Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
Sorry I wasn't around till now, but the English draft looks good to me.

My only suggestion (which may or may not impact the different translations):

In Paragraph 5, for

It contributed to destabilising deeply the Middle East, and eroded world security. In order to lead his country into war, he made systematic use of lies and the manipulation of information.

read:

It has been a major factor in today's profound destabilisation of the Middle East, and has weakened rather than strengthened world security.  In order to lead his country into war, Mr Blair made systematic use of fabricated evidence and the manipulation of information.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Feb 2nd, 2008 at 05:42:52 AM EST
Not to be a nuisance, but I'd like to insist a little on this edit.

Mainly on "fabricated evidence" in place of "lies".

Why? I think we'd all agree that we think Bliar is a liar. We're sure he knowingly sanctioned the use of false information, indeed that he helped organize it with Washington.

But "lies" does mean using false information knowingly. It implies volition. And we can't prove volition. We can show evidence was fabricated, "fixed around the policy", but not that Blair deliberately intended to lie.

It may feel good to call a spade a spade. But we want this petition to go somewhere, we want as many signatories as possible. I think we should avoid offering a handle for accusations, or simply perceptions, of extremism.

It seems to me that in the (those I can understand!) translations (great work, everyone!) "lies" has been translated straight by the equivalent word. I do suggest we tone it down to "fabricated evidence".

If everyone wants to put "lies", I'll still sign! What bothers me is we might lose other signatories because of it.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Feb 3rd, 2008 at 06:28:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I agree with this: we shouldn't say anything that could detract from the "credibility" of the petition.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 3rd, 2008 at 09:53:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:

Occasional Series