europeans have a long and troubled past with the middle east - because of religion and later colonialism. France and Britain have retreated from the region and the Arabs got to run their own countries. But the cold war and oil once again drew in other superpowers and foreigners. The current trouble spots Iran (read about operation Ajax) and Iraq (more about the troubled history) are a result of foreign intervention, especially by the US. It is a big historic joke that the US tries to bring democracy to a region where it’s oil interests kept totalitarian regimes in power for so long.
Another great success of American foreign policy
Overall Europe continued to trade and support these tyrants and bad regimes as well. Nobody protested against Saddam as long as he was in power, nobody really cared in Europe. But we continued to allow exiles into the EU. Especially London and Paris were full of middle east exiles and rich visiting Sheiks as well. Ayatollah Khomeini planned and executed the Iranian revolution from France. Many other radical islamists went to Europe and stayed underground - because their home countries prosecuted for various reason. Over time many Muslim communities sprang up all over Europe: Turks, Kurds, Iranians, Iraqis and many more. Many of them could live here while their home countries were at war. They were allowed to run businesses, build Koran schools and mosques.
Riots of the underprivileged people are nothing new.
Sure there are a lot ’second class citizen’ ghettos in Spain, France, Britain and Germany. But poverty not only hits illegal immigrants, but also second generation Muslims and so called native citizens. The french riots last year showed that integration isn’t perfect, but poverty and lack of jobs is a problem for almost everyone in Europe and not just a ‘tactic’ against Muslims.
Modern Europe was always interested to see the middle east grow and get on it’s feet. Sure, there was always a certain amount of guilt, because of the colonial past. We also tried to forget about the terrible crusades and the long history of wars between Muslims and Christian Europe. Nobody here in Europe would seriously consider to recapture Jerusalem or Istanbul - instead many hope that Turkey will join the EU one day. The EU has supported many peace initiatives, supported for example the Palestinians although they blew up the Olympic Games here in Munich. Europe was always more interested in long term talks, understanding and trade. We called this soft power in contrast to hard military invention - or in current terms old European ‘weaselism’ against the new American century.
European tourism to the middle east before the Age of Enlightenment
But still there is religion and huge amount of anger against Europe or any infidel in the Muslim world. It doesn’t matter if we sent help to Iran or Pakistan after earthquakes or pay for the Palestinian elections (so radical Hamas can win them in a democratic way). For the radicals and uneducated masses any reason is good enough to burn flags (never though I see a Danish flag on fire) and threaten Europe with bombs again.
The attacks in Spain and London are certainly ‘understandable’, because these countries supported the war on Iraq - which a huge amount of Europeans despised and tried to stop. But any ‘understanding’ stopped with murders like against Theo van Gogh or the bombing of tourists.
The current Holy Anger against some old cartoons from Denmark show how Europe and the Middle East have really progressed. Europe has left behind religions fanaticism and developed stable democratic societies - we are currently trying to transcend the nation state. Yes, Europe has progressed better and more since the middle ages then the Middle East.
House of Saud - power, sand and oil - but no democracy in sight.
Yes, you can call me an European cultural snob any day - I would be proud to wear that title! I prefer the rule of law over tribal loyalty. I prefer equal rights over woman in bee keeper suits. I prefer democratic elections over Kings, Sheiks, Mullahs, Royal Families and old hereditary or religious traditions. I prefer a freedom of press and disgusting jokes over Fatwas against Artists and Newspaper Editors - or raging protests against a simple beauty contest (yep, that was in Nigeria - but still the same frame of mind). Give me a corrupt Silvio Berlusconi over a President Ahmadinejad or terror leader like Yassir Arafat.
A ‘mature’ society must be able to cope with different ideas, even insults and threats in a civilized manner. That includes any nation. Burning the Danish flag because one of it’s newspaper published a stupid cartoon is rather strange. Threatening to bomb and kill people over a stupid joke is simply daft.
Kemal Atatürk showed the world that a modern country and Islam can exist side by side.
While Europeans demonstrate against wars in the Middle East and against Terrorism - the people in the Arab world seem more to protest for war and revenge - and support even terrorism. Still many Muslims dream about recreating the old Caliphate. But dreaming such dreams of old empires and conquest are out of date. Hitlers ‘Lebensraum’ idea didn’t work, neither did the communist dream of a united workers planet.
I am sure there are many people in the Middle East and Muslims who only want peace and do not support radical ideas - but it’s about time these people start to show us that they are in control and support a peaceful global society.
Muslims have to give up their conspiracy theories about Europe (and to a certain degree America) and start building their own stable societies and economies. Most of all they have to take responsibility and don’t hide behind your religion to build a better world for everyone. Once Damascus and Baghdad were on top of the world and leading centers of wisdom and enlightenment, highly tolerant and global trade powers. My dear Muslims, if you want that to happen again, then start to teach your kids, build up your economies and use your brains instead of guns and explosives.
*repost from 2006*
The world media and it’s viewers hardly seem able to follow more then five events at a time. The war in Chechnya is still on, freedom fighters or terrorists (depending on where you stand) still try to kick Russia out of their country.
The suffering is still on, but unless the Chechnyan Rebells stage another bloody incident hardly anyone will notice.
Mr Putin stop this war!
A divorce is nothing unusual - unless you are in politics. Nicolas and Cecilia Sarkozy played nice - until he won the election. Now they go separate ways. In Europe people don’t care that much about the personal affairs of politicians: being gay or divorced … or being a woman doesn’t really matter. And that’s a good thing!
BBC News: Russia urges US missile ‘freeze’
How many times can you ignore requests from allies and enemies alike? Europe doesn’t want the missile shield - although it will be ‘protected’ by it. Russia is against it, because it’s installed right at it’s front door. And the people who live close to the suggested bases hate it already.
It’s simply stubborn US military politics.
BBC News: Armenia welcomes ‘genocide’ vote and BBC News Video plus the response of the Turkish President
Almost all countries have their dark spots in history: America’s decimation of native Indians, Belgium’s brutal rule in the Congo and Turkey’s slaughter of Armenians.
Some countries like Germany went through a long and painful process of understanding it’s own history and apologizing for it. Some countries like Japan or Turkey seem to be in eternal denial.
Especially the Turkish macho attitude to national pride and identity are more a curse than a blessing. Yes, you can go to jail for any crime or insult against ‘Turkishness’ (whatever that means).
How dare the US to speak truth to Turkishness?!
Back when it all happened it was the US who condemned and reprimanded Turkey for it’s bloody deeds. Until this day the US congress and many American and of course Armenian NCO’s kept the memory alive. Turkey hasn’t moved an inch since the first Armenian was killed.
Nationalism is always in the way of truth. Being a modern country means also to accept your own dark spots and simply asking for forgiveness for things that went wrong.
Denial in the age of information looks rather stupid and backward, no matter how much pride a nation can muster.
Some more background: Turkey’s Armenian dilemma and BBC Q&A about the Armenian genocide.
Yeah, kick those criminal foreigners out of our beloved country!
Swiss society is very conformist, conservative and very xenophobic. Although Switzerland is very rich it’s people are not big on sharing or international entanglement. Neutrality is obviously a national obsession - or rather a fanatical obsession not to get involved with anyone or anything.
So it’s no surprise that Switzerland is not part of the EU and loves it’s banking lifestyle so much that ripped of Jewish money has been held back for decades. Don’t get involved with those bloody foreigners.
I already have a bloody nose!
In a few days there is a general election in the land of Honey and Toblerone - and the rightwing SVP party seems to get at least 25% of the votes. That’s a huge in the political landscape, but shows the old Swiss conservative attitude.
Swiss cheese only for Swiss people!!!
Sure there is lots of protest - but it shows that in our complex times not only Americans are susceptible to hate and fear mongering a la Neocons. It works in any country.
Several hundred years of neutrality, too much Calvinism and isolation are a bad thing. Especially in our modern, fast moving and international world. Wake up Switzerland: xenophobia won’t get you anywhere and you are a part of this planet if you like or not. Neither the Alps nor Swiss armyknife or stupid election promises won’t protect you from that …
There are several American ’security experts’ and weirdos who say, that Europe is the real threat to American security - because it is the perfect breeding ground for terrorists.
The shoe bomber was a British national - right! The killer of the Dutch director van Gogh was also born in the Netherlands - right! Didn’t Germany harbor a cell of 9/11 terrorists - right?!
According to some sources somewhere between two to seven million Muslims live in the US - while Europe has around twelve to twenty million.
First of all they are not just ‘one kind of people’. Germany is host to many Turks, while Britain has people from many Arab nations as well as Asian Muslims. France and Spain are of course closer to African Muslims, because of their history (remember Spain was once conquered by Muslims). They sure are all Muslims, but they share very different backgrounds and languages. Just as many white Europeans are Christians - but hardly all follow the catholic church.
These bloody protestants - all terrorists! Burn them all! We need to protect our communities!
Many Muslims are living at the fringes of normal European societies, which is normal for most immigrants that have no local family connections, no money and hardly any education in modern jobs. There is obviously the language barrier and some xenophobia as well. But even ‘native’ Muslims in their third or even fourth generation live at the fringes. Why? Because many of these cultures simply stay within their own ghettos. We have Turks here in Germany who lived here for thirty years, but hardly speak German, know teutonic culture or have even contact to any Germans. They stay in their little Istanbuls and prefer it that way. The same is true for many communities in France, Britain, Netherlands etc.
But makes such a strong and rather stubborn refusal against integration everyone a terrorist? Of course not.
Uhhh, scary Muslims …
First of all we simply can’t and won’t control these 20 million people. We Germans already tried that method - it was called Konzentrationslager. Yes, immigration is a problem here, but it is not a flood of Muslim hordes sweeping Europe.
Of course we have also problems with terrorists here - but which one do you mean? IRA? ETA? Red Brigades? PKK? Or even Neo-Nazis? Al Qaeda is simply the newest member of a very annoying club. And once again we refuse to let them dictate our life’s and civil liberties. And there is no protection against them: even Muslim countries get bombed by Muslim terrorists. Plus no law or a gazillion policemen will guarantee absolute security. That is an illusion.
No headscarfs and bombs allowed in European schools
So yes, we Europeans want these Muslims, even though we still stay strangers to each other and still have to learn a lot on both sides to live with each other.
If America feels threatened by foreigners, then it should remember it’s old isolationist’s traditions and maybe shutdown it’s borders - Japan did this for several hundred years more or less successful.
BBC News: France warning of war with Iran
I was just happy that we got rid of Tony, the atomic Chirac and Silvio. Now Sarko comes along and does saber rattling a la President Shrub. Maybe there is a case of Mad Cow in Paris?
Hello France?! Did you elect a little Napoleon that has to overcompensate something?! The Iranians are certainly nut cases, but threatening war is certainly not the way to win the hearts and minds of the Iranian people …
BBC News: Italy urged to go on pasta strike
This sounds like a joke, but Italians face a price increase for it’s national meal up to 20%. Once again the production of bio fuels is part of the increased price. Pasta was always considered ‘cheap’ food, attainable for everyone.
BBC News: Russia tests giant fuel-air bomb
Every major Nation develops and tests new arms. Russia just just another big bang for publicity. Mr Putin is hardly a saint, but his harsh words for Bush’s America and it’s aggressive imperialism strike a chord with many people.
For example the American Missile shield in eastern Europe is rubbish (some more insights here). It’s no surprise that Russia feels threatened by the US and abandoned by Europe. That is why Russia retreats from important international arms control treaties.
Russia is hardly in good shape these days - the nation is rich, but shrinking fast. Mr Putin needs big bangs for external propaganda as well as building up morale at home.