Behind a great man…

… Probably it is better to rephrase that.

Hillary Clinton announced, without big surprise, that she is running to the Presidency. This makes her the second woman that is trying to reach a G7 country Leadership (the other is Segolene Royal in France). If both win we will have a unique scenario. For the first time we will have 3 female leaders at G7 or 2 Female leader with the veto power at the Security Council of the U.N.

Will this change Politics? Is this the dream time of feminists? Is it good? Well I don’t have a straight answer for these questions. I don’t think that gender will influence the politic world and also I don’t think that they are prerequisite for being a leader. But this scenario shows us that some barriers are being broken. It is not a huge step but rather a small step to a more equalitarian and representative society.

Iraq's Absentee Government

The New York Times has an interesting article about the problem of the Iraqi Parliament members not showing up for sessions.
They're paid hansomly, with additional funds for security - and yet still do not bother to show up.

Some of Iraq’s more seasoned leaders say attendance has been undermined by a
widening sense of disillusionment about Parliament’s ability to improve Iraqis’
daily life. The country’s dominant issue, security, is almost exclusively the
policy realm of the American military and the office of the prime minister.

While a large part of the problems in Iraq are unquestionably security related - part of the problems might also be related to the fact that the Iraqis don't feel like they have control over their own government. Even the Iraqi government doesn't feel like it is in control. Maybe if the Parliament were allowed to make a difference the members would start taking it more seriously.

Moshe Katsev

Moshe Katsev the President of Israel is facing charges of Rape, and is being urged to resign rather than bring the office of President into disrepute.

America's image

According to BBC World Service poll, the global view of the United States’ role in world affairs is negative. This questionnaire was taken across 25 different countries (you can see it here).
Of the 25 countries only 3 countries (Philippines, Nigeria and Kenia) strongly think that USA influence in the world is mainly positive.
For me this is not surprising, but rather a confirmation of what i imagined.
With the recent disasters in terms of foreigner affairs, with Iraq as major example, USA proved these lasts years that it is not prepared to be in the position that it is now - the major, and probably only, super power in the world. I don't now if it is the responsibility of that role or if it the vanity of the name, but they failed completly.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK

ATOMICCRISIS AND CLIMATEENDANGERMENT: WORLD TO END IN 'FIVE MINUTES'
The Doomsday Clock a symbolic clock with which prominent scientists denounce how close we are to the ending of the world, is put two minutes closer to midnight.Its now five to twelve.Motives are the crisis surrounding nuclear programmes of North Korea an Iran and the changing of climate.Its the first time climate is reason to change the clock.
The Doomsday clock was established in 1947 when it was put at 7 minutes for twelve.Since then it is put forward and backward 18 times.Closest to midnight, 2 minutes, it was put in 1953 when the USA succeded a test of a hydrogen bomb.Farthest from midnight, 17 minutes, it was put in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.

London Eye

Having spent my first week in London (my debut experience in an Anglo-Saxon country), I had one of my best experiences in a foreigner country. And it was an experience that I won’t forget. The multi racial city that is London, the environment of freedom and sympathy of the people were overwhelming.

It was really good to feel this experience of (in my opinion) a true multi-cultural city, where more then pointing out the differences I felt that it only matter the human being for itself.

I don’t know if London is unique or if I only saw the best of the city and citizens. In a world where people judge easily others cultures I have to admit (and probably I am making the same mistake) that it is difficult to be in a city where freedom is more respected. And being this site about freedom (freedom of speech), I had to start my first post of 2007 with this little reference to this city.

Respect, not race

With the British National Party grabbing a few headlines at the moment, I thought that I'd offer my own take on the issue of nationality and citizenship as my first WoS post of 2007.

Coming from a pretty multicultural city, I’ve worked alongside people from across the world, some of whom I’ve considered good friends. Most of the time, when either bitching about work or sharing a drink, their ethnicity or their reasons for coming to Britain simply hasn’t struck me as important – a brief topic of conversation, at best.

In a desperate attempt to make my English degree mean something, I like to put this down to my love of reading. Bear with me. On my bookshelves sit cherished works by the likes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka, and various other writers from a diverse range of backgrounds. If I’ve learnt only one thing from this esteemed collection of writers (and that’s quite possible) it’s that the character of a person is far more interesting and important than where they come from. Things like nationality or ethnicity don’t define someone, but their outlook on life can.

In his excellent essay on identity, ‘Citizens of the World’, K. Anthony Appiah tells us that one of the last pieces of advice his father left him was that, wherever he lived, he should try to leave it “better than you found it”. A perfect motto for the internationalist outlook. That’s what’s important to me: If someone respects their fellow citizens then, regardless of where they came from, I’m more than happy to live alongside them.

Greenpeace: profiteering from whaling too

According to the environment section of The Guardian, the environmental organisation Greenpeace have been making more money from whaling than Iceland. These claims were made by Captain Paul Watson, the co-founder of the Greenpeace Foundation and Greenpeace International.

Captain Watson flatly refused to attend last years Greenpeace office Christmas party, he argued that the Greenpeace campaign against whaling was really all about 'making whale "snuff flicks" and exploiting bleeding, suffering whales to wring out every emotional dollar it could from the public'.

Greenpeace have indeed made boatloads of money from weeping over whaling, $103m (£53m) according to The Guardian - and for what? For sailing two ships to the Antarctica in 2005, taking a few photos and holding up a couple of banners?

In defence of immigration

Most people these days (even in Britain) seem to accept that immigrants make great contributions culturally, politically and economically to the nation they migrate to. Even the critics of Britain's current open-door policy find it difficult to dismiss the benefits gained from the current wave of immigrants from Eastern Europe - except, Migrationwatch that is.

Having said that, the chairman of Migrationwatch, Sir Andrew Green, actually conceded that of 'course many immigrants make a useful contribution to the economy but, taken in total, the economic benefit is at best marginal'. The fact that the host nation and the immigrants themselves both benefit seems to be lost somewhere in translation. Indeed, it is left to the astute blogger, Tim Worstall, who kindly reminds us all that such benefits is normally known as 'Pareto improvement'.

Who needs the British National Party when we've got Migrationwatch?