Category Archives: Text

In the Middle of Crowded Train, Im reading Freud

Before getting fully back into Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents on the insanely crowded trainride back from Brussels, I was catching up on my world news by reading the wonderful courrier international. Among the items that most made me think and inspired me to research further: the Hungarian elections.

I know, I know. It is so often about elections with me and this blog. But you see, it’s not that I like the game, it’s that I worry about the people who hang in the balance depending on the game’s outcome. So I can’t turn away (like so many do!) and say “ooh, I don’t like politics”; it has nothing to do with liking politics, it is all about keeping watch to see what kind of changes are in store for which people of the world.

Anyway so while everyone, including myself, had their eyes glued to the Italian mish-mosh last week that barely managed to push Berlusconi out, Hungary was also having elections. It was only the first round, but the Hungarian Socialist Party came out on top. Which means they’re that much closer to re-electing the Socialist-Liberal coalition that was running the show already.

I’m particularly interested in how life has changed for Hungarians since becoming part of the EU. Obviously I don’t expect magic or people suddenly doing wonderfully, but Im curious if its had any effect. Beyond that, I want to hear from people there.. which is why I’m actively browsing the Hungarian blogosphere and have landed on the excellent blog entitled “Hungarian Accent”.

Of course, I also have a friend who just moved from the US to Budapest. D-rock once visited the fair country. And Ashbloem, I believe, is a hardcore Hungarofile (Magyarfile?). Clearly I’m somewhat connected to the country already.

PS- Its sunday so there is a new vlog post on my vlog, if anyone’s interested. It’s rather simple and without message today.

Driving Around with Nuclear Missiles

Thursday is my all-day in the fishtank day, where all the little fishies come to use the computers. As part of my fishtank ritual, I read the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times; both because its the only reading material around and because Im looking for stories that deserve more attention. And today it was an article on the British Submarine fleet.

Some people may not find it a big deal, but I’m kind of baffled by the fact that the United Kingdom has a fleet of submarines in service that are still armed with long range nuclear missles carrying multiple warheads.
I repeat and I’ll quote the article:

Nevermind. I can’t quote it now, some dude is eating his lunch over it.

Anyway according to the Naval Defence Industries, the Vanguard class submarines current in service, carry a maximum of 48 nuclear warheads!

Now I ask you, British military, and people around the world. Why? What for? Why is it that certain countries still feel the need to pretend nuclear war could happen at any minute and that without the capability to launch a zillion nuclear missiles, their nation will never survive?

In this case I’m focusing solely on the UK. I’m sure the US and Russia also enjoy sending out their submarines loaded with nuclear missiles to launch at imaginary enemies.

According to the description in the FT, who I believe was quoting the Royal Navy, these nuclear missiles are to be used against “rogue nations.” Nice and specific eh?

The scariest part is that members of the Navy have to work with these useless, accident-waiting-to-happen weapons. I’m sure they’re very efficient and knowledgable with how to manage missiles with multiple world-destroying war heads. But even the slightest possiblilty of any type of nuclear accident is unacceptable.

The real reason they still exist? Beyond any military-strategic reasons, it’s because two major corporations profit from building and servicing the missiles: BAE and LockheedMartin. Who should both be taken to task by the public and by governments for encouraging and profiting from this out-dated and dangerous business arangement.

Bonus:
In honor of my occasional participation in videobloggingweek2006, I present a video montage of my thoughts the other day.

Getting set to talk Nepal

This evening I’m preparing for a podcast covering the current state of Nepal, with the help of an excellent Nepalese blogger. It’s not often you’ll find information about the struggle taking place in that country on the cover of the NYtimes or on the latest post from your favorite A-list bloggers. Yet the fate of a nation and its 27.6 million people hang in the balance, and there is a whole other part of the blogosphere that is paying attention.

I’m going to wake up at 5 in the morning, which is something I haven’t done.. well.. in years, to get a chance to speak with one of the people behind “United We Blog! for a democratic Nepal.” While reading lots of posts from that blog, I’ve also been consulting the blog of an expat in New York City – Democracy for Nepal, who I should probably also consult for a followup and another point of view, later on.

As I browse all these blogs, I keep coming across the google ad, in Dutch, about taking a trip to Mount Everest. Which got me thinking: so many westerners admire and pursue the idea of climbing everest, yet how many give a shit for what happens in the country where the mountain is located? The challenge of climbing a mountain=cool. The challenge of encouraging human rights and quality of life=not a priority.

Or perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe all the Everest tourists have a deep concern for Nepal. Maybe they write their representatives and urge them to get informed and involved at some level. Maybe they donate to organizations that work in Nepal to enhance life and basic rights.

Tomorrow I shall perhaps learn the answer to some of this and much more. Any questions you’d like me to ask, write them in the comments Radio Open Source style.

What Would You Like on Your Knesset?

It sounds like a dessert. But really you should never bite into it, because it probably tastes like fat, sweaty, old men. No offense to the sweaty fat guys out there, it’s not all your fault. But if there’s one thing I like about the Israeli parliament, is that you only need 2% of the vote for your party to get some seats.

I was just thinking about this as they count up the votes and smile for the cameras; say you’re a bunch of old retired people? You can just get together, go door to door, or maybe just stroll the halls of the retirement home, and after lots of work, maybe you’ll get your 2%! Voila, suddenly the old retired party has some seats for the big show; and you’ll be banging your fist against the table and running over other parliamentarians toes with your wheelchair in no time! Oh wait – that already happenned… they’re called the Gimla’ey Yisrael LaKneset. Hows that for representation? – fun!*

So the old people got a few seats and as I scan down the list past the big mainstream parties, I see they’ve got a communist arab party with some seats, a religious arab party with some seats, a social democractic party, a party united around the Torah, and then a bunch of religious parties with very long and scarey names. Scarey to me, they could actually mean “Milk and Cookies for Everyone in Israel party”… something about Hebrew that makes even milk and cookies look aggressive to me.

Anyway they’re counting the little sheets of paper and the numbers are rolling in. And you don’t need me to tell you who won and who is an unpopular, never going to be prime minister again, zero-personality, war mongering, far-right jerk. You’ve got the media and plenty of blogolas to tell you that stuff. I’m just hoping the Amsterdam cable system can hook me up with live coverage of the Knesset from now on – it’ll be more interesting than Idols.

* This is not sarcasm, I actually think this is much cooler than a certain OTHER type of government system.

Peace At Hand in Spain

Rafa Díez Usabiaga

Rafa Díez Usabiaga

Rafa Díez Usabiaga

Remember that name, because he could and should be the Gerry Adams of the ETA Basque Paramilitary/Seperatist group. When you hear the name Gerry Adams, you should think: IRA, Sinn Fein, politician, peace negociations, unity, diffusion of tensions…. any one or all of those. My hope is very soon, when you hear the name Rafa Díez Usabiaga, you will think, ETA, Batasuna, trade unions, politician, peace negociation, etc… you get the idea?

But notice I said COULD and SHOULD… this because it is still unclear if it WILL happen. I remember only a few years ago under the conservative spanish government of Aznar, their specialty was refusing to negociate, using hardline tactics, and generally making the situation worse rather than better. Now there is Zapatero and his center-left government who have not made huge strides in the first part of their term when it comes to solving the bitter conflict with ETA. Until now.

My hope is that Zapatero will avoid any tough-guy antics that politicians always choose to adopt since appearing weak is such a taboo. I hope they will engage in conversation, negociation, and basically – communication with ETA, as the group has openly come out and said there will be a cease fire and they want to talk. I always compare it to the IRA and the UK, mostly because I see what has become of that conflict as a very positive example of how conflicts can be solved or AT LEAST, transferred into the political realm and out of the violence realm.

The ball is in his court now, the government of Spain will now show its true colors, and I hope they are open minded and communicative colors. If it works, it qualifies as another sign that there are far better ways to handle conflicts then bombing, invading, or outlawing, which seems like such a popular idea in this era.

Colonialism in North America

As I tend to stay up most of the night working on all kinds of blog reading, article seeking, audio collecting, and video editing – sometimes my eyes play tricks on me. Sometimes I think I see things wrong or I must be way too sleepy. That’s the feeling I had when I saw the headline yesterday that citizens of the US island of Puerto Rico were denied the right to vote in presidential elections.

photo by flickr member lynnifer

Puerto Rico, the commonwealth of the United States for almost 100 years. Who’s people are citizens of the United States. People who were drafted to fight in all the wars the country has waged since the 1st world war. Good enough to die for the country, but not qualified to vote for the so-called democratically elected leader of the free world. Doesn’t seem so free if you’re sitting in Puerto Rico. Probably seems ironic if you’re walking the streets of Baghdad peering around every corner to avoid being shot or blown up, and you’ve got an American flag sewn onto your arm, and you salute sir-yes-sir to some commanding officer from a state that can actually vote. Maybe when the Iraqi army is ready they can go liberate Puerto Rico. Until recently, the military used to test weapons of mass destruction in Puerto Rico. Good enough to test bombs, fight in the wars, pay some taxes, and salute the flag… but still not good enough to vote for president.

Freedom is clearly on the march. Colonialism is thriving too.