11. september 2003

Berlusconi places foot in mouth, again Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi appears to have an amazing talent for foot-in-mouth disease, and now he is quoted as saying that the fascist dictator Mussolini "never killed anyone," a rather dubious claim to put it mildly. The fact is that in the Middle East there is no democracy and I believe that it is important that there be a democracy in the future. I view as positive an initiative whose goal is to remove a dictator and that can be a paradigm for the entire region. I understand the difficulties of teaching democracy to a people who, for almost forty years, have known only dictatorship and no other system... ". Nicholas Farrell intervened, "Like Italy..?". Berlusconi replied, "Come one, that was a dictatorship that was much more..." "Benevolent," said Farrell in English, "benign" translated the interpreter for Berlusconi. Berlusconi continued, "Yes, Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini sent people on vacation abroad". The English journalist added, "to places that are now exclusive vacation spots." Berlusconi continued, "Apart from this, the issue is broader: we are faced with a new world order. The stand-off between the West and the Warsaw Pact countries is over. Now the Russian federation has decided, through Putin, to be a part of the West; this is a great event...". There appears to be a bit of putting words into Berlusconi's mouth, and if all he meant was that Mussolini was not in the same murderous league as Hitler, Stalin or even Saddam Hussein, I guess that is correct. Nevertheless, Mussolini as a close ally of Hitler's nazi regime had its own share of atrocities, not to mention those committed in Italy's ill-fated attempts to build a colonial empire in Africa. The Jewish communities in Italy are outraged by the comments, which are still to be confirmed. The deportation of Italian Jews to concentration camps did not start, as far as I know, before Germans had occupied the country after Mussolini was ousted, but Mussolini's government had instituted race laws as early as 1938. 6:36:58 PM    comment []  trackback []

Swedish foreign minister dead after being stabbed I feared to wake up today hearing that Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is dead. Doctors were unsuccessful in saving her life, and she died from internal bleeding after more than 10 hours in surgery. I expect as the grief subsides, somebody, even in Sweden, will ask some hard questions about their notoriously incompetent police. How could a big man, dressed in camouflage jacket and with blood stains all over himself, possibly get away from a shopping centre in the middle of Stockholm? 4:47:01 PM    comment []  trackback []

No honour Jordan is supposed to be a "moderate" Muslim country, but apparently the king has a hard time dragging his countrymen kicking and screaing out of the stone age. Recently, the parliament refused to increase penalties for so-called honour killings, as traditionalists argued the new law would encourage vice and destroy traditional values. Apparently, if women don't have to fear their brothers or fathers killing them, they would not stay in their proper place (I don't even want to think about what that is). The day after the law was defeated, three brothers took the message from the lawmakers, and armed with axes they hacked their two sisters, aged 20 and 27, to death. The "crime"? The 27-year-old left her family home nearly two years ago to marry a man without her family's consent, the paper says. Her 20-year-old sister ran away three months ago to join her. Tipped on their whereabouts, the brothers went to their home with axes, and hacked their sisters to death, the paper says. When you read about such disgusting crimes, and learn that the majority of the most respected men in the country support the activity, you realise that these Middle East muslim societies are backwards and primitive, and have lightyears to go. You can call it western-centrisism or cultural chauvinism all you like. 3:38:34 AM    comment []  trackback []

The new colour of money As long as almost anyone living can remember, US currency have been green. No more. The new $20 bill, to be released October 9, will be peach. Or, rather, the colour will depend on the light. In a serious effort to make life hard for counterfeinters, the US Federal Reserve will make changes that no doubt raises controversy. Change always does. Among the features are a watermark image engrained into the paper itself; a vertical plastic strip embedded into the note; and color-shifting ink, whose appearance changes in hue from copper to green as the bill is tilted against light. For tourists and other people not used to US currency every day, the change may be more welcome. It can be a costly mistake to confuse notes, and that is easy to do if you are from a country where the money is recognized primarily by its colour. I have only travelled to the US once, but I have been several places where US$ is the currency of choice. Waving around a $100 bill on the 1990s black market in St Petersburg, Russia, is reportedly an offense punishable by, at best, loss of said bill. 2:47:24 AM    comment []  trackback []

AOHell, now also for bloggers I have been following the news that AOL will break into blogging, as I realise it can be a dramatic development for blogspace. Well, my blog sister Rayne has done more than that. She actually obtained an AOL Journal to check it out for herself. She encountered the 2000 character post limit pretty soon. Yeah, no kidding. So why even play around with the silly piece of fluff? Several reasons come to mind, the first being that it’s like a train wreck about to happen – I can’t rip myself away, I want to see the outcome.  Secondly, I’d like to understand what the experience will be for those AOL customers who think they’d like to get in on that cool blog thing that everybody’s talking about these days (will they come away saying, Hah! That’s a snap! Or perhaps, Bah!  Blogging is garbage, based on their AOL experience?).  Thirdly, I’d like to watch and see how that anticipated captive audience builds and whether AOL can really cash in. It seems AOL will remain the choice for the curious or casual users, also when it comes to blogging. There is, however, hardly such a thing as a casual blog. Not one that lasts, anyway. There is dedicated blogging, and there is obsessive blogging. I think you know which category I fall into. 1:16:58 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.10.2003; 02:24:26.