Hardy

Difference between China and Burma

What is the big difference between China and Burma(Myanmar)?

Well, while the Chinese government at least take care for there people, and is intelligent enough to accept foreign aide workers into the country, the Burmese one is stupid and only takes care about their power(and money, of course).

After the devastating earthquake in the Sichuan province, which caused 19.000 dead's until now, many of them kids, the Chinese government acted quickly and send 80.000 soldiers to the region to help the people. And also, they accepted immediately the aide workers from other countries. Even from the USA.

And now they even mobilized 30.000 additional soldiers, not just to help victims, but also to shore up weakened dams and other elements of the infrastructure whose failure could compound the disaster. If the dams would break, nobody even would like to think what could happen than.

And Burma? Their the military junta is sitting on their fat asses, and have sealed off the delta from the outside world, expelling foreign aid workers, and placing multiple checkpoints along the roads. The Red Cross reported, that as many as 2.5 million people were affected by the cyclone, and that the death toll could reach 120.000.

Oh, sorry, I forgot, now Burmese authorities say they would accept up to 160 foreign aide workers, but only from India, China, Thailand and Bangladesh.

Carneval of the Cultures

On Friday the 13^th carneval of the cultures got started, and this night it will end(better lets say thuesday morning). More than one million visitors where estimatet. Now I know, that 1.3 million was there.

And it is great, I really can tell you. On friday afternoon Peter and I went to the Blücherplatz where the big street festival is, with Latainrock, Turkish music, reggae, salsa and all the other things which makes you dance, let your legs go crazy and your hips swing. Wizards, curiosity marketeers and culinary delights invide visitors to stay. And we really had fun there. Peter even meet an old friend there which he hasn't seen since about 10 years.

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On Sunday the big Street Parade started at 12:30 p.m. with 4500 participants from 80 nations, colorfull like always, but this year with warm and sunny weather. Music from all parts of the world, Sambagroups, devilish looking creatures from Cameron, colourful dancers from Bolivia, and an Indonesian gamelan orchestra touts for the grace of the audience. And it didn't end at 9 p.m., no, the people where making more party's at the Blücherplatz and in the bars. With lots of beer, mochitos and caipirinha. Like last year. Like this last video.

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Humanitarian Crises

Yesterday the United Nations had to suspended relief flights to Burma because the military regime is refusing to allow foreign aid workers into the country to help with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

The suspension, which followed the impounding of UN World Food Programme aid shipments, came as the organisation expressed “exasperation” at the intransigence of the isolationist junta in the face of a vast humanitarian crisis.

The UN expressed astonishment at the junta’s resistance to foreign help, which it said was “unprecedented” in the history of humanitarian relief. All of the food aid and equipment that the UN already managed to get in to Myanmar has been confiscated by the Military Junta and the aid workers have been send home. And what is the Junta doing with the aid? They don't give it to the people who need it, they probably use it for them self or sell it! At least nobody has seen it. No wonder, they only have a few helicopters, and they where used for showing journalist's how the „generous“ General Than Shwe giving 10 DVD-Players and TV's as relief to hungry people which don't have energy, not even clean water to drink.

It's a disaster there, and more and more people are dieing. You can't even count the corpses in the water, you see rats gnawing at them, and the chances of upcoming epidemics are high. Malaria, Cholera, and, perhaps, even the plague.

If the Burmese government’s still refuses to give the necessary permissions to foreign aid workers(and really let 'em in), than the US and France should go in by FORCE! In my eyes it is the only chance for the Burmese people to survive.

Update: Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, told, that the french government has decided to deliver the food aid directly to the people who need it, and that there will be no way that the Military junta get's it. And that they will do it by force if it is necessary.

Playboy magazine pornographic???

Does they have nothing better to do than this bullshit? Now they wanna ban Playboy and other magazines in the PX.

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, a Marine veteran, told Newsweek recently that the magazines(Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse etc.) sold in military exchanges are partly responsible for a rise in sexual assaults in the military and other problems. Broun says on his Web site :

"Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by: escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes; feeding a base addiction; eroding the family as the primary building block of society; and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad"

Well, I guess he is a fucking liar who likes to twist the truth. And, by the way, calling Playboy, Penthouse or Hustler pornographic is the greatest bullshit I've ever heard. Even my Mom, and she is 78 years old, couldn't believe that when I told her. She was shacking her head and asked me, if that idiot has ever seen real pornographic stuff.

If their soldiers are old enough to fight and die for freedom, they are old enough to view porn(and I mean real porn, and not only so called porn), smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol if they choose so.

But this bigotry and sanctimony only could come from that religious politicians in the USA. They show how religious they are, but spending 3000$ or more for a call girl. I hope he got caught once too. Than we will have something to laugh at.

What did Robin Wiliams once said:

"Politicians are like dirty diapers... they need to be changed often and for the same reason"

Source: Military .com

Aid for Burma(Myanmar)

An urgent mail from Avaaz:

In the wake of a massive cyclone, at least 22,000 Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless. But that is only what the government tells us. Some think it will be about 100,000 dead people.

But what's happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster--it's also a catastrophe of bad leadership.

Burma's brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn't know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.

Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma's government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grass roots network of monasteries--the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/5.php?cl=86260253

Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges--they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort--housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.

Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement--but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta's response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime's pockets.

The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference.

Click here to donate:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/5.php?cl=86260253

With hope,

Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team

PS: Here are some links to more information:

For more information about Avaaz's work to support the Burmese people, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/

For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles:

New York Times: "A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar's Remote Areas." 7 May 2008.

BBC: "Will Burma's leaders let aid in?" 6 May 2008.

India's Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008.

BBC: "Disaster tests Burma's junta." 5 May 2008

Times Online: "Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000." 6 May 2008.

Berlin turnout falls short

The referendum to save the historic Tempelhof airport failed on Sunday. Not enough people cast ballots in the city's first referendum to make it valid.

The preliminary results released by the Berlin state election authority showed the majority of the 530,231 ballots cast were in favor of keeping the airport open. But they accounted for only 21.7 percent of the 2.4 million eligible voters, short of the 25 percent needed for the vote to count.

Maybe it's because the mayor, Klaus Wowereit, has said he would ignore the outcome of it, maybe because the Communists had made a hate campaign against the airport in the former East-German sectors of Berlin where many voted against it. I don't know.

Richard Wagner from the „Achse des Guten“ wrote a very good Article (in German) about it. His result begins with:

„The opponents of the fun society have lost on Sunday, they, who meant it seriously with economy and achievement, with the future of our society, they have lost on Sunday symbolically. In reality they already have lost since a long time.“

Source: International Herold Tribune , New York Times

Vote for TCA

         Without this Airport, Berlin wouldn't exist today!

This Sunday we have the chance to show our mayor and his left-wing coalition what we want. This is living democracy. And we want that Tempelhof Central Airport stays open. But if he tries to ignore us, like he said, it would be better for him to leave this city, and that VERY FAST! I guess you know by now that I support Tempelhof. And that not only because the historical reasons.

I have read the stupid plans and calculations the Berlin Senate has made since the last years. In their plans the new BBI airport would easily take all the traffic(their prognoses are from the 90th) until at least 2025, but a new one, which was made by the Industry and Trading Organization, shows up that the BBI will be on it's capacity limit between 2011(then is the big opening, if they work fast enough) and 2014. And what's than? You can't make it bigger, there is no way. And if Tempelhof will be closed, you never can open it again.

But there is an Investor, Ronald S.Lauder, who wants to spend 350 Million € in Tempelhof, but only if it stays open. And he and his partners(DB and Siemens) have a quite good concept for it.

Even the New York Times writes about it:

BERLIN (AP) -- Berlin's Tempelhof airport has had a special connection with the city's people since it opened in 1923.

It is best known as the hub of the Berlin Airlift, supplying residents with food and fuel for nearly a year during a Soviet blockade after World War II.

A few years before, during the war, fighter planes had scrambled from its runways in desperate attempts to protect the capital from Allied bombers.

And its first flights connected Berliners with East Prussia, separated from the rest of Germany after World War I.

Now, with closure threatened this year, Tempelhof supporters are hoping Berliners will rally to save the airport in the city's first-ever referendum on Sunday.

Backers -- supported by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats -- are appealing to Berliners' emotions. Placards have urged them to ''listen to your heart -- not to the mayor'' and have proclaimed that ''all power comes from the people.''

''The further operation of Tempelhof is not only of significance for the economy and jobs,'' Merkel told Berlin's B.Z. daily last week. ''The airport is for many, and for me personally, a symbol with the airlift of the history of this city.''

Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, who heads a left-wing coalition that includes ex-communists, has said he will ignore the outcome of the nonbinding referendum and move ahead with plans to close the airport.

He accused the chancellor of ''damaging the city by supporting a backward-looking campaign.''

Tempelhof can accommodate 1.5 million passengers, but actual traffic in 2007 was 350,000 -- a tiny fraction of the 20 million total for all three of Berlin's airports.

The closure -- along with that of Tegel airport -- is part of a plan to concentrate flights at a new hub just outside the city to be created by expanding the former East Berlin's Schoenefeld airport.

Schoenefeld supporters say it will establish Berlin as a major international flight center and create thousands of jobs.

No one seems quite sure what to do with Tempelhof once it is closed. Ideas include converting it to parkland or building luxury apartments. The terminal itself is protected as a historical landmark, and suggestions include trying to rent out its 9,000 offices and turning it into a museum.

Those who want to save centrally located Tempelhof point out that cities like London have city airports, which are popular with business flyers. They also maintain that more airlines would use the airport if its future were not uncertain.

Opened in 1923 in the heart of Berlin, Tempelhof initially comprised an administration building and a pair hangars, all made from wood and little else.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hitler decided to make it an ''air stadium'' -- not only a major European hub but a symbol of Germany's might, transforming it into a monolith with massive stone blocks and pillars.

After the war, Tempelhof fell into the American sector of the divided city and became a major U.S. Air Force base.

As such, when the Soviets blockaded all land and water traffic to Berlin in an attempt to squeeze the allies out of the city in 1948, Tempelhof was central to the massive U.S.-led airlift.

In one of the most significant Cold War confrontations, the western allies flew some 280,000 flights keeping the 2 million citizens of Berlin supplied with fuel and food until the Soviets backed down 11 months later.

Though the Air Force pulled out of Tempelhof in 1993, after German reunification, the building still sports features from the U.S. era, including an indoor basketball court complete with a ''Berlin Braves -- USAF'' logo.

An April 11-16 poll by the Infratest dimap agency for the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper of 2,500 Berliners who planned to vote showed 61 percent support for keeping Tempelhof open. For the vote to be valid, at least a quarter of Berlin's registered voters -- 611,000 people -- must cast their ballot. No margin of error was given.

''It would be a shame if there were no longer an airport here,'' said Thomas Merz, who operated the radar tower before retiring in 2004, and now shows visitors around the building. ''It is living history -- I guess we'll have to see.''

China meet Dalai Lama?

"Chinese officials will meet a representative of the Dalai Lama" - When I heard this news today at TV, I was totally surprised. Could this really be true? Than I took a look at CNN and found it there also. Did Beijing really changed it's mind?

I can only hope so, but I'm not really sure. Because when I have to read that Grace Wang received death threats, then the entire story about a meeting with the representative of the Dalai Lama reminds me more of a chess game than to be the truth.

Well, what did Paul Lin said in his Article Nationalism is Beijing’s brainchild: "This two-faced reporting is the tactic of gangsters that the Chinese government uses to deceive both the Chinese people and the international community."

Sources: CNN, Taipei Times, Radio Free Asia

Update: Read also Beijing to launch talks with Dalai Lama aides

Save the Olympics

Are the Beijing Olympics a cruical chance to persuade China's leaders to support dialog and human rights in Tibet?

Well, I don't know. But only inside of China we can show the Chinese people what we really think about their Tibet politics.

The Avaaz team says, that China wants the Olympics to be a coming out party for a newly modern, powerful, and respectable nation. But the Olympics are about humanity and excellence--we can't celebrate them in good conscience while ignoring the suffering of Tibetans and others.

So Avaaz is launching a major new campaign: SAVE THE OLYMPICS. We'll ask China to save the Olympics for all of us, by making specific, reasonable progress in dialog with the Dalai Lama, securing release of Burmese and Tibetan political prisoners, and supporting peacekeeping in Darfur.

Read more at: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_olympics/4.php?cl=78207735

Adrian's opening

Sorry, but during the last two weeks I had to much to do, and also I didn't felt well enough to write anything.

So Adrian's opening celebration last Saturday, he leased "Die kleine Philharmonie" from Jurji, was a nice break for me. A wonderful relaxing evening with a nice buffet and good drinks. When I entered the bar, it was already hard to find a place, and for a Saturday I was very early, at 10 p.m. I arrived.

Like always I added pictures of this eve into the slide show of my profile, and you also can find them in an album of this blog: Adrian's opening

Olympic Torch Extinguished

The Olympic torch relay was disrupted Monday by protesters in Paris demonstrating against the Chinese government, causing authorities to twice extinguish the flame and put the torch on a bus, according to The Associated Press.

Read the full story at CNN.

UPDATE: It happened four or five times in France. And in San Francisco the people already have put banners on the Golden Gate bridge.

Flames

On Thursday the the 26 years old Namgyal Fakhang set himself on flames in front of the Chinese embassy to protest for freedom and peace for Tibet. He got rescued and brought to the hospital in the last moment. 2 years ago he had to escape from Tibet via Nepal because the Chinese government wanted him for distributing flyer's.

Tibet was their home, their country, the Tibetans where always peaceful and didn't invade other countries. Then the communist government of China annexed it because of the ground resources. And the Dalai Lama had to leave too. In German you can read it at the Tagesspiegel.

And if you like to know how reporters were treated, you should read Reporters without Borders . Like the story about the US documentary filmmaker who was sequestered in his hotel room on March, 14th to prevent him from seeing Tibetan protests. Or about the Finnish TV crew that was arrested five days just ago. But I guess that this will not happen there anymore. The reporters are gone now...

Petition for Tibet

Today I received a mail from Avaaz, and, instead of only forwarding it, I posted it here too, and hope, that many of you will sign the petition like I did.

Dear friends,
In just 36 hours, 253,553 of us have supported the Dalai Lama's call for dialogue and human rights in Tibet. This is an incredible response--if each of us can get 4 more of our friends to sign the petition, we'll hit 1 million this week! Just quickly forward the email below to your friends and family with a personal note from you-

Dear friends,
After decades of suffering, the Tibetan people have burst onto the streets in protests and riots. The spotlight of the upcoming Olympic Games is now on China, and Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner the Dalai Lama is calling to end all violence through restraint and dialogue--he urgently needs the support of the world's people.

China's leaders are lashing out publicly at the Dalai Lama--but we're told many Chinese officials believe dialogue is the best hope for stability in Tibet. China's leadership is right now considering a crucial choice between crackdown and dialogue that could determine Tibet's--and China's--future.

We can affect this historic choice--China does care about its international reputation, and we can help them choose the right path. China's President Hu Jintao needs to hear that the 'Made in China' brand and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing will succeed only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an avalanche of global people power to get his attention. Click below now to join 250,000 others and sign the petition--and tell absolutely everyone you can right away--our goal is 1 million voices united for Tibet:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/21.php

China's economy is dependent on "Made in China" exports that we all buy, and the government is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a celebration of a new and respected China. China is also a sprawling, diverse country with much brutality in its past, so it has good reasons to be concerned about stability -- some of Tibet's rioters killed innocent people. But President Hu must recognize that the greatest danger to Chinese stability and development today comes from hardliners who advocate escalating repression, not from those Tibetans seeking dialogue and reform.

We will deliver our petition directly to Chinese officials in New York, London and Beijing, but it must be a massive number first. Please forward this email to your address book with a note explaining to your friends why this is important, or use our tell-a-friend tool to email your address book--it will come up after you sign.

The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we must help them be heard.

With hope and respect,

Ricken, Iain, Graziela, Paul, Galit, Pascal, Milena, Ben and the whole Avaaz team

Here are some links with more information on the Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:

Crackdown in Tibet, but protests spreading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/tibet.china
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/crackdown-on-protests-widens/2008/03/17/1205602289349.html

Dalai Lama calling for dialogue and restraint, and an end to violence:
http://www.dalailama.com/news.216.htm
http://www.agi.it/world/news/200803191258-pol-ren0032-art.html

Leaders across Europe and Asia starting to back dialogue as the way forward:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7300157.stm

Chinese Prime Minister attacks "Dalai clique", leaves door open for talks:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/18/content_7813194.htm

Other Chinese signals:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/China_looks_at_India_to_talk_to_Dalai_Lama/articleshow/2875142.cms

Cultural Genocide

There is a genocide that has literally been going on for decades. The fact that genocide is being committed in Tibet every day by the Chinese Communist government is indisputable. China has for 44 years been engaged in a relentless program to destroy the Tibetan people, their culture and religion. Little or nothing has been done about it by UN.

But what is the Pope doing? Well, commentators in Italy have criticized the failure of Pope Benedict XVI to express his concern for the violence in Tibet. At (Sunday's) Angelus Benedict opted to speak about Iraq but remain silent on Tibet.

Even the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights strongly condemns the Chinese government’s recent brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrations of Buddhist monks, nuns and lay-followers in Tibet, and calls for an urgent UN inquiry into the violence. But nothing happens.

Yet again the Chinese government is trampling on the promises it made linked to the Olympics and has preparing the ground to crackdown on the Tibetan revolt in the absence of witnesses. Thats the reason why foreign journalists, members of NGO's and tourists were ordered to leave Tibet, and Internet communication was cut down. So no one can tell the truth to the world

As long as the world is content to make money in China and ignore its human rights violations and the commission of genocide, China will thumb its nose at the UN. But appeasement can be dangerous.

Sources: Radio Free Asia, Transnational Radical Party

Tanks in Lhasa

The Tibetan government-in-exile yesterday demanded the UN intervene to end rights violations in Tibet following deadly protests and said it had received confirmation that about 30 people had been killed in clashes.

Beijing said yesterday it would give rioters until midnight tomorrow to turn themselves in as protests continued in China both in and outside of Tibet.

"The Tibetan parliament urges the UN to send representatives immediately and intervene and investigate the current urgent human rights violations in Tibet," the administration said in a statement.

"We are confirming approximately 30 deaths and we are even hearing numbers of over 100 dead, but this number we are unable to confirm," Tenzin Taklha, a senior official said.

Tanks and armored vehicles were out in force in the Tibetan capital Lhasa yesterday, a day after the worst protests against China's rule in the vast, Himalayan region in nearly 20 years, witnesses said.

China has said that 10 people were burnt to death in the protests. Source: Taipei Times . But Radio Free Asia writes: Tibetans report even more deaths.

Please read also the the Economist and the New York Times , which has also a video of the worldwide protests.

          Well, and what is the UN doing? Nothing, like always!

    That reminds me, what Carl Zuckmayer once wrote:

„The bad in the world does not exist because of those who do bad, but those, who tolerate bad!“