Blaming Michelle

From Yahoo:

"Teens Blame Michelle Obama for Their 'Nasty' Tater Tot-Free Lunches"

Caitlin Tagner, a high school sophomore from North Carolina, is very clear about who she blames for her school's "nasty" lunches: "I blame Michelle Obama." It's great that schools are trying to make lunches better, they're not doing a very good job of it. "Starving kids at school isn't exactly a way to (get) kids' obesity down," Tagner added. "I feel like it's just been taken too far." On Monday, the Associated Press reported that some school nutrition directors want the Department of Agriculture of loosen up the new-ish lunch requirements so students will stop throwing away their food. Anthony Gallimore, a high school senior from Georgia, was more willing to acknowledge others might be at fault. "It's gotta be a combination of Michelle and the servers at the school. No one person could take all the blame," he DM'd The Wire. "Though, the servers are probably just doing what they're told." 

At Gallimore's school, most people "put up with" the lunch, but several have started bringing their own. "Health-wise, I'd say it's an illusion of benefit. The food even LOOKED more presentable before," he wrote. "And if nobody chooses to eat the gross food, then it can't possibly be helping anyone. It's just being thrown out anyway."  Tagner and Gallimore are two of millions of students across the country adjusting to the new (as of the 2012-2013 school year) lunch standards mandated by the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act, a law Michelle Obama championed. Some kids like the lunches, but the ones who don't have school cafeterias are concerned. 

New meals are required to offer a whole grain, protein, fat free or low-fat milk, fruits and vegetables. Student can turn down two of the five options, but they have to take either a fruit or a vegetable. So for instance this school lunch is not in compliance: ...because there are no fruits or vegetables. Brady Justice, the Oklahoma sophomore who ordered that lunch, acknowledged that his school has a salad bar ever day, "which is nice, but I don't like salad :/," he said over DM. Justice said that while the food is a little bit healthier, "I am in athletics and every day I am hungry by the end of school." Schools and students are now worried about the sodium limits that are set to take effect by 2017, according to the AP, and want to drop the requirement that every kid take a fruit or a vegetable

 

Every student The Wire interviewed saw and/or tasted the decline in their lunch options over the last few years. Justice replied, "In the past we always had an option for chicken nuggets or something else that was generally tasty, but this year we get a little sandwich or pizza made with wheat bread." (The pizza is not good.) Sarah Vongphachanh, a junior from Alabama, said the changes started with reduced calorie snacks. "There was a noticeable shift," Gallimore said. "The milk brands changed and the bread changed from white to a much smaller portion of wheat bread." Tagner gave up. "I started bringing my lunch now," she wrote. "The milk is usually warm also." 

 

^ It is fair to blame Michelle Obama as well as everyone else who created or endorsed this program. American children eat too much junk food, but you can't simply force them to eat healthy, tasteless food in its place. You need to be creative. If you choose to change their food you have to give them other kinds of food that they will eat and enjoy. Otherwise the program and its goals fail from the beginning. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/teens-blame-michelle-obama-nasty-tater-tot-free-130850939.html
 

Travel Scams

From USA Today:

"Travelers fall victim to scams overseas"

Frequent business traveler Joyce Gioia knew she had been scammed when a server in a Beijing tea room handed her a bill for $82.89 in late March. Gioia's walk from her hotel to the Forbidden City had been interrupted by two strangers — young Chinese women who asked whether they could practice their English with her over coffee or tea. "Not wanting to be the ugly American and figuring I could learn more about their culture, I said, 'Sure,'" Gioia recalls. Her friendliness turned to anger, though, when she saw the check and was told it included a room charge. It's a common scam, an official at her hotel later told her. Gioia is one of many Americans who have been scammed or fallen prey to deceptive tactics when traveling abroad. The scammers and lawbreakers don't often discriminate, targeting inexperienced travelers and some of the savviest, such as Gioia, a USA TODAY Road Warrior who stayed 29 nights in hotels abroad this year. "Travelers are easy targets, because they are unfamiliar with the environment, lack awareness and are too trusting," says Chris Hagon, the president of Incident Management Group, a Florida-based security consulting company. "They have no advance information regarding the scam du jour." The U.S. State Department has taken notice of many of the common scams and criminal tactics, and warns travelers to beware of them.

USA TODAY reviewed current safety information of the department's Bureau of Consular Affairs and found the following scams and schemes have been reported in foreign countries:

Argentina

A common scam is to spray mustard or a similar substance on a traveler and offer to help clean the stain. A pickpocket or an accomplice then steals from the traveler. Another scam is to entice a traveler into a bar known as a "wiskeria" with a flier Unscrupulous vendors and taxi drivers sometimes pretend to help tourists review their pesos, then trade counterfeit bills for good ones.

China

Taxi drivers, especially at airports, sometimes target arriving travelers, refusing to use the meter or claiming they are a limousine and can charge higher fares.  Keep valuables next to you or in your lap rather than in a less-accessible area of a taxi. Ask the driver to remove the bags from the trunk before you get out of the taxi and before you pay, so the driver cannot drive away with your luggage. Cab drivers, businesses and even ATMs have given people counterfeit currency.

Colombia

Criminals pose as undercover police officers on the street and request to examine a traveler's money or jewelry, supposedly to determine if it is counterfeit. They then flee with the money or jewelry.

Czech Republic

Americans have reported being overcharged by merchants on credit card transactions. Travelers should verify that charges are correct before signing for purchases. Keep all receipts, and check credit card accounts online to ensure proper billing. Be alert for substantial overcharging by taxis. Some taxi drivers charge unsuspecting foreigners two or three times the standard rate.

France

Pickpockets are very active on the rail link from Charles de Gaulle Airport to central Paris and Metro Line 1. They may try to distract their target by making a disturbance, asking questions, or asking someone to sign a petition or take a survey. In the Pigalle area, unsuspecting tourists have run up exorbitant bar bills and been forced to pay before being permitted to leave.

Israel

Americans have sometimes been victims of high-pressure sales tactics in Jerusalem's Old City and other tourist areas. Vendors have not disclosed the cost of an item and convinced the buyer — who is unfamiliar with the exchange rate — to unwittingly sign a credit card receipt worth thousands of dollars.

Italy

Travelers in Rome, Florence and Naples have been befriended by criminals and offered a drink laced with a sleeping drug. While asleep, the criminals steal valuables or commit sexual assault. Three thieves may work together. One drops or spills something on the victim, a second assists the victim in cleaning up the mess, and the third discreetly takes the victim's belongings. The U.S. Secret Service in Rome is assisting Italian law enforcement authorities in investigating an increase in ATM skimming devices. The devices are attached to legitimate bank ATMs and capture the account information stored electronically on a credit card's magnetic strip. The devices consist of a card reader installed over the legitimate reader and a pin-hole video camera mounted above the keypad that records the customer's PIN. The victim's information is sold, traded online or encoded on another card, such as a hotel key card, to access the compromised account.

Mexico

Americans in Mexico have had their debit or credit card numbers "skimmed." An employee of a merchant or a bank copies the card number manually, with a magnetic stripe reader or with a camera at an ATM, then fraudulently withdraws money or charges the card. Americans have become victims of harassment, mistreatment, and extortion by alleged Mexican law enforcement, immigration and other officials.

Russia

A common street scam is the "turkey drop." An individual "accidentally" drops money on the ground in front of an intended victim, while an accomplice either waits for the money to be picked up or picks up the money and offers to split it with the pedestrian. The individual who dropped the currency then returns, aggressively accusing both of stealing the money. The confrontation often results in the theft of the pedestrian's money. In airports, travelers have been targeted by a "friendly" stranger who asks them to watch a bag or a purse, then leaves. The stranger returns with someone appearing to be a police officer, and the bag may contain drugs or other illegal items. The perpetrators then extort money or other valuables to avoid hassles with the police.

Spain

Two or more thieves often work together and use distractions. A thief might wave a map in a target's face and ask for directions, "inadvertently" spill something on a target, help clean up bird droppings thrown at a target by a third accomplice, or drop coins or keys at a target's feet. Some thieves have posed as plainclothes police officers, beckoning pedestrians from cars or confronting them on the street. They've asked for documents or to inspect their cash for counterfeit bills, which they confiscate as "evidence." Good Samaritan scams are common. A thief diverts a driver's attention by indicating there is a flat tire or a mechanical problem. When the driver gets out to check the vehicle, the thief offers assistance, while an accomplice steals from the car.

Thailand

Scams involving gems, city tours, entertainment venues and credit cards are common and often involve drivers of taxis and tuk-tuks (three-wheel taxis) who receive kickbacks or commissions.

Many companies that rent motorbikes, jet skis and cars require a passport as a deposit or collateral. If a rental vehicle is damaged, the company often holds the passport until payment for the damage. Many renters have reported they were charged exorbitant amounts, even when there was no visible damage.

United Kingdom

Imposters pose as undercover police officers and demand cash for bogus minor offenses, including littering or not having ID documents. At ATMs in busy areas, thieves use distraction techniques. They may wait until a PIN has been entered, then point to money on the ground or hand out a free newspaper. A colleague will quickly withdraw cash when the ATM user is distracted.

How to stay safe overseas

The State Department offers tips that may help travelers avoid being victims of scams or petty crimes abroad:

• Before departing, read the warnings and alerts on the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs site for the country you are traveling to.

• Don't bring valuables and irreplaceable items, but, if you do, use a hotel's safe. Carry only the cash, credit cards and belongings needed for each outing.

• Put your passport in a pocket with a zipper or another safe enclosure.

• Be very cautious when using ATMs to protect against theft of card information.

• Be wary of people who aim to extort a bribe by posing as undercover police or public transportation inspectors.

^ I have travelled around the world and have heard of some of these scams although luckily, I have never been victim to one (knock on wood.) The best advice to give to people is to use common sense. If it looks and feels wrong then just walk away. While you don't want to be the "Ugly American" while travelling you also don't want to be the "Stupid American" and get scammed. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2014/05/04/criminals-target-travelers-abroad-with-scams-and-schemes/8060061/

E-Trouble?

From the DW:

"E-stonia: The EU's digital pioneer?"

In Estonia, a broadband Internet connection is available everywhere. A young Estonian tells DW what it's like living in a completely networked European Union country and where the digital boundaries stand.

DW: Estonia's government considers Internet access something of a fundamental right for citizens. The city of Tallinn has introduced an @Internet sign - unique in Europe - indicating where wireless Internet connection is available. What's your digital day like?

Sandra Länts: There's free wireless Internet connection almost everywhere, so anyone with a smartphone has Internet access. It's all over in Estonia - even in [remote areas], you can get online with 3G or 4G. All restaurants, all bars have their own free Wi-Fi hotspot. Regardless of where you are in the city, you can log in and get online. I always have my phone with me, and when I don't, I don't feel complete. I'm completely dependent on it. Like I always do my route planning and get a wide variety of daily information from the Internet, and use a lot of apps. I couldn't do without a smartphone.

There's also the so-called daily identification card, which you can use to register doctor's appointments, pick up medication from the pharmacy, or even vote online. With hundreds of government-related tasks intersecting at this one point, you'd have to really trust your government, right?

You can do everything with the card: vote, buy plane tickets, do online banking. I don't use it, because I'm not so sure about it. With voting, too, I'd rather go in person. Otherwise, I don't know what might happen with my vote or data. Since it was introduced in 2005, many Estonians are still skeptical - myself included, since I do so much online.

Internet is a fact of life for your generation. So where does your skepticism come from?

It actually really grew during my stay in Germany. In Estonia, almost everyone pays with a debit or credit card. But in Germany I learned that real, physical money matters. Cash counts, so to speak. Since then, I pay with a card as rarely as possible. I don't want anyone following my movements. My bank would be able to know everything that I do. And I'm a little afraid of that.

How does Estonian digital life compare to its German equivalent?

The first month for me in Munich was a shock - there was no free Wi-Fi. Later it was okay because I bought a modem stick. But what really surprised me were the mountains of paperwork. There were always so many papers to fill out and turn in. In Estonia, you can register yourself [when you move] online. But in Germany, you always have to go in person. That was really strange for me - and a lot of work, because I always had to go somewhere, and organize my whole day around that.  The thing that surprised me the most were the huge piles of paper that I needed for my university studies. I also got a paper statement from the bank via snail mail every month. That was funny.

In Estonia, the tax office automatically does your tax return. That's one big advantage of data exchange, right?

When my pay comes into my account, it's always accompanied by a statement that taxes are due - usually in spring. Then I just click on the link for whichever account I get my income, and see what I've received. The tax office automatically calculates how much in taxes I've paid, and how much I should get back. It only takes five minutes, and I end up knowing exactly how much I should get. I just confirm with a click, and the money reaches my account the next week. I don't see any disadvantages.

^ It does seem to early to make everything available by using one electronic card. Identity theft is a huge problem around the world and if you loose that one card then you are in for a major headache that could affect everything from paying bills to getting medicine. I don't agree that there should be mandatory id cards anywhere, but especially if you have to pay for them (some countries give them out to their citizens for free while most make you pay for them.) That seems like the biggest threat to freedom. You aren't considered a person unless you pay to have a card. ^

http://www.dw.de/e-stonia-the-eus-digital-pioneer/a-17612745

Resign VA

From the Stars and Stripes:
"American Legion calls on Shinseki to resign"

The head of one of the nation’s major veterans service organizations on Monday called on Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and top department leadership to step down following reports of delays and neglect at VA health centers around the nation. American Legion National Commander Daniel M. Dellinger said Monday the incidents “are part of what appear to be a pattern of scandals that has infected the entire system.” In a speech at the organization’s headquarters in Indianapolis, he also called for the resignations of Under Secretary for Health Robert Petzel and Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey. Dellinger’s call comes on the heels of whistleblower reports that more than 40 veterans may have died awaiting treatment while the Phoenix VA Health Care System maintained a secret waiting list designed to cover up delays in delivering care. He also pointed to an outbreak of Legionnaires disease at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System that he attributed to “continuous management failures,” as well as delays in proving gastrointestinal services to veterans in Georgia that he said may have hastened the deaths of three cancer patients. Dellinger also referred to a report this week in USA Today about a VA investigation that showed clerks at a VA clinic in Fort Collins, Colo., were told to falsify records so it would appear doctors were seeing patients within approved time frames. Shinseki, who was wounded during the Vietnam War, retired from the Army in 2003 after serving as Chief of Staff. He was nominated by President Barack Obama and took over as VA secretary in January 2009. White House officials said President Barack Obama is taking the VA allegations seriously and has ordered an investigation by the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Dellinger said it saddened him to demand the resignations, and he praised Shinseki’s patriotism and sacrifice for the country while serving in the military. “However, his record as the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs tells a different story,” Dellinger said in his prepared remarks. “It’s a story of poor oversight and failed leadership.”

^ It's clear that there needs to be dramatic changes in the VA from the top- down. Anyone can see that. The VA no longer cares about veterans and so should be either done away with completely or have a third-party oversee the complete restructuring. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/american-legion-calls-on-shinseki-to-resign-1.281676

Russian Recession

From Bloomberg:

"Ruble Plunge Hitting Russians Speeds Slide to Recession"

 

As Russia’s central bank struggles to shield the ruble from the standoff over Ukraine, Vasily Isaev it may already be too little, too late to save his plans for a vacation in Italy.  “If you get your salary in rubles, a trip to the beach in Europe is going to be difficult this year,” said the 37-year-old sales manager, looking up from his English homework in the park near Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow. “We’re going to Bulgaria instead of Italy this year and we’re renting an apartment a little further away from the sea.”  Consumers like Isaev, spending more than a few months ago to fill a shopping cart with everyday items, may be squeezed most by the currency’s decline as inflation quickens. Wobbling consumption threatens to knock out another pillar of the economy reeling from sanctions that stoked capital flight.  Unruffled by the central bank’s emergency measures, the ruble has declined as an expanding list of U.S. and European Union sanctions in response to President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine sparked a selloff of Russian assets. The ruble has weakened 8 percent this year, the second-worst performance after the Argentine peso among 24 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.  The central bank has been trying to halt the decline by raising its benchmark interest rate twice in the last two months by a total of 2 percentage points. The ruble’s weakening is increasing the cost of living by making imported goods more expensive.  That decline is affecting business at Narine Karapetyan’s hair salon in Maloyaroslavets, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Moscow. Clients are turning to home beauty care to save on the cost after suppliers of imported hair-care products raised prices twice this year, she said.  “Everything is getting more expensive,” said Karapetyan, 30. “All hair products have become more expensive. And the same goes for clothes, shoes and food. I can’t close my store. If I bought a product at a high price, I have to sell it at a higher price.”  Decisions like Karapetyan’s have helped drive inflation this year. The rate probably rose to 7.3 percent in April, the fastest since last May, according to the median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The statistics office may report the latest figures today.  The eroding spending power of consumers is contributing to the slide of the Russian economy, which is reeling from investor flight. Capital outflow was $50.6 billion in the first quarter of 2014, compared with $63 billion in all of last year.  The capital flight means that Russia’s $2 trillion economy is already in a recession, according to the International Monetary Fund. The lender, seeking to keep up with the deteriorating outlook, cut the country’s economic forecast for the second time in less than a month last week, predicting full-year growth will slow to 0.2 percent from 1.3 percent last year.  “Things are bad in the economy, incomes aren’t growing, the economy is not growing and because the ruble is losing value and inflation is accelerating, real incomes of consumers will decrease or grow slower,” Olga Sterina, an economist at UralSib in Moscow, said in an April 21 interview.  The effect may be somewhat delayed as Russians brace themselves for the value of their ruble earnings to erode further. They have stepped up purchases of big-ticket consumer goods, such as cars and televisions, as shown by a 4 percent increase in retail sales in March, according to Sterina.

Revenue at Leroy Merlin, a French retailer of do-it-yourself goods, has risen in recent weeks as customers rush to get the most value for their rubles, Vincent Gentil, head of the company’s Russian unit, said in an interview last month. The splurge “will dissipate in the coming month or two,” Sterina said.  Supermarket chains are already passing the higher cost of imports to shoppers. When suppliers of X5 Retail Group NV (FIVE) raised prices, Russia’s second-largest supermarket chain was forced to increase the cost of imported goods on its shelves by as much as 15 percent, Vladimir Rusanov, a spokesman for the company, said by e-mail.  It’s not all bad news. With about half of Russia’s budget revenue coming from oil and natural gas sales, the biggest beneficiary of the currency’s slide is the government.  Energy exporters will make an extra 2 trillion rubles ($56 billion) from the weaker currency, contributing 900 billion of that amount to the budget in taxes, Natalia Akindinova, director of the Center of Development Institute at the Higher School of Economics, said April 28 by phone.

The budget’s health will offer little solace to Isaev’s family as many other Russians may see their dream holiday slip away. As the crisis in Ukraine escalates the currency may fall to 39 against the dollar by year-end, depreciating another 8.4 percent from its current level, according to London-based research company Capital Economics Ltd.  Irina Egorova, the 46-year-old owner of a travel agency in the center of Maloyaroslavets, says her company is feeling the pinch from the ruble’s weakness. Early bookings for the summer season have dropped compared with last year. Like Isaev, many of her clients make do with destinations closer to home, such as crisis-hit Greece or Montenegro instead of Spain.  “People are traveling less,” Egorova said. “People are waiting for a last minute bargain.”

 

^ It seems that things won't get better for the ordinary Russian until their Government leaves the Ukraine. While the sanctions are meant for those in power it is the people who are the most affected. Despite the Recession and the threat of worse to come I don't see the majority of Russians openly complaining nor calling for change. Russians have been through this before (most recently in 1998) and so to them it is just a fact of life. ^

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-05/ruble-plunge-hitting-russians-speeds-slide-to-recession.html?cmpid=yhoo

Deny Denial

From MT:

"Putin Outlaws Denial of Nazi Crimes"

President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Monday making the denial of Nazi crimes and distortion of the Soviet Union's role in the World War II a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in jail. The law, described by critics as an attempt to curb freedom of expression to appease conservative Russians, the ex-KGB spy's main support base, also criminalizes the public desecration of war memorials. The Kremlin has used World War II as a pillar to unite a society that Putin has said lost its moral bearings following the 1991 Soviet collapse. It has become increasingly risky for Russians to dispute an official line that glorifies the wartime achievements of the Soviet leadership and plays down its errors. The new law would ban "wittingly spreading false information about the activity of the U.S.S.R. during the years of World War II." Russian officials and media have raised the specter of Nazi Germany repeatedly during Moscow's confrontation with the West over Ukraine, calling the overthrow of a Russian-allied president in February a coup carried out in part by "neo-Nazi" forces. Independent channel Dozhd was taken off the air earlier this year after asking viewers whether Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, should have been given to German troops to save lives during its 872-day siege during World War II. Viktor Shenderovich, a blogger critical of the authorities, came under fire from Kremlin supporters in February after comparing the Sochi Olympics to the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, used by Adolf Hitler to burnish the image of the Nazi Germany. In a comment posted when the legislation was first introduced, veteran television host Vladimir Pozner said he believed its aim was "to shut the mouths of journalists, historians and writers". He said he feared it would "practically ban criticism of Stalin" for "grave mistakes that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of our soldiers". It was unclear whether the wording of the bill had been changed since its introduction and Pozner could not immediately be reached for comment. Kremlin critics say Putin, in power since 2000, has used legislation, court cases and other levers to tighten control during his current term, which he won despite large opposition protests in 2011-2012. Putin denies the accusations. Separately on Monday, Putin signed a law imposing fines for the use of expletives on television, radio and in films shown in theaters. Music and movies containing foul language will have to have a warning on the label, state-run RIA news agency reported. Putin also signed a law imposing stricter rules on bloggers, which opponents say is aimed at suppressing criticism on the Internet.

^ I completely agree with making it illegal to deny the crimes the Nazis did (not just in Russia, but all over the world.) I do have an issue with the other part of the bill about criticizing what the Soviet Union did during the war. The history that Russians 20 and over learned is not the complete history. It is the glorified Communist history. They didn't learn about the NKVD killing at Katyn, the Soviet occupations of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia or Bessarabia, the raping of civilians by Soviet soldiers or that Jews were the main targets of the Nazis in places like Auschwitz and Babi Yar. I remember talking to Russians who got so mad when the topic of World War 2 came up and you questioned anything bad. Most didn't even know that Stalin and Hitler were trading parties from 1939-1941 or that the USSR only declared war on Japan a few days before the end of the war and that was only to get northern Korea and the Kuril Islands (technically Japan and Russia are still at war as they never made a peace agreement.) There were many horrible things and stupid choices that all sides made during the war (and in any war.) If you deny people to seek the truth (rather than simply "tow" the official, whitewashed party-line) then you are only hurting your own history. A country has it's good and it's bad and that includes the things in its past. The true sign of a great country is one that can acknowledge the bad with the good and learn from it. ^

   http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-outlaws-denial-of-nazi-crimes/499526.html

Swear Fine

From MT:

"Putin Bans the F-Word From Movies, Plays"

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on Monday prohibiting swearing in public performances, including cinema, theater and other forms of art. The law will come into effect on July 1, and afterwards swearing in films, plays and concerts will incur penalties of up to 2,500 rubles ($70) for individuals and up to 50,000 rubles for companies and organizations.  A similar measure was passed in April 2013, banning swearing in media.  In December 2013, the Institute of Russian Language at the Russian Academy of Sciences complied a list of four words that constitute swearing and will thus be banned. Two depict male and female reproductive organs, one describes the process of copulation and the last refers to a promiscuous woman.   The most recent law has not yet specified a list of specific curse words.  The law has been met with both criticism and shock, as swearing has been a vital component of Russian art, with some of the nation's best poets and playwrights using curse words prolifically, from classical Alexander Pushkin to contemporary post-modernist Vladimir Sorokin According to the Culture Ministry, which is in charge of overseeing the work of theaters and also issuing movie distribution certificates, the newly passed measures will only concern mass culture and will not concern art.   "The law is not aggressive; its only aim is to regulate this sphere, so that swearing will have its  purpose," said Irina Kaznacheeva, the ministry's spokesperson, told The Moscow Times on Monday.  "It will be up to the artistic director to decide what to do with swearing, whether to break the new law or not, we will not interfere in the process," she said.  Many theater directors and playwrights have complained that the new law is effectively in conflict with intellectual property legislation, according to which authors' works cannot be changed.  "We discussed this situation at our artistic meeting and decided that we will preserve all artistic texts, keeping swearing in them, but prohibiting actors from improvising," said Varvara Faer, director of the BerlusPutin play at Moscow's Theater.Doc independent theater. The play satirizes the relationship between Putin and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, with the main character being a hybrid of the two politicians. "I am against the use of swearing in life, but I believe artists can use it in their works, in case the work is truly artistic," she said.  Theater.Doc also has a play called "Democracy," where the audience is encouraged to participate in the performance by expressing their views aloud. With the new law, if audience members curse, they can be fined.   "We cannot shut the mouths of our audience, so they will have to assume responsibility for what they do," said Faer.  Prominent Russian philosopher and linguist Vadim Rudnev believes that the government's attempt to regulate language means that it increasingly resembles a criminal gang.  "They want to designate their territory: this can be said and this cannot," Rudnev, a member of the structuralist Tartu-Moscow Semiotic school said.  "In reality it is a common practice to swear among the intelligentsia. When writer Maxim Gorky came to visit Tolstoy, who began to swear to him, he got upset. The truth was that by swearing Tolstoy was demonstrating that Gorky is part of the group," he said.

^ It seems a little excessive just for swearing. ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-bans-the-f-word-from-movies-plays/499530.html

Romantic War

From The Stars and Stripes:

"Saving the War Letters"

In his spare Washington apartment, author and popular historian Andrew Carroll stood over a dining room table, delicately sifting through stacks of letters written by the troops who fought every American war. They range from Revolutionary War epistles in exacting penmanship to hastily banged-out Iraq War emails, and everything in between. At least one has a bullet hole in it, some are splashed with battlefield mud and blood and others were finished hours before the writer died in combat. Spurred by a hunger for an unvarnished history of American warfare written by those who lived it, Carroll has been tracking down, writing about and storing these messages since 1998. They’ve been the basis of two best-selling books from which he’s donated all profits to veteran’s charities. He says plans to continue working with them for the rest of his life as part of his Legacy Project, designed to honor veterans by preserving their correspondence. What he hasn’t always been able to do is take care of the letters the way he believes they deserve. From thousands of contributors who have read about his letters project or seen him on television, Carroll has amassed what he calls a “small hill” of war letters. His conservative estimate is 100,000 letters; he’s never fully accounted for them all as they’ve poured in over the years, filling storage lockers and safe deposit boxes and bins on the floor of his apartment. That’s partly why, despite his passion for the collection, he gave it all away last year to Chapman University, a liberal arts college near Anaheim, Calif. Chapman is eager to take on the tasks Carroll admits he’s never had time, expertise or resources for — professionally preserving the letters, and scanning and archiving them in a database so they’ll be available for teachers, students and history buffs. He had been collaborating with John Benitz, a Chapman associate professor of theater and playwright, on two productions based on the letters. He was increasingly wooed by the atmosphere of the campus, and decided to approach administrators about setting up a center to preserve and make them accessible. The answer was an enthusiastic yes.

 “For years I’ve wanted to find an institution to give these letters,” he said. “I just had the feeling the letters would be locked up in storage and never see the light of day.” Reassured that would not be the case at Chapman, he hired Two Marines Moving, a veteran-owned moving company, to haul the trove to the university last fall. He’s holding on to only a handful of letters that were key parts of his books “War Letters” and “Behind the Lines.” He plans to spend much of this spring and summer on a new phase of his project, in which he’ll visit all 50 states to speak at veterans halls, history museums and military bases about the value of historical letters — hopefully collecting some along the way. The tour will kick off at a May 20 event on Capitol Hill sponsored by Chapman alum Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif. Current plans call for Chapman’s Center for American War Letters to open Nov. 5, the week before Veteran’s Day, he said. Carroll will divide his time between Washington and the university, where he will work as a chancellor fellow overseeing the collection, and helping to study and expand it. “It’s a huge relief, because I always wondered — what if something happens to me, or there’s a flood or a fire in the building?” he said. “It got so scattered that it came to the point that a real historian would have had a heart attack if they’d walked in and seen it.” Not that he’s struggling with feelings of guilt. Carroll says his part was to save the letters from oblivion, and how it’s time to hand them off to professional archivists. Carroll seems tormented by the fact that the often beautifully descriptive, passionately written letters from the front lines are just languishing unread in boxes, or even worse, about to be stacked out on the curb for recycling. He wants all of it. “The history that’s being lost every day is just incalculable,” he said. “So saving that is my priority right now.”

Given the choice of reading a dry, magisterial analysis from a scholar or a general, or of reading a pile of letters from troops in the field, he’ll opt for the latter every day. It’s more enjoyable, and you might just learn more, he said. “I genuinely believe nobody can tell these stories better than the men and women who’ve been there and experienced these episodes first-hand,” he said. “What we get from their experience is not just eyewitness first-person accounts, but their distinct personalities and voices. “That makes the wartime experience more human than reading a dry history book.” At home in Washington earlier this year, he showed off a few he’s holding onto for just a little while longer. He delicately cradled a beautifully handwritten letter he said was the first he’d obtained from Revolutionary days. On it, Continental Army officer Alexander Scammel thunders to a college friend about the necessity of freedom from British tyranny, something he predicted would require the shedding of blood. “But every man of true honor & virtue will rather contend for the honor of first spilling his blood in so glorious a cause,” Scammell wrote in 1774 — seven years before his death in the climactic siege of Yorktown proved his words weren’t just bravado. Fast-forward 230 years, and Carroll picked up a printout of a lengthy email home in 2004 from a Marine officer, David Bellon, who was revolted by the violence gripping the city of Fallujah and sensing an inevitable showdown coming. “Its siren call for extremists and criminals has only increased steadily … If there is another city in the world that contains more terrorists, I would be surprised,” he said. “For the last two years, I just don’t see a way we can succeed in Iraq without reducing this threat.” And then a note to family from a conquering American G.I. written on Hitler’s own stationery. On it, the soldier had helpfully crossed out the dictator’s name and filled in his own: “S/Sgt. Evers.” The letter itself is haunted more than it is celebratory, describing what Staff Sgt. Horace Evers had recently seen in a train car at the Dachau concentration camp: “All were just bone with a layer of skin over them. Most of the eyes were open and had an indescribable look about them.” Taken as a whole, American war letters comprise a massive, rich historical tapestry, and Carroll says he doesn’t want a single irreplaceable thread to be lost. The seed of the impulse to amass the old letters, he said, was planted by a great loss — a fire that consumed his family’s home when Carroll was a sophomore in college, leaving the family grasping for elements of the past. “It wiped out everything,” he said. “Photos, old letters, family history.” In a sense cast adrift by the fire, Carroll was mesmerized by a World War II letter shared by a distant cousin who had witnessed some key moments of the conflict in Europe, including the liberation of a concentration camp. It provided inspiration for Carroll’s first book several years later, “Letters of a Nation,” a collection of letters from different eras about a variety of themes.

 Although he had never served in the military, Carroll realized war letters in particular were infused with a sense of history and drama that few others possess, and he decided to focus on them. In 1998, he persuaded Jeanne Philips, who writes the Dear Abby advice column and is active in support of military and veterans groups, to put out a call for families to submit war letters they were willing to share. “At first we were only asking for photocopies, but  people sent us originals,” he said. “They said, ‘Hey, we’re going to throw these out otherwise.’” One of the people who responded to that Dear Abby column was Joyce Hallenbeck. Nearly 20 years earlier, she had received a letter from her husband, Dean Allen, in which the Army first lieutenant, writing from the field during an operation in Vietnam, poured out his doubts and fears about leading men into battle. “Being a good platoon leader is a lonely job,” Allen wrote. “I don’t want to really get to know anybody over here because it would be bad enough to lose a man — I damn sure don’t want to lose a friend. I haven’t even had one of my men wounded yet let alone killed but that is to much to even hope for to go like that. But as hard as I try not to get involved with my men I still can’t help liking them and getting close to a few.” It was Allen’s final letter home. Within days, he was dead from wounds suffered when he stepped on a landmine. Hallenbeck, widowed at 25, after a while moved on with her life. When she remarried a several years later, she packed away the medals and the flag that draped her dead husband’s casket when she remarried. Except for his final message, she threw away the letters Dean had sent her from Vietnam. Years later, now divorced, she saw the Dear Abby column, and something prompted her to take out the letter she had packed away long before. What had once been simply a souvenir of loss and grief now provided moving insight the husband taken from her in Vietnam. “I think I was just plain too young to even appreciate it at the time I received it,” she said. “But then after reading about Andy’s project and pulling it out and reading it again, when I was in my 50s, it struck me as, ‘Hey, this is moving. Here’s a guy who’s got to decide who’s going to go out and possibly get killed, and he’s really struggling with it.” She sent the letter to Carroll, who included it in its entirety in “War Letters,” and then she did something else — she took out her dead husband’s military honors and put them on display in her house. “It would have stayed in my chest until I died,” she said. But because of Carroll’s war letters project, “Those things are now back out for all the world to see.”

 

^ This is an interesting project. It is part of our history and like Carroll said it shows the true feelings of what was going on when we were at war. ^

http://ww2.stripes.com/edit/warletters/#.U2XfY_HD-M8

One Lone Man

From the DW:
"The deputy who voted against annexing Crimea"

 

In March, 445 Duma deputies approved Russia's annexing of Crimea. Just one voted against the move. Today, Ilya Ponomarev faces hostlities, even from his own party. No, says Ilya Ponomarev. He's not at all surprised that he's been insulted via social media, called a "traitor", even received death threats. His assistant's apartment was searched, he says. "I expected something like that could happen." The 38-year-old lawmaker sounds unperturbed. In a vote at the State Duma on March 20, he voted against the annexation of Crimea. He was the only one. The other 445 deputies present for the vote were in favor of the annexation. The vote followed a referendum in which the majority of Crimea's residents backed leaving Ukraine for Russia - a "so-called referendum" that clearly violates existing international law, says German government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

Ponomarev says he voted against the annexation because he believes it is a strategic mistake. "It leads to a split between Russia and Ukraine." Not only does that provoke war, he adds, but Russia also "loses Ukraine as an ally."

The lawmaker says Russia and the West should stay away from Ukraine. (go here to live blog on Ukraine) "Ukraine should solve its own problems."# Of course, he's not the only deputy who harbors such thoughts, he says, but the others kept a low profile for fear of repression. Their concern was justified: broadsides against the lawmaker, who represents the city of Novosibrisk, began right after the vote. Ponomarev remains calm in the face of insults and death threats.
It's all just a concerted media campaign to denounce him, he says, instigated by the government. "They pretend it's actually public anger." In public, he says, he's never encountered negative - "not a single bad word on the street."
On the other hand, Ponomarev concedes that that most Russians support the annexation. He said he didn't care, and he couldn't have voted against his convictions. History will show he was right, he adds. "I have a crystal clear conscience." Not everyone agrees, though. His party, A Just Russia, tried unsuccessfully to neutralize him. Then, the head of the mainly pro-Kremlin opposition party introduced a draft law that would allow the head of the parliamentary group to get rid of deputies who break party ranks.  Ponomarev fears legal consequences. "Of course, that's not likely to be linked directly to the vote. They'll pretend I misappropriated funds, something like that." But the lawmaker is confident he would be able to defend himself. "Don't worry," he laughs.  Is he afraid of being thrown in prison like other critics? Ponomarev is silent for a moment. "Yes, it could happen," he says.  In Russian media, a reporter at a state broadcaster says Ponomarev is only trying to get foreign media attention, that the lawmaker should have known that it was a "bad idea" to vote against the annexation of Crimea. Since his re-election two years ago, Vladimir Putin has taken an extremely harsh stance toward critics.
Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch, understands Ponomarev's fears. She in her colleagues have suffered in Moscow. "Undoubtedly, we're currently seeing the worst repression against critics since the fall of the Soviet Union." The government is using the crisis in Ukraine to tighten the reins even further, Lokshina says. "It's a case of, 'If you're not for us, you're clearly absolutely against us'."
Critics are denounced as traitors to the entire Russian people. At the same time, Russia's leadership is taking advantage of the crisis and the "anti-Western hysteria" to adopt restrictive laws. Over the past weeks, two draft laws aimed at curtailing the right of assembly and the freedom of the press were introduced. "The authorities act fast," Lokshina says. Ilya Ponomarev is convinced that Russia's state leadership is becoming ever more authoritarian. Four of his assistants requested political asylum in Europe over the past months to escape persecution. "Intimidation is a political reality in Russia," he says. Does the lawmaker takes precautions for his own protection? "I travel subway, I go on foot. I don't have any security with me, except pretty women. Everything is fine," he says, adding that the public reaction against him is orchestrated. "They pretend it's a grass-roots reaction."

^ It's nice to see that not everyone in Russia has "drank the Kool-Aid." ^

http://www.dw.de/the-deputy-who-voted-against-annexing-crimea/a-17605965

10: Poland

From the BBC:
"Ten years on - how do Poles feel about EU?"

In Warsaw there was a bit of a May Day party in a park next to an ornamental lake: the president planting a tree, concerts and marching bands, and families sitting on the grass having picnics.

May 1 was 10 years to the day since Poland joined the EU - along with seven other former communist countries from Central and Eastern Europe.  Big Bang enlargement they called it. And for many observers it's been one of the biggest success stories in the EU's history - bringing the division between East and West in Europe to an end. Sure, there have been some economic struggles, and some difficult transitions. Institutions in Brussels, including the European Parliament, can seem as remote as ever.  But much of Eastern Europe is unrecognisable from the region that became part of the EU a decade ago.  It's not all down to EU membership, but there's no question that it has helped.

"I think (we) used this time correctly because it was not always an easy time," argues former President Alexander Kwasniewski, who was at the helm when Poland joined. "There was the financial crisis," he adds, "and now Ukraine…"  The crisis in Ukraine has been a reminder for many eastern EU member states of what they gained when they joined both the EU and Nato - a greater sense of economic and political stability.  "People are concerned about what's happening in Ukraine," says the political analyst Konstanty Gebert.  Unlike countries further west, this is happening on their doorstep.  "We in Poland who have always been considered somewhat paranoid and untrustworthy with our Russia obsession inside the EU," he argues, "have the unhappy feeling of having been right".

A sobering thought on this tenth anniversary.

^ I have Polish family and friends and know what they mean. Once Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe in the 1990s the majority of countries behind the Iron Curtain "fought" long and hard to join NATO and the EU so that the Russians couldn't invade and occupy them as they did in Czarist and Soviet times and now in modern Russia occupying parts of the Ukraine. Only those who have lived under an invader/occupier know what that is like and anyone 23 or older in Eastern Europe knows what that is like. These countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Poland) may have had to give up a lot to bring their policies and budgets in line with the EU and NATO, but to them the benefits of economic and military protection from Russia was more important. Eastern Germany didn't have to do a thing as they simply joined NATO and the EU the day they were reunited with West Germany. I don't blame any of these countries for what they had to do to join. I just hope that if something happens the western countries of NATO and the EU do not simply run home and leave their allies alone. It happened in World War 2 when the French and British gave Czechoslovakia willingly to Nazi Germany and then did nothing (except declare war) when Poland was attacked. ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-eu-27240759

Religious Racket

From USA Today:

"In Jerusalem, an effort to quiet the call to prayer"

Five times a day, loudspeakers at the top of nearly 200 minarets in this holy city call to Muslims to pray. They blare before dawn and the wailing cry of the muezzins, or prayer callers, can be heard for miles. Though it is a Middle East tradition that goes back centuries, some in this ancient city say the practice should give way to modern ordinances against excessive noise. "From the time she was born until she was nearly two, my daughter woke up in a panic every night from the call of the muezzin," says Yael Saltoun who lives in the Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv in East Jerusalem.

Saltoun says neighborliness means not imposing one's religious practices on others. But in a city holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, even a hint of disrespect for one's faith can blow up into a major battle. In March, the Jerusalem municipality announced plans to measure the volume of Muslim prayers broadcast via loudspeakers to check whether it exceeds noise pollution standards that the law says all residents must abide by. The pilot study will concentrate on mosques in a part of the city where Muslims and Jews live in close proximity. It was initiated after years of complaints from neighbors who say the prayers, which can be heard across the city's valleys in the early hours of morning, are loud enough to wake them from a sound sleep. The same issue has cropped up elsewhere, such as India, England, Germany, and even a nearly 100% Muslim country like Saudi Arabia has gotten complaints about the muezzins. But in Jerusalem, even the issue of noise is political, and the mere gathering of disparate religious groups can lead to disputes, even violence.

The Jerusalem municipality office says the city is simply trying to enforce existing noise pollution laws, and that it is not singling out mosques. "Jerusalem is a multi-cultural city which values freedom of religion for every faith," said an official statement from the office. "The municipality maintains constant communication with all its communities and, if needed, will provide the technology needed to minimize noise in the capital's neighborhoods." Samantha Knights, a London-based lawyer who deals with cases involving law and religion, said it is not unusual for municipalities to have protections in law against noise nuisances regardless of the source. "And in a democracy the state must consider all the interested parties and balance their respective rights in forming a view as to whether any such noise should be restricted," Knights said.

^ There was once a time when these call to prayers were needed, but in the modern era when everyone has watches or alarms on their cell phones it is no longer needed. I remember hearing them when I was in Kuwait and Dubai and it was pretty annoying (especially so early in the morning.) I understand I was in a Muslim country and so it was to be expected, but in Israel and other countries that are democracies there should be a balance. I wouldn't want to live in my own country and hear any annoying racket 2, 5 or a million times a day. I don't care what it is for. Israel should take this a step further and strive to have more of a separation of Church (or Mosque or Synagogue) and State. There should be civil (rather than solely religious) marriage allowed, etc. That may be harder than thought since other countries have problems with it. I know the US claims to completely keep Church and State separate yet on Election Day many people have to vote in a Church. Our money says: "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance states: "One nation, under God." In the end the call to any prayer is not needed. If people can't tell time by now than maybe they shouldn't be praying. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/03/israel-holy-week-noise/7867049/

Kings

I jut recently watched this show on Netflix and thought it was really good. I had never heard of the show before (apparently it was on NBC in 2009.) Kings is a modern-day tale of the Biblical story of David and Goliath. The show is set in a absolute monarchy, ruled by King Silas - played by Ian McShane, that was created out of the ruins of war. Silas believes he was appointed King by God and so does anything and everything to make sure his power is not questioned. There are many interweaving storylines dealing with corruption, affairs, coups, scandals, war and jealousy.

Other main characters are Queen Rose, played by Susanna Thompson. She created the monarchy label for her family and will do whatever it takes to keep them in power.  Prince Jack, played by Sebastian Stan, is the heir to the throne who leads a double life as a closest homosexual who is trying to win the approval of his father (the King) and to make a name for himself. Allison Miller plays Princess Michelle who idolizes her father and is naïve to the inner-workings of her family, the monarchy and what it takes to be in power. The main character not associated with the royal family is Captain David Shepard, played by Christopher Egan. He is an ordinary soldier fighting in his country's war who unknowingly saves Prince Jack and becomes a national hero and brought to the palace. He struggles with doing what is right and what his King orders him to do. There are more characters that enhance the plot lines and make things move quickly. Even though there are references to the Bible and God it is a whole lot more than a religious show. It has intrigue, romance, compassion and is thought-provoking. I wish they hadn't cancelled the show in its first season. Maybe they will make a movie or mini-series because the ending from the first season left things open.

Ukraine Violence

From the Stars and Stripes:

"Ukraine launches offensive against separatists; dozens die in Odessa"

Ukraine launched an offensive against separatist forces for control of a besieged eastern city Friday, while clashes between pro- and anti-government activists in the previously calm southern port of Odessa led to a fire that police said killed 31 people. The first serious offensive by the government in Kiev and the dozens of deaths in Odessa sharply escalated the crisis that has led to the worst tensions between Russia and the West since the Cold war. The Kremlin said the battle for the separatist-held city of Slovyansk effectively destroyed the Geneva pact aimed at cooling the unrest in the deeply divided country. Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president, said many insurgents were killed or wounded in the eastern offensive that also underlined the military's vulnerability. The military action came two days after Kiev said it had lost control of eastern Ukraine. Both sides said two Ukrainian helicopters were shot down by the insurgents near Slovyansk, killing two crew members, while authorities said another seven people also died: three separatist gunmen, two soldiers and two civilians. By nightfall, Ukrainian troops and armored personnel carriers blocked all major roads into Slovyansk, and the central part of the city remained in the hands of pro-Russia gunmen, according to Associated Press journalists inside. Most shops were closed, and the few that were open were crowded with customers stocking up on supplies. Sporadic gunfire was heard in Slovyansk's downtown late Friday, while Russian news reports said there were armed clashes in the nearby town of Kramatorsk. There was no immediate independent confirmation of fighting. The Ukrainian Security Service said one helicopter was downed with a surface-to-air missile, adding that the sophisticated weapon undercut Russia's claims the city of 125,000 people was simply under the control of armed locals. "Ukrainian security forces so far are not ready for large-scale military actions; moreover, such actions could provoke Russia's invasion," said Kiev-based political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko. Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops in areas near Ukraine's border. Kiev claims Moscow is preparing to invade and that it is fomenting the unrest in the east, where insurgents have seized government buildings in about a dozen cities and towns. The Kremlin denies the allegations, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned Russia would respond to attacks on its citizens or interests in the east. Unlike eastern Ukraine, Odessa had been largely tranquil since the February toppling of President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia. But clashes erupted Friday between pro-Russians and government supporters in the key port on the Black Sea coast, located 550 kilometers (330 miles) from the turmoil in the east. Police said the deadly fire broke out in a trade union building but did not give details on how it started. Earlier, police said at least three people had died in a clash between the two sides in the city of 1 million. According to Ukrainian news reports, the pro-Kiev demonstrators broke up an encampment of Moscow supporters outside the trade union building. The latter took refuge in the building, which then caught on fire. Odessa police spokesman Volodymyr Shasbliyenko told AP the fire apparently was caused by Molotov cocktails. He had no further details or identities of the victims. In Washington, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama warned that Russia could be hit by new sanctions from the U.S. and the European Union if it continues disruptive actions in Ukraine. Previous sanctions are showing signs of significant effect on the Russian economy. The fighting in Slovyansk, a city about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the Russian border, broke out around dawn. Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for the insurgents, said three fighters and two civilians were killed in the clashes. Several foreign news crews, meanwhile, were detained for several hours Friday by nervous pro-Russia militia before being released. CBS reported that one journalist was beaten. Slovyansk is strategically key because Ukraine has a huge stockpile of automatic rifles and other light weapons near the city, according to a commentary Friday for Britain's Royal United Services Institute defense think-tank. "Today, Kiev has upped the ante in the standoff and will test Russian resolve to prevent the Ukrainian government from regaining control of the city and its light weapons stockpile," the think-tank authors wrote. Turchynov said some government troops and police in eastern Ukraine were "either helping or cooperating with terrorist organizations." He said Ukrainian forces were working to prevent the unrest from spreading other areas. At Russia's request, the U.N. Security Council met in an emergency session Friday on Ukraine. "Russia ... has released bands of thugs on Ukraine ... and is suddenly discovering this mixture might escape its control," French ambassador Gerard Araud said.

Ukraine, a nation of 46 million, is torn between those in the west who favor closer ties with Europe and many Russian-speakers in the east who look toward Moscow. Separatists who have seized government buildings in at least 10 eastern cities amid fears that Moscow is seeking a pretext to invade or annex more territory like it did with Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March.

The peace deal in Geneva last month aimed to get those who had seized government buildings in Ukraine to leave and calm down the tensions that have prompted the United States and the European Union to slap Russia with rounds of sanctions.

^ It's clear to everyone in the thinking world that these attacks and take-overs are carefully planned (with men and weapons) from Russia. These are not simple citizens that take their pitch folks and start demonstrating against something they see as wrong these are well-trained, well-equipped soldiers being used by Russia to create violence and trouble in the Ukraine so Russia can say "See, the new Kyiv Government can't keep the peace so we are coming in." The Ukraine has every right to use the power of force against people who are attacking, killing and kidnapping. Russia does the same on its territory (ie Chechnya, Moscow, Beslan) so there's no difference in the Ukraine. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/ukraine-launches-offensive-against-separatists-dozens-die-in-odessa-1.281149

POW Change

From the Stars and Stripes:

"WWII vets detained in Switzerland finally get POW status"

Alva Moss was 20 when his World War II B-24 bomber took fire over Allach, Germany. He and the crew were forced to bail out over Switzerland, an officially neutral country during the war. With his legs filled with shrapnel, Sgt. Moss parachuted into a tree, where Swiss police would later find him. He was put up in a resort hotel in the Swiss Alps, fed military rations and offered the best of Swiss medical care. He would have to wait out the war there in internment, Swiss and U.S. officials said.

But Moss wanted to return to the front lines. As soon as he was healthy, he jumped out a window with a group of British airmen and headed for the border, hopping trains and dodging police on his way back to his unit, which was stationed at an airport just across the Italian border. But border guards caught up to him, and Moss was shipped to Wauwilermoos Prison Camp. There he lived the life of a POW, becoming part of a little known piece of WWII history. He and 160 other Americans held at the camp were never officially recognized as prisoners of war because Switzerland was not at war with the United States. On Wednesday, however, the Department of Defense made a correction. It awarded the United States Prisoner of War Medal to the eight surviving prisoners of Wauwilermoos camp. They were among 143 honored. Gen. Mark Welsh III, Air Force chief of staff, teared up as he pinned the medals on the airmen, now in their late 80s and 90s. Some were in wheelchairs, or hunched over metal walkers as they made their way to Welsh. Along with Moss, the living veterans honored were James Misuraca, James Moran, Paul Gambaiana, James Mahon, John Fox, William Blackburn and George Thursby. Staff Sgt. Joseph Sinitsky was honored posthumously, along with 134 others. (The remaining airmen have yet to have their status fully verified.) "This is a great time for us," Moss said Wednesday, his medal gleaming from the lapel of his suit jacket. "Everyone was together again and there were no slackers." Their recognition was the result of an extended campaign by Maj. Dwight Mears, who started the project as a West Point doctoral student. Now he teaches history there. Mears culled records from U.S. and Swiss archives to show that conditions at Wauwilermoos were analogous to camps elsewhere. Mears' effort was also personal: His grandfather had been imprisoned at Wauwilermoos. They were men trapped in a diplomatic gray zone. How could they be prisoners of war in a neutral country? And they were among men under suspicion. At one point during the war, U.S. officials suspected that those airmen who ended up in neutral countries were deserting the military in favor of internment. A total of 1,570 American airmen were interned in Switzerland. But there and in Sweden, the numbers grew so large that U.S. officials feared they were facing a morale crisis. In May 1944, William Corcoran, the U.S. Consul in Sweden, submitted a report suggesting that airmen were "openly expressing opposition to further service." The military launched an investigation that showed the doubts were unfounded. Mears found evidence of more than 1,000 escape attempts. In Wauwilermoos, airmen fled though being caught meant being sent to solitary confinement. After the ceremony, Mears read from a letter written by Sinitsky. It turns out that Wauwilermoos also housed the country's worst convicts. The camp was run by a renegade Swiss military officer and Nazi sympathizer. According to Mears, the prison was an aberration. While the Swiss Army and the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross were busy monitoring POW conditions in other countries, few efforts were taken to ensure humane conditions in Switzerland, Mears said. "Nobody was inspecting them, and they were not inspecting themselves," said Mears, whose grandfather was one of the men honored Wednesday.

^ It is good that the Military is finally fixing this after nearly 70 years. Even though countries like Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Spain and Portugal claim to be neutral during the war they really weren't. Switzerland allowed the Germans to use Swiss territory to send troops to fight the Allies as well as Jews and other prisoners to the death and concentration camps. The Swiss also took cold and other valuables from the Nazis that they knew came from being looted (some from the mouths of the dead.) The Swiss were more anti-Semitic too as they made the Germans distinguish between who was a Jew and who wasn't. That's why the Germans put the "J" in Jewish passports. The Swiss would allow the Germans to enter and would refuse the Jews. The Swiss have slowly been made to account for some of their actions during the war (it took decades for the international community to force Switzerland to open their bank accounts from that era - - most belonged to either Nazis or stolen from Jews.) It seems that with what the Swiss did during the war the Allied soldiers who were imprisoned there should be officially seen as POWs. War may not have been officially declared, but the Swiss clearly sided with the Germans. It should also be noted that the US hasn't officially declared war on anyone since 1941 and yet the soldiers captured in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are considered POWs. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/air-force/wwii-vets-detained-in-switzerland-finally-get-pow-status-1.280925

Zero Translation

From the BBC:

"Why some English words are controversial in China"

Nowadays, if you eavesdrop on Chinese people's phone conversations, it is commonplace to hear English phrases popping up here and there, like "Okay", "Cool" and "Bye bye".  In today's Chinese publications, English abbreviations and acronyms also pop up frequently without any Chinese translations: GDP, WTO, Wifi, CEO, MBA, VIP and the air pollutant term PM2.5 are among the most popular.  This phenomenon, termed "zero translation", has sparked a fierce debate, with the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper People's Daily the latest to join the fray.  "Why is zero translation so prevalent?" screams the headline in a recent commentary piece, citing as a bad example the text below, which considers the merits of an open source platform. "采用了基于OpenEdX开源平台，开发了HTML5视频播放器，不再依赖国外课程播放首选的YouTube，解决了国内用户无法访问国外edX平台问题。" "Why do we have translations for Nokia and Motorola, but not for iPhone or iPad?" ask the authors.  What irritates them is the fact that these foreign terms are found not only in newspapers and online, but in serious science journals as well. They claim that such practices damage the integrity and harmony of the Chinese language, dilute the richness of the Chinese culture and hamper comprehension. "How many people can understand these words?" they ask.  To put this in context - the Chinese language has over the years absorbed many foreign terms, especially English words. Early adoptions include 雷达 (leida) for "radar", 坦克 (tanke) for "tank", and 巧克力 (qiaokeli) for "chocolate".  Coca-Cola, whose Chinese rendition 可口可乐 (kekou kele) literally means "tasty and jolly", conveys a sense of euphoria that it is often held up as the best brand translation.  Unlike the "bad example text", these words and many others have been given Chinese characters so they blend into the Chinese language. The problem now, the commentators claim, is that English words are used directly along with Chinese, without any translations. And there are many reasons why. More and more Chinese people speak English and they like to switch between Chinese and English in conversation or when they write. The internet has helped spread English, especially in the fields of innovation and technology, while popular US and British films and TV dramas have also played a part. The three authors of the People's Daily piece also cite worship of Western culture and technology, the scarcity of good translators and laziness as possible causes.

This is not the first time that attempts to purify the Chinese language have sparked national debate. US basketball is very popular in China and "NBA" was used on TV for many years before the authorities decided to ban it in 2010, in favour of the Chinese rendition 美职篮 (mei zhi lan), which literally means American professional basketball instead.  This proved very controversial. In 2012, the Modern Chinese Dictionary, long considered the authority in language use, included NBA and more than 200 other foreign words in its new edition, and NBA made its way back on TV. Around 100 scholars then signed an open letter to the national publication authorities, accusing the dictionary editors of violating Chinese laws and regulations. They argued that including such English terms and abbreviations in the Chinese dictionary would do long-term damage to the language. Not everybody agreed. The official Xinhua news agency carried a piece by Zhang Kuixing wondering how the use of some English vocabulary in a dictionary could be against the law if the language was legal in China.

The author argued that a dictionary should reflect usage; and since terms such as NBA were already in common use, inclusion in the dictionary simply reflected reality.  Others said the ultimate aim of language was communication, and a language should not shut out foreign words. A dictionary, they argued, should provide references of language use and help readers. Fast forward to 2014 - and linguistic use has become heavily politicised again, with People's Daily blaming "a lack of pride and confidence in one's own culture and language, which leads to blindly worshipping anything Western". The idea would be for all foreign words to have proper Chinese translations: experts would be able to submit their translations for public consultation and trial use before they became official. People would even vote for their favourite translations. There has been a sharp reaction on Chinese social media. Some have posted long-winded Chinese passages to show how inconvenient it would be to dispense with the English usage.  Others have questioned the point in learning foreign languages if they are not put to good use.  There has even been a suggestion that the title of Chinese state television, CCTV, should be banned. It is, after all, an English abbreviation.  This looks like the start of a long battle.

^ I do not believe that "brand" names like: "Nokia," "McDonalds," "NBA," etc should be translated into any language, but foreign words like: "weekend," "computer," etc should be as they are not proper names. I know that in Russia they follow my way on thinking for the most part (although many foreign businesses include the brand name and the translated equivalent.) I remember seeing the Golden Arches and seeing "McDonald's" in English and then also "Макдо́налдс" in Cyrillic. Of course that isn't a great translation because it translates McDonald's as MacDonalds and that is a separate name (Mc vs Mac - just ask anyone in Scotland.) I also know that the Language Police of Quebec Province did to go after companies like "Dunkin' Doughnuts" and "McDonald's" to take off the ' from their signs and that is just dumb because, as I already said, it is a brand name. ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27216910

Conscription Needed

From the BBC:

"Ukraine reinstates conscription as crisis deepens"

Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has reinstated military conscription to deal with deteriorating security in the east of the country.  The move, announced in a decree, came as pro-Russia militants seized the regional prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Donetsk. Ukraine blames Russia for organising the seizures of a number of offices in the east, a claim Moscow denies. Some 40,000 Russian troops are stationed near the Ukrainian border. Mr Turchynov admitted on Wednesday that his forces were "helpless" to quell the unrest in some parts of the east, saying the goal was now to prevent it from spreading.  He also said Ukraine was on "full combat alert", amid fears that Russian troops could invade.  On Thursday, his office said in a statement that conscription was being introduced "given the deteriorating situation in the east and the south... the rising force of armed pro-Russian units and the taking of public administration buildings... which threaten territorial integrity". BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Kiev's decision is, in the short-term at least, a symbolic step as the Ukrainian military has been starved of cash for years and is no match for what Russia has on its borders.  The real battle for control of Ukrainian territory is already under way and Kiev is losing ground, he adds. Analysts say Ukraine has 130,000 personnel in its armed forces that could be boosted to about one million with reservists. Kiev scrapped compulsory military service for young men in late 2013 under a law introduced by then President Viktor Yanukovych.

At the time, Mr Yanukovych said Ukraine would introduce military reforms to create "a professional army". In Donetsk on Thursday, pro-Russian militants attacked the prosecutor's office, accusing those inside of siding with the government in Kiev. The crowd later forced its way into the building, stripping weapons and shields from police officers.  Many attackers chanted "Fascists! Fascists!". There were reports of injuries on both sides. One policeman running away from the prosecutor's office told the BBC's Steve Rosenberg: "How on earth can we deal with this kind of thing?" Donetsk, an industrial hub of more than one million people, has seen a number of government offices seized in recent weeks.  Eastern Ukraine has a large Russian-speaking population and was a stronghold for Mr Yanukovych before he was overthrown by protesters in February. Russia then annexed the Crimean peninsula - part of Ukraine but with a Russian-speaking majority - in a move that provoked international outrage. The crisis has plunged East-West relations to their lowest point since the Cold War. On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Russia in a phone call to President Vladimir Putin to help free foreign monitors held in eastern Ukraine. The military observers were seized by pro-Russia separatists at a checkpoint in the flashpoint town of Sloviansk last Friday. For his part, Mr Putin reiterated his call for Kiev to withdraw troops from the south-east to open the way for a national dialogue.

^ I have long said that the only two countries that still need conscription today are South Korea and Israel. South Korea because North Korea continues to threaten and bomb Southern territory and Israel because most Arab/Muslim countries (except Turkey, Jordan and Egypt) continue to call for the complete destruction of Israel and the Jewish people and still sent bombs, missiles, etc. I have now added the Ukraine to my list since Russia invaded and still occupies part of the country and threatens the rest of the country. I know that even with conscription the Ukraine is no match for the Russian military, but at least it is a symbolic move that continues to show the Ukrainian peoples readiness to stand up for their freedom and that "David vs Goliath" mentality brings more of the world closer to the Ukraine than to Russia. ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27247428

M'aidez!

From MT:

"May Day Rally Brings 100,000 Russians to Moscow's Red Square"

Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era on Thursday, with workers holding banners proclaiming support for President Vladimir Putin after the seizure of territory from neighboring Ukraine. Thousands of trade unionists marched with Russian flags and flags of Putin's ruling United Russia party onto the giant square beneath the Kremlin walls, past the red granite mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin. Many banners displayed traditional slogans for the annual workers' holiday, like: "Peace, Labor, May.” But others were more directly political, alluding to the crisis in neighboring former Soviet republic Ukraine, where Russian troops seized and annexed the Crimean peninsula in March, precipitating the biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War. "I am proud of my country," read one. "Putin is right," said another. Unlike Kremlin leaders in Soviet times, Putin did not personally preside at the parade from atop the mausoleum. But he carried out another Soviet-era tradition by awarding "Hero of Labor" medals to five workers at a ceremony in the Kremlin. He revived the Stalin-era award a year ago. Putin has described the breakup of the Soviet Union as a tragedy and overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy in March by declaring Russia's right to intervene in former Soviet countries to protect Russian speakers. Laws have been changed to make it easier for Russia to annex territory from other former Soviet states and for inhabitants of other parts of the old Soviet Union to get Russian citizenship. Since the annexation of Crimea, pro-Moscow gunmen have seized territory in eastern Ukraine and Putin has massed tens of thousands of troops on the frontier. He denies he is planning an invasion but proclaims the right to launch one if necessary to defend Russian speakers.

May Day, always an important date in the Soviet calendar and still a major holiday for Russians, has been marked by rallies in other parts of Moscow since the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991, but until now parades were kept off Red Square. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin told Rossiya 24 TV from Red Square that more than 100,000 people had marched through it. Russian television also showed footage of a May Day parade in Crimea's capital Simferopol, with Russian flags and banners reading "Crimea is Russia. Welcome home." "We are sure that the current patriotic uplift in Crimea will spill over into the whole Russian Federation," Interfax news agency quoted Crimea's pro-Moscow leader Sergei Aksyonov as telling journalists. Russia seized the peninsula last month after a pro-Russian Ukrainian president was toppled in February. The U.S and EU accuse Moscow of directing the uprising in south-eastern parts of Ukraine and have imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and companies. The sanctions, while not hitting Russia's industry directly, have hurt the economy by scaring investors into pulling out capital. The International Monetary Fund cut its outlook for Russian 2014 economic growth this to just 0.2 percent on Wednesday and said Russia was already "experiencing recession.” But at home, the intervention in Ukraine has been enormously popular. One opinion poll on Wednesday showed 82 percent support for Putin, his highest rating since 2010. But not all Muscovites were so impressed. "Today isn't a particularly special holiday, it's just a nice spring day, and people are happy to have an opportunity to celebrate," said historian Kirill Strakhov, 31, speaking on another square near Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. "The authorities are trying to drum up support by encouraging patriotic feelings. They ignore the fact that there are many difficult economic and geopolitical problems associated with the unification of Crimea." Putin has also revived the Soviet-era practice of staging massive displays of military firepower on Red Square to mark May 9, the allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, one of the most important days in the Soviet and Russian calendars. Central Moscow streets have been partially closed in recent days as tanks and mobile rocket launchers rehearse for that parade next week.

^ Today is May Day (historically "M'aidez" - used by captains and pilots in distress calling for help.) It doesn't surprise me that Russia has reintroduced the old Soviet May Day parade. I attended a Victory Day parade and it was pretty pathetic. The weapons and machines were decades old. I don't believe that the majority of people participating or watching the parade did so out of patriotic fever, but because they had to. Back in Soviet times people were forced to attend these kinds of things (schools, factories, etc were closed and attendance was taken.) ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/may-day-rally-brings-100000-russians-to-moscows-red-square/499316.html