The Italian-French Founder of Charlie Hebdo

January 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Fascinating sub-story at Bloomberg on the attacked magazine, Charlie Hebdo….
Perhaps you did not find Charlie Hebdo, the Paris satirical weekly attacked by terrorists on Wednesday, all that funny. That’s only natural: People in different countries laugh at different jokes and have varying tolerance for irreverence, offensiveness and plain grossness. As the French magazine, notwithstanding all it’s suffered, prepares to print a million copies of its next issue —  17 times its usual run — it’s important to note that it comes from a European tradition much broader than the French brand of satirical slapstick it most employs, and has at its roots a personal story as tortured as the continent’s recent history.

Francois Cavanna was the publication’s founding editor in chief, back when it was called Hara-Kiri. He was the one who renamed it Charlie Hebdo in 1970, after Hara-Kiri was banned for publishing this cover, which used the death of Charles de Gaulle to spoof press coverage of a nightclub fire that took 146 lives. (“Tragic Ball at Colombey, One Dead,” read the coverline.)

Cavanna was the son of an Italian immigrant mason. He grew up in a poor eastern suburb of Paris, taunted by French nationalists but in love with the French language. He didn’t get to make it his profession until much later.

In 1943, at the age of 20, he was sent by the Nazis to Germany to work in an ordnance factory in Treptow, now part of Berlin … Read ALL

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Muslim War On Terror

January 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Contrary to commentators on both sides of the Atlantic, there has been significant Muslim push-back against the crimes being carried out in its name.  Here is Juan Cole, a close observer.

When American commentators like Carl Bernstein complain that Muslim authorities have not sufficiently denounced the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris, they show a profound ignorance of the current situation in the Middle East.

The fact is that both governments of Muslim-majority countries and the chief religious institutions have been engaged in a vigorous war on religious extremism for some time.  See ALL

As he also says, one of the purported assassins, now dead himself, is said to have attributed his motivation to turn to weapons to what he saw in the world:

… Benyettou took them on the internet, and showed them images from Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq. Sharif said, “It was everything I saw on the television, the torture at Abu Ghraib prison, all that, which motivated me.”

Which of course does not excuse his actions but is surely a way to begin what every theorist of war, indeed of human behavior, says is of vital importance — knowing the other.

Non Muslims could surely help Muslims in reversing the surge of terror by understanding such motives and taking steps to make them lose force.

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Cartoonists Respond

January 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Cartoon Charlie HebdoFrom Cartooning For Peace dot Org  (see more in upper right corner)

PARIS, Jan 8 2015 (IPS) – “They are cowards who react to satire by going for their Kalashnikovs.” That was how renowned French cartoonist Plantu described the killers of 10 media workers and two policemen in Paris Wednesday. MORE at Informed Comment

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Dangerous Escalation in the Ukraine

August 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment

It is not far from my mind how WW I began, 100 years ago: Austria marched its troops into Serbia in retaliation, the King said, for Serbia’s role in supporting the suicide-terrorists who had assassinated the soon-to-be king, Archduke Franz Joseph. With the “Teutons” marching on the “Slavs,” Russian felt obliged to mobilize; with the “Slavs” [“this unorganized Asiatic mass”] in motion the Germans, with militarism the guiding light of the Kaiser and his general Moltke, were happy to oblige — and marched into Russia, and of course France who was vowed to help the Russians.

Now again, troops are crossing borders.  After weeks of threats, bluffs and massing on the border, it seems that Russia has sent two columns into the Ukraine — against the express wishes of that government.

The Russian military has moved artillery units manned by Russian personnel inside Ukrainian territory in recent days and is using them to fire at Ukrainian forces, NATO officials said on Friday.

The West has long accused Russia of supporting the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, but this is the first time it has said it had evidence of the direct involvement of the Russian military.

The Russian move represents a significant escalation of the Kremlin’s involvement in the fighting there and comes as a convoy of Russian trucks with humanitarian provisions has crossed into Ukrainian territory without Kiev’s permission.

Artillery into the Ukraine

And neither NATO nor the Europeans seem to have an idea how to respond.  Putin sees an advantage and not yet, enough downside to cease and desist.  What, short of armed resistance, will upend the equation to signal Russian/Putin loss instead of gain?

German Prime Minister Angela Merkel [Global Post] is to arrive in Kiev on Saturday, perhaps more persuaded than last time she was there, that serious economic measures have to be taken against Russia.

“We are in the process of a fundamental change in how we see Russia,” [Stefan Meister of the German Council on Foreign Relations.] said in a telephone interview. “You have to understand the policy of the last 20-25 years has failed.”

That policy, marked by regular personal interactions between Merkel and Putin, was intended to nudge and cajole the former communist state to adopt democratic reforms through ever-greater economic ties.

But as the Ukraine crisis has escalated, especially after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, Merkel has steadily taken an ever-stronger stance and now appears to have won support for broad economic sanctions from the once-reluctant German business community.

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Vienna on the March, Gaily

June 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment

I’m probably glad I missed this event in Vienna, not being a huge fan of huge crowds.  We left on Tuesday the 10th. just in time for the festivities to begin.

Vienna-Gay-Pride-2012-1

More than 150,000 people took part in the 18th edition of the Vienna gay pride parade this weekend.

The organiser Christian Högl of the Vienna homosexual initiative (HOSI) said this edition of the parade which saw masses of people travel around Vienna’s Ring road was one of the most successful to date.

The parade was lead by the Pride Boys and Pride Girls, followed by a mixture of trucks, motorbikes and various pedestrian groups.

The costumes this year included everything from naked skin to overall latex-costumes from queens and angels. Rainbow body paint was also very popular this year.

Even in the party atmosphere and the sunshine, participants made very clear they were protesting against discrimination against homosexual and transgender individuals under the motto “United in Pride”.

There were divided opinions amongst the spectators along the Ring. One woman said: “I came by chance. I actually wanted to go to the museum. I just don’t understand their requests.”

A Swiss tourist on the other hand said: “I am enjoying the day.”

Vienna Times

But all was not gay. In fact a lesbian Member of the European Parliament in attendance was attacked with a stinking but not corrosive acid.

Austria’s Green MEP Ulrike Lunacek has spoken of her disappointment following a butyric acid attack on her at Vienna’s gay pride on Saturday. Vienna Times

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Vienna Massive Police Presence

June 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment

We landed in Vienna today and during our first walk around the massive Stephanplatz walking area noticed a few police vans, then a few more, then dozens.  We walked towards the even more massive Heidenplatz to see more and more vans, in caravans or arrayed along streets, each filled with 6 police in complete armor, from boot shields to hard helmets.  WTF?

Crowds of strollers hardly seemed to notice.  Was such an event normal or is it protective coloration not to stare at police?  A few we asked had no more idea than we did.  Was a head of state arriving?  A helicopter hovered, its sharp, irritating hum filling every street.

Vienna Police

It turns out a demonstration of right-wing fraternities had been promised, and along with it, counter demonstrations from the left.

A group of Austrian right-wing student fraternities known as the Burschenschaften will be marching in Vienna today. Several counter demonstrations are planned, and police are urging restraint.

According to a report in the Heute newspaper, 500 members of the academic Burschenschaften of the Wiener Korporationsring (WKR) have registered with police to march a planned route on Wednesday, starting at 5pm at Josephsplatz.

The Local – Austria’s News in English

 

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On Those “Lazy” Greeks….

June 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

From Paul Krugman, the day after the squeaker election on Sunday:

  …many things you hear about Greece just aren’t true. The Greeks aren’t lazy — on the contrary, they work longer hours than almost anyone else in Europe, and much longer hours than the Germans in particular. Nor does Greece have a runaway welfare state, as conservatives like to claim; social expenditure as a percentage of G.D.P., the standard measure of the size of the welfare state, is substantially lower in Greece than in, say, Sweden or Germany, countries that have so far weathered the European crisis pretty well.

So how did Greece get into so much trouble? Blame the euro.

And, as he says at the end, the election “ended up settling nothing.”  Or, it kicked the can further down the road.  Baring a miracle far greater than multiplying loaves for a few thousand, a reckoning will come due, well within our life-times.

Markets rejoicing short lived.

Kicking the Can.

for more Krugman, here’s some couched praise by Economist writer, Matthew Bishop of Krugman’s new book: End This Depression Now!

Longtime readers of Krugman will know there are at least two of him. One is the gifted winner of the Nobel in economic science, respected throughout the academy for his mastery of the dismal science; the other, the populist polemicist and baiter of the right who writes columns in The New York Times. “End This Depression Now!” is a collaborative effort by the two Krugmen. Professor Krugman usefully contributes plenty of mainstream economics in support of his stimulus plan and in order to debunk the idea that austerity policies in today’s circumstances can boost an economy by increasing confidence. (As he points out, Britain, the leading country to embrace austerity voluntarily, is hardly setting the world on fire.) Yet no opportunity to preach to the choir is missed by the populist Mr. Krugman, nor any chance to mock those he calls the “Very Serious People” who disagree with him.

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That Bailout Money for Greece? Hah!

May 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Once again the adage is proven: when trouble is brewing, protect your own. In this case, bankers protecting bankers with the aid of the bankers’ closest allies – their governments….

Its membership in the euro currency union hanging in the balance, Greece continues to receive billions of euros in emergency assistance from a so-called troika of lenders overseeing its bailout.

But almost none of the money is going to the Greek government to pay for vital public services. Instead, it is flowing directly back into the troika’s pockets.

The European bailout of 130 billion euros ($163.4 billion) that was supposed to buy time for Greece is mainly servicing only the interest on the country’s debt — while the Greek economy continues to struggle.

… the money dispensed by the troika — the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fundand the European Commission — comes from European taxpayers, many of whom are increasingly wary of the political disarray that has afflicted Athens and clouded the future of the euro zone.

As they pay themselves, though, the troika members are also withholding other funds intended to keep the Greek government in operation.

Alderman and Ewing in NY Times

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