Yesterday President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany held a joint ceremony in Paris to commemorate the end of World War I. What an amazing sight it must have been to see the leaders of these former enemy countries laying a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe. Merkel said, "We will never forget to what point the French suffered because of the Germans in the first half of the 20th century. Still one must learn to rise above one's history...there is a force that can help us: the force of reconciliation."
Wow! What a remarkable thing after all the wars these two peoples fought throughout history, not only the two World Wars, but also the Franco-Prussian War, the Napoleonic Wars and so many earlier conflicts. And now they are in the EU and share a common currency. I am sure that Georges Clemenceau would never have believed if someone had tried to tell him when he represented France at the "peace" conference after World War I. It made me wonder if some current enemies could one say be reconciled and share such a commemoration. The Palestinians and the Israelis? The Pakistanis and the Indians? It seems unthinkable now, but no more unthinkable than this would have seemed in 1918 or 1945.
What do you think?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Muslims can't commit genocide
Thanks to Borana for the tip on this story.
Turkey is hosting an economic summit for the Organization for Islamic Conference. One of the expected attendees was President Hassan Omar al-Bashir of Sudan who is currently under indictment by the ICC for crimes against humanity in Darfur. The EU, the U.S. and human rights groups within Turkey and around the world had urged the Turkish government to not include Bashir on the guest list. Not only did Prime Minister Erdogan extend the invitation, he defended Bashir by saying that no genocide had occurred nor was occurring in Darfur because no Muslim was capable of genocide.
“It’s not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide. That’s why we are comfortable with the visit of al-Bashir.”
Mr Erdogan said he himself visited Darfur three years ago. “We could not find evidence of genocide there,” he said. “It is not possible that a man who has committed himself to our religion, Islam, commits genocide.”
So, according to Erdogan, there is no genocide in Darfur; however, there is one in Gaza.
“Gaza and Darfur should not be confused with each other. Fifteen-hundred people were killed in Gaza. If there was something like this in Darfur, we would follow that to the end as well,” Erdogan said.
I guess the nearly half million people killed in Darfur don't count even though they, themselves, were Muslims.
By the way, Bashir did not attend the conference because of pressing domestic problems.
What do you think of Trukey's chances of being admitted into the EU now?
Turkey is hosting an economic summit for the Organization for Islamic Conference. One of the expected attendees was President Hassan Omar al-Bashir of Sudan who is currently under indictment by the ICC for crimes against humanity in Darfur. The EU, the U.S. and human rights groups within Turkey and around the world had urged the Turkish government to not include Bashir on the guest list. Not only did Prime Minister Erdogan extend the invitation, he defended Bashir by saying that no genocide had occurred nor was occurring in Darfur because no Muslim was capable of genocide.
“It’s not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide. That’s why we are comfortable with the visit of al-Bashir.”
Mr Erdogan said he himself visited Darfur three years ago. “We could not find evidence of genocide there,” he said. “It is not possible that a man who has committed himself to our religion, Islam, commits genocide.”
So, according to Erdogan, there is no genocide in Darfur; however, there is one in Gaza.
“Gaza and Darfur should not be confused with each other. Fifteen-hundred people were killed in Gaza. If there was something like this in Darfur, we would follow that to the end as well,” Erdogan said.
I guess the nearly half million people killed in Darfur don't count even though they, themselves, were Muslims.
By the way, Bashir did not attend the conference because of pressing domestic problems.
What do you think of Trukey's chances of being admitted into the EU now?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Berlin Wall
Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was surely one of the momentous milestones of the 20th century - and it was all on TV for the world to see. (What a contrast to China and North Korea today!) It marked the end of the Cold War which had brought us the Korean War, Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs, the Iron Curtain, the Bamboo Curtain and U.S. support for non-communist leaders like Mobutu in Zaire. When the wall came down so did the post World War II world. In some ways, it was an easier time because it was so oversimplified. We knew who the "good guys" and the "bad guys" were, and the bad guys had that wall as proof that they were evil. In the last twenty years, our world has evolved into a far more complicated geo-political system. Who can label the the good guys and bad guys in eastern Congo with all the groups fighting and changing sides with head spinning speed? The same thing about Bosnia in the 1990's. So many sides instead of just two with clear differences. I once told a Conflicts, much to their amusement, that I was kind of nostalgic for the Cold War! I meant I wish I could know who is right and who is wrong as I thought I did while growing up in the Cold War. Life was simpler, scarier, but simpler.
What do you think the legacy of the Berlin Wall is? Was life really simpler or was that all an illusion?
What do you think the legacy of the Berlin Wall is? Was life really simpler or was that all an illusion?
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