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EU Blogger Register
Read more about: Lisbon Treaty
This caused a Storm in Sweden recently.
Swedish media have erroneously reported that the EU plans to register and bill all bloggers, setting off a firestorm of reaction in the country.
And there is a lesson to all of us in the responsibility of the media there. But this part caught my eye.
Speaking to the EUobserver, Ms Mikko clarified her intentions: “We do not need to know the exact identity of bloggers. We need some credentials, a quality mark, a certain disclosure of who is writing and why. We need this to be able to trust and rely on the source.”
“The Economist is a valuable brand, its articles are trusted by readers without contributors having to reveal their names,” she said. “If there is a way to validate the best bloggers the same way that publishing in the Economist validates its writers, it should be done.”
“It is clear that a Harvard professor of international relations is likely to treat, for instance, the Middle East peace process or European integration in an educated and balanced manner,” she added. “The same trust cannot be put in a radical high school student from Gaza or a Eurosceptic who has never been out of his village”
Basically saying a Euro skeptic is a word that can be used to encapsulate all nutjobs of the world. Ok true Jim Corr is a Euro skeptic. But the way Euro skeptic is mixed in with “radical high school student from Gaza” there is just something wrong there. But the way a skeptical view of the EU which is perfectly valid political opinion to have is demeaned as a nutjobs “who has never been out of his village” is strangely disturbing. If the statement was about biased then she could easily say “Europophile MEP”. But no the imagine of a backwoods nutjob is used. Maybe it is a good strategy make people think a view is only held by radical crazy people and people will not want to support it. Maybe I am paranoid. Maybe I’m Jim Corr. What do these changes say to you.
“It is clear that a Harvard professor of international relations is likely to treat, for instance, the Middle East peace process or gaelic football in an educated and balanced manner,” she added. “The same trust cannot be put in a radical high school student from Gaza or a Dubliner who has never been out of his city”
But the way Euro skeptic is mixed in with “radical high school student from Gaza” there is just something wrong there.
Heh. Given that the “radical high school student from Gaza” is awfully vague, I’m quite surprised that someone could take umbrage for the poor Eurosceptics - a grouping which is generally taken to mean right-wingers (including Nazi- and fascist-affiliated groupings!).
In reacting to this story, I wonder how many of these journalists, bloggers, etc. even stopped for a moment to ask how much experience Marianne Mikko has in speaking on matters of this nature? What are her main political views? Does one such proposal of a single MEP have much weight at all (EUobserver says “not really” in that article)?
There is an amusing irony here, of course, given the context of the story, of essentially unknown talking heads apparently embroiling themselves in a firestorm of reaction about the views of one essentially unknown MEP.
To illustrate my point and to borrow your idea from the last paragraph, how might most Irish people have reacted to this story if it had have been Irish MEP Dana Scallon making these proposals?
(I appreciate that she is no longer a sitting MEP - I am simply making a point about perception.)
This reminds me a little of an anecdote I once heard about a debate on Irish Home Rule in the British parliament back in the day. Some enlightened Englishman claimed that the Irish were no more fit to rule themselves than the Hottentots. The Irish MPs were outraged and objected, but nobody stood up for the poor ol’ Hottentots!
Those who tend to call themselves Eurosceptics tend to be UKIP types, and quite frankly, they’re generally about as enlightened as the English star of the above anecdote. Yes, there are perfectly sensible individuals who are skeptical of the EU, but in general those described as Euroskeptics are nationalistic gobshites and idiotic conspiracy theorists. Likewise, there may be plenty of radical students in Gaza who are nice, progressive individuals who believe in pacifism (what could be more radical in Gaza!) but generally when someone talks about a member of a radical group in Gaza, that’s not the kind of individual we picture.
That’s a fair point Longman. The way in which things like the above are reported is pretty ridiculous. How many times over the course of the Lisbon debate were we told that “The French” or “The EU” were planning x, y and z, when what was really meant was that some French politician had spoken out in favour of a course of action. Similarly, the other night on RTE I heard Stephen King claim that the French premier had called the Irish idiots or something of that nature. What King actually meant was that he’d read in an Irish paper, that a journalist in a French paper had claimed to have spoken to some unknown individual who claimed that Sarkozy had made the comment. Yet King wanted us to take the fifth account report at face value! Another example would be the famous Giscard quotation used by Declan Ganley and his ilk during the Lisbon campaign which turned out to be taken entirely out of context.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/0626/1214432054124.html?via=mr
Perhaps Mikko MEP could enlighten us on her own blogging credentials(?)
The European Parliament plenary would be wise in dropping the text concerning blogs, possibly in favour of a deeper study of free speech.
The European Parliament plenary would be wise in dropping the text concerning blogs, possibly in favour of a deeper study of free speech.
Actually, this reminds me of a certain well-known (for a while) Irish blogger who wrote a piece expressing his “concern” (I kid you not) about the numbers of gay people blogging, which he seemed to think was too high. (The most charitable explanation is that he really meant that there were too many leftists for his liking in the Marketplce of Ideas, and he wanted some Guv’imint intervention, but he didn’t mention this explicitly so)
That the individual in question is himself a well-known FOD (as are quite a number of his one-time associates, some of whom found their way to Libertas) was, sadly, par for the course in this particular would-be pundit’s lack of cop-on.
EU future ? Eurocontrol as part of EU air space guard ?
You have to know that I was in jail because I declasified the documents of my page : http://www.myspace.com/val2002. Since last 4 years I have no job, political police & military intelligence of Romania ( country member of UE ) pick me up regulary at rude interogatory.
The structure of story of my page :
Romanian institution and legislation
1-st chapter
Authorities of Romania implicated in genocide
Romanian connexions of arms smuggling ( air companies, cargo manifest, airport documents wich prove that ).
2-nd chapter
Private military companies- mercenary of globalization. Documents wich prove the illegal deal of weapons and network.
3-rd chapter
A few cinical covered airlift operations of Romanian arms smuggling documentated by proves by me, during the civil war in Darfur- Sudan. Consequences : a humanitarian disaster. 70.000 people died of famine next six month. My interpelation in Romanian Parliament to minister of Justice and the answer. Sudan was under EU embargo.
4-th chapter
Civil war of Sierra Leone, top secret airport, air companies documents wich proves the procedure of supplies both parts in conflict with weapons, by Romanian authorities. Sierra Leone was under UN embargo. No dangerous good handling licence eliberated by Ro Civil Aviation Autority till 2000 year.
5-th chapter
The setting up of sclavagist Romanian government for hide a smuggling arms failure. Here you can see what`s happen with me during last 10 years and how I am fighting with the system. I thing that is important and many personalities show to the people the name of the “dark forces”. But is important to know the underground actions, how can blocked it. Best regards,
Valentin Vasilescu
Education; scientific degrees
:”Aurel Vlaicu” Air Force Officers’ School ( 1980-1984 );
War College, military science ( 1990-1992 ), National Air Force Academy:
Licences :
military pilot’s licence for supersonic aircraft -1985,
international air traffic controller’s licence/instructor’s training - 1997;
specialisation in airport management and crisis management following terrorist attacks (training course in Dublin - 1998)
Professional activities:
officer, Ministry of National Defence ;MIG-21 pilot;
assistant commander of Int..l Bucharest-Otopeni Airport
deputy of Bucharest, member of the Committee for Defence, Public Order, and National Security/ Chamber of Deputies ( 2000-2004 )
http://www. cdep. ro/pls/parlam/structura. mp?idm=315&cam=2&leg=2000&pag=0&idl=2