Poisoned some more already?
Oops! Has the Diary spoken to soon?
Last weeks Diary declared an end to the poisoned relationship between the US and Germany. And thats official, it said, quoting Don Rumsfeld as he joked with Peter Struck, Germanys defence minister.
But this week, writing in the International Herald Tribune, John Vinocur suggested otherwise. Washington wants a working relationship, Friedbert Pflueger, the opposition Christian Democrat foreign policy spokesman in the Bundestag, is quoted as saying. But we are far from the weight and confidence we used to have on Capitol Hill, not to mention the White House. The only countries that count for the United States in Europe these days are Turkey, Britain and France. And perhaps in that order.
According to an inside official, the US administration continues to see Schroders position on Iraq as intolerable. Vinocur writes that Schroders decision has come to magnify wide concern about Germanys direction, the strength of neutralist currents in German society, and the effects of the countrys half-hearted attempts to reform its struggling economy and social system on an eventual German leadership role in Europe.
Pflueger compares the present anti-American sentiment to that of the 1950s and 1980s, when public opinion opposed US-led rearmament and the stationing of US cruise missiles. This time, and for the first time, the government was not in danger of yielding to the street, it was fuelling the street. And it was leading the elite. This time, the government provided the essential part of the resentment.
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told members of Parliament on Friday, International terrorism is the number one danger. I need it explained to me how we ended up making Iraq the priority.
A week is a long time in politics
Where in the world?
The press had a field day this week with the alarming results of an international survey of eighteen to twenty-four-year olds conducted by Americas National Geographic Society.
The Diary presents some of the better findings (results based on the knowledge of more than three thousand young tearaways from such advanced nations as Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Britain, Japan, USA, Canada and Mexico).
13% of Americans could pick out Iraq on a map. 89% of Americans could point out the United States of America (thats 11% who couldnt, for those who cant add).
Swedish youths came top (well they would!), but still failed to gain the 42 points needed for an A grade.
Three in ten couldnt locate the Pacific Ocean if they fell in it. Less than 40% could name China and India as nations with populations of over one billion. Less than 25% of French, Italian, Canadian, British and American whippersnappers could name four countries with nuclear weapons. 17% of Americans could locate Afghanistan, while 42% didnt know in which country the Taliban and al-Qaida were based (were those who did know urged to contact the US Defense department, one wonders?). 34% of American brats could locate the Marquesas Islands (home to TV show Survivor) but only 30% could locate New Jersey (home to no TV shows). 56% of Americans were unable to locate India.
John Fahey, President of the National Geographic Society (which seems to have a lot to answer for) was not happy. If young people cant find places on a map and lack awareness of current events, he blubbed, how can they understand the worlds cultural, economic and natural resource issues that confront us?
100% of respondents didnt know.
(Source: BBC)
Quote, unquote
According to the Senegalese newspaper LInfo7, President Abdoulaye Wade was outraged, angered and deeply embarrassed this week when he discovered that a great part of a speech he gave to mark the beginning of Ramadan was directly lifted from a speech made a week earlier by French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin.
Everywhere, there is violence and despise (sic), indifference and fundamentalism, as well as the spread of absurd hatred in the most fragile regions, said de Villepin in a speech at Mohamed V University in Rabat, Morocco, seven days before President Wades repetition. [Spirituality] is being eroded on the sharp edges of our world, leading to an increasing number of rejections and breaks.
Yikes! The Diary advises that if you must plagiarise, at least plagiarise some quality material.
De Villepin is a published author, and it seems the un-named diplomatic adviser being fingered for the crime, got carried away in his admiration for the French Foreign Ministers way with words.
According to the red-faced President Wade, the thieving faceless bureaucrat is for the chop. If in doubt, blame the ghost-writer
The curse of beauty
More trouble in Nigeria surrounding the Miss World contest.
Muslim radicals burnt down the offices of a newspaper in the Sharia-friendly northern city of Kaduna this week, after it published an article suggesting that the Prophet Mohammed would have married one of the beauty queens.
Following the crowning of Miss Nigeria last year, the 2002 Miss World competition is taking place over two weeks in the victorious country. Many are unhappy, calling the contest un-Islamic. Local mosques in the volatile Kaduna called for action against the Lagos-based This Day newspaper after the article appeared in the Saturday edition. There are threats of continued attacks across the country.
Two separate apologies published by This Day appear not have calmed the rioters, who charged the building with chants of Allahu Akbar (God is great), apparently organising via mobile phone text messaging.
Meanwhile, the pageant is suffering from depleted attendance. Many beauty queens have boycotted the contest, protesting against a sentence of death by stoning handed down by a Sharia court against Amin Lawal, a woman convicted of adultery.
Quotes of the week
We have started to realise that there are meal occasions when you dont want to eat at McDonalds.
Jack Greenberg, chief executive of McDonalds Corp. McDonalds has been forced to close outlets around the world as sales start to fall except in France, home of José Bové, the fastest-growing market in Europe.
Im not saying it was easy for me emotionally. It wasnt easy.
Al Gore, reflecting on his failed Presidential bid.
Im the commander see, I dont need to explain I do not need to explain why I say things. Thats the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I dont feel like I owe anybody an explanation.
I will seize the opportunity [of the 9/11 attacks] to achieve big goals. There is nothing bigger than to achieve world peace.
The vision thing matters, thats another lesson I learnt.
George W. Bush talking to reporter Bob Woodward in his new book, Bush at War.
Im a visionary.
Michael Jackson, explaining in court why he has no time to trouble himself with contracts and finances.
We want to prove that a Muslim identity can be democratic, transparent and compatible with the modern world. We will prove this. Turkey will be an example for the world.
Abdullah Gul, newly named prime minister of Turkey, planning the future.
There is a schizophrenia at the top. On the one hand its a Mafia, on the other its a modern country.
Wu Guoguang, a political scientist and former government official, analysing China in the Washington Post.
I dont want anyone saying, Ill give you two firefighters for an airline pilot.
Kingsley Barham, manufacturer of a set of cards featuring portraits and descriptions of victims of the 11 September attacks, defending his product as a tribute card, not a trading card.
Slogan of the week
What Would Jesus Drive?
From a large-scale advertising campaign in the US funded by religious groups and environmentalists, in which fuel efficiency is linked to Godly morality. The campaign encourages worshippers to drive cleaner cars. As the Reverend Jim Ball puts it, How can I love my neighbour as myself if Im filling their lungs with pollution? Go to www.whatwouldjesusdrive.org to read postings such as This is a Web site with a liberal agenda, and this has nothing to do with the bible.
(Sources: BBC Newsnight, New York Times)
