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The 23-year-old photograph is a stunning record of Chinese courage past and an insight into China's present political turmoil. Unless China's government chooses liberty and just law over tyranny and crony corruption, the picture prefigures a bloody future history. I am referring to one of 1989's most famous photos: the lone Chinese protestor in Beijing's Tiananmen Square who stands in front of a People's Liberation Army (PLA) main battle tank. The dramatic confrontation occurred June 5, 1989, the day after PLA gunfire, at the order of Communist leader Deng Xiaoping, killed some 2,000 demonstrators in the square. Everyone in China...

Photographer Stefan Koppelkamm first photographed East Germany in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before the reunification. He revisited the same locations a decade later, and rephotographed them from exactly the same viewpoints to document the drastic social and economic transformations that came about during the time between the photos.

A far-right group in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is running a 'Muslim cartoon contest' and plans to display the works outside mosques. The move has alarmed authorities which fear it could incite violence and hurt German interests abroad, similar to the backlash that followed the 2005 publication of cartoons in Danish newspapers. The German government has voiced concern that far-right activists in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia may incite violence with plans to hold a so-called "Muhammad cartoon contest" and to stage demonstrations outside mosques in the run-up to a regional election there on May 13.

"Senate Hs Committee Report Finds Online Jihadist 'Activity' Leads To Violent Islamist Extremism" by Anthony Kimery 02/28/2012 ( 9:12am) SNIPPET: "Violent Islamist extremists use the Internet to recruit, radicalize and mobilize individuals -- including Americans -- and “the threat of violent Islamist extremism has become increasingly decentralized and its messaging has followed that same trajectory,” according to a report issued Monday by both the majority and minority staff of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs." SNIPPET: "The report concluded that “the United States currently has a haphazard approach to dealing with global Internet radicalization and propaganda,” and...

"A Lebanese suspect from the Hezbollah group has been taken into custody by Thai officials and police are investigating further," Chalerm Yoobamrung told Reuters. "Following concern raised by the Israeli embassy about a possible attack by a group of Lebanese terrorists in Bangkok, Thai police officials had been coordinating with Israeli officials since before the New Year."

A friend alerts us to a woman clearly ahead of her time. According to the Telegraph, a Mrs. Berliner-Mauer, of Sweden, recently revealed that she "tied the knot" with the famous wall while visiting Berlin in 1979. The blissful creature-to-creature ceremony was conducted "before a handful of guests." Clearly biased in its reporting, however, the Telegraph castigates the woman as having a "bizarre fetish for inanimate objects." Objectum-Sexuality, to be regressively clinical. But please: Bizarre? What's truly bizarre is the newspaper's own embrace of Objectosexophobia. Shame! Shame on all objectosexophobists! No doubt "wall friendly" New York and California stand ready...

(...) The delegates, many of them former East German Communists but also younger people, will debate an extraordinary motion put forward by some members: They want their party to declare that the building of the wall was an inescapable necessity. If that leaves any doubts about the Left party’s nostalgia for a wall that imprisoned 17 million people for nearly 30 years, a newspaper survey published this month by The Berliner Zeitung showed that 75 percent of that party’s supporters in Berlin thought the wall was justified or partly justified. (...) Respondents said the wall was necessary to stop the...

Addressing the ceremony on Bernauer Street, famously divided by the Wall and now site of a memorial, Mayor Wowereit said the capital was remembering the "saddest day in its recent history". "It is our common responsibility to keep alive the memories and pass them on to the next generation, to maintain freedom and democracy and to do everything so that such injustices may never happen again," he said. At a ceremony at a former crossing-point, President Wulff said the wall had been "an expression of fear" of those who created it.

Like Daniel in the lion’s den, Berlin’s new Catholic archbishop met the media on Tuesday to face accusations he was homophobic and far too conservative for such a prominent post in the free-wheeling German capital. Rainer Maria Woelki, a surprise choice for the high-profile post, professed respect for gays, denied membership in the staunchly conservative Opus Dei group and said he did not come to Berlin to point a censuring finger at non-Catholics.Berlin’s gay community and liberal media reacted with dismay to his appointment last week, saying the Cologne-based prelate was “backwards-minded� and the wrong man for the job. But...

"Refugees ought not to come to Germany," announces Die Welt. The position that Berlin is expected to adopt when European interior ministers meet to discuss immigration on 11 April is unlikely to be welcomed by Italy which has called for solidarity in the drive to cope with thousands of immigrants who have recently arrived from North Africa. “Italy’s dirty tricks amount to unacceptable blackmail," remarks the conservative daily, which nonetheless acknowledges that "it is inadmissible that Italy and Malta pay the price for changes that are in all of Europe’s interest." For Die Welt, Europe should come together to invest...

President Reagan Centennial: Mr. Gorbachev Tear Down This Wall! In honor of the 100th Birthday of President Ronald Reagan below is one of the great hallmarks of his political legacy and Presidency.

Doctors at a Berlin hospital have made a medical breakthrough after capturing live MRI images of the miracle of birth. The pictures, taken after a German mother agreed to give birth inside a magnetic-resonance imaging machine, could provide valuable new insights into the birthing process and allow future lives to be saved. Gynaecologist Ernst Beinder at Berlin's Charité Hospital said the birth proceeded normally and the machine filmed all the movements and processes that went on inside the womb.

Unemployment in Germany fell below 3m in October for the first time in 18 years, according to unadjusted figures released by the federal labour office. The government in Berlin greeted the news with delight and saw it as confirmation that its measures to revive the economy from last year’s recession had been timely and effective. Seasonally adjusted jobless figures showed rather less improvement, with a decline of just 3,000 in registered unemployed for a total figure of 3.153m, or 7.5 per cent of the labour force. The figures were leaked on Wednesday, a day early, by Ursula von der Leyen,...

German flags have sprouted like red, black and gold wildflowers across Berlin this summer. They're appearing on balconies, cars, bicycles, storefront windows, even painted on children's cheeks. Few can match Youssef Bassal's. Eager to show his enthusiasm for Germany's soccer team during the World Cup, Mr. Bassal, a 38-year old Lebanese immigrant, unfurled a 60-by-15-foot German flag a few weeks ago, on the facade of the building that houses his cell-phone store. Mr. Bassal knew his Fahne, as the Germans call it, would draw onlookers. What he didn't anticipate was the reaction—outrage. During the flag's first night on exhibit, Mr....

Does anyone know here I might find online audio and/or video of the Irving Berlin song "This Is a Great Country"? I'd like to post it on my Facebook page.

A Berlin police spokesman told the Jerusalem Post on Monday that two young Israelis were violently attacked in a Berlin disco because of their nationality. The spokesman said the attack prompted the police to issue a statement terming the attack as “anti-Semitic.” According to statements from two male Israelis aged 18 and 22, a Palestinian man was responsible for the assault. He asked the 22-year-old Israeli about his nationality, who replied that he is a citizen of Israel.

BERLIN — German authorities have shut down Berlin's main international airport after construction workers discovered a World War II bomb there. A police spokesman told The Associated Press on Wednesday the bomb's weight is estimated at a quarter ton. Police said no planes are allowed to land or take off from Tegel airport until experts manage to defuse the bomb. Police are blocking all access roads. Local media reported the airport would remain closed until the evening, forcing the cancellation or diversion of dozens of flights.

Germany's Jewish community on Monday warned of an "alarming" rise in anti-Semitic violence by Arab and Turkish immigrants after Berlin police reported two unrelated attacks against Jews over the weekend. "There's an urgent need to fight the roots of anti-Semitism, especially coming from young Turks and Arabs, and to effectively counter it," the Jewish Community in Berlin said in a statement. "That the violence from the immigrant community is being increasingly aimed at Jews or people they assume are Jews is alarming," it added.

Armed robbers on Saturday struck at Germany's largest poker tournament, stealing money and injuring gamblers, police said. The masked gang burst into the Grand Hyatt hotel in central Berlin, where the tournament was taking place, threatening security staff and prompting a brief panic, police spokeswoman Heidi Vogt told AFP. Berlin's Tageszeitung newspaper reported on its website that six raiders armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and grenades made off with 800,000 euros (1.1 million dollars). "Several masked, armed individuals entered the Grand Hyatt and fled with a haul of money," Vogt said, without giving details of the sum involved. She said...

http://www.un.org "Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your World" # Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33849 UN joins forces with computer giants to tackle Internet terrorism 22 February 2010 – The United Nations and computer giants, including Microsoft and Google, are joining forces to identify ways to combat terrorists’ use of the Internet to recruit members, organize criminal acts and raise money. The UN Working Group on Countering the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes is holding talks with CISCO, Symantec and others in the United States city of Seattle to examine the technical issues involved in...

Artists pour into low rent, laissez-faire capital as new economy makes 20% of debt-hit city's GDP. snip . . . "It takes me back to when I used to go with my mother to the Reichstag in the days after the war and people were selling watches and coffee beans on the black market in an attempt to survive," she says, giving only her first name, Isabel. "In some ways it feels like Berlin is as poor now as it was then." snip . . . From an economic viewpoint the city is in disarray, with a jobless rate of...

The World Bids Farewell To Obama Charles Hawley Jan. 21, 2010, 9:32 AM US President Barack Obama suffered a painful defeat in Massachusetts on Tuesday. With mid-term elections looming, it means that Obama will have to fundamentally re-think his political course. German commentators say it is the end of hope. US President Barack Obama has had a number of difficult weeks during his first year in the White House. Right after he took office, he had to wade through a week full of partisan bickering over his economic stimulus package combined with a tax scandal surrounding Tom Daschle, the man...

The Berlin Wall was a world away from the apartheid wall built by Israel around Palestinian population centers, the U.S./South Korean military wall that separates family members from North Korea, or the expanded U.S. wall against immigrants on the border with Mexico. What is the difference? Those walls are aimed at repressing the workers and oppressed. The Berlin Wall, by contrast, was built in defense of the workers and oppressed.

EasyJet recalls magazine with Holocaust memorial fashion shoot Published: 24 Nov 09 10:14 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091124-23481.html British discount airline easyJet has recalled some 280,000 copies of its in-flight magazine after complaints about a fashion shoot staged at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial, daily Financial Times Deutschland reported on Tuesday. ADVERTISING Heavy wind storms rage through Germany - National (24 Nov 09)Berlin plans 'integration contract' for immigrants - Politics (23 Nov 09)Antique car dealer finds Hitler's Mercedes - Society (23 Nov 09) The November edition of “easyJet Traveller,” which features a fashion section with fashion models in provocative poses amid the pillars of the...

11/13/2009 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- They had never met face to face, but a chance encounter between the two conjured a touching reunion six decades later at the Randolph Air Show Nov. 7. Retired Col. Gail Halvorsen, a 1st lieutenant at the time, earned his spot in in history flying C-54s and C-47s during the Berlin Airlift of World War II. He earned the nickname "The Candy Bomber" from dropping candy from his aircraft to children below while flying over the American sector of Berlin. "One day I met some kids in Berlin at the fence...

It is always interesting to see how these two respond to the same event. In the case of the fall of the Berlin Wall, both Obama and McCain delivered remarks -- Obama, via video, to the assembled masses in Berlin, and McCain to the students at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (what a difference a few million votes make). Obama never mentions the words Russia or Soviet Union. As Ed Morrissey writes, to hear Obama tell it you'd think "there was some vague tyrant that used to oppress eastern Europe but has since receded into the mists...

Germany's ranking in the Prosperity Index is a validation of those who risked their lives to tear down the Berlin Wall, writes Ryan Streeter. Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell. Its collapse marked the beginning of a reunified Germany and the end of the Cold War. On Monday, Berliners knocked down a wall of Styrofoam “dominoes” - more fanciful than foreboding - to commemorate the moment when East Germans began hammering their way to freedom. Dominoes are quite a fitting symbol indeed.

It’s bad enough that President Obama could not be bothered to attend the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But Hillary Clinton’s refusal to even acknowledge the role played by Ronald Reagan in the Wall’s demise as well as the downfall of Communism was highly insulting towards one of the greatest figures of our time, and reeked of petty and partisan mean-spiritedness. The Secretary of State’s remarks yesterday in Berlin completely erased from history the huge contribution played not only by President Reagan but also by the United States in confronting the Soviet Empire....

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a benchmark that made an impression on me as it did for millions of people around the world. The sight of thousands of East Germans pouring into West Berlin, particularly the youth who had never experienced freedom before, was a surreal scene not only for the people of Europe but also for us born in the Middle East. Westerners looked with shock at the peoples of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and the Soviet Union surging against totalitarianism. Central Europeans stared with awe at the countries who never surrendered...

On November 9, 2009, the world will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Naturally, in Germany, there will be commemorations of the event, and the collapse of Communism in Europe. "snip" And given all of this, it is safe to say that Barack Obama will attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the fall of the Wall, right? Wrong. While Candidate Barack Obama was perfectly willing to go to Germany during the 2008 Presidential campaign, President Barack Obama has chosen to skip the 20th anniversary celebrations altogether. Needless to say, this has not elicited much outrage...

There was one world leader absent for today’s commemorations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Surprisingly enough, it’s President Barack Obama, who found time last year to give a campaign speech there last year, which Der Spiegel summed up as “People of the World, Look at Me”. The White House has cited a packed schedule, though looking at it he had nothing much on yesterday (brief chat to reporters about healthcare – by far his biggest priority) and just blah briefings and a bill signing today until a metting this evening with Benjamin Netanyahu. This...

It has been 20 long years since the fall of the Berlin wall. Millions of people who were trapped in their oppressive, government-planned states suffered as a result of collectivism. Over 100 million people died at the hands of sycophantic, megalomaniac leaders that claimed they could bring us a better world than so-called capitalism and individual liberty has brought us. I say "so-called" because nowhere in the world does capitalism truly exist. In the countries where it is allowed to exist in even small proportions, wealth and prosperity reign. However, the collectivists hate even this small proportion of capitalism that...

Barack Obama was quick off the mark last year in heading for Berlin during his election campaign, when he was cheered by a crowd of 200,000 adoring Germans. Yet as president of the United States he has decided to stay away from Berlin as the city commemorates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In contrast, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have both made the trip to Germany, while Obama has decided to send his Secretary of State. It is shameful when the US president can’t even be bothered to show up...

"The president does not plan to travel to Germany to attend the 20th anniversary celebration Monday of the fall of the Berlin Wall, drawing heated criticism from those who say he's ignoring a shining triumph of American-inspired democracy."

Apparently, he only has time to go to Berlin when it's all about him!Rich Lowry points out that: In his first year in office, Barack Obama has visited more foreign countries than any other president. He’s touched ground in 16 countries, easily outpacing Bill Clinton (3) and George W. Bush(11). But there’s one stop Obama won’t make. He has begged off going to Berlin next week to attend ceremonies commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. His schedule is reportedly too crowded. Obama had time to fly all the way over to Copenhagen to plead for Chicago to get the...

History comes back to haunt us. Just over 20 years ago, the then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher told Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: “Britain and western Europe are not interested in the unification of Germany. The words written in the NATO communique may sound different, but disregard them. We do not want the unification of Germany.” She went on to say... About one year after the construction of the wall, Peter Fechter attempted to flee from the GDR together with his friend Helmut Kulbeik. The plan was to hide in a carpenter’s workshop near the wall in Zimmerstrasse and, after...

A profession O and CONgre$$ won't be messing with 'pay' rates anytime soon?

And why should he? After all, 1989 was a very bad year for Obama and his comrades. A bankrupt, enslaving and murderous ideology was shattered to pieces by the freedom loving people of Eastern Europe. Millions and millions of people who lived in fear, poverty and repression regained their freedom and dignity. That's not something a communist like Obama would like to celebrate.

Peace has been an almost fleeting dream since the beginning of history, many died defending it, far more died pursuing it. Perhaps, it would be fitting for Obama to go Norway and accept the Nobel Prize in the name of the over one million American GIs who died during WWI, WWII and other conflicts throughout the world fighting tyranny. Yes, it would be most fitting for President Obama to accept the Nobel Prize in the name of those Americans who gave their lives so the world would enjoy freedom. But, he won't! Such emotions, such admiration, such pride, form no...

It is pretty clear why the president is refusing to accept the personal invitation of the German chancellor and attend festivities marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It would smack of American triumphalism - our success in defeating perhaps the most odious of all the odious ideologies of the 20th century. Obama doesn't do "triumphalism." That would place America above other nations - something that he has explicitly condemned. So he will be conspicuous by his absence. And another European ally has been embarrassed by this president.

BERLIN — Part of Berlin's red-light scene is going green. One bordello, hoping to stave off falling demand in the economic crisis, has begun offering discounts to customers who pedal bicycles to the door. "It's very difficult to find parking around here, and this option is better for our environment," said Thomas Goetz, who owns the brothel Maison d'Envie, or House of Desire. Local residents in Prenzlauer Berg - a part of former East Berlin now home to scores of trendy boutiques, restaurants and clubs - had staunchly supported the Green party in recent elections and have welcomed the bordello's...

(English-language translation) GERMANY - On the 48th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, this capital today remembers all of its victims and protests against minimizing the history of the defunct German Democratic Republic (GDR). The victims were remembered during a ceremony at the Chapel of Reconciliation in Berlin, which Mayor Klaus Wowereit and government delegate Marianne Birthler (the latter in charge of the documents of the GDR's Stasi secret political police) attended. In the simple chapel located on Bernauer Street where the Wall stood, a candle burned in memory of the dead and a floral arrangement was placed....

BERLIN -An Audi sedan written off by an elderly German woman as stolen two years ago has resurfaced — in her neighbor's garage beneath a thick layer of dust. Police said Thursday the 82-year-old from the northern city of Hildesheim took the car in for repairs two years ago and had the mechanics drive it back to her house and park it in her garage. She got the keys and papers from her mailbox, but when she went to get the car it was nowhere to be found. So she reported it stolen. When her neighbor went to clean up...

In 1989, more than 100,000 East Germans took to Leipzig's streets protesting against their hardline communist rulers and demanding an end to repression. The pro-democracy surge spread rapidly, forcing East Germany's leaders to open the Berlin Wall to the West, before it was finally destroyed. It was a seismic moment that sent shockwaves around the world. Now PETER HITCHENS, who was there at the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and Russia, imagines how it could all have gone terribly wrong, and contemplates the repercussions that would have followed...

Contrast this speech that actually changed the world for the better with Obama's Muslim apology speech![video at site]The entire address is worth listening to. But if your time is limited cue to 11:15 on the clip for the segment which contains the famous phrase "Mr. Gorbachev TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" Last year, I posted on the background that lead to Reagan's demand. Ending the Cold War and removing the last scar left on post World War II Europe was a goal of Ronald Reagan's for decades. Many of Reagan's advisors, including then National Security Advisor Colin Powell, thought the line...

(Planes flew a distance equivalent to flying to the moon and back 63 times) Ceremonies have been taking place in Berlin to mark the 60th anniversary of the ending of the blockade of West Berlin by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. In 1948, Stalin cut off all land links into West Berlin in an attempt to force out British, French and US troops. Instead, the Western nations launched the biggest airlift in history to keep 2.25 million residents from starving. For the next 11 months, planes landed every two minutes, bringing in total more than 2.5m tonnes of supplies. Seventy-eight aircrew...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090429.html Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks in Berlin on the Closing of Guantanamo Bay Berlin, Germany Wednesday, April 29, 2009 It is my distinct honor to join you at the Hans Arnhold Center of the American Academy of Berlin. The Academy is a fitting caretaker for a building that holds a special place in history as a safe harbor for freedom and a catalyst for cultural exchange. When luminaries like Richard Holbrooke, Richard Von Weizsacker, Fritz Stern and Otto Graf Lambsdorff joined forces to create the American Academy, they knew that we...

Luxury cars targets of meltdown rage 1 Mar 2009 When Berlin resident Simone Klostermann returned from vacation and couldn’t find her Mercedes SLK, she thought it had been towed. Police told her the $45,000 car had been torched. “They’d squirted something flammable into the car’s engine block in the gap between the windshield and the hood,” said Klostermann. The 34-year-old’s experience isn’t unique in the German capital. At least 29 vehicles were destroyed in arson attacks this year, most of them luxury cars, according to police. The number is already about 30% of the total for 2008. The latest to...

GERMAN authorities are preparing to clear hundreds bombs left from World War II that are strewn under Berlin's busiest airport. There are so many explosives - bombs and grenades - that litter the ground around Tegel airport that more than 500 sites will be excavated to finally make it safe for passenger jets if they stray off the tarmac. Berlin's Senator for Urban Development, Ingeborg Junge-Reyer declined to comment on the threat posed by the deadly relics.

Germany has been threatened with attacks for its presence in Afghanistan in a video released yesterday by the US centre for surveillance of Islamist sites (SITE). In the 30 minute Video message, a man calling himself Abu Talha Al-Alamani and presumed to be a member of al Queda says the Germans are "gullible and naive" if they thought they could "escape unscathed when they are the third occupation force in Afghanistan." The man, whose face is hidden by a black turban in the video, adds: "Letting me blow myself up in the name of Allah has been my wish since...