Home alone

What you get when you have left home alone, graduate political scientist and his almost graduate programmer brother? You get perfect combination for disaster.

To be more specific, this is what you get:

Cold War II

Sadly but it is true, Cold War II it is on it's way! And yes, it is coming furiously fast, without hesitation and with no mercy.

Another outstanding text by Noam Chomsky. It is worthy of your priceless time and you should read it. Once again Noam shows his excellent analytical skills combined with his sense for freedom of speech and as a result we have this extraordinary text which has uncovered the truth that lies behind the US Nazi attitude towards Iran.

Here are some excerpts :

It is instructive that Washington’s propaganda framework is reflexively accepted, apparently without notice, in US and other Western commentary and reporting, apart from the marginal fringe of what is called ‘the loony left.” What is considered “criticism” is skepticism as to whether all of Washington’s charges about Iranian aggression in Iraq are true. It might be an interesting research project to see how closely the propaganda of Russia, Nazi Germany, and other aggressors and occupiers matched the standards of today’s liberal press and commentators.

The comparisons are of course unfair. Unlike German and Russian occupiers, American forces are in Iraq by right, on the principle, too obvious even to enunciate, that the US owns the world. Therefore, as a matter of elementary logic, the US cannot invade and occupy another country. The US can only defend and liberate others. No other category exists. Predecessors, including the most monstrous, have commonly sworn by the same principle, but again there is an obvious difference: they were Wrong, and we are Right. QED.

Iran rejects US control of the Middle East, challenging fundamental policy doctrine, but it hardly poses a military threat. On the contrary, it has been the victim of outside powers for years: in recent memory, when the US and Britain overthrew its parliamentary government and installed a brutal tyrant in 1953, and when the US supported Saddam Hussein’s murderous invasion, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Iranians, many with chemical weapons, without the “international community” lifting a finger – something that Iranians do not forget as easily as the perpetrators. And then under severe sanctions as a punishment for disobedience.

There is lot more to read. Whole text you can find here .

Enjoy!

Cradle of democracy. Yeah right!

No wonder that racism and xenophobia still exist across the Western world, when the so-called cradle of Western civilisation and democracy is one of the most xenophobic countries in the World and it is definitely the most xenophobic European country.

Yes, you guess right. I'm talking about Greece.

The last disturbing case occurred on 18-th of august in Thessaloniki, when 27-year-old Nigerian immigrant Tony Onouha died. Tony Onouha, a seller of pirate CDs, died on Saturday after falling from a first-floor cafeteria balcony in the Thessaloniki suburb of Kalamaria. Relatives said Onouha fell from the balcony in an attempt to flee plainclothes policemen. But police have denied any part in the death, saying no local officers had been assigned to patrol the area on that night.


And yes, yet again we should blindly believe the official police story. The sad reality is that this is not the first case of this kind (remember the recent case with the Albanian immigrants), and unfortunately I think that it won't be the last one.

When I mentioned above that Greece is the most xenophobic European country, I didn't make up this story. Just take a brief look at the researches and surveys from the EU Agency for fundamental rights (FRA) (former European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) ) and you will get the right picture. For more details you can visit their web site - http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php

So, it hasn't changed much from the days of ancient Athens, where foreigners didn't have almost any rights. Now, 2300 years after, in the 21-st century Greece shows the same symptoms.

My question is - Is this the example that non-western countries have to follow in their pursuit for the democracy? Or should the rest non-EU European countries follow this example for their accession into EU?!?

I don't think so!

Come as you are

I was listening again to this music masterpiece Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York and damn, it is so good!

Come, as you are. As you were.
As I want you to be. As a friend.
As a friend. As an old enemy. Take your time.
Hurry up. The choice is yours. Don't be late.
Take a rest. As a friend. As a old memory, memory, memory, memory.

Use and abuse of children

In a less then 24 hours I witnessed two situations that really shocked me. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to say. It was all about negligence, on purpose or not, I really don't care. At the end, the children are the one who suffer the most.

They say that children are the future of every society, so if it continues like this Macedonia won't have healthy future.

Situation No.1 : Last night, after having a nice long ride on my bike, I was resting with my friends in the city park. This is the place, where young people usually are gathering in the evening during the hot summer. It is always so crowd, but it is nice. It is full of positive energy. And as we were sitting on the park benches, a very young homeless gypsy boy has approached us. Than came the first shock. He was smoking. Somehow we managed to force him to drop the cigar. He was all shaking with his head. And then came the second more horrific shock. He pulled out a plastic bag out of his pocket and started to inhale something. We were 99% sure that he inhaled glue, which is common substitute for drugs among homeless and poor people. And do you know what was really sad? This gypsy boy was maximum 7 years old!

Situation No.2 : Today, it was about 1 o`clock afternoon and it was so hot. On my balcony, under the shadow it was 37 degrees. I was writing some e-mails, when I heard some music. I went to my balcony to see what is all about, and there was amazing scene going on in front of my building. There were 3 rows of red official chairs and they were placed under the shadow. There were some people sitting and between them was the Minister of Defence. So far there is nothing unusual about that. But, in front of these official people there were some 30 to 40 kids who were performing some show, and there were also some flags and patriotic songs. These children were at maximum age of 12. And they were having this performance for at least an hour and half under inhumane conditions. If it was 37 degrees under the shadow, you can imagine how many degrees it was under the sun at 1 o`clock. 42 or maybe 45 degrees? Who knows?!? My point is that they were under the sun for 2 hours, performing some pointless socialistic-like show and the Minister of Defence was cooling under the shadow. I mean, hello?!?! It is 45 degrees. I wonder, who was so "smart" to came up with such a nice idea. Does anyone of those officials care about the health of those dear and innocent children? I really don't know what to say.


Above, I have described two situations which happened in timeline less than 24 hours. Two cases of negligence, and of course the adults are the one to blame for. In the first case there was negligence from the parents and in the second case there was institutional negligence. However children were suffering in both situations. Where is the sense for humanity? Where is the sense of care for our children? They are our country's future. Aaaargh! I am so angry!

Global Economy

I've just finished reading an excellent book, "Global economy - how rich became rich and why poor are becoming poorer" (or the title in original "Global okonomi - hvordan de rike ble rikere og hvorfor de fattige blir fattigere" , don't be confused it is on Norwegian) by Erik S. Reinert.

In a very direct and profound way, this Norwegian economist, tries and succeeds to describe the process of globalisation and its horrific consequences. I was really shocked what I've read about the history of the globalisation, especially about the modern process of globalisation and the effects which it causes on many developing countries around the world. It is so sad to see how and what some of the rich countries are doing to the rest of the world, especially what are they doing to the poorest countries (mainly African and South American countries).

Ok, to cut this story short, I will try to summarize it in 2 or 3 sentences, and the rest of it you will have to read it:
-It is all about how in the past, rich countries became rich and how nowadays the don't let the poor countries to do the same thing in order to become more developed, more rich and more industrialized. How the institutions of Washington (IMF,World Bank,WTO) are treating the developing countries and how they keep them underdeveloped, in order these countries to be just exporters of resources, and importers of western final products. It is interesting to see what England,France,Norway were doing 150-200 years ago, and what they are now doing in a sense of forcing unbelievable economic policies to the developing countries.

If you have an opportunity, please read this book. It will change your attitude towards globalisation, free trade etc...

Just a beutifull flower

I was so speechless when I saw it for the first time...

Who you really hate?

It is the crucial question - Who you really hate? Is it the state (mainly foreign) policy or its citizens?

In order for better multicultural and intercultural understanding it is very important to make difference between official foreign state policy and between opinion of ordinary people. Yes, I can agree that we all hate US foreign policy, but it is not true that we all hate American people. Or maybe, in my case, I hate official Greek policy, but I can't say that i hate ordinary Greeks. We are all the same...

But, this is one big BUT, unfortunately I can say that I belong to a minority of citizens who share the same opinion about this issue. And I shall try to explain why it is like that.

Human mind works on the following principle: people see the world around them in pictures. Human mind tries to make these pictures as simple as they can be. This is due the mind's effort to make the perception of man's surrounding easier. This whole process results in more coherent picture of the world and in less conflicting situation inside human mind. And that is all about - avoiding conflicting situations inside ourselves. In this process of avoiding these kind of situations prejudices and unfair generalisations are born. Prejudice is nothing else than the product of the mental process described above. So, because ordinary people are often preoccupied with existential problems, because the don't want to be bother and because they want to maintain their inner peace, they adopt these simple pictures. And it is very important to say that these pictures aren't created just by the individuals by themselves. They are created, maintained and powered by the family, the society and especially nowadays the mass media. And these pictures (messages) are - all Americans are bad, all Greeks are bad etc.
All of this wouldn't be such a serious issue, if politicians (different political groups, nationalistic groups etc.) don't abuse this situation which is happening in the head of the ordinary people. They use it and abuse it in order to gain some political points, to gain more power, to gain more popular support for their plans. Plans which often are very insane, irrational and disastrous for human kind, don't forget the: Spanish Inquisition, slavery, Nazi Germany, Atomic bomb, Vietnam war, Iraq war, Bosnian war, racial segregation and many more. All of the examples mentioned above, had (at least in the beginning) great popular support. This popular support in some cases was from unseen proportion.

And that is really sad. What a irony! We (human kind) consider ourselves to be the most rational living beings on this planet. Yeah right!

My message is : Don't be bother to think with your own heads. Don't run away from the first obstacle you meet. Don't easily accept the black&white picture of life and world, which is served by the governments,mass media and society. Yes, I know that sometimes it can be really hard to do this, but anyway it is more easier than doing the body count at the end. Don't be afraid to speak up, your opinion sometimes can be very crucial.

So again - Who you really hate?

Check...1,2,3...Check!

This is my first post on my first English speaking blog...

In order for better multicultural understanding, I've decided to start this blog and therefore the "official" language will be the English language although you can use any language you already know. Even intergalactic languages are allowed such as Marsian, Romulan etc...

So let there be more love and more understanding between different nations, different races, different classes, different genders and finally between different species...

We all live one LIFE, on this one PLANET and let DIVERSITY be our life moto!