Z Nightly Commentaries
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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Rai: Iran Backs Down
Oct 14, 2009
On 1 October, Iran startled the world by making two dramatic concessions in the long-standing crisis over its uranium enrichment programme, 'agreeing to admit inspectors to a newly revealed nuclear plant and to surrender some of its enriched uranium to be processed abroad, a concession which could delay or at least complicate its [suspected] efforts to acquire a nuclear bomb.'
Rai: What Do Afghans Want?
Oct 07, 2009
In his major speech on Afghanistan on 4 September, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown emphasized Britain's self interest in prosecuting the war in Afghanistan: 'We are in Afghanistan as a result of a hard-headed assessment of the terrorist threat facing Britain.' In this, he was only following the lead of US President Barack Obama, who launched his new strategy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan at the end of March with the warning that: 'if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban - or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged - that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can'.
Raptis: May Day Sequel
May 20, 2009
Part of my ZNet Commentary of May 5, 2009 ("May Day of Pain and Hope") was dedicated to the execution of 200 Greeks who were detainees at the "Haidari" Nazi concentration camp, on May Day of 1944. The execution took place at "Kesariani", a neighborhood close to the center of Athens.
Raptis: May Day Pain
May 05, 2009
Suppose that the daughters of the Obamas picked up from somebody that "May Day" is an important, historic, and interesting holiday. Being young and curious, they decide to learn more about "May Day"...
Raptis: One More Quake
Apr 09, 2009
The "experts" (seismologists, etc) were telling the people of the L'Aquila area in Italy that there place was not quake-prone. So it was said in the evening news. The present quake was 6.3 Richters and must have lasted for only [about] 17 seconds. It took only 17 seconds to almost destroy 26 towns around L'Aquila, in the Apennine mountains. It took years for Hitler in occupied Greece to destroy an equal number of towns and villages, or W. Bush to accomplish a similar "feat" in Iraq. The quake-war comparison is so obvious, yet so disregarded, that this ignoring seems to be "abnormal".
Raptis: Greek Update
Jan 30, 2009
Is the December '08 uprising of the Greek teenagers so important that an additional update is necessary? Given that the uprising had even an international appeal, as shown by the fact that Sarkozy of France, a George W. Bush-type of person, did not dare reform the French educational system, as he had announced, fearing a reaction from the French teenagers similar to that of the Greek ones, it seems that an update is, at least, useful.
Raptis: Iraq & Greece
Dec 18, 2008
It seems a bit arrogant to address an entire population and offer even a [friendly] suggestion. However, if that population, the Iraqis, are the ones that have suffered [together with the Palestinians] more than any other population in recent history, and if the person offering the suggestion belongs to a population, the Greek population, that has gone through a similar martyrdom in an earlier time, then a friendly suggestion, offered in humility, could, at least, be useful.
Raptis: Suntan
Nov 16, 2008
It was the summer of 1958. I was on my way to the school of engineering of the University of Illinois, at Urbana, as a graduate student. I had set foot for the first time on American soil only a few weeks earlier, and I decided to visit a (second generation) Greek-American relative and his family in Detroit. I was invited to stay with them for a few weeks. They had the kindness, on their own, to get me a job with a topographic firm for the few weeks that I was to stay with them.
Raptis: Palin
Sep 27, 2008
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 "believer". That is, she makes a living by pretending that she believes in paradise, etc.
Rebick: Indigenous & Land
May 26, 2008
On Monday May 26, Indigenous people will gather from across Ontario, including the remote North, on the lawns of Queen's Park to insist that governments and industry recognize their right to say no to mining and forestry on their lands. Travelling by bus and even by foot, they are coming to participate in four days of sacred ceremonies, teach-ins, drumming, music, readings and a mass rally that they are calling a Gathering of Mother Earth Protectors.
Raptis: White People
May 07, 2008
Do most white people treat black people as if they are inferior? The answer is an angry: Yes!
Raptis: Earthquake Rattled Chicago
Apr 26, 2008
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 the future; probably after a few hundred years. This latter "big one" is known as the "New Madrid Earthquake".
Raptis: Moral Germans
Apr 17, 2008
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? Are nations justified to go to war in self-defense?
Raptis: A Famous [But Unknown] Scientist
Mar 11, 2008
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 scientist in the world. In my country, Greece, his name is in the papers almost daily!
Raptis: UK & US Culture
Mar 07, 2008
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, 2008, on page 56 we read: "A clean 'surgical coup' would have been 'attractive in many respects', noted on May 6, 1976 the Planning Staff of the British Foreign Ministry".
Raptis: Ethics of Stone
Oct 21, 2007
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 world. The "creation" of man (and of the world) is denoted by the Greek word "genesis". After his birth man must be "baptized", that is "submerged into the water" as the Greek word "baptizo" denotes. Then follows the childhood period accompanied by Christian "catechism", as denoted by the Greek word "catecho" (to indoctrinate, that is to "brainwash"). Indoctrination which is performed by Christian "clergy", as denoted by the Greek word "clerekos" (priest). Quite frequently, these members of the clergy are "pederasts", as denoted by the Greek word "pedi" (child) and "eros" (love). Then the child goes to "school", as denoted by the Greek word "scholi" (leisure, school). No need to go on. Ask any Greek 10-year-old and he or she will spit out the "litany" (again a Greek word!) of the above claims, as proof that the Greeks are the "chosen people" of the world.
Raptis: The "Quasi-religious"
Jun 12, 2007
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 planned
Raptis: Cars, Highways, and Horrific Crashes
May 11, 2007
One of the most important inventions in history was the idea of making a steel wheel roll on a steel rail.
Raptis: A Warning to the Iraqis
Feb 12, 2007
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 in ZNet
Nov 23, 2009
This is a report on the parliamentary elections of October 4, 2006 in Greece.