Friday, April 01, 2011



Here's my other favorite quote, from Vaclav Havel, In the end, truth and love will prevail over lies and hate.

Revolution 2011: What comes next is not the end of the story. Some revolutions lead to a flowering of democracy. Some backslide into anarchy or dictatorship. But there's always another chapter to be written. George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” told the story of a stirring revolution dedicated to the proposition that all animals are created equal. One thing led to another, however, and tyranny by pigs replaced tyranny by humans. In the end, the farm’s one great commandment read: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Some backslide into anarchy or dictatorship.

Revolution 2011: The thing about history, though, is that the book never ends
There may be many bad decisions made after the ice of thaws. But there’s always another chapter after that – which means another opportunity to get it right.

US President Barack Obama is reluctant to intervene in the bloody civil war now underway in Libya. As a senior aide told The New York Times last week, "He keeps reminding us that the best revolutions are completely organic. One of the many unsung achievements of President Gerald Ford, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, was history's biggest-ever poison pill. The document was the result of two years of haggling at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, originally a Soviet initiative to deal with security issues, but one that veered unexpectedly to address issues of human rights.


The thing about history, though, is that the book never ends. [President Václav Klaus has defended Ladislav Bátora, branded an extremist by both the media and politicians Extremism has no place at Prague Castle ; The Twilight of Tyranny? ]
• · Looks like they’ve finally recovered their time-honored inner Czechness, and given up on that bold, universalist, Vaclav-Havel era human-rights moralizing The contemporary Czech Republic ; Former socialist countries are struggling against the phantom of communism again. This time, the wave of struggle reached the most peaceful of former socialist states - the Czech Republic. It seemed that the Czechs were no longer preoccupied with the struggle against the Soviet legacy. However, reality proves the opposite. Communism again
• · · The Arab world has spoken truth to power in ways that question the celebration of western style democracies and the ‘end of history’ marked by the ‘1989 velvet revolutions’. The people of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya have spoken truth to power with fantastic spirit and solidarity (not to forget struggles in Madison and elsewhere) end of 1989? ; The election of the first Greens MP to the NSW Legislative Assembly is a historic breakthrough for the party, but if success for the Greens in NSW is to continue, we need a reality check and some soul searching. Greens won't get much further if we repeat poll blunders s
• · · · Tackling Pauline Hanson, Labor spin and media porkies
Greens decision not to recommend a preference to Labor in the Upper House has somehow helped Pauline Hanson ; THE weeks and months ahead will be consumed by bloodletting inside the NSW Labor Party following Saturday's thumping state election defeat. For new Premier Barry O'Farrell and his Coalition, time will be measured in years The political landscape has changed – The Irish Will Rule ;-)
• · · · · Voters will cure the NSW disease ; Anti-Mafia muscle on Premier's to-do list
• · · · · · The AAA to Z of running the NSW economy ; David Marr Barry O'Farrell of political wilderness ; Photios Story