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January 2011
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Written by Rondi
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Sunday, 30 January 2011 10:20 |
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I think one can be simultaneously excited and positive about what is happening in Egypt and also worried about the outcome. I think a move to freedom is always positive, but we know that isn't always how things work out, at least in the short run. I know most of my friends in Egypt feel this way. Progress in the Muslim world never seems to be linear. That said, they wouldn't go back to ten days ago -- nor should they. What is happening is remarkable.
Along these lines, I wanted to pass along this great quote from John Bolton, interviewed this morning on U.S. television: "If the answer is Mohamed El Baradei, I hate to think what the question is."
Of course, the Muslim Brotherhood would be a creepy answer, too. I am hoping that, as in Turkey, the military in Egypt might be able to act as a defender of democracy and a bulwark against Islamic fascism.
(Note: if you are on Twitter, please follow Sandmonkey.)
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Last Updated on Sunday, 30 January 2011 10:49 |
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Written by Rondi
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Friday, 28 January 2011 17:49 |
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You know, Canadians always say they are more worldly and more outward-looking than Americans. Really? Let's see: Egypt is burning. This is the biggest story out there, with reverberations galore -- no matter how it goes -- for the West. Fox News, CNN and MSNBC are all covering it. BBC World is covering it. French TV is covering it. What is the CBC talking about? Obesity. Seriously. Obesity. What is CTV talking about? A possible Canadian election.
Are you kidding me?
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Last Updated on Saturday, 29 January 2011 13:42 |
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Written by Rondi
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Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:32 |
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On this day in 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the Soviet Army.
I visited Auschwitz in 1990 -- a Polish friend of mine from school in Paris had gone back home and invited me to visit her in Warsaw. I did. I also went to Krakow, which she found acceptable. But when I told her I wanted to go to Auschwitz she got all defensive and weird and hostile with me and sort of rolled her eyes. "They made us go there in school," she said, as though somehow it had been an imposition or even an odd thing for her school to do. "Uh, ok," I thought. Realizing the conversation was getting tense, I told her I was going but didn't expect her to accompany me. She didn't. Our friendship was never the same after that -- pretty much dwindled away.
Glad I went to Auschwitz and only wish -- it may sound strange -- I had taken pictures.
I always like this quote from Robert Clary, who survived Buchenwald (unlike most of his family):
The whole experience was a complete nightmare, the way they treated us, what we had to do to survive. We were less than animals. Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat terrified for fear I'm about to be sent away to a concentration camp. But I don't hold a grudge because that's a great waste of time. Yes, there's something dark in the human soul. For the most part human beings are not very nice. That's why when you find those who are, you cherish them.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:58 |
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Written by Rondi
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Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:37 |
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Berlin rejected Wednesday a demand to unlock an intelligence agency file on Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was caught by Israeli agents in Argentina, tried and hanged in 1962.
The mass-circulation newspaper Bild this month published a 1952 record from the West German intelligence agency saying Eichmann was in Argentina and his residence was known to an ex-Nazi group there.
At the time, Germany was saying his whereabouts were unknown.
Hmm.
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Written by Rondi
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Tuesday, 25 January 2011 13:55 |
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Burns must have been an early animal rights advocate. First we have To a Mouse, and also this gem:
ON SEEING A WOUNDED HARE
INHUMAN man! curse on thy barb'rous art,
And blasted be thy murder-aiming eye;
May never pity soothe thee with a sigh,
Nor ever pleasure glad thy cruel heart!
Go live, poor wand'rer of the wood and field!
The bitter little that of life remains:
No more the thickening brakes and verdant plains
To thee shall home, or food, or pastime yield.
Seek, mangled wretch, some place of wonted rest,
No more of rest, but now thy dying bed!
The sheltering rushes whistling o'er thy head,
The cold earth with thy bloody bosom prest.
Oft as by winding Nith I, musing, wait
The sober eve, or hail the cheerful dawn,
I'll miss thee sporting o'er the dewy lawn,
And curse the ruffian's aim, and mourn thy hapless fate
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 13:59 |
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