Saturday, August 21, 2010
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
"There is no God and we are his prophets"
Whenever I think of Jan the image of Caroline reclining and smiling with a glass of wine in her hand and her gaze lost in his eyes comes to mind. This was at our Fletcher reunion a couple of years back. At the time Jan was the image of what our school stands for. Young, smart, strong and happy despite working hard in difficult conditions and about to embark on even more difficult tasks. A colleague of ours pointed out to me that somehow most of us remember their smile at that reunion. They were happy in a very special and strait-forward way. I did not realize at the time but now, like most people, it seems I remember it. And I must also admit that his relationship and what the two of us talked about then was very much instrumental in the way my own personal life turned. This is why I am thinking with tremendous sadness at Carolina and their families. Their loss is terrible.
I am sad for his shattered hopes and dreams and for those of his fiance and all their loved ones. More then anything I am angry while proud that Fletcher has so many people like Jan and Ben. Today, more then ever they come to represent that body of women and men. A sad reunion of sorts gets going now for Fletcher 02. Just a few month after loosing Ben Sklaver now Jan Olaf Hausotter a brave and hopeful young man is brutally taken away. He believed in peace. He served peace. Wether at NATO or at the UN he has always seen his work as for the cause of peace. He was a civilian political officer but he took his job as fighting for peace not less seriously then Ben who was a soldier. The two of them were amongst the best. Generous and dedicated to the last drop.
Like Ben, Jan new the risks of his job and was ready to face them. Just a few month ago he was commenting with sadness and frustration at the absurdity of the plane accident the caused the death of several peacekeepers in a crash in Haiti. Jan worked every day to bring the desolate people of that long suffering land closer to a decent life and a future to look forward too. And in all fairness the work of the UN was actually paying dividends. Now everything lies in ruins and Jan is no more. But his work, his dreams and beliefs are still there, and the task is still daunting. And we should make them ours following in his steps with the hope that in turn our dedication will make his brutal and shocking disappearance less unbearable.
Thousands and thousands died in the quake in Haiti. Millions lost loved ones and for many the suffering just begun on 12th of January. There is so much we can do for the world in order to make it a more livable places. There are few places as dedicated to prepare young women and men to do just that as is the Fletcher School.
Go do something, go be a force for good! Everyday!
I am sad for his shattered hopes and dreams and for those of his fiance and all their loved ones. More then anything I am angry while proud that Fletcher has so many people like Jan and Ben. Today, more then ever they come to represent that body of women and men. A sad reunion of sorts gets going now for Fletcher 02. Just a few month after loosing Ben Sklaver now Jan Olaf Hausotter a brave and hopeful young man is brutally taken away. He believed in peace. He served peace. Wether at NATO or at the UN he has always seen his work as for the cause of peace. He was a civilian political officer but he took his job as fighting for peace not less seriously then Ben who was a soldier. The two of them were amongst the best. Generous and dedicated to the last drop.
Like Ben, Jan new the risks of his job and was ready to face them. Just a few month ago he was commenting with sadness and frustration at the absurdity of the plane accident the caused the death of several peacekeepers in a crash in Haiti. Jan worked every day to bring the desolate people of that long suffering land closer to a decent life and a future to look forward too. And in all fairness the work of the UN was actually paying dividends. Now everything lies in ruins and Jan is no more. But his work, his dreams and beliefs are still there, and the task is still daunting. And we should make them ours following in his steps with the hope that in turn our dedication will make his brutal and shocking disappearance less unbearable.
Thousands and thousands died in the quake in Haiti. Millions lost loved ones and for many the suffering just begun on 12th of January. There is so much we can do for the world in order to make it a more livable places. There are few places as dedicated to prepare young women and men to do just that as is the Fletcher School.
Go do something, go be a force for good! Everyday!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Snowed in!
We are snowed in. Thoroughly! The city is beautiful and I may say even serene despite the desperate attempts of lunatic drivers to stand up to what a particularly generous winter is throwing at this city. Bucharest is a city that is never quite like others and where public services are haphazard and erratic at best of times. These days traffic is such a nightmare that, if reasonable, we are constrained to stroll leisurely through heavy snow. It is difficult, cold, but beautiful and gives you time to reflect without being angered by other equally stressed drivers.
On the political scene the big news is that the court rejected the challenge PSD presented and opened the way for validating the elections. This promptly happened earlier this week. They didn't even bother to discuss the three different issues backed by proof raised by Geoana's party. This despite a growing number of evidence of at least serious questions regarding the electoral process ... Consequently Mircea Geoana did what was the only decent and responsible thing to do: he conceded in order to avoid a further and protracted political scandal while he mentioned the intention to continue the investigation via the means of a special parliamentary commission. As an additional quirk the official results show he actually "won" the election in Romania but he trails the incumbent about 70.000 votes out of 150.000 abroad. Promptly on some "free" blogs the country is now called "strawberryland". This is a pun on the votes of Romanians in Spain and Italy generically called strawberry pickers. Of course this is a meaningless and bitter thing to say. On one hand the Geoana campaign totally missed this political demographic and on the other hand the number of serious flaws in the process make rather questionable their responsibility in the result.
The overall situation is a bit "green" as we say here. The prospects of a stable (and competent) government backed by a large majority are slim. The returning president's party is using any possible mean to dislodge MP's from the socialist and liberal groups in the parliament and this with some success. A bunch of 12 or so deputies and senators have declared they will quit their groups and sit with the "independent" group led by a famous and fairly sinister turncoat general - he left PSD some time ago when he failed to appoint himself minister of interior and promptly joined the "presidential" camp. This way the president's party amassed a majority in both chambers. It is enough for most activity except changing fundamental laws.
We have a new prime-minister designate: the same pathetic communist activist styled guy (except he claims in a terrible wooden tongue his conservative and rightist credo) the parliament deposed three month ago! I have the very bizarre and unpleasant feeling of living in a time loop. A kind of semi-nightmarish groundhog day. For now it seems the government coalition will be the PDL - the president's party - and the Hungarian minority party. The latter are always interested - they have been in government for about 16 of the past 20 years! With parliamentary support from the group of the other ethnic minorities (it is officially called so) and the "independents" group before mentioned. There are high chances the cabinet will pass through parliament and by Christmas we will have a functional government of sorts. We will have to see how the budget looks like in January next year but times will be tough.
Apparently the socialists and the liberals will form the opposition. After a few tough days the party rallied around Geoana and except a few voices known previously to be in both camps there seems to be solidarity with somebody who has put a lot of effort in this last campaign.
Next week Romania celebrates twenty years since its Revolution. Also it commemorates its tragic victims. It is equally tragic to see that former apparatchiks and nomenclatura types mixed with straight out former securitate operatives, all directly linked to the oppressive Ceausescu regime are getting an almost total control over this country.
Christmas is coming and the country is all white. Hanukkah lights are still on. The fight should go on for a good society. Ever since the enlightenment it never ends. The Leviathan is always near and we only live a stalemate.
On the political scene the big news is that the court rejected the challenge PSD presented and opened the way for validating the elections. This promptly happened earlier this week. They didn't even bother to discuss the three different issues backed by proof raised by Geoana's party. This despite a growing number of evidence of at least serious questions regarding the electoral process ... Consequently Mircea Geoana did what was the only decent and responsible thing to do: he conceded in order to avoid a further and protracted political scandal while he mentioned the intention to continue the investigation via the means of a special parliamentary commission. As an additional quirk the official results show he actually "won" the election in Romania but he trails the incumbent about 70.000 votes out of 150.000 abroad. Promptly on some "free" blogs the country is now called "strawberryland". This is a pun on the votes of Romanians in Spain and Italy generically called strawberry pickers. Of course this is a meaningless and bitter thing to say. On one hand the Geoana campaign totally missed this political demographic and on the other hand the number of serious flaws in the process make rather questionable their responsibility in the result.
The overall situation is a bit "green" as we say here. The prospects of a stable (and competent) government backed by a large majority are slim. The returning president's party is using any possible mean to dislodge MP's from the socialist and liberal groups in the parliament and this with some success. A bunch of 12 or so deputies and senators have declared they will quit their groups and sit with the "independent" group led by a famous and fairly sinister turncoat general - he left PSD some time ago when he failed to appoint himself minister of interior and promptly joined the "presidential" camp. This way the president's party amassed a majority in both chambers. It is enough for most activity except changing fundamental laws.
We have a new prime-minister designate: the same pathetic communist activist styled guy (except he claims in a terrible wooden tongue his conservative and rightist credo) the parliament deposed three month ago! I have the very bizarre and unpleasant feeling of living in a time loop. A kind of semi-nightmarish groundhog day. For now it seems the government coalition will be the PDL - the president's party - and the Hungarian minority party. The latter are always interested - they have been in government for about 16 of the past 20 years! With parliamentary support from the group of the other ethnic minorities (it is officially called so) and the "independents" group before mentioned. There are high chances the cabinet will pass through parliament and by Christmas we will have a functional government of sorts. We will have to see how the budget looks like in January next year but times will be tough.
Apparently the socialists and the liberals will form the opposition. After a few tough days the party rallied around Geoana and except a few voices known previously to be in both camps there seems to be solidarity with somebody who has put a lot of effort in this last campaign.
Next week Romania celebrates twenty years since its Revolution. Also it commemorates its tragic victims. It is equally tragic to see that former apparatchiks and nomenclatura types mixed with straight out former securitate operatives, all directly linked to the oppressive Ceausescu regime are getting an almost total control over this country.
Christmas is coming and the country is all white. Hanukkah lights are still on. The fight should go on for a good society. Ever since the enlightenment it never ends. The Leviathan is always near and we only live a stalemate.
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