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First, some anthropologically-inspired history; let's hope I don't distort the record too much.
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Jun. 1st, 2003
On A Voyage to Arcturus, my post on space colonization seems to have sparked some commentary.
( In which I examine the points of Troy Loney. )
( In which I examine the points of Bill Walker )
( In which I examine the points of Troy Loney. )
( In which I examine the points of Bill Walker )
Thursday morning, as part of the on-going renovations at the Confederation Centre Public Library, we moved the multilingual collection down to the main floor. The multilingual collection is composed of those books which were written in neither French nor English: Chinese, Japanese, German, Spanish, Dutch, and so on. The books were taken down from the East Mezzanine in armloads and given to me to organize.
All of the books in the collection--so far as I know--have been kept. The large majority of the books, though, have not been taken down to the floor, along with the one bay of German-language books and one bay of Greek-language books kept in the dark dusty basement left to languish years ago. The size of the collection has been sharply reduced--just three shelves of Chinese (two fiction and one non-fiction), just four shelves of Dutch (three fiction and one non-fiction), two shelves each of German and Spanish (one fiction and one non-fiction), and nine shelves of Japanese. The rest, so far as potential users are concerned, is unavailable and quite possibly unknown.
The truly depressing thing about this is that there isn't any need for a larger collection. The Island's Dutch-speaking population, for instance, is largely descended from the wave of immigrants who left the Netherlands in the decade of the Second World War as part of a government-sponsored emigration program; these immigrants have assimilated quite readily, and practically the only vestiges of this community is a dairy farm north of Charlottetown specializing in gouda cheese, some non-Franco-British family names, and a minor controversy over the use of the Dutch flag as a sign to tourists of goods for sale. Chinese and Hispanic immigration is non-existent, while the German presence on the Island is far more marginal than the Dutch. There is a reasonably large Lebanese community on the Island--our late Premier
All of the books in the collection--so far as I know--have been kept. The large majority of the books, though, have not been taken down to the floor, along with the one bay of German-language books and one bay of Greek-language books kept in the dark dusty basement left to languish years ago. The size of the collection has been sharply reduced--just three shelves of Chinese (two fiction and one non-fiction), just four shelves of Dutch (three fiction and one non-fiction), two shelves each of German and Spanish (one fiction and one non-fiction), and nine shelves of Japanese. The rest, so far as potential users are concerned, is unavailable and quite possibly unknown.
The truly depressing thing about this is that there isn't any need for a larger collection. The Island's Dutch-speaking population, for instance, is largely descended from the wave of immigrants who left the Netherlands in the decade of the Second World War as part of a government-sponsored emigration program; these immigrants have assimilated quite readily, and practically the only vestiges of this community is a dairy farm north of Charlottetown specializing in gouda cheese, some non-Franco-British family names, and a minor controversy over the use of the Dutch flag as a sign to tourists of goods for sale. Chinese and Hispanic immigration is non-existent, while the German presence on the Island is far more marginal than the Dutch. There is a reasonably large Lebanese community on the Island--our late Premier
[ARTICLE] End of the special relationship?
Jun. 1st, 2003 02:26 pmVia Nick Barlow:
The end of affair?
Alexander Chancellor
Saturday May 31, 2003
The Guardian
We won't know how well or how badly Colonel Tim Collins behaved in Iraq until the army completes its investigation, but the charge of "war crimes" seems a bit over the top, even if he did the things of which he is accused. Collins is no Slobodan Milosevic. His worst alleged offences are that he beat up an Iraqi "civic leader" with a pistol ("pistol-whipped" him, as the strange expression goes) and kicked some prisoners. Otherwise, he is accused only of firing a shot into the ground to frighten someone and shooting into the tyres of some cars.
Now, if he did do these things - and he has strenuously denied doing them - it would show him up as a bully and a thug. It would also invite a good deal of derision because of his famous "Agincourt" speech, so admired by Prince Charles and President Bush, in which he exhorted his men to show respect for the Iraqis and magnanimity towards them in victory. But it wouldn't add up to much of a scandal, even by the standards of this relatively tidy war. Far worse things happened: the bombing of civilians, the shooting of unarmed women and children in roadblocks, "friendly fire" killings. By comparison with such incidents, it is hard to work up much outrage about the alleged minor misdemeanours of a colonel in the Royal Irish Regiment.
So perhaps the most interesting thing about the whole affair is why such a fuss is being made about it. One possible explanation is that the Americans have picked on Collins in order to discredit their British allies. For the colonel was reportedly "shopped" to the authorities by a US army officer.
( Read more... )
The end of affair?
Alexander Chancellor
Saturday May 31, 2003
The Guardian
We won't know how well or how badly Colonel Tim Collins behaved in Iraq until the army completes its investigation, but the charge of "war crimes" seems a bit over the top, even if he did the things of which he is accused. Collins is no Slobodan Milosevic. His worst alleged offences are that he beat up an Iraqi "civic leader" with a pistol ("pistol-whipped" him, as the strange expression goes) and kicked some prisoners. Otherwise, he is accused only of firing a shot into the ground to frighten someone and shooting into the tyres of some cars.
Now, if he did do these things - and he has strenuously denied doing them - it would show him up as a bully and a thug. It would also invite a good deal of derision because of his famous "Agincourt" speech, so admired by Prince Charles and President Bush, in which he exhorted his men to show respect for the Iraqis and magnanimity towards them in victory. But it wouldn't add up to much of a scandal, even by the standards of this relatively tidy war. Far worse things happened: the bombing of civilians, the shooting of unarmed women and children in roadblocks, "friendly fire" killings. By comparison with such incidents, it is hard to work up much outrage about the alleged minor misdemeanours of a colonel in the Royal Irish Regiment.
So perhaps the most interesting thing about the whole affair is why such a fuss is being made about it. One possible explanation is that the Americans have picked on Collins in order to discredit their British allies. For the colonel was reportedly "shopped" to the authorities by a US army officer.
( Read more... )