Archiv der Kategorie: quicklink

oddly enough, quicklink, US Politics

Strange, but interesting.

Brad DeLong ponders about the difficulties of a humanitarian military intervention in Congo and sparks a lively debate about the principles humanitarian (remember: operation Iraqi Freedom”?!) foreign policy. Here’s a great quote from Abiola Lapite:

“Funny how a discussion about mass murder in the Congo manages to drift off into arguments about “neocons”, Israel and anti-semitism. If one were cynical, one might surmise that for most western commentators, what goes on in Africa isn’t really of any interest unless it can be tied in to their political agendas in some way …”

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media, quicklink

Congo.

Read the Economist’s ( premium link | 2) and Die Zeit’s (Africa’s First World War) current coverage of the genocidal slaughtering occurring in Congo almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. How many deaths in a single instance does it need to wake the West up that something is going on in Africa, Die Zeit asks a German diplomat in Burundi.

His reply – “500 plus, in my experience”. Tragically – that even bodes well for Congo, where 966 people died in a recent massacre.

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quicklink

It’s A Big Deal

although it’s actually only 30m. The city of Munich’s decision to use Linux not just on its servers but on all the 14,000 city computers, despite a personal marketing (and allegedly price-cut) intervention by MS CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this year, is almost unanimously interpreted as a huge blow to Microsoft’s grip on the market. Cynthia L. Webb of the Washington Post even calls her press survey “The Munich Revolution”.

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compulsory reading, German Politics, quicklink

The Slow End Of German Corporatism

Almost unnoticed by the media, an important part of the medieval remnants of German corporatism was silently buried by the Federal cabinet today.

The ‘Meisterprivileg’ – master privilege – effectively keeping people from opening businesses in a lot of markets – mostly those with medieval guild-predecessors – by handing over the right to grant the permission to do so to the “guilds” of those who already own one. It certainly kept the returns high for those who were in the business and thus it was not too surprising to hear them scream today that increased competition will cost employment.

In the short run, this is a possible scenario. In the medium run, this reform is a major step to help create the sort of entrepreneurial environment this country needs so badly, especially in conjunction with the small business tax simplifications about to be implemented. Go Gerhard, go!

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quicklink

Amnesty International Report 2003

Amnesty International Report 2003 The situation of human rights in 151 countries in the year 2002. This is what they say about Germany, France, the UK, the USA, and – for the last year of Saddam Hussein’s reign – Iraq. May I just say that I am happy to live in a country where a prison guard punching a prisoner is a sufficiently grave infringement of human rights to be reported by AI.

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quicklink

Islamic Charter For Germany

I had not heard about this before – “Advocates of the Charter consider the declaration to be a milestone on the road to integration. The Islamic Charter is supposedly the first document within Europe that strives for a societal and interreligious dialogue, according to the Chairman of the Central Council, Nadeem Elyas … The Charter has met positive responses to date, especially from representatives of political parties and the Christian Church. However, several Islam experts have criticized it. Even though the document contains a Muslim declaration of intent in the form of a personal obligation towards German law, it is not concise in many points and the formulation isn’t watertight, according to Ursula Spuler-Stegemann, an Islam academic in Marburg. Central issues and sensitive matters, such as the significance of the Sharia, have been deliberately ignored in it.”

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almost a diary, quicklink

Israel endorses road map.

Deutsche Welle reviews the European newspapers’ reaction to Israel’s endorsement of the latest plan for peace in the Middle East. For one, The Independent wryly notes that “[p]eace may be on the horizon, but it is not yet around the corner.”

A personal note – in early 1993, I interviewed the late Ignatz Bubis, then head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, for a school paper I had to write about the Middle East conflict. To my question what he thinks would be the outcome of the rumours about the “Oslo process” that were emerging at the time he said something like “there will be peace eventually … in 25 years or so.” The horizon may well be some 15 years down the road (map). Does *anyone* believe there will be a Palestinian state in 2005?

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