Low Earth Orbit

Swedes resist call of the dark side

[source, source]

Swedes rejected adopting the euro by a wide margin, dashing government hopes the nation would take up the common currency in a Sunday referendum overshadowed by the killing of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. With 97 percent of the Scandinavian country's 5,967 precincts counted, 56.3 percent of the more than 5.4 million ballots cast were against replacing the krona with the euro, while 41.7 percent voted in favor of it. Two percent cast undecided ballots.

Despite the united front of the government, unions and big business in favor and the "sympathy vote for the murdered cabinet member":http://www.sundayherald.com/36736 the Euro was defeated. And so one candle is lit against the encroaching darkness - how long can it or must it stay lit?

Phantom of the Op-eds

[source, source] Secretary of State Colin Powell, member of an administration that has as its policy goal the political elimination of Yassir Arafat and who does not

dispute that peacemaking might be easier if Arafat were no longer in the picture

still thinks actually _removing_ Arafat is a bad idea. Why? The phantom of the opeds, the Muslim Street:

Israel would incite rage not only among Arabs but also Muslims everywhere by exiling or executing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat

If that's true, why hasn't the current US policy done that? Beyond that, what have we come to if the irrational reaction of others stops us from doing with is right and in the best interests of our allies, ourselves and our principles? The State Department?

That is so last committee meeting

[source]

The plenary session of the Euro-Parliament passed a proposal-report prepared by French Euro-deputy Fode Sylla concerning the EU Fundamental Rights situation for 2002 which includes, among others, a reference to the special status enjoyed by the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece. In essence, the Euro-deputies call on the Greek government to proceed with the lifting of the entry ban to Mount Athos directed on women. […] Among others, they [the Greek government] mentioned that Mount Athos enjoys a special status, which was secured with a joint statement included in Greece’s EEC Accession Treaty It is also mentioned that in the Amsterdam Treaty Final Act annex there is a statement by Greece, which is a reminder of the Joint Statement on Mount Athos attached to the Final Act of Greece’s Accession Treaty.

Just because it's in a few old, dusty treaties which were signed _years_ ago is no excuse. We're the EUlite and because we know better we are not bound by plebian conventions like treaty adherence.