Miss Kolka

What's happening? | 18 juin 2009

"What'z the buzz, tell me what's happening..." like that song in Jesus Christ Superstar.

I want to write about Iran, but no matter how I put it in my head, I don't know what to say!
I feel I dont know anything about the situation there, or enough about the historic importance of that place and I actually bought a book to enlighten me long before I realised there would be elections there a few weeks ago. (I have found time to read again now that sitcoms are on a summerbreak, hence the bedside reading of "The Secret War with Iran").

Yes, I know that the "People" are questioning the results of the presidential election where sitting president Ahmadinejad is supposed to have won more than 62 percent of the vote. Yes, I know that in western media just before the election, all we heard about was how popular his main opponent Moussavi was, a former prime minister and apparently the saviour of all good for the West (when compared with Devil Ahmadinejad of course who wants to bomb us all up with the nuclear bomb they're not supposed to have and especially eradicate awful Israel). Except that this so called "reformist" is just as radical in these matters, he does not recognise Isreal and he also was part of the establishment when thousands of oppenents to the regime were executed in the 80-s and 90's I think. (thanks CNN's "101 Iran, understanding the unrest")

So probably the results are rigged - but it doesnt mean Ahmadinejad would not have won anyway. If he would have lost to Moussavi, it does not mean either that the relations with the west would have been better since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is really the one in charge. And although I dont doubt Iranians are unhappy with how this has been handled, there is still something telling me that we don't know half the story behind these protests. There's always something bugging me with news stories from Iran - all since that infamous "axes-of-evil" speech by W. No matter how much I read on the subject, I just become more and more sceptical.
And if the protests go out of hand, could this not be used as an excuse to intervene by foreign powers? Some people seem to think so already.

In the words of the blog Enlightenment project:

...[Regarding] the Iranian elections, I'm reminded of own stolen election in 2000. As a thought-experiment imagine that after all the dirty tricks and the selection of George W. Bush by a Supreme Court packed with his supporters, some foreign power like the EU had intervened. Personally I'd have been delighted, but I suspect most Americans, obsessed with notions of national pride and the avoidance of stoogery, wouldn't have liked it one bit. I would love to be a colony of the EU because all I've ever wanted politically is a social democratic welfare state and I don't care who runs it: I couldn't care less about sovreignty, independence or national pride and being a colony wouldn't bother me in the least.

But most people don't feel that way, either in the US or in Iran. So I hope, and optimistically, expect that the US will bud out. This is their culture war, not ours, even if it is part of the larger global culture war between the educated upper middle class and the masses.

I dont know about the middle class and the masses, but we are certainly in some kind of global war, whether its cultural, religious or a mixture of both - somesort of clash of civilizations (like predicted by Samuel P Huntington). Where is this going to take us?

(Another question, to be answered or at least discussed at a later date is: why are so many young men ready to sacrifice themselves for a cause /identity? - I find the protesting movements in the Middle or Far East interesting in that they are almost only made of men between the ages of 14-35. But like I said, it' s a whole other debate.)

Publié par Kolka à 14:58:17 dans Miss Kolka | Commentaires (0) | Permaliens

Reminder | 15 juin 2009

Remind me.. I have to say something about Iran...soon

Publié par Kolka à 23:15:01 dans Miss Kolka | Commentaires (0) | Permaliens

What can Europe do? | 08 juin 2009

The sad flag.. like the union, it probably needs some wind beneath its wings.

A day after the European parliamentary election (which I have to admit noone in this household voted in) it's clear that Europeans could not care less. Well perhaps 40% less, but lets be honest, many people who did vote, often did not vote with European interest at heart. When anti-European parties that campaign to withdraw from the union are allowed to participate (such as BNP and UKIP in the UK) one wonders why this election is taking place.

What is the future of Europe?
We already saw how powerless the union is in the face of international crisis (be it war or of financial origin), Europeans in general do not seem to agree on much (some want the same currency, others want a common language - wait what was it again? That's right, Esperanto (!)) and with the enormous burocracy that follows the stiff institution, the future is bleak.

In France, people (from the right) saluted the "huge" victory of the power in place, the UMP. With less than 30%, I cannot see where the "huge" comes from. The other winners are apparently the green party Europe Ecologie (EE) with a few personalities on board such as Eva Joly and Jose Bové. They did fine (around 17%) and all attention brought to environmental problems is good. The conclusion that french voters voted for EE because the film HOME was on public television on friday is somewhat insulting though.

(The big frenzy around that environmental film goes over my head, saw some of it on youtube, ok the images are nice - many from Iceland and even from Nysted!- but I found the text cheesy and it could have been reduced to the last 10 minutes to have a better impact. Its good marketing though, as can be seen in how the sponsors (some high fashion companies) were linked directly to the name of the film at the very start. It gives the false impression that these luxury brands are somehow environmental conscious, very clever.)

Back to Europe. Is it possible that if consumer concerns had been better adressed and the leadership would have been tougher on financial institutions and had actually had a plan to help European citizens out of the crisis that people would have been more interested? I think so. The European parliament is not useless. But these elections are. We dont want a national debate about cross-border issues - we NEED international solutions. And they are certainly not going to come from parties that think inside their protective bubble, and only about themselves.

Publié par Kolka à 13:38:32 dans Miss Kolka | Commentaires (0) | Permaliens

Which Stylish First Couple?do you really have to ask? | 06 juin 2009

Big D-day here in France, I've always found these co-memorations about wars and lost soldiers a bit strange but that's perhaps because I grew up in an armyless country. I have a problem with people who chose to work in any kind of armed forces..because my belief is that if there is no demand, it might make it alot more difficult for governments to send people off to kill each other all over. But hey, that has nothing to do with style. And style is certainly on my mind when I want to talk about the Obama visit here in France.

So here is the most powerful first couple in the world and everybody wants a piece of them. Leading up to the big day there had been some stories about the Sarkozy-Obama relationship not being so rosy. Apparently the French president lectured his newly elected american counterpart recently on Climate change. Obama, not taking any crap from Sarkozy is rumoured to have said that he would try to read up to know everything in two months. It only boosts Obama's credentials that he kept his cool in front of Sarkozy's arrogance but then understandably he was not so keen on spending too much "unofficial time" with the Sarkozys on the Obama family trip to France. A blow to Sarkozys planned revigorated public image Im sure.

But when you want to talk style, it's more about Michelle then Barack.. There's nothing wrong with him, since he is all tall and handsome, all things fit him well I guess but she is faultless. Always careful to wear elegant clothes, with a little touch of fantasy without overdoing it. Michelle Obama is really fun to watch and clearly very fond of belts. Even though she might wear the same Azzedine Alai belt quite often you forgive her because she still surprises you with a mustard yellow dress or a japanese print on her cardigan.

So she (or her stylist) was probably very happy with what they had chosen for the ceremonies today. Except that someone might have wanted to check with the former supermodel-turned-first-lady beforehand no? Seeing the first ladies side by side I have to say that it was a bit akward that they wore so similar outfits. The white dress with a dark belt. Simple, maybe too simple. However it is safe to say that Michelle Obama was wearing it so much better, she truly looked powerful, while Carla Bruni was perhaps a bit childish - trying yet again for that "innocent little girl look" that frankly I find outdated. Take a chance Carla, you were a supermodel for crying outloud! have fun. Because if dressing is not about fun then we should just all wear black plastic bags. Or perhaps that grey mess Carla was wearing is Strasbourg. Truly sad.

The Bruni-Sarkozys and The Obamas - painfully similar dresses although Michelle is allowed to wear high heals

The first ladies meet in Strasbourg. Michelle striking a pose, Carla trying to look seventy - I dont care if it's Christian Dior, Pepp it up girl!

For more on Michelle Obama's style click here

Publié par Kolka à 22:24:35 dans Miss Kolka | Commentaires (0) | Permaliens

From babychairs to gross food | 03 juin 2009

The internet is just wonderful. Planning ahead has become a state of the art with the help of technology. You can google everything (how happy must the creators of Google be: "googleling" has become a verb!), whether you have seen something and want to know where to buy it, get official information about people you don't know (yet), plan trips, get helpful ideas for birthday/christmas presents, find some cooking recipies or whatever, its there for you.

For example, I want to go out to dinner tonight, dont have time to go all around to find a nice restaurant so I google restaurants in my area.. no problem, in 3 clicks I have found what I am looking for.

Also I want to go to the cinema, so I Order my tickets online and pick them up at the machine to avoid the long queues.

I suddenly remember some great french tv program I haven't seen for years, Les inconnus, and thanks to Amazon.fr I buy all the seasons in one DVD box and it's delivered by ordinary mail 3 days later.

We want to move some of our stuff to Copenhagen in a month... we look up some transport companies on the internet and after a few mails and phonecalls, we get an interesting deal from one of them - and our things will be taken care of from door to door. Perfect.

On a walk in le Marais we saw an interesting babychair. After photographing the item with my mobile phone, I looked up the label on the internet - and like any good website they indicate where you can buy their products in any part of the world so when we've moved into our new appartment in CPH we can just go to one of the indicated stores and check it out.

The technology is good but in some cases not perfect enough. You would have thought a blog with uploaded mobile pictures of food would have been a good idea. That is until you see the result. Good food does not necessarily mean good pictures. Clotilde might have been on to something on her moblog. She goes to as many restaurants as she can in Paris and photographs the food, then uploads them instantly to the blog. Unfortunately the outcome is quite gross. So yes the internet is great but also full of crap.

Exhibit A: Probably tasty food