Friday 12 April 2002

War Crimes Tribunal Becomes Reality, Without U.S. Role. The world's first permanent court for the prosecution of war criminals became a reality on Thursday despite strong opposition by the United States. By Barbara Crossette. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] Oh no! Not again! The Bush administration is becoming more and more like a poor reflection of Margaret Thatcher, with its recurring No, No, No attitude to international agreements and apparent insistence on going it alone and wallowing in not-so-splendid isolation. First Kyoto, now this. What's next I wonder? Already, of course, the rumours are that US opposition was largely responsible for Mary Robinson's stepping down as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, apparently because she had the temerity to criticise the US.       It seems that 'Might is Right' is the new slogan of the US. This latest display of disregard for international obligations is sad to see and unfortunately suggests that further similar decisions will occur in the future. 10:25:51 PM  Your view

Annan Urges International Force be Sent to Middle East. Secretary General Kofi Annan today vioced his strongest expression of alarm about the situation facing Palestinians under an Israeli assault. By Barbara Crossette. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]       Israel Will Bury Palestinian Dead. Israel will bury Palestinian gunmen killed in the Jenin refugee camp during a hunt for militants in the West Bank, the army said Friday, prompting fresh Palestinian allegations that Israel killed hundreds of civilians and was trying to hide the bodies. [AP World News]       Powell Fails to Get Commitment on Withdrawal From Sharon. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ended talks today but announced no progress on a timetable for a pullout from the West Bank. By Serge Schmemann with Terence Neilan. [New York Times: International]       Powell-Arafat Meeting Postponed. A meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been postponed at the request of the United States, the Palestinian information minister told The Associated Presss late Friday. [AP World News] It is so desperately sad to come back from such a trip as my visit to Berlin and find the news feeds full of such terrible reports from the Middle East. I find the conduct of the Israelis totally unjustified, their disregard for international opinion without any justification, and the US administration's 'peace efforts' half-hearted and ineffectual.       Rather than spout all this belicose war-mongering talk about 'ridding Iraq of Saddam', Dubyoo should concentrate on Ariel Sharon, the real war criminal. 'Rooting out terror' is a fashionable catch-phrase since September 11th, but recklessly invading what amounts to another nation's territory, wreaking whole-scale destruction and holding Yasser Arafat under virtual house-arrest for so long is behaviour which should be condoned by no-one. Colin Powell's ridiculous route to Israel/Palestine on his so-called peace mission and his apparent inability to persuade Sharon to withdraw demonstrates to me the ineffectuality of the current US administration. If America can't convince its ally to see sense and med its ways, then it's time for others to take a lead -- perhaps the EU? 9:50:04 PM  Your view

A trip to Berlin meant that my blogging was interrupted, both because of work pressure leading up to the trip and while I was actually away. I went with a group of friends who meet once a week to listen to classical music recordings. We originally hoped to attend the Easter Festival in the Staatsoper, where Daniel Barenboim was conducting a unique series of performances of all Wagner's mature operas (including two full cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen). Unfortunately, despite contacting the opera house on the day public booking opened we were unable to obtain tickets.       However, Berlin is such a treasure house of musical activity that we decided to go ahead with our trip and simply choose other musical events to attend. Our numbers varied between 5 and 9 over a period of ten days, with some going to as few as one performance and one of the group spending virtually every evening in either an opera house or a concert hall. I caught three operas and one concert. The highlight for me was a performance of Verdi's Nabucco at the Deutsche Oper. It was quite a challenging production, but I found it a riveting experience overall. On the other hand, Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann in the same venue proved a terrible disappointment, with a ridiculous production totally failing to do justice to the music.       So now I'm back home in Dublin, which I must say appears dull and dreary compared with the many wonders of Berlin. It took me a couple of days to get a feel for the city, but I came away very impressed and anxious to return soon. 9:45:07 PM  Your view

		© Copyright 2002 Jim MacCormaic . Last update: 29/09/2002; 06:02:40 am .