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Dear sir,
I have read your provocative article about Barzani. It is a very interesting article about North Iraq and Kurds but I think that there are some wrong arguments in it. One of them is labelling Talabani and his men as pro-Iranian and fundamentalists. It is true that Talabani gets military help from Iran but that is not enough to call him a fundamentalist. It is a known fact that Barzani's forces get into the Iranian border and attack Iranian armed forces. Iran thinks that supporting Talabani will weaken Barzani and he will be forced to stop terror against them.
On the other hand I have never heard Talabani saying a word about Fundamentalism or something like that. As far as I know both of them are nationalists (at least in principle).
One other thing I would like to mention is the "losing battle with rising Turkish fundamentalism [of Turkey]" by your words. If you are considering the last elections from which the pro-islamic party Refah got the most votes, this is an election. The only battle by means that are allowed by the election rules. And this was not a battle fought by "Turkey" (what I mean by Turkey is the whole government with police and army and justice organs...). However there are fundamentalist terrorist groups like IBDA-C or HIZBULLAH which are against the secular Turkish Republic. But Refah Party doesn't have any connexion with such terrorists as far as I know. I haven't even heard of any claim that says that they have. Anyway, even though they have more chairs in the parliament than any other party, they didn't even try to change the secular structure of the Turkish government (maybe not yet but who knows?).
I wish that I could be able to help. There may be some wrong things in what I wrote because,anyway, I am just a student in Ankara, and I can't follow the papers all the time. If you have any objections, feel free to write to:
turel@fen.bilkent.edu.tr or wg257@freenet.victoria.bc.ca
Last thing: You asked is Barzani stupid? I am not sure if stupidity is the right concept to attribute to him but it is probable that somewhere in his brain there is a short-circuit or something similar. Anyway which leader in mid-east can you consider as psychologically "normal" or "average". For example think of Saddam...
Who can say he is normal?
Ozgur Turel
I am a student at Melbourne High School, and I have an assessment task for history. The assessment task is about Totalitarianism. The topic I chose is "Treatment of minority groups, esp. Jews, when Hitler was in power". I have four questions to investigate, which are:
So, please I need some relevant sites to these questions in particular. I do appreciate your time and thank-you.
Regards
Mohamed s965023@gateway.mhs.schnet.edu.au
Melbourne High School
http://www.mhs.schnet.edu.au
See "The Complex Ways of Coexistence" in this issue of Vagabond. WM
(translated from French)
Bonjour
I introduce myself more completely. I am a member of Comite Normale Sup' against ethnic purification and I would like to let you know my reaction to your message.
>Who could logically explain the unbelievable immorality simultaneously exposed and invisible regarding all that happens in Bosnia? The emperor without clothes isn't found only in fairy tales?
I thought that you would talk about the unbelievable slowness of the West's reaction in the face of aggression toward civilians by powerfully armed militaries and the small importance given to international laws by legitimizing the law of the stronger and by accepting the pseudo-ethnic criteria for the "division" of territories. But no. You propose a scenario which I would have difficulty calling anything but extravagant.
>All this could only be explained by some shadowy pact between the USA and the Mujahadeen: "Take Bosnia, take Iraq and leave us alone in Saudi Arabia and in the USA..."
I confess to not understanding your comments. Then you say:
>The Holy Inquisition considered divorce to be an unthinkable sin.
But I would like you to note that if divorce in the case of an overwhelming situation is legitimate, the killing of the spouse as a palliative to divorce is not a solution and that's what the Serbian nationalists propose to do with the Muslim or Croatian "bride."
>The NATO occupational forces in Bosnia want to submit the Bosnian Serbs to the Mujahadeen Izetbegovic. A united Bosnia means Muslim Bosnia and for the time being it bothers only Serbs and Croats, "
First there is a question to ask: Was Izetbegovic a fundamentalist before the war? Not that I know of. And if he is now, why? The Bosnian Muslim people were persecuted because of their religion. Imagine that one or another LePen decided to persecute blondes for instance. In this case your 'blonditude' which was before just a part of your identity would become THE dominant criteria, first for others, then, by reaction for yourself. Like many Jews who discovered themselves as such when they were persecuted by this criteria by the Nazis. Then it is very understandable that Izetbegovic would be an extremist. I will concede to you that this extremism should remain in words only, reined in with the help of political persuasion and if necessary even armed intervention which should been done before in Bosnia in view of nationalistic extremes.
In the second place, the world is made in such a way that up to now we've only seen nations managed according to the majority point of view. It is regrettable for the minorities which very often are excluded from power but what do you propose as a mode of operation? It is certain that everything would be much simpler if the Serbian nationalists would continue their ethnic purification, without resistance, of all the remaining nonSerb refuse on Bosnian territory. But I don't find that it would be more just.
Third, most of the Bosnian Croats don't find the solution (of unity) so disturbing.
Finally I come to the point of your message whose absolute cheek gets my bile up.
>Constant pressure on the Bosnian Serbs may turn easily into military attack which would wipe them out of Bosnia.
Of course, everything should be done, politically and if necessary militarily, so that it doesn't happen. But I really find this argument ignoble to defend Serbs in the event of something that perhaps could happen but didn't, while the elimination of Muslims and Croats in Bosnia was almost carried out and, in effect, did happen in many cities and villages. Whoever wants to drown his dog accuses it of Rabies (this is a saying from my region). Here, what you really argue is that their aggression was to protect the Serbs of Bosnia from possible persecution. What do you propose? To persecute the others?
Anyway, this is what happened.
Still Cordially,
Christian
mercat@math.u-strasbg.fr
See "The Complex Ways of Coexistence" in this issue of Vagabond. WM
Yes autonomy for every nation. Redivide the world based on population every century..... I hope you get that implemented in your house first.
Albert Albu
aarchinc@soho.ios.com
It doesn't have to be implemented in my house because nobody feels himself to be a prisoner there. WM
Just a few quick thoughts on your article.
I have grown to hold the available (popular?) mass-media in the same position of triviality that they assign to the information that fills their pages/timeslot.
I think that much of the power that lies with popular media sources is the method in which they 'package' the issues. Just look at the place in society that the froth of prime-time station news holds- which I consider to be the worst form of information. Trivia presented with little or such contrived opinion that you wonder what possible worth it could bring to anyone. Plus the fact that visuals take precedence over content- a freak accident captured on film will run before the so-called world-news segment- clippings of casualty figures from countries no-one knows of. I like to think of this news as having a close connection with TV dinners- watching pictures of a starving child as you contemplate the fate of that last chip. (can't take credit for that analogy but can't remember who wrote it)
This, along with the convenient sections of newspapers -- is how people want news presented to them -- in a convenient package easy to digest (with equally digestible opinions on what they're reading).
This is certainly one aspect that mass-media will always have over the internet -- not only the ease of access/editing into a paragraph -- but I feel also the ease of digestibility -- you almost know how you're going to react before you've read a word.
Tom Triglone
tom@atri.curtin.edu.au
Australian Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR)
"I'm not pointing fingers,
but I'm not taking all the blame'
'Sandstone' from All Change Cast
(translated from French)
For my part, I don't think that Internet, at this moment, is an agent of revolution for the world of thought. I say "world of thought" and not "of communication." Certainly we communicate more efficiently thanks to the Net but the content of the messages remains poorer than in the 19th century, for instance, when people used couriers. To increase rapidity of communication doesn't do a great deal because we need time (sometimes a lot of time) to hatch a reflection.
Having been trained in two areas, human sciences and informatics, I could observe that men of technique (engineers and technicians) are notoriously uncultured in the areas of philosophy, sociology, literature, in brief, all the domains which indeed are essential for understanding what it's all about. It's enough to see, for instance, the study program of the engineer of CNAM to quickly understand that it is dangerous to give a decision making post to a technologue (unfortunately this is very often the case). To clarify, the coursus of the engineer of CNAM is composed of English as the only foreign language (no Latin, no Greek, etc.), some course named "general culture" which is quickly run through in order to get to the essential: study of fabrication of machines. But the machines are nothing without man. Science is made by man and not by machine, which is fabricated by man. Due to this fact, the human sciences will always have priority over technique. It is regrettable that the Internet is invaded by men of technique. At least that's what is going on now. One painter said, rightly: "Learn technique in order to forget it." Internet at this moment is nothing but a village of technicians and engineers who discuss "pots and pans." And the sense in all this -- where does it emerge?
Serge Muscat
smuscat@worldnet.fr
I try to avoid answering readers' letters because I want them to feel that the Communication Page is exclusively their territory where they have the last word. If something requires an answer I prefer to write a separate article which is the case with the letter about Bosnia. But the problem Serge Muscat tackles was discussed recently in the article "Who is Dumbing Us Down?" So it is really too early to write a new article on the same subject. Therefore I make an exception to my rule.
To think that Internet is invaded by technologues is, in my opinion, to accord Internet a status which it doesn't have. Internet cannot be invaded by whoever because Internet is not a place, not a thing, not an institution; Internet is a function and the computer is a tool like the telephone, the radio or the hammer are tools. With the Internet we remain entirely free to choose with whom we wish to communicate. If the other exists or not, who cares?
The technologues use Internet to exchange professional information. The representatives of other disciplines do the same. The holders of "pure thought" dispense their ideas free. It is natural that they are a small minority. The business world is not interested in financing home pages, no matter how interesting or valuable they may be, which don't have hundreds, if not thousands of readers per day. WM
Bravo! You might give Slate a run for its e-money ;-). Point of fact I intend to bookmark and keep track of your newsletter. Inasmuch as it appears to be all your writing with the exception of the letters, I really don't have a place explicitly in the categories on my pages, but thank you for letting me know about your project. It's truly well done.
Jack Beslanwitch
email: top@webwitch.com
Web Witchery Consulting http://www.webwitch.com/top
Northwest Science Fiction Resources http://www.seanet.com/users/warlock
HTML SIG http://www.halcyon.com/seasigi/html.html
Thank you william markiewicz dear william,
Thank you for this oasis of civility and warmth in the cold hard reality of adolescents bleating out the words for their private parts and loving every moment of it (they're friends with the guy with the Walkman and red licorice stick). I loved the visit. I plan to come back and read more. What fun for you. I am the keeper of a web page for a democratic club here in socal. I'm not machine-literate enough to create a link to rob robinson's page but yours has been an inspiration to me. My own pages to say what I want to say to ask the questions I want to ask. Good. You realize of course that your four questions are unanswerable. If they WERE answerable, what a drab existence this would be. I think right now I'd sell my first born son if I could do what you've done. Where is Goethe when you need him?
rob robinson
formerly president of the world's largest advertising agency right here.
and I do windows.
ba743@lafn.org
Mark Twain Democratic Club
www.lafn.org/politics/mtdc
Fantastic art,
all the best from Stockholm...
Yes I am an artist too, I am working in Plastelina and making stuff for the tecno and Rave culture...!!! I am working with used materials to...RECYCLING ART...!!!
My parents are from Gniezno (first capital in Poland as you know) but Me, Myself and I are born in Stockholm, Sweden. My girlfriend is from Poland (Olsztyn)...!!!
I am working with Agenda 21 here in Sweden (environment)...!!!Have to tell you something..., We got a girl 7 weeks ago, Diana Alexandra Sensitiva (the one who feels)...!!! So that is something about us...!!!
Take care of you self..., Yo hear...!!!. Best of everything, Magda Diana And Peter...!!!
Peter Gorczynski
sativa@hotmail.com
Hi William,
The irony is that I stumbled on your page the first week or so I got on the net, I must have been searching for "woodcut" or something! Did I mail you then or did you happen to stumble across my page the same way? Weird? I would be curious to know how you came across it....
The address you gave me http://www.demon.uk/london-calling/content.html (Note: the correct address is http://www.demon.co.uk/london-calling/content.html PD) is apparently not working, but I recall the fish from the last time I browsed through. I like your stuff! Maybe when the semester ends I will have more time to put together a batch of pages of your stuff for the "relief" domain on my page. I was very enthused about this relief web project I started in August, and then sadly realized that I have ZERO time to do much else but study if I plan to make it through the semester. I just started a Master's program in Art Ed. It's fun but hard.
>>>I have heard them called "suicide blocks."<<< LOL LOL LOL That is so true. I've never heard that term before. I make mistakes all the time, but like a true master I'm great at covering them up!
I saw the Toulouse-Lautrec show at the Met in NYC this weekend and was floored. It was almost all lithographs. He was a true pioneer and a genius of color! They showed works side-by side to demonstrate how he was inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e block prints.
Take care,
Ali
AliBlaBla@aol.com
Dear William,
Thankyou for your personal invitation to view your website. Beautiful! I believe there's an article in Fortune magazine in the last year about the employment of people in "humanistic" work that will go along the lines you suggest. In any case, they had a year-long series on the global transformation which is leaving the vast majority out of the centralized economy.
Mr. Markiewicz You read my homepage and contacted me a few months ago. http://www.petcom.com/~john A number of people, among them a young Chemical Engineer, and a Physics major in his senior year, have been urging me to come out with a written presentation of my theories. Several years ago, actually a dozen, I wrote several hundred pages in an attempt to do just that, but the task proved too formidable for my meager writing abilities. Perhaps you know of some way I could collaborate with a real writer to produce what I know could be a highly-entertaining, highly- controversial scientific-philosophical work? Any help you could offer?
John Sefton
john@router.petcom.COM
I may not be qualified but perhaps one of Vagabond's readers will get in touch with John. WM
The Debate
CLINTON: When I confront a civil rights problem, I always ask myself, "what would Lincoln do?"
DOLE: Mr. President, I knew Abraham Lincoln. He was a friend of mine. And Mr. President, you're no Abraham Lincoln.
And...my review of an interview with a bright young film maker who is also the son of Walter Matheau who appeared in the film they were discussing.
Like father. Like son.
rob robinson
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