29. mai 2003

Abu Mazen says he is not a "Holocaust denier" The Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, commonly called Abu Mazen, finally answered criticism that he is or was a Holocaust denier. When studying in Moscow, he wrote a thesis on the relationship between Nazism and Zionism, and indicated that the number of Jewish victims of the Holocaust may have been less than 1 million. The historically accepted figure is around 6 million. Now Abu Mazen claims he did not argue about numbers, but cited historians giving a range between 1 and 12 million. "I have no desire to argue with the figures," he told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. "The Holocaust was a terrible, unforgivable crime against the Jewish nation, a crime against humanity that cannot be accepted by humankind. The Holocaust was a terrible thing, and nobody can claim I denied it." In another development, Abu Mazen's Palestnian enemies have started spreading pamphlets claiming he is a member of the Bahai faith, and not a Muslim. This charge would be devastating to his credibility among Palestinians. He strongly denied these accusations, affirming he is a believing Muslim from a family of believers. 11:20:43 PM    comment []

Spread that knowledge! Here's is the shortlist for this year's British Aventis Prize for Science Books. Popularizing science for laypeople is still, in my opinion, underrated among scientists. People are naturally curious about the world, and if they can't find quality information they can be easy prey for religious or quasi-scientific psuedo-explanations. The topics of this year's nominees range from risk assessment to extraterrestrial life. 9:52:36 PM    comment []

Australian air scare Two flight attendents were injured when a man tried to fight himself into the cockpit of a domestic Australian flight, saying he intended to crash the plane. He was armed with two sharp wooden sticks. He was overpowered, and the cockpit door remained locked. The authorities say there is no evidence this was an act of terrorism. I assume, then, it is a mentally disturbed person. Even so, he had obviously prepared carefully for the attack, by hiding the two sticks on his person, thus avoiding the metal detectors. Soon we'll all have to travel on planes in shorts after a full body search. 9:47:40 PM    comment []

French taste for Spanish art New York's Metropolitan Museum has an interesting exhibition right now called Manet/Velàsquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting. The Spanish master and court painter Velasquez had a noted influence on a number of later French artists, after Spanish art was made known in Paris during the Napoleonic wars. This exhibition sets to show the influence, and exhibit a number of the world's finest artworks. Picture: Velasquez: Infanta Margarita, ca. 1653, borrowed from the Louvre, Paris. 8:56:45 PM    comment []

Innocent sent to jail by faulty DNA test We are used to reading stories about innocents who were aquitted by DNA tests, and have grown to think that DNA testing is foolproof. However, the case of Josiah Sutton from Houston, an innocent man sent to prison for 25 years, demonstrates there are pitfalls also in this procedure. 11:25:57 AM    comment []

The Saddam bunker that disappeared The Iraq war started with a massive bomb and cruise missile attack against one of Saddam Hussein's palace compounds. US forces had recived what it thought was good intelligence that in a bunker under the compound, Saddam Hussein and other top officials were hiding. The attack was quickly proclaimed a success by Donald Rumsfeld. After the war, the US military and CIA searched the compound for evidence that Saddam Hussein was killed. Not only did they fail to find any bodies, they also failed to find any trace of the massive underground bunker that allegedly was there. No one has searched Dora Farms more carefully than Tim Madere, a U.S. Army colonel assigned the task of searching sensitive sites. Madere says no bodies have been found here. The Air Force dropped four 2,000-pound bombs on the site because intelligence said there was a bunker complex hidden beneath the buildings. But Madere has yet to find it. The compound has been searched three times – once by the CIA and twice by Madere, trying to find Saddam's DNA. This not only makes it less likely that Saddam Hussein was killed in the early stages of the war, it also brings the quality of US intelligence about Iraq into serious doubt. 11:18:48 AM    comment []

Amnesty report Here is the link to the Amnesty International Report 2003. Of course, I look up my own country first (it did not have an entry), and I am a bit surprised to find the following text: In the European Union, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK froze decisions on Iraqi asylum claims. Norway is not, they should be aware, a member of the EU. I hope they are more careful with details in more serious matters. 7:21:48 AM    comment []

How sorry are they? Slate begins a new series discussing what errant CEOs say and do after they have wasted $millions of their shareholders' money. ` Graded on a 1 to 10 scale, where 1 is a full-denial Jeffrey Skilling and 10 is a ritualized tearful Japanese CEO resignation. I guess harakiri is a solid 11. 4:34:45 AM    comment []

Amnesty: War on terror has trampled on human rights The human rights organisation Amnesty International says that the war on terror has been used as an excuse for trampling on people's human rights by governments worldwide. The organisation's annual report also said that the fight against terrorism was being used by countries including the US and Britain as an excuse to trample on human rights. In particular, the group criticised the detention of 600 foreign nationals at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba, and called it a "human rights scandal." 4:04:06 AM    comment []

Argentinian shakeup in the top brass The newly elected Argentinian President Nestor Kirchner has fired the head of the army and announced a major purge of military leaders. The deposed military leaders condemn the move, but few beleive there is any chance of a violent reaction. Some observers speculate whether Kirchner is securing his grip on power before making more sweeping reforms, or if this is a form of revenge against military leaders involved in the disappearance of thousands of opponents in the 1970s. 2:16:41 AM    comment []

Shoot the messenger Accusations are being made that the German government pressured the OECD into making changes to a highly critical report about its struggling economy. An OECD source told BBC News Online that it is usual for the first draft to be substantially rewritten in consultation with the government before it is published, adding that "whole chapters sometimes disappear". The problem is that this is the first time the first draft has been leaked, so the changes being made under German pressureare public.With or without the rewrites, however, it is obvious that the German economy is in serious trouble. 12:26:58 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.06.2003; 03:32:04.