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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (15216)	11/8/1999 1:05:00 PM
From: MNI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Gustave, I think it was you that once said that there was more CULTURE in cheap pop cuture products than in a certain specific highbrow elitarian thing (I forgot the context, am too lazy to search). But even if that weren't true, I think you concur with me about the super- and artificiality of the division you documented - only to make sure a genuine source of anti-Americanism in educated bourgeoisie, as you might call it! Most of the cultural products you cited are actually world products now, only loosely connected to Europe, and heavily depending on American founding and marketing. Stanley Kubrick (I like his films, don't mistake me) purported American visions of American topics in an American medium - accidentally a European. And if you say Bayreuth (or Nuremberg, or you-name-one-genuinely-traditional-cultural-experience of Germany (including Weissbier etc.) it should be easy to show up how the actual current shape of it is formed by American/international market influence. I stay with my assumption that contemporary Europe has experienced so definitive influence from America over centuries that the cultural division is bound to become obviously absurd if purported with vigour over extended periods of time. The topicality reminder goes back to yourself, my post to goldsnow that you responded first to today mentioned the Yugoslavian crisis, while you didn't ever since. Free your mind, MNI. I'll check up on the WTO meeting, thanks for hint. Disclaimers: Buendnis90/Die Gruene are not more my party than any Belgian party is Gustave's. Left 'anti-Americanism' surfaces in various Germans parties from time to time, but has no mass appeal. In the PDS, as an exception, anti-Americanism may appear as a part of anti-Capitalism, but even there it is of low profile. The Kosovo crisis and its' immediate aftermath actually mark a zenith of cooperation with NATO and the US inside Buendnis90/DieGruenen. A Washington post article cited lately by goldsnow highlights how much US have endangered their credibility in this particular faction of the German political system by thwarting the Nuclear Test ban treaty.

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (15216)	11/8/1999 6:14:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 17770

Jean-Jacques, a "cast member" at Disneyland Paris, is a convert to France's new shorter working week. "How many hours a week do you work in Australia - 38 hours?" he asks, as he greets visitors to Frontierland dressed in top hat, tails and spats. "You know, that's exploitation." afr.com.au

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (15216)	11/10/1999 8:04:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Germans subdued at Wall anniversary By Andrew Gimson in Berlin Monstrosity that crumbled under weight of history Thatcher accused of snub GERMANS yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in an almost gloomy mood, with many Berliners angry at the dominant role played by politicians in the commemoration of what was a popular uprising. The celebrations staged last night at the Brandenburg Gate could not obscure the fact that few, if any, Berliners tried to recapture the careless rapture of the event. "We have all noticed that the Germans don't celebrate with lightness of heart," said Joachim Gauck, a former member of the East German civil rights movement, during the official commemoration held by German MPs in the Reichstag. Mr Gauck, a Lutheran pastor who is now in charge of the records amassed by the East German secret police, was drafted in as a speaker at the last minute after complaints that Easterners were grossly under-represented at the ceremony. He conveyed the disappointment of many East Germans after reunification by saying that they had "dreamed of paradise and woke up in North Rhine-Westphalia", the industrial belt of Germany. Chancellor Schr”der caught the sombre mood when he reminded MPs that the history-laden date of Nov 9 is "also a day of shame" for the Germans. The night of Nov 9, 1938, saw nationwide attacks on Jews, with about 100 killed and 30,000 arrested. Almost every synagogue was burned down or ransacked and 7,000 Jewish businesses were plundered. Mr Schr”der described this pogrom as "the way into an abyss of inhumanity". He added that Hitler's attempted putsch in Munich on Nov 9, 1923 - in which he made an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German Republic proclaimed on Nov 9, 1918 - had been "the overture to what in 1938 became gruesome reality". Helmut Kohl, who was the West German Chancellor when the Wall came down, delivered a strong warning to the current German government to continue his policy of European integration or there would be "no peaceful future for Germany and Europe". Mr Kohl told the audience at the Reichstag that "the gift of unification obliges us . . . to drive forward the building of the European house with powerful steps". The former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev told German MPs that the "greatest hero" in the fall of the Berlin Wall was the German and Russian people, but he added that he found it "incomprehensible" that some former East German politicians had not been invited to the ceremony. Just on Monday, Egon Krenz, who took over from Erich Honecker as East German leader shortly before the Wall fell, lost an appeal against the six and a half year jail sentence for his responsibility for the deaths of people shot trying to escape from East Germany. He is expected to be in prison by Christmas. He said this week that Mr Gorbachev had assured him that East Germany would continue to exist. Mr Krenz also claimed the credit for deciding at a politburo meeting to yield to pressure and open the Wall - a measure he hoped in vain would show him as a reformer. It was left to George Bush, the former American President who was a strong supporter of German reunification, to strike a lighter note as he addressed German Mps. He said: "I love this spirit of sweetness and harmony and light that's in this chamber today. I'd like to bottle it and take it home." Mr Bush recalled how when the Wall came down he feared that the East German army might intervene. He said he did not come to Berlin then to celebrate as he feared that "one arrogant step from our side could have destroyed everything". Die Welt was among the German newspapers which condemned the official celebrations. It said they left an "an after-taste of hypocrisy since practically the whole of the present German government was against the unification and considered it - the words are unfortunately on the record - long after Nov 9, 1989, to be impossible and undesirable". telegraph.co.uk