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Commentary Raptis: Palin: The Alaskan Taliban

Commentary, September, 27 2008 Nikos Raptis
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The core characteristic of a Taliban is that he is a professional religious "believer". That is, he makes a living by pretending that he "believes" in paradise, etc. The core characteristic of Sarah Palin is that she is a professional religious "b...

Commentary Raptis: White People

Commentary, May, 07 2008 Nikos Raptis
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Do most white people treat black people as if they are inferior? The answer is an angry: Yes!

Commentary Raptis: Earthquake Rattled Skyscrapers in Chicago

Commentary, April, 26 2008 Nikos Raptis
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Ordinary people in the US have a vague idea about the "big one" [that is: a big earthquake] which will hit California sometime in the future. Seismologists have a rather concrete idea that a "big one" will hit the Mississippi Valley very far into ...

Commentary Raptis: Highly Moral Germans in the...Nazi era

Commentary, April, 17 2008 Nikos Raptis
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The feeling that to kill a human is an immoral act is probably part of the human nature. The only case that a human is justified to kill (or incapacitate) a fellow-human is in self-defense. This seems to be a truism. But, what happens with nations...

Commentary Raptis: A Famous [But Unknown] Scientist

Commentary, March, 11 2008 Nikos Raptis
Raptis's ZSpace page

Suzan Elizabeth Hough is an American seismologist and a writer. She is the author of four books. Her fourth book, published in 2007, is the "measure of a man" [her words] whose name is arguably one of the most known [and repeated] names of a scien...

Commentary Raptis: UK & US Culture

Commentary, March, 07 2008 Nikos Raptis
Raptis's ZSpace page

The German weekly magazine "Der Spiegel" ["The Mirror"] is one of the most important mainstream magazines of Europe and arguably of the world. "Der Spiegel" is definitely not a radical leftist publication. In its latest issue, that of February 25,...

Commentary Raptis: Ethics of Stone

Commentary, October, 21 2007 Nikos Raptis
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That the Greeks are the "chosen people" of the world is indisputable. Usually, "chosen peoples" are chosen by God Himself. However, in the case of the Greeks it was the (European) Christian white man that elevated the Greeks to the top of the worl...

Commentary Raptis: The "Quasi-religious"

Commentary, June, 12 2007 Nikos Raptis
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In a couple of my previous ZNet Commentaries I referred to "believers", people who, for various reasons, have to pretend that they are religious believers, and I mentioned that in a future Commentary I could explain my views on "believers". I had...

Commentary Raptis: Cars, Highways, and Horrific Crashes

Commentary, May, 11 2007 Nikos Raptis
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One of the most important inventions in history was the idea of making a steel wheel roll on a steel rail.

Commentary Raptis: A Warning to the Iraqis

Commentary, February, 12 2007 Nikos Raptis
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Since quite a while I had been scribbling down notes for this "ZNet Commentary" on scraps of paper. To mark them, as I usually do, I noted at the top, as a key word, the word "Gothic" (see below). Then on December 9, 2006 Micky Z wrote an article ...

Commentary Raptis: Stop the bloodbaths!

Commentary, December, 02 2006 Nikos Raptis
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The (latest and current) bloodbaths are: 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Madrid bombing, London bombings, Lebanon, Gaza (again), ...

Commentary Raptis: Words and Arrogance

Commentary, August, 09 2006 Nikos Raptis
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In all languages there are some words that are very "powerful" in embodying evil or good. For example, in the German language there are two words whose "power" one cannot ignore. The words are "Volk" (people) and "Dorf" (village).

Commentary Raptis: Katrina (some "details")

Commentary, July, 20 2006 Nikos Raptis
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In my Commentary "Katrina: Why?", of September 6, 2005, I wrote: "The technical and POLITICAL answer should come from the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) and from the US National Academy of Sciences. It is about time that the American c...

Commentary Raptis: Interrogation Methods And People

Commentary, March, 15 2006 Nikos Raptis
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In a February 18, 2006 ZNet article (originally published in "Democracy") Professor Alfred McCoy describing the "advanced" methods of torture adopted by the CIA writes: "You simply make somebody stand for a day or two...And so, as they stand, what...

Commentary Raptis: The US and the Nazis

Commentary, February, 22 2006 Nikos Raptis
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In previous Commentaries I mentioned that: "Of course it rests with me to prove that the comparison of the US to the Nazis is not an exaggeration." Recent events deferred the analysis of this statement. Finally, here it is:

Commentary Raptis: Humans and the Divine

Commentary, January, 08 2006 Nikos Raptis
Raptis's ZSpace page

This Commentary is addressed to Daniele Bennett, the blue-eyed girl whose photo is on the front page of today's (Jan. 5. 2006) International Herald Tribune. The girl, whose father died in a West Virginia coal mine not many hours ago.

Commentary Raptis: Cultural Resistance

Commentary, December, 16 2005 Nikos Raptis
Raptis's ZSpace page

My last ZNet Commentary (of Sept. 26, '05) ended with the following (rather "bold") statement: "Of course it rests with me to prove that the comparison of the US to the Nazis is not an exaggeration (which I plan to do in a future Commentary)."

Commentary Raptis: You Are Responsible!

Commentary, September, 26 2005 Nikos Raptis
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It is you, ordinary Americans, who are responsible for these crimes: "In sworn testimonies to army investigators, soldiers... tell of a shackled prisoner being forced to roll back and forth on the floor kissing the boots of his two interrogators a...

Commentary Raptis: Katrina: Why?

Commentary, September, 06 2005 Nikos Raptis
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Katrina: Variation of the Greek name "Aikaterini" or "Katerina", of uncertain etymology. Possibly: "Ekaterini", meaning : "either of the two". But, which two? Can one use the word in expressions such as : "Either of the two (e.g. W. Bush and Chene...

Commentary Raptis: A (Desperate) Call to the US Youth (Part 1)

Commentary, April, 18 2005 Nikos Raptis
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This is the first of a series of "open letters" to the young people (say, aged 14 to 25) of America. To the young people that today constitute the HOPE of the world for survival. Survival of the world? Sounds like an exaggeration. Not so, and this...

Commentary Raptis: Stability of Slopes

Commentary, January, 14 2005 Nikos Raptis
Raptis's ZSpace page

A "slope" could be the inclined side of a hill (a natural slope) or the side of a man-made earth or stone structure as a dam or an embankment (an artificial slope). The failure (collapse) of the material (soil or rock) beneath a slope is called a ...

Commentary Raptis: Tsunamis And People

Commentary, January, 01 2005 Nikos Raptis
Raptis's ZSpace page

The Japanese word "tsunami" (pronounced tsoo-nah-mee) means "great wave in harbor" (which describes the problem very accurately). The scientific term is: "seismic sea wave." The expression "tidal wave" is inaccurate as this kind of wave has nothin...

Commentary Raptis: Terrorists Against Occupiers

Commentary, August, 14 2004 Nikos Raptis
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The place was a house in T. The time was AD.... The terrorists were A.V. and E. H. The occupiers were informed about the hiding place of the terrorists by a collaborator. The occupiers attacked the terrorists in the house. The terrorists fought ba...

Commentary Raptis: Warmakers and Their Auxiliaries

Commentary, May, 23 2004 Nikos Raptis
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"...the warmakers were still avoiding the eyes of their victims." ...

Commentary Raptis: Kosovo, Greek Elections, Cyprus

Commentary, April, 22 2004 Nikos Raptis
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Through history ordinary people in all cultures realized that among the "tools" the powerful used to subjugate them was the one expressed by the phrase: "Divide and rule". The Romans were proud of this "ingenious" tool which they expressed in thei...

Commentary Raptis: Quakes, Nazis and People

Commentary, February, 05 2004 Nikos Raptis
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Quakes

Commentary Raptis: The Flag

Commentary, November, 18 2003 Nikos Raptis
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Sixty-three years ago, on October 28, 1940, an Italian fascist dictator (Mussolini) attacked Greece, which at the time was under another fascist dictator (Metaxas). Metaxas, although a German educated military officer, was controlled by the Britis...

Commentary Raptis: Greek Lawyers and Blair; Clinton and Kiesling

Commentary, August, 15 2003 Nikos Raptis
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Greek Lawyers and Blair; Clinton and Kiesling

Commentary Raptis: Report on Salonica

Commentary, July, 01 2003 Nikos Raptis
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The biannual European Union (EU) summit meeting, of June 20-21, took place in Salonica , as it was the turn of Greece to hold the presidency of the EU. Twenty-five heads of state (plus their retinues) attended. There was a simultaneous translation...

Commentary Raptis: Listen American Student

Commentary, May, 16 2003 Nikos Raptis
Raptis's ZSpace page

The headline at the top of the first page of the April 7, 2003 issue of the "International Herald Tribune" reads: "American troops are encircling Baghdad".

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