EU.blogged

Mohammed-Karikaturen: Dänische Zeitung gibt sich geschlagen

2006-02-01T18:34:00.000+01:00

EU aspirations and casus belli 'incompatible', President tells Turkey

2005-10-29T12:19:00.000+02:00

Grosteque, is all what I can think of that.

It's time to start a blog

2005-10-12T01:11:00.000+02:00

Holland's Leon de Winter writes:

From now on I shall write my weblog daily and give you my thoughts about what’s on my mind and what’s infuriating me or what’s making me happy.

Turkey agrees terms for EU talks

2005-10-03T20:23:00.000+02:00

Who would have thought that Turkey agrees to start negotiation talks if the possible outcome is a priviledged partnership and not a full EU-member status. Sure did sound different before.

Turkey and Cyprus and the EU

2005-09-05T15:33:00.000+02:00

(Long time no post, so here we go.) Since some European states recently got their act together and try to bundle entry talks with a demand for the acceptance of Cyprus through Turkey, this has sparked a heated discussion in Turkey about the EU in general.

Continue reading here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4215476.stm

On a sidenote. We had a television debate between Chancellor Schröder and the CDU/CSU's candidate Angela Merkel last night, and Merkel once more stressed her position about a so called "priviledged partnership" between Turkey and the European Union. Really glad to see her actually stand up for it on TV.

I wish other politicians (especially in Germany) would grow a spine and finally stand up for what everybody thinks and for what only some people have a heart to say out loud.

police brutality

2005-08-05T20:39:00.000+02:00

How much do you despise Techno music? I mean, I don't like it and that by far! But would I ever order policemen to rough up people and then make up reasons? No.

Happened in the Czech Republic though.

http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2005/Art/0804/news3.php

Welcome to the EU!

stuff

2005-07-29T02:34:00.000+02:00

Browsed around Technocrati for IRA, so I found this bloke's blog. Even though I don't necessarily agree with what he posts, it's still interesting to read another point of view. Even commented.

good news at last

2005-07-28T23:38:00.000+02:00

The IRA says armed campaign is over
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4720863.stm

Just gotta give peace a change.

women

2005-07-28T20:01:00.000+02:00

A rather unorthodox view or explaination, but I second what he said.

Van Gogh killer jailed for life

2005-07-26T18:11:00.000+02:00

Read on:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4716909.stm

By the way, "jailed for life" in the Netherlands means to life-long. No exception.

Why searching bags on subway is not a good idea

2005-07-24T15:11:00.000+02:00

Heiko Hebig links some interesting posts from his blog, check it out.

just links

2005-07-24T06:04:00.000+02:00

We are witnessing a civil war in Islam

Ian McEwan, 57, talks about the atmosphere in London after the attacks, the fight against religious fanatics, the legacy of Tony Blair, and his new book, "Saturday," which imagines a day lived in the shadow of terrorism.

murder and censorship

2005-07-23T02:33:00.000+02:00

Erdogan and Putin make pledge to fight terrorism

2005-07-20T00:26:00.000+02:00

I just ran across this from a news portal which I found today - I don't know if they actually have their own content but they link to all kinds of websites from around the globe. I call that convenience.

Anyway. It's amusing to see how Erdogan goes on with his tour to the world leaders, sucking ... I mean drinking tea, pledging to fight evil and terrorism while his own people at home violate all kinds of human rights. Wonder how much credits this gets Turkey when it comes to the EU.

Apparently, he will have no luck in Austria, and if Germany gets elections in the fall and leadership changes, he will be out of luck once more.

turkey

Al-Qaeda gives European states month to quit Iraq

2005-07-20T00:01:00.000+02:00

Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades warn European nations to face London-style attacks if they do not quit Iraq.

So I guess the thread is real? I wonder if Al-Quaeda faces a hard time recruiting new terrorists, after all, it seems like the "terrorists" in London very tricked into sucide murders. The news say (!), they did not want to commit suicide but the bombs were ticked off early. Sounds to me that the people are not as convinced as they want us to think.

Religious edicts to counter terrorism

2005-07-17T20:08:00.000+02:00

The Herald Tribune writes, "Britain's largest Sunni group on Sunday issued a binding religious edict, known as a fatwa, condemning the July 7 suicide bombings in London."

Bombing in Turkey

2005-07-16T16:25:00.000+02:00

The BBC reports four people being killed in a bomb blast in Kusadasi, Turkey. Kusadasi seems to be some sort of holiday resort.

Turkish officials believe Kurdish millitants are responsible for this attack.

If you are thinking "Kurds = Arabs", you are totally mistaken. Even though those people live in the Middle East, they differ in many ways from Arabs, Turks and Persians. Going back in history, the Kurds were (or rather are) going through an extremely tough situation.

In Turkey lives a minority of Kurds. So for example they were forbidden to get any education in Kurdish language for over 80 years, while nowadays it's also quite restrictive. Even though a lot of things changed recently and especially on paper, the situation in reality is still different.

This is not meant to provide a justification for terrorism, what so ever.

For more (un-biased) information, check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurd#In_Turkey

We are not afraid

2005-07-13T15:29:00.000+02:00

http://www.werenotafraid.com/

Splendid idea. Great way to react. :)

Islam and violence

2005-07-12T19:23:00.000+02:00

What already seems like a contradiction, but in an efford to tell people about the peaceful nature of Islam and to comment on the latest events, someone posted on London's metroblog. I try not to take sides here and I refrained from commenting, but I don't see any peaceful nature in the Quran. Nor in any of the other teachings or the Islamic law (Sharia), which so many muslims obey to. Otherwise you are not a good muslim. Hypocrits.

Anyway, read on (and don't forget the comments):
http://london.metblogs.com/archives/2005/07/theres_nothing.phtml

London

2005-07-12T03:23:00.000+02:00

I am sure everybody heard about London now. :( The Nytimes reports 52 people dead now.

In the Netherlands, the trial on Theo van Gogh's killing started.

doubtful future

2005-07-10T19:22:00.000+02:00

So hurray for Europe, but even though Luxemburg voted in favour of the EU's proposed constitition the future of the charter is not bright.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050710/API/507100619

frog and scorpion

2005-07-10T18:44:00.000+02:00

A frog and a scorpion are sitting on the banks of a river. Scorpion says, “Frog, can you swim me across the river?” Frog says, “No! you’ll sting me!” To which scorpion replies, “I wouldn’t do that, if I were to sting you we would both drown.” So as they are crossing the river, scorpion stings frog. As they are sinking into the river frog asks, “Why did you sting me?” “Because its the Middle East,” replies scorpion.

Are we waiting for WAR?

2005-07-09T21:54:00.000+02:00

Cicero asks, if we are waiting for war. (In German)

voiceforeurope on radio free europe

2005-06-25T18:38:00.000+02:00

Read away!

Europe Is Still Europe

2005-06-08T22:41:00.000+02:00

The nytimes asks:

"BERLIN, June 6 - Does Europe have a soul? Would anybody die for Europe?"

confidence has left the building

2005-06-06T13:07:00.000+02:00

With people losing confidence in Europe, I wonder where we are heading.

Britain shelves plans for EU referendum

blogger

2005-06-04T16:26:00.000+02:00

So I played with the blog, renamed, added some links to other blogs that I am reading. Will post more later on.

Vik :)

pokerface

2005-06-03T19:18:00.000+02:00

Juncker 'will quit' if EU rejected

As if you can really force voters to do what you want, by threatening to resign.

Nee

2005-06-02T09:49:00.000+02:00

The latest developments:
The Dutch say 'No'
EU struggles to save constitution

spam, spam, spam

2005-05-31T19:22:00.000+02:00

So on my quest to find some other opinions about the latest events in Europe, I have been browsing around blogspot last night. Aiming for some interesting blogs on politics, I had no luck. Instead I found primarily blogs that were setup for spam. I hope Google cuts down on this sooner or later.

Here's another interesting link:
"what the EU constitution says"

Also interesting, if you followed the discussion, the Danish queen made some not so favourable side remarks about Islam (or "radical Islam"). It's quit interesting to read reactions with two very different or opposite viewpoints. So make up your mind!

Danish Queen Says Islam Poses Global Threat
Media Distorted Queen's Islam Remarks: Danish Muslim

Say no to Europe?

2005-05-31T01:11:00.000+02:00

The French voted no:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,358226,00.html

Everyone in Paris is celebrating right now. Although I see some of the advantages of this "no", this also makes me worry.

I had some arguments over Europe and the constitution lately. And most people seem to think that while it's a great idea to share a single market, countries should remain souvereign when it comes to foreign policies and so on. Also, they believe that since they are smaller than France or Germany, they will never be allowed/able to nominate someone from their countries for the election of the EU's commissioner.

Not the case, I believe, but others don't have as much confidence in democracy it seems.

So France votes "no" and with Germany at the brink of new elections, we live in interesting times. Hope this goes well for us Europeans. History sometimes suggests a different thing.

hello world!

2005-05-30T21:31:00.000+02:00

My name is Viktor Pohode, aka v.pohode. I live in the lovely city of Berlin, located in the very center of old Europe. This is my first post. Stay tuned for more.

Vik