One-Minute Film - Israel: Then & Now

Gespräch mit Monty Python Mitbegründer Michael Palin

Im Gespräch mit der Süddeutschen Zeitung definiert der Monty Python (Englands bester Komiktruppe) Mitbegründer Michael Palin den englischen Humor:

“Dieser Humor basierte immer schon auf Demütigung - darauf, eine Niederlage zu erwarten, sich mental rechtzeitig auf sie vorzubereiten und dann Pointen parat zu haben, um sich totzulachen. [...] Es gibt viel Unheil in Großbritannien, auch politisches, aber ich glaube, der Brite ist eher mal nicht in der Lage, an ein totalitäres System zu glauben. Er glaubt überhaupt nicht an eine Systematik. Er glaubt an ein paar Benimmregeln für den Alltag, die das Leben erleichtern. Und im Übrigen glaubt er ans totale Chaos.”

Vollständiges Gespräch lesen.

Ziegler’s Follies

The latest edition of the intellectual magazine Azure features the following essay by UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

Ziegler’s Follies

by Hillel Neuer

On March 26, 2008, to cheers and acclaim, Jean Ziegler was elected by the newly formed United Nations Human Rights Council to serve as one of its expert advisers. It was hardly an unexpected development.

Switzerland had announced his nomination in December 2007, beginning an unprecedented lobbying campaign by the Swiss government on behalf of its nominee, featuring, among other things, a glossy booklet sent to capitals around the world documenting his “unwavering commitment to,” “excellent knowledge of,” and “unstinting support for” human rights. Not for the first time, Ziegler, a former sociology professor, a member of the Swiss parliament, and currently the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, stood at the center of a perfect storm of adoration and acclaim. It was one more triumph in a remarkable career.

Granted tenure in 1977 by the University of Geneva, Ziegler founded and directed its Social Laboratory of Third World Civilizations. He has taught at numerous European universities, including the Sorbonne, where he served in 1984 as an associate professor of sociology and economics. In March 2004, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Belgium’s University of Mons-Hainaut, where he was hailed as “the modern-day Condorcet”–the great Enlightenment philosopher of human rights. Ziegler is also the author of more than twenty books for popular audiences, most of which are dedicated to asserting that hunger and other human miseries are the inevitable products of Western capitalism and globalization. His works The New Rulers of the World and The Empire of Shame, for example, have become European best-sellers, distributed by leading French publishing houses and discussed by Ziegler in such forums as TV5, the international French-language channel. His literary success was officially recognized by the French Republic in 1994, when the Ministry of Culture named him a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. This prestigious honorific is awarded for contributions to the “radiance” of arts and letters in both France and the world as a whole. Not surprisingly, Ziegler lists the accolade prominently in his curriculum vitae.

Ziegler has found his greatest success, however, in the European media, which considers him a highly credible and well-respected authority on human rights. Leading newspapers such as France’s Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, and La Croix as well as Geneva’s Le Temps quote him regularly. Profiles of Ziegler have also appeared in premier European magazines, such as the German weekly Der Spiegel. In Switzerland, the Foreign Press Association granted him its “Most Popular” award. “You are a little miracle,” declared journalist Daniel Mermet when he interviewed Ziegler in April 2007 for Là-bas si j’y suis, a popular program on the public radio station France Inter. “[You have] an amazing… taste and feeling for denunciation and revolt.” In sum, Jean Ziegler is a darling of Europe’s academic, literary, and media elite.

To be sure, none of this would be problematic if Jean Ziegler were simply an innocuous idealist. But he is not. Besides being one of Europe’s most successful celebrity activists, Ziegler is also one of the continent’s most industrious anti-American and anti-Israel ideologues as well as a prominent apologist for a rogues’ gallery of Third World dictators, including Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro. During Ziegler’s tenure as Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, the cause of world hunger consistently took a backseat to the promotion of his anti-Western ideology. At a time when the UN is heralding the reform of its human rights apparatus, replacing the discredited Commission on Human Rights with a new council which it has described as the “dawn of a new era,” the case of Jean Ziegler casts grave doubt on the possible success of this reform and reveals the precipitous and accelerating decline of the UN human rights system and the international human rights movement as a whole.

Click here to read full essay.

18 avril 1988: disparition de Pierre Desproges, dernier humoriste français

L’ennemi est con, il croit que c’est nous l’ennemi alors que c’est lui.

J’essaie de ne pas vivre en contradiction avec les idées que je ne défends pas.

L’élite de ce pays permet de faire et défaire les modes, suivant la maxime qui proclame: «Je pense, donc tu suis.»

A part la droite, il n’y a rien au monde que je méprise autant que la gauche.

J’avais commandé un Figeac 71, mon Saint-Emilion préféré. Introuvable. Sublime. Rouge et doré comme peu de couchers de soleil. Profond comme un la mineur de contrebasse. Eclatant en orgasme au soleil. Plus long en bouche qu’un final de Verdi.

J’aime bien les histoires qui finissent mal. Ce sont les plus belles car ce sont celles qui ressemblent le plus à la vie.

Ah la la, Montand, qu’est-ce qu’il est resté simple pour quelqu‘un qui a serré la main de Khrouchtchev! Et alors? Moi, mon oncle Gaspard, il a serré la main de Goering, il le crie pas sur tous les toits! Y s’écrase!

Il ne faut pas désespérer des imbéciles. Avec un peu d’entraînement, on peut arriver à en faire des militaires.

Il faut lire Minute, c’est un journal avantageux! Au lieu de vous emmerder à lire tout Sartre, avec un seul numéro de Minute, vous avez en même temps la Nausée et les Mains Sales!

J’aime mieux me faire chier tout seul que d’être heureux avec les autres.

Je recèle en moi des réserves d’ennui pratiquement inépuisables. Je suis capable de m’ennuyer pendant des heures sans me faire chier.

Pendant que vous vivotez votre vie creuse, fumiers de fainéants de gosses de riches pourris par la servilité sans bornes de vos vieux cons de parents confits dans leur abrutissement cholestérique, pendant ce temps-là, il y a des enfants de pauvres qui sont obligés, pour ne pas faire de peine à maman, de se planquer la nuit sous les couvertures avec une pile Wonder et un vieux Petit Larousse périmé pour s’embellir l’âme et l’esprit entre deux journées d’usine, avec l’espoir au ventre de mieux comprendre un jour pour tâcher de sortir du trou.

L’évolution de la pensée présituationiste entre l’école hégélienne et le négativisme de l’infrastructure néo-nietzschéenne a-t-elle, consciemment ou non, influencé la carrière de Raymond Poulidor. (sujet de baccalauréat)

Le jour de la mort de Georges Brassens, j’ai pleuré, alors que le jour de la mort de Tino Rossi, j’ai repris deux fois des moules!

Le seul remède à la vie, c’est la mort librement consentie. L’exemple vient d’en haut: «Suicidez-vous jeune, vous profiterez de la mort», nous dit le Christ avant de s’autodétruire sur la croix à l’aube de sa trente-troisième année.

Les décorations c’est comme les bombes, ça tombent bien souvent sur quelqu’un qui ne les mérite pas.

Marguerite Duras n’a pas écrit que des conneries… Elle en a aussi filmées!

Pierre Desproges,  9 mai 1939, Pantin - 18 avril 1988, Paris

L’année 2008 marque le 20ème anniversaire de la disparition de Pierre Desproges,  humoriste, anti-conformiste et fin lettré d’exception, dont la verve enjouée et la plume assassine n’épargnaient rien ni personne.

If the rain makes Britain great, then Manchester is greater

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you. (Oscar Wilde)

In times of bad taste, bad culture, bad music, and lack of sense of humor, let’s make a point with: The Beautiful South, a successful and extraordinary English pop group formed at the end of the 1980s by former members of Hull group The Housemartins - Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. After a band meeting on January 2007, they decided to split. A pity for the music scene.

Von Vetternwirtschaft, Geschmacklosigkeit und Werteverfall im deutschen Fernsehen

Wir arbeiten im Bereich der Unterhaltung. Für meinen Geschmack wird dabei das “unter” zu sehr betont. Unterhaltung hat für mich immer auch etwas mit “Haltung” zu tun. Es wird langsam unterirdisch. Vieles ist geschmacklos, da mache ich nicht mehr mit. (Schauspieler Dieter Pfaff, im TV-Magazin Gong vom 31.08.2007)

Nachdem das sehr schwache TV-Magazin Polylux auf eine von Internetpiraten inszenierten Fälschung hereingefallen ist, empfiehlt Oliver Gehrs im Dummyblog eine endgültige Absetzung dieser überflüssigen, und für den GEZ-Zahler kostenspieligen, Sendung:

“Der RBB darf ja nicht viel zuliefern zum ARD-Programm - umso seltsamer, dass er einen Sendeplatz so verschleudert. Und möglicherweise nur damit erklärbar, was Programmverantwortliche hinter vorgehaltener Hand erzählen. Dass Polylux nämlich quasi unabsetzbar ist - aufgrund familiärer Bindungen. Tita von Hardenbergs Mutter, Gräfin Isa von Hardenberg sitzt nämlich in verschiedenen wichtigen Kaffeekränzchen, und die Angst vor der Rache dieses konservativen Netzwerks lässt den RBB in Paralyse verharren.”

Zum Artikel.

Jacques Chirac Wishes For Chinese New Year

“France has indisputably close contact with China thanks to Jacques Chirac’s China policy of 12 years,” The China Daily, October 25, 2006.

Only few people know that the great French statesman Jacques Chirac is a very good connoisseur of the Chinese culture and history (he speaks Chinese fluently and has a private collection of Chinese art).

On January 27, 1964, China and France issued a joint communiqué, announcing the forging of diplomatic ties with ambassadors to be appointed within three months. France thus became the first major Western country to forge formal diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Culture and history have always held a very important position in exchanges between the people of the two nations, both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Mr Li Zhaoxing, Chinese foreign minister, welcomes Mr Jacques Chirac (Beijing, October 2006) photo © F. de La Mure/MAE.

INTERVIEW GIVEN BY M. JACQUES CHIRAC, PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, TO CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION (CCTV)

Beijing, 25 October 2006

Q. – Mr President, you are known for your interest in the history of civilizations, and in particular Eastern civilizations. What advice would you give as regards the exploration and preservation of China’s cultural heritage, and what have been the experiences of France in this area?

THE PRESIDENT – China has a very long history and is a very ancient civilization, and consequently has quite exceptional traces of both. This is what makes everything about China’s culture so fascinating, from the earliest writings to the modern day.

I am in no doubt that there is nothing that I can teach the Chinese, who have excellent archaeologists and great scholars and who have no need of advice. If you asked me for a simple assessment, I would say that it is in China’s interest to develop the legal framework of its system in a way which, obviously, provides very effective protection for everything of importance, but which also allows certain exports which otherwise, unfortunately, take place in an irregular way, which is not a very good thing. It is therefore necessary to control these illegal exports of Chinese artefacts from China.

And then there are all the questions relating to excavations. I believe that China is wise not to want to do too much too quickly, particularly as regards royal and imperial tombs. There is a benefit to be gained from waiting a while so as to have the necessary resources to be able to carry out these major excavations, which will have a great impact on world culture, under optimal technical conditions and with sufficient resources. I am thinking particularly of the tomb of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, which it had been imagined could be opened, but which it was wisely decided not to open, but rather to wait for a more suitable occasion. I believe that this was a wise decision, especially in respect of a site destined to become the eighth wonder of the world.

Q. – This is your fourth visit as President of France; what is the purpose of this particular visit?

THE PRESIDENT – First, there is the political aspect: China is playing an increasingly important role in the world. This can particularly be seen in its participation in UN peacekeeping operations, for example recently in Lebanon.

Secondly, China’s economic development is quite extraordinary and has resulted in the Chinese economy having a more and more important place in the world. Consequently, it is entirely right that there should be the strongest possible relations of a political, economic and cultural nature between Europe and China, and, in particular, between France and China. This is my ambition in my dealings with China.

Q. – France and China are two countries which play a very important role in international affairs. What are the new challenges of an international and strategic nature that the two countries currently face? How can the two countries strengthen their dialogue?

THE PRESIDENT – France and China are both countries which desire peace and stability in the world, for many reasons. We therefore have the same objective. In this respect, it can be seen that China is becoming more and more sensitive to international problems. This has been seen in its role in relation to the North Korean, Iranian and Lebanese questions, and again in its increasing and desirable presence in Africa, with the forthcoming China-Africa summit. Throughout the world, China is making its presence felt with objectives that are shared by France, that is to say the objectives of peace and stability in the world.

TAIWAN

Q. – China is very appreciative of your support for the policy of “one country, two systems”. Recently, the leader of Taiwan, Mr Chen Shui-bian, again expressed his determination to secure the island’s independence. What are your feelings on this subject?

THE PRESIDENT – As you know, we stated France’s position on this subject a very long time ago, and it has not changed: for historical, geographical, economic and political reasons, we are in favour of the unity of China and we will not change our minds on this.

CHINA/EU/TRADE

Q. – In recent years, commercial trade between China and France, and between China and the European Union, has sometimes given rise to tensions. We have particularly in mind the very high import duties placed on shoes by Brussels in order to maintain the balance of the markets, and there are of course other examples. How can the Chinese economy be harmonized with the European economy, and, in your view, when will the European Union recognize China’s status as a market economy?

THE PRESIDENT – We are in favour of the European Union recognizing China’s status as a market economy, and France has said so very clearly.

By the same token, we are also in favour of the removal of this anachronistic embargo.

Thereafter, economic relations between Europe and China do pose competition problems. Competition must be as fair as possible and, in this respect, China gave commitments when it joined the WTO – commitments with which it is complying. We have one problem, in particular, with China – and incidentally with other countries as well, particularly Asian countries – which is counterfeiting. This poses a real difficulty which is both political and economic. I know that the Chinese authorities are alive to this and are trying to combat the development of such counterfeiting, and I hope they succeed in doing so.

EU ARMS EMBARGO

Q. – Is France still in favour of lifting the European Union embargo on arms sales to China?

THE PRESIDENT – As I have told you, I am in favour of that. We are putting the case to the European Union for the lifting of the embargo, because I think that the embargo is an anachronism which is no longer relevant.

FUTURE OF EU/CHINA

Q. – In 2007, the European Union will have 27 member States. How do you see the future of the European Union and its relationship with China?

THE PRESIDENT – The European Union is founded on the same principles that I mentioned earlier with regard to China, that is to say the establishment of lasting peace, stability and democracy in the world. Against this background, my hope is that the European Union and China will develop stable relationships in all areas, and particularly of a cultural, economic and political nature, and this is a process that is already very largely under way.

Q. – What will be the role of the European Union in the world, and what will be that of France in an enlarged European Union?

THE PRESIDENT – The central mission of the European Union is to strengthen peace, stability and democracy throughout the world. Europe has fought many wars in its history, and now wants to banish war altogether. This is also China’s objective. Consequently, we have common objectives. Clearly, when it comes to the practicalities of implementing democracy, we have problems which, quite naturally, we raise. But I would mention that China’s decision to recognize the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is an important step in the right direction, and one which I welcome.

Q. – Mr President, thank you very much for giving this interview. Do you have a final message for the Chinese people?

THE PRESIDENT – It is a message first and foremost of esteem for a great people, for a country which, undoubtedly, will be one of the most important, and possibly the most important, in tomorrow’s world. A people deeply rooted in a very ancient culture – we have talked about that – and in a whole set of traditional and historic values that give it strength and dynamism, and a country which, like all countries, has experienced difficulties in adapting to the modern world, but which I believe is in the best possible position to face those difficulties, particularly in light of the stated ambition of the 11th Plan, on the one hand, and of the statements of President Hu Jintao in relation to harmonious development, on the other.

Q. – I wish you a most successful visit and a pleasant trip.

THE PRESIDENT – Thank you.

Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, Lino Ventura: le langage du bon sens selon Audiard

Ci-dessous quelques séquences de films de la grande époque du grand dialoguiste français Michel Audiard, dont le style incomparable nous est si familier, et les dialogues prodigieux taillés sur mesure pour les monstres sacrés du cinéma français d’après-guerre, autrement dit le triumvirat de l’excellence: Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, Lino Ventura.

UN Scandal: Iran’s Foreign Minister Holds Muslim Prayer in UN Human Rights Council, Condemns ‘Zionist Regime’

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on March 12, 2008, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mottaki attacks the “Zionist regime” and asks the Muslim ambassadors to say a prayer. In a subsequent debate on women’s rights, Alfred H. Moses, UN Watch Chair, confronts Iran on its policy of beating women who peacefully demonstrate for human rights.

Later, Iranian representative Asadollah Eshragh Jahromi insisted that Tehran “is fully committed to its internationally accepted obligations in the field of human rights, and spares no efforts to promote and protect all human rights for all.”

UN Watch Chair Alfred H. Moses took the floor during a subsequent plenary meeting to expose Iran’s gross violations of international human rights, particularly its policy and practice of beating peaceful women’s rights activists.

See full video and text below.

Interactive Dialogue with Yakin Erturk
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women

Statement to UN Human Rights Council, March 12, 2008
Delivered by UN Watch Chair Alfred H. Moses

Madame Rapporteur Erturk,

UN Watch thanks you for your report and for your valuable work in addressing violence against women, as well as its causes and consequences.

In Addendum 1 of your report, you described your urgent appeals to Iran (see pages 54-64), concerning its arrests and beatings of women.

You appealed to Iran after its arrest of 31 women in March 2007, whose crime was peacefully demonstrating against the prosecution of fellow women activists. Police officers broke the teeth of Ms. N. J. by banging her head against the door of a police bus. Iran has failed to give you any response.

You also appealed to Iran following the conviction by the Tehran Revolutionary Court of Ms. Delaram Ali, for the crimes of Propaganda against the System and Disturbing Public Order.

What did she do? On June 12, 2006, she peacefully demonstrated for the removal of Iranian laws that discriminate against women. Ms. Declaram Ali was sentenced to ten lashes and jail for more than two years. Iran has failed to respond to your appeal. Its only answer has been silence.

In light of Iranian’s systematic failure to respond to your urgent appeals, what further action will you take to protect Iranian women activists from beatings by their government? Will you make a country visit to Iran?

Finally, when Foreign Minister Mottaki met High Commissioner Arbour during this session, can you tell us whether these crimes were discussed, and if so, did Minister Mottaki agree that Iran would stop abusing women?

Thank you, Mr. President.

Gespräch mit Joachim Gauck über den Umgang der Medien mit Stasi-Vergangenheit

Im Gespräch mit der Süddeutschen Zeitung bedauert der Gründer der Stasi-Akten-Behörde Joachim Gauck, dass die Berliner Zeitung nicht genug getan hat, um die Stasi-Fälle in der Redaktion aufzuklären.

“Es gibt schon eine interessante Diskrepanz zwischen dem Aufklärungseifer der Medien, wenn es um die politischen und privaten Verstrickungen von Prominenten geht - und dem sehr beredten Schweigen, wenn es darum ging, im eigenen Hause Klarheit herzustellen. In der ganzen Breite der Zeitungs- und Fernsehlandschaft hat in den Jahren nach 1989 eine gewisse Sorglosigkeit gewaltet. Erst wenn andere Medien das Thema öffentlich gemacht haben, entstand Verlegenheit.”

Vollständiges Gespräch lesen.

United States presidential election, 2008: President Bill Clinton’s April Joke

John Grisham’s New Book: The Appeal

John Grisham’s new book THE APPEAL is the cover review in the New York Times Book Review this Sunday, March 30.

Steven Brill, the founder of American Lawyer magazine and Court TV, pens the review, calling THE APPEAL a “gripping tale” and commending John Grisham for pointing out “how the justice system in more than half of the 50 states is increasingly threatened by the kind of big-money gutter politics that have made so many Americans disgusted with Washington.”

In a sidebar interview, also in the Book Review, Steven Brill states that John Grisham’s prose “has the texture and authority of someone who’s been exposed to [the legal system].”

Read full story.

Easter Egg: Monty Python’s Life of Brian

“Any religion that makes a form of torture into an icon that they worship seems to me a pretty sick sort of religion quite honestly”, said Terry Jones, director of the 1979 released controversial movie The Life of Brian, in response to the accusations of blasphemy.

Lyrics

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you’re chewing life’s gristle,
Don’t grumble,
Give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best.
And…

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the light side of life.
[whistle]

If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten,
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That’s the thing.
And…

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the right side of life,
[whistle]

For life is quite absurd
And death’s the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it. It’s your last chance, anyhow.
So,…

Always look on the bright side of death,
[whistle]
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
[whistle]

Life’s a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke it’s true.
You’ll see it’s all a show.
Keep ‘em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And…

Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life.
[whistle]

Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]

Repeat to fade…

Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) - Requiem pour un con

Cette chanson de Serge Gainsbourg, disparu il y a 17 ans (le 2 mars 1991, je me trouvais inopinément le jour dit en compagnie de mon ami de 20 ans, Grégoire Mercadé, dans son appartement de la rue du Bac à Paris, et nous observions de la fenêtre la foule en bas qui venait lui rendre hommage), a accompagné le générique du film Le Pacha (film au sein duquel Jean Gabin, commissaire, traque un truand interprété par André Pousse).

En réalité, cette chanson est un tour de force: on ne s’ennuie pas une seule seconde, et pourtant, l’accompagnement se résume à…un seul accord.

Les Tontons Flingueurs

Bande annonce du chef d’oeuvre du cinéma français Les Tontons Flingueurs réalisé en 1963 par Georges Lautner, adapté du roman policier d’Albert Simonin Grisbi or Not Grisbi, avec pour interprètes principaux Bernard Blier, Lino Ventura et Francis Blanche, naturellement sur des dialogues incomparables et ineffables de Michel Audiard. Quand les gangsters avaient un langage châtié et des manières de prince.

Die verlorene Ehre des Ronald S.

Personen und Handlung dieser Erzählung sind frei erfunden. Sollten sich bei der Schilderung gewisser journalistischer Praktiken Ähnlichkeiten mit den Praktiken der Bild-Zeitung ergeben haben, so sind diese Ähnlichkeiten weder beabsichtigt noch zufällig, sondern unvermeidlich. (Heinrich Böll, Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum)

“Ein rätselhaftes und peinliches Video zeigt den ehemaligen Hamburger Innensenator Ronald Schill beim Drogenkonsum. Mindestens ebenso interessant ist, wie es in Umlauf kam”, schreibt Hans Leyendecker in der heutigen Ausgabe der Süddeutschen Zeitung.

Und fügt hinzu: “Die Bild-Zeitung war 2002 auf der anderen Seite der Barriere - eine Art Sturmgeschütz von Schill. Bild (’Schill nahm nie Kokain’) erklärte den Lesern, ‘wer sich nun bei Schill entschuldigen sollte’: Fünf Namen wurden aufgezählt, darunter der damalige NDR-Intendant Jobst Plog und Bundesverfassungsrichter Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, der in einem offenen Brief Schill aufgefordert hatte, sich zu den Kokain-Vorwürfen zu äußern. Hoffmann-Riem sei ’scheinheilig’ kommentierte das Blatt.”

Zum Artikel.

In the Navy

Falsche Vorbilder

“Daher muss ein kluger Mann stets Wegen folgen, die von großen Männern beschritten wurden, und die hehrsten Vorbilder nachahmen, damit ein gewisser Abglanz auf ihn fällt, wenn er auch nicht an sie heranreicht.” - Niccolò Machiavelli (Der Fürst)

In dem Spiegel hat sich auch Reinhard Mohr Gedanken über die Vorbildfunktion der Eliten gemacht und ist zum Ergebnis gekommen, dass hysterische Verehrung der Promis und grenzenlose Gier nach Ruhm und Reichtum das neue Opium des Volkes seien:

“Du sollst Dir kein falsches Vorbild machen. Und trotzdem tun wir es immer wieder: Millionen Deutsche gieren nach Glanz und Glamour von Fußballstars, Managern, Adel und anderen Prominenten - so korrumpiert diese auch sein mögen. Denn das Publikum verwechselt hartnäckig Glück mit Geld.”

Zum Artikel.

Il y a sept ans: disparition du grand artiste français Charles Trenet

Figure éponyme de la chanson française, poète incomparable, maniant avec élégance, allégresse et brio les finesses de la langue de Molière comme aucun autre, flanqué du sobriquet affectueux “fou chantant de Narbonne“, Charles Trenet disparaissait le 19 février 2001. Pour beaucoup, il restera avec Gilbert Bécaud, Henri Salvador et Charles Aznavour l’archétype de la France, sinon son dernier Mohican, et le nec plus ultra du patrimoine musical et poétique français.

Douce France

Paroles et musique: Charles Trenet, 1943.

Il revient à ma mémoire
Des souvenirs familiers
Je revois ma blouse noire
Lorsque j’étais écolier
Sur le chemin de l’école
Je chantais à pleine voix
Des romances sans paroles
Vieilles chansons d’autrefois

{Refrain:}
Douce France
Cher pays de mon enfance
Bercée de tendre insouciance
Je t’ai gardée dans mon cœur!
Mon village au clocher aux maisons sages
Où les enfants de mon âge
Ont partagé mon bonheur
Oui je t’aime
Et je te donne ce poème
Oui je t’aime
Dans la joie ou la douleur
Douce France
Cher pays de mon enfance
Bercée de tendre insouciance
Je t’ai gardée dans mon cœur

J’ai connu des paysages
Et des soleils merveilleux
Au cours de lointains voyages
Tout là-bas sous d’autres cieux
Mais combien je leur préfère
Mon ciel bleu mon horizon
Ma grande route et ma rivière
Ma prairie et ma maison.

{au Refrain}

Swiss television under fire for Nazi camp interview of far-right politician

Switzerland’s broadcaster, SF1, is facing criticism for filming an interview with a far-right politician on the site of the former Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald without permission.

SF1 TV interviewed Christoph Mörgeli, a lawmaker with the far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), at the camp site in eastern Germany last Thursday.

Mörgeli is at the centre of a political storm in Switzerland after alleging that the country’s federal president Pascal Couchepin, had deliberately made a pun comparing him to the infamous Nazi surgeon Josef Mengele during a parliamentary debate. Couchepin insists that his reference to “Doctor Morgele” as the infamous Auschwitz doctor had been a slip of the tongue.

In a statement, the Buchenwald Memorial Foundation criticized what it called the use of the camp for an internal Swiss political argument, and demanded an apology from both Mörgeli and SF1. “Never before have a politician or broadcaster disregarded our rules in such a way,” foundation head Prof. Dr. Volkhard Knigge said. Filming is only allowed in Buchenwald for documentaries or other programmes which depict the Nazi crimes committed there.

At least 56,000 people were killed at the camp from 1937 until it was liberated by the Third US Army in April 1945. SF1 said it was pure coincidence that Mörgeli happened to be at Buchenwald when they contacted him for an interview over the Couchepin affair. The broadcaster said the interview was filmed just outside the actual camp, but conceded that a ‘neutral venue’ would have been more appropriate.

Mörgeli denied using his visit to Buchenwald to score political points. He continued his attack on Couchepin, telling Swiss newspaper ‘Le Matin’ that the president should resign over his remarks. “If people could hear what he said, they would not want Pascal Couchepin to be president of Switzerland,” he said.

The president of the Swiss Jewish Community Federation, Alfred Donath, defended Couchepin and said that it was Mörgeli who should apologize for exploiting what he called the Swiss president’s “gaffe”.

United States presidential election, 2008: Super Tuesday

Twenty-four U.S. states hold presidential nominating contests today, making it the busiest single day in the history of the U.S. presidential election.

Some analysts, pointing to polling data, anticipate Senator John McCain will emerge from Super Tuesday with a dominant position heading for the Republican party’s nomination.

The Democratic contest between Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama appears to be much for tightly contested than the GOP race and could continue for months past Super Tuesday, say analysts.

The New York Times breaks down what to look for as the results come in on Tuesday night.

The Washington Post looks at eight questions Super Tuesday might answer, from whether either race will end today, to whether Obama can garner Latino votes.

The U.S. race has not only captured attention at home. As the Financial Times reports, many Europeans and Indonesians are supportive of Obama, and the Vietnamese like McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war. Overseas American voters from both parties are also headed for the polls.

The Wall Street Journal says Tuesday’s voting will come down to issues of personality and character rather than “big ideas” or policy.

Gespräch mit FDP-Kulturpolitiker Hans-Joachim Otto

Im Gespräch mit der Berliner Zeitung prangert der FDP-Kulturpolitiker Hans-Joachim Otto, Vorsitzender des Ausschusses für Kultur und Medien des Deutschen Bundestages, die “Reformunfähigkeit der deutschen Medienpolitik” an, die sich nicht nur in der Frage der Gebühreneinzugszentrale (GEZ) zeige (”den Schnüffelapparat GEZ gibt es weiter”), sondern auch in der Internet-Aktivitäten der Öffentlich-Rechtlichen:

“Weil uns weisgemacht werden soll, dass es qualitätsvollen Journalismus im Internet nur gebe, wenn sich die Öffentlich-Rechtlichen dort als Anbieter betätigen. Das ist kompletter Unsinn, schließlich existieren auch hervorragende Zeitungen in Deutschland ohne Gebühren. Es spricht nichts dagegen, programmbegleitend im Internet aktiv zu sein. Aber eigens für das Internet produzierte öffentlich-rechtliche Inhalte zwingen privaten Anbietern einen Verdrängungswettbewerb auf. Das ist unfair.”

Vollständiges Gespräch lesen.

The original dandy: Jacques Dutronc

           A beautiful man with a beautiful voice…and beautiful songs

Jacques Dutronc is a legendary figure in France.

“In the course of the past three decades Jacques Dutronc has established himself as one of the most popular figures on the French music scene. His insolent attitude and offbeat sense of humour have also won him thousands of fans around the world.” (RFI Musique)

His “Il est cinq heures, Paris s’éveille” is considered one of the greatest French songs.

As a young man in the early 60’s he was swept up in the wave of rock and roll music. His group El Toro et les Cyclones managed to release a couple 45’s in the spring of 1962. He began writing songs for Yéyé artists including his wife Françoise Hardy, for whom he wrote “C’est le temps de l’amour“.

In the late 60’s Jacques Dutronc recorded his masterpiece: “L’opportuniste“, an ironic commentary on politics.

He lives in the town of Monticello on the island of Corsica.

Nicolas Sarkozy, Meister der medialen Inszenierung

In der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung schreibt Marc Zitzmann über Frankreichs Staatspräsident Nicolas Sarkozy, und sucht in  neuen Publikation nach Antwort auf die Frage, was der Sarkozysmus sei.