CS Guy, What's a mechanist? I'm an atheist myself so I'm curious. I wrote a blog about this a long time ago which I'm going to link to in a blatant act of self-promotion: Link Point is that Wahkonta's response made me realise that banning religious symbols in American schools wouldn't be on because in the US, personal freedom comes first. In France secularism com
When I hear my voice on tape I sound like Jeffrey Donaldson, which I'm obviously not proud of. So he could "do" me and, should the DUP ever be proscribed, I could "do" him. There's worse ways to make a living (but not many).
itgirl, Thanks for your thoughts. I think you're being a little pessimistic about the possibility of a deal between the Shinners and the DUPs. I get the impression they're eyeing each other up at the moment, like two shy teenagers at a 1950s barn dance. Though we may have to wait until after the elections next year before one of them asks the other "are you dancing?"
Very good article, I enjoyed it. Religion has no place in schools as far as I'm concerned. That doesn't mean that all countries should ban religious dress in the classroom but, as you rightly point out, secularism is very important to the French and this must be respected.
Yeah, I used to listen to that programme in Taiwan, it's very good. It's old-fashioned (in a good way). Each peice is basically a hack talking about the place where they live for five minutes. No frills, but good for those of us who still retain the power of concentration
I once read a quote about Irish Protestants which I found particularly insightful. It went something like this: "They are not a majority in Northern Ireland, they are a miniscule minority of one million on a hostile planet." I can't remember who said it, but I thought it was a very sharp way of contrasting historic Protestant dominance in the Nor
Three years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time in the West Bank. One day our group visited Balata refugee camp just outside Nablus. We wandered around talking to the people there and witnessing the often wretched conditions in which they lived. At the end we gathered at a community centre to hear a few of the refugees speak of their experience of disposession.<
Tinuviel_04, Thanks for your comment, it's good that you've turned your height into a positive. I teach a kid who is very small coz she had heart problems when she was a baby. She's six now so, like most six year olds she's just happy with life. Unfortunately when she gets older other kids will start to tease her. Kids can be real bastards to anyone who's not "normal".
Maybe I exaggerated a little, I don't think Koreans would go home and say they saw a foreigner, we aren't THAT uncommon. I met Jackie Mason in New York, just walking around. Every time he took a few steps someone new would come up to him for a chat and of course, being a comedian, they expected him to reel off a few one-liners. I remember thinking that must be really annoying, to have no privacy, though to be fair he was very pleasant and out
Hi itgirl, welcome to Joeuser. I've read an impressive zero per cent of those books I'm afraid. But then again, I boycot fiction...
First of all, thanks to all those who have commented. There have been some comments on the title. It clearly refers to the occupation, as does Barak's quote. The US won the "war" inside three weeks, but that has not proved to be the end of the story by any means. So far no-one has commented on what I thought was the crux of the article - that Americans are facing enemies in Iraq who don't fear death.
It is indeed.
Nice of you to get in some Palestinian-bashing on a thread which wasn't really about Palestine. "the racist and hateful Palestinians." What? All of them? All eight million? This particualr juxtapositon I found particularly underhand: "Sadly in all these conveniently revised predictions of doom here and elsewhere on the Internet, I hear just a little tone of disappointment. Like terrorist bombs, they always seem to
The twentieth century was not a peaceful one for Ireland. In the course of those one hundred years, as well as joining in the general European bloodshed of the two world wars, Ireland also endured its own particular agonies: one uprising, one war of liberation, one civil war and finally one agonisingly long low intensity conflict. There were many violent d
It's not often that I feel the urge to quote approvingly from a former Israeli Prime Minister, but the words attributed to Ehud Barak in conversation with Dick Cheney deserve an airing. The former Israeli premier apparently warned the US Vice President last year that Israel "had learned that there's no way to win an occupation" and that the only issue for the US "was
VeeVom, It could very well be that Europeans see Turks as non-European because they are Muslim but, as I've pointed out, there are populations in the Balkans who are both Muslim and European. The question of Turkey is very complictaed. For centuries it was the barbarian at the gate, the most immediate "other" to Europeans. I would point out that purely geographically, only a tiny part of modern day Turkey is in Europe, the vast m
It's nice to know that Robert de Niro and I have at least one thing in common - when we walk down the street, we both get stared at. In this way, though unfortunately in no other, being a white person in Korea is like being a celebrity. Very quickly, you get used to the idea that every time you go outside, you will be stared at. Children will come up to you
On the eve of the Iraq war last year I was discussing the upcoming outbreak of hostilities with an English friend of mine. "Did you hear" he asked me "that only 25% of British people are in favour of going to war?" "That's pretty low", I replied. "Too right, that's the 25% who permanently want to go to war, they don't care who it's against." He was exaggerati
Thanks for your comments. Nice analogy, greywar. Korea has many things going for it but architectural beuaty certainly isn't one of them
VeeVom The Muslims of the Balkans are the Albanians, the Kosovars, the Serbo-Croat speaking Muslims of Serbia and the Bosnian Muslims. These people are very much European, I've never heard them described as anything other. As for Turkey, that is a different point altogether. Turkey, like Russia, is sometimes considered European and sometimes not. You also ignored my point about European Jews.
"If the European past is Christian, and you reject Christianity, your no longer European" Oh, charming. So what about Europe's Jews? The Muslims of the Balkans? Not European? Europe is a physical fact, not a religion. Yes, nationalism has been abused to cause great suffering. But it was religions, not nationalisms, which rejected the Enlightenment, which clung to the flat earth mentality, which basically held us back. </font
Thanks for the link, I skimmed it coz it was quite long. Some unfair German-bashing I thought, droning on about the FRG's supposed poor economic performance. Taking on East Germany was no easy thing, nor is subsidising the rest of the EU. Let's see how America would cope if it merged with Mexico. He talks about religion in Europe as if it's been a force for good, as if it's decline is a bad thing. Sorry, I fundamentally disagree, re
This part: "Would Europe be as stable and peaceful as it is today if it was Buddhist rather than Christian?" I'm not talking about Europe being this or that type of theocracy. What I'm asking is, how would Europe be different if a majority of its people were of Buddhist background rather than Christian? My point is that we can't know the answer to this. "The point isn't that the 'EU would not be possible', but that Europe
The external url is Avnery's thoughts on the mantra "we have no-one to negotiate with". A fine read. Also I found this Link . It's a collection of his recent articles. It includes the story of how he inadvertantly saved Moshe Dayan's life in 1973: "On the eve of the thirtieth annive
Roger, As I've already said, I think that the parliament sohuld have a good deal more power and the commission a good deal less. The EU is a group of democracies, right? Yet real power resides with an unelected commission. Turnout has always been lower for the Euros than for Westminster. But look at the last two Westminster elections. In 1997 the turnout was 71% and people thought "71%? that's not much good". Then in 2001 it was all
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