Beak's Questions

My avid and generous (generous because he always reacted with great magnanimity to all the invectives he had to suffer from me) reader Beak has published an interview with "The Editrix" at his blog The Beak Speaks. Here is the text 1:1.

Enjoy!

Good questions, Beak. Okay, here it goes:

1 Does the local identity still exist among Germans? Do people still have regional pride as Bavarians, Prussians or is that concept a thing of the past? In the US, certain localities like Texas, New York have a certain type of strong local identity.

With ever increasing horizontal mobility, local identities (I think they are truly ethnic identities) are getting weaker.

Another deplorable aspect is that the Wessies against Ossies antagonism overrides some of the ethnic identification. But on the whole, Germans, even the young ones, still tend to identify with their local ethnicity, specifically outside the big cities, some of which are identity-forming as well.

2 Has there been residual issues from the reunification of East and West Germany. What happened to all the State employees of East Germany? Did professionals such as teachers and doctors have update their skills?

I think the state employees still are where they were pre-1989. Same like the post-1945 period. They kept the state employees where they were, only removed the most odious ones, to keep the everyday business running.

Of course, the moral aspect is a completely different question.

I doubt that doctors in the former East were significantly lesser qualified than those in the West. (I may be wrong.) The vets I met seem fairly competent to me.

Teachers NEVER update anything. I have a hunch that they just swapped their Communist schoolbooks in the East for the Western versions. Teachers are a pain in the arse (and yes, such a generalisation IS justified) and the main (not the only) reason for the pathetic state of the German education system.

3 Is the anti-American sentiment in Germany largely anti-capitalist in origin or has it cut across the right and left spectrum?

Antiamericanism is the staple between Left, Right and Centre, as far as such a spectrum exists at all. In a quasi-Socialist country like Germany, anti-Capitalism is, of course, part of that staple. There is, of course, another strong ideological component, namely the traditional German reactionary anti-modernism, for which America has been the ogre for centuries now. (The Romantic movement in the 19th century was already strongly anti-American.) Never forget, German Socialists are national Socialists, which is only a step away from Nationalsocialists.

4 What is the correct way to understand Martin Luther. He was a virulent anti-Semite, but he also paved the way for the Protestant reformation of Christianity.

I fail to see the theological and spiritual justification of Luther's Reformation, so even that redeeming quality doesn't come into it. The Reformation cost innumerable lives during the 30-year-war, split the nation in two and is still the cause of hatred and resentment between Germans.

Luther was the only Protestant reformer to identify narrowly with nationalism and welcomed princely authoritarianism. The Evangelical clergy as a group a was traditionally on the side of the secular power in Germany, however disgustingly oppressive.

5 On the subject of Art, there is a naive assumption that artistic gifts bestow political wisdom. Can we as people appreciate the works of Degas, Arthur Miller, Wagner despite their odious political views?

I think everybody has to decide that for himself. I wouldn't want to see an artist (ANY artist) banned because of his political views, but I don't want to have his oeuvre foisted on me as well.

6 How is higher education funded in Germany? Does the state pay for higher education?

Yes it does.

7 Does Germany have sales and income taxes?

Yes we have. And cripplingly high ones.

8 What is your opinion of agricultural subsidies?

Well, my farmer friends are telling me that they are left in the lurch by the EU, subsidies or not. I am not a Libertarian, although I support some of the Libertarian principles, but agricultural subsidies, specifically within a bureaucratic monster like the EU, are too complex a matter for me to comment knowledgeably on.

9 Should people be as outraged at those who deny or mitigate the Armenian genocide as the Holocaust?

I am not quite sure whether I understand that question. The denial of the Armenian genocide (holocaust, if you insist) throws a light on the Turkish people. It doesn't change a thing about the Holocaust of the European Jewry.

Germans tend to relativise their own guilt instrumentalising other peoples' crimes. The fact that the Turks don't come clear with their past makes the Germans feel somewhat noble and less guilty.

All hypocritical and very sad.

Does that answer your question?

10 What are your views on nuclear energy?

I think nuclear power plants face us with a terrible risk in a densely populated area like Western and Central Europe, but I don't see any other way to provide us with the energy we seem to need. Working on more secure nuclear technologies and keep looking for alternative energies may be the answers.

11 Are India and China new superpowers? Should they be included at the world summits?

I believe that the future belongs to the Asian race anyway, whether they are officially included at international organisations now or not. They are hard-working, intelligent no-nonsense people and not troubled with the guilt-complex and self-hatred of the White race.

They will be the answer, too, to the Islamic threat to other cultures, precisely for the above mentioned reasons.

12 What are your views on immigration in Germany? There is talk of a guest worker program in the USA based upon European models. The criticism is that workers seldom go home long after their jobs are finished.

"Guest working" doesn't work, as we are learning the hard way in Germany right now. I don't see why it should work in the United States.

13 How does Germany deal with homelessness? In the USA the issue of homelessness is often intertwined with drug abuse and mental illness. Is the situation similar in Germany?

Homelessness is an extremely complex problem and I think mental illness and drugs are only two of many problems and I doubt that they even are among the more significant ones. I know too little about it to comment knowledgeably and may be wrong here. What I see is that it is not a fashionable cause and the homeless are therefore among those at the bottom of the welfare chain, which makes me sad.

14 Is violent crime increasing in Germany?

Drug and violent offences are rising, property offences are stable or falling. The reunification and an increase in immigration are putting more and more pressure on the penal justice system.

15 Should drug addiction be treated as a medical or criminal matter?

It should be treated as what it is, a medical condition. I am totally with Milton Friedman here.

Having the moral and ethical satisfaction of seeing drug addicts punished is a doubtful price paid for the damage that is done to society by it.

16 Who are the Greens? Are they mostly former Communists? Have they had any major impact on Germany?

No they are NOT just former Communists. In fact, in the early stages of the movement there where quite a few from the Nazi "Blood and Soil" school who were soon ousted as embarrassments. But the fact remains that a lot of Green goals were already what Hitler had planned for after the Endsieg, which included the banning of smoking.

It is very little known that one of the first laws the Nazis passed post-1933 was the ban of hunting to hounds.

It shouldn't be forgotten, too, that one of the early goals of the Greens in the Eighties was TO LEGALISE SEX WITH CHILDREN. Only when they started to participate in governmental power they dropped it as too hot a topic.

The Greens have shaped the German society more than any other political power during the last 30 years far beyond ecological and environmental issues. Find a political correct, doomed, dangerous or wrong cause and the Greens are behind it.

17 Is smoking cigarettes in restaurants banned in your city?

I have recently moved to a small town in East Germany and I don't know whether there IS an official policy. People here have problems different from fashionable causes like the ban of smoking in restaurants. Innkeepers are so happy about every patron that it wouldn't occur to them to ask a guest to stop smoking. Here, one gets a square meal of German traditional cuisine with two half litres of (excellent) beer for less than 10 Euro and they throw in free food and water for the dog who is allowed to sit beside one on the bench, which was already banned because of hygienic reasons decades ago and nobody cares.

People here in Saxony are generally pretty laid back about everything.

18 How do Germans view Bismarck today?

I doubt that the average German under 40 knows who Bismarck was and if he does he will probably have a vague idea that he was an evil old reactionary.

19 Has the UN become useless in today's world?

Let me put it this way: The UN are a gang of criminals.

20 What is your view on State subsidies for the Arts and Culture? Should the government subsidize Museums, Zoos and the Arts?

No they shouldn't.

21 What American TV shows can be seen in Germany?

I haven't watched television for more than a decade now. I was told that Sex and the City used to be quite popular among the more intellectual types not too long ago.

I grew up with (I am not always sure whether the title of the show I know is the one you know, and some I have forgotten entirely) Bonanza (those guys from the Ponderosa), Gunsmoke, Mr. Ed and Fury (horses), Lassie and Rin Tin Tin (dogs).

Later came Mission Impossible, that wonderful show with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman, Tammy who lived on a houseboat, and in the Eighties the great family sagas Dynasty, Denver and Falcon Crest.

22 In the United States the sale of alcohol is restricted to people over the age of twenty one. Do similar laws exist in Germany?

Yes, they do. People come of age at 18 and may then, of course, buy alcohol.

23 What are your views on the current Pope?

He explains and apologises too much.

What I like about him is the fact that he is one of the leading theologists in the history of the Catholic Church, and that he, different from his predecessor, doesn't strive for personal popularity (as he shouldn't).

As a German, I like to see his election as a sign that we are accepted back to the fold of civilised Western nations, which makes me glad.

And isn't it wonderful that the son of a piss-poor policeman from a little country town in deepest rural Bavaria could become what he has become?

24 Do you think the immigrant riots in France could happen in Germany?

No for various reasons, two of them are that the Turks realise that they are better off without rioting and that there are relatively few Arabs here.

25 Does a country like Germany have the right to insist that laws like polygamy and the age of marriage be kept to historic European norms?

I think they have the DUTY to insist that laws like polygamy and the age of marriage be kept to historic European norms.

Thanks for the great questions, Beak. I hope I haven't shunned any and I will gladly explain my views further to those interested.

Of course, comments are welcome here as well, but I would prefer them at the place of origin. (Hey, I just hope you will be able to log into that comment function. I have no idea WHAT crappy interface Beak is using, but it's a nuisance. So keep trying.

All The Boys Anywhere

The film Flags of our Fathers is a major topic right now. Since (I think) the year 2000, I have put up the link to the All the Boys at Iwo Jima website among the links of my homepage. I would like to share with you the simple words of James Bradley as they were featured there already long before his book became a bestseller and his message almost inaudible through all the media brouhaha.

ALL THE BOYS AT IWO JIMA

THE IWO JIMA MEMORIAL IS THE LARGEST BRONZE STATUE IN THE WORLD. IT DEPICTS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHS IN HISTORY: RAISING THE AMERICAN FLAG AT THE TOP OF A ROCKY HILL ON THE ISLAND OF IWO JIMA, JAPAN DURING WW11.

THIS IS A TRUE STORY NARRATED BY JAMES BRADLEY WHO HAPPENED TO BE AT THE MEMORIAL ONE EVENING AS TOUR BUSES FROM A WISCONSIN HIGH SCHOOL ARRIVED. MR. BRADLEY HAD STOPPED BY TO PAY HIS RESPECTS AND TO SAY GOODNIGHT TO ONE OF THE SIX BRAVE MEN DEPICTED ON THE STATUE: HIS FATHER, JOHN BRADLEY.

THIS IS HIS NARRATIVE AS HE SPOKE TO THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND STAFF:

"MY NAME IS JAMES BRADLEY AND I'M FROM WISCONSIN, TOO. MY DAD IS ON THAT STATUE. I JUST WROTE A BOOK CALLED, "FLAGS OF OUR FATHER'S" THAT IS ABOUT THE SIX BOYS YOU SEE ON THIS STATUE.

SIX BOYS RAISED THE FLAG. THE FIRST GUY PUTTING THE POLE IN THE GROUND IS HARLON BLOCK. HARLON WAS AN ALL-STATE FOOTBALL PLAYER. HE ENLISTED IN THE MARINE CORPS WITH ALL THE SENIOR MEMBERS OF HIS FOOTBALL TEAM. THEY WERE OFF TO PLAY ANOTHER TYPE OF GAME. A GAME CALLED "WAR." BUT IT DIDN'T TURN OUT TO BE A GAME.

HARLON, AT THE AGE OF 21, DIED WITH HIS INTESTINES IN HIS HANDS. I DON'T SAY THAT TO GROSS YOU OUT. I SAY THAT BECAUSE THERE ARE GENERALS WHO STAND IN FRONT OF THIS STATUE AND TALK ABOUT THE GLORY OF WAR. YOU GUYS NEED TO KNOW THAT MOST OF THE BOYS AT IWO JIMA WERE 17, 18, AND 19 YEARS OLD.

THE NEXT GUY IS RENE GAGNON FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE. IF YOU TOOK RENE'S HELMET OFF AT THE MOMENT THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN, AND LOOKED IN THE WEBBING OF THAT HELMET, YOU WOULD FIND A PHOTOGRAPH. IT IS A PICTURE OF HIS GIRLFRIEND, AND RENE PUT IT THERE FOR PROTECTION BECAUSE HE WAS SCARED. HE WAS 18 YEARS OLD. BOYS WON THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA. BOYS, NOT OLD MEN.

THE THIRD GUY IN THIS TABLEAU WAS SERGEANT MIKE STRANK. MIKE IS MY HERO. HE WAS THE HERO OF ALL THESE GUYS. THEYCALLED HIM THE "OLD MAN" BECAUSE HE WAS SO OLD. HE WAS ALREADY 24! WHEN MIKE MOTIVATED HIS BOYS IN TRAINING CAMP, HE DIDN'T SAY, "LET'S GO KILL SOME JAPANESE" OR "LET'S DIE FOR OUR COUNTRY." HE KNEW HE WAS TALKING TO LITTLE BOYS. HE TOLD THEM, "YOU DO WHAT I SAY, AND I'LL GET YOU HOME TO YOUR MOTHERS."

THE LAST GUY ON THIS SIDE OF THE STATUE IS IRA HAYES, A PIMA INDIAN FROM ARIZONA. IRA HAYES WALKED OFF OF IWO JIMA. HE WENT TO THE WHITE HOUSE WITH MY DAD. PRESIDENT TRUMAN TOLD HIM, "YOU'RE A HERO." HE TOLD REPORTERS, "HOW CAN I FEEL LIKE A HERO WHEN 250 OF MY BUDDIES HIT THE ISLAND WITH ME AND ONLY 27 OF US WALKED OFF ALIVE?" IRA HAYES HAD IMAGES OF HORROR IN HIS MIND. HE DIED DEAD DRUNK, FACE DOWN AT THE AGE OF 32, TEN YEARS AFTER THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN.

THE NEXT GUY AROUND THE STATUE IS FRANKLIN SOUSLEY FROM HILLTOP, KENTUCKY. HE WAS A FUN-LOVIN' HILLBILLY BOY. FRANKLIN DIED ON IWO JIMA AT THE AGE OF 19. WHEN THE TELEGRAM CAME TO TELL HIS MOTHER THAT HE WAS DEAD, IT WENT TO THE HILLTOP GENERAL STORE. A BAREFOOT BOY RAN THE TELEGRAM TO HIS MOTHER'S FARM. NEIGHBORS LIVING A QUARTER OF A MILE AWAY COULD HEAR HER SCREAM ALL NIGHT.

AS WE GO AROUND THE STATUE, THE NEXT GUY IS MY DAD, JOHN BRADLEY FROM ANTIGO, WISCONSIN WHERE I WAS BORN AND RAISED. MY DAD NEVER TALKED TO THE PRESS INCLUDING WALTER KRONKITE PRODUCERS AND THE NEW YORK TIMES. US KIDS ALWAYS HAD A LIST OF THINGS TO SAY TO THE PRESS AS TO WHY DAD WASN'T AVAILABLE TO TALK TO THEM.

MY DAD DIDN'T SEE HIMSELF AS A HERO. EVERYONE THOUGHT THEY WERE BECAUSE THEY WERE IN THE PHOTO AND ON THE MONUMENT. JOHN BRADLEY WAS A MEDIC. HE WAS A CAREGIVER. ON IWO JIMA HE PROBABLY HELD MORE THAN 200 BOYS AS THEY DIED. AND WHEN BOYS DIED ON IWO JIMA, THEY WRITHED AND SCREAMED IN PAIN. MY DAD TOLD ME, "I WANT YOU ALWAYS TO REMEMBER THAT THE HEROS ON IWO JIMA ARE THE GUYS WHO DID NOT CAME BACK."

THAT'S THE STORY ABOUT SIX NICE YOUNG BOYS. THREE DIED ON IWO JIMA, AND THREE CAME BACK AS NATIONAL HEROS. OVERALL, 7000 BOYS DIED ON IWO JIMA IN THE WORST BATTLE IN THE HISTORY OF THE MARINE CORPS."

JUST MINUTES AFTER THE FLAG WAS RAISED, SGT. MICHAEL STRANK, CPL. HARLON BLOCK, AND PFC FRANKLIN SOUSLEY WERE KILLED.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. GOOD EVENING."

May God bless them and their memory.

Pals Are Traditionalists

So what else is new?

Top Palestinian Muslim Cleric Okays Suicide Bombings
Written by Yaniv Berman
Published Tuesday, October 17, 2006

(TML Photos)

Suicide bombings are a legitimate weapon, according to the supreme Palestinian religious leader, the newly appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Lands Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein. Such action is a part of the Palestinian people's legitimate resistance, he told The Media Line.

The post of the grand mufti was never reduced to that of a senior cleric merely delving into religious issues. In the 1940s the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, was the most powerful and influential leader of the Palestinians. Politics and religion were completely mixed back then, and Al-Husseini was considered a political leader as much as he was a religious one.

Five decades later, things have changed. In 1993 the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) was established, and the grand mufti was appointed by the Palestinians' political leader, chairman Yassir Arafat. Arafat appointed Sheikh 'Ikrima 'Sabri, a charismatic cleric and a close associate.

One thing was obvious from the start: 'Sabri did not believe Israel could be trusted as a partner for peace. He also expressed his belief that Israel had no claim to the Temple Mount and that Al-Aq'sa Mosque was endangered by Israeli aggression.

During Arafat's time, such statements could be let slide. But when Mahmoud 'Abbas rose to power after Arafat's demise in 2004, he found them hard to accept. 'Abbas aspired to forge ahead with the peace process with Israel, and the anti-Israel "political mufti" became a thorn in his side.

The New Mufti: "A Simple Man of Humble Means"

In July 2006 'Abbas fired the charismatic 'Sabri. The official word from the chairman's office was that 'Sabri had reached retirement age.

The truth, however, was far from it. The more 'Sabri gained popularity in the Palestinian street, the more he expressed his views on highly contentious political issues.

"The Islamic religion is a comprehensive religion, which comprises all aspects of life," 'Sabri told The Media Line a few days after he was fired.

"A religious scholar is not a professional politician; nevertheless, he is dealing with all aspects of life. The Islamic values call for justice and aspire to prevent oppression. Therefore, it is within our responsibilities as religious scholars to address the righteous as righteous and to tell the oppressor: 'You are an oppressor, lift the oppression off the people.’"

The "oppressor" was, of course, Israel, and 'Sabri made no attempt to hide his opinions. So, he was sacked.

With a Hamas government on the one hand and an angry U.S. on the other, 'Abbas could not afford an inflammatory figure sitting in the highest religious post. He decided to appoint Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, manager and imam of Al-Aq'sa Mosque.

An informed Palestinian source told The Media Line that Hussein was "a simple man, born to a family of humble means." He was chosen by 'Abbas because of an important quality he had – an ability to avoid controversies. According to the source, Hussein fears to lose all he has gained, and "'Abbas knows he will never jeopardize his position."

For three months the new grand mufti followed 'Abbas' expectations. People who came to listen to him preach on Fridays in Al-Aq'sa Mosque never heard him inciting against Israel. His fatwas (religious decrees) also avoided such controversial statements.

When Hussein spoke with The Media Line, he explained that the authority of the grand mufti was wide-ranging.

"We discuss worship, personal issues, economic issues, social issues and political issues – everything which is related to Islam."

Hussein went on to explain that the mufti discusses all aspects of Islam, including politics.

And then he made a surprising comment.

"It is the Palestinian people's right to engage in resistance until the occupation ends. As long as the resistance is legitimate, everything related to it is also legitimate."

Asked to express his view with regard to suicide bombing, the mufti answered: "It is legitimate, of course, as long as it plays a role in the resistance."

The mufti made it clear that he wished to see peace in the region, but that to his dismay, the Israeli government and army were engaged in "clear and ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people."

'Abbas will now have to decide how far he is willing to let the mufti proceed before he calls him to order. In any case, this time the retirement age excuse will not do.

Copyright © 2006 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.

Are we really amazed? Just let me recall the abysmal record of the "Palestinians", their long-standing fruitful collaboration with the Nazis of all colours, of which the shoulder rubbing of another member of the Hussein clan with Bubba Adolf Himself was just the successful kickoff.



Even the headgear is true to form!

I wonder (Do I really? Do I really WANT to know?) how the new Mufti will be received by the international media.

(Hat-tip: Eurient!)

Bloggers' Coven

Gudrun Eussner will be my guest today and stay until tomorrow. So more blogging later.

Another Please-Dear-Crocodile-Eat-Me-Last Symptom

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published today some excellent observations by a Turk in Germany:

German Turk takes on 'anti-Semitic Islamic propaganda'

By Ofri Ilani

BERLIN - When Aycan Demirel looks out his office window onto the main street of the Kreuzberg neighborhood, center of the Turkish community in Germany's capital, he is unimpressed by the diverse human mosaic for which "Little Istanbul" is famous. Businesses along Oranienstrasse are populated by young Germans eating shwarma to the sounds of Turkish music, but Demirel pointedly recalled the darker side of the neighborhood experience. "The residents here love to treat this neighborhood as a model of multiculturalism and tolerance, but that image is fraudulent," he said.

"The Jews have no place in this multiculturalism," Demirel said. "If you wear a kippa or a Magen David, there's a big chance you'll be cursed at and even assaulted. Anti-Semitism is rearing its head in Germany, only now the anti-Semites are young Muslims."

Demirel, 38, is not Jewish; he emigrated from Turkey 16 years ago. In today's Germany, his decision to confront radical Islam places him on the frontlines of one of the stormiest social debates the country has known.

Last month, a storm erupted over statements about Islam made by the pope, himself a German. Conservative politicians hastened to his defense in what was presented as a struggle over freedom of expression. Shortly afterward came the controversial cancelation of a Mozart opera because of a scene in which the severed head of the Prophet Mohammed is displayed. This self-censorship due to "fear of Islam" aroused protests across nearly the entire political spectrum.

According to Demirel, the recent expressions of anger by radical Muslims in Germany are just the tip of the iceberg of what he terms the "culture of hate" in Muslim communities. Daily exposure to a "barrage of anti-Semitic Islamist propaganda" led him two years ago to found KIGA (Kreuzberger Initiative gegen Antisemitismus), whose local activists - of German, Turkish and Arab origin - work with schools and youth centers to fight anti-Semitism, primarily in Muslim communities.

Some say criticism of immigrant communities is too harsh, and connected to essential hostility toward the Muslim faith. "I actually think this phenomenon should be examined within a more defined context, of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and not seen as ingrained anti-Semitism," said Tzafrir Cohen, an Israeli journalist and founder of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival, who has lived in Kreuzberg for 20 years. "To say that there is a racist atmosphere in Kreuzberg is an outright lie. It's true you see graffiti here along the lines of 'Fight Zionist Fascism' and similar slogans, mostly among Palestinians who live here. But I never heard of a Jew being attacked for being a Jew, and if such incidents occur, they come from the radical right."

Oguz Ucuncu, Secretary General of Milli Gorus - a major Islamic organization that runs 300 mosques in Germany - denied allegations of anti-Semitism in Muslim communities. "We do not have hostility toward the West, nor hostility toward Jews," he said. "But there is of course frustration with the international community's double standard when it comes to Muslim countries.."
[...]
Dr. Juliane Wetzel, chair of the Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at the Technical University of Berlin, agreed that anti-Semitism among young Muslims in Germany has been rising in the past five years. "Since the Muslim community in Germany is largely of Turkish origin, there is a lot less hatred toward Israelis and Jews than in comparable communities in Europe," she said. "But in recent years, the youth here have apparently been influenced by Islamic Internet sites and satellite channels, and absorbed certain anti-Semitic stereotypes that they did not have in the past."

There are three points on which I'd like to comment:

The first is that the cheek of the Islamists will never cease to amaze me. Milli Görüs, a group active in the Netherlands and Germany, control roughly 500 mosques. The group is under observance in Germany since as early as the Eighties and has been defined by the Verfassungsschutz (the federal domestic intelligence agency) as a "foreign extremist organization". In 1996 already, a German court described the group as a "threat to the democratic order in Germany". The fact that they are still allowed to operate, and legally for that, is a shame and a scandal and there is a "double standard" indeed, but I doubt that is the one which sets Milli Görüs' knickers ablaze.

The second one is the fact that I happen to know records of personal experiences where Jews in Berlin (make that Jews who were identifiable as such by kippah or Magen David) have been bullied or denied to be served. I have no idea what makes a man like Tzafrir Cohen tick. If it is the wish for a window seat on the next train to Auschwitz, he won't get it. Those trains have no windows.

However, the next point, namely the fact that the violent antisemitic streak described in the article above seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon, complies with my personal observations. We are now paying the price in Germany (It IS a price, isn't it???) for our idiot, guilt-and-shame-driven kumbayah-and-all-cultures-are-equal lack of integration efforts and have handed the Turks over to the Islamists on a silver platter.

Of course, the fact that it hits mainly the Jews now doesn't disturb all that many Germans. A welcome thing at worst and a please-dear-crocodile-eat-me-last symptom at best.

It won't work.

Oh my... It is SO good to be among the living again!

I was just asked by Jeremayakovka what I think of German author Hilmar von Campe: "Is he an ordinary man who has sought to do a little good? a rigorous intellectual? a fraud?"

An interesting question, which I'd like to share with my readers.

As von Campe was unknown to me so far, I had a look at him and his work and after a first cursory assessment I'd definitely say that he is NOT a fraud.

What impresses me specifically is that he doesn't pose as a former rabid Nazi who saw the light, but that he stresses the fact that it was looking the other way of ordinary people like himself which made the Nazi atrocities possible.

I appreciate, too, that he seems to see the Communist crimes in perspective and doesn't reckon them up against the Nazi crimes, something only too many Germans like to do.

I appreciate, too, that he draws the inevitable parallels between Nazi Germany and the recent Muslim threat. It needs a lot of courage to do that. Many former Nazi followers (like Nobel-laureated asshole with the selective memory Günther Grass) are falling over their own feet in anticipating obedience and dhimmitude. Everything (but EVERYTHING!) not to be called a Nazi or "racist" again. (To what extent there is the conscious ot subconscious desire behind it that the Arabs may finish what the Germans were forced to cease, namely the Holocaust of the Jews, is a different question right here.)

Hilmar von Campe's biography bears witness to the fact that the secular Leftist/Liberal ideologies are no answer to the totalitarian and inhuman threats now, as they haven't been an answer then.

Just my two Eurocents.

Germans barking up their favourite wrong tree - once again!

Today, another minor brouhaha was caused by one of those cherished "racist" incidents over which all Gutmenschen do-gooders love to drool and slaver like Pavlovian dogs in fits of politically correct "dismay" to prove how ver' ver' much we have changed. Never mind that it was an antisemitic incident and antisemitism has nothing whatsoever to do with racism, but to concede that would make an end to all the nice politically correct relativising efforts to suggest that antisemitism is just another sort of xenophobia.

Two 15- and 16-year old pupils at a secondary school in the town of Parey in the federal state of Sachsen-Anhalt had forced a third pupil to carry a placard saying: "Ich bin im Ort das größte Schwein, ich lasse mich mit Juden ein" (I am the biggest swine round here and shack up with Jews) in the schoolyard, which evoked unpleasant memories of the real thing (see above) -- one of those things of which we feel disgust that grows proportionally to the length of time that has passed since.

DER SPIEGEL, the mother of all politically correct German media, informs us:

Sachsen-Anhalts Innenminister Holger Hövelmann (SPD) nannte die öffentliche Demütigung des Schülers einen "abstoßenden Vorgang". Hövelmann betonte: "In diesem Stil haben NSDAP und SA Menschen nach ihrer Machtübernahme 1933 öffentlich gedemütigt. Es ist erschütternd, dass Heranwachsende in unserem Land glauben, sie könnten sich heute so etwas wieder erlauben." Der Minister kündigte eine intensive Aufklärung durch die Polizei und eine enge Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kultusministerium an.

Sachsen-Anhalt's Minister of the Interior Holger Hövelmann (SPD) called the public humiliation of the pupil a "disgusting incident". Hövelmann stressed: "This is the manner in which NSDAP and SA publicly humiliated people after their takeover 1933. It is a harrowing thought that the young in our country believe that they are now again allowed to do something like that." The minister announced an intensive clarification by the police and close cooperation with the Ministry for Culture.

Whatever that may imply.

To hammer home the point of a "racist" incident, DER SPIEGEL doesn't even stop at just falsely calling it that, but additionally compares it with the racist taunts the Black German national player Gerald Asamoah has to suffer in football stadiums. I'm not translating the entire drivel, just trust me.

Shades of the case of Marinus Schöberl are looming, who had been murdered by three young men near the small East German town of Potzlow in July 2002 because he was a "Jew". Marinus was not Jewish but bore various markers of "otherness", among them the fact that he wore his hair long and dyed blond.

There is a strong probability that neither the youths in Parey nor Marinus' muderers have ever met a Jew. And that exactly is one of the major differences between racism and antisemitism: The former resentment needs concrete, available targets to develop, the latter doesn't. It is there even without a tangible object, always has, always will, irrespective of what Jews are, do, don't do or look like. And we can't have that or can we?

And hey! Even though those young perpetrators may belong to the Neo-Nazi scene -- they may as well have gotten their picture of "Jews" from the German mainstream Leftist media, which is, after all, national Socialist.

Read/seen/heard any good lies about the Middle East conflict lately?

The Parey case is investigated on the grounds of coercion.

Viva Papa Ratzi!

Wonderful news:

The Times October 11, 2006

Pope set to bring back Latin Mass that divided the Church
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

THE Pope is taking steps to revive the ancient tradition of the Latin Tridentine Mass in Catholic churches worldwide, according to sources in Rome.
Pope Benedict XVI is understood to have signed a universal indult — or permission — for priests to celebrate again the Mass used throughout the Church for nearly 1,500 years. The indult could be published in the next few weeks, sources told The Times.

Use of the Tridentine Mass, parts of which date from the time of St Gregory in the 6th century and which takes its name from the 16th-century Council of Trent, was restricted by most bishops after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

This led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to contemporary audiences. By bringing back Mass in Latin, Pope Benedict is signalling that his sympathies lie with conservatives in the Catholic Church.

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Hat tip: Romanreb!

Praise to The Lord!

After not even quite five weeks the Deutsche Telekom has managed to provide me with Internet access and a functioning telephone line.

Bussiness at Roncesvalles will return back to normal within the next couple of hours.

Thanks to all who have borne with me.