Football Germany vs. Greece

Posted on 2012-06-22 by Andreas Moser

Tonight, at 2045 CEST: Germany meets Greece in the quarter finals of the European Football Championship 2012.

In a sense only a football match, this encounter is completely overcharged with expectations, hopes and fears. After years of the financial crisis in Greece and the German help in the fighting of – depending on one’s view – this crisis or its aggravation by the German insistence on austerity, the relationship between the two countries and nations is fraught with tension. Germans believe that their retirement cheques is becoming unsafe because Greeks pay no taxes. Greeks on the other hand think that the Germans only pretend to bail them out, while in reality they only give financial injections to their own banks. The inevitable clichés of the “lazy Southern European” on the one and Nazi comparisons on the other side abound.

A miracle will be expected of both national teams tonight. A fair draw would be the best result to ease political tensions, but is not an option in the quarter finals of a European Football Championship. One of them has to win. Worse, one of them has to lose and has to return home in shame. Some in Germany – mainly those who don’t usually show that much interest in football – almost demand a loss of their own team for the sake of European unity.

Because of these excessive expectations, the match between Germany and Greece was secretly brought forward and was already played yesterday. Here is the exclusive report about the match:

(Es gibt auch eine deutsche Version dieses Artikels mit einem deutschsprachigen Video des Spielberichts.)

Posted in Germany, Greece, Sports | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Moving to Lithuania

Posted on 2012-06-18 by Andreas Moser

The journey of your favourite vagabond that began in 2009 with my move to London and last saw me move to Malta continues. I am on the move again after I had briefly returned to London for a few weeks. Even more so than previously, I find London unbearably loud, crowded, noisy, dirty, smelly, polluted, stupid and outrageously expensive. It’s high time to leave this hell hole of a city behind me.

After three years living on islands, first Britain and then Malta, I return to the mainland. I want to have the flexibility again of visiting neighbouring countries by spontaneously hopping on a train or a bus; and the insular mentality also showed in both the UK and Malta.

I have decided to remain in Europe for now and for two reasons: As an EU citizen, I don’t need any visa or residence permit to settle in another EU member state. Also, I find it saddening that in the course of my travels I have been to almost all continents of the world, but I still haven’t seen half of Europe. Most of these as yet unvisited countries are in Eastern and Northern Europe.

My choice fell on Lithuania. I will move to Vilnius on 1 July 2012.

I was drawn to Lithuania because I have never been to the Baltic states. Indeed, I have never even been to any of its neighbouring countries. I plan to visit Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia during my stay in the region. And yes, I will have enough time for all of that.

After living in a metropolis and on a barren rock (which had more charm than this description would make you believe), I was longing to return to a green country. Lithuania promises to be just that.

I am looking forward to going hiking, cycling, camping and just walking through endless forests. And I won’t need to miss the water either, both sweet and salty.

Lithuania should also be an interesting country for a history buff like me, both dating back back a millennium and the more recent history of the 20th century. Independent between the two world wars, then first occupied by the Soviet Union, then the German occupation in 1941, before it finally fell back under Soviet rule three years later and only regained freedom in 1990, Lithuania is a perfect case study for the European history of the last century. Under Nazi-occupation, Lithuania, once a major centre of European Judaism, also played an especially grim part in the Holocaust. The Nazis – and quite a few Lithuanian collaborators – murdered almost the entire Jewish population of Lithuania.

Lithuania even has so much sense of history to celebrate my birthday on 6 July as a public holiday. (Still looking for a present? See here.)

So, in two weeks I’ll be sitting here, reading a book and smoking a cigar:

Why don’t you come for a visit?

Posted in History, Holocaust, Life, Lithuania, London, Travel | 38 Comments

Spain’s Banking Crisis is no Surprise

Posted on 2012-06-13 by Andreas Moser

If a bank cannot even build a straight office tower, how can you expect it to keep a straight balance sheet?

The headquarters of Bankia in Madrid, Spain:

“We are not only drunk when building office towers.”

Posted in Economics, Spain | 3 Comments

The Second Most Important Investment Advice

Posted on 2012-06-13 by Andreas Moser

My second most important investment advice:

Don’t save anything while you are married.

When you get divorced, your wife will take half of it. Most of the rest will go to lawyers.

One for the ex-wife, one for the lawyer.

Don’t forget to have a look at my # 1 and # 3 investment advice.

Posted in Economics, Law | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

What do you want to do with Philosophy?

Posted on 2012-06-07 by Andreas Moser

In the year 1995

Question: What do you study? 

Me: Law.

Reaction: Wow!

In the year 2012

Question: What do you study? 

Me: Philosophy.

Reaction: ???

When I studied law more than a decade ago, some of my high school classmates were jealous, the girls admired me and my parents were happy not to question what I was doing during these four years at university. It was largely unwarranted awe and admiration because law is not a particularly hard subject to study, it just requires a lot of reading, some logical thinking and writing skills. I still don’t know why so many fellow students dropped out (about half of them) or failed the bar exam (about a third of the remaining).

“But what shall we do with this philosophy?”

Wherever I went and declared that I studied law, the reaction was “Wow!”

Now, that I study philosophy, the reaction is a totally different one. Often I can see that the questioner regrets posing the question because he or she doesn’t know how to continue the conversation. I can virtually see the question marks in their eyes.

But sooner or later somebody will ask “And what do you want to do with that when you’re finished?” Notwithstanding my disdain for people who believe that philosophy is something that can be or even has to be “finished”, I could come up with some “sensible” or widely accepted replies:

  • I will open a philosophy practice and take my clients for a walk through the forest while I will talk to them about philosophical and ethical questions.
  • I will write a doctoral thesis about a subject that covers both philosophy and law, thus combining the two subjects I studied so far.
  • I will specialize in the philosophy of war and work as an advisor to the military.
  • I will become a journalist and enlighten you with my weekly column.
  • I will teach philosophy of law.
  • I will write a book about environmental philosophy.
  • I will become the official philosopher of a municipality or a country.
  • I will specialise on philosophy and economics and find a job with a corporation.

You see, I can think of some possible way to make a living with philosophy. But the truth is, I don’t want to. Because in all honesty,

  • I mainly study philosophy because I enjoy it.
To me, that’s the point of studying: education for the sole purpose of knowing and understanding more than I knew or understood before.

“To you it may look pointless, but I enjoy it.”

Posted in Life, Philosophy | 10 Comments

This is Britain: “Panem et circenses”

Posted on 2012-06-06 by Andreas Moser

There is a country in Europe

The country is Britain. Or as it pompously calls itself “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

Well, “stuff happens” one could say. Not all countries can be perfect, not all countries can do well, not all countries can be liberal democracies. But the real question is: what do the people do against this bleak situation? Do they revolt? Do they protest? Do they engage in a civil debate about important issues? Do they try to change their situation? No, no and no.

Why not? Because the dictator monarch throws a big party, gives people a few days off and because the country will have a sports festival for 2 weeks in summer.

“Flags are more important than jobs.”

“Equality is for wimps.”

“Panem et circenses” still works.

Posted in London, Politics, UK | 14 Comments

The Photographer and the Models

Posted on 2012-06-06 by Andreas Moser

Some photographers complain about their models; that they never do what you tell them, that they think they are the better photographers, that they constantly criticize and nag and that they are a spoiled bunch of people.

I don’t have that problem.

I told all of my models to look in the same direction at the same time, and they obeyed.

(photographed in June 2011 during my walk along Hadrian’s Wall)

Posted in Photography, Travel | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Research at the BBC

Posted on 2012-06-01 by Andreas Moser

The BBC ran a report about Syria, Amnesty International and the United Nations Security Council. Next to the Syrian flag and the logo of Amnesty International was what was supposed to be the logo of the United Nations Security Council.

I had never seen this logo before, but I was quite sure that the logo of the United Nations Security Council is closer to the UN flag:

The BBC’s choice for the “UNSC” logo seemed a bit odd, too modern, extraterrestrial. And indeed, it turned out that it was the logo of the fictional “United Nations Space Command” from the computer game “Halo”.

Somebody at the BBC must have used Google image search and not noticed the mistake. This somebody was working at the “News” or “Current Affairs” department of the BBC of all places. He or she did not know anything about the Security Council of the United Nations, a body that has not only been in existence since 1946 but that has been covered in the news at least once a week since then. In addition to that, stumbling across a logo that looks like an alien with forks as extremities did not even raise an eyebrow with these people.

That level of incompetence makes me doubt the quality of the rest of the news on the BBC.

Dear BBC, I live in London and I still have some time on my hands. I am smart, educated and a meticulous and fast researcher. Why don’t you invite me for an interview?

Posted in Politics, Syria, UK | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

British Cinemas show Special Film for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

Posted on 2012-05-31 by Andreas Moser

For the upcoming 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne, cinemas throughout Britain are showing a special film dedicated to this unelected monarch: the film with the surprisingly honest title “The Dictator” is in theatres throughout the country now.

 

 

 

Posted in Cinema, Politics, UK | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Not such a “foreign court”

Posted on 2012-05-31 by Andreas Moser

British politicians, especially from the Conservative Party, tend to call the European Court of Human Rights a “foreign court”. Prime Minister David Cameron just did so again in the debate about prisoners’ voting rights: “This should be a matter for Parliament to decide, not a foreign court.”

More British than you think.

Setting aside the issue of judicial review, which in the UK is – like almost anything – more complicated than in normal democracies, this statement is so wrong that it drives me crazy each time a politician or a newspaper repeats it, which unfortunately is about every day.

Dear British, once and for all: the European Court of Human Rights is NOT a foreign court.

  • Just because something isn’t 100% British, it’s not necessarily foreign. There is something in between, as in the case of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It is a supra-national court.
  • The ECtHR was established by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which was drafted by European politicians and lawyers after World War II. One of the leading personalities in the process was actually a British MP and lawyer, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe.
  • The court is located at Strasbourg in France, but this doesn’t make it a French court. It had to be somewhere in some country because placing it in the middle of the Atlantic would have been a bit impractical.
  • The ECHR was ratified by the United Kingdom in 1953. The UK joined the ECHR and the ECtHR voluntarily and out of its own free will, after having helped in the setting up of the court.

    “Sorry, I was not at university the day we had law. Or history.”

  • The court itself was then established in 1959.
  • Each member state is represented by one judge. Coincidentally, the British judge Sir Nicolas Bratza is even the President of the Court.

The only “foreign” issue in this context are the thoughts of Mr Cameron and some of his colleagues. If a Prime Minister continuously gets even these basic facts wrong, he must be stupid. Or a demagogue.

If it so wishes, the UK may leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. Simply leave the Council of Europe, withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights and leave the European Union (which has acceded to the ECHR). All of this is a genuinely British decision. Nobody can and will stop you. In fact, many of us in the rest of Europe won’t miss your constant nationalist bickering at the intellectual level of the drunk crowd in a pub.

Posted in Europe, Human Rights, Law, Politics, UK | Tagged | 6 Comments