Archief voor 2009

Afgemeten naar de berichtgeving over Iran die nu doorsijpelt in de internationale pers, gaat het niet helemaal goed in dat land. Ik maak een understatement, dat niet helemaal accuraat hoeft te zijn. Misschien gaat het juist wel heel goed, maar wanneer er veel doden vallen is een revolutie – hoe goed de zaak ook – een gruwelijke aangelegenheid. Sinds enkele dagen is in Iran de langverwachte contra Islamitische revolutie aangebroken. Althans, dat is wat ik hoop voor de Iraniërs. Met het Ashura feest als alibi, een gelegenheid waarbij de dood van Husayn ibn Ali, de kleinzoon van de profeet Mohammed een eeuw of 14 geleden,…

Het is weer eens zo ver. In een uitspraak van de hoge raad in Engeland, waar de weigering van een leerling door een Joodse school op grond van zijn niet voldoende Joods-zijn wordt veroordeeld en vernietigd, steekt dat vermaledijde joodse racisme haar kop weer op. Een school in Engeland heeft volgens het hoogste rechtscollege in Engeland onwettig gehandeld toen zij een leerling weigerde op grond van het feit dat zijn moeder slechts een “bekeerd” jodin was, ingewijd door een synagoge die niet wordt erkend door de orthodoxe Joden. De weigering zou in strijd zijn met de anti-racisme wetten van het…

Hoe ziet iemand er uit na op zijn plaat te zijn getimmerd met een goedkoop maar zwaarwegend souvenir uit Milaan? Kijk naar deze foto en je weet het. Op zondag 13 december 2009 – ik noem dit zo expliciet omdat het misschien een historisch betekenisvol moment wordt – werd Berlusconi in zijn gezicht geslagen met een beeldje. Hij had kort daarvoor in Milaan op een bijeenkomst gesproken waar hij nog even wat criticasters publiekelijk een veeg uit de pan gaf door ze onverholen uit te schelden voor “schaamteloze blaaskaken“. Heel goed, meneer B.. Maar de pot verwijt de ketel. Gelukkig…

Het is triest maar waar. Uitgerekend door hen van wie je zou verwachten het wereldlijke culturele erfgoed enigszins hoog in het vaandel te hebben – de Italianen – is een buitengewoon barbaarse faux pas begaan. Maar goed, het waren dan ook geen gewone huis-tuin-en-keuken Italianen, maar Italianen van het speciale, asociale en super irritante soort dat zich “Maffia”noemt. Ik lees in de krant dat een meesterwerk van de Italiaanse (Nota Bene!) schilder Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), met de titel “Natività con i santi Lorenzo e Francesco d’Assisi” uit 1609, is aangevreten door varkens, muizen, ratten en ander ongedierte, tijdens…

There is a big hassle going on about the new Dutch passport. As of now, anyone wanting to acquire one needs to have his or her fingerprints taken. These prints will be centrally stored somewhere in a database and maybe retrieved again when some dodgy business of the prints owner is suspected. They will also end up in the passport itself, as a biometric security feature. The passport contains your unique civil-service number (BSN, as it is rather innocently called in the Netherlands), so in effect, this number is centrally connected to your fingerprint. There is another thing going on…

On the Sunday evenings, the misses and I have been trying to follow a series on television about the journey Darwin made with the HMS. Beagle from 1831 to 1836. The series is aired by a Dutch public network called V.P.R.O., and, as is customary with these guys, it is an immaculate cluster of real life events – i.e. doing the Beagle’s journey all over again but in 6 months. It sports a website, TV and radio programs and most of all, more science than one could wish for! If you have some time to spare, have a look. The…

Sometimes one encounters a revelation which nestles itself in at the root of a great frustration. For me, this is always the case when I discover to have been in the dark on a certain topic, in contrast to the bright view I believed I had. And momentarily, I have to admit to myself that I have discovered a considerable void in my knowledge about the second World War in general. But I was also quite clueless about the relationship between – and the different roles of – Germany and Italy and their leaders Hitler and Mussolini in particular. I…

With open, candid and undisguised joy, I read in the newspaper today that the Chinese pearl market of Zhuji is shortly before collapsing. Not because I begrudge the people who are trying to make a living by growing and harvesting pearls their income or prosperity, my amusement comes from the apparent fact that pearls have become so cheap – as cheap as 8 Euro a kilo -  that they don’t even serve to show off ones richness any more. This is a good thing to know for the Rolls-driving, caviar-eating, champagne-guzzling and toenail-polishing upper-class ladies, who are possibly still deriving…

In my “Historological Near Collision” posting of October 23 I mentioned a chance for Angela Merkel, Germany’s Reichkanzlerin, to make herself  “immortal” by commemorating not only the fall of the Berlin Wall yesterday 20 years ago, but also the assault on Hitler, which took place almost exactly 50 years before that. Like most people of my age and/or background, I was watching the Berlin festivities on television yesterday evening. While I watched a host of important world leaders, who had been invited to the party, hold their speeches. They had a lot to tell and many people to thank, and…

If you want to know what “historology” is, read this blogpost from a while back. There is a historological near collision coming soon. The dates: November 8 and 9, 2009. The occasions respectively: the Georg Elser November 8, 1939 assassination attempt on Hitler in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller, and the fall of the Iron Curtain a.k.a. the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. Two majorly important events in German history are exactly 50 years apart. That is, according to some ways of calculating time-distances. It has never been my strong suit, but maybe someone who is of the opinion that our…

Doctor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be regarded a weird bugger around the world, but whatever opinion one holds on him – for instance because of his ridiculous revisionist claims in which he is denying the holocaust – he quite regularly does have a point. Besides the fact that he is an accomplished anti-Zionist, which I find commendable, he also comments on the bigger things in life. To be sure, I must be explicit on one thing: I don’t think that Ahmadinejad is an anti-Semite. This would not be very useful, because the Palestinians, Ahmadinejad’s close friends in middle-east politics, are, like…

We can all be collectively outraged by the rumour that Italian forces in Afghanistan have bribed the Taliban warlords into leaving them alone, but it seems to me that this so called “evil” does manage to lay bare a very interesting proposition: just suppose that we were able to end the poverty in the entire region of Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan – even if by bribery – would the violence currently crippling those countries, cease to exist in such abundance? I think the answer to the question above is “yes”. I also think that every self-respecting commentator on global politics…

After many years of not having ONE SINGLE positive thought about the Catholic church whatsoever, I finally have to come back on that. Yesterday, on Sunday, October 11 2009, Father Damiaan from Belgium was officially granted sainthood by pope BenDick-16. With that action, this loathsome institute of faith has inched itself slightly towards my good side. Not that I all of a sudden am in danger of becoming a devout Catholic, because the chance of me winning the jackpot in both lotteries I play in, is much greater. But as I was watching the excerpt of the service held by…

It was October 1, 2009. I was watching the news and caught a glimpse of China’s 60th anniversary. It was a gigantic spectacle, a through and through organised and directed event of Cold War proportions, which made the Olympic Games look like a mere finger exercise. I suspect that anyone who saw the marching soldiers, the missiles on their lorries, the flag paintings done by a highly disciplined and united sea of people, the aeroplanes and the blatant, absolute display of monolithic power by the President a.k.a. Party Secretary – was thinking the same thing: this is what it used…

Michael Jackson, the well known and recently very dead eccentric pop-star who allegedly had himself poisoned by his house doctor, is back in the news. This won’t be the last time, because celebrities like him attract attention, even after their death. And moreover, this Michael Jackson was such a sick weirdo, that I expect his legacy to haunt the press for a considerable while still to come. But today, he even outstretches my most daring expectations. The British media report that M.J. stated in an interview with rabbi Shmuley Boteach that Adolf Hitler must have been a genius. He was…

Can someone help me out with this one: during the global financial crisis of late, the CO2 emissions sunk worldwide by 2,6 percent, the strongest decline since 1981. Back then it dropped by 1,3 percent. So that is good news, right? These emissions are supposed to fall – substantially and swiftly – within the shortest possible time, because we will suffocate, drown or otherwise meet our end in an ecological disaster. But still, car manufacturers are complaining and air carriers are crying bitterly over their loss of overturn; while governments are trying to help them out with assignment injections, hard…

Personal note: when I was a little boy, of around 10 or so, I used to walk past the church to school. One day, the chaplain happened to come out the door of the parish hall as I walked by, and he asked me if I wanted to be kissed. I managed to say “no” but I felt a deep sense of embarrassment; partly because of my refusal – to an adult of stature – to grant him his wishes. I knew nothing of sexual abuse yet in those days. I was to be informed of that only later, during…

We are veritably getting closer to an Anti-Drugs Free World. I read in the papers that parts of Southern America, Mexico and some other nook or cranny I forgot about entirely due to the abusive consumption of lucid substances (probably table-sugar), are legalising the use of Cannabis AND the possession of small quantities – and thus the use of – cocaine and heroin. I also read that foreigners who come to the Netherlands to buy their Ganja, are no longer afraid of their governments. Without hesitation, they slap their ID’s on the counter of every coffee shop that wants to…

A long time ago I saw the film “Breaking the Code” (1996) by Herbert Wise. The blurb about the film had caught my attention, because it featured two of my favourite people: Alan Turing and Derek Jacobi. So I thought I was in for a happy film-night, but it ended in utter outrage… about the Brits! I have had a weak spot for Alan Turing since I have been playing around in the world that is called IT. And Derek Jacobi has been sitting in my Hall Of Greatness since he played Claudius, Hitler AND Alan Turing (and still many…

This is a most interesting piece of information: white people evolved 5500 years ago in Europe as a mutation of the (…at the time normal…) black human. This was researched and calculated by scientists at the University of Oslo. I’m am not surprised at all, although I have always thought that white people, who evolved at times when we wandered into Europe, were an inferior mutation of the black human species which originates from Africa. “Whities” only survived because they happened to mutate in an area where the black skin was not important any more. Black skin protects against direct…

You will not believe this, but we found the lady here while we were looking for a spot to swim in Northern Italy. If you take a closer look, you will see that she is made out of pebbles, found in the river bed. The artist who made this magnificent piece of work clearly was trained at the Spilimbergo School of Mosaics. The cosy spot where this gorgeous female is hanging from the wall, is about 10 kilometres away form the school. If you would like to see her in her real life size, you will have to go to…

Since some days I have been hanging out in Italy, the country of my ancestors and possibly the place where I will eventually end up after my working life. The prospect of the perpetuating hedonistic circumstances, the wine, the food, the great weather and the amazing beauty of the landscape (and the people in it), is appealing. So why is it that I have this eerie feeling of something not being right somehow? The answer is no different than the ample reasons I have already provided, in the many entries spread over this blog. As much as the Italians love…

Introduction I have been discussing fascism a lot lately, and every time it comes up, there is quite a lack of clarity in the discussion as to what fascism actually is. Is it a genuine ideology or is it a specific power structure which can be draped over any ideology? And another interesting one: Can the same be said of Anarchism? We know we have to fight fascism, because it was – and still is – the background leaning of many evil despots in the world. We must resist it, in whatever form it comes or by whatever political group…

Something important and necessary might be changing in Italy. If you follow the link behind the logo to the side, you will find yourself on the website of an initiative against the Mafia. The initiative is organised by a group of students, who are sick and tired of having to live under the yoke of this horrible infestation, this illness called the Mafia. They have come to recognise that this old fart club, this league of ancient, stinking criminal arse-holes, should be rooted out once and for all. And they see taking away the Pizzo - one of their most important…

In two days it will be exactly 40 years ago that three very brave men took to space to make the final journey to the moon, and land on it. They accomplished this extraordinary feat on July 20, 1969. I still remember the live footage I saw on television, that evening just after nine. That in itself was an extraordinary feat too, because I was 5 years old at the time and my long term memory was probably still under construction. Never mind that. I remember it all very clearly, possible or not. The 40 years anniversary triggers – besides…

Berlusconi managed to get the world’s eye on L’Aquila by staging the G8 summit there. So now everyone can see what a chaos this place is, after the earthquake which devastated so many homes and families. The count is 300 people dead and 50.000 people homeless. At the risk of being cynical, I’d state that even with the entire world watching, Italy or its government, or even the Mafia in one of its many guises, will still be able to screw up Big Time. I have seen Italy juggling the aftermath of an earthquake in the past, and it wasn’t…

Don’t think, just look. In contrast to what we might sometimes think about the loosening morals of the young members of our society, the old geezers knew where to get it too. And they still do, as a matter of fact. Are you still looking for a holiday destination? If you like this picture, try Germany, München, and especialy the English Garden. You might bump into these beauties.

I already knew that religious people are avers to reason, philosophical focus and good intellectual taste. But Madonna Ciccone really takes the biscuit. First, she uses the Malawi courts of law and presumably a lot of money, to make a Malawi father childless by – legally – taking his daughter out of the country. And then, as if things are not bad enough, she has the impertinence to take this child to a religious meeting right after a 10 hours plane flight! Apparently, Madonna was in a rush to have her new prize initiated in this horrible, delusional and very…

Say what you want about the political right and the simpletons who count themselves among it, but I have a problem with the lefts principal refusal to connect certain problematic issues with certain problematic groups in our society. Our pet Right Wing Court Jester mister Wilders does have a point: what if the growing group of Muslims actually does manage to reach an electoral majority in this liberal country? What happens then? What example do we see in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan or any other country where progress and equality, emancipation and empowerment of women come to a grinding halt because…

Since the Iranian people are good at praying to their god, I suppose they are praying for the electoral victory of mister Mir-Hossein Mousavi “as we speak”. Mister Mousavi is running for president. He is also Iran’s young generations hope for a better future, in which progress has a chance to survive and maybe even thrive. This being in full contrast with the complete regression to the Middle Ages as was so well accomplished by the current president Mahmoud Ahmadinedjad and his conservative predecessors. Funny that is; because I actually had better expectations of Mahmoud. He was the one student…

Noam Arnon, one of the radical leaders of the Israeli Civil Occupying Forces based in the Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron – also very euphemistically known as “settlers” – thought that the speech delivered by Obama in Cairo yesterday, was “nauseating”. Why? Because Obama made it very clear that the Fundamentalist Jewish policy of stealing land and the illegal occupation of territory belonging to another nation (which is in fact entitled to a long overdue sovereignty), should not be perpetuated any longer. So what DOES this Arnon actually say? Firstly, he states that Obama has a strong Muslim bias,…

Looking at an old man’s face, what does one see? One might see a total absence of hope. I do, when I look at this man. I think I can see the entire Palestinian frustration – over Israel’s perpetual abuse of this man’s dignity – lurking in every crease of his skin. Yesterday Barack Obama vented his opinion in the press about the hopes he has for an independent Palestine. Obama sees a future where the Israeli – Palestinian conflict is resolved and where two independent states exist next to each other: Israel and Palestina. By saying this, Obama shows…

The USA are again a subject of heated debate, this time concerning their treatment of P.O.T.W.A.T’s., or Prisoners Of The War Against Terror. Guantanamo bay prison, in itself a very odd phenomenon for it is located on Cuban territory, manages to keep the media busy even after the decision to close it down has been made. The ideal solution for the base itself, where the prison is located, would be to vacate it entirely and to give the land back to Cuba. And while Obama is at it: maybe abolishing the whole embargo against Cuba is in there too. Why…