This is the 1000th entry at A Fistful of Euros. Onward!
That is all.
Author Archives: Doug Merrill
Not Europe, But Still a Good Story
Give me one real live anarchist over a bunch of yipping libertarians any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.
And so it was that the nation’s most militant labor organization, the brotherhood of Big Bill Haywood and Joe Hill, came to publish the lyrics of “Run, Cthulhu, Run,” a Lovecraftian parody of the bluegrass standard “Molly and Tenbrooks.”
The rest is just as wacky, just as human.
Swiss Joining Schengenland
In a referendum, 55 percent of Swiss voters who went to the polls cast their ballots in favor of joining the Schengen agreement. Implementation will last through 2007 (though it will be complete for the 2008 European football championships, co-hosted with Austria), but the path to passport-free travel is clear. Joining the area also gives Swiss authorities to a collective database on wanted and missing persons.
Norway and Iceland are the other two non-EU members of the Schengen agreement. The rest of the old EU-15 are members, except for Ireland and the United Kingdom.
UPDATE: As Edward writes, and I should have mentioned, “It is also interesting to note that the supposedly ‘socially conservative’ Switzerland has become the first European state to give solid legal rights to gay partnerships in a popular vote. This should also put some of the recent EU referendum in some perspective.”
People Get Ready
Laura Rozen thinks that the broadcast of a graphic video from the massacre at Srebrenica may mark a tipping point in Serbian public opinion and pave the way for the arrest of Ratko Mladic and his extradition to The Hague.
She quotes an international justice listserv:
B92’s Danijel Bukomirovic, speaking in Dutch on NOS Journaal at 20:00 CET, suggested between the lines the Serbian government had had a hand in the surfacing of the ‘executions tape.’ The dire economic needs of the country make EU accession talks the only option for a better future, but oppositon amongst a majority of the poulation against the ICTY’s demands for the extradition of indicted war criminals stands in the way. A mood swing amongst a public in denial of the Srebrenica massacres would pave the way towards the extradition of Ratko Mladic…
This is part of what’s at stake with EU enlargement, and indirectly with the constitutional treaty.
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Long Sentence Arrived
Following up on the previous post, Khordokovsky was indeed found guilty and sentenced to nine years. Allowing for time already served and possible sentence reduction for good behavior, he could be out in 2009. Well after Russia’s 2008 presidential election which is, presumably, part of the plan.
Khodorkovsky is appealing the verdict, and Yukos is suing various parties for $11.5 billion, alleging expropriation. I wouldn’t put much stock in the success of either venture.
Whew, What A Relief!
The Bavarian cabinet is proposing a law allowing cars to be washed on Sundays and holidays. But only in the afternoons, you understand, so as not to interfere with church attendance. This is something like progress.
Now, since on average 7 percent of Germans attend services on Sundays, you may well ask what about the other 93 percent? And what of the residents for whom Friday or Saturday may be the week’s holy day? Well, you may well ask, but that doesn’t mean there are any good answers. But thank, er, Someone, for that old separation of church and state.
Belatedly, from Moscow
But it took a long time to arrive because the power went out…
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The Country Where I Quite Want to Be
The Washington Post has sent a correspondent and a photographer to Finland for three weeks to “figure the place out.”
“Finland just might be the world’s most interesting country that Americans know least about. It has the best school system in the world, some of the most liberated women (the president is female), more cell phones per capita than anyone else, one of the world’s best high-tech companies (Nokia), remarkable information technology of many kinds, …”
Their report is bloglike and relatively interesting. The photos are great. The whole enterprise is a little odd, but hey, why not Finland?
Schr?der Strikes Back
What better way to bury the news of your party’s ouster from power in a state it’s ruled for nearly 40 years than to up the ante?
Give this to Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der, he still knows how to dominate the news cycle like no one else in Germany. Angela Merkel didn’t hear the news until she was walking into the TV studios. I just saw Edmund Stoiber hem and haw about who would actually be the opposition candidate for chancellor. Squirming on the end of the moderator’s pointed questions, he was. Could not bring himself to say, “Yes, I support Angela Merkel.” Just couldn’t do it.
And there’s this:
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Andorre, null point, or…
Monaco is voting!
We were going to write something inevitably snarky about the Eurovision song contest (Hello from Minsk!) but Manolo’s Shoe Blog has pictures that are worth many, (Three points for Malta!) many, many thousands of words. (Good evening Amsterdam! Hello Kiev! This is the Netherlands calling!)
They’re here (Our twelve points go to … Turkey!)
here (Good evening Rejkyavik!)
and here (Latvia three points!).
Good thing it only happens (Moldova eight points!) once a year.
(Bon soir Bruxelles!)
(Thank you Finland!!)
UPDATE: Greece is the word.
UPDATE 2: Yushchenko presents the award. Even a cheesy show can have a cool moment. Thank goodness he wasn’t wearing an orange tuxedo.