Germans compromised on Iran
Germany is a huge economic partner of Iran, and is struggling to respond to pressure to clamp down that relationship in sanctions against the Mullahs. Some are incredulous that a country with Germany’s past wouldn’t be more sensitive to the ethics of dealing with one that has Iran’s announced ambitions:
“Germans either can’t, or won’t, see the kinds of people with whom they are doing business,” said Nasrin Amirsedghi, an Iranian writer and critic of the Tehran regime, who distributed protest leaflets outside the meeting. “How can this country, with its history, ignore such things?”
Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned Ahmadinejad, saying in a speech in February 2006, “A president that questions Israel’s right to exist, a president that denies the Holocaust, cannot expect to receive any tolerance from Germany. We have learned our history.”
But the human mind is almost infinitely malleable when self-interest is at stake. As long as there is a shred of shadow of ambiguity for German business men to hide behind, expect them to drag their feet.
Meanwhile, of course, China and Russia will flout the civilized world with glee.
Russia: Iran’s enabler
The Russian foreign minister is not amused by efforts to ratchet up sanctions on Iran nor by speculation by the French foreign minister that military action may eventually be necessary.
“As for sanctions, the United States and the European Union have taken their own decisions,” said a stony-faced Lavrov. “If we decided to act collectively on the basis of consensual decisions in the UN Security Council, what good does it do to take unilateral decisions?”
Two days after Kouchner made waves by musing about the prospect of “war” against Iran - a comment he was repeatedly asked about during his trip to Russia - Lavrov stressed that Moscow was “very worried about the growing number of voices considering military action.”
It seems quite clear that the Russians would be perfectly happy to have the US and the the EU tied down for decades trying to resolve crises in the middle east. Neutralize the superpower, free your own hands.
How can you ask one brutal rogue regime to help you contain another?
A stunning historical counterfactual
Looking at France now talking war with Iran, a fascinating historical counterfactual presents itself. Imagine if this French administration had been there in 2003. Rather than facilitating Saddam’s intransigence, they back the allies, or at least don’t stand in the way. The only reason Saddam refused to buckle on inspections was because the French and the Russians stood athwart the threat and assured him that they would prevent the invasion. Had the French been neutral or supportive, the Russians would probably have pulled back. But even failing that, Saddam would certainly have seen that, without French opposition, the Blair-Bush invasion would occur. Self-preservation would then dictate that he buckle.
I think this is far from fanciful. The anti-war French administration made the war inevitable by falsely signaling to the dictator that he could safely flout the allies. A France in line with the allies would have prevented the war by properly signaling to Saddam that he had no choice.
Come again?
Prepare for war with Iran, France warns
France has caused anger in Iran and delight in Israel today with a hawkish statement saying that the world should be ready to go to war to stop Tehran getting nuclear weapons.Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, said in a radio interview last night that if Iran got the bomb, the world would be in real danger, and that the current stand-off with the country’s Islamist regime was the greatest crisis of the time.
Negotiations should carry on until the last possible moment, said Mr Kouchner, in an interview with RTL radio.
But he went on: “We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war.”
It’s a big duh to anyone without their head in the sand, but remarkable coming from France. Makes it all the more puzzling why Mitt should even have to bother about advocating the South Africa isolation treatment for Iran. Did anyone ever say “prepare for war with South Africa”?
Belgian divorce near?
May be an historic break about to happen here. Just as Scotland is making similar noises as well. Here, it’s the Flemish and the Walloons, with the former growing tired of supporting welfare for the poorer French-speaking Walloons. More here.
Spam, spam, spam, spam, smamiddity spam
While it’s pretty much accepted in the US that biofuels have resulted in escalating grain prices, the axiom is less than axiomatic in Europe. A “senior EU environmental official” discounts speculation that rising tortilla prices in Mexico and pasta prices in Italy stem from biofuels. OK, he didn’t offer counterarguments, exactly, he just stipulated:
“Global price fluctuations in the grain markets have always existed, although we are for some, like wheat, at historic highs at the moment,” Steiner said at a news conference in Rome. “It would be somewhat premature to say that pasta costs more because there is biofuel grown in other parts of the world.”
Then he gets a wee bit defensive. See, if biofuels take the blame at the checkout, people may resist getting serious about … global warming. Thus, he adds:
On the other hand, the increasingly violent weather caused by global warming does pose a real danger to crops and to food supplies, particularly for the world’s poorest, Steiner said on the sidelines of a two-day national conference on climate change in Italy held at the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
“We should ask ourselves: are we getting single-minded about the biofuels issue instead of looking at the full spectrum of issues?”
Yeah, the full spectrum of issues. Like global warming, global warming, global warming, global warming, and uh, yeah, global warming:
Take Sweden’s apology. Please!
Sweden is a country desperate to apologize to someone. After some stupid newspaper editor off on one of those silly free speech tangents published a cartoon of THE PROPHET, the government of Sweden reached out with a kind of group hug to any snarling Islamic state it could find. First, they apologized to Pakistan. Now, they have apologized to Syria.
The apology, of course, basically amounts to a plea not to unleash hordes of bomb throwing youths to trash the buses and storefronts of Stockholm or assassinate random Swedes abroad. So far, it seems to be working, as I have not yet seen any anti-Swedish hysteria around the Islamic world that followed the Danish cartoon incident.
It’s a tribute to the comity that comes simply from mutual understanding: the Swedes understand that Islamists are maniacally insane, and the Islamists understand that the Swedes understand that.
Peace, brother.
Germany nabs “homegrown, white” terrrorists
The Timothy McVeigh of Germany just got nabbed. White, home-grown terrorists motivated by “hatred of America”:
German police have foiled a potentially huge terrorist attack in what they believe may be the first case of white, home-grown terrorists in Europe.
Three men — two Germans and a Turk — were arrested yesterday after police secretly swapped canisters of chemicals that were allegedly being used to make car bombs to attack American bases and clubs.
“It would have been an inferno,” a senior security service official said today.
I seriously read those first four paragraphs thinking we just had some Weatherman type action here. But then, oops, the buried lede:
The men, belonging to the so-called Islamic Jihad Union, were arrested by the anti-terrorist squad yesterday afternoon, in the culmination of a six-month observation and eavesdropping mission. The two German members of the cell had converted to Islam.
Duh.
Vatican buying carb indulgences
Centuries after they quit selling them, the Vatican is buying them. They’re purchasing a swath of new forest in Hungary that is going to make them the “first carbon neutral state,” which means they can go on heating their offices and driving their cars.
The efficacy of the indulgences, as Martin Luther pointed out nearly 500 years ago, is, to say the least, suspect:
Young forests - dominated by growing trees - soak up lots of carbon dioxide, but once the forests mature, they absorb far less, he said.
Also, “carbon credits” are not a hard currency like a euro or a Hungarian forint, but something far more nebulous, like a stock market future. There is no scientific system for predicting the exact carbon absorbing capacity of a project like the Vatican Forest, whose trajectory depends on rainfall, temperature and how fast trees grow.
“Planting forests will only compensate for a small fraction of emissions, even if you cover all of Hungary in young trees,” Galhidy said.
Gazdag acknowledges that carbon offsetting is not an exact science. “People have only been thinking about offsetting for about 10 years,” he said.
It’s all in the mind. A zen thing. Presumably, with a few more decades of thinking we’ll figure out how to make old forests keep absorbing carbon, and not dump it back as they decay.
A backbone in Sweden?
A Swedish newspaper has entered the cartoon sweepstakes, this time with a cartoon that apparently portrays the Prophet in a dog’s body. I say apparently, because I never can tell with these cartoons the diff between the Prophet and any other bearded, turbaned terrorist. They all just look like generics to me.
In any case, the exciting news here is that amidst the predictable abject apologies by the Swedish government to Pakistan? [… since when does one government feel compelled to apologize to another government about cartoons depicting a ridiculous animal with the fictional head of an historical 1,400 year old figure?] Where was I? Oh, amidst all the groveling, there is some sign of hope. A few Swedish youths demonstrated in favor of press freedom and the editor of the paper, in very reasonable tones, said “so what?”
Earlier, a handful of people, mostly youth, staged a separate demonstration outside the newspaper in defense of press freedom, TT reported. Nerikes Allehanda editor-in-chief Ulf Johansson met with Lamhamdi but refused to apologize for the cartoon, which was part of an Aug. 19 editorial criticizing several Swedish art galleries for refusing to display a series of prophet drawings by Vilks. “They say they are offended and I regret that, because our purpose was not to offend anyone,” Johansson told The Associated Press. “But they are asking for an apology and a promise that I never again publish a similar image … and that I cannot do.” The editorial defended “Muslims’ right to freedom of religion” but also said it must be permitted to “ridicule Islam’s most foremost symbols — just like all other religions’ symbols.”
Of course, no one has been killed yet. And no buildings torched. Give ‘em a week, and we’ll see if that editor changes his tune, eh?
If you give a moose a muffin …
… he’ll probably want some blueberry jam to put on it.
Become obsessed with controlling the uncontrollable, and you’ll probably want to put an end to chaos theory. And sooner or later you’ll be tracking down that SOB of a butterfly whose wings caused that devastating tornado.
Or, go after that farting moose:
During a single year, according to the latest research, a full-grown moose expels — from both ends of its body — the methane equivalent of 2100kg of carbon dioxide emissions. …
“To put it into perspective, the return flight from Oslo to Santiago in Chile leaves a carbon footprint of 880 kilos,” said biologist Reidar Andersen.
Blueberries seem to be a big part of the problem:
“Moose normally eat branches in the winter, a not particularly nutritious diet,” said Erling Solberg of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. “But since snow has become so much rarer, they have access to wild blueberries.”
The result has been fatter moose that are more likely to break wind.
And they have also begun acting as if they were illegal immigrants in the America [calm down Fred Barnes, I was just kidding.]:
Last winter, there were reports of moose straying into towns in search of yet more food — eating Christmas decorations and smashing shop windows to reach displayed vegetables.
Geez.
Norwegians coddle crime, reap results
Don Surber has an intriguing little write up on a Norwegian prison policy which apparently makes prison terms optional:
“It’s difficult to make plans for the prison terms when we have no idea who will show up and who won’t,” said Ellinor Houm, director of the Norwegian Correctional Services, section for eastern Norway.
With fewer criminals showing up here than in any other part of Norway, Houm’s in charge of prisons with many empty beds. So far this year, every fourth criminal has not bothered to turn up at the prison gates in eastern Norway.
Of those who don’t show up, it appears that a good number hang out in Oslo:
The numbers, reported in newspaper Aftenposten, speak for themselves: No country has fewer police per capita than Norway, as many as 70 percent of so-called petty crimes are never followed up, and while the police force has increased 150 percent since 1960, the crime rate has increased 700 percent.
The culture of coddling crime seems to be a huge part of the problem. Here’s a description of a paramilitary armed robbery that walked away with a huge chunk of currency. They killed one guard and, although they confessed to the crime, refused to reveal where the cash was hidden. Why would they? They could easily get out in time to enjoy it:
The top sentence handed down was 18 years. The shooter received 16 years with the potential of serving life because he was a career criminal, but that isn’t guaranteed.
Rudy’s wild dream
He’s having dreams about Sarkosy. A recurring dream. Purely platonic, of course. It’s actually a pretty good crowd quip, a reported by Jonathan Martin at Politico:
“Sarkozy is on this airplane and he’s flying from France to the United States,” Giuliani explains, and “he’s thinking about these American principles that he can put to use in France.”
“Then I see another airplane crossing it over the mid-Atlantic,” Giuliani continues, “and there are three people on the airplane and they’re waving at him. They’re going from the United States to France — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. And they’re trying to figure out how to take the principles in France that haven’t worked and how to bring them here to the United States.”
Truth is, if that’s a direct quote, it’s pretty wordy for a punchline, and it doesn’t really get the twist in the right position. He should consult a pro on this, but it’s got potential.
Dhimmi, dim or daft?
Bishop Tiny Muskins [look, did I ask about the size of his muskins?] has a bright idea: Catholics start calling God Allah, and Muslims agree to overlook that Trinity thing, we’ll all hold hands and sing Cumbayah, and …
Well, now, uh, Lancelot, Galahad, and I, uh, wait until nightfall, and then leap out of the rabbit, taking the French, uh, by surprise. Not only by surprise, but totally unarmed! ….
… where was I? Oh, yes, Tiny Muskins thinks this might just work:
“Someone like me has prayed to Allah yang maha kuasa (Almighty God) for eight years in Indonesia and other priests for 20 or 30 years,” Muskens said. “In the heart of the Eucharist, God is called Allah over there, so why can’t we start doing that together?”
Muskens thinks it could take another 100 years, but eventually the name Allah will be used by Dutch churches, promoting rapprochement between the two religions, he said, according to Radio Netherlands.
However, a survey published today in the Netherlands’ largest newspaper, De Telegraaf, showed 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled oppose the bishop’s view, the Associated Press reported.
Proving that 92% of 4,000 people polled are smarter than one very random Catholic priest.
More Russians behaving badly
Sometimes I think I should just turn this into a 24/7 Russians behaving badly blog. There is too much material, and I’m getting dizzy keeping up. WSJ has a column today on Russian intransigence on independence to Kosovo:
A different Europe might unite in response to the Kremlin’s provocation. This one is splintering, as in the early 1990s also over the Balkans. Britain wants to push ahead on independence, while the Germans fear antagonizing Moscow. In between, the French claimed the diplomatic lead and pushed the three-month delay.
Again, the choice has been laid before the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at the U.N., with a rogue state on the security council [this time Russia] trying to stuff the dormouse in the teapot. Again the Europeans acts like they were raised on free range boneless chicken farm, while the U.S. is distracted. Putin is just being Putin, seeing this as just one more chance to spit in the eye of the West. [And note the cool historical parallel that WWI started in part through Russian determination to protect the Serbs.]
Check back tomorrow for more adventures with that wascally curmudgeon Wadmir Pootin!
“The French understood the requirements”
Yes, it was blackmail. And the French, bless their hearts, were “very flexible.” Just because Sarkozy likes America doesn’t mean he’s not another cheese eating surrender monkey.
The son of Libya’s dictator, Saif al-Islam al-Qadhafi, gives a surprisingly frank interview to Newsweek about the release of the Bulgarian medic hostages, and Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey is admirably blunt in expressing his disgust. Read the whole thing.
“Blackmail? Maybe,” he says, considering the word. “It is blackmail, but the Europeans also blackmailed us. Yeah, it’s an immoral game by the way, but—I mean they set the rules of the game, the Europeans, and now they are paying the price.” They, and the Americans, too, for that matter, are merely serving their own political and economic interests, as far as Saif al-Islam is concerned. While the medics suffered, governments and multinationals were cutting deals. French President Nicolas Sarkozy even finagled an image-enhancing jaunt for his whimsical wife, Cécilia, as ostensible liberator of the prisoners. “She is the last person to come interfere in that issue and she is the person who took the medics with her back home,” said Saif al-Islam. “She’s very lucky. Lots of people tried in the past and they failed.” The reason: “The French [understood] the requirements and they were very flexible.”
[HT: Emanuelle Ottelenghi at Contentions]
German optimism on Iraq
This passage from the Weekly Standard, citing the German weekly Der Spiegel, deserves to be quoted at length and without additional comment:
It doesn’t surprise us in the least that this week’s cover of the German magazine Der Spiegel features Iraq and the ominous headline “Bagdad Babylon.” After all, Germany’s equivalent of Time specializes in anti-American doom-and-gloom, running such covers as “Bush’s Vietnam,” a blindfolded Statue of Liberty, and an American soldier beneath the words Der endlose Blitzkrieg. But what did surprise us was the interview with Spiegel reporter Ullrich Fichtner who spent the last three weeks in Iraq and provided an assessment of the situation on the ground. Fichtner described Baghdad as having serious problems, lamented the sectarian strife, and noted some 600 executions occurring each month.
Does that mean things are only worsening? Nein. “One can say that much of the north, Kurdistan, and also the rural regions around Baghdad are no longer a war zone.” In his online chat, Fichtner tells Spiegel that the extremists are failing to win the support of the people in large parts of the country and that he saw Iraqis and Americans embracing each other. …
As for the Iraqi people, “most of the encounters I had were friendly and I was welcomed.” Fichtner’s hope, explains Der Spiegel, is that people will not be “blinded” by new pictures they may see of bomb attacks, but rather come to the understanding “that in Iraq, a successful future is possible.”
How do you say “unbelievable” in German?
Essential French culture in eight hours
Guaranteed or your money back.
The French are trying to transmit culture through eight hour seminars for immigrants. Foreigners seeking long term visas have to attend a cultural version of traffic school and sit around for a whole day kibitzing with the instructor. It’s like herding goats.
And, of course, the instructor, an affable Frenchman in his 30s. On the eight-hour agenda, he announced, were lessons in essential French history, laws, values and political institutions, as well as a presentation on the European Union. It was a daunting agenda, the more so considering the instructor’s tireless efforts to repeat everything in English.
“What are some of France’s overseas territories?” he asked hopefully, nodding toward a pull-down map of the world.
“Belgium!” someone called out. Giggles lightened the mood.
Culture doesn’t form this way, but the French missed the memo. Culture is imbibed in the home and schools and on the streets. The first hurdle is to have children. The second is to have streets and schools where large numbers of the children from the parent culture mingle with limited numbers of diverse immigrants. [Top heavy ratios of homogeneous immigrants will lead to cultural enclaves, not to diffusing and blending.]
This isn’t rocket science, but it requires some basic ingredients. Start with children.
Bart caught with his pants down
Great stuff in this update on the Russian incursion into Georgia, which Russia met with the Bart Simpson defense: “I didn’t do it, no one saw me, you can’t prove anything.” Well, maybe they can:
Georgia said it had collected radar records from both its civilian and military air traffic controllers that clearly show an aircraft enter from Russia, fly to the area of the strike, then turn around and fly back into Russia.
Georgia also released audio recordings and a transcript of an apparently frustrated Georgian air traffic controller. The controller was talking with his counterpart in southwestern Russia, asking about an unscheduled flight along the border that he was seeing on his screen, the Georgian government said.
The Russian controller checked with his supervisor, according to the recording, which was released to journalists. He then told the Georgian controller that no planes were flying.
“Our bosses said that nobody is there, neither by plan nor in reality,” the Russian said.
“Well, O.K., it might be a U.F.O.,” the Georgian answered.
“Our bosses said that nobody is there, neither by plan nor in reality.” You can’t make this stuff up.
HIV scare hermit comes home
They say the prospect of one’s own extinction tends to focus the mind. Not always. Here’s a guy who got a false positive on an HIV test and just totally flipped out. Tells his parents to take care of his girlfriend and disappears into the mountains for three months, while everyone searches for him to tell him he’s fine.
[So, by the way, is Magic Johnson fine, and so would this guy have been fine even with HIV, given that he lives in Italy and evidently has family resources to buy HIV drugs.]
With €1,000 (£680) in his pocket and his mobile phone switched off, Alberto abandoned his moped 140 miles from home in Vado Ligure, where it was later found by police, before marching into the sparsely inhabited wooded slopes running down to the Mediterranean west of Genoa.
“For the first month I ate what I could find, figs and cherries,” said Alberto, adding that he had drunk stream water and slept on a bed of leaves and branches. At one point he heard his uncle roaming the woods and yelling through a megaphone that the tests had put him in the clear. “But it was the first days and I thought he was lying so I hid myself. I wanted to end it.”
No word yet on whether he contracted parasites from drinking stream water.
