More details on EU rifts, with a less pro-US stance, here:
http://argument.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/story.jsp?story=372176
http://argument.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/story.jsp?story=372176
POLL: The repercussions of a US attack on Iraq
- Thread starter candletrader
- Start date
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/camps/auschwitz/k4-thumbnails.html
What impressive planning and execution! My My, not at all My Lai.
Professor Carl Clauberg performed experiments into sterilization at both Auschwitz and Ravensbrück. This was done on Hitler's initiative, as he had been convinced by several doctors that mass sterilization could provide a powerful weapon against Germany's enemies during total war.
Clauberg injected chemical substances into wombs during normal gynocological examinations. Thousands of Jewish and Gypsy women were subjected to this treatment. Clauberg sought to answer Himmler's query about how long it would take to sterilize one thousand women, and eventually informed him that, using methods he developed, a staff of one doctor and ten assistants could do the job in a single day. The injections totally destroyed the lining membrane of the womb and seriously damaged the ovaries of the victims, which were then removed and sent to Berlin to test the effectiveness of the method. (Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 964)
Medical Experimentation - Mengele
Auschwitz, AUSCHWITZ, auschwitz, holocaust, Holocaust
Mengele promoted medical experimentation on inmates, especially dwarfs and twins. He is said to have supervised an operation by which two Gypsy children were sewn together to create Siamses twins; the hands of the children became badly infected where the veins had been resected. (Snyder)
Cohen tells us:
"The only firsthand evidence on these experiments comes from a handful of survivors and from a Jewish doctor, Miklos Nyiszli, who worked under Mengele as a pathologist. Mengele subjected his victims - twins and dwarfs aged two and above - to clinical examinations, blood tests, X rays, and anthropological measurements. In the case of the twins, he drew sketches of each twin, for comparison. He also injected his victims with various substances, dripping chemicals into their eyes (apparently in an attempt to change their color).
He then killed them himself by injecting chloroform into their hearts, so as to carry out comparative pathological examinations of their internal organs. Mengele's purpose, according to Dr. Nyiszli, was to establish the genetic cause for the birth of twins, in order to facilitate the formulation of a program for doubling the birthrate of the 'Aryan' race. The experiments on twins affected 180 persons, adults and children.
Mengele also carried out a large number of experiments in the field of contageous diseases, (typhoid and tuberculosis) to find out how human beings of different races withstood these diseases. He used Gypsy twins for this purpose. Mengele's experiments combined scientific (perhaps even important) research with the racist and ideological aims of the Nazi regime. which made use of government offices, scientific institutions, and concentration camps.
From the scanty information available, it appears that his research differed from the other medical experiments in that the victims' death was programmed into his experiments and formed a central element in it." (Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 964)
What impressive planning and execution! My My, not at all My Lai.
Professor Carl Clauberg performed experiments into sterilization at both Auschwitz and Ravensbrück. This was done on Hitler's initiative, as he had been convinced by several doctors that mass sterilization could provide a powerful weapon against Germany's enemies during total war.
Clauberg injected chemical substances into wombs during normal gynocological examinations. Thousands of Jewish and Gypsy women were subjected to this treatment. Clauberg sought to answer Himmler's query about how long it would take to sterilize one thousand women, and eventually informed him that, using methods he developed, a staff of one doctor and ten assistants could do the job in a single day. The injections totally destroyed the lining membrane of the womb and seriously damaged the ovaries of the victims, which were then removed and sent to Berlin to test the effectiveness of the method. (Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 964)
Medical Experimentation - Mengele
Auschwitz, AUSCHWITZ, auschwitz, holocaust, Holocaust
Mengele promoted medical experimentation on inmates, especially dwarfs and twins. He is said to have supervised an operation by which two Gypsy children were sewn together to create Siamses twins; the hands of the children became badly infected where the veins had been resected. (Snyder)
Cohen tells us:
"The only firsthand evidence on these experiments comes from a handful of survivors and from a Jewish doctor, Miklos Nyiszli, who worked under Mengele as a pathologist. Mengele subjected his victims - twins and dwarfs aged two and above - to clinical examinations, blood tests, X rays, and anthropological measurements. In the case of the twins, he drew sketches of each twin, for comparison. He also injected his victims with various substances, dripping chemicals into their eyes (apparently in an attempt to change their color).
He then killed them himself by injecting chloroform into their hearts, so as to carry out comparative pathological examinations of their internal organs. Mengele's purpose, according to Dr. Nyiszli, was to establish the genetic cause for the birth of twins, in order to facilitate the formulation of a program for doubling the birthrate of the 'Aryan' race. The experiments on twins affected 180 persons, adults and children.
Mengele also carried out a large number of experiments in the field of contageous diseases, (typhoid and tuberculosis) to find out how human beings of different races withstood these diseases. He used Gypsy twins for this purpose. Mengele's experiments combined scientific (perhaps even important) research with the racist and ideological aims of the Nazi regime. which made use of government offices, scientific institutions, and concentration camps.
From the scanty information available, it appears that his research differed from the other medical experiments in that the victims' death was programmed into his experiments and formed a central element in it." (Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 964)
Well, here's the text, then:
From THE INDEPENDENT.CO.UK:
Chirac's cynical pursuit of nationalistic interests is damaging European unity
24 January 2003
Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac should have a jolly time if and when they finally have their rescheduled meeting at Le Touquet in 11 days. The French President's offer of succour to Robert Mugabe, the despot of Zimbabwe, is only the latest in a series of cynical attempts simultaneously to assert French interests and to make Mr Blair look silly.
The roots of the present clash go back to Mr Blair's presumption in lecturing his European colleagues â from the moment he was elected â on how they should follow him on the Third Way to social democratic virtue. He also annoyed the French by claiming to be ending decades of British isolation in Europe, yet, when he went off to talk to President Clinton and then to President Bush about grown-up topics such as Iraq and terrorism, he made no attempt to speak on behalf of his fellow Europeans.
For some time, the Prime Minister's novelty and adroitness managed to give him the edge over his rivals for the mantle of Europe's leadership. This week, however, he has been comprehensively outfoxed by the irrepressible M. Chirac.
The present sequence began when the Prime Minister's spin doctors told journalists that Mr Blair, normally the Prince of Emollience, had had an argument with the French President about reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. The French then cancelled a planned meeting between M. Chirac and Mr Blair, which has now been rescheduled for 4 February.
Since then, M. Chirac has been conspicuously unhelpful to Mr Blair over Iraq. Of course, the French and German posture towards Iraq is in many ways preferable to that of the British Government. At least M. Chirac and Gerhard Schröder are prepared to disagree publicly with President Bush and to urge maximum restraint.
But M. Chirac's motives for opposing war in Iraq "today" are dubious. He warned against the American rush to war last year and still signed up for Resolution 1441. Until his latest outburst of peacenik rhetoric, he was happy to suggest that French forces would play their part if it came to hostilities. As with his manoeuvre on the invitation to Mr Mugabe, M. Chirac is playing low politics.
He also understands the importance to Mr Schröder of the peace card in the German regional elections on 2 February; and he has exploited it to revive the Franco-German alliance, which Mr Blair had tried to break up.
He has been just as ruthless over the invitation to Mr Mugabe. Whether or not British officials were implicated in the early stages of a deal to allow Mr Mugabe into France for a conference, the initiative for this sanctions-busting comes from the French. Posturing as the friend of Africa, and ignoring the fact that African nations asked for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth, the French never liked the high moral tone of the symbolic sanctions directed at Mr Mugabe and his cronies. Their act of sabotage may not in the end make much difference, but every piece of pressure, every expression of the world's distaste, potentially hastens the end of Mr Mugabe's suffocating grip on his country.
M. Chirac gives every impression of enjoying himself, having been unexpectedly re-elected last year, and with the freedom of action granted to him by his majority in the National Assembly. But his cynical promotion of what he perceives to be French interests at others' expense is as damaging to European unity as Mr Blair's excessive adherence to US policy.
(Dare I say that the Germans are less than straight forward in their use of anti-war on Iraq theme, as some indicator of their real opinions---what a Wild concept---propaganda for the sake of an underlying political agenda)
Backing for Schröder's party slides to historic low
By Haig Simonian in Berlin
Published: January 25 2003 4:00 | Last Updated: January 25 2003 4:00
Support for Germany's ruling Social Democrats dropped to an historic low yesterday in a clear signal to chancellor Gerhard Schröder of popular frustration at the government's broken election promises and perceived drift.
With two important regional elections next month, the German leader had tried to use opposition to war against Iraq at a rally this week to boost his flagging support.
But his ploy, which worked so well in the German elections last September, has failed to impress a public growing impatient for structural changes to revive the economy.
A new opinion poll showed backing for the chancellor's SPD had fallen to 25 per cent - the lowest figure in the 26 years the poll has been conducted.
By contrast the survey for ZDF television showed support for the opposition Christian Democrats and its Bavarian sister party the CSU stood at 56 per cent, while the environmentalist Greens scored 10 per cent.
Angela Merkel, CDU chairman, predicted that victory in the Lower Saxony and Hesse elections on February 2 would send an unmistakable challenge to the SPD to quicken the pace and scope of economic reform.
Ms Merkel, speaking at a news conference just ahead of the government's first 100 days next week, refrained surprisingly from forecasting that victory in the state elections would prompt her party to adopt a more obstructionist approach.
Retaining Hesse and winning Lower Saxony would significantly strengthen the CDU's hold over the Bundesrat, the upper parliamentary chamber, where the states are represented.
The opposition already has a narrow Bundesrat majority. But gaining Lower Saxony from the SPD would add another six Bundesrat votes, consolidating the CDU's position and making it more difficult for Mr Schröder to win round opposition-run states.
Victory on February 2 would mean "there can be a different political game in Germany thanks to the CDU", said Ms Merkel.
"The message from the Bundesrat will be even stronger", said Roland Koch, the tough CDU premier of Hesse. "The need to make compromises will be greater than ever."
Yesterday's surprising moderation from the CDU, which has pursued a path of grudging co-operation since Mr Schröder's victory in last year's general elections, has triggered speculation that the opposition may be angling for a national "Grand Coalition" with the SPD if the government's fortunes continue to wane.
However, the remarks by Ms Merkel and the CDU's lead candidates in Hesse and Lower Saxony suggested that the avoidance of an inflammatory approach, including threats of a Bundesrat blockade, were more indicative of a subtler electoral strategy designed to persuade voters that the party was acting responsibly in Germany's best interests.
Both Ms Merkel and her two regional lieutenants failed, however, to indicate how they would boost Germany's chronically weak growth without breaching the deficit rules for the euro, or how they could improve relations with the US while still respecting popular antipathy to a conflict in Iraq.
Backing for Schröder's party slides to historic low
By Haig Simonian in Berlin
Published: January 25 2003 4:00 | Last Updated: January 25 2003 4:00
Support for Germany's ruling Social Democrats dropped to an historic low yesterday in a clear signal to chancellor Gerhard Schröder of popular frustration at the government's broken election promises and perceived drift.
With two important regional elections next month, the German leader had tried to use opposition to war against Iraq at a rally this week to boost his flagging support.
But his ploy, which worked so well in the German elections last September, has failed to impress a public growing impatient for structural changes to revive the economy.
A new opinion poll showed backing for the chancellor's SPD had fallen to 25 per cent - the lowest figure in the 26 years the poll has been conducted.
By contrast the survey for ZDF television showed support for the opposition Christian Democrats and its Bavarian sister party the CSU stood at 56 per cent, while the environmentalist Greens scored 10 per cent.
Angela Merkel, CDU chairman, predicted that victory in the Lower Saxony and Hesse elections on February 2 would send an unmistakable challenge to the SPD to quicken the pace and scope of economic reform.
Ms Merkel, speaking at a news conference just ahead of the government's first 100 days next week, refrained surprisingly from forecasting that victory in the state elections would prompt her party to adopt a more obstructionist approach.
Retaining Hesse and winning Lower Saxony would significantly strengthen the CDU's hold over the Bundesrat, the upper parliamentary chamber, where the states are represented.
The opposition already has a narrow Bundesrat majority. But gaining Lower Saxony from the SPD would add another six Bundesrat votes, consolidating the CDU's position and making it more difficult for Mr Schröder to win round opposition-run states.
Victory on February 2 would mean "there can be a different political game in Germany thanks to the CDU", said Ms Merkel.
"The message from the Bundesrat will be even stronger", said Roland Koch, the tough CDU premier of Hesse. "The need to make compromises will be greater than ever."
Yesterday's surprising moderation from the CDU, which has pursued a path of grudging co-operation since Mr Schröder's victory in last year's general elections, has triggered speculation that the opposition may be angling for a national "Grand Coalition" with the SPD if the government's fortunes continue to wane.
However, the remarks by Ms Merkel and the CDU's lead candidates in Hesse and Lower Saxony suggested that the avoidance of an inflammatory approach, including threats of a Bundesrat blockade, were more indicative of a subtler electoral strategy designed to persuade voters that the party was acting responsibly in Germany's best interests.
Both Ms Merkel and her two regional lieutenants failed, however, to indicate how they would boost Germany's chronically weak growth without breaching the deficit rules for the euro, or how they could improve relations with the US while still respecting popular antipathy to a conflict in Iraq.
What is your evidence? If you do have evidence, whom specifically does it implicate? Powerful politicians or a just a few "rogues"? And if such evidence is already available, then why do we need a ground war in order to turn it up?
I think the correlation between Schroeder's domestic and international considerations provides a more persuasive explanation for Germany's recent behavior.
The more I reflect on the situation (I won't burden you all with an essay I found myself writing on the subject this morning), the less I believe that any European leader - or leaders, or street demonstrators, Democratic presidential candidates, international terrorists, uncertain citizens, or anyone else - can prevent the world's dominant military, economic, and political power from pursuing what it's identified as a vital interest. The Bush Administration believes, with much justification in my opinion, that the United States cannot trust events in the Middle East to evolve tolerably without direct action against the Baath Party regime, the most odious and immediately dangerous of the region's post-colonial governments.
Sooner or later, most of the other regimes in the region probably will also have to be ousted where not radically transformed, though it's still possible to hope, especially with a post-Hussein Iraq, that the process can generally be one of accelerated reform and evolution rather than war. Given the current situation and the geopolitical importance of the region, most discussion of the risks and likely costs and difficulties of US action begins to look short-sighted and almost trivial, as do the maneuverings, if not always the concerns, of the likes of Chirac and Schroeder.