Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Chirac rejects Le Pen debate. President Jacques Chirac refuses to take on his far-right rival Jean-Marie Le Pen in a TV debate, a tradition of the French presidential campaign. [BBC News: world] Despite some pressure to take on Mr Le Pen and his extremist views, Mr Chirac declared that such "intolerance and hatred" made a debate impossible. I wonder how many people in France see the irony of this statement? Libertarian Samizdata had this to say about one of the candidates, Alain Madelin of the Liberal Democracy Party: "Advocates Anglo-Saxon style free market reforms. Very unpopular. Doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of even getting past the first round." According to the chart at the bottom of the BBC story, he got 3.91% of the vote. So, perhaps 3.91% of the French voters see the irony. comment () trackback ()  2:05:48 PM     Argentine economy chief quits. Jorge Remes Lenicov resigns as economy minister after less than four months in the post, as protests swell at the country's crisis. [BBC News: world] Since Lenicov's "reform" efforts were really just more of the same things that causes the problem in the first place, I would say good riddance. As if it wasn't bad enough that he tried to put Argentina even further in debt to the IMF, he also wanted to steal 60% of the bank deposits in the country and replace them with worthless government bonds. comment () trackback ()  1:53:39 PM     "US subverted UN in Bosnia", claims columnist.. The resignation of the entire Dutch cabinet over the Srebenica massacre has some interesting fallout reported by Richard J. Aldrich in an article in The Guardian newspaper.A report, issued by the Dutch NIOD (Netherlands Institute for War Documentation) on the investigation into the massacre of Muslim civilians due to Dutch military error, reveals interesting details about how the US broke the UN arms embargo and pressured UNPROFOR to rewrite reports. [kuro5hin.org] The article referred to is very interesting. It has a very strong anti-American tone, but it's accusing the US of supplying weapons to the Bosnian Muslims and Croatians--the victims of Serbian agression. It's almost funny the way the author attacks us for something that any decent person would support. comment () trackback ()  11:59:19 AM     Neanderthals 'used violence'. Evidence gleaned from the study of a skeleton found in French caves suggests the Neanderthals were war-mongerers. [BBC News: sci/tech] The second paragraph more accurately sums up the article: "The early hunter-gatherers got into fights and used weapons, according to the results of a study of a skeleton uncovered in French caves." Of course, this isn't the interesting thing from my point of view. What I find surprising is that a bunch of scientists are acting like this is surprising and new information! Apparently they're all a bunch of Europeans--maybe they're even more clueless than American social scientists? comment () trackback ()  11:55:47 AM     Russia Rocket to Carry Tourist. As a cold wind blew across Kazakhstan's brown steppes, the Soyuz TM booster rocket that is to launch the world's second space tourist into orbit was gently guided into place Tuesday. [AP World News] This hasn't got much coverage in the US media (this article is all I've seen), but there is a historical first here. This tourist, from South Africa, will be the first African in space! Hmm, I wonder what President Mbeki has to say on the subject... comment () trackback ()  11:43:55 AM

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