Marg

Give us back the beautiful Cold War…

2009-07-16T16:50:39+02:00

In its Policy Brief of July 13, 2009, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, has published an open letter addressed to the Obama administration.

The letter is made by a working group of the International Centre for Democratic Transition, that is an organisation of Eastern European countries.

The letter is quite extensive, and the core of it actually, between the lines, cries out for USA to start up a new Cold War against Russia, in order to put a leash on the, according to the ICDT, aggressive and evil Russia.

The letter can be found on the following links:

http://icdt.hu/def_np.php?i=339&q=1

http://www.icds.ee/fileadmin/failid/Obama_CEE.pdf

I have, however taken the liberty in making a very short, and much more readable, version of the letter, which states as follows:

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe:

Bu-huu… much of our own population and present leadership do not understand how evil and stupid Russia is. We need USA to talk harshly to the evil Russians. We need USA to show muscles toward Russia. We need more military presence and more nuclear missiles pointing towards Russia.

Russia was evil once, and that can never ever change, but we, on the other hand, have always been extremely good and righteous, so USA, help us against the bully to be.

We do not want to talk with Russia or even check out their intentions, as we already know that they must be very bad indeed.

So USA, help us, you are our only hope, as even other members of our own union, EU, will not listen to us… please help us USA… Russia is very very bad.

We really know that for sure, so do not listen to anyone else, but us… we have always been your true friend, so please show friendship with us again…

Say some bad things to the Russians… or let us do it, and then just show that you will protect us from any reprisal… please, please, please…

Best regards,

So-called intellectuals and former policymakers of Eastern Europe.

one person, instead of one dollar, equals one vote...

2009-03-19T22:33:50+01:00

A new situation have arisen… a co-operative is now the biggest shareholder with control of one of the biggest banks of Scandinavia and the Baltics, Swedbank… it seems like a very interesting thing… the Swedish insurance company Folksam is a non-profit co-operation owned by its customers, an old company arisen from the workers unions.

A system that actually sounds kind of a communistic, or at least very socialistic idea.

Very interesting to see how they will deal with one of the sinking banking giants.

Swedbank itself was originally a workers and farmers alternative to the mainstream commercial banks, and was a co-operative bank system from the very beginning. Very successful with the common man, and was a trusted banking system, until someone in 1992 gave up on the co-operative owning and turned everything into share companies, and greed took over instead of supporting the people, and in that row they also took over the very greedy HansaPank of the Baltic countries…

Now the result is imminent. The greedy commercialism is taken over by one of the scarce, but vital, member co-operatives, and thus Swedbank will be somewhat non-capitalistic, or what…?

The system is a very good system indeed, in contrast to the present now failing system of everyone for himself, and furthermore, if possible, then kick your fellow man… especially if he is lying down.

I believe that socialism and the basic ideas of communism are good… co-operatives are one of those ideas… and I believe that we in near future will see more non-profit co-operatives raise, and it would indeed be very interesting if Swebank will become totally non-profit…

Co-operatives based on the basic values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy and equality… one person = one vote, instead as of the egoistic capitalistic system with one dollar = one vote… could actually save the bankrupt countries and banks around us…

And another Merry Christmas to you all…

2009-01-08T17:31:11+01:00

Yesterday was Christmas, for the first time this new year… at least for all those who follow the Julian calendar, which numbers approx. 300 million orthodox Christian people, foremost throughout Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Russia.

What I like with this Christmas is that is somehow is not as commercialised as the Catholic one on December 24^th. The January 7^th Christmas is in celebration to the birth of Christ. Presents were given at New Years Eve.

Both Christmases this time has been overshadowed by the war in Gaza, totally disregarding the Christmas message of love and peace.

The utterly hypocritical world is now overflowing with reports and ugly pictures showing the sufferings of the Palestinian civilians. This is of course an outright disgrace that innocent people are being bombed. Both Israel as well as Hamas are to blame. Hamas in particular, as their fighters choose to hide behind the innocent civilians when they shoot at the enemy. This simply proves the Hamas fighters to be no more than brainless cowards.

The international society however is also to blame. For years now, the Palestinian problem has been at a deadlock. Hamas has been shelling Israeli civilians with rockets.

USA could, for all the wrong reasons, invade Iraq and persuaded all their loyal followers to send their soldiers down there. And also USA went together with all its followers into Afghanistan. The civilian sufferings in these two countries have been far more terrible than in Palestine. However any suffering is surely unacceptable.

The Palestinian problems are compared to those of Afghanistan and Iraq merely a trifle. How can it be that USA has done nothing in that case? Why has not USA together with all its loyal followers gone to Israel and Palestine and with their mighty power and force made up a society that would work? Thrown out all the militant morons of Hamas and gone to Lebanon and got rid of the Hezbollah idiots there? That could be done much easier than to cleanse Afghanistan and Iraq. And the people of Palestine and Israel could go on with their lives, without living in constant danger and fear.

But the people of Palestine are poor people with no oil or other natural recourses. They can be of little future economical gain for the USA. Iraq has lots of oil, and Afghanistan also has some oil and is strategically placed for the oil trade with future pipelines from Central Asia to Pakistan or India. So the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are in first place a financial investment for the USA. Interference in Palestine would be only to help people, which of course USA has no interest whatsoever in. And all the loyal followers of USA agree fully, and give the press a few statements of how terrible it is that innocent civilians are suffering; but otherwise they do nothing. The Palestinians do not possess anything of future value. They are merely people.

The message that Christ gave of love and peace, has never seemed to carry any true value, in any of the countries that considers themselves to be Christians.

So Merry Christmas… to all the suffering people of Palestine, and all other suffering poor people around the world

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T18:34:24+01:00

In the midst of this extremely confusing time, with weird psychological affects that have made us create an economical crisis, it is Christmas… at least in the Catholic and Lutheran version of Christianity, and with those a multitude of other Christian beliefs also adore this day of the year.

Now, today, we remember the birth of Christ, and hopefully linger over his message of love and forgiveness.

Hopefully more people this Christmas will see throughout the world, and decide to act to diminish suffering and poverty among people all over the world. And hopefully some actions can come to make the world a better place.

All we, here in the blogosphere on the net, all have one thing in common. We share our thoughts with whoever is willing to read it. And we all exhibit our ideas as the way to solve everything. In short, we have the knowledge, each of us, to solve all known problems.

One problem is, that there are as many different solutions to the problems as there as bloggers.

Perhaps today, we can agree on, that we do not know the solutions. We have some theories, and that is all, but if we show love and forgiveness, instead of hatred and bigotry, we really can make a difference.

So let us try our best in spreading love and hope around the web, today, and everyday.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Today was 300 years ago…

2008-11-21T19:09:16+01:00

Sometimes it seems like we are not in 2008 anymore. Like we are back in time when knowledge and empathy were at a much lower level than of 2008.

Like back in the days of the French kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, who literally made their country bankrupt, but still maintained a conspicuous great consumption of luxury items, parties and rather unnecessary things, while the country and its normal population were suffering harshly.

In Dubai the new luxury hotel Atlantis opened up with a gigantic party, at a cost of not less than £ 20 million… this is the price thrown out on the party, fireworks etc., not the price for the hotel, which has a building price tag of not less than staggering £ 1 billion…

Recession and unemployment are showing their ugly face most places, like a plague, but the self proclaimed ruling class of the world are throwing a party, in a hotel where the 1 539 rooms cost from £ 400 to £ 25 000 per NIGHT…!

See article from MailonSunday.

Can this really be 2008? At the same time we are seeing depression everywhere, and the suffering that it is causing, as well as all the “usual” suffering going on, especially in Africa. But I guess that we have heard too much of suffering and gone immune from it. Let us party instead and forget about the ugly plague.

I cannot help thinking though, about how much good could have been done for the £ 20 million whereof a large part were burned up in fireworks… and also if it really is necessary to have hotel accommodation with prices exceeding £ 10 000 per night…

I may be a dull person, not much for partying like that, however I was not invited, so I guess that must be why I criticise the utterly gluttony there…

Another information came up and caught my attention.

Latvian journalist arrested for speaking of devaluation

Read following article from Baltic Bussiness News:

Also a Latvian University professor detained for destabilizing financial system, according to article in The Baltic Times

Is this really 2008. Latvia has since a year back, a law that makes it illegal to spread rumours about devaluation of the local currency.

I do understand that rumours can be dangerous on many things, including all that has happened during the ongoing financial crisis. Perhaps all countries should pass laws making it illegal to comment on the situation of any company or financial institution, thus avoiding big changes in stock and interest rates.

But this is 2008, and Latvia is part of the EU, and claims to be some kind of democracy. How can this be, that one cannot discuss whether the local currency will devaluate without risk of being thrown in jail.

And, today, in the Iraqi parliament the session ended with physical fights between the representatives there.

I have a feeling that somehow today, time went back three hundred years. Perhaps it is some cosmic phenomenon, and we will start to think and act better and wiser come Monday.

VW Golf, oil, war and change in 35 years

2008-11-20T12:02:12+01:00

About 35 years ago VW launched its new car VW Golf. It was a nice car, felt modern and good to drive. It carried with ease and comfort 4 people on trips and easily held a speed exceeding the normal speed limits.

Now 35 years later a number of different updates of the VW Golf has occurred, it still carries with ease and comfort 4 people on trips and do easily hold a speed exceeding the normal speed limits. So what is actually new?

During the 35 years the VW Golf has grown considerably. The car is now 50 cm longer than before and 17 cm wider. Of course the 4 people it carried 35 years ago have all grown fatter, so that must be why. But the car itself has also grown noticeably fatter. 570 kg more stuff in the new basic version than 35 years ago. Why? What does those extra kilos comprise. Air bags are new and so is ABS, but at the same time new lightweight materials are being used in modern cars, so still the big question is: Why has the new VW Golf gone up 72 % in weight compared to the first one? What have they put in demanding those extra 570 kg?

35 years ago the big oil crisis happened. The oil price rose during two month from USD 3 to almost USD 12 per barrel. Shortage of gasoline was everywhere, and private driving restrictions were imposed in many countries. At that time we realised how vulnerably we were as to our dependency of oil, and this knowledge has definitely not lessened during these last 35 year. How come, that, at the same time, the car industry is making bigger and heavier cars instead of refining those very good cars we had back then? Of course it is a matter of demand from customers, still it seems that the current debate of CO2 is merely talk and our actions are much different.

35 years ago the polar bears were amongst threatened species. And now it seems like a big surprise that they may be in danger of extinction.

35 years ago there were war in Vietnam, war between Israel and Egypt and Syria, war between West Sahara and Morocco, war in Angola, war in Lebanon, in East Timor, in Cambodia, and of course the so-called Cold War was on its heights.

And people were suffering.

35 years ago the news coverage was not as reliable as today. We did not have the Internet, and much information was kept out of our knowledge, still we knew very much. But today we know everything, almost, and in the very moment it happens. We can interfere in things; we can let our voice be heard of things.

So why have we not learned anything during the past 35 years?

Today there are wars going on in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Sudan, in Somalia, in Kongo-Kinshasa, in Tchad. There are rebellions and acts of war happening in Colombia, in East Timor, in Georgia, in Turkey, in Chechnya, in Spain, in Pakistan, in Lebanon, in Zimbabwe, in Sri Lanka. And there are utterly mad despots and dictators hurting people in Myanmar, in North Korea, in Iran, in Uzbekistan, in Kirgizstan, in Eritrea, in Haiti, in Saudi Arabia.

We know about all these things, almost as they happen.

Have we not learned anything during the last 35 years? Will we not learn anything in the coming 35 years? Of course, learing we probably do, but will we change anything?

Now Barack Obama will be the new president of the USA, and his slogan was OBAMA FOR CHANGE. I really do hope that he will stand by his words, as we most certainly need a change, a real change. Nobody should need to suffer like many do today. For change.

Facts:

VW Golf 1974, length 370 cm, width 161 cm, weight 790 kg

VW Golf 2009, length 420 cm, width 178 cm, weight 1360 kg

Diego Garcia, the shame of democracy…

2008-10-31T11:12:39+01:00

Placed in the middle of the Indian Ocean are the tiny country of Chagos… a small gathering of 60 tropical islands, which as many other remote places, belongs to the UK, and which has never gained independence, as many other similar areas, like the nearby Maldives and Mauritius that both gained their independence in 1965, and also the nearby Seychelles that gained independence in 1976.

However nobody is left in the country of Chagos to claim independence for it, as the British Authorities, secretly during the 1960-ies forcefully deported the entire population to mainly the Maldives, where they and their ancestors today live in total misery and poverty.

The UK and the USA then got together and build a huge military base on one of the Chagos island, the Diego Garcia, where the USA still today run one of their largest overseas military bases, strategically placed near Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.

Also Diego Garcia is home to their third “Camp Justice” that together with the more infamous one at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and the Kadhimiya in Iraq, that is mostly known to be the place where Saddam Hussein was executed, all form secret prisons with little insight as to what is being done or who is being kept there.

All this does not sound like the democracies we are used to think of. This does sound much more like something happening in a remote dictatorship or something in the old communistic Soviet Union. But this is happening in our democracies.

In 2000 a British court ruled that the replacement of the population of Chagos was invalid. This was totally ignored by the British Government. Many other court cases have arisen, and the latest recent ruling from the High Court states that the population of Chagos will never be allowed to return home.

How can we let this happen… of course during the sixties and seventies in the midst of the cold war, things could easily be hidden, as we simply were not allowed to know things that was going on – also shameful in a democracy – but today we do know much of it, but then we apparently still choose to be silent about is and thus simply let the people of Chagos suffer still. On the other hand many of them has died and they are just poor rural people and they are far away, why should we care about them?

But this is our democracy. If we start to ignore atrocities are we then not letting go of our moral values? How can we let our governments forcefully deport whole populations to make way for military installations? This is similar to the deportations done by Stalin in the early Soviet era. Are we no better?

Let us not forget to clean our own back yards as we go after everybody else’s wrongdoings.

Let us try to set things right. Chagos is merely one of our own dark deeds that need to be corrected. We cannot allow our democracies to make people suffer. We should be better.

Let us bring all the Diego Garcias out in the open, and try to correct the wrongdoings of our leaders.

Let us begin by simply closing down the military base of Diego Garcia and letting the population of Chagos go home, and also pay for them so that they can start a living there.

We are already paying through our nose for other prestigious projects, like the independence of Kosovo. Chagos will be much much cheaper, and we will have undone a serious wrongdoing of our democracies.

The Chagos People’s Homeland Campaign

On Google Earth you can see Diego Garcia, by pasting the following in the search field:

7° 18′ 48″ S, 72° 24′ 40″ E

The bursting bubble; after years of utterly debauchery...

2008-10-11T19:14:44+02:00

The bubble of greed has burst and been replaced with raving panic.

The economical crisis is nothing else than the seemingly endless spiral of worldwide greed that actually has come to an end.

New financial companies have risen in the last decades and their managers and those of the old established banks have granted themselves salaries and bonuses of similar value to the wealth of old time kings and emperors.

A new noble class also came around, as during the latter years almost everybody of the middle classes suddenly turned into experts in stocks, funds, bonds and other financial tools. Tools that originally were designed to get working capital into industry, but then gradually turned into casino jettons.

Home owners all over the world suddenly, encouraged by the greedy bank managers, saw a way of getting quick money with no effort, by opening new mortgages in the ever increasing value of their home, and many such loans free from instalment plan, only with a small interest to be paid, and the fact that your debt had doubled many times over, did not seem to matter at all, as the value of your home just kept growing anyway… so you could simply take another loan the following year, to pay off the interest and to enable you to get the absolutely necessary king-size flat screen televisions all over your house, and the new car with leather upholstery and with an engine preferably exceeding 200 horse powers, and also enable you to travel to Thailand, the Caribbean or other exotic places laying in the sun enjoying your easy gained wealth, rubbing shoulders with all the other members of the new nobility.

I always wondered if people really believed that the value of real estate could be increasing endlessly… and nobody apparently realised that they were living on credit and loans, as the value of their home was bigger than their debt… but then the bubble burst… and the ugly truth suddenly hit people in the face… and then everybody panicked like lost sheep… emperors and nobility together… and the simple man, who has done nothing wrong, and who has gained very little from the wild years, is left to pay the bill…

Now I will go and watch some TV; on my old 60 kg fat-TV, in my old house, which has no new mortgages attached to it, wondering what the “nobility” eventually will take away from me, to pay off the debt of their many years of utterly debauchery…

DN DN

Genocide and assault against the civilian population

2008-09-28T12:59:15+02:00

Now yet another person has in Estonia been charged with genocide and assault against the civilian population. Vello Paltmann, 79, is accused of deporting four families in 1949.

Last year the cousin of the former president Meri, also faced a similar prosecution. The man, Arnold Meri, 88, fought the Nazis and became a prominent official in the Communist Party during the decades of Soviet occupation in the Baltic. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

Of course, I do agree, that anybody who has been involved in such hideous crimes should be punished for their evil deeds, however it do put a shimmer of hypocrisy over the Estonian authorities, that they, not until now, 17 years after the independence from Soviet Union, finds these people, and that they at the same time have not filed any charges against any Estonian suspected of having committed genocide against the Jews and other “unwanted” people, killed in camps throughout Estonia during the Nazi occupation, where many Estonians were directly involved.

I am aware, that Estonian government claims that the KGB “cleaned” out all of these evil people, however many of these criminals fled the country and some returned after the fall of the Soviet Union, only to be considered heroes as they fought on the Nazi side in the SS against the Russians.

I believe that there are not many countries in the world where memorials in recent times have been erected over the Nazi SS troops, beside just Estonia.

I truly wonder why Estonia only recently have started just a massive pogrom against Soviet atrocities and at the same time are increasingly glorifying the Nazi ones, and that seemingly without any raised eyebrows from the rest of the NATO/EU society.

The only “western authority” that are trying to raise this question seem to be the Simon Wiesenthal Center, that has accused Estonia of ignoring and even putting obstacles to investigations into apprehending Nazi criminals.

Two years ago, Harry Mannil, was invited to Estonia as an honorary guest of the government. He was a former officer in Estonia's political police, during the Nazi time, and is listed among top 10 Nazis on the run. Estonia however claims he is innocent. The Simon Wiesenthal Center claims that Mannil was responsible for hundreds of Jews and Communists being sent to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis and their Estonian collaborators.

Estonia then conducted an investigation into Mannil’s past, and insists that he has a “clean record”. The Wiesenthal Center labelled this investigation “a pathetic political whitewash”, and repeated its calls for Mannil to be brought to justice.

In the light of this it seems even stranger that Estonian government is so eager to prosecute Communist war criminals, and at the same time seems totally unwilling to even look into Nazi war criminals.

The Estonian Communistic war criminals killed “normal” Estonian citizens, whereas the Estonian Nazi war criminals killed Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and Soviet prisoners of war, but can it really be that the Estonian government considers these latter ones of less human value than the first mentioned? And is Nazism an accepted and growing ideology in the Baltic States?

Also the Wiesenthal Center last year criticised Estonia for removing a Soviet memorial commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany, calling the removal of the statue an “insult to victims of Nazism”.

And NATO/EU are as usual simply placing their “no comment” to it all.

Shrieking cow from Alaska

2008-09-15T20:08:09+02:00

The world sometimes seems like a big mess. Too much hatred and accusations are simply thrown around. And we seem to indulge in it. Newspapers and news sites sets it up grandly and ignore anything of value. Hatred, superficial entertainment and greed are working.

I read the following on the Russian news site Pravda, published in all sincerity:

“Sarah Palin, Mrs. Nobody know-it-all shrieking cow from Alaska, the joke of American politics, plied with a couple of vodkas before letting rip in front of incredulous audiences while McCain coos in the background, cuts a ridiculous figure as she strives to be taken seriously.” The whole article is found at: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/12-09-2008/106354-palindevil-0

Of course the CNN and other American medias has not been far behind, only using slightly more subtle wordings but with the same low opinion on Russian leaders. I cannot help but wonder that when we say things like this to one another, how come that we at the same time cannot understand why there is so much trouble in the world.

Jesus and the Beatles have put it quite simple: “all you need is love”, and when I look back on the hippie movements in the 60’s, those that I then thought were utterly deranged, I now come to think that they might have had the true perspective, or at least a more sound approach to the world.

Sadly their ideas died in the bomb blasts from Vietnam and the nuclear treats of the Cold War, and then somehow in between the world was taken over by unloving, extremely greedy and superficial people, in an endless search for money and entertainment.

In the upcoming presidential election in the USA, that will have a tremendous impact on the whole world, has there been any actual politics involved at all..?, or has everything only been about superficial entertainment on prime time tv..?

Perhaps the scaring truth is that it will be nothing but a shrieking cow from Alaska that will be our new world leader.

Nutritious mud cakes…

2008-09-06T21:40:49+02:00

On CNN I have seen the pictures of the storm-wrecked country of Haiti after the hurricanes Gustav and Hanna. Pictures of poor people in flooded homes. Before the recent hurricanes Haiti was already one of the poorest countries in the world. Food has become expensive and scarce leaving the poorest of the population to eat “mud cakes”… simple recipe: salt, vinegar and dirt mixed and baked. The mud cakes can fill the belly and give a few needed minerals.

Haiti is, as known, situated in the Caribbean, occupying one third of the island of Hispaniola, where the other two thirds consist of the Dominican Republic.

CNN also showed storm pictures from the Dominican Republic, mostly I remember the Hummers and other big SUVs driving through the raising waters, and I am quite sure that nobody on the Dominican part of the island are eating mud cakes…

On the same CNN news I saw how US navy was distributing aid to the refugees of Georgia.

I truly do think that the needed in Georgia deserves help, and I feel thankful that they receive aid. But I was missing to see the US navy distributing aid to the needed people of Haiti. It really frustrates me that anybody has to eat mud to survive. And it frustrates me that this is just south of Florida; and on the neighbour island to Puerto Rico, that is a part of the USA.

It is indeed gladly that USA can help needed people in far away countries, but why have they not felt the need to help the extremely troubled population of Haiti..?

I hate to think that the aid that USA gives to needed people is merely decided upon political or economical terms, rather than the suffering. Still Haiti has nothing whatsoever to offer USA; no raw materials, no oil, no strategic importance, and besides in all this misery a tragic comic dispute is happening between the powerful USA and Haiti, over a small uninhabited island called Navassa, which USA claims to belong to USA and Haiti claims it to belong to them.

Nobody in the world seems to care about Haiti, other than CNN reporters to get some catastrophic pictures, and in the meantime 8 million people there are suffering extremely hard.

Do they not need same attention as the suffering people of Georgia..?

But at least they have their mud on Haiti, perhaps they lack that in Georgia…

DN DN DN

Democratic disgrace in the EU…

2008-09-03T16:18:17+02:00

There is crisis in the Ukrainian government. The president is loosing his support to a more and more Russian friendly population. EU and NATO does not like that, and they will probably with propaganda, pressure and money try to help the western friendly president to stay at power, regardless of the democratic forces in the country, as EU and NATO and USA stands for true democracy… as long as others thinks the same as them… otherwise it is not democracy but ignorance to the true principles that they value so much.

In near future the western medias will report from Ukraine as to how president Viktor Justjenko is being bullied by Russian influence and how Russia will push him away, and how his former ally premier Julia Timosjenko has gone away from the true western way and; lo and behold, are not anymore so positive to EU and NATO… the western rhetoric will probably increase during the coming year, as we then will understand that when NATO place advisers in Ukraine to aid their lapdog, president Justjenko, it is merely to help him against the evil Russians trying to take over his country as they were trying with Georgia…

It would have been much easier in Ukraine, if all of Russian ethnicity could not vote, as then the democratic process would be much more fair, and EU and NATO membership would be a piece of cake… because our ideals of democracy is that it is better not to let those who think different have any saying… that is true EU democracy…

At least that it the democracy EU and NATO fully accept and praise when it comes to Estonia and Latvia. Often have the democracy in these countries been mentioned and it does not seem to bother much that approx. 30% of the population have no rights to vote.

When Estonia and Latvia became independent from Soviet Union, a lot of people of Russian ethnicity were living in the country. Most of these had moved there when it was part of Soviet Union during 50 years until 1991… 50 years is a rather long time, and the people moving there were normal people, not suppressors, but were equally exposed to Soviet suppression as those of local ethnicity.

When Soviet Union collapsed, the Russian Federation offered all former citizens of Soviet Union to get citizenship in the new Federation. Most Russians living in Estonia and Latvia, felt no connection to the Russian Federation, but would rather be part of building the new countries and felt part of those, so they rejected the Russian offer, and waited for the new government to be set up. However one of the first things the new governments did, was to reject citizenship to all of non local-ethnicity unless they could prove that their ancestors had lived in the countries before 1939, and as Estonia and Latvia had been part of Russia for 200 years before, some ethnic Russians could thus receive citizenship… but the majority of those of non local ethnicity had come during the 50 Soviet years, and were therefore to be non-citizens. Many then accepted the offer from the Russian Federation and got a citizenship from there, but remained living in Estonia and Latvia with a permanent residence permit. But many did not, and are today stateless persons within the EU.

Other former Soviet republics like Ukraine and Lithuania granted citizenship to all living there at the time of independence, and thus today they are true democracies.

The fact that Estonia and Latvia could become members of EU and NATO is a downright disgrace. How could we allow countries that suppress their own population and letting ethnicity decide whether you can become a citizen with rights to vote and have any influence on your own society, to become part of organisations that are based on democracy…?

The situation in Estonia and Latvia are very similar to that of South Africa during the apartheid, where the colour of your skin decided your rights. That we did not agree with and we in western Europe and USA and also Russia in fact, was very much involved in putting pressure on the local government to abandon that cruel and idiotic thing.

But when it comes to our own backyard it is very OK, as those of Russian ethnicity might not vote like we would like them to, so therefore we do not talk very much about this, but keep it down and are only irritated that the ethnic Ukrainians could not have done the same… however Lithuania is a full democracy and there the majority voted for EU and for NATO, so it may be possible to do so. Of course the ethnic Russians there are not such a big group.

But would those of Russian ethnicity put a misbalance into things…? Would they not, if they were treated equally look what would benefit their country most and do the right choices…? Is that not what democracy is about…? Had they not been suppressed and kept out of influence, most of them would have supported what would be the best for their country… they would much easier have integrated language like and even cultural… EU membership might still be a reality in that kind of democracy… NATO membership however would be doubtful, wherefore USA and NATO of course are very much satisfied with the Estonian and Latvian suppression of a third of its population with an ethnicity that is different.

It was however much easier in South Africa, as there you could immediately see who to suppress, in Estonia and Latvia it is kind of ridiculous, as everybody looks the same, so there it is merely a matter of genealogy. Sounds a bit more like Nazism I think…

Could we not get a better democracy throughout EU if we revoked the citizenship from those in EU who cannot prove that they descend from someone who lived in Europe before the first enlargement of EU in 1973… then there would be less people to vote about things and many laws would be much easier to get though, especially suppressing laws about those non-citizens then…

It would still be democracy as that is what two of EU member states are doing today with the good will of the EU…

DN DN DN DN

just had a haircut...

2008-09-01T13:35:12+02:00

I just passed a railroad crossing on the road. About a year ago it was restored. They dug up the road before and after and put some concrete between the rails and covered them with some special rubbery looking sheets and adding new asphalt to the road. After that is was very easy to drive over the crossing, I hardly felt anything in the car while passing it with 50 km per hour, which is the city speed limit in Tallinn.

But now, one year later, you feel like your car is falling apart after you try to cross it driving only 30 km per hour. Although it is still much much better than a few years ago, where it seemed like the rails had just been put on road, when you had to put your car to a full stop and then slowly climb over each rail…

But how come it is that when they in the Baltic countries repair something then it surely breaks down shortly after. When driving in Sweden and Denmark, and passing a railroad crossing there is very little disruption in the car even when passing in much higher speed than 50 km… and I have not seen anybody doing repair work on the crossing for many years.

This is the same with everything on the east side of the Baltic Sea. House repairs, newly build houses, road repairs etc. etc., one year later everything looks like it is falling apart.

It is like everything over here is about making fast money only. Quality and thoroughness is totally unknown concepts here.

Still many Baltic workers go to work in Scandinavia, and sadly they bring along their utterly lack of craftsmanship only concentrating of doing things fast and get their pay.

Those I have talked with who have used Baltic workers all agree that it is merely for the cheap pay and definitely not the quality.

This is one of the basic differences between east and west. When Soviet Union feel, no one seemed to care about anything but to make fast money. All infrastructure and buildings were left on their own accord for ten years, making everything deteriorate. Then EU came along, and the Baltic countries became part of that. Then a big chest of money was given to build up the infrastructure and restore buildings.

However the work is being done by the same workers, who restored the railroad crossing near my office here in Tallinn, so I cannot help wonder if those vast EU amounts spent, is worth it. I have already seen several recent EU financed roads start to crumble again.

If we do not want to see our tax money spent needlessly, EU better do something to raise the craftsmanship and quality of work in the new EU member states, than to just simply keep the flow of money available. Of course a better craftsmanship will also raise the salaries, but as food and gasoline are almost on western level anyway, the salaries will also come, hopefully with the much-needed quality and thoroughness in works too…

I just come from a visit to the hair-salon where I paid EUR 4,75 for a haircut… a year ago it was only EUR 2,25… but of course I am looking better than ever…

The day before…

2008-08-31T20:00:06+02:00

Another tranquil day. A day to plan ahead and to ponder on life and all its mysteries.

Also a day to wait and see what will come out of the special EU meeting tomorrow, on the crisis in Georgia.

It seems that Germany and France have started to take back some of their harsh standpoints of threats of sanctions against Russia. Alone will then be Great Britain, of course together with the three Baltic countries and Poland, and then Sweden… or actually foreign minister Carl Bildt…

The summit will most likely turn out some hard wordings against Russia and a slight condemnation… unless, of course, that USA can pressure the EU to do something more. But I doubt is, as EU definitely needs Russia much more than Russian needs the EU.

And after that perhaps South Ossetia and Abkhazia as well as the new geographical Georgia can take a break and try to stabilise their countries.

A vain hope is that USA will not give Georgia new weapons, as then crazy things could happen all over again.

Now we wait the soon upcoming next point on the Caucasus agenda, the faith of the Crimea.

Calm music listening Saturday…

2008-08-30T18:36:09+02:00

I have been reading the blog of Carl Bildt, the foreign minister of Sweden. http://carlbildt.wordpress.com/

He has turned out to be one of those who try to paint the world in black and white. He has made the country of Sweden take side in the aspiring cold war between east and west, and he has done more concise and clearly than many of his colleagues throughout Europe. This has put Sweden in an awkward and new situation, as Sweden always have played the role of a mediator with a clear look at both sides of a conflict. Of course the late Olof Palme, also sometimes had some very concise outbursts, but he could carry them, Carl Bildt is no Olof Palme, and now he has managed to very clearly mark his support to USA and NATO. Sweden has thus lost a big part of its political independence and credibility, and has now sadly been degraded to be “just another one of the pack”.

But besides that I do very much agree with Carl Bildt today as he on his blog put it to be a calm Saturday, as it indeed is a quiet and calm Saturday, and here on the east side of the Baltic Sea, where I am today, the sun is shining and the weather is beautiful, and I just bought the latest CD of Neil Diamond called “Home Before Dark” and have been listening to that much of the day. It is quite a remarkable effort of a now 67-year old person to make yet another album, but good for me, it has given me some nostalgic moments even though all the music is new, and so I have had a calm and tranquil day. Or to put is as Carl Bildt says it, a calm day with time to sort though papers, thoughts and plans for the coming days and weeks.

Political and religious homogeneity...

2008-08-29T18:42:06+02:00

Why do USA have 116 000 soldiers stationed in Europe, whereas 75 000 are in Germany…?

To my knowledge there is absolutely no reason for them to be there. But it seems like USA likes to have some sort of control of the whole world, as USA have soldiers stationed in 135 countries worldwide. The countries where there is some explanation to this are Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea. But they are only 3 countries, why do they need to be in 132 more countries…? Not many seem to question this… and the US troops in Europe and Turkey are all there as a defence against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw pact countries…

But hello…!! I thought that those things stopped their existence 17 years ago… but of course the counterpart against the Warsaw pact, NATO still exist for some obscure reason. And now we want more of the former Warsaw pact countries to join in, and also place missiles and forces near the borders of the Russian Federation.

Can it be any huge surprise if Russia feels threatened…?

But I totally forgot… we are the good guys and they are the bad, so it is very OK to threaten them…

The American bases in Japan, Iceland and of course the north of Greenland, are doing nothing but monitoring Russia… whereas Russia long time ago closed its listening posts on Cuba… where, by the way, USA troops still are represented on the Guantanamo base…

Now USA wants to place listening post right on the Russian border in the Czech Republic and missiles in Poland…

The Prime Minister of Slovakia has criticised this calling it totally pointless…, which makes him look a little like a bad guy in spite of that his country, is in EU and NATO… that is not good… we better not talk too much about it in the news, so that it will be a soon forgotten squeak…

The brotherhood of the good guys, NATO and some EU countries, not yet member of NATO, decided unanimous that the Serbian province of Kosovo should gain independence, in spite of many protests, the loudest coming from Serbia of course, but very much from Russia also…

But as good guys, we can do whatever we want… or...?

The excuse was that the Serbian president with weapons and force were trying to keep order in the province and to maintain it as a part of Serbia, and NATO went in with military and fought back the Serbian forces.

But when the Georgian president with weapons and force tried to keep order in the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, we got very angry that Russia went in with military and fought back the Georgian forces. And now we scream and shout of how ugly it is what Russia is doing… because they are the bad guys and whatever they do is bad… or...?

Nobody mention that it is strange that a small relatively poor country like Georgia can have such a well equipped and modern army, and being the country with the third largest military representation in Iraq after USA and Great Britain. Also; what were the hundreds US military advisors doing in Georgia…? It falls very near to think that someone has put ideas in the relatively fragile mind of the Georgian president, making him start his attack on the province of South Ossetia… and it also comes to mind that perhaps a war in Europe, whether warm or cold, is what is needed to give some kind of excuse as to why all these US troops are still in Europe, and making them be more on their alert instead of just sitting doing nothing…

And it also springs to mind; that it seems odd, or actually perhaps not odd at all, that the problems with Russia appears just in the dawn of the presidential election in USA…

But of course it cannot be so, because we are the good guys, and we do no wrong… we just want to rule the world, and that cannot be bad as we are so good and democratic, and the others, they are very bad indeed…

it kind of reminds me somewhat of what happened in the 15^th century, when the good guys also tried to spread their ways. They called it the Spanish Inquisition, and the main purpose was to establish political and religious homogeneity throughout the world…

McCain or Obama - Will one of them be the future leader of the EU?

2008-08-28T19:17:21+02:00

Are there any difference between McCain and Obama? Of course I do see that one is younger than the other, but besides that? I have read the statements from both parties and so far I do not see much difference between them. I am aware that some of the differences, although in the big run, I consider minor, to others are matter of life and death, especially the opinion on abortion, but besides that then, are there any significant differences? Will USA be better off with any of them, and will any of them prove any improvement to G. W. Bush…? And the most intriguing question is, will one of them be governing the EU?

I, as well as very many others I have talked with, do not understand why we in Europe have been following so closely the internal party election of presidential candidates in the USA. What does that concern the people of Europe, or the rest of the world for that matter? Are we to understand that the new president of USA, elected only by citizens of the USA, will be the president to govern us all?

Is EU in its surrender to NATO and the engulfing by that organisation, becoming a part of the USA… if so I do understand the massive news coverage of what I thought was internal affairs with some foreign political parties… but it seems that it concerns us very much, or at least all newspapers and news channels seem to bring the information to us in such overwhelming measures, that we almost feel that this is our turn to choose between the candidates. Even the pop star like visit to Berlin proved that. Are we becoming a part of USA? And why has nobody told us so, as I would like that to be a matter up for a referendum by the people of Europe.

Although we may get used to the fact that a referendum is a bad thing, as, of course, our leaders knows things much better than us, all what we should think and like. The Irish “no” to the Lisbon treaty does not seem to have had any real significance to the continuously implementation of the treaty. Some has suggested to hold another referendum, like previously in Denmark, where they just kept going until the wanted outcome was given. That is the wanted outcome from the government, and not from the people.

The Lisbon treaty has been ratified in most European countries without even asking their people, and that with a significant lesser press coverage than a local meeting of the Democratic Party somewhere in the USA. Was the internal debate of an American political party more important than our own future government? Or perhaps the press has grasped that the European future government was represented at the meeting of an American political party, and that the Lisbon treaty was totally meaningless to us, as we would not have any say in that anyway.

Are we still a democracy in EU? Or what is happening…?