Monday, March 26, 2007
I thought I was dreaming....
Then...I saw indeed pictorial proof.
Jerry Adams, Ian Paisley, FACE to FACE meeting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070326/ap_on_re_eu/northern_ireland
The situation in Ireland in past centuries was as bad as anything in the Balkans. Can we all say Siege of Drogheda? Can we all say Siege of Londonderry? The coat of arms of Derry is a skeleton on a throne, and it reminds people of today how people starved in that siege. That was a siege of what at the time was a Protestant town, by a Catholic force, Drogeda was the other way around, either way people were reduced to eatting rats and leather and in Drogheda, one of Cromwells men boasted about how he got into the church where the 'choicest of the women were staying' and in the same passage boasted in disgusting detail about how many of them he raped.
It was in it's day as ugly a war as any what went on between English and Irish, English and Scots, and yet nowadays, the British Isles are largely peaceful, with the sad exception for the last few decades of the North. Now there have been these face to face talks unimaginable to someone born just when I was born. About Damn Time! I say! Jolly Good!
Maybe what has happened in Northern Ireland today has nothing to do with the Balkans but a very good example for the region. Peace could bring as much prosperity as England, Ireland, Scotland Wales, and the Isle of Man know, and as much chance to lead in the world.
Kosovo Proposal goes to U.N. Security Council
http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/Proposal_for_Kosovo_s_political_fut_03262007.htm
Karadzic's Brother Says U.S. Breeched Secret Deal
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/26/europe/EU-GEN-Serbia-US-Karadzic.php
Of course if such a deal exists, the very secrecy is plausible deniability, you only need to read one good spy book and six bad ones to get what that's about! A secret deal basicaly is NO deal! Everyone knows that!
Two tried for death of Montenegrin Police Officer
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/26/europe/EU-GEN-Montenegro-Slain-Officer.php
Unease as British troops leave BiH
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/26/wbosnia26.xml
From the article,
from the same article:
"Unfortunately, mines are the best soldier - they don't need to sleep, they don't need feeding and they are never off-duty. And Bosnia mines are very good - being plastic and waterproof. They are as deadly today as when they were put down 15 years ago."
Even plastic does eventually degrade, it takes longer than metal, that's all. The problem is that it takes so much longer, that it's really hard to take care of removal. War is bad enough. What NO ONE seems to have understood is that landmines tend to kill more people from one's own side than people from another side. So many of these mines are in the forests too, meaning that the forests are less usable for legitimate activities like hiking, controlled hunting, wood products, foraging for mushrooms and the economic activities that people traditionally do in the woods.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=575232&category=REGION&newsdate=3/26/2007
Saw him on HRT some years ago, he's got real presence and skill. The interpreter had an unfortunate dye job, and my S.O. and I thought the interpreter and the ambassador were kind of attracted to one another, but restraining themselves since both were married. The interpreter had an unfortunate dye job, she had a 'professional' outfit that certainly would have passed muster with the evil John Malloy (may he rot in Hell!)her hair was otherwise very conventionally done, but the dye job on T.V. was the most marvelously punkish shade of red!. Anyway we kind of did immitations of them for the neighbors a couple times, they'd all seen the same story and laughed their butts off.
Still this ambassador is a good man, and I'm sure behaved himself in an exemplary manner despite whatever appeal the interpreter may have held. Come to think of it, maybe the dye job was as unfortunate in real life as it was in the studio and he could not help but keep his eyes on her.
Personal, the weather is again kind of chilly in the Yakima Gulag. Some further repairs to the aged and long neglected plumbing of my house is taking place tomorrow ako Bog daj. The tub has been unusable for years. I have had either to pour water overmyself to bath, or to go borrow a friend's tub.
Went out and hung out with friends last night. We finished off some Goldstrike, I mixed it with cream soda. Usually pepermint schnaps is good with apple juice, but this brand isn't for some reason. It however is quite nice with cream soda! Had some hard cider that wasn't as good as English hard cider. English hard cider is one of the glories of this world, and locally Grant's used to make a wonderful hard cider, which was my favorite libation for awhile until the jack booted thugs started messing with Bert and he had to discontinue it. I am not sorry for one drop I drank of it, it's like will never be seen again.
This stuff however was only moderately better than the attrocious horrible orange wine I made. I've only brewed up two bad batches of home made hootch, some maple syrup stuff, that is horrible, that I am taking out for the roses and the tree to enjoy, they don't have taste buds and there's some nutritional value in it! and the orange wine. I don't know what went wrong with it.
I make the best mead in the whole county, so it's not my brewing skills at fault. Might have just been bad luck.
Jerry Adams, Ian Paisley, FACE to FACE meeting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070326/ap_on_re_eu/northern_ireland
The situation in Ireland in past centuries was as bad as anything in the Balkans. Can we all say Siege of Drogheda? Can we all say Siege of Londonderry? The coat of arms of Derry is a skeleton on a throne, and it reminds people of today how people starved in that siege. That was a siege of what at the time was a Protestant town, by a Catholic force, Drogeda was the other way around, either way people were reduced to eatting rats and leather and in Drogheda, one of Cromwells men boasted about how he got into the church where the 'choicest of the women were staying' and in the same passage boasted in disgusting detail about how many of them he raped.
It was in it's day as ugly a war as any what went on between English and Irish, English and Scots, and yet nowadays, the British Isles are largely peaceful, with the sad exception for the last few decades of the North. Now there have been these face to face talks unimaginable to someone born just when I was born. About Damn Time! I say! Jolly Good!
Maybe what has happened in Northern Ireland today has nothing to do with the Balkans but a very good example for the region. Peace could bring as much prosperity as England, Ireland, Scotland Wales, and the Isle of Man know, and as much chance to lead in the world.
Kosovo Proposal goes to U.N. Security Council
http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/Proposal_for_Kosovo_s_political_fut_03262007.htm
Karadzic's Brother Says U.S. Breeched Secret Deal
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/26/europe/EU-GEN-Serbia-US-Karadzic.php
Of course if such a deal exists, the very secrecy is plausible deniability, you only need to read one good spy book and six bad ones to get what that's about! A secret deal basicaly is NO deal! Everyone knows that!
Two tried for death of Montenegrin Police Officer
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/26/europe/EU-GEN-Montenegro-Slain-Officer.php
Unease as British troops leave BiH
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/26/wbosnia26.xml
From the article,
The UN estimates that it costs £5 to lay a mine and £150 to recover it. In the last year the authorities have been able to clear just seven square miles, at a cost of £17 million. There is still a huge amount of work to clear the further 1,400 square miles of mined land.
"The mine situation here is bad and we estimate it will take 75 years to completely clear the country," said Brig Chris Murray, the commander of British forces in Bosnia. "We have trained the de-miners and hope that the funding remains for them to continue a vital job."
You realize in view of what Balkans history has been for some time, 75 years is enough time for two to three more wars.from the same article:
"Unfortunately, mines are the best soldier - they don't need to sleep, they don't need feeding and they are never off-duty. And Bosnia mines are very good - being plastic and waterproof. They are as deadly today as when they were put down 15 years ago."
Even plastic does eventually degrade, it takes longer than metal, that's all. The problem is that it takes so much longer, that it's really hard to take care of removal. War is bad enough. What NO ONE seems to have understood is that landmines tend to kill more people from one's own side than people from another side. So many of these mines are in the forests too, meaning that the forests are less usable for legitimate activities like hiking, controlled hunting, wood products, foraging for mushrooms and the economic activities that people traditionally do in the woods.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=575232&category=REGION&newsdate=3/26/2007
Saw him on HRT some years ago, he's got real presence and skill. The interpreter had an unfortunate dye job, and my S.O. and I thought the interpreter and the ambassador were kind of attracted to one another, but restraining themselves since both were married. The interpreter had an unfortunate dye job, she had a 'professional' outfit that certainly would have passed muster with the evil John Malloy (may he rot in Hell!)her hair was otherwise very conventionally done, but the dye job on T.V. was the most marvelously punkish shade of red!. Anyway we kind of did immitations of them for the neighbors a couple times, they'd all seen the same story and laughed their butts off.
Still this ambassador is a good man, and I'm sure behaved himself in an exemplary manner despite whatever appeal the interpreter may have held. Come to think of it, maybe the dye job was as unfortunate in real life as it was in the studio and he could not help but keep his eyes on her.
Personal, the weather is again kind of chilly in the Yakima Gulag. Some further repairs to the aged and long neglected plumbing of my house is taking place tomorrow ako Bog daj. The tub has been unusable for years. I have had either to pour water overmyself to bath, or to go borrow a friend's tub.
Went out and hung out with friends last night. We finished off some Goldstrike, I mixed it with cream soda. Usually pepermint schnaps is good with apple juice, but this brand isn't for some reason. It however is quite nice with cream soda! Had some hard cider that wasn't as good as English hard cider. English hard cider is one of the glories of this world, and locally Grant's used to make a wonderful hard cider, which was my favorite libation for awhile until the jack booted thugs started messing with Bert and he had to discontinue it. I am not sorry for one drop I drank of it, it's like will never be seen again.
This stuff however was only moderately better than the attrocious horrible orange wine I made. I've only brewed up two bad batches of home made hootch, some maple syrup stuff, that is horrible, that I am taking out for the roses and the tree to enjoy, they don't have taste buds and there's some nutritional value in it! and the orange wine. I don't know what went wrong with it.
I make the best mead in the whole county, so it's not my brewing skills at fault. Might have just been bad luck.
# posted by Katja R. @ 9:35 AM 
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Listening to the news last night (about Northern Ireland) I thought, OK in 40 years some politicians will sit down in Balkans and the people who will then live here will finally have peace! I am glad for Northern Ireland, alas, I do not think I will live long enough to see the same kind of news about Balkans!!!
I hope we both will live long enough to see such news! I am however not holding my breath, because like you I know better than to think it's so likely, but then again I never thought I'd see Jerry Adams and Ian Paisley actually have a face to face meeting.
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