Private Update

I did work on Saturday and therefore had to stand up far too early. It was a photographic job. I had to take pictures of people and car at a car show. But A lot of people didn't want their picture to be taken, so after eight hours of work, I had less than a hundred pictures.

The quality of my pictures was not as good as I had wanted them to be. But it was difficult. My college who worked on Sunday took even less pictures and his quality was about the same than mine.

On Sunday I too did have to stand up early and go to my nephews christening. The mother -in-law of my sister had an accident and missed lunch due to a visit of the local hospital.

The christening was OK. But I was surprised that all the children were taken out of the church as soon as they couldn't keep quiet any more. If they had been my children, they had to get red faces from screaming, before I would have them removed from the church.

The Restaurant we went to afterwards was located beautifully. The food was OK, not as special as I had hoped it would be. On my way back, in the train, I had an arguement with my dad about politics. We seem to have been quite loud as other people joined the discussion. Which was a bit arkward, but OK.

Men on a Mission

I have often seen these well dressed men, recognisable by their black nametags talking about God. I didn’t know, that they are Mormons as I shy away from too religious people. I have found a funny site promoting twelve naked Mormons showing “a different side of the Mormon male” or “12 of the hottest hunkiest returned Mormon Missionaries have come together to expose more than their religion” which is of course “not affiliated or endorsed by the Mormon church”. Quotes from this site.

PS I don’t really miss a female version of that calendar, nor of the local female police force. But there are some nurses, I know, whose calendar I would by. Take the hint, Ladies!

WTF is Terrorism?

Claudia Ciobanu asks on her blog the question "What the hell is terrorism?".

She

prefers to use the word violence, which allows for notions of different types of violence

in stead of terrorism, which I disagree completely because terrorism is an aim not a means. I wrote:

The biggest difference between terrorism and other forms of violence is that terrorism targets civilians. The groups using terrorism know, that they are too weak to win a fight with the enemy in the open and therefore they target civilians though trying to build enough pressure to achieve their aim or at least gain more support from their own community.

Are the Palestinians terrorists? As a whole not. But of course there are a lot of terrorist groups in Palestine. Is Hamas a terrorist organisation. Yes and no. Yes, they have used terrorist attacks but not exclusively. Life is seldom black and white.

You write, that ‘our’ politicians create fear. Which is also simplistic. Of course there are some politicians who use the threat from Islam to get more votes. But on the other hand, it can not be denied, that there are Islamic groups who are willing to attack us (the European public) and some already have.

To which two replies I wrote:

apostolisfotiadi writes, that “it is not useful or easy to define terrorism”. Still this was the question of Claudia Ciobano and even the title of her article.
I do believe, it is not only useful, it is necessary to distinguish between terrorism and other acts of violence. It might not be very easy in every case, but in law, facts are often disputed (sorry, here my not being native English speaking hampers me).
For some acts of violence, it can disputed, if the label terror is correct or not, but others and I believe most, can be labelled easily.
According to wikipedia the key criterias are violence, fear, political goal, targeting of non-combatants and therefore illegitimacy.
I agree, that terror and terrorism has been used a lot; sometimes just simplifying sometimes like anti-Semitism it is used as a label to quiet opposition.
apostolisfotiadi simplifies a lot. He writes that according to Clausewitz civilians are the centre of warfare as if Clausewitz suggested mass slaughter to win a war.
He also suggested, the Food for Oil program was a tool of the UN to kill as many Iraqis as possible. The idea behind the Food for Oil program was to allow Iraq to sell Oil and with the revenue buy food and medicine. Not weapons as Saddam Hussein probably would have. That it failed does not mean, that the intentions were bad or that the aim was unrealistic. It was just bad government on the UN and Iraqi side.
I am not saying, that I agree with GWB nor think the situation in Iraq has changed for the better. But a lot of critics of the US seem to forget, that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator and has used WMD against his own people. And that Osama Bin Laden has attacked the West more than once and will continue to do so till he dies. And that there are Muslim terrorists attacking civilians in New York, Madrid, London and in many other places.
I can understand, that there are a lot of people, who say, the US never should have invaded Iraq. Or who say, they have invaded Iraq, but should leave a.s.a.p. But what I don’t understand is when these same people who protest when Iraqi civilians die, rejoice in terrorist attacks in Europe or US.
In Iraq, a civil war is happening or at least is at the very verge of happening. If the US leave, there will be further attacks between Shiites, Sunni and Kurds. The Shiites as the largest group will win with the support of Iran whilst Saudi Arabia will try to support the Sunnis and Turkey will try to take control of the north of Iraq.
Any talk of all problems going away, just because the US go, is nonsense.
apostolisfotiadi misses further points. On the one hand, we know that there are also non Muslim terrorist organisations such as IRA, RAF and ETA in Europe, Aum Shinrikyo in Japan and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. At least the first four are no real threat anymore. So the only real danger comes from Muslim terrorist groups.
Once again, terrorism is not just a word for Muslim freedom fighters. Only a minority of the acts of violence from Iraqi/Muslim fighters in Iraq is directed against the US invasion force and its allies. And the situation before the US led invasion was not as in paradise. Nor were the differences between Shiites and Sunnis caused by the US invasion.
Democracy and freedom of Speech as well as other Human rights are worth fighting for. Even killing for.

I'll sure get punished for using the last sentence.

Hot Fuzz

Wanting to have more fun than at sex? At least more laughs? Then go and watch Hot Fuzz.

It's a story of a London police officer who is very uptight and successful. This of course annoys his co-workers and they manage to promote him to a small village far, far away.

Of course, the peaceful village is less peaceful than at first glance and with his new tubby friend, he saves the day.

The humour is sometimes a bit too gory but after a bit a slow start, there was hardly a moment which I couldn't laugh.

I also liked the cast as well as the photography even though I would have changed it a little bit. But nothing to distract from a real great movie, the best I have seen this year.

Therefore I'll give it 9/10 points. Well done.

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

some seconds of TV time

I had some TV-time on Glanz & Gloria only in the background of the part labled Modeschau. I am the one in the background taking pictures.

Private

I have written less these last few days.

September belongs to Scuba Diving. Besides work, I have four evenings of Scuba Diving theory and four dives in local swimming pools. And I am tired a lot.

After theory and work as well as scuba diving and work, I am too tired to write my blog.

I also had two tilllate events I did. Not too much for it already being the 18th of a month but on one hand, they were longer than usual and they were farther away so I had to drive for about two hours each way. As the pictures had to be online till 8:00 am, I had to take off the next day. At least I got paid for them. But as I am running low on days I can take off this year, I won’t be able to do many more.

The first one was nothing special. But the second one was a fashion show with the active runner up for Miss Switzerland 2007 Xenia Tchoumitcheva who many (as myself) think that she should have won.

Christa Rigozzi, the Miss Switzerland 2007 is not ugly, but she has a bit a large nose. But she seems to be bright.

My all-time favourite, Bianca Sissing was also there and I managed to talk a bit to her and even have a picture taken with her. She was Miss Switzerland 2003.

Sonja Grandjean ruled in 1998, Tanja Gutmann in 1997 (she still has amazing eyes!), Jennifer Ann Gerber in 2001 (without her friend Doris who I wanted to meet, but she had to travel to London), Anita Buri was Miss Switzerland 1999 and they were joined by Miss Zürich Sabrina Knechtli and Miss Bern Yvonne Würms. I didn’t like those two very much. They didn’t seem to have potential for Miss Switzerland.

But I liked the Miss Africa Schweiz Coumba Faye whom I took a lot of pictures of. She has a very dark skin and looks really nice. Usually I don’t like dark women, but her I do.

They were joined by Tim Wielandt Mister Schweiz 2007 who is almost as old as I but looks much better than me and Raphael Kägi (Mister Coke light, shouldn’t that be Mister Coke Zero now???). The show was moderated by Sven Epiney and Plüsch also played some songs.

I also bought a new game for the PC, in fact just an Add-On. Medieval 2, Kingdoms. But even though I only have original games on that PC, I could not start the game. It has some copy protection from SecuROM which somehow blocks the game from starting. SecuROM belongs to the Sony Empire, making me like Sony even less than before. I tried to get in contact with them, but did not receive any good advice.

At least I am not alone with my problems. But I am still angry. There is a lot of anger in the forums and they seem to put the blame on other companies. The cracked version of Kingdoms is already available for download, but as a buyer, I should not have to download a crack just to play a game. I wasted four hours of my precious free time to no avail. I managed to install it, but could not start the game.

Meantime I have found a way around the problem, I just had to start the launcher of the original game, then without closing the launcher, swap discs to the Add-On and then start the launcher of the Add-On. But WTF. They can be lucky, that they don’t live around here, I would really like to pay them a visit myself.

An other friend has bought War Craft and could not install it, I have never been able to run any of the Splinter Cell Games on my PC due to copyright protection programs. Even though I don’t have any illegal software on that PC.

We honest buyers are getting butt-fucked by the industry. Even in Bioshock there seems to be a copy protection which disables the game any further installations after installing it two times. They now seem to have raised the number to five, but that still is not enough.

I also have ordered personal designed ear protective plugs to wear at loud concerts or discos. Discos are not too loud in Switzerland, but very bad in Ibiza.

Last week I have started to loose weight. I want to loose about 15 kg, from 85 to about 70. My boss says, that is too much, because I am about 1.81 m, but he has gained a lot of weight even though he does a lot of Sport. We will see, if I can loose as much as I want to.

Ups have to go. I’ll write more soon.

All pics uploaded to blogspot?

Here you can see a slideshow of all picutres being uploaded to blogspot.com. Real neat even though it is a bit timeconsuming.

Tag Cloud Link

I always missed the Tag Cloud of ones lables and have found a good discription here.

Have fun!

An other Link for Friends

I am quite busy right now with all the scuba diving and have only the link of all the scripts of Friends.

Just a picture I am proud of

Further pictures of Basel

Today I was walking through Basel and took some pictures. An old debt.

Here is the first picture taken of the Lohnhof, a part of the former town wall. It now contains the Museum of Musicical Instruments .



There is the statue of Dr. Rudolf Riggenbach, also known as "Dinge-Dinge", who was a monument conservator for Basel.



Only a few minutes walk away, there is the "Consulate Kingdom of Lepmuria", which of course is no real place just the head quater of a carnival group.



It is located in the alley of spices. Pepper and Ingwer.



On the other hill of Basel are the houses of two brothers building a white and a blue house next to each other. One of the two brothers wanted to have observatory built on the top of his house, which was not allowed by the government. So instead of complying to the rule or breaking any laws, he decided to change the use of one of the chimneys to an observatory. It is the one on the right marked with the red circle.



Here a bad picture from the front.



Next to the oldest sculptures of some elephants, not very accurate,



Here is the picture of a plate inserted into the street which can be translated to:

Here begun
on March 9th 1981
between
Harald and
Gabriele
the Love
to bloom.

I know, the translation is not too good.



I marked where you can find it here:



near the cathedral of Basel, which is constant state of repair.



There was a strange festival with stalls



and some bagpipers and some public bathing, kind of strange...



Next picutres are about a red glove is nailed to a ground near my favourite restaurant.



Here is a second picture to easier find the place.

Getting full in here

As I want to write about a lot of different topics, the Label-List is getting full.

Therefore I have started to add some Links to my own site, starting with the Java Games-Link on the right side.

Some nice 3D sculptures of sexual positions

Warning! Mildly Adult Content.

Here you can find some well made 3D sculptures of sexual positions. I really like the quality and you can even rate those positions you liked most.

Best Mahjongg Online Game

Here you can find my favourite online Mahjongg. Even though I never was able to finish ist. The text is on German but you don't have to understand what it says. It's just about a princess captured by a villain. Have fun.

Teletubbies go Blockout

A Fun game a mixture of blockout and teletubbies.

Save a Teddy-bear, ehr, bunny.

Click here so save a dying bunny. Please be careful!

A link for you big boys

I have found a Java Game containing some nudity. It is very well done and a lot of fun to play, even though the replay value is probably low.

First time diving in the basin

Yesterday I went diving for the first time. Man, was I lucky that I tried this at home first. Even though the water in the swimming pool was chlorinated freshwater and not saltwater it did not help the taste that much.

They wanted to go to a bar afterwards but with all the luggage, I just wanted to get home. Having no balcony I had to hang everything in the bathroom which is rather small.

Hope everything gets dry before I have to use the equipment again tomorrow.

Ups, forgot one Photo of the two Lion Babies

And here it comes:

First Lesson at Scuba Diving

Yesterday I had my first lesson in scuba diving. Not in the water, only theory and equipment. I have a bit a weird feeling. The couple running the school and the shop were very friendly and not just in a superficial way. Simon who gives the lessons is quite young and besides a tendency to stare too long, is OK. But still, I have the feeling to be taken to the cleaners.

I think I am unfair and that I should not trust my feelings, but we’ll see.

I dislike that we have to take all our equipment home, which is a lot and very heavy.

I bought goggles and a snorkel. The rest of the equipment is either included in the prize of the course or rented.

Today we’ll go underwater for the first time. I won’t be writing much these next days, as I have a lot to do.

On Sunday, I intend to take some more pictures of Basel.

Statistics

I had some more visitors from the US. First one from India. Also first visitors from search engines. Which is weird but welcome. I just hope, I receive more comments. Up till now, I had 67 visitors from 13 countries. Most from Switzerland followed by the US and the UK.

New Story of Putin's Russia

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like those often slimy often criminal russian oligarchs. They got rich fast. Rather they got very rich, very fast. Of course their wealth causes a lot of envy by the public and by the government and Putin has the power and will to take their weath, throw them in jail or make them flee the country and then try to kill them with Polonium.

I would not mind, if the wealth Putin steals back would really do the normal Russian any good. But I have very strong doubts. What would you expect from a fucking Ex-KGB who might be less Ex than we hope for.

And I disdain Schroeder, the former German Chancellor who called Putin to be a flawless democrat. Probably Schroeder should have stayed away from the Vodka. At least his Putin has repaid his brown-nosed friend with a job in a Russian-German joint venture and an adopted two children from Russia (with love).

But I am drifting from the topic which is Mikhail Gutseriyev, born 1958, founder of one of the first cooperative banks and later started and run Russneft.

In July 2007 Gutseriyev stepped down from his oil company Russneft due to extreme pressure from Putin.

The usual modus operandi of Putin is to take advantage of the ambiguous Russian tax laws and then to claim tax evasion. An other approved method, used mainly for Western companies is to claim that environmental laws have been broken.

I am not saying, that neither tax evasion or environmental issues can happen, but their prosecution is very specific. As long as you are Putins friend, you can evade taxes and spill oil, but just don’t loose his friendship,.

Gutseriyev as many before him have fled Russia and arrived in London. There are claims he somehow transferred most of his 3 billion USD forture to London.

Putin often denouces Britain as a haven for criminals and terrorists later referring to Boris Berezovsky (whose friend Alexander Litvinenko was most probably murdered by the Russian Secret Service with radioactive poison) and to the Chechen rebel leader Akhmed Zakayew.

Numerous other Russian dissidents and opponents of the Putin regime now live in London including the former Kommersant journalist Yelena Tregubova and executives from the bankrupt oil company Yukos. Bankrupt thanks to Putin.

Mr Berezovsky said: "I know him and although I don't have an especially close relationship with him I will help if he gets in touch, although he will not need all that much help because he has big experience abroad and he has money." Mr Berezovsky said he expected more Russians to come to London because the UK's legal system offered protection from what he described as Russia's "gangster" government.

Gutseriyev was last seen at the funeral of his son who died last week following a mysterious car crash. It is very possible, that Putin had to do something with this ‚accident’ too. There are just too many critics of Putin dying premature.

The Guardian writes here.

Mr Gutseriyev's woes appear to have started after he bought up assets from the oil firm Yukos. On July 30 he published a damning letter accusing the Russian authorities of using regulation as a pretext to grab back oil and gas assets from Russian and western companies.

He wrote: "They made me an offer to leave the oil business, to leave on 'good terms'. I refused. Then, to make me more amenable, they tightened the screws on the company with unprecedented persecution." The letter marked the most significant public challenge to Mr Putin from a leading businessman since the imprisonment four years ago of the former chairman of Yukos Oil, Mikhail Khordorkovsky.

Khordorkovsky was jailed for eight years in 2004 for tax evasion and fraud. The case was widely seen as political punishment for his refusal to stop funding anti-Kremlin opposition parties ahead of 2004 elections. The oligarch, once Russia's richest man, is now in jail in Siberia.

Yesterday Russian newspapers dubbed Mr Gutseriyev a "second Mikhail" - a reference to Khordorkovsky. They predicted that, like Yukos, his RussNeft oil empire would be swiftly dismantled, sold off, and most probably absorbed into a new state-run firm. Russian investigators have already seized the firm and accuse Mr Gutseriyev of failing to pay $800m in tax.

Yeah, the virtue of a flawless democrat.

Feeding the caged animals

On August 21st 2007, NZZ writes about the total blockade of Gaza from our Jewish friends. One point that seldom breaks news, is that the blockade also helps Jewish companies. The Pepsi bottling plant in Gaza can’t buy any carbon dioxide and had to shut down. Not just did Mohammed Yazegi, director of that plant, have to send home 250 workers, but also he loses market shares to Coca-Cola which still can be imported from Israel.

Mohammed Almi, owner of Future Tech in Gaza, says „Israel wants to controll our market and a total blockade is the best way to ruin the Palestinian competition. Some businessmen had to flee to prison because they feared revenge of their creditors because no business means no paying of debts.

UN says 1600 containers heading for Gaza are being held in Israeli storage costing around 80 dollars a day. 2500 workers have lost their jobs because Israel does not allow building materials into Gaza, 25'000 workers have lost their jobs because 600 textile and cloth factories can’t export, clothes worth over 12 million dollar are ready to be exported but are not allowed to leave the Strip.

You may attack me if I use Jewish and Israeli synonymic. I do make a difference in Switzeralnd or outside of Israel. But I feel wrong, when I say that this is the mistake of the Israelis, because with that I include the Christians and Muslims Israelis who don’t support the politics of the Jewish majority.

You may also attack me you think there is no difference between what I say and what Jean Ziegler says. I do believe, there still is. I do not hate the Jews, not even the Israeli Jews, but I think that a lot of them don’t see the reality or don’t want to.

I am not saying that the Israeli Jews are the SS of today. But I do strongly believe that the Israeli Jews have lost the right to criticise the Germans of WWII not directly involved in the Holocaust because as those Germans were to some extent were involved in the Holocaust, they are responsable for the suffering of the Palestinian people today.

Interview in BaZ

Some say, I am only critical of the political Right which is just not true. In the Basler Zeitung, there was an interview with Adolf Ogi and Jean Ziegler. They are the two top ranking Swiss UN-Officials. Adolf Ogi was elected to the Swiss Federal Council consisting of seven people and is the supreme executive and directional aughority of Switzerland.

He is (or at least was) a member of the center-right-wing Swiss People’s Party and in 2001 he was appointed to the task of Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace. I don’t like him and think of him of being rather silly.

I don’t know, if he was involved here , but it might be possible. What I got angry about most in his article was his statement, that „besides the Vatican, every state is a UN-member“. Hello Mr. Ogi, ever heard about Taiwan? 24 million democrats not being represented in the UN.

I sent him a mail to aogi@unog.ch and will post his reply.

Jean Ziegler is even worse. I really hate him and feel ashamed for him as a Swiss and as a Social-Democrat. He believes that the US is an „imperalistic dictatorship“ and is commiting „genocide“ agianst the people of Cuba by means of ist trade embargo.

In the interview he writes that „Israeli state-terrorism rules in Palaestine“, „every child that starves to death is murdered by the American agro-corporations“. I won’t comment on these statements because I belief that they are just too stupid. But I don’t want the reader to think that those two are the best we can offer.

Apostates in Egypt

I have written about the difficulties to convert from Islam to Christianity. In Egypt, a close ally to the US and multi-billion recipient of US arms, Mohammed Higazi (sometimes written Hegazy, if you want to google) has renouced Islam and converted to Christianity.

Not that I do like evangelistic Christians that much, I do believe that one’s belief is his private affair (I like Jews, because event though they are rassist, at least they don’t try to convert you).

On Egyptian IDs the religion is mentioned. And as it is very easy to get a new ID if you convert to Islam, the fall from Islam is frowned upon and Mohammed Higazi (will he also change his first name?) being one of less than eighty converts a year wanted to change his legal status which was much more difficult than you’d expect. About ten times as much convert from Christiantity to Islam with no problems...

But as his also Christian wife was pregnant he wanted to legalize his state so that his child could be raised as a Christian, visit Christian schools etc.. The clock is ticking.

As his case hit the news, death threats against his lawer started and Mohammed is not optimistic to win the case after being jailed and tortured in 2002 because of his converstion. But at least he won't go down without a fight.

His lawyer Mahdouh Nakhla, director of the Al Kalema Center for Human Rights is fighting since 1996 (eleven years!) for twelve born Christians who coverted to Islam due to a marriage but after the devorce wanted to return to Chritianity.

Due to those threats and due to additional preassure form the Egyptian secret police he gave up. It is widely known, that torture is rather the norm than the exception in Egyts prisons.

Islamists call apostates Murtad and support death penalty for apostates. As a lot of Egyptians worked in Saudi Arabia they got in contact with a more strict and militant Islam as the traditional Egyptian Islam and with the Muslim Brotherhood extremism threatens the about 10 percent of Copt Christians in Egypt.

Binge drinking

I have really little experience with drugs. I have never smoked, never used any hard drugs or even soft drugs as religion and marihuana. Alcohol is a drug I use on a weekly basis. Not every week but sometimes more than once a week.

I have been drunk about two times mostly because of love. Not love-drunk, just drunk to get over rejection. Less than once a month, I probably drink more than I should. Tilllate 7 was the last time, the last night in Ibiza an other.

As I normally drive to parties by car, I drink one unit max. Beer I don’t like much, therefore I might drink less than six a year. Gin Tonic is my poison. And I even might drink a Gin Tonic at home alone, but a bottle lasts for a very long time.

I am disgusted with drunk or intoxicated people and therefore keep excesses to a minimum.

Today, as I took the tram to work, a drunk had collapsed at a station surrounded by open and full bottles and his friends. I get a lot of cases of drug users at work and know how they end. And with their stinking breath, dirty clothes and ‚good’ company, they are nowhere where I want my life to go.

But I know I might sound old, I am also suprised how drunk young people get today. It is not as bad yet as what I saw in London last year, which was terrible, but drinking seems to be a major problem of young people. When I was younger and we experienced, we were more secret. Today it seems to be OK to get drunk in the middle of the town.

And don’t get me started on littering...

Having fun with hand grenades

One of my favourite blogs is fun with hand grenades also here at blogspot.

If you really are interested in a grunts view of Iraq, you have to read his blog. I am not sure, if he still writes, I’ve just reading what he has wrote from the beginning till December 2006.
Here he writes under the topic “Issues” and “Decisions, decisions” a lot which I agree completely. I will write more in the future but for the moment, I will just cite some of his thoughts. I hope, he won’t sue me.

While home I was constantly asked what we should do about Iraq. Do we send more troops, bring some home, or totally withdrawal? I used to think I knew what to do about Iraq but in the end it doesn’t matter; when the bullets start flying politics really do go out the window; people are trying to kill me and foreign policy doesn’t mean shit in that situation. On the flip side you’d assume I’d be a better position than the actual policy makers because unlike our think tanks I’ve actually been in the shit with my boots on the ground. I eventually realized that I simply don’t know what to do about Iraq anymore.

Which is the same with me. And he continues:

Iraq has no concept of national unity or patriotism. … Islam is divided up into two major sects, the Sunnis and the Shiites. The Kurds live in the Northern part of Iraq and generally have kept to themselves. Back in the day, Saddam, a Sunni, oppressed the Shiites along with persecuting and massacring the Kurds. Fast forward to 2006: the Sunnis are pissed because they don’t have their Saddam-era power base or wealth, the Shiites want retribution, and the Kurds still want to be left alone but wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to get a vengeful piece of that Sunni ass. What fuels the whole “Iraqi Civil War” scenario is just that, three distinctly different sects who generally don’t get along well. Because of the oppression/demand for vengeance there isn’t much national unity and the country is split along those lines.

If the US just left, Iraq would destroy itself in a matter of weeks. The Shiites would exact vengeance on the Sunnis then naturally and understandably the Sunnis would react. As much as I love the Kurds I wouldn’t be surprised if they also tried to pull some crazy shit.

The point is not anymore if it was right to topple Saddam Hussein, but how to get out of the situation.

It’s a good possibility that if Iraq was thrown into chaos its neighbouring countries (Turkey, Iran, Syria, etc.) would carve up a chunk for themselves. This would be totally unacceptable and particularly dangerous in the cases of Iran and Syria.

We shouldn’t leave. Iraq isn’t ready for us to leave. If we do the results could be disastrous. From my past writing you’d think I don’t give two shits about Iraq and I’m just concerned about getting home in one piece.

There isn’t an easy way to put this; we create more enemies everyday in this country. … it’s virtually impossible to actually fight.

We need to make sure Iraq becomes something that the Iraqi people deserve. Iraq will never be a world power but it can be a lot more than it is now. Twenty thousand plus American wounded and almost three thousand dead will have suffered and died for nothing if we fail. How we get to that point is something I don’t think I’ll ever figure out.

Statistics

The weekend was no good for my blog. Probably, everyone was enjoying the sun outside so I had only six visitors in two days. But the first one from the US. Welcome! Hope Yuki reads this soon, so I have my first Japanese visitor booked.

Sex in America

Yeah, sex sells, so lets have more of it. But what I want to talk about now, is not something to make fun of.

We in Europe always like to make fun of the Americans, but we have also a similar case in Turkey which I will talk more about in the near future.

Genarlow Wilson is imprisoned. He is black, which is no help in the US judicial system. But he had no contact with the police till his arrest.

His internet site describes him as „good son, good athlete and a high school student“. His life changed for the worse, when in the morning of New Year 2004 Michelle woke up with a hangover, wearing nothing but socks in a hotel room. Surrounding her were used condoms and empty Cognac-bottles.

She called her mom and told her that she had been raped.

The police interrogated 14 black teens aging from 15 to 17 years and found a videotape documenting the orgy with marihuana and alcohol. Michelle is being seen to have sex with several boys and Tracy, being only 15, gives blow jobs to some other boys. Not under threats or because being violated, but consensual.

That the sex was consensual was not denied by those two involved girls nor by a third girl who was also present during the party. The last one even transcripted, that the first two girls thrust themselves upon the boys.

Because Tracy was only 15 years old, the police concentrated on her case. Five teens, all 17 years old, were arrested on charges of aggravated child molestation (because Tracy was two years younger than they were).

They did this, because under Georgia law, the penalty for engaging in oral sex with a minor is more severe than raping a person of the same age.

Almost two years before this case, a 18-year-old black man was accused of raping a white classmate who was fifteen, but only three months from her sixteenth birthday. Even the author of the statute argued, that the aim of the law was to protect children from grownups, not to meddle in teenage sex.

Some of the teens accepted pleas to lesser charges in exchange for lighter terms. They would not have to serve the 10 year prison term but they would stay registered sex offenders forever. And would you give a job to a sexual offender? Didn’t think so.

Genarlow, the one kid without no prior problems with the law and a second guy decided to go to court instead of a bargain. They hoped, the jurors would understand their position and even though they knew, that what they had done, was not good, at least would not have been put to jail for at least ten years. They were teenager, and as teenager trying to find their way into adulthood with no ill will, no malice and no intent to commit a crime.

As the trial begun, the second guy caved in and made a bargain. The judge and the jurors did not seem to understand the situation nor did they understand what the law intended for and sentenced Genarlow guilty of rape and aggravated child molestation and sent him to jail for 10 years.

McDade, the district attorney says that the law did not allow him to plea for any other conviction and throws the ball back to the legislator. Which is also the excuse Eichmann had in WWII. “We don’t believe that a 10-year sentence is an appropriate punishment [in this case], but he made that decision to put himself in that predicament,” explains McDade, of Genarlow’s refusal to cop a plea.

And he also says, that race was no topic. Hear, hear. “Calling me a racist denigrates the people who are victims in this case.”

But there are also other cases of white adults prosecuted by same Judges for sex crimes involving minors and received far lighter sentences than any of the teens in this case.

You can find more here.

The DA involved was also accused by two female employees of sexual harrassment some years ago and even though those charges were dismissed, where there is smoke, there might be fire.

The Campaign for Juvenile Justice say that African-American and Latino are far more likely to be trialled as adults even if they were juveniles at the time of the crime and that less of their cases were transferred back to juvenile court comparing to White teens.

But for me, the question of race is not that important. I rather fear the conservative backlash on sexual liberation. A lot of people, even those calling them Liberals or thinking of themselves as progressive have a very hostile view of sexuality and even though I believe in honouring women and even though I would not have sex with a drunk woman, I do not believe it is right, to send a young man to jail for ten years, just because he got a blowjob from a girl two years younger than himself.

Tilllate Party 7

Yesterday I went to the 7 years Party of tilllate. I hadn’t quite figured it out, if I wanted to go at all or not. In fact, I even had planned to cover some other parties in Basel for tilllate.

I didn’t really mind going to tilllate 7, I just didn’t want to drive on my own nor did I want travel with the tilllate-coach. Not that I minded travelling with the other tilllaters. But I wasn’t looking forward to have to wait till six to take the bus back.

But Christian asked me if I would join him and I reluctantly agreed. The trip to Zurich was pleasant. Christian has a big car. We found a free parking and were suprised that we were not VIP. A theme that would continue the evening.

I met Debby at the entrance. Talked a bit but then went inside with Christian. He met two girls, one of them I did not recognize at first but I really knew from some other parties. But she remembered me. I liked her and her friend who I hope to meet again soon. James came and asked us to meet for a picture, which is when I last saw the ladies. Bad, bad James.

The Lounge for the photographers was, hm, I try to put it politely, shitty. There was no place to sit and it really didn’t look very stable. The usual photographers were not allowed in the VIP-Section. So I missed talking to some of the other people at tilllate who themselves were allowed in the VIP section. Debby told me, that this happened because last year, some photographers puked next to our clients. From the outside the VIP-section looked nice. Anthony was very pissed, that we were not allowed inside as the photographers used to be the most important part of tilllate and now, according to him, are less important than the companies. He added, that we should go on a strike for a week or two.

There was something about the worlds largest Vodka bottle, which is no fun, if you’re not allowed to drink from it. And there should have been the launch of tilllates new design. But I saw nothing of it. Some Mister Switzerland made a speech which didn’t receive much attention. There was even clamour. They should have taken an ex Miss Switzerland or Christa Rigozzi, the Miss Switzerland 2006 because most of the photographers are blokes. Or even a vice-Miss Switzerland. I was looking for the other guys, to no avail. Talked to Debby again who even though she had been told to only have to work till 23:00 wasn’t relieved from duty till 3:00 when I went home. She is nice, even more than just nice.

The music was OK, but the rest of the party, better to forget asap. Next year, if I’m not allowed in the VIP-section, I will pass.

Photos from the Zoo of Basel

For the first time, I want to show you some small pictures I took in the Zoo of Basel.

Moldova

Claudia Ciobanu gives in her post an inside view of life in Moldova.

She writes, that a Romanian journalist working in Moldova receives 100 Euro for daily expenses which equals the monthly salary of a Moldavian journalist.

An other important topic is the freedom of press or rather the restrictions of free press as well as the corruption and nepotism in the government of Moldova.

Claudia Ciobanu writes:

Still, in spite of these limitations and disappointments, Chisinau gives the impression of a very lively town. The center is full of posters for theatre and dance performances. Young people meet, chat and fill up the internet cafes in search of information. Many will go aboard, some will stay, few hope that life in their country will get better.

Der Fall von Madrid by Rafael Chirbes

I’ve been thinking for some time about further rankings. I am even working at a few.

But now I want to talk about the book I am reading right now Der Fall von Madrid by Rafael Chirbes. I have not found an English translation. Even though I read the German version and not the Spanish Original, I really do like this book. The story takes place in 1975, Franco, the dictator of post WWII is dying in an hospital. We follow the paths and thoughts of about eight people somehow related to José Ricart who on this same day celebrates his 75th birthday.

The aftermath of the Spanish Civil War between the Republicans on one side and the Socialists on the other side separate Spain’s citizens till today and will continue to haunt its people in the future.

This trench runs even between families and what I like most about this book is that Chirbes writes each person differently. A professor talks and thinks in different words than a worker. His writing is best when he writes how the wife of Ricart, who herself is in a state between sanity and madness, sees the world around her.

I can really recommend this book and would give it 9 out of 10 points.

More statistics

I admit, I love statistics. Yesterday I had 13 visitors, one of them from Germany and one from Romania. I’m still waiting till my pen-friends from Japan and US come for a visit.

Death at a Funeral

Death at a funeral is a very British movie directed by Frank Oz, most famous for the Muppet Show and as the voice of Yoda in all six Star Wars. The rest of the cast I hardly know even when I check the Internet Movie Datebase, they don’t really ring a bell. Which doesn’t has to be a bad thing.

The movie is funny, some lines are great and the acting is far better than what I had expected. Never less, I don’t think that you have to buy the DVD. But it is worth your time and money. I just want to say, that I don’t think, you have to or even want to see this movie twice but it would be a pity if you’d miss it at all.

Therefore, from me 8/10 which is much better than Transformers (which I gave a 3/10 and about as good as Stranger than Fiction, even though they play in different leagues.

Statistics

I just received yesterdays statistics which told me that there were four unique visitors. I guess that two of them are me (from the office and at home) leaving two real visitors. Way to go.

Blame the police for everything

Last Saturday, a 25 year old illegal alien from Guinea died after falling down five storeys.

A cousin of the deceased hit a motorbike with her car and absconded. The driver of the motorbike was able to note the number of the licence plate and gave this information to the police.

The police went directly to the address of the delinquent and rang the door bell at 3:00 am. The illegal alien thought they were coming for her and tried to avoid arrest by climbing from her balcony to the neighbour’s. During her escape, she fell and consequently died.

Her relatives with the aid of a pettifogger want to sue the police. But no one told that stupid woman to live in Switzerland illegally, nor her cousin to have an accident and flee the scene of the crime no for the dead girl to avoid arrest.

The police did not even enter the apartment and I would loose more of my confidence in the Swiss Law, if that case was not dismissed soon. But I really hate that Vincent Spira and his kind, always protecting criminals.

An other birthday

Last week, the Swiss Performance Index celebrated its 20th birthday. The SPI is a index of Swiss shares. As its younger brother, the Swiss Market Index, it is a dividend-corrected index of about 230 equity issues (the SMI consists of about 30 blue-chips).

Nesté is the most important share, consisting of over 16 % of the whole index, followed by Novartis (13 %), Roche (11 %) and UBS (10%). The five most important shares therefore are weighted more than half of the basket.

Even though there was a smaller crash this year, the average yield during these twenty years was 9.5 %. Which of course is much higher than what you’ll receive from the bank if you put your money in an savings account. And part of the gain is tax-free because only the dividends are subject of taxes not the advance of the market value.

Novartis stops investing in India

What is the objective of a company? We accept, that people want to earn money. Money makes the world go round. As we read newspapers, watch TV, talk with friends, we all accept, that we want to earn money to buy stuff.

We all know, how communism has failed. And we all know that greed is a sin. But as we do not want to work all day without receiving money, therefore also accepting, that we have to pay for what we want to buy.

One might talk bad about money, but in the end, money is an accepted auxiliary to get what we want and need.

We also accept, that Ford didn’t build cars to aid the drive-in cinemas but to earn money.

Somehow, we do not feel comfortable if physician see the patient as a means to earn money. Therefore we have the Hippocratic Oath. And we feel a bit uncertain about pharmaceutical companies.

As we accept their right to earn money, we also want them to research better medicine and as a formula once discovered can be easily copied, we have the concept of patents to allow companies researching to profit from their research.

Now India has denied Novartis certain patents. Of course we understand the concern and the responsibility of governments for their people and that supplying patients with cheap medicine is per se a good thing. But those countries are also whining about foreign countries neither doing research and development of pharmaceuticals nor they are not researching medicaments for the specific need of poor countries.

It is not just India. Also Africa and South America, patents tend to be ignored and this with the consent of the governments. Why should Novartis invest millions trying to find a cure for Malaria and other Third World diseases when they can expect that even when they find a cure, they will receive no ROI (Return on Investment). It takes more than ten years to do that kind of research.

As a shareholder of Novartis, I want them to earn money to pay dividends. If Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) really want to find cure for those diseases, they either have to protect the companies patents or pay themself for the development of such medicine.

Novartis has, in a first reaction, stopped investing in their R&D. Daniel Vasella, CEO of Novartis, has said in an interview with the Financial Times that „this is not an invitation to invest in Indian research and development, which we would have done. We will invest more in countries where we have protection. .... Do you buy a house, if you know people will break in and sleep in your bedroom?“

Seems that China will be the beneficiary for some hundreds of millions worth investing.

Pro Specie Rara

Today, I want to tell you about Pro Specie Rara. The site is only on German, French and Italian. Pro Specie Rara was founded 25 years ago. In todays supermarkets where we (have to) buy most of our food, there is a suprisingly little selection. There are about eight different kinds of apples, two types of pears and probably six types of potatoes.

Only at markets, you might find more variety, but even that is not sure. But in Switzerland there would be much more. More than 5'000 species of fruit existed less than hundred years ago, half of them lost forever. PSR tries to preserve what is left, their databank has more than 2'500 apples, accounting one third of the total content. There are more than 1'300 different pears listed as well as about 20 different patatoes.

Of course, it is not enough just to make a list. They even sell seeds and plants. But as soon as they managed to get Coop, one of the two major supermarkets in Switzerland, to sell their products, not just the seeds and plants but also and more important the tomatoes etc., they managed to get me as a client.

Every year I look forward to summer, when they sell the „Baselbieter Röteli“ my favourite tomato. I admit, they are more expensive but when you’ve tasted them once, there is no going back.

Private: Tilllate

I know, I might not make a lot of friends, but I think as tilllate is a large part of my life, I might as well talk about it here.

On Friday, after some gaming, I met the tilllate team of Basel for a drink. I somehow feel not unwelcome, but a bit like an alien.

OK, that happens to me quite a lot, not just with tilllaters. I feel alienated but not because of them. Hm, I might be very critical and there are very few people I really like. I like Nebi and Baalu. My favourite is Aline, who wasn’t there on Friday. I am not saying, I can’t have fun with the rest, but I have to work harder to have fun with them.

We got our new T-Shirts. Or rather singular. And not a T-Shirt but a Polo-Shirt. It is black with tilllate.com written on it in silver embroidered letters. Very nice.

But, one is not enough. I like to wash all clothes after a party. And as I wash only every third week, I need larger quantities.

I had a short discussion with one of the others who talked about Islam being the purest of all religions. Aargh. Why do they have to insult other religions and can’t keep their belief to themselves? They wouldn’t really want a discussion with me. But I have had replies about what I wrote about Islam in tilllate which were good but still let me think twice before writing an other post on tilllate. Hope he never reads my blog or I’ll have one‚friend’ less. I had to leave and got an ice ad dieci’s. Anyway, I was not too sad that I had to leave early and went taking some pictures in BarRouge.

The idea of the organizer was to do a casting in a full club. But BarRouge is seldom full and definitely not during the first warm weekend after a long rainy period and with the Klosterberg-Fest taking place in an other part of Basel.

There were only about 15 people casted, most of them before I arrived. They even finished early and I didn’t stay much longer as I had plans to meet a friend at the Klosterberg Fest which I subsequently did.

Stay there till about three, uploaded the pics and played till it dawned.

I gamed during the rest of Saturday and returned to BarRouge in the evening. There were some more people, but not really that much. Far from full. They had even opened the 30th floor but there were about ten people max there.

Upstairs was a bit better. I was booked to take pictures from 22:00 till midnight when I should have been replaced. But the replacements came almost an hour late and instead of taking pictures right away, one chatted with a bartender and the other one sat down with his friend.

I was in my tilllate-shirt and had a large cam, therefore I was asked to take pictures five times. Which I denied because I didn’t want to do both reports. I only had stayed longer because I thought one of them wanted to try my lenses and because I had met an old friend whose wish for pictures I couldn’t deny.

Now they have added those 21 pictures to my gallery, which I don’t really like. I wanted to delete them, but refraind.

Today I spent with my younger sister, her son, the father of her son and two friends with their son. I am going to be the godfather of their unborn son. Which I am quite proud, as both of my sisters didn’t choose me godfather of their children.

Private: Problems with Logitech Mouse

As I wrote in my last post, I started Bioshock. I wanted to play more, but the battery packs of my Logitech Mouse stopped working. I had problems these last few days but the problems couldn’t have come at a worse time. New game and no mouse...

The only one I had, was at the office, too far to get. Therefore I played Civ4 for a bit and went to bed much earlier than planned.

On Friday, I had taken a day off to play Bioshock, therefore I had to buy a mouse first. I went to the Interdiscount in and bought the G3 Laser Mouse. I didn’t fully test it, but I don’t like it at all. I have gotten used to my cordless G7 and don’t like to be annoyed by a cord.

What I dislike or hate most about the G3 is that there are two additional buttons placed where you'd usually hold the mouse. Therefore you constant press those buttons and have to live with the consequences.

It seems, other Logitech users had their share of problems as the G7 is no longer available and Logitech has no cordless mice for gamers anymore. I will try to find a G7 or at least a good substitute.

PS: Could be quite difficult to find a new G7. I've searched the internet to no avail.

Private: Bioshock

I didn’t write for some time, but I want to tell you about my last days. I will take scuba diving lessons in September.

On Thursday, I bought Bioshock, a computer game I was looking forward to play for some months. The intro was a bit disappointing but as soon as the plane crashed down, the experience changed for a better.

The graphics is in most part not as spectacular as I had anticipated but at least it ran smoothly on my 23 inch display.

I was pleased with the immersing game experience. The story is well told even though the gameplay is extremely linear.

After the crash, you emerge in the ocean, surrounded by burning oil and sinking debris. The only feature in the night not directly connected do the plane crash is a lighthouse and after a short swim you find a open door.

As soon as you enter, the door closes and the before dark room is lit by some lights. A large sculptured face looks down on you and gives an eerie feeling. As the door outside is closed, the only way leads some steps down to a small submarine, which, after entering brings you to Rapture, the City of the free.

As you arrive in the terminal, the guy trying to get in contact with you gets whacked and the assailant flees the scene. You then leave the sub and find indications of turmoil and demonstrations.

Soon afterwards you get attacked by the former assailant who herself gets killed by a mechanical sentry system.

The theme is that Rapture was built for humans to be free of „the man in Washington, from the man in the Vatican and the man in Moscow. But some experiments of the free scientists seem have gone wrong and even though I have seen the first Little Sisters and Big Daddys, I still have a lot of questions.

What I like is the atmosphere, the architecture, like in the movie Metropolis, Art Deco, etc. And even though one could rush through the game quickly, there is a lot to explore and I will continue to explore Rapture and tell you of its secrets.

Private: Diving

Today I was at the physician to get my certificate of recreational scuba diving. Tomorrow, I will apply for PADI scuba diving lessons.

Structural problems of Japans agriculture

This is for you, Yuki. NZZ writes about your hometown, Kochi, Japan. Kochi having 330’000 citizens is famous for its market on Sundays. There are a lot of elder Japanese shopping there and the ambiance is described as very peaceful. And there are a lot of elder vendors too who sell their own agricultural products. As in Switzerland, Japan seems to have problems finding enough young men and women wanting to work as farmers. A lot of the farmers are over 50 years old and the young farmers are having difficulties finding wives. This also adds to the problem and there is a great fear, that a lot of farms will have to close down. Some rural communities have organized trips to the Philipines to find suitable wives for the young farmers.

Only about 20 percent of farmers work fulltime on their farms. The majority has an extra job besides the farm. That the Japanese eat less rice, from 9.6 Mio. tons to 8.4 Mio. tons as bread and pasta are gaining market shares.

As the farmers usually vote for LDP, the government supports the farmers with special payment event though agriculture only produces 1.6 % of the GDP.

Two reports about Israel/Palestine in NZZ of 2007.08.22

The occupation of Palestine by Jews is theme of two articles in today’s NZZ. The first is about the situation in Gaza’s hospitals. Fatah demands, that all medical workers in Gaza’s hospitals only work during the morning, or they will not get paid. Needless to say, that this kills Palestinians. One more reason to hate Fatah.

And the Israeli have stopped shipment of fuel to Gaza for several days therefore leaving the hospitals partly without electricity. This because the EU stopped payments but also because Israel still withholds millions worth of tax dollars they are obliged to pay to the Palestinian authorities. The article is a bit out of date because deliveries of fuel have restarted. But still spare parts for machines are withheld.

The chief surgeon says that Hamas is not corrupt as Fatah was, but replaces the old leaders with their own people. I don’t know, but perhaps they were replaced, because they were corrupt.

On the other hand Scort for Peace, for Aid, for Development, organized soccer training in Israel between Israelis and Palestinians. On the second day, of the 14 boys from Jericho, only two were allowed to enter Israel. The rest was sent back at Israeli road blocks. It is unfair just to blame the Israelis. In Fatah-controlled West Bank, a soccer tournament was named after Ziyad Daas, a Fatah-member who in 2002 killed 6 people and maimed 35 at a Bar Mizwa.

Inside view from Pakistan

For the NZZ, Shehar Bano Khan, reporter for the Pakistani but English written newspaper dawn, writes about her view of the nature of Islam in her country. As I wrote about a similar topic some days ago, I would like to share her thoughts with you.

A little bit of background information. Since the independence, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has its share of problems. At its foundation, Pakistan consisted of the Pakistan we know today and Bangladesh being separated by over 1600 kilometres. Even though both parts had and have a majority of Muslims, they were different tribes. Jinnah, Pakistan’s first President declared Urdu to be the state language which left the Bangladesh who spoke Bengali on the outside and thus deepening tensions between the two parts

In 1956 Pakistan had its first constitution with Urdu and Bengali as state languages but there was no stability as four prime ministers took office in two years. Iskander Mirza declared martial law only to be overthrown by Ayub Khan, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army.

Ayub changed the constitution in 1961 and got elected in 1965. Even though the vote doesn’t come close to what we would call democratic, they were the only presidential elections in Pakistan up to date.

In 1971 the two parts of Pakistan fought and with Indian support, Bangladesh gained independence. After the fighting stopped, the generals handed the power to Zulfikar al Bhutto. 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq took power and had the former president executed for authorizing the murder of a political opponent. During his rule, Pakistan became an Islamic country.

In 1985, the Zia-ul-Haq handed power back to a puppet but the puppet became to independent and conveniently died on a plane crash.

A short democratic period followed with Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who were each elected twice and removed from office on charges of corruption. Benazir Bhutto is of course the daughter of Zulfikar al Bhutto. Therefore her dislike of the army needs no further explanation.

Since 1999 Pervez Musharraf rules Pakistan. As in China, the Army is not just the organisation, which protects the country from foreign foes, but is also one of the largest landowners and has a large part of the economy under direct control.

The fear of the Generals therefore is not just to loose power, but also to loose control over a huge industry and a lot of resources.

Lal Masjid, also known as the red mosque is located in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.

Zia-ul-Haq, as well as the Pakistani state security ISI had and have very close ties with the founder of Lal Masjid. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the mosque recruited and trained mujahedin.

After Abdullah (the founder) was assassinated in 1998, his sons Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid Ghazi took over the mosque, making it a centre for Islamist teaching and openly opposed the government, partly because its support for the US lead War on Terror.

During 2006 and the first half of 2007, the mosque's leaders set up a Sharia Law in the premises and occupied surrounding buildings.

After a lot of demonstrations and gun battles, Musharraf ordered the storming of the mosque, which resulted in about 70 militants and 8 soldiers killed.

But she denies, this incident to be a sign of Talibanisation of Pakistan. I read some of her articles online and some further of her colleges. One of them writes, that it is wrong of the Musharraf to try to get control over all his country and that the war of the Pakistani Army against the rebellious tribes in Pakistan can’t be won and therefore shouldn’t be fought.

I think, this is a very disturbing sign. What kind of country allows parts of its country to be occupied by militant forces and tries not to regain control over those regions?

Shehar Bano Khan writes, that sixty years of independence are no reason to celebrate, as Pakistan has never had found its peace and freedom. The ordinary people expect little from their leaders and it makes no difference, if they wear an uniform or not.

Islam, she continues, is just a scapegoat for Musharraf, to justify his rule. Receiving billions in aid from the US, he needs a Islamist threat to justify his rule. It is known, that Musharraf and his predecessors have through the secret service supported the Taliban. As well as the US have supported the Taliban in the past.

On the other hand, Islam has become a more important part of Pakistani politics than it was when Pakistan was founded. It is difficult to find the truth from here. I agree, that there were not many demonstrations after the storming of the Red Mosque and there were large demonstrations for Iftikhar Chaudhry, the High-Judged who was removed form office by Musharraf and since then has been reinstalled.

She admits, that there is a difference between rural and urban places. In the cities, the radical Islam has little influence. But on the countryside, the government is weak and radical Islam can profit from the weak state. A peasant reported, that he sent five out of seven of his children to madrasahs, the Islamistic schools and he receives support from Islamistic groups.

In the past, the religious parties have had little success. But as most of the regimes were either controlled by the Military or corrupt, Islamistic partys may, as in Palaestine, win future elections.

If the Army would accept such a victory or act as in Turkey is unknown.

Private Links

Aurel Schmidt has a really nice homepage with some very interesting thoughts. On German. I might try to translate some of his thoughts but those, who speak German, can read the original, which will be much better than my translations.

Private: 10 best looking Men

George Clooney

Brad Pitt

Pierce Brosnan

Russel Crowe

Johnny Depp

Yeah, I know. I only put five. And all of them are actors. If you have any additions, just leave your comments and after reviewing, I might even add them.