http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,805536,00.html
The Spiegel coverage of the death of Vaclav Havel is definitely worth a read, providing a bit more context and biography than the facts-only BBC version.
I hadn't previously known that Havel had apologised for the expulsion of the Sudetenland Germans. That must have been an extremely brave political decision. Obviously every country should apologise for past attacks on ethnic minorities. However, since Czechoslovakia had been invaded with the German minority used as an explicit justification by Hitler it must have required even more public courage than usual.
Friday 23 December 2011
Monday 19 December 2011
Kim Jong ill (then dead)
The insane dictator of North Korea has died of a heart attack leaving a (probably) nuclear armed country in the hands of his little known son.
As a wise man on Facebook put it:
"He died of a heart attack due the the pressures of his job. Maybe he should of picked a different Korea."
As a wise man on Facebook put it:
"He died of a heart attack due the the pressures of his job. Maybe he should of picked a different Korea."
Sunday 18 December 2011
Viva la Velvet Revolution
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16236393
The Czech Republic's dissident playwright and first post-communist President, Vaclav Havel, has died at the age of 75. Here's a couple of quotes to remember this sensible and intellectual politician by:
"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less."
"The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle."
Wise words from a real liberal champion.
The Czech Republic's dissident playwright and first post-communist President, Vaclav Havel, has died at the age of 75. Here's a couple of quotes to remember this sensible and intellectual politician by:
"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less."
"The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle."
Wise words from a real liberal champion.
Thursday 15 December 2011
National Idiocy
"Treasures worth more then £65m, including a Poussin, a Van Dyck and a stupendous Turner painting that was the artist's final image of the Rome, will all leave the UK because no one had sufficient money to prevent their export, an annual report revealed yesterday"
The Guardian - under the headline "Going, going, gone: UK treasures sold overseas".
Seriously? Could Mr Mark Brown (Arts Correspondent) really look at those first two surnames and with a straight face think 'Aha! UK treasures!'. France and the Netherlands might beg to differ.
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Friday 2 December 2011
FU Russia Today
http://rt.com/news/merkel-european-crisis-869/
Headline from Russia Today: Merkel gives EU the FU
FU apparently being a recognised abbreviation for Fiscal Union.
Might just be me but this wasn't my first thought.
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