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# The Week in 1 Minute: Maiden, money and the military – February 18 – 24 on openDemocracy
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/week-in-1-minute-maiden-money-and-military-february-18-24-on-opendemocracy/
- Published: 2014-02-24T00:02:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:36:43.000Z
- Description: A week when the great and the good turned out to be not so great, and not much good. Writing about Ukraine, Andrew Wilson says that, “This is potentially a great European moment,” but he adds that in the geopolitical stand-off between the west and Russia, the “EU took a baguette to a knife fight.”
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:46, #appended-excerpt

Another divided country, Scotland, has to make its mind up about staying with the old empire, or going it alone. Paul Salveson – “a reasonably obedient citizen” – tells his daughter and son-in-law, “[**we’re a lot bigger than you and size matters**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/d84765a0fd/sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.opendemocracy.net%2Fourkingdom%2Fpaul-salveson%2Fletter-to-my-daughter-and-son-in-law-in-scotland&ei=YrYNU6D5F-SS7AbL0oEw&usg=AFQjCNH01qmlFBM3eslz0VxO8EUd1ZPq7g&sig2=bP2DekB%5FwOZvQGGyxBkbmg&bvm=bv.61965928,d.ZGU).” The patrician Sir Nicholas Macpherson said [much the same thing](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/72d7ba1916&ref=opendemocracy.net), more elegantly.  
  
The patrician Rodric Braithwaite, former British Ambassador to Moscow, is more objective in discussing how **the west seems to have always been** [**Leaving Afghanistan**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/a5b93641d5&ref=opendemocracy.net); and always leaving it in a worse mess; have we really not learned that history repeats itself?  
  
More troubles for Europe as it is almost [completely ignored](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/21f7ec9e8b&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Poland’s not-so-European elections, and tales emerge of [**corruption in its judicial process**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/cfb1d2b20d&ref=opendemocracy.net). But is the apathy about the elections that surprising, asked [Karen Melchior](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/e1a0b28881&ref=opendemocracy.net), running as an MEP, if the voting system is anything but pan-European?  
  
Yet more European unrest as thousands of citizens across Bosnia take to the streets to demand the [resignation of their political leaders](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/a4a5fcbbec&ref=opendemocracy.net). Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Council of Europe, reminds us that, “[**The rule of law is an important antidote to 'rebellion against tyranny and oppression**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/0ba7e0a829&ref=opendemocracy.net).'” Are you listening, Turkey, Russian Federation, Czech Republic, Albania? But where do Ukraine and Bosnia fit in?  
  
[**In Egypt**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/bf1a345dd8&ref=opendemocracy.net)**, the military is trying to tame Tahrir**; in India, the LGBTI community has only “[so-called rights](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/44110ec62b&ref=opendemocracy.net);” and in Brazil, [funding for human rights is scarce](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/aec7ee3143&ref=opendemocracy.net). But Tunisia now has [quite a constitution](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/b2a475e281&ref=opendemocracy.net). Israel is not very kind to [its asylum seekers](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/1cd36385ee&ref=opendemocracy.net), while ignoring the tens of thousands of Russians who overstay their visas. In Australia, “asylum seekers” are now described as “[boat people](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/4c6703893f&ref=opendemocracy.net).” But [**Syrian refugees are better off in Turkey than in the EU**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/48153bf447&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
**Money is the root of all goodness**, for the [Buffetts](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/48875b0988&ref=opendemocracy.net) who are transforming the lives of tomato pickers in California. A Dutch video artist, however, thinks that people who play with Monopoly money (did she mean people like Mr Buffett) are “[Parasites](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/b5d86156be&ref=opendemocracy.net).” Perhaps money is both [beauty and the beast.](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/2416321246&ref=opendemocracy.net)  
  
Spanish women got on their “[Liberty train](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/d1c93576e4&ref=opendemocracy.net)” to Madrid, to protest about the changes to the abortion law; while **in California, an order of Little Sisters showed** [**no mercy**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/7dcb24c2f6&ref=opendemocracy.net) **when it came to contraception**. The ‘[anti-women gag law](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/bb25973c36/sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.opendemocracy.net%2F5050%2Ftorunn-wimpelmann-mohammad-jawad-shahabi%2F%25E2%2580%2598anti-women-gag-law%25E2%2580%2599-in-afghanistan-pitfalls-of-hasty-&ei=R70NU8%5FVPOSd7gaB-IDQBA&usg=AFQjCNGuzU8vVtN%5FQE2ukNdZgYOG9Oq6cQ&sig2=4b11HqpTm7SZY2U-ib-Qxw&bvm=bv.61965928,d.ZGU)’ in Afghanistan is disturbing, but should western media jump to such hasty conclusions?  
  
Perhaps we – the developed democracies – forget that **democracy is worth fighting for**. But, [were they democrats](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/c770cf5289&ref=opendemocracy.net), those men who laid down their lives this week in Maidan?  
  
  
**Links not to miss:**

- [Greenwald: How covert agents use the net to deceive, manipulate and destroy reputations](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/f8330f8742&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Andrew O’Hagan at the LRB: On ghostwriting an autobiography with Julian Assange](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/06f695dd57&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Truthout: A modest proposal to revolutionize government](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/9021973e8e&ref=opendemocracy.net)

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A week when the great and the good turned out to be not so great, and not much good. Writing about Ukraine, Andrew Wilson says that, “[This is potentially a great European moment](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/4dd8c16563&ref=opendemocracy.net),” but he adds that in the geopolitical stand-off between the west and Russia, the “[**EU took a baguette to a knife fight**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/f8dbde44b9/7262321cfa/544376d477&ref=opendemocracy.net).”