Ovi Lehti

JP Morgan's altruism, profits and Europe

2010-04-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

An article from Ovi magazine

When the entire world is reporting loses, when the number of unemployed international reaches sky heights and the number of people living in pennies is becoming uncountable; doesn’t anybody find it strange that banking companies like JP Morgan Chase reports $3.3 billions profits, 55% increased profits compared with last year?

And that was only the first quarter results. But let me she …isn’t JP Morgan Chase one of the banks that a year ago was begging for the help from the states? Wasn’t one of the banks that was expecting the end of the world if they didn’t have enough to survive and wasn’t one of the banks that was talking about the Armageddon, the end of civilization if people didn’t stop asking for salary rises and tax cuts? And please if you were worrying about Barclays stop worrying, they saw a good increase with Credit Swiss following very close.

OK fine, I’m falling in the populist trap but what the hell half of the people I know are looking for a job and the other half is worrying that they are losing their job; all of them know that the money they get are not enough but they know that the only thing that is going to change is that the value of their money is going to go further down the next few years. I suppose Mr. Soros has an orgasm by now! Well, if it is even good old Soros to have an orgasm after so long …well we should do our best!

By the way, wasn’t Angela Merkel a few months ago who did a whole fuss and she was ready to change the German constitution just to make sure that she can help the poor banks that suffered with the recession the very same who last week made another fuss about Europe helping Greece at least politically even though her negative attitude was hurting the Euro? Is Madame Chancellor going to make the same fuss about the banks’ profits nowadays? Is she’s going to ask them to help the European economy and the problems she faces and cleverly hides even Germany? I suppose that populism isn’t it?

Wasn’t JP Morgan Chase that devalued the Greek, Portuguese and Spanish economies among others and ended up these states to gat loans with higher interest than the one I pay for my mortgage? Wasn’t JP Morgan Chase with another altruistic institution Goldman Sachs that were screaming and threatening when China decided to use the Euro for their foreign exchanges a few years ago and aren’t they the two partners the pick of the spear nowadays in the war dollar against Euro with Greece and Portugal the first victims? But I suppose when these things coming from me are …populisms!

And what would have happened to all those institution if the European Unity had worked and if there was a real political unity among real partners and not what’s going on today, often makes you wander if after losing the elections Angela Merkel will not become vice president in JP Morgan or another similar banking institution! But I suppose this sounds like populism again despite the fact that the last chancellor when he decided that it was good time to follow the private sector he became vice president of another altruistic institution - energy that time - with great interests in Europe, the very same one that as chancellor had helped to enter the European market! I suppose that was populism also!

With announcement like that the international banking holders didn’t test the Europe and the European economy, they test the people tolerance and empty stomach has never been all during history a good adviser. 55% increase in profits from a company that survives due to people’s labour and the states’ tolerance is plainly provocative and a violence beyond acceptable and it will be ironic if Karl Marx becomes true after the failure of the soviet experiment and we will see the workers in Normandy, in Stuttgart and Yorkshire decide to demand their share the way Karl had foreseen it over a century ago! But I suppose that is also populism!

The Parthenon Sculptures and the Acropolis museum

2009-06-21T02:41:00.000-07:00

Parthenon is a global monument and a symbol of western civilization. Parthenon stands in the middle of Athens, the city that took its name from the goodness protector of culture and education for 24 centuries. It will always be there, incised in the minds and the hearts of every human being on this earth, and this is what the trustees and the directors of the British Museum fail to recognize. It doesn’t matter what excuses they use for keeping the Parthenon Sculptures away from their natural place. For the people who visit the British museum, the exhibits will always be a result of receiving stolen goods, a result of receiving stolen monuments of the human civilization and that’s it.

I’m proud to be born in the city that has this monument, but I never thought that I own it; I always felt that this monument belongs to everybody. This is why I often write and I strongly believe that a visit to the Acropolis should be free of charge. Everybody should be free to visit this monument and share the pride of being a member of this superior creature called human, be proud of being part of the history and be proud of having this history behind us. You see, I always believed that Acropolis represents all of us, and in the shapes of the marbled men and women are the foundations of our society, our culture, and our achievements.

Parthenon and the whole Acropolis were barbarically victimized during those 24 centuries, because it was often seen as a threat. It was always a symbol of faith, belief, and a way of life that threatened even the mighty Ottoman Empire. Even Christians didn’t dare to build a small church in the perimeters of the Parthenon, but in the end even they respected its quiet force and power. The Nazis, who in the 20th century didn’t respect human life, were forced to respect it and bow in front this magnificent monument.

It took an Englishman to do the worst barbarism of all. Lord Elgin’s crime was not only that he stole part of the Parthenon and destroyed parts of it, but he was fully aware of his act and the meaning of it. Lord Elgin proved that there is always a very dark side to human nature. Most people manage to handle it, but I blame human nature because I cannot believe that he did this act in order to preserve history, as often has been the excuse for it.

If Lord Elgin wanted to preserve history, he could have started in England by protecting Stonehenge, a monument of 44 centuries that has often been vandalized by pagan followers, druids and their rivals. He could have put some of these rocks in his garden, like he did with some of the most beautiful amphora and examples of Greek art. If he wanted something more challenging, he could have gone after the Excalibur; he didn’t have to steal something that didn’t belong to his ancestors. I’m sorry to say, but the only motivation I can see behind his act is envy. Lord Elgin lived during a period when western civilization was searching for it roots, and it had turned to the Greek civilization, which had made royal palaces in Corinthian style, decorated with columns and Greek statuses. So he did what every thief does, he stole what he couldn’t have or create.

Now, whatever Lord Elgin’s family and his heirs want to believe, and whatever the British Museum says, Lord Elgin was judged and sentenced to be remembered as a barbarian in history. Somebody who stole something from all of us, and through his act he destroyed a big part of the rest. But what can you say about the trustees and directors of the British Museum today? They face an international outcry and still they stubbornly insist of being part of a crime, in legal terms being the other part of receiving stolen goods and having paid for it.

The Parthenon Sculptures must return to their home, not only because they were stolen, but because it will be an act of apology for a barbaric act, and the British nation has proved many times that is not a barbaric nation. Lord Byron died in Greece fighting barbarians and protecting the same things Lord Elgin destroyed. T.S. Eliot wrote hymns and Shakespeare was inspired by the same culture. The British museum trustees and directors have no right to ignore their own culture by continuing this crime. The saddest part of all is that the British Museum itself continued the barbarisms over the Parthenon Sculptures. First they destroyed the top layer that was there to protect them, thinking that they were cleaning them by making them …more white. And later, only a few years ago, they used the exhibition hall that hosts the Parthenon Sculptures to organize big parties, where people were smoking cigars, drinking champagne and eating snacks! The trustees and directors not only have to apologize to Acropolis by returning the Parthenon Sculptures, but they have to apologize to the whole world for the stupidity and barbarism of some of their members.

The Acropolis Museum, Melina Mercury’s dream, is open and there is a space there, waiting for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. Over the next days, weeks, months and years, millions of people will be reminded that there is something missing in the museum. Something that was stolen and it doesn’t matter what excuses the trustees and the directors of the British Museum will use. In the minds and hearts of people, the thing missing was stolen by a Brit, and it is now being exhibited brassily in the British Museum!

By Thanos Kalamidas

A Europe in question

2009-05-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

An article from Ovi magazine

Only weeks before the European Elections, when European citizens elect their representatives into the common parliament, Europe celebrates Europe Day. This is a day that reminds all Europeans of the fundamental principles of the European Union, of peace and solidarity. The European principles guarantee a decent standard of living for all European citizens; they promote economic and social development. The principles also embrace environmental and regional differences. At least that is the theory, or perhaps what Schuman thought on May 9th 1950, when he deposited his declaration of a united Europe.

In May 1950, Schuman’s declaration seemed the next natural step for a Europe that was in ruins after an exhausting world war. The war had turned Europe into a battlefield for over five years, and left it without a youth only two decades after WWI. Financial competition was the new world reality, and the only way to deal with this was to unite forces. The European countries had the necessary industrial power to stand between the two giants and perhaps make a third pole in this game. A pole that could guarantee democracy and freedom – after all, the continent had learned the hard way what it meant to be without both. But yet again that was all in theory and the problems started very early.

First was the French veto against UK membership, because of its name – something which by the way should apparently be the same case now with FYROM. Later the competition between Britain and France caused more problems, with additional in and outs from the third major European player, Germany. Still, the EU continued to expand, including Greece and later Spain, Portugal and the Scandinavian countries. In 2009 we have 27 member states, with more waiting in the hallway for their full membership.

The aims of the EU were also questioned. For a long time Britain wanted a relaxed financial and commercial cooperation, with independent foreign and defence policies, while France, Italy and Germany wanted a more tightly knit relationship, like in the case of the United States of America. The unity has often been tested over the years, and one of the worst moments was during the last decade, when Iraq was invaded. Later the union expansion created tension, with ten new member states being added to an EU which was not prepared for such a massive expansion so quickly. This is an obvious crisis. There are other crises, which aren’t that apparent, such as the competition between the USA and Europe, the currency wars, and most importantly the industry wars, which have caused a lot of casualties on both sides.

The European Constitution remains another thorny issue, with only the top of the iceberg showing. Behind it are a series of other issues, mainly made up by the lack of coordination between the major players; a lack of EU leadership; and members with strong agendas that often conflict with the aim of a united Europe. Of course the general economic crisis and the dramatic unemployment rise don’t help much either. And yes, individuals form part of the problem as well, and in this case I’m not talking about Europe’s clown, Silvio and his family dramas.

First there is the European official leadership, Mr. Barroso, who often confuses his loyalties between the American administration and his real bosses – the European citizens. His Commission has become a bureaucratic monster that ignores the needs of the European citizens. Secondly there is a European Parliament that adds an unbelievable amount of meaningless legislations to the lives of people who have no clue why. This is part of the reality, but having said that, I don’t mean that there is no real work going on, especially in the Parliament. But everything they do is ruined by the executive parts of the Union taking over, such as the Commission President or the Council of Prime Ministers.

The European Parliament has voted on a series of laws aimed at protecting and defending democracy and human rights, but unfortunately politics, national agendas and geopolitical interests have often put an end to these. Euro-bureaucracy has become the worst enemy of euro-unity.

And the European Elections show exactly what the European governments think about a united Europe: for most of the European governments, the election is a good chance to promote their own work and on the same time measure their popularity.

What’s next? Well, Europe is suffering from an identity crisis, and it has to rebuild – or better rediscover – the aims of the union. Perhaps the European citizens need reassurance that the principals are still there. The citizens need to know that the European values still exist to protect and defend their interests and prosperity. Instead of having a Europe full of questions, we need a United Europe inspiring confidence and security.

By Thanos Kalamidas

Flu of misinformation and hypocrisy

2009-05-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

An article from Ovi magazine

Conspiracy theories are not my thing and I have to admit that I always laughed at most of them. After all, turning to conspiracy theories means that you’re having problems accepting logic, ignoring how crazy any theory might sound. Back in the eighties when HIV AIDS stormed into our lives, especially when the first celebrities were caught in the storm, conspiracy theories blossomed. CIA had created the virus and lost control; there was even a laboratory somewhere in the USA that had created the virus as a lethal weapon against gays. Everybody seemed to forget that even cancer has existed throughout history, but doctors only identified it the last three centuries, and started focusing on it and doing research.

Humanity has experienced a lot of illnesses throughout history, many of them lethal. Illnesses often also became the focus of superstition, for instance the plague was blamed on Satan and heretics during the medieval period, instead of the lack of hygiene in the growing cities. Recently, Robert Mugabe, Africa’s caricature Hitler, blamed British intelligence for the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, instead of his own inability to help the people with basic needs such as clean water and food. The common factor in these cases, and I suppose in the majority of all cases, is not any kind of conspiracy theory, but the lack of necessary action. With this I mean distributing the right kind of information to deal with the problem – which points directly at the states and this is not … a conspiracy theory!

There is no conspiracy theory behind the swine flu and scientists have, often cynically, used their logic to explain in detail how the flu started and how it expands. They have exhibited studies and statistics that are not new – there is nothing new about swine flu – and they have explained defences and all that with the help of the World Health Organization, WHO. Doctors have been warned and informed on local levels, and most of them are prepared to deal with it. But despite all the information, people have stopped eating pork, and the number of flu victims is increasing internationally, adding one dead in USA and twelve in Mexico.

When I wrote that people have stopped buying pork meat, I was not joking. Actually the US Government, joined by Russia, China and another fifteen countries, have imposed restrictions on pork products imports from Mexico – I suppose you never know what a well made pork chop might give you. The best of all was when American Vice President Joe Biden said in a televised interview that he would not let his family fly by plane or be in an enclosed public place, like a cinema, while this thing is still going on. Biden’s interview was broadcast in the news all around the world. I saw them in Finland, and especially these comments gave the message that if the American vice president prefers to keep his family indoors to protect them, I better not move from my room!

The swine flu, according to most scientists, is not lethal, and I trust they know what they are talking about. Its lethality depends on the prevention and treatment of suspected patients, as well as the patient’s immune system. But apart from babies and very young people, or if somebody has serious problems with their immune system, swine flu is not the only enemy. So here we have, once again, misinformation and mishandled situations, from the very people that are obliged to protect us from exactly these situations, leading us to widespread panic!

Because how is anybody supposed to react to Biden’s comments and the American administration’s restrictions on import of pork products from Mexico, if not with panic?

The Mexican government correctly demands explanations from the governments of the states that put on these restrictions. The Mexicans are demanding explanations based on a scientific basis, highlighting the fact that consumers are not likely to check the origin of the pork steak or pork sausage they buy from the supermarket - they will just quit buying any pork product! Amazing! The EU on the other hand, tries to be clever by using marketing tricks and changing the name of the flu from swine flu to …a novel flu virus! Wow, that will definitely solve all the problems! Personally I have to admit that I have never seen a sausage or a pork steak sneeze at me, and if I ever see that I will definitely start believing that aliens have taken over the main governments and that together with Hoover they are all responsible for J.F. Kennedy’s assassination!

What the World Health Organization has failed to protect us from is the flu of misinformation and hypocrisy!

St. Petersburg days in Helsinki

2009-04-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

EU-MAN’s Permanent Gallery - St. Petersburg days in Helsinki

The European Union Migrant Artists Network (EU-MAN) cordially invites you to attend the grand opening of the permanent EU-MAN Gallery in Helsinki’s Cable Factory on Tuesday April 14th. Since the launch of EU-MAN in January 1997 there have been countless exhibitions in many countries displaying a huge variety of artworks created by the Network’s many active members, but this is the first time that a permanent exhibition has been established and it is an exciting prospect for everybody involved.

As a special part of this first exhibition, there will be a celebration of 200 years of relations between Finland and Russia. EU-MAN is participating in the “St. Petersburg days in Helsinki” event with a painting exhibition that includes works from 13 Russian artists and five artists that are members of EU-MAN in Finland. The certain exhibit will be open between the 14th and 24th of April.

The gallery’s opening and the exhibition is going to be attanted by Mr. Goubankov Anton Nikolaevich, Chairman of Culture committee of SPB and Mrs. Larisa Skobkina Curator, Chief of the Department of the newest currents of the Central exhibition hall of St. Petersburg “Manege”, so you have the opportunity to meet and talk with them.

So please join us as the 12 year-old EU-MAN organisation celebrates another first and is finally able to display an impressive selection of its members’ work.

The Russian artists:
Oleg Frontinsky
Larisa Golubeva
Rashid Dominov
Boris Zabirohin
Alla Geguerey
Lada Panyukova
Stas Kasimov
Nikolay Vasilyev
Andrei Chezhin
Lyudmila Chezhina
Dmitry Konradt
Dmitry Shaguin
Andrey Kouznetsov

The EU-MAN artists:
Andrea Bauer
Tigneh Negash
Nastaran Nasirzadeh
Amir Khatib
Thanos Kalamidas

EU-MAN Gallery Grand Opening
Tuesday April 14th
Cable Factory
Block B, Floor 3
Tallberginkatu 1
00180 Helsinki

A German lullaby

2009-03-12T03:07:00.000-07:00

An article from Ovi magazine by Thanos Kalamidas

And it did happen again and this time in Germany, with more victims - fifteen, the news say, including the boy that held the gun. The question remains, who put this gun in his hand and who triggered it! The answer is unknown and we are all waiting for the specialists and profilers to tell us what is going on; in the meantime nobody has given any answer to what happened in Finland a few months ago and in the States before that. The only fact is that young people are armed and are ready to shoot-to-kill in the places that should represent the dreams and the hopes of everybody, and they are doing that against the people who share their dreams and hopes.

A few months ago I wrote an article about what happened in Finland and hours after the hit in Germany, with the news bombing us with more information all the time, the only thing I can sense is that the main reasoning remains the same: there is a generation growing-up lacking an identity. Please don’t think that I make the mistake to compare generations, this generation is just different because they live in a different reality from my generation, for example - and again I’m saying that without judging - it is just different without that meaning that it is better or worst.

Germany goes through a huge crisis, perhaps the worst since the period between the two world wars. Unemployment has reached the same levels with the period Hitler was storming German politics with …solutions and the gap between the rich and poor is like a canyon nowadays. Something we actually often miss, the collapse of the Wall didn’t mean the end of problems, actually it was just the beginning and covering it under the happiness of unification didn’t mean that the problems disappeared, they just built up. The new Germany, the Germany of the 21st century, is facing a serious identity crisis balancing between the divided Germany of the Cold War, the Germany of WWII, the Germany of the industrial miracle of the '60s and '70s and the Germany of the two speeds at the end of the 20th century. In the middle is a new generation that tries to understand what is bad and what is good.

Using the words bad and good I’m not referring to anything metaphysical, but the confusing reality of the end of the 20th century for this generation. Think of it, from one day to the other the Wall collapses, actually the way it happened was painless and harmless yet a shock for all of us who had created endless myths about the mighty Soviet Bear; and the West Germans faced their own brothers but not exactly brothers to be the poor relatives nobody wants home for the party. At the same time, the stories and the propaganda of the evil Soviet regime becomes gigantic, turning the people to the other side, exactly the opposite. Neo-Nazi parties and groups are illegal in Germany but that doesn’t stop them increasing in numbers and members and the hate incidents become more dramatic every day. Oddly, the evil and bad guys compared to the other evil and bad guys don’t look so bad anymore and a young generation that sees dreams and hopes disappear in a world where only the few can make money – money nowadays is the only way to succeed – stand unable to react, numb and confused.

Finally, population movements and immigration became the nightmare, this generation feels like it is descended and neglected by a world that just doesn’t have time for them. And then you get a boy confused and most likely influenced from some fanatics with a gun. How did he find the gun? This is something for the police to find out and for the state to take the necessary measures and I said the same when the same happened in Finland without ignoring the fact that if somebody wants to find a gun they will find it legally or illegally. The point is that we must find the way to give to these kids their missing identity and the responsibility is collective. We all have our share. The problem is the same like it was a few years ago with the hooliganism it has just evolved and the need for a solution and action has become more urgent.

When you read on the news that fifteen people died, when you read analysis and statistics, when you deal with profiles and police investigation remember that the gunman was a seventeen year-old boy! Remember that he was an ordinary boy with good reports from the school and that he loved tennis. Remember that this boy was just like any seventeen year-old boy and instead of trying to blame him try to understand what led him and most importantly who armed his hand. Don’t try to analyze what was his relationship with his mother because he killed eight girls it was pour confidence and it has nothing to do with all the televised circumstantial psychologists, it was a seventeen year-old boy full of anger of a society that was deaf to his agony and try to think who triggered this frustration and transformed it onto murder.

Pillorying dignity

2009-02-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

An article from Ovi magazine by Thanos Kalamidas

It started late last week from a popular UK tabloid and gradually took over all the tabloids all around the world. By Sunday it is somewhere in all the media agencies all around the world, the issue a thirteen year-old boy and a fifteen year- old girl that became a father and mother. A boy who still spends most of his time playing computer games, football and going to school and a girl still playing with dolls and in the back garden with her friends were sexually active; so active so the girl was taking the pill and because she forgot to take it a few days she became pregnant.

But let’s get to the other elements one by one before we move to the new parents. Newspapers and especially tabloids live and thrive with stories like that and that’s the reason they literally hunt stories like that ignoring everything that has to do with human dignity, even the basic rules. So we all know – and by all I mean the whole world – the name of the boy and the girl, we all know their address and thanks to the tabloids we all had a look in their bedroom’s keyhole since all the tabloids left a lot of comments about their active sex life. I suppose a few perverts had a party with all the details that paraded in the pages of the tabloids.

Making Andy Warhol true these tabloids promise ten minutes fame to everybody pillorying the two kids because with all the photos and all the interviews with questions like “how you going to finance your new life” and answers like “what does ‘finance’ means” that’s exactly what they are doing ignoring that the boy is in the first grade and is not a surprise if he doesn’t know the meaning of the words. The media have acted like vultures over these young bodies and I’m sorry to say this is inexcusable and embarrassing but it seems like that everybody is ignoring it.

You see the tabloids after gave the chance to everybody to look into the keyhole they gave the opportunity for another blame game and a witch-hunt. So the conservative party – no I’m sorry, the most hypocrite part of the society doesn’t matter ideology - blamed the labour party and the socialists for the loss of morals. Every time I hear or read something like that I really freak out because usually it comes from people who haven’t got any sense of morals or dignity but they flag them to serve their opportunist agendas and cover their unbelievable scandals. I suppose their next suggestion is to involve the civil servants and take the baby away from the parents because they are too young completing a series of mistakes with a huge mistake.

The same people and many more will say that things like that didn’t happen in the past. This is the most amazing lie and unfortunately a lie most believe and repeat often. Things like that happened all throw the human history and they will happen in the future as well. Do you know what the difference is? The cover up and the acceptance of the fact since the accident were accompanied with a fast wedding something people today don’t think necessary. Or was it better when my thirteen-year old grandmother had her first child from a man she married just a year before with a man who was twenty years her senior? Or was my grandmother an exception? And my grandmother was lucky because she got married, how many others due to social differences were left alone with their newborn in a society that didn’t want the responsibility sending hundreds of kids in orphanages all around the world?

You don’t have to go far, just read the classics from the 19th and the 18th century to see all the examples, actually some of those classics are must to read for teenagers today. This is a very serious issue and it has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with morals but with the fact that two very young kids gambled their future due to lack of knowledge of the outcome of their acts. Otherwise that they were sexually active is not a crime! And unfortunately this is were it comes the family and the state especially the school. Let’s start from the bottom. Do you think that the teachers care or even if they care can they do something?

Unfortunately the raw answer is no, they cannot do something because most of them are hovered from exactly the same problems the parents have, insecure future, loans, credit cards and the fear of unemployment. Most of them in their hunt of survival have no time to take care of their own kids not the others’ kids. Their fears and insecurities coming with them in the classrooms living them dry to any kind of reaction. The family? Most of the time the family is absent, both parents work hard if they are lucky to cope with the necessary expenses, sometimes doing jobs they hate, humiliating and underpaid. The only time they have to deal with their kids is something like two three hours maximum a day.

I’ve read somewhere that the two families should be blamed for leaving their kids to sleep in the same room? Really? So if your twelve year-old son asks you to bring his friend to overnight the first thing you will think is that they are going to have an orgy in his room and not that they are going to pretend that they are reading and spend all the time in front the play station! If you think that they are going to have an orgy then there is something wrong with you. From the other side do you think if they want to do something you are going to stop them? You must have illusions and examples there are thousands all around us. The key for a good relationship with the kids is trust and information.

Information is the part where the state has failed, not that there are not the right books in the schools and there are not the right hours and teachers to teach the kids, what is missing is the right attitude. Our world has changed this is fact and the kids grow faster nowadays this is another fact and it is our obligation to arm the kids with this new future not preaching morals but explaining what nobody ever explained to my grandmother and obviously to those two kids, that there is a future that includes babies but first they have to make sure that they are armed to survive with dignity in this world. For this to happen we must have teacher who will not worry for their well-being but they will worry for these kids’ well-being. I’m emphasizing the role of the teachers because again unfortunately this is the thing that has changed radically nowadays; kids live more in the school yard than with their parents.

Finally the kids themselves. Personally I’m glad they kept the baby and didn’t escape to any easy solution and I really hope that this will not become the reason or the excuse to stop their studies but on the contrary and with the help of the families and the state will motivate them to study harder for a better future for them and their kid. And if we need desperately to blame somebody it would be a good start to begin with the media that like cannibals pilloried their dignity!

The Article Nobody Wants To Read

2009-02-14T03:55:00.000-08:00

An article from Ovi magazine by Alexandra Pereira

I know that I can be crucified for this article. But I don’t really care. It is my opinion, I have been thinking like that (and about that) for a long time. I think we should all consider it seriously and try to develop serious efforts in this sense. This is really about our balance as societies and individuals, and the prevalence of constructive and positive bonds over deception and global destruction.

We human beings know instinctively and through our life experiences that there are human beings among us who have moral holes, a moral vacuum, lack of empathy, extreme and destructive hate inside them, very cunning manipulative skills – all these characteristics harm both other individuals and the society, mining its long-term goals, destroying solidarity, spreading unseen or not witnessed crime and persecution, destroying bonds, potentials, dreams and lives. We cannot live deluded in wonderland saying to ourselves that such humans don’t exist. On the other hand, once we admit that such humans do exist, our knowledge brings responsibility with it: we have to recognize how harmful are the consequences of their actions and take serious measures to prevent those from happening.

Anybody who studied a bit of psychology or the functioning of the human mind knows that we can differentiate clearly several types of human personalities, and while many are constructive or innocuous, a few of them are extremely toxic, destructive by nature, cruel, unchangeable, extremely manipulative and harming to others. We know this is true, and the harm and pain that these personalities provoke in others, the destruction they leave behind them as well as their impunity, cannot be collectively ignored. It would be extremely irresponsible to do so.

Most people commit mistakes, are occasionally selfish, have flaws, have feelings, have guilt, have reparation needs, have dreams, have doubts, have occasional conflicts (and not extremely unsurpassable ones, as they also have a sense of negotiation, flexibility and empathy), mostly try to build positive relationships and bonds, they can lie occasionally about minor things with no greatly harming consequences, above all they love truth and its priceless outcomes for their lives, they have empathy, have feelings, have a sense of the right and wrong, have affective resonance and sensibility, have problems and dilemmas, suffer, have sense of humor, have creativity, have a sense of fidelity, a sense of community and a sense of responsibility, and a need to trust and bond in spite of anything.

We do know that the level of negative impact of the most harming personalities is profoundly and qualitatively different: they don’t feel guilt (but are experts in taking advantage of guilty feelings of others), they don’t have a sense of right and wrong (which allows any behaviour to be “legitimate”), they don’t feel or hardly feel anything (but can mimic human emotions masterfully), don’t have empathy and can’t feel true sadness, are unscrupulous, they hurt compulsively, emotionally blood-suck others, and have a deep love for lies and deception, a fatal attraction to power, they attack other humans’ self-esteem, self-confidence and reality perception in several ways, are sadistic, manipulate and cheat, and are driven by destruction impulses and death desires. They represent the dark side of humanity, where we don’t want to look in. And we know all those things about them also scientifically – it is not hard to understand, as it is part of everyone’s common experience.

Most people are in fact qualitatively different from psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists - and that is what allows the latter to so drastically harm, manipulate and influence others, because they know it too (and are masters of using it for their own purposes, which logics often escapes most humans). We know scientifically that common people have relatively few defences against this. This is proven and felt by many. And this is something we can’t ignore once we know it. It is extremely urgent that we develop clear diagnosis methods for such personalities.

We have personality tests but we know that such individuals usually lie/deceive during both interviews and tests. We have polygraphs (which are expensive, not easily accessible instruments and not 100% reliable) based on merely physiological signs, but we know that especially these harming individuals can cheat the polygraphs. We know that we just have to try a little bit harder, and such instruments can be available… if we want to! The answer will probably come from both genetics and neurosciences’ research. We have detected the structures in our brain responsible for empathy and morality that took us a little bit closer. We also know the typical brain patterns of common people when they are depressed, and we know that the most harmful personalities can’t get depressed (although they can mimic cry at times, specially to manipulate others into doing, feeling or thinking something “useful” for them).

We know that we will be able to find at least specific brain functioning patterns (areas of brain activation, electrical patterns) in given situations, specific of these individuals, and the genetic characteristics of these personalities (genetic proof would probably be found faster and more unmistakably). We’re just this close, and we just need a push! Above all, we need will! Once we can do it, it will have profound effects on the way we see ourselves and the ones surrounding us. Once we can do it, there’s no return – thank God – to the illusory innocence of perverse masks and deceiving realities, but there will be abundant space and protection for the kind at heart, and for goodness and solidarity and constructive goals to grow both socially and inside our homes.

The key seems to be not in “perfecting” human races’ phenotype through genetics, like the Nazis wanted to, but in identifying the genotype of the most harmful human beings. We have to have objective ways of identifying the most harming and deceiving personalities. It is a matter of protecting citizens, but also a matter of survival of our societies at large. These individuals can commit personal crimes, social crimes and crimes against humanity. More than that: it would lead to deep social changes. That is why it demands political courage and determination, not only research, to do this. We wouldn’t have paradise on earth, but we would surely have more pleasant and safe societies. States would save billions in expenses. Nonetheless, some State members wouldn’t feel safe, as they could be subjected to such instruments too. This can be one of the obstacles to the development of these instruments.

Let’s be clear. I am not talking here about many teenager delinquents who act out. I’m not even referring to people who live in extremely poor social conditions and are forced to steal food or do something which is not completely legal because otherwise they won’t survive. I am not talking about them simply because many of these people don’t have such personalities. I am talking about deeply democratic and truthful instruments. These instruments do not serve law and political control; they serve humans and the goals and dreams of our collective societies (making them more liveable) and our individuals.

Because I am talking about the most harming, dangerous and deceiving personalities among us - the ones justice cannot prove or does not find enough evidence of their crimes, and personality tests cannot clarify while interviews don’t work because of manipulation and incredible acting skills by these individuals. Because they are qualitatively different and unchangeable, I truly believe there is a genetic basis for these personalities. Brain patterns and functioning (especially when asked certain questions) would prove the activity of such genetic traits, its characteristics and answers to the surrounding environment. Human justice is based on facts. Facts always demand a more or less high level of concreteness or scientific certainty. There’s no way around it.

Of course we could always turn to God’s mercy and justice. But this not only isn’t satisfactory, as it allows fellow humans to keep suffering at the hands of other humans. Giving a recent example: I’m sure that many people asked God to have mercy (and apply divine justice) of all the Nazis, including Mengele. Human justice was not applied. The results we are starting to uncover reveal that Mengele, for example, continued to harm other human beings at least 20-35 years after the Holocaust – this included medical and genetic crimes against others, with consequences at all human levels, at least for the inhabitants of an entire city, the city of Cândido Godoi, in Brazil. And certainly his actions included more details we don’t even know about yet.

Mengele was one of these personalities, as was Hitler, but we can find them in everyday bastards who harm and lie compulsively, serial killers, domestic abusers, white-collar criminals, paedophiles, rapists, extremely manipulative personalities, harmful narcissists and many people who… did not commit their crimes yet. We should think about it and demand something – something fair which we can achieve scientifically, which can avoid a great slice of human suffering, spiritual hindering and the jeopardizing of social well-being at all levels. If we can identify such individuals, our justice can be much more effective, our prevention capabilities can be much more efficient, first of all.

The priority should be identifying the ones who seem healthy but are extremely poisonous. Many traditionally considered “mentally hill” people hardly represent any serious danger for others or the society – we keep them away because we don’t want to see them. But the most harmful personalities are often among us and apparently “over-adapted”, while surreptitiously or progressively provoking depression, anger, anxiety, pain, devastation, grief and desperation in others. And only after identifying them should we start thinking if science can bring empathy to individuals who don’t have empathy and remorse to someone who has no remorse. I have no doubts that this is much more pressing than finding a cure for schizophrenia.

Mass murder in Australia

2009-02-10T01:41:00.000-08:00

From Ovi magazine

The pictures of dead nature, humans and life from Australia that are circulating around the world this moment are horrifying and there are no words to describe the catastrophe on so many levels. Actually, the only thing that made sense was the Victoria State Prime Minister’s tears on the television screens that also went around the world.

The fires continue this very moment I’m writing this and the number of dead increases, the size of the lost forest and the animal life and habitat and the remaining question is flee or fight. Flee from what? Flee from your own land, the place of your birth and breath? How can you? And then again fight what? It's not the fire only, it's not the wind only, it is these beasts in the shape of human, the arsonists who started this crime and now they are nothing less than mass murderers. And all that for what? For a few more silver coins because that is what the earth is worth to them, just a few more silver coins.

It is something like fifteen years ago I found myself inside a burned forest and it was over six months since the incident had happened; a few of you might remember the big fires in central Greece in the mid-eighties. It just happened for me to go through the area that had been burned and I just had to stop the car, I couldn’t continue and it was like a tombstone had fallen over me, the picture was simply devastating. I know you might say that they are trees but for me that moment there were dead souls all around and the thought that among them there were human souls it was just unbearable.

Because of what I saw and the way this picture has been haunting me through the years I’ve been watching the progress happening in the area and the results of the investigation. The police a few months after the incident announced that it was arson for sure; they had found proof but not proof to deal to anybody specifically so the case followed other similar taking a code name, a number and be stored in one of the file cases they have. However one thing that at least I have learned reading mystery stories is that there is no crime without motive and in any case you should search first for the motive and that would lead you to the guilty.

A few years after the fires the local authorities and some organizations patiently tried to do something about the lost forest mainly planting young trees and taking care of them hoping or perhaps dreaming that they will help the rebirth of the forest and it is somehow true, the forest reborn it was just …less than a tenth of its original size! What happened to the rest? Where trees were growing, were animals enjoyed, hunt and lived having their offspring today there are rich villas and luxurious cottages, asphalt roads and cabriolets, there are even hotels and tourists’ shops you see the sea is not that far!

I presume you can see the motive, you can see the result of the crime and most likely the guilty has a name. Everything happened because of the greed of the few which naturally leads to another series of questions, what the state is doing and furthermore what is worth a human life? Coming to the fires in Greece I’m very disappointed even to dare try answer, the state has long proved inability and please think how much this costs me to admit when it comes to my own country and I really hope the tears of the Victoria State Premier John Brumby were not for the show and he will do the necessary to catch and exemplary punish the guilty but regarding the cost of life I have no idea how they calculate it and how these monsters can sleep at night.

But is not just the human life, here there is something far more important if you could ever compare, there is the collective well being, is the life of all of us because every single inch of lost forest replaced by concrete costs far more than just money, it costs to the future, to our kids to all our lives. Why do they think environmental issues have taken so huge dimensions to become even a theme of talk for the American presidential election, to become a reason for international worry and part of the problem that reaches even the economic growth of nations? Every inch of burned forest in the far away Australia, every lost each of rainforest in the far away south Africa is another piece missing of our survival, the well being of our families and our kinds and one step closer to the nightmarish pictures we see in these cult fiction films of sixties and seventies.

The fires in Australia continue and I’m really afraid that the number of the dead, human and nature will continue equally increase and the question flee or fight sounds more dramatic every second for the people there. The feeling that there is the possibility that human beings or at least some called human beings are behind those fires is at least discussing and what the Victoria State Premier John Brumby said is just truth, these people must be arrested soon and accused for mass murder!

Filling the gap

2008-08-24T02:49:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

And his name is …Joe Biden and it was like hell for all of us who don’t live in the States, not very familiar with the name and the background to find out who Biden, Mr. Joe Biden is. The US Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama announced his pick for a vice-president in the face of a 65-year-old veteran senator and expert on foreign policy making at least me …smile!

First of all, it looks like there is a new tradition in American presidential election; you pick your running mate after checking his medical file. I mean George W. Bush’s running mate Dick Cheney was touring with Bush and a group of doctors. You will probably point that nowadays 65 is not old and in the case of Obama-Biden we have experience joining forces with young passion. I totally agree with you and I really hope it is true.

But then why do I worry if experience can mean conservatism and youth passion …compromise? And please don’t argue that I’m saying all that because I was wishing Hillary for the place because I think that near the end Hillary made so many often unbelievable mistakes that it would worry me if Barack even thought the chance.

Then I read the man’s bio at least the one that was in the media and I noticed that it was extremely emphasized his experience in foreign affairs, after all, the man chairs the Foreign Relations Committee and well done and I’m really happy for him actually and I have often pointed it, the biggest problems the new US administration will have to deal with from the very beginning will have to do with foreign policy and it doesn’t matter who is going to win, Democrat or Republican; and an experience in foreign affairs vice president is good, really good, just too good to be true. Because Joe Biden is part of the status quo Barack wants to clean, so much part of it so in the beginning just like Hillary he fully supported both the invasion in Iraq and the occupation …sorry, I mean the help for security reasons.

I don’t know why but this expert on foreign affairs somehow comes weird to me, I mean George W. Bush or Dick Cheney aren’t exactly the masters of foreign policy. George W. Bush when he was still a candidate he thought that Pakistan is neighbouring Colombia and that Coventry is a city in USA. Dick Cheney with all his dividing Europe gave lessons of diplomacy, the two of them wrote the book all the mistakes a state can do to screw diplomacy and make enemies between allies. You would never from the very beginning call them experts of foreign policy.

And then there was another thing on the media that stroke me, the son of a car salesman expected to appeal to the blue collar workers. So Obama is admitting two things which oddly are the same things that McCain keeps accusing him, inexperience in foreign policy and being a white collar! I’m not going to add that he’s white because that will be the total cynicism.

Of course, it is too early to judge how this thing will work and of course it is unfair to say anything about Sen. Joe Biden before we hear him and we will have the chance pretty soon but again I have to remember an open letter a lot of US personalities signed and published a couple of weeks ago reminding Barack Obama that he should not change his fight for change in the name of the presidential seat. In that letter all these people tried to remind him that USA is in a deadlock in many, perhaps too many ways and only change can bring hope, something that is missing lately from the average US houses. Hope without guns but with dignity in their every day life, hope without cooperative financial scandals and greedy lobbies. Hope that will bring back faith to the system and not more homeless and unemployed in the streets.

I hope Mr. Joe Biden is aware of all that and not enter the campaign to fill the missing gap and most of all I hope that Barack Obama remembers his own words. Last and not least I’m waiting to see Hillary’s reaction in the Democrats convention that starts soon. From the beginning of her end I had the feeling that the former first lady hadn’t finished yet!

Musharraf’s end game

2008-08-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

The first one has gone and it was about time. Pakistan’s dictator Pervez Musharraf resigned under the pressure of facing charges. Obviously he proved to have a bit of brain and just like Pinochet a few years ago he chose to leave power graciously with all the necessary compromises rather than in handcuffs.

I’m sure there was a drama in the White House when they found out and an even bigger one in CIA headquarters, but this is it, life is hard for the …allies!!! But was Musharraf an ally or just an opportunist that based his survival into the hands of Washington? I think the Pakistan desk in Washington has a lot to answer to both the president of USA and the conspiracy bosses in Langley, most likely they overestimated his power and they also underestimated his will to survive, perhaps his desperate will to survive.

Pakistan was never the perfect ally for the USA and in general the western world, and that has long and old roots. The truth is that the majority of the people are conservative religious Muslims to the limits of the Taleban, after all that was exactly what motivated them half a century ago to force split with India and nearly have a war between them. That’s exactly what separates them from the Indians despite their common battles they gave against the colonials. And the Pakistani were always suspicious towards even their own leaders when they were western educated and trained. Even towards Bhutto they were suspicious; don’t look now that Bhutto became a martyr in the fight against Musharraf’s dictatorship.

The Americans were too keen to find an ally in South East Asia, India despite the fact that it is the real super power in the area was not a trustworthy ally, too confident, too independent and often with one eye on Russia. Pakistan was the only alternative, a local power bordering with Iran and Afghanistan, not far from China, a perfect airplane carrier and the same time the perfect field for all the spy masters. And then along came Musharraf and his military coup.

No strong foundations and in need of support, strong support and he found it in the west, especially in George W. Bush, after all, their time in power started nearly at the same time. After 9-11 George W. Bush needed a good ally in the area and Musharraf looked perfect, so good that he was even invited on the ranch, called our best friend forgetting that the man had no real differences with Saddam.

When the Americans and, to an extent, the Europeans found out that the saying too good to be real worked with Musharraf it was too late. Musharraf had no real control in Pakistan, not that the people have, they are the victims but Musharraf had control only to his surroundings. The Pakistani security forces, strong elements of the state in Pakistan are shared, some of them even support the Taleban after all how can Bin Laden survive for so long if he didn’t have Pakistani help and the Americans due to their best friend Pervez might not like to admit it but the strongest cells of Bin Laden’s network work and settle in Pakistan. Most of them trained and armed from the Pakistani security forces in the same way Bin Laden himself was trained and armed by CIA.

The future of Pakistan now is a mystery, there are too many forces, a lot of them extreme that fight for power there and even Iran’s clerics dictators would like to have a bit of the country with the nuclear bombs and I have no doubts that this very moment they are having big meetings studying their next moves. But then again Musharraf was part of the problem and his presence as the head of the state made things much worse, at least now most of them will have to take off the masks and present their real faces.

Another side effect from the war in Iraq, the Americans moved all their interest to the invasion and occupation there – whatever is the name they might use now – and left the real problem in Afghanistan in the hands of a small NATO army and their hopes in Musharraf! And of course the Taleban are returning strong and with the support of the people this time! So the Americans are the next who definitely lost now with the fall of Musharraf and all their allies involved with the invasion in Iraq or not. If the Americans remember their European allies, the old Europe had often warned that we are losing focus; the war on terror is in the mountains of Afghanistan and not on the oil platforms of Iraq!!!

The only one who won in the end is again Musharraf himself because the last years the only thing in his agenda is how to avoid the court and the jail, how to come out of it gracefully and to my opinion he managed well. The reason I would like to see him in court is not revenge but justice. Because the next Musharraf must know that the will of the people and justice work in Pakistan and one way or another in the end they will have to deal with both of them. But he seems to escape at the moment and the only thing I can hope to see is for others to follow his example, like Zimbabwe’s Mugabe! As far Musharraf, his bosses might offer him a job in USA, you never know for as long he worked in Pakistan he served them well!

Mugabe: Africa's serial killer

2008-06-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

At this minute, supporters of Africa’s Hitler caricature, Robert Mugabe show their power by beating people in cities and villages of Zimbabwe, people who didn’t go to vote or people who showed their support to the opposition, even people who were quiet in the name of their family’s peace.

Just like Hitler’s SS teams, police and paramilitary groups that support the dictator and his murderous gang go through the streets of Harare with batons and sticks beating anybody who they don’t like because it has ended up to that - if they don’t like somebody or what he says he’s the enemy of the devilish state Mugabe has created. The incidents are in their hundreds and I’m really sorry but in the next few weeks and months they will be in the thousands; you see, there is a pattern with serial killers. In the beginning they torture and wound their victims and then gradually they start killing making the cycle one of torture and murder. This is what Mugabe and his followers are, and this is the name that can use alongside monsters and enemies of humanity - they are serial killers.

The rest of the world is watching numb while the leaders of the democratic countries are thinking what they can do to stop the massacre. Too late? I cannot definitely answer that but they had all the time to do something instead of inviting him to summits in Rome. I hope Mr. Solana and Mr. Barroso regret every moment of that. Mugabe won the elections is his argument and I’m sure the result will reach the glorious 88% and over. He couldn’t do it 100%, he cannot be so obvious but 75% is a good number and his followers are living the illusion that they have the support of the people and that nobody can touch them. And why shouldn’t they?

The international community, except some, have done nothing. In an article a few months ago I was wondering why, I cannot understand how even neighbouring countries of Zimbabwe cannot actively do something against Mugabe and often I had to face the argument that he fought racism and sent the British away. This is a very schizophrenic situation, the man who was proud of kicking the colonist British away was proud to take a knighthood from the Queen and, at the very same time, he is a man who asked for equality between black and white people, but now he sees anybody even befriending a white as the enemy. But now the enemy is everywhere for Mugabe, and it matches what I said before about a serial killer pattern.

There is no alternative justice anymore and no negotiations for somebody like Mugabe and his gang, and I’m sorry to say there will be no forgiveness between the Zimbabwe people either and this is what saddens me much more. It might be tomorrow, next month or next year but the fall will come, it always comes to people like Mugabe. But how long will it take for the wounds to heal and how long will it take for the people to forget this is another story and I’m afraid it will not come in one day, one month or one year. Revenge is already in the minds of a lot of Zimbabweans and they are just waiting.

But what will happen when Mugabe will go over this thin line, when he will kill the wrong mother, the wrong father, the wrong child and then the first one will ask for revenge? It really takes only one to unite the others and the all the warning from the opposition will become true and another civil war will inflame this part of Africa. And please remember when your neighbour’s backyard is on fire your house is in danger. That’s how Zimbabwe’s neighbours should feel like. The fire has already started in Zimbabwe and we all know who is responsible and they power this fire with batons and long sticks in the neighbourhoods of Harare every minute.

Robert Mugabe, Africa's Hitler caricature, must go not only for the present and the future of Zimbabwe but for the present and the future of Africa and Mugabe with his gang must go to an international court to be judged for crimes against humanity not only in the name of the people of Zimbabwe, not only in the name of the people of Africa but in the name of the people of this world!

Torturing Aristotle

2008-06-26T00:19:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

Is there any way to identify the meaning of the word ‘torture’? I grew up through a dictatorship and I heard unbelievable stories about torturing and methods of torturing, then after the dictatorship and all the cases came to the courts we saw pictures of the victims and their bodies, we heard detailed descriptions and we saw it in their eyes. I even have a friend who went through that during those dark days.

But then I have another friend whose father used to beat his mother and lock him sometimes for a whole a day inside a dark closet. My friend in his early fifties and he still has nightmares of that time and when he left home at sixteen he never returned, he never spoke to his father again and, according to him, the best day of his life was when his mother left his father. Isn’t this torture? What’s the difference or what’s the distance between the two cases? I know I have too many questions but honestly I don’t know the answers. For me is just inhumane!

I have seen with my own eyes what torture means in Sudan and Sierra Leone, I saw torturing in South Africa and I saw victims of torturing in Chile. One night a very good friend of mine, a lecturer in the University of Buenos Aires, who was a political prisoner during the dictatorship, opened her heart after a few drinks and started telling me what she had gone through. In the beginning there were tears but after a bit the tears became sobs and then when she started telling me about the rapes the sobs became silence. Then I was in tears. Her words were torture for me who was just listening, who never went through the same things.

When I was fourteen the dictatorship’s police arrested me as a suspect – you see on top of everything I had long hair something that didn’t go down too well with the ethics of a dictatorship – for two hours I lost every sense of where I was and what was happening to me and the only sensation I had left was the taste of blood in my mouth. My crime? I was walking in a street at the wrong time! I’m serious, that was my crime and straight away I became a suspect, that’s how dictators think and until my family found out and until they come to save me I had two broken bones and a face you could hardly recognize that it was mine. And I was just …fourteen! That’s how dictatorships think!

For years a family friend lived in real hell with a husband who never touched her in the sense beating her but living in constant sentimental blackmails that reached her life and the life of her own kids. The worst part was that she could never talk about them, just having to live her hell, full of threats and mental violence. Is that torturing? I don’t know and the longer I’m thinking more and more cases coming to my mind. I can only sense that torturing is not only the visual but there are many kinds even the sentimental or the blackmail, it’s all torture and it’s all inhumane and painful.

Oddly 2,500 years ago Aristotle pointed that any confession coming through torturing should not stand in any court, 2,500 years ago and in 1987 the United Nations signed a treaty against torturing to get a confession. In the year 2008 we have Guantanamo!!! We obviously learned nothing! And did they use torture all through history? The states did, the kings and the lords did, the bandits did and criminals did, dictators and warlords, even the churches did. The Inquisition, they made torturing science. In a museum in Spain I saw for the first time an iron maiden, not the rock group, and only the sight of it was enough to scare you so much to confess just anything not going through that.

And there are states that still practice torturing, George W. Bush's administration has even legalized them in Guantanamo, I’m not joking, the water torture is consider a normal practice to make terrorism suspects to confess. Aristotle didn’t know anything about George W. Bush back then, he only knew about democracy, poor chap! What remains? For me to apologize to my ancient compatriot, if he was still alive most likely he would be victim of torturing as well!

Mugabe must go

2008-06-24T03:50:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai announced that his party is pulling out from the elections stating that this election will not be fair and free, yet he automatically hands victory to the Africa’s unbelievable Hitler caricature, Robert Mugabe!

What else could he have done? I have no idea, but others including the UN and South Africa leaders as I have often pointed in the past, could have done many things. Disappointment? No, there was no way out of what was going on in this poor country and her people, with the other option was to go for an election with a predefined result, humiliation and the risk of the lives of his followers. That’s Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, and that’s what has become international responsibility.

International responsibility, instinctly and while I was writing this I was smiling. Think of what happened before the invasion to Iraq. The American president and the British prime minister spent hours and hours telling us that a vicious dictator had to end and it was the responsibility of the whole world to do that. It was international responsibility to save the people of Iraq from the dictator and gone far enough to call the sceptics of this invasion cowards and talk about the old and tired Europe. Should we expect now the same people do something similar? Should we expect this time the United Nations to join? After all it is for a humanitarian cause! Or this little element that missing from Zimbabwe and Iraq had will not let them move their ass? Of course you guessed right, I’m talking about oil!

There is no oil in Zimbabwe; there are no diamonds or uranium! There are beautiful valleys and farms, a lot of farms and most of all there poor people, really poor people and who gives a damn for the poor people but when it comes to oil tycoons, sheiks and caliphs they ready to ignore even the UN! But we should know, it has happened before and it was with Iraq all again. When Iraq invaded Kuwait all the world was ready within hours and at least for me it is a question why they didn’t finished the job but when Turkey invaded Cyprus apparently using exactly the same excuses nobody moved but again Cyprus might be a beautiful island for holidays but it doesn’t have any oil! So we won't bother with Zimbabwe!

Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is hell on earth with gigantic inflation and the people with opinion either in prison or dead. For Mugabe there is only one reality ‘my way or the graveyard!’ - what’s then the reality for the alliance against evil? If you have oil we can save you if you don’t just …die? By the way George W. Bush has another six months to prove that everything said about Saddam didn’t stop there but it can apply to Mugabe as well. There is no difference between those two even though to my opinion Africa’s caricature Hitler is worst!

The final cut for Morgan Tsvangirai was what happened last weekend in Harare where his party had organized a rally in a central stadium and followers or better accomplices in crimes against humanity of Robert Mugabe gathered with a lot of help from the army, the police and Mugabe’s paramilitary groups; all armed ready for a warm welcome. So it is not anymore a case of democratic dialogue, is not a case of talking is a case of gang of murderers ready to do everything just to keep their seats and it is simple as that. Is just like gangster protecting their territories.

Mugabe must go and it is the turn of the international community to do something about it, increase the pressure and stop inviting Mugabe for dinner like stupidly Barroso did a few weeks ago. Mbeki, the president of South Africa and Ki-moon the General Secretary if the United Nations must increase radically the pressure, Mugabe must go!

Latest news from Zimbabwe: Morgan Tsvangirai has spent a second night in the Dutch embassy while Ki-moon and Mbeki decided to get actively involved with the situation

The challenge

2008-06-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

Living in the EU I have seen refugees for decades coming not only for a better future but for the simple reason to save their and their children's lives and the bitter truth is that in the beginning of the twenty-first century the refugee reality becomes more and more challenging for all the world.

At this very moment more than forty million people all around the world have become refugees escaping from their homes, roots and countries because of violence and persecution and this doesn’t include a lot more millions that were forced to immigrate due to economic reasons. In contrast with the economic immigrants who are aiming the industrial west, refugees are often forced to escape anywhere as long they can survive away from their home violence and most of time anywhere is better than home.

And it is not only a civil war, warlords or a dictatorship the only reasoning, homosexuality is punished with death in most of the Middle East and Arab countries with Iran championing. And it doesn’t stop in the dark dictatorships, in Turkey to say anything about a Kurdish state or against the army means imprisonment, in Zimbabwe if you don’t agree with Mugabe you are an English spy and you endanger your life, in the ‘secure’ Iraq people sleep with a gun under their pillow.

People nowadays due to expanding information are more aware of their rights and rightfully they demand them, often having to face with a hard and injustice state. So you find people asking for the refugee’s status from the most surprising countries. The same time waves of refuges have to deal with local xenophobia and sometimes racism with latest example the embarrassing events in South Africa. The role of the hosting states becomes increasingly serious as well having except provide shelter and protection but to advocate and help to build a new life and this is were all the challenges start.

The role of the UN and the Refugee Agency is critical since they are oblige to make reality all the above, lead and help the host countries and most of all put a blueprint for all the government to secure health, education and protection for the refugees.

What we have to understand is that these people didn’t have a choice; the alternative to their fleeing would have been their life. And I have no idea how bold to make that for everybody to understand it, to tell you imagine living the circumstances that led them to their action is nothing to the reality they lived. Just think that 30,000 kids die every single day with the majority of them victims of wars and conflicts; just think what thousands of other kids have seen while our kids were playing in the park or at the seaside.

I don’t know if there is anything else to say but give a chance to these people who had none in their own homes.

Perhaps a cancer in Europe

2008-06-13T04:43:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

There is something that I have often emphasized, that Africa or south-east Asia are very far away in our minds, much more than they are in reality, and we have connected the embarrassing acts of our times, like human and drug trafficking, with these corners of the earth. The connection is not entirely unfair since a lot happens and there are states like the dictatorship of Myanmar that champion human and drugs trafficking; actually, the dictators of Myanmar hold the record in both ‘sports.’

There is a saying that the camel can see the other camel’s back better than hers and somehow I have the feeling that the same comes to Europeans, we can see the ‘camel’s back’ with the African countries but we cannot see it when it happens with a country inside the European borders, a country that has been accused more and more from NGOs and organizations for human trafficking, women and children and an uncontrollable drugs trafficking. The accusations go as far as the prime minister and his inner circle, or better, say his family, since governing and family has become the same thing in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Actually, more and more countries talk openly nowadays for the situation in this country and what will happen after Kosovo will be recognized as a new democracy.

FYROM has a lot of open issues with Kosovo whether they like or not and the whole dispute with Greece, while they know that they are wrong it has nothing to do with the reality that their state is in serious dangerous to fall in non-existence in the next ten years. The borders with Kosovo are not very clear and the Albanians have dreams about the land - lands that don’t include the name FYROM. Does Nicola Gruevski, FYROM’s prime minister know all that?

Of course he does and what happened during the elections between the Albanians in FYROM was enough to make him worry, that’s why he has turned to blind nationalism, that’s why he threatens all around. But the thing is for how long this policy of self-delusion is going to continue and not to forget the other element of the equalization that keeps him in place of the Bush administration. You see, I was really careful not to use the Americans because with the end of George W. Bush administration a lot of the mysterious plans in the Balkans are going to be terminated. The word ‘mysterious’ was accurate since nobody knows what this temporary, yet best in size, American army base is doing in the area.

Suspicions? A lot! After all, the American secret services have proved often in the past that they can cooperate even with the devil himself if that serves their interests. Perhaps between Kosovo and FYROM is based the alternative, even darker Guantanamo. Perhaps the American secret services can pretend to be blind when women and children are sold like slaves and drugs change routes. Perhaps it serves when the responsible traffic policeman behind all this is accidentally the prime minister’s favorite cousin and head of the secret police. Perhaps in exchange he turns a blind eye for all that happen with the rumored planes that land with prisoners. Perhaps all the talking in the Albanian villages in FORUM is not lies! Perhaps this country is doomed by its own actions and choices.

That would explain Gruevski’s rush for FYROM to become a member of NATO and that would explain Bush’s support, CIA interest and Rice’s hysterics. When Greece vetoed this membership I’m sure it had no idea of what would soon come out, perhaps there were rumors but now these rumors have expanded into reports that increasingly become more chilling and the way Gruevski practiced democratic elections last month reminded more of a dictatorship and one of the worst kinds.

The dramatic thing is that this all happens in Europe not Africa, not in south Asia and the hypocrisy of the whole thing is that Gruevski will dare the coming December to apply for an EU membership. EU was pretty sensitive when Austria elected for chancellor somebody known for his extreme-right opinions, now is time to practice this sensitivity with FYROM showing to Mr. Gruevski that there is no place for his kind in Europe and all the human and drugs trafficking is a total embarrassment for the EU and must stop yesterday, this cancer that has grown in Europe must be terminated now!

Japan's environmental worries

2008-06-12T07:10:00.001-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

Whatever logic I use I cannot understand it when countries like Japan seriously announce that they are going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 to 80% but all that by the year 2050! This is two generations from now and I presume my grandkids will be adults and me …well long dead!

I’m not trying to be dramatic, after all if you spend a couple of hours in the internet searching environmental issues it is enough to scare the shit out of you and start planning a shelter for you and your family, or better start praying to whatever you might believe. I think the truth is not exactly there but it is not half way either. I believe that we still have time to do something; we just need to listen to the experts and follow their advice without any hysterics and neurotic reactions. There is a problem and the last five years it has been obvious even to the nonbelievers that it’s a fact. There is responsibility for all the environmental problems we have and this responsibility is collective to all of us, from the single house hold and the way we treat our immediate environment to governments and of course international economic interests. That’s another fact!

Solution; well, this is the part I don’t feel so sure and the main reason is that the scientists haven’t manage to analyze the exact damage and calculate the timing. When the tsunami hit south Asia we were all shocked and we all pointed the responsibility of the human factor to the event. That didn’t mean that it was the first time we had a tsunami, I think Lisbon is one of the European cities that has met the catastrophic effects of a tsunami. What changed everything was the unbelievable loss of human lives. Tsunamis happened before and they will probably happen again, the thing is that in the beginning of the 21st century the loss of tens of thousands of lives is unexpected and unexcused. What caused this loss of life it was not the tsunami itself, it was the lack of natural defenses and this is a fact. It was not the lack of natural defenses but the lack of artificial ones as well. The local governments instead of protecting their own people gave license to open more and more hotels destroying an environment that was able to defend itself under any circumstances and it has done before.

Look what happens in the rain forest in South America. Cutting the forest doesn’t destroy the environment, destroys first of all the lungs of the earth regarding filtering the air – it is funny but this is one of the things we learn from our very first years at school, trees filter the air – but these rainforest do something far more important, they are natural defenders before natural catastrophes. Or better natural catastrophes are the result of lacking natural defenses. New Orleans is the best example, don’t tell me that the biggest scientific and material power in the world didn’t have the right warning and the right equipment to prevent the catastrophe, they were just ignoring that with every new meter of concrete they destroy a meter of natural defenses.

What I’m trying to say is that our responsibility as humanity for the destruction of the environment and the coast of thousands and thousands of lives is huge and the sooner we realize it the better. We are not causing tsunamis and earthquakes but with our actions we are responsible of the human loses. And who is the best to put some rules, who is more than any other responsible to put the blueprint so we can prevent these catastrophes and this loss, the state, even better the international community represented from the UN.

Now the state has a dual role, to listen and decide which means experts advising and experts decide, politics have no room in these decisions. Actually politics was what led to those wrong decisions, politics was what made states give license for cutting the rainforest, politics was what let all this uncontrolled building areas that should be protected, politics and in extent greed was what build all these factories without any care for the damage they bring in long term. The destruction of the ozone layer is another example of this, nobody took an axe destroying the ozone layer on the earth sky, what we did it was destroying its defenses and now we are called to repair the damage. And we can do that as I said without hysterics and with a program. But this demands an active support and leading role of the states especially the ones who have the activist role in this destruction.

Don’t worry I’m not going to blame all to the industrial west, all the states have their responsibilities. Is not the industrial Europe responsible for the destruction of the rain forest it is mainly the local governments leading the Brazilian government that even now with the populist Silva sells out the last defenses of the earth to the big forest companies for just a few dollars more. The African governments have their share when they became the backyard of the nuclear waste for all the industrial countries all around the world and that …for a few dollars more. The Asian government that decided in one night to compete the industrial west using humans as slaves and ignoring any security warnings. And yes, the industrial west that seen the results of their action inside their countries they are still thinking how to react.

Japan is a beautiful and overpopulated country; I know, I lived there for a period and I learn to love this country. But in the name of the industrial revolution a country without materials, that has to import nearly everything stormed in the industrial area conquering everything but with what cost? They ignored the environment including the humans as big element of this environment. They tighten their future and their survival with the economic growth and their industry and now they have no way to escape from this path. Changing route will mean changing a way of life that has become their nature the last century. Amazingly a nation that loves so much nature, apparently worships nature has become so depending from artificial surroundings. That’s a nation that totally lost their path and they need to find their way back.

The new Japanese Prime Minister Yasho Fukuda shows that he misses the point as well. I’m not sure if that’s because of politics or because he really has forgotten and the tragic thing with the Japanese politicians is that they all stand on the need of return to traditions while they fly further and further away from the traditions that created the Japanese nation and the nature they love so much to give names from the nature to all their women.

Next month the G8 meet again and this time environment is the main agenda. The Japanese prime minister tried to show that Japan is there strong and ready to do her part. After failing the Kyoto protocol I think that this is hypocrisy and the year 2050 without any hysterics seems too far away and I’m afraid that the same way the Japanese prime minister forgot how it was to enjoy the clean nature it will be the same for my grandkids who will think that a picnic in the fields and living without an asthma mask is something ancients used to do!

Chavez: The next American Idol

2008-06-05T01:27:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

When everybody was talking about Venezuela’s Che I was a bit sceptical! When everybody was talking about the Venezuelan economic miracle I was wondering and when the Spanish king told Chavez to shut up I was relieved.

Nobody knows what would have happened to Che if he was alive and the myth of his death created an icon the size of a rock & roll star; but judging from his brief life, the things he said and the things he did, I doubt if he would have become a relic like Castro. Che always put humans before anything, including ideologies, and you might think that I am being romantic but I feel that it is sacrilege to compare Che with Hugo Chavez.

Hugo Chavez often makes me feel like he’s coming out of a reality show called the "American Revolutionary" where all the scenery and the scenario are inspired from Woody Allen’s film Bananas. I even went so far to read a couple of his speeches to find out that a big part of them didn’t make sense. He's a populist who is ready to say anything so long as the audience will scream his name happily. Of course giving petrol in ridiculous prices, especially to the poor, and the ones who needed it is good and if you put aside the greediness of the oil companies there is a reason for putting taxes on the petrol. The money the states make supposedly goes back to the people by creating schools and hospitals, but please don’t tell me that Venezuela has solved all these problems - do they have enough schools and perfect hospitals? I think Venezuela is far from having a good education and health system.

And then there is another catch that holds me back when it comes to Chavez, the man is always too ready to protect and demonstrate about USA and the EU, emphasizing their lack of respect to the poor and defenceless. He’s talking about human rights and Guantanamo, yet at the same time he’s building his own Guantanamo. Venezuela hasn’t manage to champion human rights, on the contrary, Hugo Chavez found himself a lot of times having to excuse his actions with the opposition, the students, the workers and a number of other issues but his latest decision with the law for spying he definitely touches the limits that will turn him from a controversial leader to a dictator.

His excuse was to guarantee national security, prevent assassination plots and military rebellions. Leave aside the national security excuse, it has been used so many times and for so many reasons that it has lost the meaning; in the end we will hear even bin Laden talking about Afghanistan’s national security and we will not be surprised. Prevent assassination? From the very beginning Hugo Chavez has shown signs of persecution mania and with a little help from CIA’s war games it turned into an obsession. The thing is how far it goes his feeling that he is an assassination target and how far it goes his problem in see enemies around who want to kill him.

Don’t forget that we have another contemporary example of a leader who sees enemies everywhere who try to kill him, Africa’s caricature Hitler Robert Mugabe. And Mugabe has taken it one step further, first he accuses his victims for being English spies that follows with the accusation of assassinations against him - it will end with a dead body in the wild. Is this the path that lies in front of Chavez?

And where does this enemy and spy identity stop? For a man with a persecution mania anybody who’s opposing him can easily become a spy, an instrument of the enemy and in this case anybody can be the enemy depending on the mood. In Mugabe’s case just everybody who opposes him is an English spy. This new law also demands from the Venezuelans to cooperate with the secret services and the police into unveiling enemies of the state and spies. But we have lived the same much too often in the past where a personal dispute was enough to lead people in front the firing squad.

Last, the excuse for military rebellion really made me laugh because it definitely has the flavour of South American banana dictatorship threats and I think it was mainly for internal use warning Venezuelans, it is either a military junta or me!

The next crime of the Myanmar junta

2008-06-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

If anything could get worse in Burma - or Myanmar as the dictators like to call the country - it just did; in the middle of a cyclone, literally and metaphorically, they announced that they are going to extend the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest!

To suppress the political and civil rights of the people is one thing but to fail them while a natural disaster happens and show how naked you are is a totally different thing. The cyclone found a country not prepared for any natural disaster, especially worrying since Burma is a country in the danger zone for earthquakes, tsunamis and cyclones, and the victims were in their thousands. Hundred of thousands because it is not only the people who died but also the ones who lost everything, it is the people left without a father, mother or a brother, there are the people who lost their homes and, as I said, these people count in their hundred of thousands.

So what’s the very first obligation of any state, even a dictatorship like the one that rules Myanmar? Reassure people that there is hope; make them feel that apart from any ideological difference, behind any corruption and crime, there are humans who cannot leave fellow humans dying, including people who might support them. This is exactly where the Myanmar junta failed and more people died. Hundreds, thousands more people. Under international pressure the junta was forced to accept the help that was being offered from everywhere.

I have the feeling that nobody understood what I just said; actually, I’m writing it again because I found it difficult to believe it myself. After the cyclone hundred of thousands of people lost their homes, they lost everything, even the ability of a plate with rice and some milk for their kids. People started dying and the situation was becoming critical with international organizations warning for thousands of dead, especially kids because of the lack of food. Naturally, all the countries from all around the world, even countries that survive with help abroad, started loading aeroplanes and ships ready to go to Burma and help the people, and they could start straightaway if the junta hadn’t stopped them. The criminals that rule this poor country, the drug dealers in army uniforms, most likely thought that the rice was poisoned with democracy!

Yes, they stopped all the aeroplanes, they stopped all the help, they stopped all the food and the milk for Burma’s kids because their minor brains are full of … I'd better not write it! The international pressure kept piling forcing them in the end to accept all the help but still all the help had to go through their office stamped as made and offered from them and then driven to the people. How many kids died in the meantime is a mystery and I hope we will find out soon so there will be a stronger case when it comes the time for the court. How much of this help ended in gangsters’ stockrooms, how much of this help is sold from these gangsters on the black market is another mystery but it did happen. After all, we are talking about a gang of criminals and drug dealers that rule the country, people without any conscience, people who murder and have lost count of how many they have killed.

But again, the democracy virus might have managed to go through, you just never know how their micro brains work; so they should do something about the face that represents any hope for the people of this country, Aung San Suu Kyi. And what they do? They extend her house arrest and put in prison a few people who tried to meet her and give her some news from her dying country.

What is left? The international community saw first-hand how they can press the junta and they saw first-hand how they can scare them, France at least had a taste. The next thing the people of Burma need after rice and milk is freedom and a coordinated strong reaction from all around the world can do it. Now everybody knows that these men in uniform that rule the country are common criminals the worst type, it is time to send them where they really belong, in a dark cell to rule mice and spiders!

Don't let it be

2008-05-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

Kids live their darkest times, not that they ever lived any better times since they have been the victims all through human history, but what they have to deal with today in the beginning of the 21st century with all this social and scientific advance is nearly unbelievable. Paedophilia is nothing new and has existed since the beginning of history and in some times it was not even a taboo and a crime, the use of kids as slavery is something that we saw even at the beginning of the last century, crimes with kids as the victims are immeasurable from the beginning of history. But we thought that humanity evolved.

And when I’m talking about evolution I don’t mean the physical or the technical evolution of the society but the social evolution where humanity became better and more aware of the environment as a wide meaning. Actuality and environment, where humanity realized the crucial part it plays and its role in this gigantic chain for survival, should evolve to something better. Respect to others’ rights didn’t even exist two centuries ago and it was a case of personal honour and ethics; nowadays there are laws to protect human rights and most importantly to protect the defenceless, much more to protect the kids. But what happens when the ones who are oblige to protect the innocent and the kids turn to be the bad wolves?

A leading UK charity organization, the organization Save the Children, accused peacekeepers in Ivory Cost, Sudan and Haiti for sexually abusing kids as young as six-years-old. The dramatic part of it is that this is not the first time peacekeepers have been accused for similar cases and it still remains to find the truth what happened in the former Yugoslavia and the many places the peacekeepers where based and there is a lot of talking for similar accusations.

A thirteen-year-old girl has already described in an interview how ten UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home and I quote her own word, "They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing. I was terrified. Then they just left me there bleeding." Despite her testimony and recognizing her tormentors no action was taken against the soldiers. When the UN was informed and received a full report from the organization including a series of testimonies the answer was that they will study the report …closely!

According to the same organization, the testimonies they managed to collect were very few even to give an idea of the reality since most of the kids are scared to report anything in front the authority of the UN so the majority of these crimes go unpunished giving the criminals a chance to repeat their crime again and again. The UN spokesman, Nick Birnback, said to international media that it was impossible to ensure "zero incidents" within an organization that has up to 200,000 personnel serving around the world. "What we can do is get across a message of zero tolerance, which for us means zero complacency when credible allegations are raised and zero impunity when we find that there has been malfeasance that's occurred," he added.

I’m really sorry but I find his excuses very poor and sad. It's pathetic if we excuse crimes like that blaming them on …human nature and I demand a better and more careful evaluation for the peacekeepers from the UN and the responsible officers. These people are not just soldiers, they are ambassadors of peace and arguments like …zero instincts have no room here but in a mercenary army out of a Rambo film! I’m not going to go after Ban Ki-moon, the UN General Secretary, I thought from the very beginning that he was the wrong person for the seat and unfortunately he hasn’t proved me wrong; but the act and the UN’s reaction probably shows that there is something seriously wrong with our society where we can excuse acts like that arguing about human nature.

Talking to the deaf

2008-05-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

It has been a long time since I wrote anything about Iran and that’s not because we are lacking news from Teheran or quotes from its president but because the man so often crosses the line so much that I’m speechless and cannot think of anything to write except… Man, shut your mouth, you are dangerous! The problem is that when I think of that I then read the new threats by an American politician and that makes me think that this is a totally idiotic situation.

When Ahmadinejad, Iran’s puppet president, demands the destruction of Israel you think that the man is not only an idiot but a dangerous idiot, but what can you call the US presidency hopeful Hillary Clinton when she’s warning that if Iran continues with nuclear plants she will bomb the country; she will start another war in the area? You might say that Hillary says things like this for internal use trying to attract voters who want a US international supreme police, judge and executioner. Yet, then again, how many of these people can drive a foreign policy by threatening a war that will definitely push the Middle East even further into the dark? How strong these few voters are? And if there are so many to influence foreign policy then Obama has bigger problem than he thought!

My position for this issue has been very clear from the very beginning. I’m strongly against using nuclear power for energy and that is not because I’m blinded by the dark side of the nuclear power; I have the logic to understand the need of energy in the modern world and I do understand that nuclear is one option but I'm against the use of it because there are three unsolved factors. First of all the cost is not lower, especially now we are talking about new generation nuclear plants. When governments talk about cheaper energy they mean the cost of energy after the plant is fully working but nuclear plants don’t just grow in the field one spring day, they need a huge amount of money and effort to be built and naturally all the costs lay on the consumers in the end. The use of electricity hasn’t become cheaper in Finland because there are four nuclear plants and definitely will not become cheaper after building the fifth and sixth.

The second worrying factor is the nuclear waste. Most of the countries that use nuclear power for energy have problems with nuclear waste and after poisoning oceans and African countries now they have to store this waste in their own country without been able to calculate the damage they do. Finland is using an old cave to store the nuclear waste in north western Finland but the damage which most of the scientists describe it is to be seen after two or three generations. To understand how dangerous that is you just need to look the mistakes two or three generations did in the last decades and the damage they have done to the earth today. How different things would have been if back in sixties and seventies we had done some simple things to protect environment, things we were aware back then anyway. How different would have been for metropolis like Los Angeles, London, Tokyo or even Athens cities that have become environmental monsters with their pollution and citizens with constant asthma problems.

And then it is the third factor, the human factor! All the accidents happened in nuclear plants from the Three Miles Island to Chernobyl a human error was what started the disaster and whatever they do, however much robotics develop, concrete on the cell becomes stronger and heavy water purer a human will press the right or the …wrong button in the end. Please don’t tell me that the people who work in these places are experts and fully aware of their work because the same responsible experts a few years ago sent the Challenger spacecraft to death by using cheaper material due to budgets and costs; and I’m taking the official excuse avoiding all the theories for enriching bank accounts and corrupted directors. The human error can happen in any level of the nuclear reactor and the result …well nobody knows for how long the area and the people who lived around Chernobyl when the accident happened will have to deal with and pay the cost often with their own lives. Sorry for been dramatic or cynic but nobody knows how many generations, especially young kids will have to deal with leukaemia because of a …human error.

This has nothing to do with Iranians capability to handle a project like a nuclear plant, first of all if you check all the scientific centres you will be surprised how many Iranian scientists you will find and Three Miles Island was not in Teheran or in any Third World country!

But human error is the choice to turn an otherwise for peaceful use nuclear reactor into a nuclear bomb - this is not literal but I know you understand what you mean. I do understand the logic behind this balance of horror, actually my generation in Europe lived it, and we were learning naively how to cover ourselves behind concrete walls in a case of nuclear war like there was any chance to be saved from the invisible power. And it did work but why do we have to continue a mistake just because it didn’t prove lethal the first and the second time? It needs only one time to destroy us all and there is no trial period in that.

The US and Russia are not the only ones living in this balance of terror, Pakistan and India do the same, Pakistan a country proved corrupt at every level from the ones we call terrorists, the Taliban. But then neither the Indians who have nuclear bombs nor the Pakistani people are worrying. Neither leader ever said that they are planning to eliminate the other country and both even in the worst of times when there were minor conflicts in Nepal tried to find ways through diplomacy.

Ahmadinejad on his side has called provocatively for the elimination of Israel; he has used the most prejudice often racist language for the people who are his neighbours damaging in the end every single right the Palestinians might have in their conflict with Israel since they are Ahmadinejad’s excuse to show his haters against Israel. The people who ruling Iran are dangerous and they are in an dangerous are where people blinded of their cause can become suicide bombers without caring how many innocent they are going to take with them. This is the human element that makes Iran a dangerous country to have a nuclear plant and in extent the ability to have nuclear weapons, the word weapons of mash distraction takes a different meaning in the hands of the Iranian cleric dictators and fanatics.

And when you feel that you made your argument and that there was logic in it Hillary comes and threatens with a war and you feel like talking to deaf for so long!

Ovi magazine, Copycats and Nokia

2008-05-22T07:45:00.001-07:00

First of all, we want to thank reporters, journalists and bloggers because they are the only ones who have seen what Mr. Nikula missed and hopefully the legal department of Nokia Corporation will not ignore. Mr. Nikula unethically ignored that there was already an Ovi magazine in Finland that had been well-established since December 2004 well before he ever created his copycat.

Read the original story here: http://ovimagazine.com/art/926

The fact that there is an internet link with the same name was a major clue, plus when he was forced to choose a name like Ovi dash something. Actually he missed that there is Ovi Lehti, Ovi Sanomat, Ovi Junior, Ovi Cartoons, Ovi iKritic, Ovi-magazine, Ovi stories, Ovi iBite and many others that belong to Ovi magazine and are registered to Chameleon Project, never forget the Ovi Bad Boys weekly radio show that is announced to all the Finnish newspapers and magazine; none of which are for sale. Fortunately reporters and bloggers did notice and they are aware of the major ethical injustice.

We like to emphasize this ‘not for sale’ because the Ovi magazine is not just an internet magazine but it is an idea with a heart and soul that hosts from its establishment in 2004 the ideals of democracy, freedom of speech and the exchange of opinion. Human rights, domestic abuse, the plight of children have been among just a few of the worthy causes we have championed, while simultaneously offering a platform for the work of new writers and illustrators, from Finland and from all around the world. That makes us a universal family that cannot be estimated in money.

Unfortunately, through leaks to the press, we discovered that Mr. Nikula is negotiating the sale of his copycat magazine and the Ovi trademark to Nokia Corporation. We trust that this is just a wishful thought and that Nokia Corporation will search a little bit better as to what is going on behind the name Ovi magazine.

Our four years of hard work advocating freedom of speech was recognised and rewarded by Newropeans, while we have had cooperation with many national and international magazines, such as Ydin magazine, Europe & Us, Agenda magazine, Books from Finland, EU-MAN, Free magazine, Newropeans-Magazine, OneWorld, Psihadi magazine and more. We have relationships with Non-Governmental Organizations, such as Reporters without Frontiers and Finland's International Cultural Center CAISA, and the site receives well-over 20,000 visitors a week - the numbers literally increase day after day. We are considered a well-established magazine and trademark internationally and Ovi magazine has been reference for hundreds of sites and blogs from all around the world.

We have always believed that this was an issue of ethics should it ever come to a court house – where, as we are well-informed by experts, we can easily win the case – and it comes as a surprise that, according to leaks to the press, some representative of the Nokia Corporation said that they had never heard of us. It is a simple enough task for them to Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves or whatever else to locate the name Ovi and then find us straight away. Of course we didn’t financially invest in the promotion and push of Ovi magazine, like an international corporation can do, but the thousands of articles, the thousands of links and references to our work, even from Wikipedia and most of all the thousands readers keep us on the top in every search engine.

The fact that the copycats of the printed Ovi magazine ignored us, despite the fact that we could open a case anytime demanding a large percentage of their profits, which they knew, doesn’t excuse an international corporation like Nokia maintaining the same attitude. We are expecting their telephone call before investigating our legal rights on what they plan to pay the copycat because we want to know whether it is true and not a wishful greedy act of somebody who wants to increase his lost popularity.

It has been a justifiable question as to why we didn’t take the case to the court. From the very first moment, other than the support that came from every side and every corner of Finland including employees of the certain magazine, we believed that there is justice that punishes the unethical and the failure of the magazine from its second issue to reach anybody in Finland was proof.

Regarding the money behind this case, we believe that the people who read this magazine and have seen the path we have followed and the fights we have given over the last four years for democracy, for justice, against poverty and have realized the hours, the effort and the financial cost we have put in this magazine will know in their heart of hearts whether we are after the money!

The Ovi Team

The gangsters of Myanmar

2008-05-19T01:44:00.000-07:00

An article from the original Finland's Ovi magazine

What happens this minute in Burma is heartbreaking and the only way to put the way I feel is that I’m really angry. I’m really angry with the international community that has failed to stop once more a crime against humanity. I’m sorry, there is no other way to describe what’s going on there.

The state, this miserable gang of criminals who like to call themselves the governors of Myanmar – guilty of what they are doing to the country could not even let them keep the historic name of the country, so Burma under the military boots became Myanmar; this very state announced that the number of dead has raised to 98,000. How true the number is remains to be discovered over the next few months, since the real information will not come from the officials - if you could call them that - but from the NGOs that work under incredible difficulties in the country.

When 98,000 people are dead it make it a global issue and not a local incident, and it is natural to raise interest from all the organizations and institutes all around the world, including governments and the United Nations but there is one question behind this increasing number, how many of them got killed from the cyclone and how many of them got killed from an irresponsible state and a gang of drug dealers in military uniform who run it?

The military junta that rules Burma for decades is nothing more than common drug dealers which use a whole nation – in this case, their very own compatriots – as slaves, they have created a nation drug cartel which is included in the biggest exports of opium, heroin and cocaine internationally most of it finding its way into the European market and they have invested millions in drug laboratories leaving a nation into illiteracy, without schools and hospitals, but the worst of all without any defense against poverty and starvation. A nation under starvation that’s the reality of Myanmar.

The cyclone didn’t come to bury hundreds of thousands of innocent people but to unveil the reality these people live. For months we watch people and monks in orange and red robes demonstrating in Burma and then when the sports news starts we forget, we forget them like they are the children of another planet, of another world. The Chief Executive of the organization Save the Children UK, Jasmine Whibread visited Myanmar a few days ago and the only thing she could say was that most of the children in the suffering areas suffer of ‘acute malnourishment’, the most serious level of hunger to be followed by death. Already over 30,000 kids in the very same area were malnourished before cyclone Nargis hit the area, the number now has increased dramatically and the majority of them are under five years old. The only thing to save these children is for them to receive urgently energy-high food, otherwise death is a case of weeks.

And that would have been possible if the gangsters of Myanmar let the organizations, the nations and the UN do their job by bringing into the country everything that already waits. But they don’t, they leave limited access and that only when they can take out any sign of a foreign help and show that they are the ones who provided it, so they can show that they care. In the meantime and while they try to do all that more kids die.

But the gangsters of Myanmar are not alone in this crime, they have confederates or at least some who wittingly close their eyes in front the reality and especially one very powerful ally, China. How dramatic ironic, China suffers the very same moment a natural disaster and has welcome help from every nation from all around the world trying to save the lives of thousands of people. China has long supported in many levels the gangsters of Myanmar and truth is that during the Cold War many countries did so, never forget how many banana dictatorships were supported from the American administrations included J.F. Kennedy period. But things have changed and nowadays the Chinese support to the Myanmar regime makes them accomplice in a crime against humanity and I presume that’s one of the problems China can live without at the moment.

But then who? The United Nations is one thing but the General Secretary Ban Ki-moon has been proven incapable of the responsibility to lead a global organization, what is left is the nations' themselves. The United Nations is an organization that includes nearly 150 nation and these nations have an individual voice as well. France has loud complained already and threatens the gangsters’ regime, what will happen if the rest of the nations follow the example forcing China to join? Wouldn’t that mean the beginning of the end for these criminals?

Last but definitely not least, I have said it before, democracy doesn’t feed people but doesn’t kill either and definitely saves lives. Burma is the best prove for that!

The psychotic excuse

2008-05-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

An article from the original Finland's Ovi magazine

I’m returning to the same subject after a very brief time from my last article but with all the news agencies full of reports I cannot avoid it and I’m referring to the unbelievable Austrian father and the two families that grew under his tyranny. What triggered me this time was a report that his attorney is planning to ask psychiatric care for him instead of any other punishment and definitely avoid imprisonment, and to strengthen his argument he says that if the state’s specialist doesn’t confirm his psychotic status he's going to ask help from experts outside the state psychologists and psychiatrists.

When I read things like that I understand all the arguments psychologists and experts have made for the last forty years over televised series and films that show a twisted view of the investigation work. I am personally a fan of those films but I have the ability to understand and separate reality with Hollywood and by Hollywood I mean this entire fake world these series and films create. There are thousands of crimes happening every day in all the big cities all around the world. Thousands of them are solved one way or another but thousands more are not; and are not solved due to a series of reasons including state responsibility, police inability, misunderstanding or mistranslating the law and even because of luck.
But crimes are not solved in CSI laboratories, for example. CSI laboratories are there to assist the detectives in solving a crime and they work under the directions of the police. Profilers don’t transform in seconds into criminal minds that can understand how a criminal is thinking and solve crimes in hours or even worse, prevent a crime. The process to solve a crime is slow if there is no obvious proof, tracks or eye witnesses and it demands a lot of work, time and research and it is not solved in an hour’s episode including the adverts.

What happened in Austria will take time to unveil in full reality despite the fact that the crime is known, the criminal to start with confessed – doesn’t matter what his attorney says afterwards – and all the proof is there, including the results from the laboratories that proved that the man has fathered all the kids. You see, as I mentioned in my last article, in this crime the victims are not only the imprisoned daughter and her three kids but all the family including the mother and wife who was a prisoner of his the last forty years.

Social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, profilers, criminologists and any other expert you can imagine will want to examine the family and hundreds of essays are going to be written especially about the father and I’m sure somebody will base their career on this family. But for the ones who will succeed in reaching the family and the father will mean two basic things: first of all, a very slow process with countless interviews and, secondly, more seriously, these people will be interested in the 'why he did what he did' and not to prove that he is not guilty. His guilt is a fact, his crime is a fact.

Returning to the beginning and the attorney’s remark that his customer is psychotic and that his place should be in a hospital and not in a prison I turn my remarks to how much television series like "C.S.I." has twisted the way people see a crime and the investigation. I have to admit that I would never expect a remark like that from somebody who has been at least educated to understand the law and if this is his line of defense he’s hurting more his customer than helping him and finally he should stop watching so much television and start reading his law books.

The only reason a court would ever accept that defendant should be hospitalized instead of imprisoning is if the defendant cannot distinguish the difference between bad and good. This means an individual with serious brain handicap and there are cases like that where the defendant had the reactions of four or five years old. In this case the defendant knew very well the difference in such level to organize his acts a decade before actually acting. The man knew very well how to distinguish bad and good by using every possible way including his mind power over the family and his despotic behavior to hide the truth from them. He even used contemporary events the excuse of a cult where his daughter had supposedly joined, remember that the whole event is going on in mid-eighties where cults had become fear and passion for a lot of young people in central Europe. The man had every sense of good and bad and even his latest act to stop talking to the police and the investigators without the presence of his lawyer and not admitting anything shows that he’s been …watching a lot of television also!

Last and not least is the lawyer’s remark that his customer is …psychotic! The man should have done at least some research before saying that, just think how many times a day we call somebody crazy because of the way he/she drives, because the way they eat or the way they hold their handbag or newspaper. As I mentioned before if that’s his line of defense he has definitely chosen the wrong way, he has better advise his customer to admit his crimes and help the experts help a traumatized family – including his wife and his other kids – to recover at least partly of this nightmare!

Ovi iBite

2008-05-05T01:28:00.000-07:00

An article from the original Finland's Ovi magazine

There has been outrage in Italy after the outgoing government published every Italian's declared earnings and tax contributions on the internet.

They were trying to spot Mafia godfathers!

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Haiti faces a "major crisis" if the international community does not increase food aid to the country, the UN's food agency has warned.

It is coming closer! Washington D.C.: The Homeless Capital.

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The US has ordered the expulsion of the remaining six Belarus diplomats in Washington and New York, the Associated Press news agency has said.

The good old days of the USSR return! The spy who came from the …Caspian Sea!!!

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans are attending a May Day parade in Havana honoring the world's workers. President Raul Castro, who succeeded his ailing brother Fidel in February, is attending the celebrations. He did not address the crowds.

Sorry to say but a May Day without a seven-hour speech from Fidel is just …not the same!

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Officials in Texas have found signs of injury among children removed from a polygamous sect and are checking for possible sexual abuse of boys.

What bruised knees or egos?

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The EU has described a vote by the Turkish parliament to soften its controversial law limiting free speech as a "welcome step forward".

Yeah right, just now they have to let people practice it!!!

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Scientific tests have confirmed that bones found last year in Russia belong to the two missing children of Tsar Nicholas II, Russian officials say. DNA tests carried out in the US showed the remains are those of Crown Prince Alexei and his sister Maria.

No more Anastasia legends and theories? Are they going to tell us that E.T. is not real also?

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Tehran has complained to the UN about remarks made last week by Hillary Clinton on the circumstances under which the US might attack Iran. The Democratic presidential hopeful said last week the US could "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel.

I really don’t get this, has George W. Bush or Barack Obama said anything different? It must be some kind of feminist issue!

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The trial of Iraq's former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz over the deaths of a group of merchants in 1992 has opened in Baghdad.

Another lynching on the way?

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Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission has started to verify the results of the disputed presidential election, more than five weeks after the vote.

For others ‘go home’ might apply, in Mugabe’s case the magic phrase is: go to your cell!!!

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Sir Ian McKellen has confirmed he will reprise his role as Gandalf in the film version of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit. "Yes, it's true," he told Empire magazine. "It's not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf."

There is no sarcastic comment here but the news is so exciting I could not avoid mentioning it!

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Veteran singer Tina Turner has revealed plans to tour the US, despite announcing her retirement from performing on the road eight years ago. The 68-year-old pop legend told TV host Oprah Winfrey the tour would kick off in October in Kansas City.

Here I will not try to be sarcastic but who’s next? The Egyptian mummies?

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Microsoft has yet to decide if it will up its $41.8bn (£21bn) bid for Yahoo, go hostile or walk away from the deal. A meeting of the Microsoft board on Wednesday ended without any decision, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And talking about mummies here is …Bill Gates!

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You might see a copycat Ovi magazine

Remember that whoever copycats Ovi magazine shows how limited and untalented some parasites can be! But the legal system prevails, even the Mexican one!

By example

2008-04-29T22:54:00.000-07:00

An article from the original Finland's Ovi magazine

It sounds ironic that Syria is building a nuclear reactor, especially after finding out that North Korea is helping them. It’s coming as a bigger irony if you remember all the fuss about Saddam’s nuclear reactor and the WMD and the continuation with Iran and its cleric dictators. After literally screwing Iraq, this American administration had to compromise on many levels with North Korea to find out in the end that they are selling nuclear knowledge to anybody who will declare anti-American feelings and be willing to pay the high cost of the work to be done. However, more and more countries are trying to get nuclear knowledge with doubtful aims - I’m not saying that Syria is trying to create nuclear missiles, but, then again, can you trust them?

But, who can you trust? Look what happens in general with all these WMD, there are whole groups of really highly-educated scientists working in multi-billion laboratories to discover and produce new viruses that kill humans instead of putting all this effort and money into discovering vaccines and cures for viruses that already exist and kill thousands year after year. Why would they stop in front of creating another bomb?

I grew up in the '60s when naively they were teaching us at schools how to 'duck and cover' in a case of a nuclear war, as if you had any chance of survival hiding behind a concrete wall; we were acting just like the ostrich that buries her head in the sand, and I feel that nothing has changed today. During that period we were all balancing dangerously on the horror of who may pull the trigger first and we are doing exactly the same today with only one difference.

Back then there were only two players, now there are tens with some independents fooling around as well. Syria and Iran don’t do anything different to what this American administration was trying to do by putting missiles around Russia. A Russia that wants to solve too many problems before starting playing war games again and it may sound very simplistic but this is a golden chance to stop all these dangerous games.

I do understand the connection between war and economics and I do sense the games behind the oil prices but obviously some don’t see the reality. The reality has people forced into rebelling violently because they cannot get the basics anymore, because while we are talking about missile umbrellas there are people who can't afford a plate of rice and they start looting markets to survive. Over the last few months, incidents such as those in Russia are appearing more on the news. So instead of trying to help the 85% unemployed Palestinians, the hopeless people of Zimbabwe and the starving people of Argentina we talk about the danger of Syria building a nuclear reactor and its future possibility of creating nuclear bombs.

How long will it take for us to learn that humanity lives by example? With nearly 3.5 million homeless, nearly 1% of the population and 40% of them children, the only thing we hear from George W. Bush’s administration is more money for security, more money for a still unexplained invasion, more money for a continuing and unexcused occupation. When George W. Bush is talking about democracy while drinking with the Pakistani dictator Musharraf and when laboratories in USA are doing research for more lethal viruses in a case somebody else finds them first, when every American administration the last thirty years covers Israel for having all kind of WMD, including nuclear bombs, why should North Korea and Syria act differently? The USA shows every understanding when Turkey is talking about a nuclear reactor but they have none for the neighboring Syria?

Actually, all these things make you feel really stupid; it is as though every American administration wishes for Syria to create a nuclear bomb so they have a good excuse for more money from Congress to create more powerful and better bombs, more viruses and more destruction. Syria has a dictatorship, not much different from Pakistan, yet Musharraf is a good guy and Asad is a bad guy. However, having seen what each of them did for their country Bashar al-Asad has been a much better Syrian than Musharraf will ever be a good Pakistani.

Syria has every right in energy and producing energy, just like Pakistan with its nuclear reactors and just like Iran and its nuclear reactors. If, in the end, they are going to use them to create nuclear bombs it’s like everybody else, in this balance of horror Pakistan needs nuclear bombs for India, North Korea for South Korea, USA for Russia and Syria with Iran for Israel, which apparently already has one.

Unfortunately for all of them there is one enemy they cannot vanquish with nuclear bombs, it is the starving people who have already started rebelling and when the 3.5 million will be 5 million then they will start rebelling inside the USA also!

Turkish hopes

2008-04-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

From the Ovi magazine

Perhaps all these, often difficult to understand, actions of the Turkish establishment and their army will be proved constructive for Turkey’s future one day. Turkey today, whether they want to admit it or not, is somehow the continuation of the Ottoman Empire and this is natural. One of the strong points of this period was the complicated but capable bureaucracy that gradually became a ruling factor for the empire. Very cleverly, Kemal, the founder of Turkey as we know her today, kept this establishment and made it part of the new Turkish democracy.

Everything is semantics of course, but the truth is that Kemal created a state example for the Middle East and the Arab countries and perhaps he looks like a dictator from our side. However, he was a huge step from the Sultan to a President and all that during the times the Ottoman Empire was losing, not only the occupied lands, but also any power and influence on the international scene shrinking to a small country between west and east often balancing between powers and interests.

As I said, everything is semantics and the idea of democracy at the end of the nineteenth century has very little to do with the very same concept at the beginning of the twenty-first century - it was much more a country at the crossroads between Europe and the Arab world, in a surrounding where religion can hold back progress, unreachable places with parts still living in different centuries, some even in the dark ages. Kemal created a circular state with European behavior and orientation understanding that Turkey could not be estranged from her past and traditions, which often meant that he had to use force and naturally nationalism became one of his weapons to keep the country united.

And that was fine for the beginning of the twentieth century but it cannot work at the beginning of the twenty-first century, especially with things changing so fast in the area and the geopolitical interests of the powers shifting from one place to the other or changing; Turkey is one of the countries that paid for these changes. Having borders with the old mighty communist Russia for a great part of the twentieth century became one of the defense points for the Americans and the Americans wanted the state to be governed not by an anti-communist government, but, according to the '50s dogma, by extreme-right governments, keeping any left voices shut. Apparently the Americans often used Turkey as a banana dictatorship often mixing with the internal affairs to a scary level, especially through the army.

The army played a huge role for Kemal - he was an army man himself, after all - and the army became his stronghold to establish and to preserve his work and the western style of democracy he was dreaming. However, during the years after the death of Kemal the Turkish army evolved just like the Mafia. They became the establishment controlling the bureaucracy and, in extent, the state behind the curtain, which is something often called the deep state.

As I said earlier, they evolved just like Mafia because in the '80s they began laundering all these funds they were secretly getting from the government and from abroad – remember it was one of the strongholds against the expansion of communism south-east with borders with Russia, so secret services and ‘institutes’ were sending a lot, literally, a lot of money. In the '8os came the time to invest this money, it was good timing as well and the army gradually got involved with civilian businesses, with investments that amounted to billions of dollars and profits that escalated in the millions. So now the army, except Kemal’s dream, had other interests to protect as well and they did so in any possible way, such as imprisoning, torturing and killing. The Kurds and the communists were always the good excuse until the mayor of Istanbul became a force they couldn’t stop.

Erdogan was part of the establishment and, simultaneously, he was at the edge of the circular state, a faithful Muslim and proven democrat politician who had great support from the people, people who had got tired of corrupt politicians, so corrupt that some of them, despite their positions in the government, were dealing with drugs and arms sales. Erdogan somehow took them by surprise, they used all the tricks to stop him and he survived to become prime minister with many hopes to be the next president and, to their greatest surprise, he seems to be the only one who can make Kemal’s dream reality. Erdogan put Turkey literally on the European map with their application to become a full membership in the EU - their only hope is also their nemesis.

Things have definitely changed in the west after 9-11, but somehow the west has to show tolerance to the Muslim world and Erdogan became the best way to do it. By defending and supporting a 'west friendly' Muslim politician, the west proves tolerance and makes the Turkish army feel even more uncomfortable and Erdogan is cleverly using it to advance towards the army and return them to where they really belong, their barracks. It is time to strip them from all their civilian involvements and return the state to where it really belongs. As odd as it might sound, the only hope for democracy in Turkey is Erdogan and, as crazy it might sound, the man is Turkey’s only chance to keep the country away from the religious freaks that are expanding fast from the Middle East with a …little help from Iran!

How bizarre!

2008-04-15T23:53:00.000-07:00

From the Ovi magazine

Dancing the moondance

Michael Jackson sees his career ending and his name vanishing from all the must-invite lists but his music is still popular to all kinds of life as a sea lion proves.

Click here to watch the YouTube video

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Falling asleep in the court of crimes against humanity

The former president of Peru Alberto Fujimori fell asleep during the court against him for crimes against humanity. Naturally the judge stopped the court for as long Mr. Fujimori needed it to wake up and they continued when they made sure that he was awake and able to watch the proceedings.

There are no witnesses to tell if he was loud, while sleeping but drooling is a possibility!

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Boomerangs return in zero gravity

Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, on board the International Space Station, has proved that a boomerang returns to the person throwing it even in the zero-gravity conditions of space.

The boomerang experiment showed that when one is thrown in zero gravity, it follows almost the same trajectory as it would if thrown on Earth. If thrown with sufficient force, the boomerang will return to the person who threw it, again matching results on Earth. According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Doi held and threw a boomerang using the standard technique during the experiment, which he conducted during free time Tuesday in the U.S. Destiny laboratory on the ISS.

The experiment was suggested by Yasuhiro Togai, of Osaka Prefecture, who won an international boomerang-throwing competition in 2006. The results differed to predictions made by Togai, who expected a boomerang thrown in zero gravity to fly in a spiral path, rising above the head of the person who threw it. Togai said, "I greatly appreciate it because it has answered my long-held question."

Let’s see what else we are going to throw in space! At least this time it was not garbage!

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Closed cause of lack of customers

One of the oldest …hotels in Hamburg the hotel Luxor is closing down due to lack of customers! The owner of the brothel, Ms Merret, aged 59, said that this is the end of her ones popular place, she was too tired to continue and business is really going back. She added that her place used to occupy ten to twelve girls while nowadays there is hardly work for four!

The business started in the beginning to 1948 from her late father-in-law and it has always been the …family business. She ended saying that her business was special popular between British and Japanese but that was mainly in ‘60s and early ‘70s when the Hamburg port was the European commercial center.

I was thinking for no comment but it is …hard work to keep a brothel!

Olympic race to the White House

2008-04-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

Here it is again… something about Barack Obama that makes me stop and think, ‘What did he say?’ This time it was all about the Beijing Olympic Games and his call for President George W. Bush not to go to China for the Opening Ceremony. The news was everywhere and some agencies even had a ‘Breaking News’ warning, yet Obama was not the first, nor the second and he wasn’t even the thousandth to say so! So what's the big deal?

Do you know what’s makes it stranger? The fact that Hillary Clinton had said exactly the same just days before and nobody said much, it was sort of, fine, Hillary says not to go and who gives a damn! Actually, Hillary was one of the first to talk about it, without going to extremes of course and also began talking about a boycott, which was well before people started organizing demonstrations in San Francisco and before Obama found out that Tibet must be free, since China violates any sense of human rights.

However, in this issue there is one side we all keep forgetting. It is not George W. Bush to blame for Beijing organizing the Olympic Games; I’m saying that because we are nearly blaming even the weather changes on him, the man is a menace and it will take years for Americans to recover from his presidency, but he’s not responsible for everything. Those responsible for this decision are not Merkel, Sarkozy or Berlusconi, but the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC is responsible for the fact that a country with no respect at all for Olympic values is going to host the Olympic Games and this is exactly what we often forget to mention. Their responsibility expands dramatically from no respect to what they represent to the doping increase in the Olympic Games, yet all they say is just poor excuses.

I think that history will mention the name Jacques Rogge as the man who assassinated the Olympic Games; he’s the world’s assassin in the sense that the man got money to kill this constitution. For him the value of television rights, adverts, promoted products are worth more than the values of freedom, peace and friendship, basically the Olympic values!

In the Ancient Olympics the important thing was to participate, but for the Modern Olympics Mr. Rogge believes that the most important thing is to make superhuman records that bring adverts. For Mr. Rogge it didn’t matter how many people are getting killed, how many people are tortured in camps for opposing the state, it doesn’t matter how many people suffer every day; for Mr. Rogge the only thing that matters is how much.

Mr. Rogge and his Olympic Committee are so deep in corruption and bribery that even Mugabe looks like an angel in front of them. That’s the reality and that’s who should be blamed, the people who actually handed the Olympic Games to China and, yes, the Olympic Games have had dark moments before, such as Hitler’s Olympics in 1938 and Brezhnev’s Olympics in 1980!

I have the feeling that I slipped from what I started saying with this article. The majority of people have felt from the beginning that there are a lot of issues with this Olympics and it is natural for them to expect their representatives to express exactly these worries. However, you see the Olympics are such a big thing and, despite those dark moments, they do unite ordinary people. Over the past few days we have seen these ordinary people uniting and it has been following the route of the Olympic torch. It began in Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics, followed by Athens, Paris and London, and now it is in San Francisco. People are demonstrating their opposition to the Beijing regime and their will to help for a free Tibet; and that somehow brought the politicians in.

Hillary reacted far before the torch ever reached American soil. She understood exactly what was going on and she sensed what the people were expecting from her. Obama, from his side, was waiting till the torch reached America to see how American people would react and the preparation in San Francisco showed him the way for the announcement he later did.

From the beginning of this race, not the Olympics, but the one for the White House, I keep having this weird sense when it comes to Barack Obama. Fine, he says some very good things; fine, he is photogenic and really intelligent; but why when he says something do the media drum all the way? Why, when he comes third or fourth, does it become a big issue and when Hillary says it first then it is in small letters at the bottom of the news?

For days we been hearing about Hillary’s tax returns, but have you ever heard about Obama’s tax returns? I’m sorry for the sarcasm but I have the feeling that there is a …doping problem in this race to the White House!

Doping kills sport

2008-04-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

What happened these days in Greek sport is not new, it is not that it never happened before and it is not that it will never happen again. Unfortunately, it will happen again in Greece, it will happen again everywhere in the world and the responsibility doesn’t stand only on the athletes, if you could call them like that, but on all of us, from the governments to the people who watch sport events on television.

Eleven weightlifters from the Greek national and Olympic team were caught by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and we must realize that this is not a dark moment for the Greek weightlifters but a dark era for the international sports that started in 1952 in Helsinki. Of course there is no proof but everybody involved knows that in Helsinki this embarrassing moment for international sport began and it went on becoming darker and darker.

And now we are months before the Beijing Olympics and apart from all the other issues that kill the Olympic values, doping is the one that will kill the Olympic Games if nobody does something and the Olympic Ccommittee has proved that they are the less abled to do anything about it. They are the ones who have turned the Olympic Games into gigantic money machine. And the athletes? To my opinion they are the victims and they are victims that endanger their lives, most of them have a dramatic end, young and embarrassed regretting their ten minutes in glory and missing the real life.

But let’s start first with the athletes. Just like the Canadian Ben Johnson – does anybody still remember him? – they are young kids with poor backgrounds and no future opportunities; their only chance is either to become rock stars or successful athletes. In the beginning it is just vitamins that help and then it is ‘don’t ask, just swallow!’ Yes these kids are responsible but their responsibility is the smallest in the pyramid. The worst part of it is that these kids pay the outcome; all these medicines and steroids kill! It’s not just a word, they literally kill these people, they die from cancer, they die young and suffering till the last moment. Regrets? Of course, too many but when it is too late!

Then it comes to the trainers and the coaches. They are not into sports; they are businessmen, drug dealers. Very few of them are the innocent and the innocent ones are poor, you can see them. The others know! And don’t stop to the classic athletes. What makes you think that football, basketball, rugby, baseball makes any difference? How it happens the last few years to have so many incidents of heart attacks inside the sports fields? Because they dope them like horses and their hearts cannot stand it.

The states. Of course the states are part of it, they give the money to all the national teams and they are after the metals. Does anybody remember the East German national teams? Women that looked like men from the steroids. It was important the bloody – literally bloody – gold medal for the state. It is important the bloody gold medal for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, it is important for the Turkish politician. And yes, they know and they don’t care as long many medals will come. Even the most democratic governments are able to give a blind eye and accept any kind of excuses just to turn their back to reality. The Greek government did so a few years ago with Thanou and Kenderis with the result nobody to know the truth. The state made them heroes and they didn’t dare say the truth. Didn’t the Americans do the same with Marion Jones?

The Olympic Committee, this is a laughable topic. The Olympic committee and especially their directors live the high life for life. Royal treatment, private planes and luxurious holidays. The Olympic spirit for them starts and ends with the money they get from the adverts and the money are billions of dollars. They don’t give a damn if China is using like slavery child labor, their problem is how many are going to watch the Olympic Games on television and how many adverts they are going to have. And they know, the president of the Olympic Committee Mr. Rogge despite all the things he says he knows and he is equally guilty.

And then it comes to us, to all of us who just watch the games, all the games without any profit just for the fun of it. They trained us to watch them and expect the records without thinking. Without thinking that 100 meters in less than eight seconds is not normal, is not even logical. They trained us to believe that we watch all these events for the records and not for the joy of it.

Do you know what the major Olympic value is? To participate not to win! That’s why in the ancient times the winner just got a laurel. A wreath made from an olive branch that symbolized in ancient times peace. Is the record going to replace the excitement of the healthy competition? Does it mean anything for us if the athlete makes ten, or eleven even fifteen seconds? We are not chronometers, we just see men and women compete, time is for the chronometers.

All the athletes take drugs and I’m sorry to say it but this is my strong believe. I cannot accept anymore all these records, are not logical. There are two reasons we don’t know and we cannot prove that they all take drugs, either these drugs are ‘legal’ or they are not traceable yet! Nothing else. And they are two solutions, either the drugs any kind of drugs are forbidden or everybody can get them for free, it doesn’t matter anyway. In the first case we all must work together; the second case means the end of sports but it goes there anyway if we continue like we are now.

Hungary Report

2008-04-05T23:23:00.001-07:00

A euro-reporter from the Ovi magazine

Coalition is 'at risk'

"If reforms are not proceeding, there is no point left for the SzDSz to remain within the government coalition," Alliance of Free Democrats (SzDSz) president János Kóka said. The ultimatum-sounding words were triggered by several statements from senior Socialist Party (MSzP) officials, who demanded the healthcare reform should be reconsidered, and, if necessary, withdrawn.

Most explicit was the MSzP’s parliamentary party leader, Ildikó Lendvai, who said it may well be a possibility to keep all healthcare funds 100% state-owned. “Nobody wants this country to pay for the political risk that resulted from the initiators of the referendums,” she explained referring to international reaction to the Mar 9 referendum, and the threat from leading opposition party Fidesz of more referenda to come.

US-based credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade Hungary from “stable” to “negative” will, according to Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, “cost the country several billion forints.”

The debate over the healthcare reform, which was passed by Parliament twice, because President László Sólyom refused to sign it first time round, has been revived because of another referendum threat from Fidesz. “Why queue twice for a slap on the face? Why run head on into the wall twice?” opposition Fidesz party leader Viktor Orbán asked in a TV talk show, referring to a new. The results, Orbán predicted, would be just as devastating for the government as those of Mar 9 had been.

Fidesz is demanding that the government withdraw the healthcare reform which allows private capital and market competition into state-run healthcare. If the government does so, Fidesz will withdraw its referendum initiative, the party says, as it would abolish the government’s bill anyway. Analysts note that this continuous threat from Fidesz to overturn government decisions via referenda hugely increases political risks in the country, causing severe financial damage and, in the long run, might make governing the country for any party virtually impossible. Although, one day after the referendum, the PM was adamant that he would not restructure his government, two weeks later MSzP sources are saying otherwise. According to anonymous Socialist sources quoted by Hungarian daily Népszabadság, several scenarios have been drawn up, depending on the reaction of the junior coalition member.

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Hungary recognizes Kosovo

Hungary, along with two other countries that neighbor Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, recognized the independent state of Kosovo. Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasn’t officially announced the fact, but did release a previously prepared statement that all but does.“Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia continue to support efforts by the European Union and NATO to create stability and democratic institutions in Kosovo; meanwhile Kosovo’s institutions should guarantee a multi-ethnic state based on the principles of democracy and a constitutional state, which guarantee rights to the Serbian community and to other ethnicities, including their participation in those institutions,” the common statement of the three countries said.

Introducing the document on Wednesday, foreign ministry state secretary Márta Fekszi Horváth also called on Serbia to ensure the safety of 350,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Vojvodina (Vajdaság), an autonomous province in northern Serbia near the Hungarian border.

Although the announcement surprised no one, diplomatic retaliation from Serbia was immediate. The truth is that Serbia feels so lonely in this Kosovo case and the same time would expect countries with major minority problems to understand better before the problem knocks their door.

What really happened in the NATO summit?

2008-04-05T01:37:00.001-07:00

From the Ovi magazine

Forget Disney's hyphenless Pooh

2008-04-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

There is only one way I want to start this review celebrating Winnie-the-Pooh and that is to accuse Disney of ripping the soul out of this lovable octogenarian teddy bear and profiteering from his famous gang of friends. I grew up watching Disney's 'hyphenless' incarnation and thoroughly enjoyed the cartoons, but my opinion has radically altered now I have read the original stories.

October 14th 2006 marked 80 years since Alan Alexander Milne published Winnie-the-Pooh, the first of two books that would firmly establish the bear in the hearts of all that would meet him. The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh contains A.A. Milne's first compilation of short stories, plus The House at Pooh Corner, which was published two years later in 1928 and introduced Tigger.

The two books, unlike Disney's animated versions, are written in a style that will make adults laugh more than the children, at whom they are aimed. Milne's use of language, the poetry ascribed to Pooh and the cynicism expressed by Eeyore are just a few examples of the adult-orientated material within the pages, but it simultaneously awakens the inner-child reminding us of our own childhood games, toys and teddy bears.

Both books are written as though Milne is narrating the story to Christopher Robin, his only son, and you begin to feel as though you are the one sat cross-legged listening intently to the "silly old bear's" adventures. Milne fires your imagination in such a way that you could almost smell the leaves in Hundred Acre Wood or a jar of honey in Pooh's house.

When I wrote that the language is directed at adult readers, I mean that the little asides and vocabulary that Milne injects into the text or puts into the mouths of his characters are beyond what most children would understand. In the first story (In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees and the Stories Begin), Pooh decides to use a balloon to float up to get honey from a beehive, but events take a wrong turn and the bees begin buzzing around the bear, who is pretending to be a cloud: "I think the bees suspect something!" The dry humour, the straight delivery by Pooh and the unlikely use of the word 'suspect' when used with bees just left me in pieces.

All the characters in the book develop strong personalities so quickly that you can't help but love them all. Piglet is effeminate and has a modest ego, plus, despite being a "Very Small Animal", he accompanies Pooh on many adventures and manages to do a Very Grand Thing. Milne loves capitalization to emphasise the fact that the characters are doing something almost for the first time, so it demands emphasis…a Very Clever Idea.

Returning to the adult theme, I believe that once you have read the books Eeyore will become your favourite character because his pessimistic, sarcastic, cynical and gloomy personality will just win you over. For example, when Roo and Tigger are stuck up a tree, Piglet helpfully suggests that by standing upon each other's shoulders, with Eeyore at the bottom, they may be able to reach the stranded pair, ""And if Eeyore's back snapped suddenly, then we could all laugh. Ha ha! Amusing in a quiet way," said Eeyore, "but not really helpful.""

A.A. Milne was a little bitter himself at forever being remembered as a children's author, especially after writing 25 plays and a number of other books, but he was not the only one to rue Winnie-the-Pooh. His son, Christopher Robin Milne, complained that his father had left him with 'empty fame' and Ernest Howard Shepard, the illustrator, felt that Pooh overshadowed his work. However, his illustrations give the book another dimension and give a soul to each of the characters; I particularly love his Piglet with his flappy ears.

If, like me, you have only experienced Disney's Winnie the Pooh, then it is time to inject the hyphens and the Milne back into this 81-year-old bear. Accompany him on an adventure with Rabbit, Roo, Kanga, Owl, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Christopher Robin because it will make you feel like a child again…if not, then you will enjoy Winnie-the-Pooh's fantastic poetry.

A Finnish Souven-ear

2008-03-28T11:03:00.001-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

When I read that a Finnish tourist had vandalised one of the ancient Moai statues on Easter Island, my first thought was the bad title now heading this piece. However, as I considered how arrogant this man's actions were, I began to feel the seed of anger germinate into the need to write a fully-fledged article about people just like him… tourist terrorists, if you will!

The despicable actions of the Finn on Easter Island, a UNESCO world heritage site, reminded me of a family trip to Lanzarote many years ago. We took a coach tour to visit the site of a dormant volcano and were able to walk across the hardened surface - the geologists among you will know the proper term - feeling the heat beneath our shoes, or sandals in many cases.

As we returned to the coach we saw the tour guide ordering people to return the souvenir lava rocks to the site; lava rocks that they had to carry with two hands! The guide was right. If lava rocks were removed by each visiting coach tour there would soon be nothing left for future tourists all because somebody wanted a rock large enough to act as a fancy doorstop back home.

"Go before it's too late!" states the slogan of Kilroy Travels, reinforced by a recent shock tactics advertising campaign that features a Photoshopped road through the centre of Australia's Ayer's Rock and escalators transporting visitors up to the Giant Buddha on Hong Kong's Lantau Island. These adverts are dangerously close to reality as access to every nook and cranny of the globe is being exploited by an increasing number of tourists - why shouldn't there be an escalator to the Giant Buddha for disabled guests?

There is a black and white photograph in one of the family albums of my parents and a friend standing beside, probably leaning on, one of the stones at Stonehenge. Judging from my dad's haircut and afghan coat, the photo was taken in the 1970s when tourists were free to walk right up to the stones, climb on them and be overwhelmed by their scale, but now visitors are permitted only to walk the circular path 50 metres from them.

Part of me feels cheated out of the experience of touching the surface of the stones. I'd love to place my hand on the cold rough surface and try to comprehend the historical and engineering feat involved in their creation, but when you are standing 50m away you may as well look at a photograph. I respect the reasons for their continued protection; I want them to be in the same condition for my children and their children, protected from idiots like the Finn on Easter Island.

The one experience that I will never forget is on a visit to Las Vegas when we took advantage of a helicopter flight into the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is one of the few experiences that doesn't disappoint when you finally arrive, and no photograph could ever do it justice. However, the best part of the trip was landing on the floor of the canyon and watching the Colorado River flow past, but this was only possible on a section not designated a US National Park.

After the helicopter departed, albeit for the swirling blades of the helicopter and our footprints, there was no sign we had ever been there. We didn't take away chunks of the canyon, drop litter, discard cigarette butts or desecrate the place, we treated it with the respect it demands and deserves. The helicopter company will do hundreds of flights every year to that location and you can only hope the pilots continue to keep a watchful eye on the activities of their passengers for everybody's sake.

Some aspects of tourism are grey and will trigger passionate discussion on both sides of the argument, but when it comes to the actions of that one Finn on Easter Island we should be united in disgust. Just who does he think he is that makes him decide he can break off part of an ear from a Moai statue in order to take it home as a souvenir? The next step will be a repeat of what I once saw in Sardinia: fibreglass replacements. Do we really want that?

iBite

2008-03-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

"King of Tort" lawyer who squeezed billions out of tobacco and asbestos industries will soon be known as "Queen of Tart" for trying to bribe judge

No comment!

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Four webcams and a funeral; farewell services come to the Internet, for those who live too far or can't find a thing to wear.

Or …nothing to wear! This is a bit creepy!

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British nurses told to address patients in more formal, correct manner, as in: "Mr. Smith, I've come to shave your willy."

Call me anything you like, as long you are careful with these razors!

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New mothers in America demanding "push presents" including diamonds and expensive trips after giving birth.

I demand a “Bush present” after 10 years of George’s administration!

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US Vice-President Dick Cheney has said peace between Israel and the Palestinians will require painful concessions on both sides. He said the creation of a Palestinian state was long overdue, but rocket attacks against Israel hindered peace.

Oh man, he’s gone to increase the oil prices again!

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The United States will never pressure Israel to take steps to threaten its security

Which translates, Palestinians you are …doomed!

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Final preparations have been taking place in Greece for the lighting of the Olympic flame for the Beijing games. Cloudy skies meant the flame could not be lit in the traditional way - using the Sun's rays - at the final dress rehearsal on Sunday. If the weather fails to play its part in the ceremony on Monday, a back-up flame will be used to light the torch that will be carried to China.

I have the suspicion that the storms and the winds are coming from …Tibet!

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International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge believes the games could be a changing factor in China. "We believe that China will change by opening the country to the scrutiny of the world through the 25,000 media who will attend the games," he said in a statement. "Awarding the Olympic Games to the most populous country in the world will open up one fifth of mankind to Olympism."

Is this is his excuse? It is rather poor and I hope the next few months he will come with a better one … at least for the thousands shot on the head in China!

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Police in south-eastern Turkey have clashed again with Kurdish protesters marking the Newroz spring festival, resulting in the deaths of two people. Doctors in the town of Yuksekova said a man had died of bullet wounds. A second man also died after suffering bullet wounds in Saturday's clashes in Van.

How many they must kill to start calling it the Kurd’s genocide? These people have no right in anything; they can hardly breathe under the Turkish boot!

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Zimbabwe's main opposition party has accused the government of printing millions of surplus ballot papers for the presidential and legislative polls. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says leaked documents show nine million papers have been ordered for the country's 5.9 million voters.

Mugabe, how many you killed today, you little Hitler caricature!

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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has pledged full support to the incoming coalition government, which will be made up of his political opponents. At a military parade to mark Pakistan's national day, Mr. Musharraf said a new era of democracy was beginning.

Talking about dictators and criminals here is …Musharraf!

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You might see a copycat Ovi magazine

Remember that whoever copycats Ovi magazine shows how limited and untalented some parasites can be! But the legal system prevails, even the Mexican one!

Today the Ovi magazine says Water is Life!

2008-03-22T01:04:00.000-07:00

Water is life! Water is capital! by Leila Dregger

The development of a lake landscape as a model for the ecological regeneration of the Alentejo.

The IT Tsunami Wave rolls into China by Valerie Sartor
Cyrill Eltschinger, celebrated author of 'Source Code China', confessed that he wrote his book out of personal frustration: he wanted to advertise to the world what China has to offer from a software/high tech perspective.

Please Release Min Wa, a Burmese Refugee by Rohingya Human Rights
Min Wa was arrested by Bangladesh Rifles during the evening of 16 July, 2005, from his family home, while he was enjoying dinner along with his wife and only daughter...

I Parlamentari europei: un po' svogliati, a volte. E non tutti onesti by Newropeans-Magazine
Ogni tanto - un po' per curiosita, un po' per divertimento, un po' anche per senso del dovere - visito i siti delle istituzioni europee: e la parte piu democratica e trasparente dell'UE, ed e anche quella che funziona meglio.

Brush with the Law

2008-03-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

An article from the Ovi magazine

Following the previous pathetic banning of Punch and Judy Shows and the demise of the Golliwog, Britain has finally arrived in ‘Looney-Land-City-Centre’ with the announcement this week that Northamptonshire police are investigating a complaint of racism against BBC children’s television mini-star Basil Brush.

With teenage stabbings and binge-drinking reaching worrying proportions, how have we finally reached rock bottom with the possibility of the police interviewing a ‘GLOVE PUPPET’!! My God, I really cannot believe I’ve just written that.

As yet, his face hasn’t appeared on any ‘wanted’ posters or appeals for his whereabouts made on ‘Crimewatch’ but police are anxious to interview the cunning Mr. Brush in relation to allegations made under the 1976 Race Relations Act. Witnesses to the dastardly crime have reported last seeing him wearing a furry coat, sporting a rather dashing bushy tail and with a hand stuffed up his rectum. Children’s favourite Mr. Brush has refused to make a statement other than his traditional "Boom Boom!!"

So what despicable sin has the notorious Mr. Brush been accused of? Well, during an episode that has now been repeatedly shown on T.V. up to eight times, without complaint, and also appears on his DVD ‘Basil Unleashed’, Basil’s ‘friend’ Mr. Stephen falls under a Gypsy’s spell to make him more attractive to women. Basil’s neighbour Dame Rosie Fortune tries to sell Basil wooden clothes pegs and lucky heather and even offers to read his palm, or is it paw? The astute Basil is having none of it and tells her, “I went to a fortune-teller once and he told me I was going on a long journey. He then stole my wallet and I had to walk all the way home. Boom Boom!!”

Joseph Jones, vice-chairman of the Southern England Romany Gipsy and Irish Travellor Network of no fixed abode, well he wouldn’t have would he, complains, “We are fed up with making complaints made about stereotypical comments made about us” basing his complaint that Gypsies no longer sell lucky heather and pegs for a living.

Of course he is absolutely right, because the modern traveller just moves his caravan on to land illegally towed by the latest 4 x 4, lives off state benefits and supplements his income tarmacing drives and rifling through other people's sheds when they are out.

When will this absolute nonsense all end? If Basil is arrested, will the police have handcuffs small enough! Will they be forced into investigating other atrocities, such as Windy Miller being drunk on cider while in possession of a windmill, or Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb operating an all-white recruitment policy at Trumpton Fire Station or will social services be taking action over Andy Pandy being forced to live in a box with Loopy Loo and Teddy.

Is it really fair that Postman Pat refuses to take early retirement with the closure of rural Post Offices and when ‘elf and safety’ see Bob the Builder clinging on the outside of Scoop as he hurtles through the streets of Bobsville he’ll be closed down for good.

Boom Boom!!

by Clint Wayne

Ms. Kern's right and paid sex

2008-03-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

An article from Ovi magazine

Two US officials came to the centre of the news last week each for very different reasons. One is resigning, perhaps facing legal implications, and the other enjoys full protection from the party she represents and local authorities; what were the charges? One had sex with a prostitute and the other was openly racist, guess which is which!

Eliot Spitzer, who will step down as New York's governor, was found …associating - I have to admit that I love words like that, especially in cases like this - with a prostitute using the services of a certain office often. The very same governor was elected by flagging his fight against …prostitution. I totally agree with his resignation and I totally agree with the man having to deal with a court room and charges. My agreement has nothing to do with using a prostitute and paid sex, I think that is something he and his wife have to deal with, but - I’m sorry for my cynicism - he’s obviously missing something in his life by looking for it somewhere else, preferring to pay instead of having a mistress… something that might have endangered his marriage even more.

My problem is not there, my problem is that a man of his authority, who has obviously spent a long time researching prostitution, may have used this to find the office and may have used his influence to get what he wanted. The man was the Governor of New York and former star prosecutor having prostitution as his main target, so he knew. He knew not only what he needed to know, but also knew everything, which means that he was keeping secrets and, in extent, that he was covering up and that only leads one to corruption! It sounds hard and heavy but it is true and I’m happy justice has found its way to him and obviously he is going to be punished in many ways, including the end of a promising career and most likely the end of his family.

However, let’s move to the next incident. State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, Republican member of the Oklahoma Legislature, has said that "the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation" and poses a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism, "According to God's word, that is not the right kind of lifestyle." Any comment?

What this woman, who apparently has served as a teacher in the past, said is beyond any comment and the words 'racist' and 'prejudice' sound too small to cover what she announced to the public. It was not enough; the case has gone far further. The local Republicans covered the lady by declaring openly their full support and finding any suggestion for her resignation inappropriate. Inappropriate it is that they haven’t resigned all of them from any official position, inappropriate that they haven’t publicly apologized for even thinking to agree with comments like that, inappropriate that they dare to even argue. Please this has nothing to do with freedom of speech. I’m tired of all these years listening to Nazis and racists preaching about freedom of speech, calling for their right to say and believe what they want. I’m sick and tired of them!

Ms. Sally Kern should resign her public office immediately; she should publicly apologize for every single word she said and the state based on a constitution that guarantees equality to every citizen and protection of racists and prejudice like her should take her to the court and punish her by example stripping her of every right to ask for office again. In Iran they are executing gays, is this future we want, is this the democracy we are all standing for?

Comparing the two cases I have to admit that my first reaction to Mr. Eliot Spitzer’s case was a smile and later thinking seriously about it I started getting a bit upset, but reading Ms. Sally Kern’s comments I felt really angry from the very first moment and the anger is building up more and more. Hitler actually sent homosexuals to Dachau and the gas chambers and, just like Ms. Sally Kern, he thought they were …not right. I suppose for Ms. Sally Kern having long hair is not right, smoking or piercing your ear and I’m sure she would never vote for Mr. Obama, not because he is a Democrat, but for the obviously not right reasons.

The Saudi Witch

2008-03-15T03:26:00.000-07:00

An article from Ovi magazine

The following story is not a joke, fiction or a rumour; it is a true story and it is not the first time the story has reached the media. There is a woman named Fawza Falih in a prison in Saudi Arabia waiting for her execution after being convicted of witchcraft!

The woman was arrested by the Saudi religious police after being accused by her husband that she made him …sexually impotent using witchcraft! The woman was beaten and forced to sign a confession despite the fact that she could not read! I’m sorry for what I’m going to say but it seems to me that when a Saudi hasn’t got an erection or he has a small penis he calls in the religious freaks and blames a woman for witchcraft! The woman was led to the court without any proof of her alleged witchcraft actions apart from the testimony of her husband and that is called ‘justice’ in Saudi Arabia! The confession she had to sign was not even read to her!

I cannot stop reading this story in horror and the reason I’m writing it here, despite the fact that it has already been publicly known for a few months due to the efforts of the Human Rights Watch and their failed attempts to meet with the Saudi King Abdullah or any high judges of the country, is because you should not forget it among all the information we get daily. More importantly, we must also remember who our allies are. I’m really sorry to say but if these decisions and practises are led from religion then their religion is truly inhumane and barbaric, and I’m even sorrier to say that there is no tolerance there.

A few months ago a young woman was raped and after that she had to suffer a public lashing because, according the Sharia law, she should never be out of the house without the company of a male family member.

So let me see if I understood well, our peaceful friends, who believe in the peaceful and fair contributing of Muslim traditions and judgment, are talking about a world where women can be executed for witchcraft because somebody’s dick wasn’t erecting, they can be lashed when they are …raped and they can contribute to society by staying locked at home cooking and giving birth. I’m sorry again, but even the Dark Ages offered a more equitable and humanitarian existence for women!

Why doesn’t the United Nations do anything about it? Why doesn’t the USA, EU or Russia do anything about it? How many barrels of oil is a human life worth? Or is her life cheaper because she is a Saudi?

The Salem witch trials that cost the lives of twenty-nine people and became a negative example of inhumane behaviour and criminal justice for centuries is a dark side of our history and is it showing us how to avoid these sorts of mistakes again. Saudi justice is here and now, the Salem trial was four centuries ago. The US administration is ready to endanger bad relations with Russia, Cuba or China for human rights and does nothing with Saudi Arabia where things are much worse - the same goes to the European Community, to Australia and Japan, to India and South Africa. How can we be proud of our democracies when we stand still when things like that happen? And how much more we don’t know!

What really happens to a woman in Saudi Arabia or Iran if she goes out forgetting to put on her headscarf? No, the question should go much further; do women count for humans in these countries? Cats and dogs definitely have more rights than a woman in Saudi Arabia.

When I first read the story of Fawza Falih I was terrified and found it difficult to believe but on the internet you can find more and more horrifying stories like that, more stories about the ‘fair’ Sharia laws and justice in the dark ages of Saudi Arabia and how ironic it sounds when we are expecting their transition to democracies.

Read my lips: No Subtitles

2008-03-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

An article from Ovi magazine

Here at Ovi magazine we try to champion many causes and issues, bringing attention to the forgotten, the ignored, the downtrodden and the outcast, and there are numerous ways these topics come to our attention. However, it isn't often that we are directly affected by an issue that, at first, is merely personal irritating, yet you then realise it is massively discriminatory against one group of people; this time it is the deaf.

Whenever my Finnish wife watches a DVD she always has either the English or Finnish subtitles activated. She is not deaf or hard of hearing; she just misses the occasional word perhaps delivered by a strong accent, drowned out by a loud sound effect or it is just garbled too quickly for her to catch. Subtitles have never been an issue for me, but now I am particularly aware of how many DVDs are released without them.

Currently there is no legal obligation in the United Kingdom to provide subtitles on DVDs released in the UK, despite there being 8,945,000 deaf and hard of hearing people in the country. Almost nine million people are being discriminated against through this simple omission on discs and even the DVDs that do offer subtitling for the movie then ignore the extras, such as interviews and commentaries.

Last night we watched a free DVD that came with a magazine, a promotional tactic now regularly employed by many weekend newspapers, and, like them all, the disc didn't have a subtitle option - of course, we could choose between Dolby 5.0 and Dolby 2.0. Comedy acts, sporting events and concerts rarely receive the subtitle treatment, but there is no reason why such a large potential market is ignored; surely the cost of adding the subtitles will be offset by the increased number of purchases.

In the April/May 2007 edition of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People's (RNID) magazine One In Seven, the BBC's Director General Mark Thompson was asked why DVDs that state 'as seen on the BBC' are often not subtitled, such as "The Vicar of Dibley" and "Auf Wiedersehen Pet". He answered that some shows are produced by independent producers who make programmes for the BBC but retain the rights to exploit them afterwards, "We will always encourage independent producers to include subtitles in their DVDs but we can't oblige them to do so."

In Finland there are approximately 8,000 registered deaf and they benefit from DVDs coming with basic Finnish subtitles on every disc - in fact, there's always Finnish, but no English - and the national broadcaster YLE provides a news broadcast with sign language. Sorry to go slightly off-topic, but why isn't sign language taught in school? There are 70 million deaf people across the globe and sign language crosses all other language barriers - there are 61 million speakers of Italian, so signing could certainly become an alternative global language.

The RNID are currently campaigning to change the law regarding subtitles on DVD releases and the BBC recently promised that all DVDs of future programmes commissioned by the BBC will be subtitled. Until then, I suggest you use this fantastic website to check if a DVD comes with subtitles: www.DVD-subtitles.com.

If you want to take further action, then simply click on the link, enter your name and email, and send the pre-filled email to Lavina Carey, the Director General of the British Video Association (BVA).

Everybody loves ...Robbie!!!

2008-03-12T02:58:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in Ovi magazine.

Mugabe hits again by banning all the observers from the elections, especially all the western observers. I’m sorry if once more I’m writing about this notorious dictator of Zimbabwe but, as I have said before, we should not stop reminding that people like Mugabe, criminals of the worst kind, people that have the right of life or death over thousands of thousands of people are around, they are not a myth, they are not the boogie men but the reality for nations like Zimbabwe, Iran and Pakistan.

Since I'm talking about Iran, according to the Zimbabwe Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Iran and China, among other African ally countries, are allowed to send monitors for the democratic elections. I presume the "one party" China and "non party in the name of Allah" Iran and its clerics are the right countries to have opinions on democracy and elections.

Robert Mugabe excused his decision saying that he suspects that the western countries are trying to remove him from government! Really? Saddam had the same suspicions and I wonder why, and Idi Amin before them was suspecting the same and again I have to wonder why and how they get these ideas? After all, everybody loves Robbie, especially in Zimbabwe. Apparently the people in Zimbabwe who don’t love Mugabe and they don’t show it ten times a day are either in prison with their tongue cut or dead!

“Clearly, those who believe the only free and fair election is where opposition wins have been excluded since the ruling party, Zanu-PF, is poised to score yet another triumph,” Simbarashe Mumbengegwi added. Man, that says everything! I mean you invite Iran to monitor. I mean, it is like going to the polls and thinking, "What am I voting today? Ayatollah, Ayatollah or Ayatollah?" In China things are more clear – the other monitoring democracy, I vote for the Chinese Communist Party otherwise my family pays the bullet!

Apparently Mugabe’s opposition Mr. Tsvangirai commented on the above by saying that the move showed that Mugabe has a lot to hide! Is a wonder how he managed to say that and he added that “those who have been invited will hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil and endorse a flawed election.” Please, it is not so simple and, on the contrary, they are going to take lessons and practise them in their own countries, don’t forget Iran has …elections soon!

Mugabe has offered a lot to Zimbabwe, 100,000% inflation and over 80% unemployment, actually the only ones who have work in Zimbabwe are Mugabe’s torturers and killers. The man is an angel. Even his caricature small moustache, Hitler style, is an irony. He believes that it makes him look like his Nazi idol while he reminds more the grotesque character Chaplin had created in The Great Dictator. That’s the reality of Zimbabwe, a grotesque caricature is ruling the country, talks about democracy and leads the elections.

Death screaming in Darfur

2008-03-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in Ovi magazine.

This week seven trucks with food on their way for the refugees in the camps of Darfur were stolen and their drivers were abducted. The UN’s World Food Programme announced that less than 50% of the deliveries actually reach the camps and the people of Refuges and, of course at the same time, the UN General Secretary is still negotiating who is going on a peace mission that hasn’t started yet and this ‘yet’ lays too heavily on humanity.

How many more are going to die? I would really like to finish this article exactly here hoping that Ki-Moon might read this and do something but I think I’m screaming in the desert, there is nobody there! Perhaps somebody didn’t make it clear to him that this is part of his job description, to take care of these people, to stop death, obviously they forgot to tell him and he thinks that he is a tourist with a cool title.

WFP says that 37 trucks and 23 drivers are missing and naturally drivers are refusing to risk their lives into a drive to Darfur. So it is not enough that less than 50% reaches the camps in Darfur due to bandit attacks soon there will be no drivers willing to drive what is left to these people. The WFP warns that the Humanitarian Air Service, which transports aid workers and medicines, might be forced to stop due to lack of funding. Mr. General Secretary if you take off the headphones with the music from your ears you might hear the people screaming, death screaming in Darfur.

Five years and the death-toll piles more and more bodies in Darfur and the responsibility is international, we cannot hide our heads in the sand, we are all aware of what’s going on in Darfur. For five years none, absolutely none, of the powers has done any move for the peacekeeping, including the African powers in the neighbourhood, the African Union is just watching!

Diplomacy has failed in every single way and I feel that we have become so cynical that pictures of kids with skull faces and swollen bellies don’t touch us anymore; we are just turning the page of the paper or zap to the next channel to avoid the advert. It's not the case that diplomacy was not enough, diplomacy has failed, UN diplomacy has failed and the General Secretary holds full responsibility for that.

Even the International Criminal Court tried to get involved and despite the fact that Yugoslavia is blackmailed in dichotomy for not arresting the wanted war criminals, the people who actually acted genocide in Sudan are …free warlords controlling areas and plot in politics. It gets even worse when one of these warlords, responsible for a series of crimes after being appointed Defence Minister by the Sudanese government, was put in charge of the government refugees camps and responsible of monitoring the deployment of the AU-UN forces. This is the reality of Sudan, this is the reality the refugees of Darfur have to deal with, and this is the reality we deny to see. This is the damn reality the General Secretary of the United Nations deludes of seeing.

What comes next? We are all giving up, since miracles do not happen, and that’s the only way to save lives in Darfur, with a miracle. We’ve given up on human lives, we have given up on children’s lives, we have given up on our existence as humanity, since we are losing the elemental differences: our humanity!

How Bizarre!

2008-03-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

From Ovi magazine

Browsing the news daily we often miss the little bits of news at the bottom of the page. They are often funny, sometimes weird, and they give us a new perspective on life, so here's the next in our new column series: How Bizarre!

A vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep is California's most alternative new energy. On a dairy farm in the Golden State's agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began on Tuesday producing natural gas derived from manure, in what it hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy.

* * * * * * *

A certified nurse's assistant has been arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure after "mooning" two co-workers while on the job at the Frasier Meadows Assisted Living Center, according to Boulder police. Two nurses told police that Suzanne Mueffelmann, 42, of Longmont, flashed her buttocks outside the room of a Frasier Meadows resident, according to an arrest report.

* * * * * * *

The SwissMiniGun is the size of a key fob but fires tiny 270mph bullets powerful enough to kill at close range. Officially the world's smallest working revolver, the gun is being marketed as a collector's item and measures just 2.16 inches long (5.5cm). It can fire real 4.53 bullets up to a range of 367ft (112m). The stainless steel gun costs £3,000 although the manufacturers also produce extravagant, made-to-order versions made out of 18-carat gold with customised diamond studs which sell for up to £30,000.

* * * * * * *

People who do not drink alcohol may finally have a reason to start -- a study published on Friday shows non-drinkers who begin taking the occasional tipple live longer and are less likely to develop heart disease. People who started drinking in middle age were 38 percent less likely to have a heart attack or other serious heart event than abstainers -- even if they were overweight, had diabetes, high blood pressure or other heart risks, Dr. Dana King of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and colleagues found.

* * * * * * *

An art display which invited the public to put live goldfish through a food blender did not constitute cruelty to animals, a Danish court has ruled. The goldfish were placed on display swimming in the blenders, and visitors were told they could press the "on" button if they wanted. At least one visitor did, killing two goldfish.

* * * * * * *

Police wrangled a gigantic pink bunny from atop an overpass above Interstate-95 in Palm Beach Gardens this morning. "He was a hazard," said a Gardens dispatcher, and apparently causing quite a traffic back up to boot. The fuzzy culprit turned out to be the Buzz Bunny, who is promoting Buzz 103.1 FM's upcoming adult Easter egg hunt.

Aisha's Red Hand

2008-02-12T00:55:00.001-08:00

This is an article first published for Agenda magazine Finland and Ovi magazine.

How does it feel when you look into a sixteen-year-old girl's eyes and you feel that, even though she is just sixteen, you are looking into the eyes of the oldest woman on earth? How does it feel to look into a sixteen-year-old girl’s eyes to feel that all you can see is the sadness and sorrow of the world? I do have the answer, yet it is just so difficult to put into words.

For most of us in the west, problems in Sudan only started a few years ago when celebrities like Bono and George Clooney publicized them, but the reality for the Sudanese people is that the nightmare started three decades ago. It is now an extremely violent war that began between sides and gradually became a war between tribes with ancient vendettas rising from the darkest side of the people. In the beginning it was grown men who fought but year after year fewer and fewer of them came to join the armies. Thousands of them dead, more crippled, yet all of them destroyed.

In the beginning the average age of the warriors was late-twenties - warriors because after one point there were no armies, only warlords who were followed by groups armed ready for hell. After a decade of continued war the average age dropped to the early-twenties and in the early-90s all sides began recruiting children aged ten to twelve-years-old. Aisha - I’m going to use this name as alias for the sixteen-year-old girl I met - was twelve when she was recruited.

Under these circumstances recruiting doesn’t mean there was an office ready to welcome volunteers, a heavily-armed group entered her village collected all the kids over ten-years-old killing anybody who would dare show or hint at any kind of resistance, put them in the back of tracks and then leave for their camps. These groups, after a point, included boys and girls, since in death there is always equality. The groups were from all sides, including the government’s army groups.

The kids would be taken to small camps where, with a little help from drugs and fear, they would learn how to use weapons and how to kill. Killing for them meant survival, since if they didn’t kill then they weren't good enough for the warlord or the army and therefore killed. Very few of them survived more than the first few months and during this time they forgot what is to be a kid, what it is to be somebody’s son or daughter and what it is peace. War and fear become their only life.

Aisha was raped on the very first day of her recruitment by nearly all the grown-ups in the camp and she was not the only one who went through this torture; she remembers that on the very same day another four girls had been …recruited with her. The rape was part of her ritual to rivet! Drugs and alcohol were the main part of it. The fear, within hours, had become a way of life and the only way to keep sane was to forget the past and kill. The more she killed, the more she was accepted into the group. She was even promoted to lieutenant.

After two years she had no idea how she came out of it. One day she saw a long line of refugees walking at the side of the street, she threw away the gun and the sack with the bullets and, without looking around her, expecting a bullet in the head, she pulled a blanket she was carrying over her head and joined the women that were walking at the side of the road. In the beginning it was the refugee camps and then gradually she found her way to Europe.

These few sentences cannot describe what she went through all this time and this is only a brief report suitable for the space of a magazine, but for one minute permit your imagination to walk the same path this girl was upon. For one minute try to imagine the pain, the desperation, the horror and the fear this girl felt when she was only thirteen-years-old, the same age girls all around us are playing with make-up.

Red Hand Day does not only exist to remind us that there have been child soldiers, but to shake us and make us understand that at this very minute, as you read this article, another girl named Aisha somewhere in Sudan, Niger, Kenya or another place in Africa, is blinded by pain, fear and drugs, carries a gun and is ready to kill or be killed for …nothing! It is our obligation to stop it now by pressing governments and organizations, by demonstrating and talking about it because everybody should be part of the solution until it is finally all over and the Aishas of this world can sleep for one night without nightmares!

my cancer and untalented copycats

2008-02-07T10:38:00.001-08:00

To see an article I wrote and has been printed in Agenda magazine in Finland and came online with Ovi magazine be stolen from a blog which copycats Ovi magazine should make me angry especially when the untalented blogger uses a series of my articles and cartoons to excuse his miserable existence. But then the only thing I feel is sorry.

How untalented and miserable this person can be, how no life creature to get so low is a wander.

Of course I’m going to get legal action and regarding his copycat to my cancer article I can wish him only one thing, never happen to him, and never have to go through this adventure and the same time having to deal with parasites like himself.

Follows the original article printed in Agenda Magazine and Ovi magazine

My Cancer and The Others
by Thanos Kalamidas

If I'd written about World Cancer Day a few years ago it would have been quite different from my thoughts today and I would have definitely focused more upon the stats and the warnings. I would definitely have overlooked the human part, but now I know better because I was diagnosed with cancer.

There were all the warnings by the book, but I always had something else to do than checking with a doctor; a favourite excuse is too busy… no time at the moment. It took twelve hours in real pain, an ambulance and twenty-four hours in the emergency room of a hospital to face my new situation - be careful, I said face my situation not deal with it. What followed is pretty predictable; I left myself in the hands and the knowledge of the doctors.

My generation grew up in the times when nobody ever said the word ‘cancer’, when somebody died from cancer it was "it hit him/her" or it was "that" and that "that" was taking mythic dimensions; it was the darkest side of evil itself and if "that" found you there was no way out, no escape from death. I have a very vivid memory from my early youth when a neighbour woman was hit by "that". When she was out on her balcony everybody was taking this characteristically sad face, pointing at her and saying quietly, “Poor girl, who knows for how long "that" will let her live" - the poor woman soon died leaving behind two young children, something that made "that" even more hateful in my neighbourhood.

However, I now live in the early 21st century and, as I mentioned before, I have great faith in science, especially medical science. Doctors and medications, over the last few decades, have found their way through cancer and they make miracles, especially in the early stages of cancer treatment, such as mine; it is also good that doctors take care to inform the public of their new discoveries. I have to admit from the very beginning of my adventure I felt safe and somehow reassured and comfortable. At the same time my wife and I have no superstitions, so we felt it proper not to hide my situation from family and friends, talk openly about it in a sense to adjure "that" and we did so from the very beginning. This helped me to start dealing with it.

A few days after my departure from hospital and having set the first series of tests and preparations for the first treatments in motion we had an early evening dinner with very close friends and, as usual, my three-year-old daughter monopolized our entertainment. During dinner and afterwards I had the feeling that something was not right, something was missing, but it wasn't until our friends left that I had the chance to rethink about what had happened.

This was the first of a series of similar incidents. Part of the ceremony when friends come to dinner is sharing news about friends and family, and the news is not always good. There is a variety between good and bad, and sometimes it can be …spicy; well, that evening the whole world was a happy clean world with everybody living as though in a fairytale. Suddenly I realized that "that" had invaded my life uninvited via the back door.

For weeks and months, even at this very minute, everybody we meet avoids talking to me about anything that would bring bad thoughts, including illnesses, accidents or any kind of negative news ignoring that it would make me more suspicious about what is going on around me and sometimes makes me wonder if I am delusional about my situation: I mean, I look worse than I feel. On top of that, living abroad and far from close family and friends made things worse; I always keep in touch with my family and friends through mail or telephone, yet after my diagnosis it seemed that these occasional monthly telephone calls became nearly daily with me spending most of my time on the phone talking about the good weather and how wonderful everything is. Suddenly, despite all the effort from family and friends, I started getting depressed, distant and isolated.

In their huge effort to cheer me up they had managed to isolate me from real life, put me away in a clean place where nothing is wrong and everybody is healthy and happy, while every day I still had to be with doctors and other patients at different stages of cancer, giving a fight for my life - how ironic and schizophrenic. They had missed the point, what I really needed was to feel that in my every day life everything is as usual and life goes on.

Cancer is like a war with many battles, both small and big, even some side battles that have nothing to do with cancer itself. I have won most of these battles and the war is not over yet, but I’m sure I’m winning. The best ally in this battle is good psychology and the will to win; this comes by feeling that the world around you hasn’t changed and that every day life hasn’t isolated you placing you inside a safe plastic bubble. While I should totally focus on my battle I spent too much time thinking about what is really going on and all because suddenly everybody around me saw "that" and they tried hard to hide it from me.

February 4th is World Cancer Day and there are over 25 million people living with cancer; year after year the number of people who die from cancer decreases, mainly because of early diagnosis and treatment in the early stages. If and when cancer comes, please remember to avoid being overprotective to the patient because, without wanting it, you isolate them and that’s the last thing they need and want. They want to feel that they are not alone and putting them in that bubble manages exactly the opposite. Give them strength by standing beside them without isolating them from their life.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T15:23:00.000-08:00

Geseënde Kersfees, Een Plesierige Kerfees, Rehus-Beal-Ledeats, Gezur Krislinjden, Milad Majid, Feliz Navidad, Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand, Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun, Selamat Hari Natal Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! Shuvo Naba Barsha, Vesele Vanoce. Feliz Natal, Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat, Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo, Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou! Feliz Navidad, Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun, Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan (Catonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun, Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito, Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo, Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth, Pace e salute, Rot Yikji Dol La Roo, Mitho Makosi Kesikansi, Sretan Bozic, Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok, Glædelig Jul, Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak, Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast, Merry Christmas, Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo! Gajan Kristnaskon, Ruumsaid juulup|hi, Melkin Yelidet Beaal Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar! Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad, Hyvaa joulua, Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar, Joyeux Noel, Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier! Bo Nada, Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr! Fröhliche Weihnachten, Kαλά Χριστούγεννα! Jwaye Nowel or to Jesus Edo Bri'cho o Rish D'Shato Brichto, Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!, Mele Kalikimaka, Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova, Shub Naya Baras, Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara! Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket, Gledileg Jol, Selamat Hari Natal, Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah, Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat, Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay. Buone Feste Natalizie, Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto, Mithag Crithagsigathmithags, Sung Tan Chuk Ha, souksan van Christmas, Natale hilare et Annum Faustum! Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!, Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto, Priecigus Ziemassvetkus, Linksmu Kaledu, Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar, Sreken Bozhik, IL-Milied It-tajjeb, Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa, Meri Kirihimete, Shub Naya Varsh, Merry Keshmish, God Jul, or Gledelig Jul, Pulit nadal e bona annado, Bon Pasco, Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu, En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!, Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo, Maligayan Pasko! Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie, Feliz Natal, Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha, Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua, Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn, Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!, Sarbatori vesele or Craciun fericit, Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom, Buorrit Juovllat, La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou, Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou, Hristos se rodi, Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce, Buorrit Juovllat, La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou, Nollaig chridheil huibh, Hristos se rodi., Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa, Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok, Vesele Bozicne Praznike Srecno Novo Leto or Vesel Bozic in srecno Novo leto, Feliz Navidad,God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År, Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon, Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal, Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!, Sawadee Pee Mai or souksan wan Christmas, Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun, Srozhdestvom Kristovym or Z RIZDVOM HRYSTOVYM, Naya Saal Mubarak Ho, Chuc Mung Giang Sinh, Nadolig Llawen, E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!

World Diabetes Day

2007-11-14T00:44:00.001-08:00

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

According to the World Health Organization, in 2006 at least 171 million people were diagnosed as suffering from diabetes. Diabetes in one of the top five most significant diseases and, in combination with the other two ‘developing countries’ diseases, high blood pressure and heart problems can be proven lethal.

In just the United States alone, 20.8 million people were diagnosed with diabetes in 2005, while another 6.2 million people were undiagnosed and another 41 million people were in pre-diabetic status. These scary numbers are the reality of our modern world. Diabetes, especially Type II, is the combination of heritable situation and the life style that includes a bad diet and little exercise. We must understand that diabetes, Type, I and II, is chronic and there's no cure - the only defence is the lifestyle of the diabetic.

I’m not a doctor myself, so you'll have to find the doctors and institutions to give you all the help and information you may need, plus the internet can also provide forums for diabetics suffering from both types; they can give you some help but most of all support. As I said, I’m not a doctor and I'm certainly not pretending to be one, on the contrary I am a diabetic and I found out my situation in 1994. All the signs were there I just didn’t see them or never had the right information to even recognise them.

Not that there was lack of information, there was plenty available in hospitals and doctor’s surgeries. It was just nowhere around, nobody had told me that being forty, having a lifestyle full of stress, an uncontrolled diet and no exercise was asking for problems. For over two years I had all the symptoms by the book, I was constantly thirsty and hungry, I was gaining weight quickly and, at the same, I was then losing it just as fast. However, I always had the excuse of being too busy all the time. I started having problems with my eyes and kept thinking I must check them… when I’m not too busy. I always had something more important to do, but then two years after I found myself in hospital bed following a cardiac episode and a diabetes waiting in the corner.

Since then my life has changed. It had to change by force and over a decade later it still has its ups and downs. For many of these ups and downs I am to blame because I had to learn new tricks and that was not always easy – especially for an old dog like me. It would have been definitely easier and much simpler if I had the right information at the right time.

I’m not going to tell you the differences between diabetes I and II, but there are many and they are both dangerous, especially if we don’t take the right precautions. As I said, there is no cure for diabetes but there is definitely management that can lead to a normal life - don’t forget that one of the strong symptoms in diabetes is physiological, such as depression and manias.

In the case of diabetes II, doctors practice an operation called gastric bypass surgery that treats patients with 80-100% severely obese diabetes, but again you must ask a doctor, who can give you better information.

November 14th is World Diabetes Day and a good chance to find some more information about one of the worst contemporary diseases.

www.worlddiabetesday.org

Polish reporter

2007-10-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Poland's opposition leader has mocked the prime minister for lacking a driver's license, compared him with a notorious communist and accused him of forcing two million Poles from their homeland. Donald Tusk, a trim, sandy-blonde economic liberal, is showing a new toughness as he fights to unseat Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski in elections this Sunday, revealing steel unseen when he failed to win power in 2005.

Polls show a tight contest between Tusk's pro-business and socially conservative Civic Platform, and Kaczynski's Law and Justice, which is also conservative, but favors greater social spending to help the needy and is more skeptical of the European Union.

The bitter truth is that the amazing twins must go out from power in Poland but what remains causes more wonders. Their anti-communist menace has often led their policies to the limits of fascism and Poland has been often under criticism from the European Parliament, not to forget all the problems the twins caused in the last summit.

Poland may block Russia's entrance to WTO

Poland warned on Monday that it would block Russia's entrance to the World Trade Organization if Moscow did not cancel an embargo on exports of Polish meat and produce. Russia imposed the ban in late-2005 after uncovering what it said were violations of food safety regulations. Polish officials maintain that the country's food quality standards meet EU norms and that the embargo is political.

"If Russia's position toward Poland doesn't change, we will have to vote against Russia's membership in WTO," Deputy Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski told a news conference in Moscow, according to Russian news agencies.

Poland also warned it would continue to block a strategic EU-Russia agreement if the embargo was not lifted. "Poland has to link these two issues — the embargo and the signing of a new agreement between Russia and the European Union," Ardanowski was quoted as saying.

The question that arises is not if Russia will stop banning Polish meat but if Polish meat meets the standards of food safety regulations and if the EU can guarantee that they do.

Polish Church Advises People How To Vote

The Polish Catholic Church reminded Poland's voters that they have an obligation to vote in keeping with the fundamental values taught by the Church. In a letter by Polish Bishops that was read to congregations all over Poland this weekend, people were told that they should pay attention to the moral condition of political candidates, their identity, values and readiness to cooperate with others.

Prime Minister Kaczynski's voter base rests primarily in the countryside among the older population and followers of Radio Maria's Father Taduesz Rydzyk. These voters are devoutly Catholic and tend to support Kaczynski. How much some of them support him and his party was made reported today in the Polish Weekly Gazeta Wyborcza.

In Lublin, after a church service yesterday, PIS flyers were distributed on the church's premises and when a Gazeta Wyborcza reporter started taking pictures, some people surrounded him, started calling him names, and told him to "f**k off!" - One woman even hit him in the face. Finally a man urged people to calm down and the reporter was able to get away.

The candidates whose fliers were distributed said that they had no idea about what happened. They said that people take their flyers and distribute them any way they want. Candidates have no control over what they do.

It seems that the Vatican will never stop getting involved in Polish politics despite the fact that the wall has fallen and the Polish Pope is dead.

Latvian Report

2007-10-08T13:14:00.001-07:00

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

Gang of former KGB agents operating in Latvia

A criminal group composed of Soviet-era KGB agents and former and present special service agents are operating in Latvia, the country's prime minister said Thursday. "We know people, their names, concrete crimes, we have testimonies, but we haven't detained anyone yet," Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis said.

The criminal gang - allegedly linked to certain politicians - is believed to be involved in extortion and drug trafficking in the small Baltic EU country, he said. Kalvitis did not disclose any names, but called on President Valdis Zatlers to hold a special national security council meeting "as soon as possible." Theoretically Kalvitis' allegations could be true, said Lolita Cigane, a corruption expert at Providus Center.

While one former KGB employee tries to be elected Russia's next PM, others have taken a different path that is usually the plot of a James Bond film.

Latvia extends peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan

Latvia has decided to extend its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan for another year, allocating $14 million in funds, the governmental press service said Tuesday. The ex-Soviet Baltic state plans to send a total of 260 troops into the country in two alternating troop contingents, the press service said. At the moment, 100 Latvian troops are deployed in northern Afghanistan as part of the UN peacekeeping mission. A NATO and European Union member, Latvia withdrew from Iraq in June.

This year has been the bloodiest period in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led campaign to overthrow the Taliban movement in 2001, as radical Islamist forces step up attacks in an attempt to topple the government and drive foreign troops out of the country.

Latvia is certainly a country of contradictions with the World Bank ranking it as the 22nd best country for business, while it also has the most expensive chicken meat, sausages, milk, eggs, bread and sugar in the Baltic States and is facing increasing accusations of corruption.

Russian Parliament's Upper House Ratifies Latvia Border Pact

The upper house of Russia's parliament Wednesday ratified a border treaty with Latvia that allows Russia to retain a swathe of land contested by Latvian nationalists. The treaty gives Russia control of an area known as the Pytalovo district to Russians and Abrene to Latvians that was seized by the Soviet Union after World War II.

Latvian nationalists protested the agreement as a sellout when the Latvian parliament signed it earlier this year, but supporters hope the agreement will help improve often-chilly relations with Russia. Moscow frequently complains that Latvia discriminates against its large ethnic-Russian population and regards Latvia's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union as Western encroachment on Russia's border.

The 117-1 vote by the Federation Council sends the measure to President Vladimir Putin for signing. Latvia already has ratified and signed the measure. The situations sounds similar to that of some Finns and their belief that Karelia should be returned to Finland, which was also an area taken by Russia at the end of World War Two and has caused extensive diplomatic problems recently after some officials made claims regarding a secret buy-out offer made by Russia in the 1950s.

Dutch Report

2007-08-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

Giant Lego Man Washes Ashore in Holland

A giant 2.5 meter Lego man mysteriously washed up on the Dutch resort of Zandvoort joining the ranks of such publicity stunts as 1984's giant Swatch in Frankfurt and a life-size Lego crane that hit Chile last year. The plastic invader was wearing a shirt with the words, "NO REAL THAN YOU ARE," which makes it unclear if this was even done by Lego.

Workers at a drinks stall rescued the Lego man, with a traditional yellow head and blue torso. "We saw something bobbing about in the sea and we decided to take it out of the water," said a stall worker. A woman nearby added, "I saw the Lego toy floating towards the beach from the direction of England."

Dutch authorities will be taking the man into custody to determine whether he is eligible for asylum status after officials believe he escaped from Denmark's Legoland Billund after suffering from countless human rights violations. "The Lego man appears to be in shock because he hasn't spoken or stopped smiling since his rescue," another official stated.

Crackdown on magic mushrooms

The famously liberal Netherlands has been swinging toward the right, cracking down on immigration, religious freedoms and the freewheeling red light district. The next possible target is magic mushrooms following the death of a 17-year-old French girl, who jumped from a building after eating psychedelic mushrooms while on a school visit.

Regulation of mushrooms is even less stringent than Holland's famously loose laws on marijuana, which is illegal but tolerated in "coffee shops" that are a major tourist attraction. In May, Health Minister Ab Klink ordered the national health institute to perform a new study on the risks of mushrooms.

At a press conference, a spokesman for the national health institute was unable to answer reporters' questions concerning the progress of the study after screaming that a huge Lego man was trying to steal his packet of stroopwaffels.

Flood of complaints against call to ban Koran

Police have received a flood of complaints against a call to ban the Koran made by MP Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration party PVV, last week, reports ANP news service on Wednesday. The exact number of complaints is not yet known but run into ‘scores’ from around the country, a spokesman for the public prosecution service in Amsterdam said.

The Dutch right-wing politician, known for his views favouring the restriction of immigration, particularly from non-Western countries, his criticism of, and opposition to, Islam, suggested that Muslims should 'tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands' because it contained 'terrible things' and that Muhammad would 'in these days be hunted down as a terrorist'.

Dutch liberals are planning on sending Geert Wilders a plate of magic mushrooms and space cakes for his birthday on September 6 in the hope that he lightens the hell up and kills the brain cells responsible for his prejudice.

Finnish bouncers and excessive force

2007-08-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

On Saturday night my English neighbour and his Finnish wife went out for a few drinks with some friends before they bid farewell to Finland and began their new life back in Britain. Midway through their evening at Zetor, a theme restaurant/nightclub in the centre of Helsinki, my friend underwent some brutal physical abuse from the club's security staff after he foolishly punched a Finnish man who had been sexually harassing his wife and then tried to steal her handbag.

I have given considerable thought to the approach I should take to writing this, since my friend's actions did deserve the attention of the bouncers, but – and this is the key point – the bouncers had no excuse for the extent of their retribution. Three members of Zetor's security jumped on my friend, who I'll call J, and inflicted severe wounds upon his forehead, face, throat, upper body and left knee, while at one point J almost lost consciousness due to the strange hold.

The incident, as related by J and his wife, goes as follows: Mrs J and her friend were harassed during the night and when their tolerance was exhausted they told the guy to stop. The guy then returned with Zetor's security staff and before their very eyes the man tried to snatch the handbag, which J happened to be holding. J foolishly punched the man in the heat of the moment and three bouncers were on him in seconds.

One had his arm around his throat, another was forcing J's arms behind his back and then when on the ground another sat on his legs. J managed to wriggle one of hands free to signal that he was about to pass out, yet the bouncers grabbed his hands and tied them behind his back with a plastic tie strap. Face down and with your hands secured behind your back would be considered by many to be restrained, but the bouncers did not stop.

A member of the supposedly professionally-trained security staff grabbed J's head and smashed it into the ground repeatedly, which is evident from the severe friction burns on his face and forehead. J hadn't been brandishing a weapon or shouting abuse, and one witness, who was not part of J's group, gave police a statement stating this. The arrival of the police signalled the start of part two of J's nightmare.

Despite the fact his face was bleeding and there was a danger of concussion from the beating security staff had inflicted, J received no medical attention all night and was even denied access to a lavatory, while locked in a cell unfit for any human or animal. His wife didn't know where he had been taken and had no way to contact him until he got home the following morning. The Finnish police then made an incredibly amateur mistake by asking J to sign a Finnish statement, which will result in the case being thrown out once it reached court.

J flies back home to the UK today and will be taking back very few, if any, good impressions of Finland. He will have to face airport security with his scabbed face, plus he will have to start his new job with a damaged knee that will certainly be aggravated by the weight of the luggage they are transporting back to England. J's Finnish wife felt obligated to apologise to her husband for ever bringing him to this country and they are both returning with a bitter taste of this country in their mouths.

Back home in England he will tell this story and people will be shocked. They will be shocked primarily by the fact that Zetor and its security staff will escape any kind of punishment or bad publicity, thereby ensuring that other patrons are under threat from these bullies. It is for this reason that I have decided to write an Ovi editorial to hopefully safeguard you from the bouncers at Zetor because, as a friend of J's wife said, nothing will change or happen due to the fact that all anybody will say, "It's Finland!"

Can you imagine if this situation happened in England or another EU country? Can you imagine somebody dismissing the entire incident with a, "Well, it's England!" The ignorance, the arrogance, the outright stupidity of that statement is what keeps this country on the same track, destined to relive these miscarriages of justice ad infinitum. It is time for people in Finland to stop blaming the country and point the finger back at themselves because they are the ones that turn the blind eye allowing it to happen.

My final warning: Avoid Zetor.

For two ministerial seats

2007-04-20T11:47:00.001-07:00

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

When we are referring to an environmental movement we are not talking about green trees and flowers, we are talking about the concrete that has destroyed our lives and our minds; we are referring to the concrete walls we have built in the name of consumerism and civilization. These are some of the things I talked with Petra Kelly one night during the late-80s in a friendly house in Berlin.

For the ones who had the honor to know her and remember her passionate voice, they must remember how ardent she was about nuclear power. How could anyone who is the least bit interested in the environment ever support the idea of nuclear power? That was one of her rhetorical questions that night followed by the question: How can an environmental party, with all the meaning of environment that includes the humans and their well-being as part of this environment, even compromise and support the ones who are responsible for what’s happening?

I’m really sorry to say it but Petra Kelly is lucky to be dead because now we know that there are green - self-labelled environmental - parties that can compromise to anything just to get a seat in government. The Finnish Green Party exchanged its 30 silver coins for the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Labor.

Well, Labor won't be for long because from January 2008 the Finnish government will have a new "super ministry" when the Ministry of Trade and Industry take over labour affairs, regional policy and copyright issues, possibly renamed as the "Ministry of Labour and Commerce". In practice, this may mean that the Ministry of Labour will be dissolved. Immigration issues will be transferred to the Ministry of the Interior.

Petra Kelly was one of the strong opponents of military pacts and alliances like NATO but the partners of the Finnish Green Party are seriously thinking of the possibility, especially Kokoomus, the right-wing party. Petra Kelly believed strongly in free education for all while the new partners of the Finnish Green Party believe that it is about time to start charging and that goes to the suffering health system as well. Petra Kelly strongly believed in the rights of the workers while the Finnish Green Party will have to compromise with the rights of the big cooperation and their employees’ cuts in the name of better profit for the share-holders.

Petra Kelly refused to believe that an environmental party would ever compromise in nuclear issues; that’s why the Finnish Green Party avoided any connection with the environment ministry believing that this gives them the role of Pilate washing their hands since the Green Party condemns the use of nuclear power while their partners are already planning the next nuclear plant. Pity because the thirty silver coins are burning the two seats they got.

Because of an article I wrote a few days ago, I got a few comments mainly from members of the Finnish Green Party, so I would like to mention that an environmental party is not necessarily left or right and definitely not communist despite what they used to say for decades about the new partners of the Green Party in Finland. But, at the same time, how would you feel if you heard that in France the conservative party of Mr. Sarkozy agreed a coalition government with Le Pen and the Green Party, or in England the Conservatives, the right member of the National Front and the Greens made a government, and please don’t answer that …this is Finland, because other than hypocrites, you are blind as well.

Last and not least, for the younger readers and definitely the members of the Finnish Green Party who have no idea who Petra Kelly was, she was one of the creators of the parliamentary environmental parties in Europe and the first Green Party in Germany.

Playing Women's Day

2007-03-08T07:28:00.001-08:00

From Ovi magazine - Ovi Lehti in Finnish,

I was not really planning to write anything for Women’s Day because I somehow believe that living in the country where women were the first in Europe to practice the right of voting, elect and elected there is nothing more to write about. Finland is very proud for her women and has every right to be because women throughout Finnish history have stood as equals next to the men on the front line in the farms, in industry and in war.

And that was the belief till I sat at the table for dinner with my little daughter and she proudly informed me that her school or better kindergarten was planning something special for Women’s Day. My three-year-old daughter was thrilled and I was really impressed until the second wave with the explanation came. For Women’s Day in the school, the kids will be divided in two teams: one all boys and one all girls. The boys will spend their day in one room where they can play with their little soldiers, pirates and castles, while the girls, in another room, will play…beauty salon!

I believe that my daughter is not lying and I have no reason not to believe it, but all this was somehow too much for me, so I had to confirm it and I did so with a telephone call. Every single word was true. Now my next question is if I’m going to let my daughter go to school and play Women’s Day.

Then the mind starts playing games. Four years ago, again during the elections, it was Women’s Day and all the news had pictures of candidates going around the city giving roses to all the women. Matti Vanhanen was one of them. All the big stores and cafes did exactly the same. So this is what we are going to see today, happy politicians taking to the streets of Helsinki and giving roses to happy smiling women, who will accept them - Who gives a damn if women are less paid in Finland? Who gives a damn if women are often victims of domestic violence? Who gives a damn if equality stopped in theory, so long as there is a rose waiting for every Finnish woman in the mall? Aside from the ‘vote for me’ brochure, who gives a damn?

My three-year-old daughter, instead of sitting with the boys of her class and learning what equality means, learning that there are not boy’s and girl’s games, instead of learning that she lives in a society where everything is equal for boys and girls and instead of learning to respect and demand respect, she’s going to learn how to be a nice…Barbie! What else is there left for me to think! A beauty salon! Who came with this idea?

Naively I asked what ‘beauty salon’ means and my daughter explained that it is with their dolls, refusing to give any further explanation. So, after spending all these centuries escaping from the kitchen and making the babies, a life without dreams and depending upon the master husband, with housewife being her one and only career, over a century after women voted in this country, my daughter is learning to be the ‘ideal’ housewife where her fingernails will become the center of her existence!

I think for Women’s Day I’m going to take my daughter and spend most of our day in the park, I think I will show her one more time that to be a father is fun and that a dad can do as much a mum can do. I will avoid all the politicians and their hypocritical smiles and roses, and I will read to her a story where the hero will be the word 'respect'. Most of all, I’m not going to play…Women’s Day!

By Thanos

CIA's EU Air Miles

2007-02-16T11:49:00.001-08:00

From Ovi magazine - Ovi Lehti in Finnish,

Reading on the news that the European Parliament has approved a damning report on secret CIA flights that condemns member states, which colluded in the operations, I felt that Strasburg must be definitely on another planet watching what’s going on back on Earth, at the least they are definitely not in Europe.

Often reading some of the decisions the EU parliament takes, I feel that they are more wishful thoughts than anything to do with reality and this is one of them. I think what this USA administration doing is an international crime and are violating everything in which I believe; my beliefs have long been instituted under the Charta of the Human Rights.

I hope, in the near future, the ones who manipulated decisions that led to prison camps, such as the one in Guantanamo, will answer to justice and get the right punishment - I include George W. Bush and the former American Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld in that. Still, this is a game that still goes on and George W. Bush and his company are leading the American administration and a superpower’s army.

However, coming back to Europe; Europe had to live on the edge after 9/11. From one side they were not able to participate in the invasion of Iraq, foreseeing the catastrophic results for the people of Iraq and then having to face the menace of the American administration that didn’t hesitate to cast enemies the ones that opposed their decision, even if that meant traditional allies like France and Germany. The short term economic results of this opposition were fast obvious for the European countries that tried to later calm the giant by legalizing more illegal actions and let the USA administration draw them into a swamp of illegalities.

According to the report, fourteen out of the twenty-five state members of the EU allowed the US to remove terror suspects. They are wrong, all twenty-five would have done it if the US had asked for it; it just happened to be these fourteen. Most of the European countries are members of NATO, an alliance that the US dominates or they want to be members. The ones who weren’t at the time, they eventually did after they gave their full support.

For the ones like Finland that kept their neutrality, it was a totally different game. President Tarja Halonen was advertising the neutrality; the Foreign Minister was assuring everybody Finland’s obedience to the UN decisions and the Prime Minister at the time Paavo Lipponen was assuring George W. Bush that he would have any help, so long as they kept it off the record.

So, when the time came for the CIA to employ flying prisons the question was, are you going to tell us the time you are flying so we can put out the red carpet or are you happy with just a small party in the VIP room? The report adds that the CIA had operated 1,245 flights, some taking suspects to states where they could face torture. That much about human rights, that much about everybody is innocent before proven guilty, that much about preaching democracy.

The truth is that Europe and the US have a lot of open wounds to heal and that will definitely take sometime. In the process of healing, the EU parliament had better demand justice instead of condemning the states that are in the middle of the cyclone the US has created and made them act like dumb children.

iBite - February 01

2007-02-03T05:41:00.000-08:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Finland’s possible membership in NATO would not be good for relations between Russia and Finland.

Please somebody wake him up! The cold war is over and Stalin is dead!

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Sauli Niinistö, former leader of the opposition conservative National Coalition Party, has criticised the government for not having made provision for the ageing of the population.

And how old are you Sauli? Going for retirement and worrying?

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A panel of international scientists predicted Friday that global warming will continue for centuries no matter how much people control pollution, in a bleak report that blamed humans for killer heat waves, devastating droughts and stronger storms.

Let it snow, let it snow!!!

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There may be talk of ethics reform in Washington, but that won't stop some politicians and lobbyists from partying together this weekend in Miami at the Super Bowl.

Are they going to pitch?

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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted today that some militant fighters are crossing the border from Pakistan to support the Taliban in Afghanistan through border …holes.

And how big are these holes? In the size of a continent?

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A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a female worker at his Las Vegas parish before fleeing to Arizona could soon be extradited to Nevada, an FBI official said.

Send him to Guantanamo bay!!!

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Believe it or not ….Berlusconi is back!!!

Silvio! My hero!!!

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Global climate change is "very likely" to have a human cause, an influential group of scientists has concluded.

You mean they are not going to blame Iran for that?

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For the ones who live in Finland, remember

This ovi-lehti is a bad copycat of the original Ovi magazine you are just reading and is here, online since 2004!!!!

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The office of French President Jacques Chirac has issued a statement stressing France's opposition to Iran possessing a nuclear bomb.

He’s not candidate, so why should he care?

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Silvio Berlusconi apologized publicly to his wife for …flirting in a party!

Even men cry!

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A brother-in-law of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed in a robbery in Madagascar, relatives say.

Come now, the man is known that he relates with half Saudi Arabia!!!

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President Bush's choice for the new army chief of staff has denied that current US policy on Iraq has failed. General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq for the last two years, faced tough questioning at his Senate confirmation hearing.

He insisted that president Bush has a plan for Iraq!!!

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And don’t forget there is only one Ovi magazine, the original! No Ovi lehti or Ovi-lehti

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The last instalment of the Harry Potter saga will be published on 21 July, author JK Rowling has announced. She confirmed the date fans will be able to get their hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on her website.

I suppose she forgot to mention the …sequel saga!!!

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And don’t forget there is only one Ovi magazine, the original! No Ovi lehti or Ovi-lehti

Ovi magazine and the prestigious Grands Prix 2006 awards

2007-01-03T23:21:00.000-08:00

Ovi magazine, an online daily magazine based in Finland, came second in Newropeans Magazine's prestigious Grands Prix 2006 awards.

They were nominated as one of the three finalists in its 'Citizenship - Information' section, along with Sitécon and Le courrier des Balkans, the eventual winner.

Newropeans is an independent magazine developed for the exchange of views on the future of a democratic Europe. The awards have been running annually since 2003 and are designed to reward the people or organisations behind the democratisation of the EU. Previous winners include the European Space Agency, EUobserver.com, Cafe Babel, the European Court of Human Rights and Skype.

A registered jury of around 1,000 actors of the European civil society coming from 25 States voted online awarding Ovi magazine almost thirty per cent of the vote.

Happy New Year with Ovi magazine

2007-01-01T00:54:00.000-08:00

New Year’s Day is a day for wishes and expectations. Happy new year, healthy new year, peaceful new year! We are not going to complain and we are not going to remind you of all the bad things happening around us, we just want to wish you warm feelings for the next 52 weeks.

We want to wish to you, your families, your friends, and everybody you love and care about, a very fruitful and joyous year. Let’s hope that 2007 will make that difference we all deserve.

We wish you a creative, happy and healthy New Year and thank you for being with us in our daily efforts. Our resolution is to bring you even more innovative idea through the Ovi project.

Happy New Year!

Thanos & Asa

Happy Birthday Ovi Magazine

2006-12-19T23:14:00.001-08:00

December 20th marks the second birthday of Ovi magazine and we would offer you a slice of cake if we had one – chocolate, of course. Can you believe that two years have passed so quickly? Our stats include 17 free monthly PDFs, over 1100 original articles, dozens of cartoons, over 60 contributors and we are still a non-profit magazine!

Whether you have been with us from the very first day or joined us along the way, or have discovered us on this joyous occasion, we welcome you to continue participating in a project to champion free speech and encourage positive discussion.

Domestic violence, world famine, promoting equality and fighting for peace are common themes in Ovi magazine, but change does not come overnight. We need your help and support.

To effect real change, Ovi realizes that awareness needs to be brought to many of these issues and that is the role we play. We invite everybody to contribute to our magazine in the form of articles, interviews, promotion and participation in the comments section.

The Ovi team is determined to accomplish many of their goals throughout 2007 and their third year, so why not become a part of the Ovi project. It costs you nothing other than time and a little brainpower.

We’ve covered every issue for two years!

Happy Birthday Ovi magazine!

A Mika Moose Xmas: Chapter 1

2006-12-04T00:07:00.000-08:00

It appeared to be early December, but you couldn’t be too sure anymore. It looked like December and even smelt like December, yet there was nothing to confirm any of these suspicions, which was rather frustrating. Either way, a light snow was being whisked about by an energetic wind and the whisper of distant elf song brought an extra touch of magic to the enchanted arctic tundra. It was also very cold.

The world was seemingly at peace, hibernating beneath a large white blanket until spring and nobody would dare upset this fragile tranquillity, well almost nobody. “Are we there yet?” squawked a voice that echoed among the trees, evaporating the silence like an icicle thrown on to a roaring fire. The wintry wilderness seemed to take a deep breath to calm itself and prepared to return to the calm from a few moments earlier.

Once again the screech called out, “Are we there yet, Mika?” If you had been standing in a particular place on the tundra you would not have known where this voice was originating, although all that was about to change. At first all you could see was a small black head with a beak, then something strange happened as the body appeared. It seemed as though this bird was hovering in the air without using its wings and was gaining altitude a second at a time.

The cause of this illusion was easily explained, yet it made you blink your eyes in amazement. A magnificent looking magpie with resplendent plumage was perched on the antlers of a miserable looking chocolate moose; the colour chocolate, not the dessert. Matti the Magpie yawned and stretched out his black, silver and white wings to their full span, and then began to groom his feathers. Matti was a beautiful bird, unfortunately, he was the first to realize this and was considerably vane concerning his appearance.

“Mika, why don’t you take better care of yourself?” muffled Matti through his wing feathers, “You could have some consideration for your passengers…I mean the smell up here is disgusting!” Mika rolled his eyes and sighed, and then cleaned one of Matti’s discarded feathers from his nose. “I think you do enough grooming for the both of us, Matti. Anyway, I had a mud bath at the end of the summer and that was enough for…OW! What was that?”

Matti swallowed the little bug he had caught crawling through Mika’s fur, “Sorry, the cleanliness of the transport may be poor, but the catering is fantastic!” The magpie stretched out his wings once more, checked every feather was straight and then remembered his earlier question, “Are we there yet?” Mika was getting bored of Matti’s continually questions, especially since the bird could never remember the answers, which was due to either stupidity or an attention span shorter than a mosquito’s eyelash.

“No Matti, how can we be there when we are not going anywhere?” Mika lied because they were going somewhere, they were following the little elf footprints in the snow, but he didn’t want to tell Matti and he also didn’t know where they would eventually lead. “Mika…we should go left. I have a feeling we should go left!” exclaimed Matti pointing his right wing in the air before being distracted by a large snowflake landing in his face.

“I’m covered in snow, you’re covered in snow…everything is covered in snow! Left is snow, right is snow, behind is snow, in front is snow, below is snow, up is snow, snow, snow, snow, ice and snow, snow and ice…” Mika was lost in his own thoughts and was ignoring his friend’s ramblings. He needed to find the rest of his herd before the winter became too hard and he didn’t know how long he had. Suddenly, Mika was aware of somebody saying his name, “Mika, Mika, hello! How much further?”

PART TWO COMING VERY SOON

Massacring DR Congo's future

2006-11-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

There’s nothing that saddens me more than the news of a civil war, whether it begins or continues. There was a civil war in Greece that lasted nearly five years; memories and passions still last generations later. So why would it be any different in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when things are so fresh in peoples’ minds?

Reading the news I saw that dissident soldiers in the DR Congo have attacked army positions in the east of the country close to the Rwanda borders. But what is the legal army? Who is legal in the middle of a civil war? It doesn’t matter how much the international community is trying to stop it? Both sides think that they have the right to do what they are doing and gradually they lose control of what’s right and what’s wrong. Killing neighbor is not wrong any more, killing brother is not wrong, the face of the brother has become the face of the enemy.

This is what I was thinking reading the news. Fifty years after the civil war in Greece two brothers met and it took them a while before they started their old disagreements again. I live in Finland, and the civil war happened nearly a century ago here, still I have heard somebody saying, ‘They killed my grandfather, and I will never forgive them.’ What he will never forgive is not the crime of one human killing the other, but killing his grandfather. It is personal.

That’s what is left from a civil war, nobody wins. Some do, but this is temporary. How can you feel the winner when you have killed a brother to achieve this victory? How can you feel a winner when the loser is inside your very own house? And how can you tell all these thing to somebody who is in the middle of a civil war just like all these people in DR Congo?

The UN seems optimistic but sometimes I’m not sure if everybody realizes how long it will take for things to become calm in this country, even if the war stops…yesterday. In this war, like in any other war, kids are involved and not only as victims between the innocent, but as little warriors as well. In the case of Congo, children soldiers have been used from both sides openly. These boys and girls – yes girls, it seems that war is one of the very few places where men and women are equal – aged around 15, are going to build tomorrow’s Congo. But with what memories? Murder and rape have been their every day pictures.

Usually these civil wars last a few decades and are the result of the ego of some very few generals who rebelled. They have all the good excuses but ended up in a hunt to glorify this very same ego and they gradually become exactly the same as what they opposed for so long.

I might sound too radical, but the picture of these children fighting a war they cannot understand, often killing their own families without even knowing or remembering and then asking these very same children to build a better world is at least a crime against humanity and those responsible for these wars should be on trial for genocide.

I know it sounds too much but why not? These people didn’t only kill and massacre a whole nation but they did the same with future generations as well. They did the same with the future of a continent since all these rebels escape to neighbor countries asking for a new field. Sometimes the same people fight all around as mercenaries just because they don’t know any other life.

Let’s hope that the whole thing in DR Congo will finish soon, but let’s also hope that the responsible for this will be punished from both sides because both sides are responsible for massacring their future.

Why the hell to create a blog?

2006-11-07T16:53:00.000-08:00

"Why the hell to create a blog?" was the question we posted in the Ovi Forum back in April 2005 after a number of our regular readers had encouraged us to start one. Most of the comments were negative, such as Bighairyfinn's "It gives you the 15 minutes of fame required to make the average egocentrist happy" and harryparry's end statement, "If there is something you want to write about or if you have opinions that you want to express, then start a blog. Otherwise, why bother?"

Well, 19 months later we have learnt for ourselves 'why the hell to create a blog' and we have gone one, no two, maybe three…many steps further by creating more than one Ovi blog and have even chosen 'Blogs' as the theme for the 17th PDF magazine released today. We understand 'why to bother' and we feel that we have something to say. Okay, we have a great deal to say about everything, but that is why you read Finland's opinionated daily magazine.

The Ovi team were reluctant to change our magazine into a blog because we believe that an online magazine has a different reputation to a blog. We don't consider magazines better than blogs, or vice-versa. Instead, we believe that when a reader arrives at a magazine they expect something different from the content and style, which wouldn't be found on the average blog.

We actually discovered the difference for ourselves in the form of a personal freedom. Maintaining our own personal blogs or the Ovi blogs allows us to write about events in an alternative style to the magazine articles. Why? We don't really know, but Ovi does encompass over 80 different writers and they all have their own opinions, so the Ovi team owe it to one another to maintain a professional style and approach. However, the blogs free us from these constraints and we can exercise our…cheekiness far more.

Today, Thanos launches another three personal blogs in addition to his existing god-knows-how-many. We have a suspicion here that when he has created his 52nd blog he will create the Thanos Blog Playing Card Series - each card has the front page of one of his blogs. Anyway, one of the blogs launched today is written in twisted Athenian slang and another features tales, such as fairytales and other children's stories, so check those out.

Blogger and WordPress may dominate the blogosphere, but Asa has been experimenting with MySpace and he gets a secret thrill with every 'So-and-so wants to be your friend' message, while many of our readers also maintain their own blogs. How do we know? Well, they actively support and promote Ovi magazine via their pages, add us to their Blogrolls and pester fellow bloggers to do the same. They have also gently guided us through the rocky blog landscape, pointing out the dangers and being supportive, which is the other reason for our decision to choose 'Blogs' as our PDF theme: We wanted to say, "Thank you!"

The new PDF has become a landmark issue for the Ovi team. The reason for such a long gap between our 'Copycats' PDF and issue #17 is due to the desire of implementing a number of fresh ideas into its pages. You will spot some of them immediately and the others will merely soak into your unconscious because Thanos has performed some minor miracles with the style and overall feel of the layout, but you should look for yourself because we are a little biased.

PDF Issue #17 is full of articles about blogs, bloggers and blogging, plus a couple about podcasts and other web-related content, plus cartoons, jokes and other Ovi nuances that you have come to love. The first-timers are the luckiest of all because you have no idea what to expect, which is something that we often envy.

In case you don't know, the Ovi PDF is free to download and read. There are no catches to downloading the PDF; you don't need to register, you don't need to sacrifice your firstborn, you don't even need to say, 'Please!' A computer, net connection and a PDF reader go without saying, but you can always ask a friend to do it for you.

In April 2005, we began a long journey of discovery and today we are confident that we could satisfactorily answer our own forum question: "Why the hell to create a blog?" Could you?

The birth of a copycat

2006-10-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday 13th October, Jone Nikula and Ari Halttunen published the first edition of their brand new free magazine that will be distributed across Finnish cities and we hope that it will bring them bad luck. The familiar name of this new magazine is 'Ovi'.

Yes, they have stolen our name, a name we have built a reputation upon for three years and has become intrinsically connected with everything we do here at www.ovimagazine.com as the Ovi team.

We categorically state that the copycat has nothing to do with us and we ask for your continuing support,

The Ovi Team

Below is a copy of the mail we sent to the staff of the copycat magazine:

The Ovi magazine and the Ovi team feels obliged to say that the name of your magazine is simply splendid – we bet you gave great thought to its selection, after dismissing names like the New York Times, Newsweek, The Economist, you decided to send your creativity sky high using our magazine’s three-year-old name. Your graphic designer also did a splendid job as well; we bet their portfolio features other names like Leevi's Jeans, Colpa Cabana, Roleks and others.

Just as we have done over the last four months, we promise to answer all the mails coming to Ovi magazine and Ovi lehti, both names that are registered to us, but we suppose you already know that.

Actually, in a telephone call a few months ago with Ari Halttunen, he gave the rather entertaining answer, "We didn’t know you existed; we checked the internet!" You definitely knew about us since then and you know that we are the only true Ovi magazine and are one of the very few daily magazines in the world.

We wish you luck in the harsh world of free Finland newspapers, although we are confident you will find a niche among City, Voima, SixDegrees, V, Metro, Uutis 100, Nöjesguiden, Sue and Spektr. We're sure we missed four or five – oddly, we are so organized that we have carried out research into the future of free magazines and it doesn't look good.

We are certain you will finish on top of the pile…just before they are sent away for recycling. We're joking, although you are printing your magazine on recycled paper, aren't you? It is only coming out ten times a year, so you could always pass the cost onto your advertisers - let's hope the Green Party use you to promote their candidates in the coming elections. Ahhh, irony!

Luckily, you have the web edition of your magazine to champion yourselves online at the catchy URL of www.ovi-lehti-fi. Nice. Don't most of your competitors just have their title and dot fi? Oh well, we are sure it will work out through the search engines and your readers will not stumble upon any original titled online magazines…hmm.

Seriously, we wish you the best and if a copy happens to blow down the street and strike a leg then we may scrape it off the ground and have a read.

The Ovi Team

P.S. Despite the warnings, even from Roman Schatz, that you act as a copycat and our warnings that you shouldn’t base your future on somebody else’s work, you ignored everything. It's natural that we are going to publish the truth, warn advertisers and readers at every single chance.

"Minä elän" Finnish literature

2006-10-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti - TheOviMagazine

To write an article about Finnish literature, especially about Alexis Kivi, is something I found very difficult. I think the main reason was not that there is a lack of rich Finnish literature, on the contrary, but mainly because there is so little Finnish literature translated into other languages and even less translated well into English.

I use the English translation because, except for one book that I read in Greek, the majority of Finnish literature I’ve read it is from English translations and I have to say that, aside from some bright exceptions, most of them were very badly translated. This gets worse when you feel how poorly some books are translated, which not only fails the reputation of the Finnish original but also the English translation.

Language has been the main barrier for Finnish literature to expand worldwide and I would have agreed until I read a fantastic book by Väinö Linna called Under the North Star, translated into English by Richard Impola. I have said it often before, but the work Mr. Impola did for that work is simply excellent.

What made the main difference between Mr. Impola’s translation and the others? I think it was his excellent knowledge in both languages and English-thinking countries. There is again a difference between English-speaking and English-thinking, Singapore is an English-speaking country, but you would never say that it is an English-thinking country. The same applies to many countries, especially due to British colonization.

Coming back to Finnish literature, often the translators are Finns who competently speak the language they translate, but they have grown-up in a country where her own people believe that there are certain words that you cannot translate and you must be a Finn to understand them. Therefore, reading some of these translations you find them full of un-translated Finnish words which are very important for the plot, but without knowing them spoils the whole thing.

For example, I have often found in Finnish books the word 'sisu' as it is. No, there is not an exact word to translate it, since it is more of a feeling and state of physique and mind. However, how do you translate the English phrase, 'I feel blue' or the Americanism, 'I got the blues'? 'I feel blue' and 'I got the blues', even though in the same language, they have a whole ocean of experiences and semantics to separate them. Oddly enough, there is a word in Greek that means exactly the same thing: 'sisu' – and I have often read articles from translators complaining on how difficult it was to translate words using the very same word as an example.

As I mentioned before, Mr. Impola obviously performed a miracle and translated Linna’s trilogy giving shape and meaning to all these impossible to translate Finnish words. I know that I have gone on for a long time talking about translations and translators, but that mainly explains why there aren’t many Finnish books translated well into other languages.

A second issue with Finnish literature is its very unique style. Finns, in general, think that everybody is born in the forest, next to a lake, used to temperatures of -20 Celsius and are people of silence, few words and a very practical life and this becomes an important part of their literature. You find yourself while reading a novel often not understanding that the winter is not a case of a few hours, but more like a few months. You find out that in a land where forest covers over 70% of the land, humans have built special ties with the trees. These very ideas and thoughts expressed in dry words must be able to transport you from a noisy Mediterranean seaside to the quiet Finnish lakeside.

For centuries there was no Finnish literature other than some religious books, but in the mid-19th century one book was published that marks the real beginning of Finnish literature. The book was Alexis Kivi’s The Seven Brothers. In other articles I have often written about the rich Finnish literature, but Alexis Kivi is a very special chapter in this story. Even he was a character; a unique individual whose life could easily become a dramatic novel.

Alexis Kivi (1834-1872), originally Alexis Stenvall, is the Finnish national writer, poet, playwright, novelist and the creator of modern Finnish literature. He was the first Finn to become a professional writer and published all his works in Finnish. According to everybody who has read his work, his masterpiece is the aforementioned novel Seitsemän Verjestä (Seven Brothers) published two years before his death in 1870.

Alexis Kivi came from a very poor family - his father was a tailor - and was educated, which means he spoke and wrote in Swedish, the language of the intellectuals at that time in Finland. The Finnish awakening found Alexis Stenvall early and he changed his name from the Swedish 'Stenvall', meaning 'stone bar', into the Finnish 'Kivi', meaning 'stone'. I’m not planning to go through his life, since it is easy to that information elsewhere online.

Seven Brothers, in its English translation, is a difficult book to read; actually, it is a dull and boring book that you often feel like ignoring pages, if not whole chapters. That was my reaction the first time I read it and that was the first year I arrived in Finland. Four years later, I read it again. Actually, I read it twice in the same year and, in the end, I found Alexis Kivi. I found a book with very clever dark humor.

Seven orphan brothers, before their confirmation into the Finnish Lutheran Church where they will have to learn reading and writing, escape into the wilderness and experience all sorts of disasters. Kivi, in his book, challenges the very inner of the Finnish psyche. He challenges ideas and taboos. He even challenges the ideas that Finns have for themselves and are idealized with words like 'sisu'. The seven brothers show the face of brutality, laziness, ignorance and sometime stupidity, but the same seven brothers find the power to overcome the difficulties and return to society stronger than they were before they left.

After the third reading I had come to love the book. Here came another issue: when I showed my enthusiasm to my Finnish friends I had to deal with their skepticism and often sarcasm. You see, the Finnish school system managed to do exactly the same as most schools around the world and made the book a must-read and a daily lesson, thereby turning it into a most hateful book and never read by Finns after leaving school.

Later, after becoming more aware of the Finnish psyche and environment, I read Kivi’s plays. I just loved them. There is one where Kivi describes civil servants. I think I was laughing all the through his cynical way of describing lazy bureaucrats and the barriers they put for their comfort, including their effort to avoid responsibilities, which places them within a labyrinth of obligations and stupidity.

Last were Kivi’s poems: Sydämeni laulu (Grove of Tuoni, grove of night / Song of my Heart), a poem that inspired Sibelius to compose a song (Op 18 No 6):

Tell me, my child,
My summer bright, tell me:
wouldst thou not sail away from here to a haven of everlasting peace
while the white pennant of childhood still flies clean?
On the shore of a misty, tideless lake stands the dark manor of Tuoni;
there in the heart of a shadowy grove,
in the bosom of a dewy thicket a cradle is prepared for thee
with snowy linen and wrappings.
Hear therefore my song; it wafts thee to the land of the Prince of Tuoni.

Grove of Tuoni could be translated as the 'Grove of death'. Kivi is Edgar Alan Poe in Finnish. This was the first Kivi poem I ever read and it was the one that made me love his poetry. Kivi’s dark humour is here as well.

During the last years of his life, Alexis Kivi suffered from health and financial problems ending in a hospital for schizophrenia treatment, where psychiatry was still in embryonic condition and experimental treatment in the early second half of the 19th century. In the spring of 1872, his brother brought him to Tuusula, where he lived in a small cottage, to be precise, inside the sauna of the small cottage. He died on December 31st, 1872, and, as the legend has it, his last words were: "Minä elän! (I am alive!)

Now dig my grave
Beneath the bay willows' boughs
And with blackness cover it over again,
The for evermore
Go from my domain:
I wish to slumber in peace.

- From the poem Weariness

Angry with God

2006-10-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti - TheOviMagazine

There is no way to understand what was going on in that man’s mind while he killed three girls of ages between three and six in cold blood and seriously wounded another six of the same age in an Amish community, Pennsylvania, USA. Actually, I’m not sure if I want to know, but a conversation I had earlier triggered my thoughts.

The conversation ended with: Why are you thinking to write about it? It happens so often nowadays! So it does, and that makes us ignore it, thinking of it as less tragic, accepting it and trying to adopt a new way of protecting our kids? And how can we do that? How do we dare do that?

I never lived in an Amish society and I have only seen the Amish a few times, only once live, the rest in a Hollywood film with most popular Witness starring Harrison Ford. From what I have read and seen, including all these films, the Amish people are the most peaceful people on this planet, many keeping away from technology and social events, however big these might be and however much these events might influence their lives.

For most of my life I lived in big capitals. I used to live in average middle class places near the centre of the cities. After a while, I came to recognise the faces of the local dealers and the pushers. When they robbed a neighbour’s house we all somehow knew who did it. Still, we all thought that it was a fine neighbourhood, there were worse, much worse in the same town. And then came Finland, no Amish around, but it is a quiet place to have kids and that’s something we often mention with my friends, a nice place to have kids.

But then, which place is nice to have kids? A thirty-two-year old man calls his wife to tell her that he molested two young members of his family twenty years ago and then, after putting the phone down, he enters an Amish community school filled with kids aged between six and twelve. After keeping only the girls in one classroom, he starts shooting with a gun he had legally bought.

Three girls are dead, another five in critical condition and for what? He even left a suicide note saying that the over the last few years he had been haunted by dreams reminding him of the crime he committed in his youth. His wife said also that he had changed after the death of their premature infant daughter who had survived only twenty minutes nine years ago.

Does all that make a reason to kill innocent kids? Even more, do his actions make us think of it as one more event in an already rotten society? When I started thinking about the incident in USA my mind was on the three dead girls, few hours later my mind is on how we have become accepting of something like that as part of the news. Have we become monsters eating pizza while watching live from Lebanon kids dying? Have we turned so cold-blooded to consider the Pennsylvania incident as just news and be more bothered with the weather and the latest sports results?

In his suicide note, the man added that he was too angry with God. What God? His wife added that he was a good husband, very good and a quiet family man and father, a real believer. I feel as though my head is ready for an explosion. A believer? The man could sense good and evil? He was going to church? And we, everyday people with every day lives, with kids and families, believers and non-believers, we deal with it as another accident, as another incident in a life that goes wrong anyway? The man was so angry with the god he believed so he punished the children?

for theovimagazine Thanos Kalamidas

Skydive for cancer

2006-09-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti - TheOviMagazine

Standing at the edge of an aeroplane’s door, looking down 10,000ft (3048m) at terra firma whipping past is probably a good time to start reflecting on life. Fortunately, I will have a parachute attached to my back and I am comforted by the secondary chute as well, plus an experienced professional guiding my path through the skies.

I am planning to make my charity Skydive on the October 7th, 2006, for the benefit of CancerBackup who are Europe's leading cancer information charity, with over 4,500 pages of up-to-date cancer information, practical advice and support for cancer patients, their families and carers.

My wife to be, Sukina, was diagnosed with Primary Bone Cancer in spring 2002 and, in that time, she has, like many other sufferers, completely altered her approach to life. Six months into chemotherapy treatment a wonderful surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex, removed her right knee joint, from mid thigh down to mid shin, and replaced it with a titanium alloy joint. He is Mr T. Briggs and he is responsible for the love of my life still having two legs and not the planned amputation at the beginning of the cancer treatment.

After the operation, she had to learn to walk again and, with the same determination that Asa and Thanos will most certainly see in their young children, Sukina eventually managed to hang up the crutches and continue with the next six months of her chemotherapy treatment. Four years on and Sukina is cancer free, however, it is not a disease that allows itself to be forgotten.

Only days after my Charity Skydive she will be going back to Stanmore and Mr. Briggs to have another operation to coat her kneecap in plastic to prevent spur growths, which are seriously affecting her walking and causing severe pain. We are not sure whether she will again have to learn to walk again from scratch, but it is a possible scenario.

We are getting married next year and I cannot wait to see her walk down the aisle knowing how much she has gone through to be there. Sukina is in no way alone with her heroic efforts to beat cancer. Sadly, nearly everybody I know has had a family member or close friend diagnosed with cancer, but what upsets me even more is that many are not alive today.

Therefore, I am trying to return some of the help and support we received during Sukina’s treatment by raising money for a charity that helps fight the disease and help those whose lives have been affected.

Any support, help, donations or sponsorship you would be willing to give would go a long way to helping others in the future. On Ovi Magazine, a site which gives its opinions on so many of the world's problems and conflicts, offers you a chance to make a difference for good.

Please either click on the advert on the right-hand side of the Ovi pages or go to www.JustGiving/SupportTony and help as much as you can. Any words of support that you wish to add will help me know that I am not jumping out of the plane on my own. Thank you for your time.

By Tony Butcher

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, Finland, Φιλανδία, oviblog & theOviMagazine

Hating Bin Laden

2006-09-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti - TheOviMagazine

Over the past days and for a few more to come there are going to be a lot of articles commemorating the events of September 11th, 2001. The international answer to Bin Laden's attacks was an invasion of Afghanistan and the global result of those events is that nothing has ever been the same since that day five years ago.

That day nearly 4,000 innocent people died while the rest of us held our breath watching live on television. The terror had come to everybody’s house across Europe and America. Nobody could hit the almighty America and still it had just happened. The king was naked! Security, the word that accompanies our mighty western civilization, collapsed with the Twin Towers, nobody is secure anymore.

Still, I’m not going to talk about security because it saddens me that after a century of fighting to secure an individual’s freedom and independence of thought we are in danger of losing it. I’m not going to talk about the chance Bin Laden and his followers gave to the most conservative parts of society to rise up and become a state; that’s something all the magazines and newspapers will talk about anyway. What bothers me is that he made me hate him and that’s the worst thing he could do!

Usually we despise anybody who tries to force his will; we despise Hitler even though he’s been dead for nearly sixty years. We despise Stalin and Amin Dada. But Bin Laden made the difference by giving me a face to hate! I hate him because the man made me hate somebody! I hate him because of what he made me.

All my life I’ve been the person to be open to other's opinions and beliefs. For me, some words of Themistocles have been a personal philosophy: "You may hit me, but listen to me first." Respect other's opinion, even though you don’t agree and Bin Laden came and whipped everything away. He told me that I know what’s right and I’m forcing it to you by killing people.

What happened in Lebanon a few weeks ago was not the first dramatic event in the Middle East. On the contrary, it was a link in a chain of events that began half a century ago. The pictures of dead children were breathtaking and every time you heard on the news that another kid was dead you were felt as though it was your own. The big difference this time was September 11th.

Israel keeps striking defenseless Palestinians in the most unreasonable way over the last forty years and every single time the rest of the world was rising from the events. For forty years Israel has all the excuses for these strikes and the world is dismissing them. This time Israel’s excuses seemed so poor that even they could not believe them, but this time the whole world was numb. The ghost of Bin Laden had changed everything. And had changed me as well.

My constant reaction, till now, was to get angry; how can they let that happen? That would be my reaction when thinking of a UN that does nothing, an EU that is just watching as kids are getting killed and I would blame the President of the USA first. However, this time I understood why France was not in such a hurry to get involved. I wanted them to get involved and I was really glad when they did finally decide to move but I could understand what they were scared of.

Five years after 9-11, there is still fighting in Afghanistan. The Taliban are returning stronger than ever, Iran’s dictatorship is still there threatening us a nuclear plan and arrogant ignorance that only dictatorships have, and Iraq is in the middle of a civil war whether the Americans like it or not. Bin Laden is here using the system that created him against them. Bin Laden the former CIA operative in Afghanistan, the fighter against the evil Russian bear is here fighting with the same weapons and practicing the same methods they taught him to fight the Russians.

For the next few days we are all going to see the pictures and the videos of the burning towers. We are going to see families crying asking why and, probably somewhere in his cave, Bin Laden will be thinking that he took revenge for all the dead Palestinian kids. He missed the point, for generations Palestinian mothers will hate him because he made people like me hate him and understand when France becomes numb instead of running to help.

By Thanos Kalamidas

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, theovimagazine, Bin Laden & 911

Opinion sevenfold

2006-09-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

We created the Ovi magazine as a live portfolio two years ago. During these two years many things have happened, some not so good and some really good. We dealt with them all with humour, or at least we tried. Today we launch the daily Ovi, an encompassment of our dreams, ambitions and determination to prove all their critics wrong. The cynics, the disbelievers, the copycats, even some evil media ‘godfathers’ have all tried to undermine our project, but there is no beating a resolute Greek and unwavering Englishman.

At first glance it may seem as though very little has changed, other than the layout and the addition of advertising, but an overwhelming sensation will strike you as you delve deeper into the belly of the new daily Ovi. You will begin to ask, "How much material is contained within this website?", "Does it have an end?" and "Will I get any work done today?"

A number of brand new sections have been added, other sections have received a facelift and our classic sections remain untouched, but bear in mind that some sections are not running at full capacity yet. We have held a great deal of material back, so nobody is frightened away by the avalanche of information and services available, although the implementation of RSS feeds and podcast technology should ease some of that pressure.

Ovi is now being run as a commercial site, complete with advertising, bookshop and merchandise, so please support us via one of these methods. The decision to go 'commercial' was driven by the desire to eventually reimburse our voluntary contributors for their time, energy and creativity - a goal that the Ovi team hopes to reach quickly. Going commercial was not so simple for us and that’s the reason we’ve been waiting for so long. We wanted to establish our presence as opinionated magazine and then stand firm on our principles; we will not compromise our beliefs to any degree in the name of any profit or self-centred ambitions.

The term 'Ovi team' describes the editorial team, but it actually encompasses everybody who has participated in the Ovi magazine, since its creation in December 2004. "There is no 'I' in Ovi!" Asa once quipped, but the new daily Ovi could not have become a reality if it hadn't been for one particular individual who helped "a resolute Greek and unwavering Englishman" realise their aspirations.

Tony Watts deserves a knighthood for the patience, understanding, technological genius and good humour at dealing with two individuals who would always have just one small change to make to every page, every day. In fact, they both still have lists that will take a few years to bring to fruition, namely items three and four on Thanos' list: world domination and a pint of Guinness.

There is a danger of changing this editorial into an Oscar acceptance speech, so we shall begin to close these thoughts. You can find pages explaining what is new, pages detailing how something-else works and there is always the contact, comments and forum to leave feedback and ask a real person for assistance.

We hope you will enjoy this new daily journey, join us, participate in debate and get your opinion into our pages.

We cover every issue…every day.

Asa and Thanos

When science meets ignorance

2006-08-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti

125 years after Darwin's death, his theory - actually the only theory that has been proven correct with experiments - is causing problems once again. This turn to religion in the last few years and especially in USA proves that in the country of science, in the century of science, science is not taught or at least is taught as one side!

There is another side which believes that humanity came from the rib of a man, but the weirdest part is that Darwin doesn't discard the existence of a god in the sense that there maybe a god who sends the hurricanes to punish people and show them that he's angry, like they used to believe thousands of years ago.

However, 68 scientific academies all around the world felt obliged to publish a common announcement which we at the Ovi magazine feel that everybody should read and be aware of the threat of any kind of fanatics:

TWAS Endorses Statement on Teaching of Evolution
21 June 2006. TWAS and 66 other science academies worldwide endorsed a statement urging parents and teachers to provide children with the facts about the origins and the evolution of life on Earth. The statement was drafted by a group of members of the Inter Academy Panel on International Issues. It points out that "within science courses taught in certain public systems of education, scientific evidence, data, and testable theories about the origins and evolution of life on Earth are being concealed, denied, or confused with theories not testable by science" and that "knowledge of the natural world in which they live empowers people to meet human needs and protect the planet."

The IAP statement highlights that "evidence-based facts about the origins and evolution of the Earth and of life on this planet have been established by numerous observations and independently derived experimental results from a multitude of scientific disciplines," and that "even if there are still many open questions about the precise details of evolutionary change, scientific evidence has never contradicted these results."

In listing the facts, the statement indicates that the Earth formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago and that life appeared on the planet at least 2.5 billion years ago.
On evolution, it states: "Since its first appearance on Earth, life has taken many forms, all of which continue to evolve, in ways which paleontology and the modern biological and biochemical sciences are describing and independently confirming with increasing precision." The statement continues: "Commonalities in the structure of the genetic code of all organisms living today, including humans, clearly indicate their common primordial origin."

The statement acknowledges that "human understanding of value and purpose are outside of natural science's scope" and that "a number of components -- scientific, social, philosophical, religious, cultural and political -- contribute to it." It adds: "These different fields owe each other mutual consideration, while being fully aware of their own areas of action and their limitations."

Thanos Kalamidas

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, Darwin , USA & republicans /a>

French copycats

2006-08-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti

In the last issue of the Ovi magazine I wrote a lengthy article regarding French politics and hopefully soon our Ovi correspondent from Paris will give us a better insight of French politics and life in country's capital.

Until then, here I am again talking once more about French politics and my all-time favorite Mr. Nicola Sarkozy. The man cannot take conservatism any further, I'm sure even Margaret Thatcher will feel socialist compared to this man. His latest discovery has the name "national moderator" and his job is to reconcile the differences between different municipalities; his middle name seems to be Arno Klarsfeld.

For the ones who are not familiar with the name, this bright youth was involved a year before in a big conversation in France about colonization. The whole idea was that colonization was not so bad and it actually helped the colonized countries despite that most of them suffered from slavery. The bright mind behind the theory and the one who took over the theoretical part was the lawyer Mr. Arno Klarsfeld.

Since Nicola Sarkozy is known for his love towards immigrants he decided to add one more intellectual spirit to the whole "clean up" operation, so he added Arno Klarsfeld. Arno's position in the whole play is a dual role. The 34-year-old lawyer is a child of a known family of lawyers famous for their long fight for the recognition of the Holocaust. The son has the credentials of a liberal background, but he is primarily known for his wild life with actresses and models. His family's reputation somehow softens the bad wolf image and the other side is if something goes wrong he gets all the blame.

Good Arno, he has already made some changed to the plan saying that every case of an illegal immigrant is going to be examined separately with an interview. For example, if a young immigrant is born in France or came before their thirteenth birthday they will be allowed to stay. Obviously a lot of kids are out!

From the other side, the socialist part screwed up big as well. The party decided the candidates for the next local elections excluding most of the foreign origin or immigrant candidates.

Once more, the only winner of these unbelievable games is Jan Mari Le Pen, who is the only original racist and hater inside French politics comparing him to all the conservative copycats.

By Thanos Kalamidas

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, France, politics & copycats

Why Finland wants to join NATO?

2006-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti

A year before the next parliament elections in Finland and at the beginning of a very critical EU period, where Finland is the president country, some people started the conversation about NATO again: Should Finland join NATO?

In the past I have written a long article trying to explain what happens with my country that is a member of NATO. I tried to explain that despite many millions spent on weapons under the instructions of NATO and built by companies that NATO has - what shall I call it - a 'friendly' relationship, which coincidentally are all American.

When it came to NATO fulfilling their obligations to a member country by helping with an invasion against a member state they just pretended they couldn't hear anything. NATO suddenly became deaf and blind, so in the loudest way NATO has proved to Greece to be a damaging factor for the country's finances and has proved to be an untrustworthy ally.

30 years after Turkey's invasion of Cyprus and the occupation of the Cypriot land, Turkey continues its hostile and aggressive attitude against an ally member of NATO with the latest incident over the Aegean Sea that cost the life of a pilot. To that you can add provocations, spying and anything else that could only constitute a declaration of war by Turkey.

Going even further, during the invasion there are suspicions that the Americans often informed the Turks about the Greek army's movements. If that's true - and the truth will come in public one day - then aside from the fact that a NATO ally invaded another NATO member and nobody in the NATO alliance did anything to stop the war between the two countries, except supply both countries with weapons, the leading member country practically committed treason against an ally.

Is this the alliance that some Finns want to join? Let's go a bit further and this is something that I have also written about often in the past. What's the reason NATO exists? NATO was the North Atlantic military organization to answer any military plans from the USSR. Dear Finnish politicians and army consultants, I'm not sure if you have understood it but the USSR doesn't exist any more. Communism? Well, Russia and their former allies have become the worst enemies of anything communist. Oddly, out of all the former members of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR, only Russia is not member of the NATO and hasn't applied for membership.

The idea of NATO becoming the international policeman and fight where needed is pathetic as it sounds. First of all, that's why we have the UN and nobody wants the Americans to create their own UN; they have done enough damage as they are. I don't think there is even one nation in this world that hasn't got issues with them and their peace mission in Iraq that has led the country into a civil war.

Finland, as a member country of the EU, is going to participate in the Euro-army, so what's the point in joining another club that does exactly the same and finally Finland is one of the main countries who participate in every UN mission. There is a Finnish army in Kosovo, Cyprus, Africa and the Middle East.

Add to that the neutrality that Finland kept so carefully during the hard years of the Cold War, isn't all this trouble a waste? The Finns stood bravely between two superpowers and even though they were threatened nearly daily with destruction they just stood there forcing everybody to accept their neutrality. Why would a country that made neutrality part of their constitution want to join an army alliance that has in theory been dead for over a decade?

It all leads to the last thing. NATO was from its very beginning a gigantic weapons' hypermarket with only one supplier: the American weapon's industry. In NATO's hypermarket you can find everything from the defensive Patriot missiles, powerful F16 war planes, Apache helicopters to M16 rifles. The hypermarket needed an exhibition center, so they called it NATO, and a testing ground, which has had different names including Iraq and Afghanistan. Finally they needed arms dealers, the right personnel, which they found in the leagues of ex-generals and general patriots.

Take a closer look at that, from one side you have fat ex-generals with huge salaries who lobby for American weapon companies and from the other side you have ex-generals or generals a couple of years before retirement in Finland that insist that the country should join NATO. Do I need to add anything more? Can't you make the connection? Come now people, it is not that difficult!

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, NATO, Finland & USA

Editorial

2006-07-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti

It's said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but why didn't we feel flattered when somebody tried to copycat the Ovi magazine? On the contrary, we felt anger. It was not the anger you feel when somebody steals something of yours, it was the sort of anger that brings every possible swearword you learnt in all possible languages.

It's said, and I can verify it myself, that when burglars rob your house you always have the funny feeling that somebody is still there. The feeling in Ovi magazine is much different, how did they dare to do that?

How did they really? In a first communication with somebody Ari something Paskanen, the excuse was…we didn't know and we checked the Net, but we didn't see anything. I suppose that's the problem with the Internet in Alpha Centaury, bad connections.

Here on Earth, Google, Yahoo, AltaVista and other search engines find Ovi magazine sometimes up to 180,000 times. Most of them have Ovi magazine second or third when you search for 'Ovi' and guess what? When you try Finnish words like 'Ovi Lehti' or even 'Ovi Sanomat' Ovi magazine is magically there first!

When Mr. Jone Nikula decided to open the Ovi (Ovi in Finnish means 'door') of imitation and copycat he probably didn't realize that he had opened Pandora's Box. It's only left for us to see if his Pandora's Box has viruses and monsters just like the original did. So, inspired by all this we decided to make this month's issue a special about copycats.

Going through the articles we have written to cover this issue of copycats I drew one conclusion and I hope you will excuse me because I can find no better words to express myself: People who commit imitations and copycats are doing nothing more than masturbating with their failed ego. That's enough about copycats because at this very moment there are more important things happening that we should concentrate upon.

While writing this editorial Israel continues the demolition of Lebanon. I don't care for the excuses, actually they sound very poor and sad - I care for the poor kids and innocent people who die every moment. I care that Israel, a victim of genocide, has turned to mass murderer ignoring any civil right. I care that the west is closing their eyes creating more anti-terrorist excuses for their policies.

I care that the Arabs are ignoring the number of deaths that are rising as they take care of the price of oil. I care that 30 years have passed since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and nobody seems to be doing anything to punish the criminals. On the contrary, they ask the victim of the rape to negotiate and finally, like one of my blog-friends wrote: I care about what happened with justice, simple human justice.

Thinking about all these things while bombs were falling in Beirut, I found out that I could - not that I didn't want to - I could not write anything about it. The reason is very simple, the two scared kids I was watching the other day crying in front of their house in pieces might not be alive next week. I'm not becoming melodramatic; I'm just saying something that is possible. And that sunk me. Sunk me into desperation. My only defense, my only weapon is my pencil and using it once a month then it becomes blank.

You see that's what I meant before when I said that I didn't want to talk anymore about these masturbators of their ego because there are more serious problems and I want Ovi magazine to fulfill its reasoning by expressing and screaming opinions when things happen, since that's the only weapon we have. We are thinking about it and soon we will act and I promise you will be the first to know.

Anyway, from this issue we welcome a new writer, Jane Eagle, a cybermate I met in the wonderful world of blogs, who will be writing a column called 'Jane of Thought'. By the way, I think in the near future we must have an issue about blogs, since I made many and wonderful friends in there, people who have too much to say and they are always invited to join us in the Ovi Project.

We have all the usual suspects enriching our Ovi magazine with their work and some more to come in the near future. Actually, I started dreaming again and we promise that surprises will come soon from the Ovi Project.

Enjoy the issue

Thanos

Ovi magazine, Ovi lehti, copycats & Finland /a>

Good advice 12 months early

2006-07-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti

By Tony Butcher

This is my first anniversary of writing for Ovi Magazine. My first article was titled "Sell in May and go away"; it is a stock market adage which has been exercised to the fullest extent in the last thirty one days. All of the major stock markets have given back their gains since the start of the year and commodity markets have retraced from their multi-year highs earlier in the spring.

The FTSE 100 UK market fell 5% in May, the biggest monthly fall since January 2005. Oil is $100 off its highs, Silver and Copper have had large corrections as well, but oil remains above $70 a barrel. Last month I said: "Crude cruised to around $75 a barrel late in April and this could provide the dampening effect which I still feel is well overdue." This is a significant part of the story.

The large increase in commodity prices over the last 12 months has seen inflationary pressure starting to build in all the major economies of the world. The United States have pursued a constant tightening of monetary policy for 16 meetings in a row and rates currently stand at 5%. This policy looks set to continue for another month while the US Federal Reserve get a grip on inflationary pressures in America. The recent Fed minutes of their May 10th meeting focused on the uncertainty of how much more tightening was required after the most recent hike.

It is a similar story in Europe as the European Central Bank get set to increase interest rates on the 8th June. There are rumours this move may be a larger 50 basis point hike, which would be more aggressive than the recent 25 b.p. moves. I feel the half point hike would be more likely if the Euro was not showing the strength it is against the dollar.

Recent figures from Europe showed M3 money supply (a guide to consumer lending) stronger than expected, inflation estimates increased to 2.5% and sentiment data has also been strong. There is not the certainty that we had earlier in the year, especially with Jean Claude Trichet talking about an eyebrow raising "strong vigilance"; well worth keeping an eye on the situation.

Some equity friendly news which has been developing over the last few days is the United States warming to talk with Iran regarding their Nuclear Programme. This looked set to become very heated a few months ago, but recent comments from Foreign Secretary Rice have opened the door to negotiations. The world waits to see if Iran will take the olive branch being wafted in their direction.

Just enough time for a quick word on the United Kingdom economy, this has continued to plod along. Interest rates look set to stay unchanged for the time being, although the next move will likely be an increase. There was news out from the treasury which said the government have over paid some tax benefits by as much as £4 billion over the last two years. Imagine the scandal if this had been a FTSE 100 company!

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, finance, economics

Music without boundaries

2006-07-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

This is an article published in the last issue of the Ovi magazine - Ovi lehti

I think the first thing to pass borders and boundaries has been music. In my music collection I have records from Spain and Morocco, the Green Cape and Nigeria, from China to Chile to Armenia. Ethnic music has become part of the things we are listening and even famous and pop music stars add something ethnic in their records.

And it doesn't stop there, a few years ago in a speech I did for an Open University course, I said that if there was no Mozart there would never have been the Sex Pistols. In the beginning everybody looked at me and given a few minutes more to explain that Mozart was one of the first punks, changing the established forms of music, composing and creating a music revolution the same way the punks did back in the '70s.

After this remark started a conversation that covered a whole evening and into the early morning hours, with a lot of help from red wine, but it continued for days covering all my scheduled time on that Open University course.

Music has never had boundaries, during both wars both sides entertained themselves with exactly the same song, "Lily Marlin" with the lyrics in different languages. The first thing the Afghan people did when they were freed from the Taliban was play music.

Finland is an example of crossing all the boundaries by winning the last Eurovision Contest with a monstrous-looking hard rock group. Lordi came on stage dressed up as horror B-movie monsters and heavy make-up, singing a song that you would call the soft side of hard rock but all that in the most famous kitsch pop festival.

These people crossed all the boundaries that moment. They showed that it's just show business and everything is for entertainment, even if that means two hours to prepare the heavy costumes and the make-up. They crossed enough boundaries to be voted from countries all around Europe, countries that had sent singers without voices but with short skirts. They proved that they can take kitsch so far that they can really make it entertainment, and for this they deserved their victory.

The crowd of 99,000 people who went to their welcome home concert put another series of boundaries, but this is another issue and has nothing to do with the group but with the missing identity of a nation and their need for some good news.

Somehow I think it is unfair to say that only songs with English lyrics make it and I have never really understood this 'make it'. The last few years a lot of ethnic music has been recorded and the example of Cesária Évora from the Ivory Coast is enough proof. Still Madonna seems popular; perhaps they count the ringtones from the telephones.

Recently a lot of groups have made a huge musical turn by playing traditional rhythms, using traditional instruments with modern lyrics and this happens all around the world, and in this I must emphasize that the first to do that were the musicians of American country music, which, despite what most think, is ethnic music.

Returning to something I said before, music doesn't have any boundaries. We are the ones who put them, the Italian pop singer Eros Ramazzotti is popular around the world even though he sings everything in Italian; oddly, he's more popular in English-speaking countries, which shows that good music does not have language boundaries. Actually, good music doesn't know what boundaries are.

ovi magazine, ovi lehti, article, music, boundaries