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Post by Dead Character on Mar 20, 2005 23:03:01 GMT -5
So this is it. The first day off. Antero is tired and sleeps most of the day. When he does get up he has a splitting headache. But, at least he feels happy to have this day off. He feels less depressed about the world and life. It is although a huge burdon has been taken off of his shoulders. In the evening, he sits on the sofa with "Cat." He pets his calico cat and has a conversation with it.
"Ya know cat, I was thinking. I have just a few goals in this life and one is not to have to work. I don't know how I am going to escape it, but somehow I am going to get out of this. I don't care if I have to move to Africa, live in a hut, and eat grubs. If I didn't have to punch in everyday, I would be a happy guy. I think I would be happier in Africa than here. If I could just live simply."
The cat purrs contently.
"A person can never really escape work no matter what system there is. You have to put work into growing food or keeping up a home, but you know what, that kind of subsistant work doesn't kill a person inside. You are attached to your production. You benefit from your production cat. I just don't want to sell my freedom just for enough money to get by. I want real freedom, cat."
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Post by Valodya Bassarov on Mar 20, 2005 23:10:20 GMT -5
Bassarov wanders away from Sakari and the others. Sometimes he likes to be alone. He feels crowded in by people from time to time. Maybe because he always tries to please everyone, at some point he needs to step back and get away. He is having one of those moments.
He walks alone for a while then wanders to listen to the speakers. He is impressed with the turn out and the scope of support. But since the U.S. is poised to attack Syria, everyone is taking to the streets to protest.
He sits down on a bench and listens to a Green Party member speak on War and the Environment. The speaker is interesting and reminds him that sometimes he neglects the Earth.
He so often thinks of things in terms of the exploitation of labor he doesn't step back and look at the exploitation of the environment. Listening to the speaker is a refreshing reminder of the full reason he is a socialist.
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Post by Heikki Toivonen on Mar 20, 2005 23:21:43 GMT -5
"I am a coward." Heikki admits to himself. He's been thinking about how to kill the president or other corrupt officials, but he just can't do it. He is a coward. He has tried working with other rebel groups, but can not work alone. He is afraid to. He is afraid of failure or afraid of accountability.
"What's wrong with me?" He thinks to himself as he walks. He gets the impression that Dariya didn't want to help him because she can sense his weaknesses. His convictions are strong, but he can not act upon them. Something holds him back.
"I don't care about people, the world, myself. I have to buck up." He scolds himself.
"I'll do a bombing. That is easier than sniping the president. I could never do something like that. But I could bomb a government building. He is taking a trip to St. Petersburg next week. I can bomb his hotel. I am not afraid of that." Heikki reasons.
"I am a nihilist. I should fear nothing and here I fear the most important thing...action. But all the thoughts in the world mean nothing. Actions count for more."
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Tanya Schandez
Provisional Member
Owner of KissKiss Cosmetics
Mischa, get over here.%\2\%
Posts: 69
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Post by Tanya Schandez on Mar 20, 2005 23:54:20 GMT -5
I quickly ran to the woods with a soilder who rescued me. We stopped behind a big tree where I caught my breath. "What the hell is going on? Who the hell are you?" I say snatching my hand away from his. "Friend or foe?"
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Erich Von Hendrich
Provisional Member
German Communist Engineer
The Sword leaves a bigger mark on the world than the pen
Posts: 76
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Post by Erich Von Hendrich on Mar 21, 2005 9:40:20 GMT -5
Erich was peacefully in his cell when he was brutally ripped out of bed.
“Wake up!”<br> He was dragged off and thrown into the back of some car. Two men outside were speaking to each other in German.
“Wait, that’s German! They’re taking me back to Germany?”<br> The van drove away. Erich looked at who was driving the Van not surprised at all.
“Max. You’re the one taking me back!”<br> “Hey there Erich! Long time no see. Sorry about the rough housing the Russians did to wake you up!”<br> “So what have you been doing Max?”<br> Meh, mostly Military work. You know the kind. Right now they just had me come up here to get you. But I know you have more important things. Like your affairs in Ireland”<br> Erich curiosity was piqued.
“How did you...”<br> “You forget how extensive the German’s military Intel is.”<br> “Well then how are you going to get me there?”<br> “Easy. This old Pilot I knew. We were working together for a bit. He was under contract a while back.”<br> “Hmm sure we can trust him.”<br> “Sure as I can trust you”<br> “That not very trusting then”<br> They both laughed at the remark.
“Well we should be there soon so relax”<br>
(Sorry it took me so long to post. Oh and nice little news Rendition Bassarov.)
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Post by Lan Zheng-Lafleur on Mar 21, 2005 11:17:42 GMT -5
With diplomats still working on Syria, I have no choice but to continue on with my work. I fly to Russia, where later this week I will meet Russian officials and even travel to Chechnya to meet human rights groups there.
Today I am schedualed to give a speech on the reforms needed by the United Nations. The speech will be televised for the world, and all members of the UN. I am taken to a theater, where I will give the speech and be recorded.
*********** I am going to first speak of threats today and global security.
The threats to peace and security in this century include not just international war and conflict but civil violence, organized crime, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. They also include poverty, deadly infectious disease and environmental degradation since these can have equally catastrophic consequences. All of these threats can cause death or lessen life chances on a large scale. All of them can undermine States as the basic unit of the international system.
Depending on wealth, geography and power, we perceive different threats as the most pressing. But the truth is we cannot afford to choose. Collective security today depends on accepting that the threats which each region of the world perceives as most urgent are in fact equally so for all.
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Post by Lan Zheng-Lafleur on Mar 21, 2005 11:19:13 GMT -5
In our globalized world, the threats we face are interconnected. The rich are vulnerable to the threats that attack the poor and the strong are vulnerable to the weak, as well as vice versa. A nuclear terrorist attack on the United States or Europe would have devastating effects on the whole world. But so would the appearance of a new virulent pandemic disease in a poor country with no effective health-care system.
On this interconnectedness of threats we must found a new security consensus, the first article of which must be that all are entitled to freedom from fear, and that whatever threatens one threatens all. Once we understand this, we have no choice but to tackle the whole range of threats. We must respond to HIV/AIDS as robustly as we do to terrorism and to poverty as effectively as we do to proliferation. We must strive just as hard to eliminate the threat of small arms and light weapons as we do to eliminate the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, we must address all these threats preventively, acting at a sufficiently early stage with the full range of available instruments.
We need to ensure that States abide by the security treaties they have signed so that all can continue to reap the benefit. More consistent monitoring, more effective implementation and, where necessary, firmer enforcement are essential if States are to have confidence in multilateral mechanisms and use them to avoid conflict.
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Post by Lan Zheng-Lafleur on Mar 21, 2005 11:22:33 GMT -5
"These are not theoretical issues but issues of deadly urgency. If we do not reach a consensus on them this year and start to act on it, we may not have another chance. This year, if ever, we must transform the United Nations into the effective instrument for preventing conflict that it was always meant to be by acting on several key policy and institutional priorities..."
"I would now like to lay out the reforms that the UN must undertake in the next year if it is to survive..."
All of this is from the speech UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gave today.
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 21, 2005 11:30:22 GMT -5
Our plane lands in Helsinki and I lead John and Nea to where we will be staying. We will be staying at a friend of mine's apartment. She has gone on vacation for a month and told me I could stay there. It is cheaper than a hotel or hostel, and much more comfortable.
So we take a taxi to the apartment and settle into the apartment. I water my friend's plants and start making us some dinner.
"This is where we will be staying this week. I was thinking that maybe I would go to the city wide protests later today. There are some protests about that upcoming war against Syria. If you two are interested you may come along."
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Post by tounela on Mar 21, 2005 11:50:55 GMT -5
Since the Green Party is one of the co sponsors of the protests in Helsinki, I leave my office to attend the rally. I do much more political work than I do activism, but I always feel a little out of place at these things.
I take a sigh and join in a march, but can not help but feel that in the midst of these college kids, I am very out of place.
But I march because it is important. There are too many wars these days. Someone has to stand against the suffering of it.
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Post by Hearst on Mar 21, 2005 11:55:56 GMT -5
We arrive in Seattle and begin our search for Autsin or anyone else we might be able to take hostage. We are all tired from the long ride west, but know that we have a job to do.
"We're going to split up. One set of us will go to his place of work, the other to his apartment. Whoever finds him first will contact the other team, knock him out, and we will leave together with him."
We split off into two teams and begin our mission.
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Post by Cambridge Brackenfield on Mar 21, 2005 12:02:55 GMT -5
Cambridge goes back to hir hotel and unpacks hir laptop. Sie begins writing hir articles for the Left Turn. Sie first begins with one criticizing the Trotskyist movement for its involvement with terrorist groups. Sie goes on to write a less critical article about the strange disappearance of the 4th International's leadership.
Sie takes a short break and eats a twinkie and coffee. Not exactly the most healthy meal, but enough to give hir the energy sie needs to write one last article.
Sie emails the articles to hir party, which in turn will look them over then submit them to their magazine. Then sie sits back and looks out at the city from hir hotel window. The city is grayer than unusual today.
"I wonder if Selja ever made it to Ireland. She should be there now. Silly girl, following him around and all. Oh well, it isn't my deal." Sie says to hirself before clicking on the TV to see what's on.
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Post by Lan Zheng-Lafleur on Mar 21, 2005 12:15:48 GMT -5
My speech continues for quite a while longer, but finally comes to the conclusions of how the UN must be reformed.
"To make the United Nations a more effective and efficient instrument for forging a united response to shared threats and shared needs, I urge Heads of State and Government to reaffirm the broad vision of the founders of the United Nations, as set out in the Charter of the United Nations, for it to be organized, resourced and equipped to address the full range of challenges confronting the peoples of the world across the broad fields of security, economic and social issues, and human rights, and in that spirit to commit themselves to reforming, restructuring and revitalizing its major organs and institutions, where necessary, to enable them to respond effectively to the changed threats, needs and circumstances of this century."
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Post by Lan Zheng-Lafleur on Mar 21, 2005 12:19:47 GMT -5
"I hope to revitalize the General Assembly by instructing their representatives to adopt, at its sixtieth session, a comprehensive package of reforms to revitalize the General Assembly, including by rationalizing its work and speeding up the deliberative process, streamlining its agenda, its committee structure and its procedures for plenary debates and requesting reports, and strengthening the role and authority of its President. Also by resolving to give focus to the substantive agenda of the General Assembly by concentrating on addressing the major substantive issues of the day, such as international migration and the long-debated comprehensive convention on terrorism.
I also stand for establishing mechanisms enabling the Assembly to engage fully and systematically with civil society."
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Post by Lan Zheng-Lafleur on Mar 21, 2005 12:24:16 GMT -5
"Furthermore we need to, reform the Security Council to make it more broadly representative of the international community as a whole and the geopolitical realities of today, and to expand its membership to meet these goals, by supporting the principles for the reform of the Council and considering the two options, models A and B, proposed in the present report, as well as any other viable proposals in terms of size and balance that have emerged on the basis of either model. We must also agree to take a decision on this important issue before the summit in September 2xxx. It would be far preferable for Member States to take this vital decision by consensus. If, however, they are unable to reach consensus, this must not become an excuse for postponing action."
"We must also reform the Economic and Social Council by mandating the Economic and Social Council to hold annual ministeriallevel assessments of progress towards agreed development goals, particularly the Millennium Development Goals. We must decide that it should serve as a high-level development cooperation forum, reviewing trends in international development cooperation, promoting greater coherence among the development activities of different actors and strengthening the links between the normative and operational work of the United Nations. We must also encourage it to convene timely meetings, as required, to assess threats to development, such as famines, epidemics and major natural disasters, and to promote coordinated responses to them."
"We must decide that the Council should regularize its work in post-conflict management by working with the proposed Peacebuilding Commission."
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