Turkey's FM on Democracy

Interesting Al Jazeera interview with the current foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu:

'We The People!'

On this day we have witnessed history unfold in Egypt. Let this be the beginning of a process that brings liberty and freedom to the country so that the victims of the recent protests have not died in vain ...

 

For continued coverage of the events check out the excellent reporting of Al Jazeera English

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Memonji

Beware of the Ice!

Last year scientists have uncovered a key reason for the common phenomenon of sudden headaches (lat. cephalgia repens).They blame ice cube cooled drinks for the symptoms at least 50% of the population in OECD countries are experiencing at least once in their lifetime.

Much Ado About Nothing (Much)

No matter which news channel or web page you turn to the publishing of internal and partly classified cables from and to U.S.diplomatic missions by the website Wikileaks has been occupying the headlines for the last 10 days or so. Wikileak's founder Julian Assange - now in British custody over alleged sexual harassment charges in Sweden - has since been labeled both 'high tech terrorist' (by e.g. U.S. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell) as well as modern 'hero who should be awarded the Nobel Peace Price' (Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoting the Kremlin).

Politics, Weather & Personal News

India's parliament is locked in a stalemate with parliamentary business impossible to conduct due to the oppositions insistence on (and the governemnt's reluctance to agree to) an official probe into one of the country's largest corruption scandals.

In the wake of the upcoming publication of confidential US documents the website Wikileaks has been unavailable for some time now (check out their Twitter account for latest updates)

The two Koreas continue to exchange not only unpleasantries, but also several rounds of fire. Whether the heated atmosphere is a prequel to another round of talks or seriously bringing us back to an armed conflict in the region remains to be seen.

With the beginning of advent winter has finally made it to Central Europe bringing us a first glimpse of snow. It's high time for your host to get a warmer coat!

Finally, on a more personal note, am excited of leaving to Norway in a few days to attend the farewell concert of the favourite band of my childhood, a-ha,  live in Oslo.

Nevertheless a good start into the new week ... from
Memonji

No More Waffles!

The recent attacks on unarmed visitors of the German Oktoberfest by members of the 'Bakers for the Nation" movement have revived discussions on the legality of waffles in the country. While support for waffle control had been continuously dropping during the eighties and nineties, recurring incidents of illegal production, purchase and use, however, have turned public opinion towards a more restricted access to the batter based cakes. Latest opinion polls conducted by leading institues like Forsa and infratest dimap are showing a clear majority of Germans favouring a complete ban on waffles for private purposes.

With general elections on the doorsteep on 27 September both major parties, the Christian Democrats (CDU) as well as well as the Social Democratic Party (SPD) have included this issue on their agenda. While chancellor Merkel (CDU) has already presented a proposal of an eligibility card issued and monitored by the Bakers Guild her opponent Mr Steinmeier (SPD) as well as the Green Party have called for a complete ban of waffles as well as whipped cream to prevent unauthorised access and illegal proliferation.


Looking at the mass turnout of supporters at yesterdays demonstration in Berlin where about 300,000 people went to the streets shouting slogans like Waffeln Weg! ('Away with the waffles') and Waffeln Töten! ('Waffles Kill') the new administration will have to act quickly if it doesn't want to risk further unrest. Whether the new law will only include waffles or as the Social Democrats envision also accompanying products like whipped cream - the current plan is to restrict cream with a fat content of at least 30% or more - remains unclear.

An important point politicians should consider when passing the new law during the next legislature is that once the waffle is gone, troublemaker and terrorists alike will surely turn to wafers ...

Moving to Belgium soon ...
Memonji

Let's Be Realistic, G8!

Whether changing the venue of the G8 meeting from Sardinia to earthquake-ridden L'Aquila was a rather cheap or actually an ingenious move of Mr "Sunshine" Berlusconi will probably be discussed in the various press offices of the attending governments.

Rather than blowing their own trumpet at having achieved a consensus (which is far from being ambitious) and starting to point fingers at the developing nations for not being ready to commit emmission cuts at the expense of their progress, the G8 (and especially the representatives of their countries' media) should focus on a realistic as well as sustainable solution.

Since four of the top five developing nations are ex-colonies isn't it more than understandable that those countries are not ready to slow down the growth of their economies and markets (again)? This time not due to economical, but environmental reasons as well as issues that the developed nations have actually caused.

G5 Leaders Press Conference

"Why should we pay the price for this?" is a question that is frequently asked in the G5 countries. It's much easier for a society of considerable wealth to sacrifice "a piece of the cake" for a greater good. In countries where a large percentage of the population is heavily dependent on the strong growth of the national economy to enjoy even a small portion of prosperity this is much harder to sell.

Climate change, however, is a global phenomenon which transcends national borders, economies and societies and hence requires a global approach and finally consensus - a fact every country has to acknowledge.

What the governments of the developing nations need now is an incentive to join the industrialised countries in the fight against climate change - most likely not so much to get convinced themselves, but rather to set-off the adverse effects on their economies as well as to be able to "market" the merits of this endeavour to their voters. Let's not forget - any government that doesn't do anything against a predictable economical slow-down is not very likely to be re-elected.

Latest at the UN climate summit in Denmark in December we'll know how successful our leaders have been....

Until then we should wish them all the best.

Also wishing ...
Memonji