Poland

Krakow was great. Lots of restaurants and things to do without the sense that it was all about the tourists. I suppose that may be because they don't get as many visitors as Prague or Budapest, but there was more of a feeling that people were just going about their lives with normal jobs.

Auschwitz was strangely unsettling, and not in the way that you might expect. It is very green, a lot of trees have grown up around the barracks and I couldn't escape the feeling that, were it not for the knowledge as to what had gone on there, you would not feel out of place having a family picnic on the lawn. This was less true of Birkenau (where more people were actually murdered), but it still didn't have the same impact on me as I would have expected. Ultimately, I think the fact is that the pictures from that time and the memoirs of the survivors are just so disturbing that the site of the camp today was never going to have as significant an effect on me. The one exception would be the room of shoes. Seeing children's little sandals and women's stylish high heeled shoes made the fact that this happened to regular people, with otherwise normal lives a lot more clear.

Warsaw is not an attractive city, it seems to fall somewhere in between Detroit and Cleveland in the looks department... but in its defense it was bombed to smithereens by the Nazis and then run by communists for fifty years. Its old city seems somewhat artificial, having largely been rebuilt after the war.

The rest of Eastern Europe had left me unprepared for the Poles. They are far more outgoing, friendly and helpful. When a woman in the Krakow train station realised I didn't speak Polish, she decided that I was utterly helpless (or at least I gather that this is what she had decided... she didn't speak a word of English and so just spoke slowly and yelled at me in Polish) and would not rest until she saw me get on my train (for my part I was very nervous to get on the train until I confirmed for myself it was indeed the one Warsaw.... they leave every hour on the hour and this train was waiting at the platform 40 minutes early... I had no desire to end up in St. Petersburg). She then refused to allow me to carry my own bags and started ordering around male travellers to help me.

The rest of my journey had also left me completely unprepared for the men of Poland. Or rather, Warsaw. Walking to my hotel from the train station, I had a number of men try to speak to me in Polish. They were all very old men (father, bordering on grandfather age). Since I don't speak any Polish, I don't really know if they were just being friendly or trying to be "friendly". But it is my general experience that friendly types don't stare at your chest when they are talking to you.

People staring at my chest I can handle. My final day in Poland I was walking from my hotel to the subway at 11 o'clock in the morning. A guy came up to me and started talking at me in Polish. Obviously I had no clue what he was saying. "Sorry, I don't speak Polish". Unlike the old men he didn't walk away. He looked sort of confused for a moment and said "erm, sex?". Apparently, standing there in my jeans and t-shirt I looked like a Polish prostitute. He didn't seem to want to take no for an answer so I got away as quickly as I could. I was ready for home.

At Budapest Keleti Station I Ran Around and Cried; Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Utah

The trains between Berlin and Prague and Prague and Budapest had been completely effortless. They were comfortable, largely on time and figuring out where you were supposed to go was all very simple. Budapest is not Berlin or Prague. For a start, when I had bought my ticket at the station, rather than getting a nice printout with my train numbers listed on it like I had everywhere else, I got a handwritten ticket with the names only of my connections. I wasn't concerned... I would find the information I needed from the departures board. I arrived at the station a little after 6 in the morning for my 6:50 train. Nothing past 6:30 was yet listed. So I stood around thinking my connection would appear. A few minutes later, I was starting to get concerned, other trains were starting to get listed, but nothing that appeared to be mine. I was to connect in Breclaw. The Polish town of Wroclaw is referred to as Breslau by the Germans (the 'c' sounding sort of like an 's' and all that) and so I assumed that was where I was headed. A little knowledge (Wroclaw/Breslau) is a dangerous thing. No trains listed were headed to Poland or anywhere in that general direction that I could see. I needed to ask someone. All of the information booths were closed. I am now running around the station trying to find anyone who can help me. Nope. No one speaks English and anyone who does has no clue. Finally, I find a ticket booth that is open. I am supposed to be headed to Hamburg. The train is now about to leave. The tracks are not in any sort of order that would suggest that their counting system originated on planet earth. I figure out where I am supposed to be and run across the station to face a wall of people getting off my train. I am at this point a clearly panicked girl all on her own screaming "excuse me" but these people are Europeans and they are not about to move just because I am having a bad morning. They have centuries of history to be moody about and human decency isn't their thing. The train starts to move and it is now obvious that I am not going to be making this train.

I return to the desk to ask if there is another train to Krakow. Not until 22:00 (have I mentioned yet that I hate the 24 hour clock?). Now I am worried, I have a hotel booked in Krakow and I really don't want to give up a day in Poland as I have so little time there as it is. I am upset and I am crying (with the perspective of time, I will acknowledge that there was never any danger, it was always going to get sorted out, but I was tired, alone in a foreign city and no one was being in any way helpful....). There is no internet cafe open in the station and the tourist offices aren't open yet either. I call my mummy (who is of course very worried to be woken up at 1 a.m.). She is trying to find bus information on the internet (unfortunately, her Hungarian is not as strong as it could be), I am trying to call the bus company (the person who answered the phone responded "I am not tourist info, hello, goodbye" in a way that suggested either she worked for the bus company but not in reservations, or she had no relationship with the bus company and her phone number had been listed in the tourist book by mistake and I wasn't the first person who had called asking). Now, by this point, I had largely resigned myself to taking the overnight train, but I was really not happy about it. I had barely slept the night before as it was, and I really wanted to get to Krakow.

Time passes and eventually the hostel office with the internet cafe opens. I start looking for possible connections to Krakow. There is a train at 10:50. Basically the same route except one extra connection in Katowice. This one stops in Breclaw too. Breclaw, Czech Republic (aka Breclav, Czech Republic). It seems I was always supposed to be headed that way, which would explain the whole Hamburg thing. I return to the same woman at the ticket booth. "Hello, it seems that there is a train after ten with connections to Krakow". "Yes, it is at 10:50, it stops in Breclaw and Katowice." She says without looking it up. Now, at no point in my earlier conversation with her had she said. "Well, there is a train, but you're going to have to make two transfers." Cos if she had, I would have heard it. Yes, my ticket would work, it will appear as the train to Berlin. The fact that I now had my problem solved made me happy enough that it overrode my murderous rage and so I am not writing this from a prison in Budapest.

Relieved that I now have to just sit around for a while, I go find something to eat. Everything is meaty. People are eating shwarma and drinking beer at 8 o'clock in the morning. I find pastries. Plain croissants. Can't go wrong with plain croissants. I order two. I find a the one space on the floor of the station that isn't covered in pigeon shit and sit down(there were two benches in the whole station and they were occupied). I tear into the first, chew eat the pastry-y goodness, look down and see that there is a hot dog in the middle of my croissant. Why? Who wants this? And what is wrong with these people? All of a sudden, there are no homeless people around to give food to. So I go back and get some with jam instead, I'll have to just trust that there was no meat in the jam.

My train finally arrives, I'm going to be in Krakow too late to do anything, but at least I'll get a good night's sleep. A porter looks at my ticket and directs me to a seat (usually I would have avoided him, but the thought of having someone help me with my bag was too good to pass up at that point in time). Nothing appeared unusual about my seat. I am enjoying my ride (although passport came by twice within a five minute period... no wonder these people have so many wars!). The guy comes by to check my ticket and it appears I was put into first class by my helpful (well compensated) porter. So I move. Seriously people, don't pay for first class, it's the same (I suppose if you are tall, there is a little bit more leg room).

Next station, all is well (clean, computerized departures board). I went and bought some snacks and there were two American women in store behind me who I thought I recognized from my train. As I am sat eating my sandwich I see one of them approach the exchange office because they didn't have any koruna to pay for their food. I can hear that the woman is having problems and the guy will only convert larger bills. I try to interject that I have quite a few koruna left and can probably help. She doesn't hear me so it was too late, but her sister heard my accent and came over. She had seen me on the train when the ticket guy made me move, we started to chat. She is clearly very relieved to hear an English speaker. She and her sister (travelling from Utah) have also had a fun morning. They were on our train only to discover that the travel agents had screwed up their tickets. Although their itineraries were correct, the tickets themselves were for Moscow. They were about to get kicked off the train (the ticket guy just kept telling them to "go back to Budapest"), despite having offered to buy the tickets on board, when a Czech passenger intervened and resolved the situation. So they were now waiting for their transfer too. We decided to stick together (they were now nervous about train travel, I was just so glad to talk to friendly people with no obvious historical chip on their shoulder). They were also planning to go to Auschwitz, so lots to talk about. I share my booklet from the Torture House (they missed it), they teach me Sudoku tricks.... all is right with the world.

Our train is delayed by 5 minutes. Then ten. At our next transfer we had about 20 minutes, so provided everything goes smoothly from that point on we would be okay. We arrive at Katowice with a couple of minutes until our connection arrives. But which track to be on? We find the connection from the printout on the wall and start to go down the stairs to get to the other platform when I notice that the train is pulling into the station. Apparently at this point I yell "Oh my God, it's here!!!!" in a particularly loud voice (I have no recollection of doing so, but I have to admit it sounds like me). We start to run and make it to the train just in time. The people in the station clearly think we are mad as we are now laughing hysterically at the ridiculousness of our day. We are North Americans, we have a new emotion. It is called happiness.

Budapest in a day

So unfortunately, world "sporting" events (the Grand Prix) made it so that arriving in Budapest any earlier would have been exorbitantly expensive and thus I had to get through it in little less than a day and a half.

Budapest is a strange town. From a distance everything looks amazing, huge old buildings, castles, churches, a citadel, hills, a beautiful old parliament. But if you get too close to anything it will likely have grafitti on it. Clearly, there is a poverty problem, and more than anywhere else I constantly had homeless people approaching me (there was an old woman on a bridge who stood completely hunched over leaning on a cane... and maybe I'm just a cynic but I immediately assumed she was fake. If she were really in that bad a state, why didn't she sit down?). The relationship between poverty and facial hair on women needs to be examined, because I have never seen more old women with beards in my life. Then again, I found people to be generally better dressed than in the other cities on my trip (far less manpris with socks).

My morning in Budapest began with a tour of the Donany Street Synagogue, which is the largest Synagogue in Europe. It has an interesting history and basically survived the war largely unscathed structurally because it was used by the Nazis for various purposes (stables, organizing the transport of Jews, etc.). It was also the centre of the ghetto and holds a mass grave of those that died there during the brief period of the Budapest ghetto (the Jewish cemetaries were outside its walls).

After wandering around the Jewish quarter for a while, I decided to play up my new status as that girl and decided to take a boat tour (it seemed silly to miss up a chance to sail along the Danube). It was a great way to see the city, with the hills of Buda rising up over the river. Plus, there were two drinks included with the price of the ticket, how could I resist?!

I then walked across the Chain Bridge to Buda (very difficult for me... the Charles Bridge in Prague was easy because there was no traffic and was so solid I was almost unaware that I was walking across a bridge... I'm not so much afraid of heights as I am falling off of things or dropping things over ledges... it's a weird phobia and hard to describe. I have tried and cannot walk across the Brooklyn Bridge) and took the Funicular Railway (not as big as the one in Prague unfortunately) up Castle Hill. I wasn't as impressed with this Castle Hill as the one in Prague and it seemed like a lot of buildings were recently or in the process of being renovated and therefore they looked strangely new even though they are hundreds of years old, but the view of Pest from the hill was spectacular.

I spent the evening wandering around the centre of the city. There were lots of tourists from all over the place (i.e. not just German) and it seemed the one area that they have really spent the time and money to clean up is the shopping district. Lots of cafes and open air dining everywhere and again, little trouble as a vegetarian which is always nice. And then off to bed because I was leaving for Krakow at 6:50 the next morning. Or was I?......

Postcards

In all the fun of my journey from London to Berlin, I managed to lose my list of everyones addresses. So, if you were expecting to receive a postcard from me, but haven't, it's not personal (I also failed to mail some of my London postcards in the rush and so there's a stack I'll send out next Saturday when I get back to England... at least I have addresses for people whose London cards didn't get sent). If you would like to start receiving postcards, just send me an e-mail with your address and you can get the contents of my blog sent to you by post! With pretty pictures! And illegible handwriting!

Budapest

It’s not that I would say Central Europeans are unfriendly, but the first (non-American) person who smiled at me in a week was a little mentally disabled girl in the park at Terezin and her mother literally snatched her away by her face in response.

From my afternoon in Budapest, it seems that people don’t necessarily share quite the same loathe-thy-neighbour attitude as people in Berlin and Prague. I thought I sensed a change when I stepped off the train and was immediately descended upon by people asking me for money, offering to convert my money, and trying to get me to take their cab. Sure they’re not being friendly, but it does require that they acknowledge your presence. In Prague the beggars sit in a prayer position, forehead on ground, cap in front of them… no need to talk. Don’t get me wrong, no one has smiled, but someone did help me carry my luggage onto the tram and the security guard at the museum told me that I would need to hurry up if I wanted to see the whole exhibit (and he meant it in a nice way, he legitimately seemed concerned that I wouldn’t get through everything).

My first outing in Budapest was to the Terror House, located in the former headquarters of the Hungarian secret police, under both the Nazis and the Communists. It was one of the stranger museums that I have been in. Visually, it is quite appealing (perhaps the wrong term, but they do create an powerful effect). You go through a series of themed rooms that reflect the various eras of repression in 20th century Hungarian history (but largely centered around the 1940s and 50s). The rooms are quite bare, and there is very little text as a formal part of the exhibit. To supplement the lack of description, they have added a fully automated audio tour. The only problem is that the audio is linked to the room that you are standing in and the segments are anywhere up to 15 minutes each (with no option to fast forward). If you step over the line (sometimes the rooms aren't clearly delineated) it starts again from scratch. Because of that, I did learn quite a bit about Hungarian history (and I knew a reasonable amount to start with), but it did lead to me wandering around the same room again and again waiting for the segment to end. They have also recreated the prison cells of the victims of state torture and that part of the exhibit in particular was quite chilling.

Since I was only settled in at my hotel at four o'clock, that exhibit took up most of my first day in Budapest. I did wander around a bit, and there are some beautiful buildings, but I haven't been able to form too much of an impression yet. I have a packed day ahead of me tomorrow as it is my only full day here. I'll let you know how it goes.

Praha!

(The title of this post will be funny to one person on earth... the rest of you will assume I'm just being my usual pretentious self).

The highlight of my final day in Berlin was going up to the domed roof of the Reichstag building. If the Canadian parliament was anywhere near as attractive, I might actually make the trip to Ottawa (might!).

The train to Prague was rather uneventful except for having to get up at 5:30 to catch the early train. We travelled through some rather beautiful country, and also some awful post-communist towns.

After getting settled in my hotel, I walked over to Wenceslas Sqaure... which is a complete and utter lie.... If I'm being generous it's a rectangle... in reality it is part of a street that happens to have a statue at the top of it. It is very touristy, full of fast food and places to change money (think the Yonge Street strip only with older buildings and alleyways). I began to grow concerned that Prague wasn't going to be as good as everyone had told me. I then walked up to Prague Castle and my fears dissipated. The view from the castle -- to say nothing of the castle grounds themselves -- is absolutely phenomenal. Unfortunately, as I was taking in the view, the torrential rains started. Despite having an umbrella, I was getting absolutely soaked. It was too late in the day to go to any museums, so I thought that my first day in Prague would be a wash. I started to head back to the centre of town from where I planned to return to my hotel and then figure out somewhere to go for dinner. Luckily, just as I was coming out of the subway, I saw an ad for Don Giovanni which is playing at its original theatre as part of Prague's celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. I'm not a huge opera fan (I have a problem with that whole suspension of disbelief thing), and Don Giovanni wouldn't necessarily be my choice, but this seemed like an opportunity that likely wasn't going to come up again. It was a great evening, the theatre alone made it worth the while (if you've seen Amadeus, it's that theatre), but the performance was very good as well.

This morning I walked across the Charles Bridge, which was absolutely packed with tourists (and understandably so) and then wandered through Mala Strana (the "Little Quarter") which is all windy streets and centuries old buildings (the odd church or fifty thrown in for good measure). I ended up back at the castle and went into the gardens (if you are looking for a new location for your workout the castle grounds might be something to consider... it takes a lot of steep steps to get views that good).

I then joined a tour group for a walk through the Old Jewish Quarter. It was largely demolished at the end of the 19th century, but there are still a number of old synagogues, the jewish cemetery (which is high above street level as it is many layers deep with bodies buried on top of bodies) and the Jewish city hall with a Hebrew clock that runs counter clockwise. Much of the rest of the day was spent walking around the streets of the old city. I had planned to take the furnicular railway up to Petrin, because it apparently offers yet another fantastic view of the city (and has a tower modelled on the Eiffel Tower, but at one fifth the size), but it is currently closed for repairs.

Tomorrow I'm taking a trip about an hour north to Terezin (known to the Germans, and thus the world, as Theresienstadt) to view the Nazi concentration camp which served as a transit camp for Central European Jews en route to Auschwitz and other death camps (and which they dressed up for visitors, leading to the rave reviews from the Red Cross).

K-Fed in Berlin?

I feel the need to report on what I have found in Berlin. It isn't pretty, and you may not want to hear it, but I feel it is important to be completely honest with you.

Men in Berlin.... they wear manpris. Not just the occasional wannabe hipster, but everyone. Young and old, rich and poor, white.... okay, just white people. For example, your dad? If he was German he'd have a pair of manpris. "Oh, please, as if!" I hear you scream. No really. He would. And worse than that, he'd wear them with socks. And sandals.

Lemon in Berlin: Day Two

When I said that the Neue Nationalgallerie was guaranteed to please, I assumed that they hadn't taken all the art out. When I arrived yesterday, I discovered that they had removed the regular collection to make way for a Berlin/Tokyo exhibit. Now called me paranoid, but when the Germans start taking art from the Wiemar period out of the galleries and instead start celebrating their relationship with Japan, I get worried. I gave the exhibit a miss (although I did briefly consider it, if only to discover how creepy guys in Berlin who claim to be fascinated with Japanese culture because they find the women hot differ from creepy guys in Toronto who claim to be fascinated with Japanese culture because they find the women hot).

I ended up taking a bus tour of the city, because I have now officially become that girl. It confirmed what I had already been thinking about the city: although there is a lot of beautiful architecture in Berlin, both old and new, it doesn't result in a beautiful city because everything is so spread out. You never really get a sense of neigbhourhood.

Although it gave me an opportunity to see the city, it seems riding around on an open topped bus all afternoon without a hat gave me a mild case of sunstroke. I was back in my hotel room by around 7 o'clock. Oh well, at least I got a good night's rest.

Lemon in Berlin

After my exhausing day yesterday (re-reading the post it doesn't sound all that bad, but believe me at the time it was horrible) I planned to take it relatively easy today, see a few sights and maybe check out a museum. I went and saw Brandenburg Gate (forgetting the camera in the hotel room... so I bought a disposable one), had some lunch and decided I'd go check out the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.

It was an interesting place, at first it seemed like it was going to be quite small. But there are lots of rooms off of rooms and I ended up being in there for over two hours. It is not at all like the museums you might find in North America... it was far more personal and political (in addition to the stuff about the wall itself there is a room devoted to Gandhi and non-violent struggle). It's hard to believe it hasn't yet been given the full scholarly treatment. The exhibit is all translated into a number of languages, but the translations (at least into English) were quite bad (aside from a number of grammatical errors, it resulted in actual errors in fact as when it said someone had been imprisoned for 11 years when in German it said months). While I think that it could perhaps benefit from a curators touch, it was a nice change from the cold retelling of history you often receive at these places.

After that, I thought I was done for the day. I was going to head over to the Reichstag and go up to the glassed dome. But then I noticed that the Jewish Museum was only a few minutes away. Today it was a good job that I was travelling alone. One of the great things about Berlin is that most of the museums are open quite late, which means that you don't have to worry about rushing through them. Which means that I got to spend over 4 hours at the Jewish Museum. It was by far the best museum I have ever been in. You enter from the old museum building, but from inside you pass into a new building that was opened a few years ago, and was designed by Daniel Libeskind specially for the purpose. You enter underground into a series of interconnected hallways that represent exile (which leads to a garden that is on a strange angle, so you feel quite disoriented), the Holocaust (which leads into a very haunting tower) and continuity (which leads to the main exhibit). This part of the museum was very good, and I feared that the rest would not live up to it. But I was happily suprised by the main exhibit, which did a very good job of mixing memory and history and was laid out in such a way that it was easy to pass through the exhibit and get the main story, or go down different pathways and get a more detailed history. Even the special Freud exhibit (which confirmed that I have no patience for Freud) was very interesting and cleverly told with a number of multi-media displays.

Tomorrow I am planning on the Neue Nationalgalerie which seems guaranteed to please, dedicated as it is to early 20th Century German and other European art. I'll let you know how it goes.

At Paddington Station I Sat Down and Cried; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love EasyJet

My flight to Berlin was scheduled for 6:50 p.m. yesterday, so I had time to see a few more things before I left London. In the morning I went to Portobello Rd to the market. When I arrived I discovered that it is closed on Sundays (well planned Lemon), but even "closed" there were a fair number of stalls open.

Getting bored rather rapidly with the market, I decided to go to the British Museum. I looked around for a while, and went to see the Elgin Marbles (excuse me, Parthenon Statues), mostly just to be able to say that I have (having almost no interest in Greek history or civilization). They had free tours, so I went to see the African Exhibit (I will confess it was the only one on offer at that time).

Having done all of this, I now had a little over four hours until my flight. If everything went perfectly, I would have been at the Luton Airport 3 hours before my flight. I did not expect everything to go right, so I gave myself the extra time. Things did not go to plan. Ladies and gentlemen, I will spare you the details but basically: the underground line I needed was closed, the buses weren't where they were supposed to be, traffic was congested, the trains were in the wrong station, the train was delayed, I just missed the shuttle, my cabdriver was slow and there was a traffic jam at the airport. I arrived at Luton about 5 minutes after check-in. The girl at the counter apologised and said that there was nothing she could do, I would need to go to the other desk and arrange for another flight. Needless to say, I was very upset. The guy at the desk explained that there were no other flights out that night. A perfect end to a perfect day. He started to process something, and was explaining what to do next. Then he suddenly looked up at me and paused. He called someone on the phone and said something unintelligible and then "I'll send her over". I was to return to the check in desk immediately and then run upstairs to the gate. I didn't pause to ask questions. They took me to the front of the line, checked my bags and sent me upstairs. I got through security rather quickly and looked (as I had been told to do) for my gate number (Luton is a "silent terminal" without any announcements... or any people around to ask questions of). Beside the flight to Berlin it just said 'wait in lounge'. It seems that my flight had been delayed and that was the reason that they had been able to check me in. Within five minutes we had been assigned a gate, and all was right with the world. It seems lots of people had also been late, as there were all sorts of problems with airport transportation... the bus from London having been held up for hours due to some protest or other. EasyJet may be a discount airline, but their staff are very friendly and the plane ride itself was very smooth.

Sadly, my journey was not yet over. I didn't want anymore transportation problems, so I asked from the airport which train I should take to my hotel (it seemed obvious to me, but I didn't want to be guessing wrong). The woman showed me the way and I boarded the train. When I got out of the station, none of the street names seemed to match the one's on my map. I had the directions and a map to the hotel, but no phone number to call them. I am stood there staring at my map in a not very pleasant looking part of town at about one o'clock in the morning in a city I've never been to before. A woman (I'll say hooker with a heart of gold, but she may just have been a dancer) approached me to ask if she could help. She spoke very little English, I speak no German (danke, bitte or guten tag not really seeming appropriate for the moment), but she managed to get across that my hotel was a little ways away, hailed me a cab and told me how much it should cost. The cab driver was concerned that I was a friend of hers (I have never come closer to hitting someone in my life)... he didn't speak much English either so I was unable to communicate to him that he was an asshole... and I didn't particularly want to be kicked out of a cab in a strange city (I have since learned that I was sent to the wrong station... at least two others being much closer).

I arrived at my hotel, settled myself in, and opened the mini-bar. There in front of me was a bottle of Schweppes Bitter Lemon. I was home.

Election Eve in DR Congo

Tomorrow the Congolese will be voting in parliamentary elections. There has been controversy from the start, from the advantage Joseph Kabila has because of the promise of stability if he remains in power to the claims of ballot fraud. Nevertheless, the elections offer a glimmer of hope for the Congolese people and I can only hope that they are successful, and that any violence is kept to a minimum (it is perhaps to much to hope for none at all).

Lemon's Last Night in London

(The title of this post is technically a lie since I shall be back for the evening on the 12th).

Another fun day in London. The weather has been very good throughout (whoulda thunk I'd get a tan in England). I walked through Hyde Park (giving the Diana Memorial Fountain a miss) to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Unfortunately, the Modernism Exhibit I was hoping to see ended earlier this week. It is a very nice building, so I looked around anyway (one good thing about London is that even though everything else is obscenely expensive, the museums are free... no thanks to Thatcher I'm sure!) -- deciding against the Che Guevera Exhibit. I then walked around a bit and ended up in Harrod's (going in and quickly out again -- I can say I've been, but at the end of the day it's a department store with a creepy wax statue of Mohammed al-Fayed in the middle of it).

I eventually made it over to the Tate Modern, I wanted to see it but didn't have my hopes set too high because contemporary art isn't really my thing (at heart I'm an old-fashioned lass). Luckily, they had just the right amount of German Expressionism to hold my interest (including a Max Beckmann, which always makes my day -- They also had a Kandinsky exhibit which I skipped, because my interest doesn't extend to Russian expressionists it seems). The newer stuff was also quite interesting.

My trip would not have been complete without a visit to the bookstores on Charing Cross. It is (supposedly) not what it used to be (Thatcher!), but I still managed to make a few purchases.

I will credit the Lonely Planet Guide for dinner at a great vegetarian restaurant: Eat and Two Veg. (Veggie) Bangers and Mash, finished off with Bread and Butter Pudding. London is vegetarian heaven, and I suspect I have been spoilt as I head off to Central Europe where I fear even the water will come with a side of pork.

London has been great, and I have no doubt I will be back for a longer visit sometime in the near future.

I Hate My Travelling Companion

Setting off the one thing I knew was that I was giving up some things by travelling alone: shared experience, an active nightlife (I'm not opposed to drinking alone, but there's a difference between wine with dinner and sitting in a pub by yourself getting trashed) and having someone to blame when I get lost. However, the one thing I knew was that there wouldn't be any disagreements. I would spend the day as I liked, without having to worry about whether I was boring someone else to tears. Nonetheless, there has been a constant irritant on this trip: The Lonely Planet Guide. I recognize it is all my fault. I chose to buy the used copy of Lonely Planet at BMV, rather than shelling out full price for the Rough Guide or Time Out or any of the other travel guides available. I have a newsflash for the people at Lonely Planet: Baroness Thatcher has been out of office since 1990 and is now a very feeble old lady. Why do I feel the need to point this out? Because Lonely Planet seems incapable of missing an opportunity to comment on how Mags destroyed (the very vibrant city of) London. It is boring, it is over a decade out of date, and is completely meaningless to most travellers. Most of the people making use of these this guide were likely in diapers when she was Prime Minister.

Want to go to the museum? Fine but be aware that if it were up to Thatcher and her ilk, there wouldn't be any art in England and they would have turned all the cultural centres into concentration camps for the poor. Taking advantage of any of the services that London has to offer? Remember to curse the Thatcherites for almost getting rid of them. Shopping? Well that particular souless activity is only possible because Thatcher's policies ensured that Britain had a vital economy. Damn her!

Lemon in London: Day Two

Back in my local cyber-cafe (which is also a video rental) to check in.

Today was great. I started off at the Tate. I got the opportunity to see one of my favourite paintings of all time, so that set the day off on the right note.

I decided to take one of those hop-on-hop-off bus tours (I know, it pains me just saying it). I don't want to be that girl but seriously, London is a huge city and I don't want to get back and have everyone say so did you see [fill in name of what you are interested in here] and have to admit that I missed it ('cos, let's face it, I'll always be that girl).

Then to the Imperial War Museum where I had one of the more amusing moments of my trip so far. I walk in and the guy inspects my bag. He was very friendly and asked the reason for my visit today. I said I just wanted to look around. Not buying it for a minute, he said "because it takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to tour the Holocaust Exhibit, and the museum closes in an hour and a half". Do I have an aura of holocaust? So I showed him and went and saw the Crimes Against Humanity Exhibit instead! (Part of which was narrated by Michael Ignatieff, reinforcing that the man is wasting his life running for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada). The Homefront During the War part of the WW2 Exhibit (the actual reason I went to the war museum) was pretty good too.

More theatre tonight with Sam Shepherd's Fool For Love with Juliette Lewis. I quite enjoyed it (you couldn't even tell she's a Scientologist).

Anyway, I'm off to go read a newspaper now. This cafe is closing and I've heard that the world didn't actually stop revolving just because I'm on vacation!

Lemon in London

Having a great time in London. My hotel is in a lovely neighbourhood, but has perhaps the world's smallest elevator (it claims it accomodates 4 people -- maybe a woman and her 3 very small children), it's the one time in my life that I'm glad I'm not a tall person.

I spent most of my day yesterday just wandering the city and learning how to navigate the underground. It's always great being in a city where you take a wrong turn and there is still lots to see.

Last night I went to the National Theatre for Mike Leigh's play Two Thousand Years (a major part of the plot is a family -- a Mike Leigh family -- coming to terms with the fact that their son wants to become a practicing Jew .... I really do thank whoever it was who decided this play should be commissioned just because I was coming for a visit!).

I have absolutely no idea what is going on in the world, except the English are up in arms because everyone's gas bill is going up... and there was a power failure in the West End yesterday. This must be what it's like to be a regular person.

And now it's off to the Tate...

I'm off to find myself (let's hope I'm in Europe or this will be a massive waste of time)

Only 24 hours until I set off on my trip. I first fly to London, then it's off to Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Krakow and Warsaw. I think I've packed my entire wardrobe (no backpacker I) and yet I'm sure I'll forget something.

I will try to blog while away, to at least keep you posted on my travels, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how that turns out. The thought of being away from the internet for more than a few hours makes me break out in hives, so it seems unlikely that I won't post at least a couple of times.

Mitteleuropa here I come!

It is true that my breasts are bigger than your brains... your mistake is in assuming that this is a comment on MY intelligence

For no reason. I was just in the mood for some Kipling:

The Female of the Species

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husbands, each confirms the other's tale—
The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man, a bear in most relations—worm and savage otherwise,—
Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise.
Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact
To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act.

Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low,
To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe.
Mirth obscene diverts his anger—Doubt and Pity oft perplex
Him in dealing with an issue—to the scandal of The Sex!

But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame
Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same;
And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail,
The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.

She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest.
These be purely male diversions—not in these her honour dwells—
She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else.

She can bring no more to living than the powers that make her great
As the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of the Mate.
And when Babe and Man are lacking and she strides unclaimed to claim
Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same.

She is wedded to convictions—in default of grosser ties;
Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies!—
He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild,
Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

Unprovoked and awful charges—even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish—like the Jesuit with the squaw!

So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands
To some God of Abstract Justice—which no woman understands.

And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.

Bill Graham Comes Out of the Closet (as pro-Iran... what other closet would I mean?)

Bill Graham, who didn't even return from vacation when it was discovered during his time as Foreign Affairs Minister that the Iranian government murdered a Canadian citizen, now feels that he somehow has the moral authority to tell Stephen Harper how to behave. Apparently, by supporting the democratic state of Israel over the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, Bill feels Harper is damaging Canada's chances of playing peacemaker in the region.

Now, long time readers of this blog will know that Bill isn't my favourite MP, but this was always because I thought he had a sort of incompentence that I find indecent in anyone in a position of power (to the extent the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister can be considered a position of power). Now I realise that he wasn't incompetent in dealing with the Zahra Kazemi situation, he just backs the other side.

Israel and Hezbollah

I've been trying to post for the past couple of days on this topic and have been unable to find the right words to express my thoughts. My mood has been vacillating somewhere between "can't we all just get along?" and "can't we just bomb the whole region to smithereens so there's nothing left to fight over?".

That about sums it up.

Terror in Mumbai

At least 179 people were murdered in a series of train bombings in India today. No group has yet claimed responsbility for the attacks, but it is suspected that it is the work of Islamist militants who claim Kashmir as their cause.

The Times would like to remind you, in a sentence dangling pointlessly at the end of this article: "India is increasingly allied with the United States, but it has resisted invitations to join the United States-led war in Iraq." Which is strange, because, as we all know, the U.S. led war against Iraq is the only reason that terrorism exists. It is the reason for London, the reason for Madrid and the reason for 9/11. What's that? The war hadn't started on 9/11? Oh, well then, that must have been about Palestine. Whatever it is, the terrorists have legitimate grievances and we would all do our best to understand them.

I'm sure that the people of India will try to keep that in mind as they mourn their dead.

Miraculously, I managed to post this without the use of a Mac

If I didn't already hate Mac culture and everything it represents (they're the multinational corporation with the indie cred! Sure Bill Gates has the whole "philanthropy" thing going for him, but Gandhi would have used a Mac!), their newest ads would have done it for me.

Seth Stevenson's Ad Report a few weeks back did a good job of summing up what is wrong with the campaign: they're condescending, the Mac guy is unlikeable, and the claims that PCs are hard to use are far-fetched to say the least.

I was pleased to find this Best Week Ever parody that allows the PC user to give a more realistic response to Mac guy.

(via Stereogum)

A perfectly normal Sunday

I am not upset. I do not think that Zidane surrendered as the French are wont to do. In the normal course events, I should never have been paying attention to sports in the first place. So I won't. How about that Federer, eh? Four Wimbledons in a row.

The Continuing Violence in Darfur

UN Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, says that the situation in Darfur has worsened since the peace deal was signed two months ago. Unbelievable! It seems that you can't end violence with a lot of empty rhetoric and a piece of paper. The parties involved might actually need to be committed to peace rather than being genocidal maniacs.

The fact that people such as Mr. Pronk continue to have any faith whatsoever in the Sudanese regime doesn't help matters. There is no way that the situation in Darfur can be resolved without force. Continuing to send U.N. representatives to the region is nothing more than a waste of time and money.

Library Thing

For many years, I have been meaning to catalogue my books. It seemed like the right thing to do, but it also seemed like a tremendous amount of work. You would think, since I'm in library school, that this would be the sort of thing that might be fun for me, but it's always a matter of finding the time. Then along came LibraryThing. I discovered it last night via Bookslut, who describe it as "MySpace for people who are over 16 and can spell".

In addition to being a really easy way to catalogue your books (it searches the Library of Congress, the various Amazons and a number of libraries), it also offers the possibility to connect to other people's libraries and offers recommendations based on what others are reading. You can format and view your list in multiple ways, tag your books, and it even has a pretty little author cloud so you can see who dominates your collection (Elie Wiesel stands out in mine). None of these things are revolutionary on their own, but brought together it is a wonderful tool.

I haven't yet completed cataloguing my collection, although in about an hour last night I managed to add 400 books to my list. It is fun going through your collection and thinking back to all the different literary phases in your life ("serious reader", "early Jew", "late teen existentialism", "post-9/11 catch up"). Interesting tidbit: I used to actually read fiction. On a regular basis.

From what I've seen so far, I highly recommend it. It is yet another reason to be glad that we live in the age of the information super highway.

Islamist Extremists?!

For the past few weeks, it seemed that the media was willing to give the Islamist militias in Somalia the benefit of the doubt. They were reaching out to convince the world that they weren't extremists, they were supposedly bringing stability to a country that has known only chaos for over a decade and, of course, it is important for the media to maintain impartiality in such matters.

But now the news out of Mogadishu is that the extremist Islamist extremists have wrested power from the moderate Islamist extremists. It seems that Hassan Dahir Aweys, who has been appointed head of the militias in Mogadishu, is considered a terrorist with al-Qaeda connections. That's the sort of thing that is hard to ignore for too long.

I won't pretend that stability isn't important. It is very hard to build a future on the chaos brought on by unending war. That having been said, stability is not the only thing that matters. I would think that we have seen enough of dictatorships in Africa, and their disastrous effects, to not herald their arrival. Furthermore, given all that has happened so far this century, is it asking too much that the world respond with at least a healthy dose of skepticism when Islamists promise moderation?

The World Cup is Over

With Italy's victory over Germany today, I think it is safe to say that my interest in the World Cup is officially gone. Now it is simply a matter of who I want to lose the least. While I can't actually support France (God forbid!), I suppose I would want to see them victorious over Portugal or Italy. For one thing, Martyloo has been so good about supporting England with us, so it would be rude not to support France now that any half-way decent country is out. But more to the point, I just can't face living in downtown Toronto if either Portugal or Italy win. It is just too painful. I am a sore loser, and this is why I should never attempt to follow professional sport of any kind.

Bitter Lemon is Unreliable

I apologise for not posting for the past week, I've been out of town. Since I had my laptop, I had intended to blog while I was away. But the best laid plans and all that...

Elections in DR Congo

The people of Congo are preparing for their upcoming elections. There has been lot of debate about whether democracy can provide the most stable government in developing countries with troubled pasts. But after years of colonial rule, kleptocracy and incompetent leaders, I think it's fair to say that the Congolese have given the alternatives a chance. No one is pretending that the move toward democracy is going to be easy, the polling alone will be a challenge:

...[the ballots] will be distributed to Congo's 10 provinces by U.N. planes, then taken to polling stations by car or bicycle, by boat down the Congo River or on foot. Some of the 53,000 polling stations are so remote that election workers will have to walk for 10 days down jungle paths to deliver the ballots.

But it is a step forward. And for many Congolese, it is the first time in their lives that they have had reason to be hopeful for the future of their nation.

I'm sure CTV will pick up Coronation St.

A new Senate report has recommended that the CBC revert to a commercial-free format, with taxpayers making up the loss in revenue. The reason? In its current format the CBC is attempting to provide programming that appeals to Canadians. If it were to receive more public funding, it could stop worrying about its audience and make more programming that appealed to television critics and those who work for the CBC, Canadians who really matter.

It is 2006, Canadians have more media choices than ever before (and would have more if we got rid of the CRTC). The idea that we need the government to provide us with news and entertainment is ridiculous. It sounds to me like it is time for a new specialty channel that will cater to the needs of those people who want the quality programming that the CBC would offer if only they didn't have to worry about chasing the ratings. They can pay for it out of their own pockets, like everyone else does.

Saddam is Hungry

The thing about hunger strikes is that they really only work when people don't want you to die. Maybe it's just me, but non-violent resistance doesn't seem as meaningful when you are on trial for genocide.

I believe you Omar

I subscribe to a number of Sudan news alerts. At least a few times each week for the past couple of months, I have received messages that the Sudanese government has announced that they will not allow U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. It is true that I tend to doubt the word of genocidal regimes, but when genocidal regimes are saying that they won't allow anyone to come in and stop the killing, I give them the benefit of the doubt and take them at their word.

I just received a news alert from CNN that al-Bashir has stated once again - "his strongest rejection yet" - that he won't allow U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur:

"This shall never take place," al-Bashir said of the U.N. deployment. "These are colonial forces, and we will not accept colonial forces coming into the country."

Since the president of Sudan has accused the United Nations of being a colonial body, I think it is fair to say that he is never ever going to allow U.N. troops into his country. Since the Security Council is not going to send troops without Sudanese permission, it is (long past) time to stop pretending that there is anything that they can do. Nations who oppose genocide need to step up and act outside the U.N. Sovereignty has no meaning when you're slaughtering your own citizens.

Politics at the World Cup

Watching the Ghana-Czech Republic match on Saturday we were all a little perplexed when one of the Ghanaian players pulled out an Israeli flag at the end. Was he taking a stand against the fact that Israel is considered Europe for FIFA purposes? Is he an Ghanaian Jew? Has the Zionist Occupation Government expanded its reach to football?

Marty-loo was on the case and has just sent me this article. It seems John Pantsil plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv and was just thanking his Israeli fans who were there to support him. How nice. No big deal right? Well, the Ghanaian Football Association doesn't seem to think so. They have issued an apology saying that he didn't mean to take sides in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute and that he is "naive" and "unaware of international politics". Because not hating Israel is a political statement that Ghana does not feel comfortable making (why couldn't Ghana have been in Iran's group?).

While we're on the topic of being naive when it comes to international affairs, is it really appropriate to apologise for displaying the Israeli flag when playing in Germany? "We apologise for seeming to be pro-Israel, we understand you have had some problems with the Jews in the past."

Update: It seems that the Zionist Occupation Government has reached the World Cup. There was outrage in Egypt about Pantsil's display of the flag. The Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram knows that there is more to the flag display than mere gratitude to Israeli fans:

“The real reason,” sports analyst Hassan el-Mestekawi wrote, stems from the fact that many Ghanaian players go through football training camps set up by an Israeli coach who “discovered the treasure of African talent, and abused the poverty of the continent’s children” with the ultimate goal of selling them off to European clubs.

“The training program for these children starts every morning with a salute to the Israeli flag,” Mestekawi claimed.

And then the Israelis connived their way in to the European Zone so that they would never make it to the World Cup. Those Zionists sure are devious!

Isn't there an order for these things?

Charges are expected to be filed in the International Criminal Court against people responsible for the attrocities in Darfur.

Now, call me old fashioned, but isn't it traditional to at least attempt to put a stop to a criminal's behaviour before you start to prosecute? Just a thought.

In Praise of The Atlantic

This month's Atlantic finally arrived in my mailbox today. I have been eagerly anticipating this issue, with everyone talking about the timely cover article on al-Zarqawi by Mary Anne Weaver (even though I did not love her book on Pakistan) . I thought about reading that article on-line, but there is something to be said for being able to curl up with a good magazine. The truth is that I always eagerly anticipate the arrival of The Atlantic (this is the summer double issue, so now I have to wait two months for another). It is, for me, the perfect magazine. They can do no wrong. Whereas everyone else complained bitterly when they largely abandoned short fiction last year, I was very happy with the decision as it was the only section that I consistently skipped. Similarly, when they moved their editorial offices from Boston to Washington, DC, I was delighted (for them, seriously, no one should ever have to live in Boston).

How can one not love a magazine with book reviews by Christopher Hitchens, obituaries by Mark Steyn and reporting by men like Mark Bowden (Guests of the Ayatollah was great and I would never have thought to read it were it not excerpted in the Atlantic), Robert D. Kaplan and (until he jumped ship to Vanity Fair recently), William Langewiesche? Politics, foreign affairs, culture and art, it's all there.

I will confess to being a bit of a magazine junkie, but while I enjoy The New Yorker and the Economist, they sometimes receive only a quick scan, most months I barely touch Vanity Fair (although William Langewiesche's arrival may change that) and Foreign Affairs always is always received with a sense that I will never find the time to get through it. But the arrival of the Atlantic always fills me with nothing but a sense of joy and anticipation of what this month's issue will bring.

Anyway, enough of this pointless rambling. I have some reading to do.

Germany v. Poland

People tend to be surprised that I am in any way interested in the World Cup, given my dislike of all sport (with the possible exception of slalom kayaking). But, I love a world event. And being able to cheer on one country over another is so much fun for me that I am willing to watch grown men kick a ball around a pitch for an hour and a half.

I have no special insights into the game (although I have noticed that far too much attention is given to ball possession, if anything I'd say teams do better when they have less possession), but I pick my teams based on my feelings about the nation. So, for example, I was cheering for Iran the other day, because I feel nothing for Mexico but have a certain fondness for the Iranian people and have dreams of their victory bringing the mullocracy crumbling down. Angola v. Portugal? Obviously you cheer for the former colony rather than their colonial masters. Argentina v. Cote D'Ivoire? Well, the Ivoirians aren't a bunch of filthy cheats have had a tough time lately and you want good things for them.

But today's Poland v. Germany match is a tough one. If I base it on their histories (from the pre-Napoleonic era to the modern day), I should very clearly be cheering for the Poles. And yet strangely, I find myself supporting the Germans. I can't explain it rationally but I just want them to win. I tell myself that it's because I'll be in Berlin in a few weeks and the Germans will be in such good spirits if they won at home. But I know this can't really be true because: a) Even if they beat the Poles today, their odds of winning the whole thing are still not great and b) I have never in my life cared if other people are in good spirits.

So I have no idea why I feel this way. But go Germany, go!

Update: Germany 1 - 0 Poland.

"German supersub Neuville breaks Poland's hearts in stoppage time". I feel guilty enough already, but they have to rub it in!

Our Islamist Friends in Mogadishu

Residents of Mogadishu are saying that the Islamist militia that has taken control of the city have been closing cinemas that have been showing World Cup matches.

Their spokesman has responded that they are only closing cinemas that are showing movies made by the infidels in Hollywood and Bollywood.

Well that's alright then. And here I was worried that the world was going to stand by while crazed Taliban-like militias took control in Somalia.

I particularly like the evenhanded tone in which this article is written, giving the Islamists the opportunity to defend themselves against accusations that they were denying Somalis the right to watch sports when really they are only denying them the right to watch movies (for now). God bless the Beeb.

Canada? High profile case? Do I hear publication ban?

Well, who didn't see this coming a mile off? A justice of the peace has imposed a publication ban on the proceedings against the Toronto terrorism suspects.

I appreciate that there may be issues of national security which may need to be considered (although that does not appear to be what motivated it), but a blanket publication ban seems unnecessary. I'm not sure at what point it was decided that there is no need for transparency in our justice system. It seems that any time there is a case in this country that might actually receive some public scrutiny, the courts decide that we won't get the opportunity. The public and the media has been far too tolerant of this limit on free speech in the past. This trial is too important to be held behind closed doors. Canadians must demand that the courts be publicly accountable, it is the only way to ensure that the system is functioning as it should.

Fußball

Just over half an hour until the World Cup starts. For those of you stuck at work today, they're live blogging the first match over at World Cup Blog.

It's Time to Put Larry out to Pasture

Last week Larry King interviewed Anderson Cooper. At one point, while discussing his brother's suicide, he cut Anderson off mid-sentence to ask him if, when his brother jumped out of a window, he landed on the pavement, on an awning or on top of a car.

Tonight he was interviewing Nick Berg's father about the death of al-Zarqawi. He asked him if he ever received his son's remains. Mr. Berg was visibly upset by the topic, but Larry just kept pressing.

Seriously, what is wrong with this man? At first I thought maybe he was just showing a complete and utter lack of tact, but now I wonder. Either Larry King is the most incompetent (possibly senile) interviewer on this planet or he is a cruel son of a bitch. Either way, it's time for CNN to get rid of him.

Learning From Past Mistakes

Apparently, officials in the American government think that the covert C.I.A. operations in Somalia failed.

If only there had been another failed state from which they could have learned this lesson, maybe a Muslim nation in which the C.I.A. supported warlords who fought one another for the support of a population that still had strong tribal ties. But where on earth would you find another place like that?

And Man Is He Pissed That There Were No Virgins Waiting

Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi has been killed in Iraq.

No, this won't end the violence in Iraq, but it is very good news nonetheless.

The 90s are back to haunt us again

The next time someone gets all nostalgic for the 1990s, please do me a favour and punch them in face. We are led to believe that they were a better time, the Cold War had ended, we weren't yet living under the threat of terrorism, the economy was doing well, there were record surpluses (nothing warms my heart quite like governments turning profits) and it was the golden age of the United Nations. All of which is great, if you happen to be partial to fairy tales. Because the 1990s that I recall were an absolutely horrific decade, filled with genocide, civil wars, the ignored threat of terrorism and failed or failing states.

Which brings us to.... Somalia. Remember it? The country on the Horn of Africa with no functioning government since 1991. The West decided to get involved in the early 1990s, but then we learned the hard way that it takes more than food aid to solve a nation's problems, went home and pretended that Somalia never existed in the first place. Funny thing is, despite our best efforts to erase the memory of failed states, they have a nasty habit of reminding us that they exist.

Yesterday, an Islamic militia took control of Mogadishu. People are already making comparisons to the Taliban. Now, as little faith as have in humanity, I would like to believe that we're not actually stupid enough to sit idly by while they let Al Qaeda set up training camps in Somalia (though really there is no historical foundation for this belief). But clearly the threat posed by this new development cannot be ignored.

Perhaps we could take this as further evidence of the fact that, while the costs of being involved in the world are high, the costs of sitting by while states fall apart are potentially much higher.

(Failed) Terrorists Arrested in Toronto

As I am sure you have heard by now, 17 people have been arrested in the GTA on suspicion of plotting terrorists attacks.

Thankfully, law enforcement efforts managed to capture these men before they were able to harm anyone. Hopefully, this will help Canadians to understand that the threat from Islamist terror is real.

Having your genitals mutilated is bad for your health

A new study has found that female genital mutilation (or as the New York Times article so delicately puts it "genital cutting") is dangerous and significantly increases the risks of childbirth for both mother and child.

According to the president of the International Women's Health Coalition: "This should greatly help advocates overcome arguments that genital mutilation is an untouchable cultural practice." Really? Are the same people who think it is okay to remove a girl's clitoris and sew up her labia without the benefit of anathesia or sterile instruments, all in order to protect her virtue, really going to be swayed by medical evidence?

Why do we have to be so politically correct about this issue? If your culture believes that it is necessary to mutilate a girl's body so that she not only derives no pleasure from sex, but that it also becomes torturously painful, then your culture is wrong. Not all societies are equal, those that recognize that women are human beings, with the same rights as men, are superior. Sadly for the young girls who live in these societies, the women's movement has largely abandoned them. For some reason whenever women's rights comes into conflict with traditional cultural practices, culture wins out. Afterall, there are bigger issues to contend with. Somewhere on Bay Street right now, while your life goes on as normal, a rich, well-educated woman could be hitting a glass ceiling!

Personally, I hold George Clooney Responsible for the Genocide

An opinion piece by Alan Kuperman in the New York Times puts some of the blame for the genocide in Sudan on the shoulders of the Save Darfur movement. You see, if the anti-genocide crowd hadn't been so hell bent on supporting the rebels then they would have given in a long time ago and the government in Khartoum wouldn't have had to massacre innocent people. Kuperman believes that, having signed a peace treaty, the Sudanese government should now be allowed to deal with the rebels as they see fit (as long as the observe the laws of war).

There are so many problems with this arguement that I don't quite know where to begin. First of all, I don't think that (as Kuperman suggests) the rebels in Darfur have been portrayed in the West as "freedom fighters". That would be to suggest that there are large numbers of people out there discussing the situation in Sudan as a political one. For the most part, the Save Darfur movement has not discussed resolving the political crisis in Darfur, but simply stopping the Sudanese government from slaughtering their own people. This could have occured without conceding a single rebel demand.

Which brings me to my second concern: Kuperman talks about genocide as though it were a legitimate tactic in war. What else was the Sudanese government to do? A rebel movement developed among the black population in Darfur, this was a threat to the Sudanese government and they had to do what was necessary to protect themselves. If women were systematically raped along the way, well that was just a matter of the Sudanese defending their sovereign rights.

The political situation in Darfur is a complicated one, and I don't presume to have all the answers. However, I do know that there is not a single situation in the history of the world where it was necessary for a government to turn armed militias on their own people knowing that they would be indiscriminantly massacred. No, the rebels are not innocent and their own human rights record should receive full scrutinity and the guilty should be brought to justice. But in order for a state to deserve the recognition of the right to sovereignty it must at least make an effort to protect the lives of its citizens. Not only did Sudan fail to protect the people of Darfur, it targeted them for murder. I remain unconvinced that a child in Darfur should have to die simply because a group that claims to represent her has irresponsible leadership. But then again, I've always been a bit of an idealist.

Allan Gregg Made a Liar Out of Me

Walking to work this morning, I ran into a friend and mentioned that I was going to see David Remnick this evening, something I was much looking forward to. The only downside, I explained, was that he was being interviewed by Allan Gregg. We shared our thoughts about Mr. Gregg and I said that if he showed up in a leather jacket I was going to walk out. Of course, I was kidding. Sure the man lives with the delusion that he has reached the level of celebrity that allows him to wear leather jackets inside and still be taken seriously, but it was 40 degrees out today.

Ladies and gentlemen, Allan Gregg interviewed the editor of The New Yorker in a leather jacket!

I must confess that I stayed for the event. When it came down to it I couldn't miss an opportunity to see David Remnick just because Allan Gregg is an idiot. But I did gain some satisfaction from the fact that the interviewee also seemed to recognize this.

Remnick himself was an excellent speaker. Of course I expected him to be extremely intelligent, but I was impressed by how funny he is. He does seem to have a bit of a tendancy to cut people off before they have completed their thoughts. But anyone who has ever been to an event with an audience Q&A understands that this is really more saving grace than character flaw.

Suu Kyi to Remain Under House Arrest

Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest term ended this weekend, leading some to hope that her detention would end. Of course, the term has been extended. The Burmese military regime is not stupid afterall when it comes to clinging to power.

The fact that people continue to get their hopes up about the behaviour of brutal dictatorships perplexes me. It seems to me that you should always expect the worst of governments that oppress their own people, even while pressuring them to reform. Every once in a while they may surprise you, but only very rarely (I am at a loss to think of a single incident). Otherwise it seems that you are setting yourself up for guaranteed disappointment.

The world continues to fail Darfur

Eric Reeves at The New Republic Online explains why, despite the recent agreements, the U.N. cannot be relied upon to end the genocide in Darfur:

Here, then, is what the people of Darfur are being asked to believe: that a piece of paper signed in Abuja marks a change of heart within a regime of genocidaires that has never abided by any agreement it has ever made with any Sudanese party; that these genocidaires, having been effectively granted veto power over U.N. actions in Darfur, will permit the United Nations to take actions that would end the killing; that Moscow and Beijing, loyal defenders of the National Islamic Front, will soon abandon their old allies in Khartoum and allow U.N. troops to deploy with an appropriate mandate; that, while waiting for a U.N. force that is either not coming or is likely coming without the tools to stop the genocide, an existing African Union mission that has failed to protect Darfuris for two years will suddenly protect them now. In short, they are being asked to accept the genocidal status quo. Never has it been more obvious that only NATO military action can save Darfur. The people of Darfur have been waiting for help for three years. If working through the United Nations is the best the international community has to offer, they will be waiting for a long time to come.

Sadly, it seems unlikely that NATO will act. The political will simply doesn't exist. When the public doesn't care and the media is barely paying attention (recent George Clooney led surge notwithstanding), there is very little motivation for member governments to act.

Ontario: Yours to Discover (by feeling around in the dark)

The Government of Ontario now has TTC ads that say "The eyes are the windows to your soul, but clean hands are the windows to your health" or some such nonsense.

First they de-list eye care, then they call optometrists terrorists and now they belittle the importance of eye health as part of a public health campaign (they are not actually the windows to my soul... but I find them quite helpful when I want to look at things). Seriously what is going over at the Ministry of Health & Handwashing?

Coming soon, a new campaign for summer: "Sunglasses: They're kinda for sissies" and "Brighten up your life: Stare Directly at the Sun!"

My Mind Belongs to Another

I apologise for the fact that, despite promises to the contrary, blogging has been non-existant for the past two weeks. I have been very busy, and have not been able to keep abreast of any topics more mentally taxing than Britney nearly dropping little Sean Preston on his head or the Brandon Davis "Lindsay Lohan is poor and that's disgusting" incident. While I could wax philosophical for hours on these topics, I will spare you.

Turkey Recalls Ambassador to Canada

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Canada because our government acknowledges their nation's genocidal past. Apparently the ambassador will return after a period of "consultation".

Canada should recall our ambassador in response. Their behaviour is unacceptable. They are using diplomatic pressure against us simply because our nation is no longer willing to politely accept Turkish lies about their past.

Of course, it doesn't help that the Canadian media continues to pander to Turkish denials. The Globe and Mail writes that:

"Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed as the Ottoman Empire forced them from eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923 – and that this was a deliberate campaign of genocide by Turkey's rulers at that time."

Yes the Armerians say that, much like Jews "say" that the German government murdered 6 million of their people between 1933 and 1945. You know, because it happens to be true. The fact that the Turks have not admitted to their crimes, does not change the facts of history.

Peace Deal Signed over Darfur

The Sudanese government and the Sudanese Liberation Movement have signed a treaty aimed at ending the fighting in Darfur, although smaller rebel groups have failed to sign the agreement. Time will tell if this will actually improve the situation for the people of the region.

Sadly it's hard to have faith in people who turn armed militias on innocent civilians and target aid workers.

Shall we try for June?

April has passed and Ratko Mladic remains free. No mention yet of an extension, and it may be that the Europeans will actually stick to the deadline this time and freeze talks with Serbia over membership. We'll see.

"Scream for Darfur"

This afternoon I attended the rally for Darfur today in Queen's Park. I must say that I was of mixed feelings about attending. As important as it is that events such as this be held to draw the media's attention to the attrocities (and for that I applaud the young people who organized the event), the fact is that rallies tend to attract large numbers of the well intentioned but uninformed and hippy dippy types for whom a protest in the park is a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. That is not to suggest, of course, that there were not also people in attendance for whom bringing attention to the genocide is profoundly important.


After having attended the event, I remain of mixed feelings. The band that performed as things were getting started were certainly of the uninformed variety. We started with a song for the environment (which, if I do say so myself, does not compare with the song I later composed: "Hug a Tree for Darfur"). "I hope everyone's feeling great here today!". We're here to draw attention to a genocide, just peachy thanks. But they were young and inexperienced, so at least they had an excuse.

The same cannot be said for Olivia Chow, who seemed to use the event as an opportunity to talk up the NDP. Apparently they have cared about the attrocities in Darfur for a long time. This must be part of their very own hidden agenda, because until very recently I don't remember them talking about it at all.

Luckily things began to improve as people who have actually shown a long time commitment to the cause spoke. Representatives of the Darfur Association of Canada, Canadians Against Torture and Slavery in Sudan (CASTS) and the Sudanese Canadian Human Rights Coalition, along with current and former MPs David Kilgour, Irwin Cotler and Maurice Vellacott gave impassioned pleas for action in Darfur.

Acol Dror, co-founder of CASTS, originally from southern Sudan, told her own story of her father's murder by the Sudanese government . Her speech reminded us that Darfur is not the first time that the government in Khartoum has committed attrocities on Sudanese civilians. If the world does not act, it will likely not be the last. Norman Epstein, also of CASTS, spoke about the need to act outside the United Nations if necessary, citing Kosovo as precendent for action against genocide without the Security Council's approval.

Many of the speakers mentioned the sanctions against four Sudanese individuals, pointing out that these actions were grossly insufficient to end the attrocities. Along with providing increased aid, and support on the ground, demands were made to create a no-fly zone over Darfur to protect the citizens against government-sponsored attacks. It was suggested that China should also be brought to task for their support of the Sudanese government, not only working to protect them in the Security Council, but also supplying them with arms. Although it was somewhat gratifying to hear some tangible proposals that could protect the people of Darfur, the question remains who will bother to act.


And then there was Jack. Jack, of course, couldn't miss an opportunity to act the buffoon, literally screaming into the microphone and insisting it is what he'll be doing in the Commons when they discuss Darfur this week (I suppose it couldn't be any less valuable than what he might actually say). I'll be watching for it.

Ken Dryden Hopes to Bring End to Democracy

Ken Dryden has thrown his hat into the Liberal Leadership ring. Why? Because he's mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore.

Apparently Dryden is angry that he spent months working on the Liberal's let-the-government-raise-your-children plan, but then there was an election and the Canadian people decided that they didn't want the Liberals in power any more and so the whole plan was just abandoned. Can you believe it? It's like nobody even cares about how hard poor Kenny worked. Canadians just got to decide at the ballot box who they wanted to represent them, with no thought as to whether it was best for him.

If Dryden becomes head of the Liberal Party, he will work hard to ensure that the Canadian people can never again crush his dreams. He and his team are looking into alternate forms of government that would not be subject to the whims of Canadians.

13 Good Reasons To Switch From Internet Explorer to Firefox...

4. Mozilla doesn't inflate prices and use the money to vaccinate children in Africa.

I'm not sufficiently nerdy to be a browser devotee, but this is funny.

The Clock's Ticking

A spokesperson for Carla Del Ponte insists the deadline to turn over Ratko Mladic remains the end of this month despite media reports to the contrary. That gives them until Sunday to capture him and hand him over.

Now, I'm not really one to judge people for waiting until the last minute to get things done. But to be fair, they have already been granted a number of extensions.

Something to Think About

There has been a fair bit more talk lately about the situation in Darfur. There is a big rally planned this weekend in Washington, D.C. (and smaller ones across the continent, including here in Toronto). But as the calls for action increase, it is in no way clear that anyone has a solution. NATO does not seem interested in serious involvement, the Americans have made it clear they don't plan to lead a mission (and Europe never does anything alone), and the U.N..... well, the U.N. is the U.N. Perhaps it is time to start thinking about other solutions to end this thing. Could private security firms providing support to the African Union be the answer?

There would likely be a lot of opposition to this idea (the comments page at the Boston Globe has a lot of reactions about how warfare is already "corporate" enough), but it is easy to come up with arguments against something when it is not your life at risk and you are not the one facing gang rape by militiamen. I think it merits serious discussion. If Western governments and international organizations aren't willing or able to act, we need to start considering alternatives. Now.

(link via Chequer-Board of Nights and Days)

Sanctions in Sudan

The United Nations voted today to apply sanctions against four "alleged" Sudanese war criminals. This was possible because the Russians and Chinese abstained from the vote.

It's good to see that they have achieved some acknowledgement of Sudanese crimes within the U.N. However, given the amount of work that was required to achieve this minor step, it doesn't leave much hope for a serious response that could actually have an impact.

His Roommate is In!

Bob Rae has officially joined the Liberal leadership race. On a political level, I encourage Liberals to support Rae, if they want to abandon all chances of winning in Ontario, who am I to stop them? But this whole business of running against your old roommate (a fact finally acknowledged in the press) strikes me as somewhat disloyal. It's not like these people used to just share an apartment, they were good friends. Just last year Rae introduced Ignatieff at a speaking event, when it could just as easily have been someone else. I've never agreed with Rae politically, but I've always thought of him as a decent person. But I think that abandoning old relationships to pursue your own political glory says a lot about a person. He'll probably make a pretty good Liberal leader after all.

Beaches residents confirm suspicions that they are pretentious gits

The people of the Beaches have spoken, and they want their neighbourhood to be officially known as "the Beach". Everybody who lives outside the Beaches will continue to call it the Beaches, and will give confused looks every time someone refers to it as "the Beach". (My bet is if for some crazy reason the people of Toronto actually listen to Beaches residents and start calling it "the Beach", we've got about a decade before they discover that, in fact, "the Sands" is more historically accurate.)

In other news, I am starting a campaign to have the name of my neighbourhood changed from the "Yonge Street Strip" to the "Yonge Street Strips". There is more than one strip club in my neighbourhood and I think the official name should recognize that fact.

Bitter Lemon is Old

I was just chatting with the (seemingly) nice girl over at Second Cup. They had run out of trays and she was kindly helping me carry my order back to the office. I mentioned to her that I had worked at the same coffee shop back when I was an undergrad. She responded: "wow it's been here that long?!!". Sigh.

Never again (will we allow Germans to kill Jews in 1940s Europe)

The Chinese and the Soviets Russians are expected tomorrow to block efforts to apply targeted sanctions against individuals in the Sudanese government who have been singled out as responsible for the attrocities in Darfur.

As of tomorrow two permanent members of the Security Council will essentially be on record as saying that they don't intend to allow the U.N. to do a damn thing (no matter how small) about Darfur. Any pretense from this point on that this genocide is going to be stopped through the international body is a lie and everyone knows it.

The U.N. is over, it has been for a long time. The world needs to accept it and move on.

Trying Taylor in Africa

The New York Times has a piece today by the former Sierra Leonean ambassador to the United States, John Leigh. Leigh argues that Charles Taylor should be tried at the Special Court in Sierra Leone, rather than being shipped off to the Hague.

While acknowledging the problems that keeping the former Liberian president would pose -- security risks chief among them -- he argues that the benefits of trying him in Africa (by a U.N. backed court) outweigh the costs. I tend to agree. The need to have the VIPs of the war criminal community tried outside of the jurisdiction in which they committed their crimes perplexes me. This is particularly the case here, where they have already established a special court to handle it. What is the message? Sierra Leone is fine to try the little people, but the ex-president of a neighbouring state needs to be prosecuted in Europe where they have real courts. As Leigh points out, witnessing the process of justice is important for Sierra Leone as it attempts to transition into a stable democracy where the rule of law applies to everyone.

Trying someone in an international setting may make sense when nation that they victimized really can't, or won't, put them on trial. But barring that, their victims deserve to see justice served at home.

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite... et chantage

I refrained from commenting on the French riots because I didn't have anything to add to what was being said by everyone else. But this I can't ignore: Jean Lassalle, a French MP has just ended a 39 day hunger strike that sought to prevent a Japanese company from closing down a paint factory within his constituency. The company has agreed to keep the factory open after meeting with Sarko.

Personally I think they should have let him starve to death. What hope is there for any sort of reform in France? The people who are willing to behave in the most childish manner consistently get their way.

I'm all yours!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have completed my final assignment of the term (in which I cited Michael Ignatieff, proving that in a pinch I will abandon my principles... maybe I should run for the Liberal leadership).

I have decided to take a break from school for the summer, so you can expect to see more frequent posts over the coming months. Don't get too excited, I'm promising quantity, not quality!

U.N. Tells Ratko Mladic to Make Peace in Darfur Before he is Captured

Okay, I made that up. But it is about as likely as the real story, which is that the U.N. Security Council has told the Sudanese government and the rebels in Darfur to make peace before April 30th. Or else!

Diplomats said Britain would soon distribute a list of individuals it believes are blocking the peace process, who could become the targets of U.N. sanctions, such as a travel ban and having their foreign assets frozen. But China, which has veto power, has said it was not in favor of sanctions.

Empty threats from the U.N. Security Council. I guess it's over for the Sudanese regime. How can they possibly continue their genocidal plans in the face of such a show of power from the world body?

He's in

Michael Ignatieff has officially entered the race for Liberal leadership. I would like everyone to take a moment to imagine the reaction if someone who had been living in the United States until a few months ago announced that they were going to run for the Conservative leadership. The media would be acting like George W. Bush himself were coming to take over the party.

I will admit that I take this quite personally. I am a huge fan of Michael Ignatieff's work on international human rights, and to think that I spent so much time listening to a man who can see something worth saving in today's Liberal Party distresses me to no end. I always knew that we parted ways when it came to Canadian politics, but this is unforgivable.

In other Liberal news... Belinda announced yesterday that she would not be running. Apparently the process is set up in such a way that it would not be easy to buy the votes she needs. Losing the leadership bid for two different parties would just be embarrassing. Don't give in yet Belinda, there's always the NDP (and keep working on your french homework... Gilles has to step down eventually).

Of course, Belinda staying out of the race means that this whole thing just got a lot less entertaining. Which had to happen, following the rule that Canadian politics can't hold our interest for more than a week for fear that Canadians would actually get involved and want to talk about something other than healthcare.

Harper Mentions a Role for Canada in Darfur

Stephen Harper publicly mentioned the possibility of an expanded role for Canada in Darfur yesterday. It seems unlikely that, given our current political situation, the state of our military and our commitment in Afghanistan, Canada is going to be taking the lead in a multinational force in Sudan. Nonetheless, I am encouraged by the fact that we now have a Prime Minister who acknowledges the horrors in Darfur (rather than one who simply uses it when it is politically convenient).

It's nice to have a Prime Minister who understands that Canada can have a role in the world that extends beyond trying to be BFF with Bono. Hopefully this is a sign of more to come.

This time they really mean it. Really.

Serbia has been given one more month to turn over Ratko Mladic or their talks to enter the E.U. will be frozen. I think it's safe to say that you can expect to see a repeat of this statement at the start of May.

Welcome Slate Readers

Welcome to those who found Bitter Lemon through Slate. Have a look around, stay awhile.

Perhaps I should take this as motivation to post more frequently (not that I don't love my long time readers).

Pan-Arabism and Islamism in Sudan

An interesting take on the situation in Darfur at TCS Daily.

Saddam Charged With Genocide

Saddam Hussein and Chemical Ali have been formally charged with genocide against the Kurdish people. As the article points out, this is the first time that a Middle Eastern leader has been charged with genocide. More importantly perhaps, they are being tried by an Iraqi court. Genocide charges have traditionally come from international courts, whose legitimacy can be questioned by those sympathetic to the criminals on trial (see Milosevic). Furthermore, international trials do not force nations to come to terms with their past. By trying Saddam and his henchmen within the country, the attempt to exterminate the Kurdish people is on record within Iraq. This is important not only for the Kurds to get the justice that they have long been denied, but also to help the Iraqi people more fully come to terms with the horrors of the Baathist regime.

I almost believe them

Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, has been denied entry to Darfur. The Sudanese government has offered a number of reasons, including the fact that the trip would coincide with the Prophet Muhammad's birthday and that Egeland might be at risk after the recent Danish cartoon controversy (Egeland is Norwegian, and Europeans all look the same). Egeland claims that the Sudanese government doesn't want him to see how bad things have become in South Darfur. But why? What does it matter whether U.N. officials see how desperate things have become? The situation in Darfur has already been well documented, I'm not sure what piece of information would finally force the international community to act. The Sudanese government has already demonstrated that, like so many genocidal regimes before them, they have learned to play the intervention avoidance game. Really, I just can't see their motivation for keeping him out.