jeudi, 24 avril 2008
FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, STOP THE OLYMPIC FLAME
Now, this is getting really weird. The Olympic flame is crossing the world and everywhere, it needs to be protected from protesters who do not wish to support these Olympic Games in a country which is oppressing Tibet and systematically violating human rights. However, it seems ridiculous when Chinese leaders talk about “a pure sports event” which should not be mixed up with politics. This truly is a great lesson from a country which, for political reasons, has boycotted Olympic Games for 30 years. Remember, China protested against the participation of Taiwan, claiming that Taiwan belonged to China. So, the champion of the political Olympic boycott tells us that all this is not political.
20:17 Publié dans ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , POLITIQUE , SPORT | Lien permanent | Commentaires (9) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : olympic games, flame, JO, china, kai littmann, europeus.org
mardi, 26 février 2008
GERMANY: REGIONAL ELECTIONS IN HAMBURG – THE LEFT IS SCARED TO HELL BY THE LEFT
Regional elections in Germany always have a national significance, since the heads of the regional governments (Länder) sit in the Bundesrat, the second German legislative chamber. This week-end, on of the smallest German Bundesländer, Hamburg, voted and the results are stunning.
09:11 Publié dans ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , POLITIQUE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (1) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, germany, hambourg, kai littmann, europeus
mardi, 12 février 2008
RECEP ERDOGAN POURS OIL IN THE FIRE OF RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS
The reason for Recep Erdogan’s visit to Germany was sad. During the recent carnival period, a house in Ludwigshafen (south-west of Germany), where Turkish families lived, burnt down and left nine Turkish persons dead. While the Turkish media explained a racist and xenophobe background of this disaster to their readers, German authorities conduct a very transparent investigation allowing Turkish officials to supervise their work. For the time being, the reason for this deadly fire remains unclear.
17:53 Publié dans ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , TURQUIE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (17) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, turkey, turquie, germany, kai littmann, europeus, europeus.org
mercredi, 16 janvier 2008
L’ALLEMAGNE OU LA TENTATION DES (NOUVEAUX) CAMPS
La violence juvénile bat de son plein en Allemagne. Derniers épisodes en date, un conducteur de tram agressé, à Francfort, par des délinquants mineurs, quatre autres incidents extrêmement violents en seulement deux semaines, à Munich. Dans la plupart des cas, à l'origine des débordements violents, des jeunes issus de l'immigration, sorte de réplique ou presque des échauffourées de banlieues françaises ou anglaises (Brixton).
14:00 Publié dans DROIT & JUSTICE , KAI LITTMANN , SOCIETE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (2) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, allemagne, camps, boot camp, états-unis, kai littmann, europeus.org
dimanche, 06 janvier 2008
LA FRACTION ARMEE ROUGE (RAF) REFAIT SON APPARITION SUR LA SCENE POLITIQUE ET JUDICIAIRE ALLEMANDE
En Allemagne, chacun croyait le Deutscher Herbst, terminé depuis les années 1980. Cet «automne allemand» où à la violence de la RAF (Fraction armée rouge) répondait une forme de panique étatique conduisant tout citoyen ou presque à être potentiellement suspecté de terrorisme ou de soutien à ce dernier. Bannis, donc les mauvais temps de la suspicion d’Etat, des détentions abusives et de certaines indélicatesses judiciares ? Sans doute non. La Cour fédérale allemande de justice a en effet annoncé jeudi avoir émis des mandats de détention provisoire contre Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Knut Folkerts et Christian Klar, trois anciens membres du groupe armé d’extrême gauche. Objectif déclaré : éclaircir les circonstances d'un attentat commis 30 ans en arrière et plus particulièrement d’exiger des prévenus d’identifier le tireur sous les balles duquel tomba le procureur général Siegfried Buback, en avril 1977.03:51 Publié dans DROIT & JUSTICE , KAI LITTMANN | Lien permanent | Commentaires (2) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, allemagne, terrorisme, kai littmann, europeus.org
vendredi, 04 janvier 2008
OBAMA OR CLINTON? HUCKABEE!
For many months, the two most asked questions raised in the US presidential elections were „Is America ready for a woman in the White House?“ and „Is America ready for an Afro-American in the White House?“. Somehow, the question of the next president of the USA was reduced to the duel between Obama and Clinton. While Barack Obama outscored his competitors on the Democratic side in Iowa by scoring 38% in this strange Iowa caucus grass-roots democratic process, pushing Hillary Clinton (29%) back to the third place, even behind John Edwards (30%), the presidential race has seen another major surprise in Iowa, the state where the last three primaries gave a very exact idea of the two nominees for the final race. This main surprise is Mike Huckabee, who actually won 17 of the 33 grand voters who will represent Iowa in the final stage of the elections. Huckabee, not very much known to the US public and a former senator of Arkansas, stands for rather conservative, religious values and might be the answer of the American people to the two questions raised at the beginning of the campaign.
11:27 Publié dans ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , USA | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : USA, 2008 campaign, Iowa
vendredi, 21 décembre 2007
THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE BECOME A REALITY
When last night hundreds of people gathered on the bridge between Frankfurt/Oder (Germany) and Slubice (Poland) and elsewhere along the German-Polish border, they celebrated a historical event: the final opening of the border. As from today, 24 countries belong to what is called the “Schengen space”, which means that citizens from these countries can freely cross borders without a border control. This is a major step towards a united Europe and finally a step towards the European integration of the “new” European countries such as Lithonia, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic or Hungary. Historically spoken, this opening ends the former European format of “West” and “East” to create a new European map. Theoretically, a citizen from, say Tallin in Estonia, can now travel to Algeciras, Spain, without being bothered when crossing the borders.
11:00 Publié dans ELARGISSEMENT , ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , PODCAST | Lien permanent | Commentaires (1) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, schengen, borders, kai littmann, europeus.org
lundi, 19 novembre 2007
IRAN AND VENEZUELA DON’T WANT US DOLLAR ANYMORE
Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinedschad and Venezuelian president Hugo Chavez are not exactly what one would call friends of the United States of America. At the current OPEC conference in Riyad (Saudi-Arabia), the two declared that they are not longer willing to trade “valuable oil against worthless paper”, meaning the weak green buck which is generally blamed for the sky-rocketing prices of the barrel which traded today around 95 dollars the barrel.17:01 Publié dans ECONOMIE , ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , RELATIONS EXTERIEURES , USA | Lien permanent | Commentaires (1) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : us, south america, venezuela, iran, dollar, kai littmann, europeus.org
samedi, 13 octobre 2007
ANTI-SEMITISM IN GERMAN FOOTBALL?
When last night the German U21 squad took on their Israeli counterparts in Tel Aviv, one German player was sitting at home in Wolfsburg watching the match on TV. Ashkan Dejagah, born in Teheran and raised in Berlin, had actually declined his selection on the team, causing a major stir-up in German politics. While Dejagah only stated “personal reasons” for his refusal to play in Israel, the interpretation of his gesture is left to the media. It is true that Dejagah still has family in Iran and maybe he fears for their safety, given that since the Islamic Revolution back in 1979, no contacts between Iranian citizens and Israel are permitted, not even for sport events.19:08 Publié dans ENGLISH EDITION , KAI LITTMANN , SPORT | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : anti-semitism, iran, football, germany, kai littmann, europeus.org
lundi, 10 septembre 2007
BRUXELLES DECLARE LA GUERRE... DE LA BRATWURST
Quel lien entre une fête populaire et une manifestation sportive? La Bratwurst, élément incontournable de tout rassemblement public. Nul d'ailleurs, n'oserait imaginer s'attaquer à cette saucisse blanche grillée, encastrée dans un petit pain (blanc, lui aussi) et généreusement recouverte de sauce ketchup ou de moutarde. Nul, sauf la Commission européenne qui ne semble n'avoir cette fois rien trouvé de mieux à faire pour (re)conquérir le coeur des citoyens européens que de donner naissance à une étonnante réglementation bravant le sang-froid et la patience de nos voisins.05:50 Publié dans DROIT & JUSTICE , KAI LITTMANN , SOCIETE | Lien permanent | Commentaires (8) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : europe, allemagne, commission européenne, droit, kai littmann, europeus.org