It's time to get ready for the ET Meet-up in Paris, which this year will take place on Saturday September 11th. The adress for the Meet-up is: Le Cantalou, 8 Avenue de Versailles starting 12:00 noon Here a link to the map.

Time passes so fast that it's time to get ready for the ET Meet-up in Paris again, which this year will take place on Saturday September 11th. So mark the date in your calendar. Picture by Fran

Time passes so fast that it's time to get ready for the ET Meet-up in Paris again, which this year will take place on Saturday September 11th. So mark the date in your calendar. Picture by Fran

I wasn't aware the the 8th of March has been the Women's Day for such a long time, and considered it something rather new.

The rights of woman: How far have they advanced? - World Politics, World - The Independent

It was in a dingy socialist meeting hall a century ago in Copenhagen that women from 17 countries gathered and launched the idea of a day which would champion the rights of women. All over the world this weekend women are marching, celebrating and protesting, not least in London where last night thousands of people thronged Trafalgar Square to mark the 100th International Women's Day.

The theme chosen this year is progress: the progress women have made in the past century, and the long journey that many have ahead of them. The latest statistics on the lot of women in Britain and around the world suggest that some undoubted gains over those 100 years have now stalled, or been reversed, more recently.

Just 19.5 per cent of the MPs in Britain are women; a record so poor that it puts the UK 69th in the world for our proportion of female parliamentarians - behind Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. Of course, 100 years ago women had no vote and would wait almost another decade to get a single MP with no Y chromosome, but equality is further off than it might appear. According to a hard-hitting report by the Fawcett Society to be published tomorrow, at the current rate of progress it will take 200 years to achieve an equal number of women in Parliament.

Der Spiegel has published this debate, written by:

Volker Rühe was Germany's defense minister from 1992 to 1998, retired General Klaus Naumann was inspector general of the German Armed Forces and chairman of the NATO Military Committee, retired Ambassador Frank Elbe was director of the Planning Committee at the German Foreign Ministry and ambassador to India, Japan, Poland and Switzerland, and retired Vice Admiral Ulrich Weisser was director of the Planning Committee at the German Defense Ministry.

Debate: It's Time to Invite Russia to Join NATO - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

Trans-Atlantic security needs have changed fundamentally in the last two decades. The East-West confrontation has ended, and Moscow now shares many interests with NATO. It is time for the alliance to open its doors to Russia say German defense experts Volker Rühe, Klaus Naumann, Frank Elbe and Ulrich Weisser.

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has noted with concern that many of today's politicians have too little knowledge of history. He could well have added that those same politicians are also frighteningly deficient when it comes to understanding strategic and security issues. In Germany, there is no significant discussion about the future of NATO, its self-image, its strategic concept for the future and the question of how Russia can be included. Berlin is not showing any opinion leadership, nor is it spurring international debate. This has been a disappointment for other members of the alliance, who are asking themselves whether the Germans are afraid of the debate or are simply no longer capable of contributing to it in a forward-looking way.

Europe's security, though, remains a constant task, and new challenges require different responses than in the past. The Euro-Atlantic region needs peace and stability at home, but it also needs protection against external threats. Ultimately, the emergence of a multi-polar world requires finding a way to offset the political, economic and strategic dynamics of the large Asian powers.

Remember - this Sunday is the 14th February, thus it is Valentinesday! I was reminded of it, when I was shopping today and saw a few men heading home with red roses.

This seems another tradition from the Anglo sphere that has taken root here in Europe. The first time I became aware of Valentine's Day, was in the early 60s while going to school in the US. All the excitement about who would receive more cards and from whom, etc...

Photo: Valentine's Day flowers and candy. (Andrea Church)

Ha, looks like not everything Swiss is Swiss. For example the Swiss Army Knife.

Swiss Army knife - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Swiss Army knife (French: Couteau suisse, German: Schweizer Offiziersmesser, Italian: Coltellino svizzero) is a brand of multi-function pocket knife or multi-tool. It originated in Ibach Schwyz, Switzerland in 1897. The term "Swiss Army knife" is a registered trademark owned by Wenger S.A. and Victorinox A.G., longtime suppliers of knives to the Swiss Armed Forces. Generally speaking, a Swiss Army knife has a blade as well as various tools, such as screwdrivers and can openers. These attachments are stowed inside the handle of the knife through a pivot point mechanism. The handle is usually red, and features a Victorinox or Wenger "cross" logo or for military issue knives the coat of arms of Switzerland.

The term "Swiss Army knife" is sometimes used metaphorically to describe usefulness, such as a software tool that is a collection of special-purpose tools. The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by US soldiers after World War II, presumably because they had trouble pronouncing its original name, "Offiziersmesser".^[1] The "Swiss Army knife" has been added to the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Munich's State Museum of Applied Art for its design.

My intend for finding 'good' stuff for the European Sammelsurium seems to have been a little premature, so I replace the good with interesting, weird or silly stories about Europe. Following is what I came across while skimming through various news sources this week.

Over the last few days I  saw this story about this German Family being granted political asylum in the US, because they were not allowed to homeschool their children in Germany.

Sammelsurium means hodgepodge, miscellaneous, smorgasbord, mingle-mangle or omnium-gatherum. At least these are the translations I found on the internet.

My idea is to sammeln/gather good, silly, weird and funny news, as I am currently a little tired with all the bad news all over. I know this can be considered by some, what we call in German "Vogel Strauss Politik" - meaning sticking the head in the sand, to avoid seeing unpleasantness. But in "homeopathic" doses it can have a nice and relaxing "placebo effect". :-D

This diary is to serve as a motherdiary, planner and a place for coordinating meetups this year. I hope this will avoid conflicts and will help people to organize their trips to the meetups more easily.

First, here is the date for the Paris Meetup.

Saturday September 11th.

More information will follow later this year.

It's time to get ready for the ET Meet-up in Paris, which this year will take place on Saturday September 12th. The adress for the Meet-up is: Le Cantalou, 8 Avenue de Versailles starting 12:00 noon Here a link to the map.

It's time to get ready for the ET Meet-up in Paris, which this year will take place on Saturday September 12th. Picture by In Wales The adress for the Meet-up is: Le Cantalou, 8 Avenue de Versailles starting 12:00 noon Here a link to the map.

It's time to get ready for the ET Meet-up in Paris, which this year will take place on Saturday September 12th. So mark the date in your calendar. Picture by In Wales

It's time to get ready for the ET Meet-up in Paris, which this year will take place on Saturday September 12th. So mark the date in your calendar. Picture by Helen

One more week, and we will be at the Paris Meetup. Tought I put up another diary for final touches and for communication between participants. Off course spectators are also welcome to comment. :-)

Also for those who will be still present in Paris on Sunday - maybe we can start collecting ideas.

The date for the meetup is coming nearer. Thus I thought many of you would like to get started planning on what to do outside of the official meeting. This diary should help you to plan and organize get-togethers with others, during your stay in Paris.

The other day there was an article about the Diverging paths on gender equality in Italy and Spain. In other countries like France and the UK, this has been a topic of discussion too. Thus, I thought it would be interesting to look at the situation in Switzerland. Most people seem to remember that Swiss women got the voting rights only in 1972, but few seem to know what has happened to women equality in Switzerland since then. This diary will focus on Swiss women in politics, especially the counsillors in government.

Thought I start a new Paris Meet-up diary. So far, if I looked correctly the following people will be at the lunch on Saturday 16th.

Jérôme
afew
Colman + Sam
Nanne
Someone + husband
Lupin + wife
Metatone
Melanchton
dvx
LEP
In Wales
Helen
bruno-ken + sister (to be confirmed)
Fran
linca
Laurent Guerby
Migeru
whataboutbob + Liliana
geezer + Ivonne
metavision

(Bumped by afew, whataboutbob & Fran)

This will be only a short diary, as I don't have the time for more right now. However, I think this is great and fun news. Moritz Leuenberger who is one of the seven members of the Swiss Federal Council has started on March 14. his own BLOG. Leuenberger is head of Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication.

Leuenberger is one of the two Socialdemocratic (SP) Counselors, besides Micheline Calmy Rey the Foreign Minister. In 2001 and 2006 he was President of the Swiss Confederation He has always been somewhat unconventional and so it is not very surprising that he should be the first to start a blog.

Leuenberger is already being teased and called Bundesrat "Blogger", which he said at first was confusing as it sounds similar to Bundesrat Blocher who is the right-wing counselor.

If you want to know more about him there is a short English bio wiki and to my amazement a longer one in Swiss German also on wiki. :-)