Only home for 5 minutes from a meeting half way across the country and now off out for subtitled cinema! It's that rubbish film, 'Knocked Up', though... but, subtitles. At the cinema. A rare treat.

I hope you've all had a good day...

Ad astra per aspera

The trial of the murderer was in the headlines of the news here every day. Today we have a verdict.

flandersnews.be - Hans Van Themsche found guilty

Thu 11/10/07 - The jury of the Antwerp Court of Assizes has found Hans Van Themsche guilty on all counts. Last year in a racist frenzy he went on the rampage and shot two people dead. A third person was badly injured.

The jury ruled that Van Themsche was accountable and knew what he was doing.

It added that his acts were driven by racist motives.

This is the first time in Belgian legal history that a defendant has been found guilty of murder motivated by racism.

The Belgian Government's anti-racism centre has welcomed the outcome.

The centre's lawyer Tom De Meester yesterday said that the jury's verdict had enormous social importance.

He added:"The jury has made it clear that racism cannot be tolerated.

flandersnews.be - Life for Hans Van Themsche

Thu 11/10/07 - The 19-year-old Hans Van Themsche, who killed two people and injured a third in a racist frenzy will serve a life sentence. On Thursday the jury of the Antwerp Court of Assizes together with the three magistrates decided that the youngster would serve the heaviest possible sentence.

...
 Almost every newspaper began their reports of Wednesday meetings between Sarkozy and Putin with Sarkozy happily telling his host of finally achieving his dream of waking to see Red Square -- a story that appeared to leave Putin cold.

"It remains unknown whether Putin has had any such experience and whether he could truly understand his guest's feelings," the state Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily said.

The Kommersant and Izvestia dailies meanwhile irreverently wondered how Sarkozy's dream had come true, noting that the National Hotel where Sarkozy stayed did not afford the view.

The Kommersant newspaper concluded that he must have slept in a bar on Red Square.

The Axis of Evil Cookbook by Gill Partington When they're not actively attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction, 'Axis of Evil' countries such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea are busy enjoying their region's finest dishes. And their 'Axis of Somewhat Evil' cohorts, such as Cuba and Syria, are at it too. With over one hundred recipes, from soups and salads to meat dishes and desserts, this unique cookbook includes snapshots of each country as well as profiles of famous leaders. Regional recipes appear alongside dictators' favourite dishes - from Kim Jong-Il's ruthless appetite for shark fin soup to Saddam's celebrated rack of fresh roasted gazelle. Full of cultural anecdotes, political insight and delectable recipes, "The Axis of Evil Cookbook" is an intriguing and forbidden treat. REVIEWS: 'Both tasteless and edifying.' Valentine Pickle

Hat tip to The Arabist, who says it's already available on Amazon.co.uk, but not the US version....

Perhaps not an original idea, though, or maybe the author had an earlier online version; I found this, apparently dating back to January of 2004.

First off,

Russia Blog has given it's "Shoe Award" (I think this is how Creationists say "you suck the most) to ...

The Economist.

The recent conspiracy yarn produced by The Economist entitled, "Russia Under Putin: The Making of a Neo-KGB State," is at best a Bond movie starring George Lazenby. More amazing still is the fact that just a few months ago, Dr. Daniel Thorniley, a prominent Russia expert and the Vice President of The Economist's own consulting wing-- the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)--castigated The Wall Street Journal and CNN, for their bizarro take on Russia:
"More rubbish is written and spoken about Russia than any other country on the planet Earth."
Incongruously, the timeline-challenged article noted above makes The Economist sound less like the EIU and more like quacktogenarian Lyndon LaRouche and his hyperbolic Executive Intelligence Review. Meanwhile, Exile.ru does a fantastic job of debunking their lies in the highly-recommended critique "The Economist: The World's Sleaziest Magazine". The article includes great insights, such as:

"Let's leave aside for now the very strange decision to anchor an anti-silovik story to Kondaurov - a former KGB general who was a top Yukos executive (respect to the PR firm that helped arrange that)."
As one Russian reader e-mailed to Russia Blog upon reading The Economist piece:

"These KGB guys were the only educated adults left who didn't hijack the money wagon in the 90s. But think about it, who else in that age group is qualified to manage the country? Even Saint Khodorkovsky had KGB guys on his payroll. Many are highly educated, multi-lingual managers, left without jobs, but taught to aim high. Still, if you meet a lot of the old KGB guys, it is sort of like meeting Ivy League graduates. They are less impressive up close and it's hard to believe that any of them could organize anything much larger than a dinner party..."
Again, we are pleased to present this year's Shoe Award to The Economist. As a further token of goodwill, we are providing you with a free copy of Executive Intelligence Review, which is evidently not in heavily circulation in London. Apparently, The Economist seems to have cornered their market niche these days.

Here's he article in the Economist that really got their goat.  

The making of a neo-KGB state

Here's that fab article from the eXile, should any of you have recently appeared from your cave.

The Economist: The World's Sleaziest Magazine

Apparently all this attention has forced the Economist to ... get ready for this folks ... make, in Bob Amsterdam's words, "a long-overdue call to jettison the language of the democracy debate."  

That's right.  They are so pissed with RUSSIA being a democracy while they are trying to promote democracy, they are swearing off the word democracy altogether.  Oh, also, there is some Euro-bashing in there too.

The end of "democracy"

They say:
Democracy all too often means buying votes, rigging elections and mob rule.

Whoever can dig up the most quotes from the Economist touting democracy gets a pony!

Oh, and by the way, Bob, it's not long overdue.  I wrote about this a year and a half ago.  gah!  grrrrr....

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

Right Brain v Left Brain | Herald Sun

THE Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.