Merry Christmas

Geseënde Kersfees, Een Plesierige Kerfees, Rehus-Beal-Ledeats, Gezur Krislinjden, Milad Majid, Feliz Navidad, Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand, Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun, Selamat Hari Natal Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! Shuvo Naba Barsha, Vesele Vanoce. Feliz Natal, Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat, Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo, Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou! Feliz Navidad, Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun, Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan (Catonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun, Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito, Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo, Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth, Pace e salute, Rot Yikji Dol La Roo, Mitho Makosi Kesikansi, Sretan Bozic, Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok, Glædelig Jul, Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak, Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast, Merry Christmas, Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo! Gajan Kristnaskon, Ruumsaid juulup|hi, Melkin Yelidet Beaal Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar! Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad, Hyvaa joulua, Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar, Joyeux Noel, Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier! Bo Nada, Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr! Fröhliche Weihnachten, Kαλά Χριστούγεννα! Jwaye Nowel or to Jesus Edo Bri'cho o Rish D'Shato Brichto, Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!, Mele Kalikimaka, Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova, Shub Naya Baras, Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara! Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket, Gledileg Jol, Selamat Hari Natal, Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah, Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat, Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay. Buone Feste Natalizie, Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto, Mithag Crithagsigathmithags, Sung Tan Chuk Ha, souksan van Christmas, Natale hilare et Annum Faustum! Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!, Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto, Priecigus Ziemassvetkus, Linksmu Kaledu, Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar, Sreken Bozhik, IL-Milied It-tajjeb, Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa, Meri Kirihimete, Shub Naya Varsh, Merry Keshmish, God Jul, or Gledelig Jul, Pulit nadal e bona annado, Bon Pasco, Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu, En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!, Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo, Maligayan Pasko! Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie, Feliz Natal, Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha, Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua, Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn, Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!, Sarbatori vesele or Craciun fericit, Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom, Buorrit Juovllat, La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou, Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou, Hristos se rodi, Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce, Buorrit Juovllat, La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou, Nollaig chridheil huibh, Hristos se rodi., Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa, Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok, Vesele Bozicne Praznike Srecno Novo Leto or Vesel Bozic in srecno Novo leto, Feliz Navidad,God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År, Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon, Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal, Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!, Sawadee Pee Mai or souksan wan Christmas, Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun, Srozhdestvom Kristovym or Z RIZDVOM HRYSTOVYM, Naya Saal Mubarak Ho, Chuc Mung Giang Sinh, Nadolig Llawen, E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!

World Diabetes Day

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

According to the World Health Organization, in 2006 at least 171 million people were diagnosed as suffering from diabetes. Diabetes in one of the top five most significant diseases and, in combination with the other two ‘developing countries’ diseases, high blood pressure and heart problems can be proven lethal.

In just the United States alone, 20.8 million people were diagnosed with diabetes in 2005, while another 6.2 million people were undiagnosed and another 41 million people were in pre-diabetic status. These scary numbers are the reality of our modern world. Diabetes, especially Type II, is the combination of heritable situation and the life style that includes a bad diet and little exercise. We must understand that diabetes, Type, I and II, is chronic and there's no cure - the only defence is the lifestyle of the diabetic.

I’m not a doctor myself, so you'll have to find the doctors and institutions to give you all the help and information you may need, plus the internet can also provide forums for diabetics suffering from both types; they can give you some help but most of all support. As I said, I’m not a doctor and I'm certainly not pretending to be one, on the contrary I am a diabetic and I found out my situation in 1994. All the signs were there I just didn’t see them or never had the right information to even recognise them.

Not that there was lack of information, there was plenty available in hospitals and doctor’s surgeries. It was just nowhere around, nobody had told me that being forty, having a lifestyle full of stress, an uncontrolled diet and no exercise was asking for problems. For over two years I had all the symptoms by the book, I was constantly thirsty and hungry, I was gaining weight quickly and, at the same, I was then losing it just as fast. However, I always had the excuse of being too busy all the time. I started having problems with my eyes and kept thinking I must check them… when I’m not too busy. I always had something more important to do, but then two years after I found myself in hospital bed following a cardiac episode and a diabetes waiting in the corner.

Since then my life has changed. It had to change by force and over a decade later it still has its ups and downs. For many of these ups and downs I am to blame because I had to learn new tricks and that was not always easy – especially for an old dog like me. It would have been definitely easier and much simpler if I had the right information at the right time.

I’m not going to tell you the differences between diabetes I and II, but there are many and they are both dangerous, especially if we don’t take the right precautions. As I said, there is no cure for diabetes but there is definitely management that can lead to a normal life - don’t forget that one of the strong symptoms in diabetes is physiological, such as depression and manias.

In the case of diabetes II, doctors practice an operation called gastric bypass surgery that treats patients with 80-100% severely obese diabetes, but again you must ask a doctor, who can give you better information.

November 14th is World Diabetes Day and a good chance to find some more information about one of the worst contemporary diseases.

www.worlddiabetesday.org

Polish reporter

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Poland's opposition leader has mocked the prime minister for lacking a driver's license, compared him with a notorious communist and accused him of forcing two million Poles from their homeland. Donald Tusk, a trim, sandy-blonde economic liberal, is showing a new toughness as he fights to unseat Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski in elections this Sunday, revealing steel unseen when he failed to win power in 2005.

Polls show a tight contest between Tusk's pro-business and socially conservative Civic Platform, and Kaczynski's Law and Justice, which is also conservative, but favors greater social spending to help the needy and is more skeptical of the European Union.

The bitter truth is that the amazing twins must go out from power in Poland but what remains causes more wonders. Their anti-communist menace has often led their policies to the limits of fascism and Poland has been often under criticism from the European Parliament, not to forget all the problems the twins caused in the last summit.

Poland may block Russia's entrance to WTO

Poland warned on Monday that it would block Russia's entrance to the World Trade Organization if Moscow did not cancel an embargo on exports of Polish meat and produce. Russia imposed the ban in late-2005 after uncovering what it said were violations of food safety regulations. Polish officials maintain that the country's food quality standards meet EU norms and that the embargo is political.

"If Russia's position toward Poland doesn't change, we will have to vote against Russia's membership in WTO," Deputy Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski told a news conference in Moscow, according to Russian news agencies.

Poland also warned it would continue to block a strategic EU-Russia agreement if the embargo was not lifted. "Poland has to link these two issues — the embargo and the signing of a new agreement between Russia and the European Union," Ardanowski was quoted as saying.

The question that arises is not if Russia will stop banning Polish meat but if Polish meat meets the standards of food safety regulations and if the EU can guarantee that they do.

Polish Church Advises People How To Vote

The Polish Catholic Church reminded Poland's voters that they have an obligation to vote in keeping with the fundamental values taught by the Church. In a letter by Polish Bishops that was read to congregations all over Poland this weekend, people were told that they should pay attention to the moral condition of political candidates, their identity, values and readiness to cooperate with others.

Prime Minister Kaczynski's voter base rests primarily in the countryside among the older population and followers of Radio Maria's Father Taduesz Rydzyk. These voters are devoutly Catholic and tend to support Kaczynski. How much some of them support him and his party was made reported today in the Polish Weekly Gazeta Wyborcza.

In Lublin, after a church service yesterday, PIS flyers were distributed on the church's premises and when a Gazeta Wyborcza reporter started taking pictures, some people surrounded him, started calling him names, and told him to "f**k off!" - One woman even hit him in the face. Finally a man urged people to calm down and the reporter was able to get away.

The candidates whose fliers were distributed said that they had no idea about what happened. They said that people take their flyers and distribute them any way they want. Candidates have no control over what they do.

It seems that the Vatican will never stop getting involved in Polish politics despite the fact that the wall has fallen and the Polish Pope is dead.

Latvian Report

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

Gang of former KGB agents operating in Latvia

A criminal group composed of Soviet-era KGB agents and former and present special service agents are operating in Latvia, the country's prime minister said Thursday. "We know people, their names, concrete crimes, we have testimonies, but we haven't detained anyone yet," Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis said.

The criminal gang - allegedly linked to certain politicians - is believed to be involved in extortion and drug trafficking in the small Baltic EU country, he said. Kalvitis did not disclose any names, but called on President Valdis Zatlers to hold a special national security council meeting "as soon as possible." Theoretically Kalvitis' allegations could be true, said Lolita Cigane, a corruption expert at Providus Center.

While one former KGB employee tries to be elected Russia's next PM, others have taken a different path that is usually the plot of a James Bond film.

Latvia extends peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan

Latvia has decided to extend its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan for another year, allocating $14 million in funds, the governmental press service said Tuesday. The ex-Soviet Baltic state plans to send a total of 260 troops into the country in two alternating troop contingents, the press service said. At the moment, 100 Latvian troops are deployed in northern Afghanistan as part of the UN peacekeeping mission. A NATO and European Union member, Latvia withdrew from Iraq in June.

This year has been the bloodiest period in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led campaign to overthrow the Taliban movement in 2001, as radical Islamist forces step up attacks in an attempt to topple the government and drive foreign troops out of the country.

Latvia is certainly a country of contradictions with the World Bank ranking it as the 22nd best country for business, while it also has the most expensive chicken meat, sausages, milk, eggs, bread and sugar in the Baltic States and is facing increasing accusations of corruption.

Russian Parliament's Upper House Ratifies Latvia Border Pact

The upper house of Russia's parliament Wednesday ratified a border treaty with Latvia that allows Russia to retain a swathe of land contested by Latvian nationalists. The treaty gives Russia control of an area known as the Pytalovo district to Russians and Abrene to Latvians that was seized by the Soviet Union after World War II.

Latvian nationalists protested the agreement as a sellout when the Latvian parliament signed it earlier this year, but supporters hope the agreement will help improve often-chilly relations with Russia. Moscow frequently complains that Latvia discriminates against its large ethnic-Russian population and regards Latvia's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union as Western encroachment on Russia's border.

The 117-1 vote by the Federation Council sends the measure to President Vladimir Putin for signing. Latvia already has ratified and signed the measure. The situations sounds similar to that of some Finns and their belief that Karelia should be returned to Finland, which was also an area taken by Russia at the end of World War Two and has caused extensive diplomatic problems recently after some officials made claims regarding a secret buy-out offer made by Russia in the 1950s.

Dutch Report

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

Giant Lego Man Washes Ashore in Holland

A giant 2.5 meter Lego man mysteriously washed up on the Dutch resort of Zandvoort joining the ranks of such publicity stunts as 1984's giant Swatch in Frankfurt and a life-size Lego crane that hit Chile last year. The plastic invader was wearing a shirt with the words, "NO REAL THAN YOU ARE," which makes it unclear if this was even done by Lego.

Workers at a drinks stall rescued the Lego man, with a traditional yellow head and blue torso. "We saw something bobbing about in the sea and we decided to take it out of the water," said a stall worker. A woman nearby added, "I saw the Lego toy floating towards the beach from the direction of England."

Dutch authorities will be taking the man into custody to determine whether he is eligible for asylum status after officials believe he escaped from Denmark's Legoland Billund after suffering from countless human rights violations. "The Lego man appears to be in shock because he hasn't spoken or stopped smiling since his rescue," another official stated.

Crackdown on magic mushrooms

The famously liberal Netherlands has been swinging toward the right, cracking down on immigration, religious freedoms and the freewheeling red light district. The next possible target is magic mushrooms following the death of a 17-year-old French girl, who jumped from a building after eating psychedelic mushrooms while on a school visit.

Regulation of mushrooms is even less stringent than Holland's famously loose laws on marijuana, which is illegal but tolerated in "coffee shops" that are a major tourist attraction. In May, Health Minister Ab Klink ordered the national health institute to perform a new study on the risks of mushrooms.

At a press conference, a spokesman for the national health institute was unable to answer reporters' questions concerning the progress of the study after screaming that a huge Lego man was trying to steal his packet of stroopwaffels.

Flood of complaints against call to ban Koran

Police have received a flood of complaints against a call to ban the Koran made by MP Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration party PVV, last week, reports ANP news service on Wednesday. The exact number of complaints is not yet known but run into ‘scores’ from around the country, a spokesman for the public prosecution service in Amsterdam said.

The Dutch right-wing politician, known for his views favouring the restriction of immigration, particularly from non-Western countries, his criticism of, and opposition to, Islam, suggested that Muslims should 'tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands' because it contained 'terrible things' and that Muhammad would 'in these days be hunted down as a terrorist'.

Dutch liberals are planning on sending Geert Wilders a plate of magic mushrooms and space cakes for his birthday on September 6 in the hope that he lightens the hell up and kills the brain cells responsible for his prejudice.

Finnish bouncers and excessive force

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

On Saturday night my English neighbour and his Finnish wife went out for a few drinks with some friends before they bid farewell to Finland and began their new life back in Britain. Midway through their evening at Zetor, a theme restaurant/nightclub in the centre of Helsinki, my friend underwent some brutal physical abuse from the club's security staff after he foolishly punched a Finnish man who had been sexually harassing his wife and then tried to steal her handbag.

I have given considerable thought to the approach I should take to writing this, since my friend's actions did deserve the attention of the bouncers, but – and this is the key point – the bouncers had no excuse for the extent of their retribution. Three members of Zetor's security jumped on my friend, who I'll call J, and inflicted severe wounds upon his forehead, face, throat, upper body and left knee, while at one point J almost lost consciousness due to the strange hold.

The incident, as related by J and his wife, goes as follows: Mrs J and her friend were harassed during the night and when their tolerance was exhausted they told the guy to stop. The guy then returned with Zetor's security staff and before their very eyes the man tried to snatch the handbag, which J happened to be holding. J foolishly punched the man in the heat of the moment and three bouncers were on him in seconds.

One had his arm around his throat, another was forcing J's arms behind his back and then when on the ground another sat on his legs. J managed to wriggle one of hands free to signal that he was about to pass out, yet the bouncers grabbed his hands and tied them behind his back with a plastic tie strap. Face down and with your hands secured behind your back would be considered by many to be restrained, but the bouncers did not stop.

A member of the supposedly professionally-trained security staff grabbed J's head and smashed it into the ground repeatedly, which is evident from the severe friction burns on his face and forehead. J hadn't been brandishing a weapon or shouting abuse, and one witness, who was not part of J's group, gave police a statement stating this. The arrival of the police signalled the start of part two of J's nightmare.

Despite the fact his face was bleeding and there was a danger of concussion from the beating security staff had inflicted, J received no medical attention all night and was even denied access to a lavatory, while locked in a cell unfit for any human or animal. His wife didn't know where he had been taken and had no way to contact him until he got home the following morning. The Finnish police then made an incredibly amateur mistake by asking J to sign a Finnish statement, which will result in the case being thrown out once it reached court.

J flies back home to the UK today and will be taking back very few, if any, good impressions of Finland. He will have to face airport security with his scabbed face, plus he will have to start his new job with a damaged knee that will certainly be aggravated by the weight of the luggage they are transporting back to England. J's Finnish wife felt obligated to apologise to her husband for ever bringing him to this country and they are both returning with a bitter taste of this country in their mouths.

Back home in England he will tell this story and people will be shocked. They will be shocked primarily by the fact that Zetor and its security staff will escape any kind of punishment or bad publicity, thereby ensuring that other patrons are under threat from these bullies. It is for this reason that I have decided to write an Ovi editorial to hopefully safeguard you from the bouncers at Zetor because, as a friend of J's wife said, nothing will change or happen due to the fact that all anybody will say, "It's Finland!"

Can you imagine if this situation happened in England or another EU country? Can you imagine somebody dismissing the entire incident with a, "Well, it's England!" The ignorance, the arrogance, the outright stupidity of that statement is what keeps this country on the same track, destined to relive these miscarriages of justice ad infinitum. It is time for people in Finland to stop blaming the country and point the finger back at themselves because they are the ones that turn the blind eye allowing it to happen.

My final warning: Avoid Zetor.

For two ministerial seats

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

When we are referring to an environmental movement we are not talking about green trees and flowers, we are talking about the concrete that has destroyed our lives and our minds; we are referring to the concrete walls we have built in the name of consumerism and civilization. These are some of the things I talked with Petra Kelly one night during the late-80s in a friendly house in Berlin.

For the ones who had the honor to know her and remember her passionate voice, they must remember how ardent she was about nuclear power. How could anyone who is the least bit interested in the environment ever support the idea of nuclear power? That was one of her rhetorical questions that night followed by the question: How can an environmental party, with all the meaning of environment that includes the humans and their well-being as part of this environment, even compromise and support the ones who are responsible for what’s happening?

I’m really sorry to say it but Petra Kelly is lucky to be dead because now we know that there are green - self-labelled environmental - parties that can compromise to anything just to get a seat in government. The Finnish Green Party exchanged its 30 silver coins for the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Labor.

Well, Labor won't be for long because from January 2008 the Finnish government will have a new "super ministry" when the Ministry of Trade and Industry take over labour affairs, regional policy and copyright issues, possibly renamed as the "Ministry of Labour and Commerce". In practice, this may mean that the Ministry of Labour will be dissolved. Immigration issues will be transferred to the Ministry of the Interior.

Petra Kelly was one of the strong opponents of military pacts and alliances like NATO but the partners of the Finnish Green Party are seriously thinking of the possibility, especially Kokoomus, the right-wing party. Petra Kelly believed strongly in free education for all while the new partners of the Finnish Green Party believe that it is about time to start charging and that goes to the suffering health system as well. Petra Kelly strongly believed in the rights of the workers while the Finnish Green Party will have to compromise with the rights of the big cooperation and their employees’ cuts in the name of better profit for the share-holders.

Petra Kelly refused to believe that an environmental party would ever compromise in nuclear issues; that’s why the Finnish Green Party avoided any connection with the environment ministry believing that this gives them the role of Pilate washing their hands since the Green Party condemns the use of nuclear power while their partners are already planning the next nuclear plant. Pity because the thirty silver coins are burning the two seats they got.

Because of an article I wrote a few days ago, I got a few comments mainly from members of the Finnish Green Party, so I would like to mention that an environmental party is not necessarily left or right and definitely not communist despite what they used to say for decades about the new partners of the Green Party in Finland. But, at the same time, how would you feel if you heard that in France the conservative party of Mr. Sarkozy agreed a coalition government with Le Pen and the Green Party, or in England the Conservatives, the right member of the National Front and the Greens made a government, and please don’t answer that …this is Finland, because other than hypocrites, you are blind as well.

Last and not least, for the younger readers and definitely the members of the Finnish Green Party who have no idea who Petra Kelly was, she was one of the creators of the parliamentary environmental parties in Europe and the first Green Party in Germany.

Playing Women's Day

From Ovi magazine - Ovi Lehti in Finnish,

I was not really planning to write anything for Women’s Day because I somehow believe that living in the country where women were the first in Europe to practice the right of voting, elect and elected there is nothing more to write about. Finland is very proud for her women and has every right to be because women throughout Finnish history have stood as equals next to the men on the front line in the farms, in industry and in war.

And that was the belief till I sat at the table for dinner with my little daughter and she proudly informed me that her school or better kindergarten was planning something special for Women’s Day. My three-year-old daughter was thrilled and I was really impressed until the second wave with the explanation came. For Women’s Day in the school, the kids will be divided in two teams: one all boys and one all girls. The boys will spend their day in one room where they can play with their little soldiers, pirates and castles, while the girls, in another room, will play…beauty salon!

I believe that my daughter is not lying and I have no reason not to believe it, but all this was somehow too much for me, so I had to confirm it and I did so with a telephone call. Every single word was true. Now my next question is if I’m going to let my daughter go to school and play Women’s Day.

Then the mind starts playing games. Four years ago, again during the elections, it was Women’s Day and all the news had pictures of candidates going around the city giving roses to all the women. Matti Vanhanen was one of them. All the big stores and cafes did exactly the same. So this is what we are going to see today, happy politicians taking to the streets of Helsinki and giving roses to happy smiling women, who will accept them - Who gives a damn if women are less paid in Finland? Who gives a damn if women are often victims of domestic violence? Who gives a damn if equality stopped in theory, so long as there is a rose waiting for every Finnish woman in the mall? Aside from the ‘vote for me’ brochure, who gives a damn?

My three-year-old daughter, instead of sitting with the boys of her class and learning what equality means, learning that there are not boy’s and girl’s games, instead of learning that she lives in a society where everything is equal for boys and girls and instead of learning to respect and demand respect, she’s going to learn how to be a nice…Barbie! What else is there left for me to think! A beauty salon! Who came with this idea?

Naively I asked what ‘beauty salon’ means and my daughter explained that it is with their dolls, refusing to give any further explanation. So, after spending all these centuries escaping from the kitchen and making the babies, a life without dreams and depending upon the master husband, with housewife being her one and only career, over a century after women voted in this country, my daughter is learning to be the ‘ideal’ housewife where her fingernails will become the center of her existence!

I think for Women’s Day I’m going to take my daughter and spend most of our day in the park, I think I will show her one more time that to be a father is fun and that a dad can do as much a mum can do. I will avoid all the politicians and their hypocritical smiles and roses, and I will read to her a story where the hero will be the word 'respect'. Most of all, I’m not going to play…Women’s Day!

By Thanos

CIA's EU Air Miles

From Ovi magazine - Ovi Lehti in Finnish,

Reading on the news that the European Parliament has approved a damning report on secret CIA flights that condemns member states, which colluded in the operations, I felt that Strasburg must be definitely on another planet watching what’s going on back on Earth, at the least they are definitely not in Europe.

Often reading some of the decisions the EU parliament takes, I feel that they are more wishful thoughts than anything to do with reality and this is one of them. I think what this USA administration doing is an international crime and are violating everything in which I believe; my beliefs have long been instituted under the Charta of the Human Rights.

I hope, in the near future, the ones who manipulated decisions that led to prison camps, such as the one in Guantanamo, will answer to justice and get the right punishment - I include George W. Bush and the former American Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld in that. Still, this is a game that still goes on and George W. Bush and his company are leading the American administration and a superpower’s army.

However, coming back to Europe; Europe had to live on the edge after 9/11. From one side they were not able to participate in the invasion of Iraq, foreseeing the catastrophic results for the people of Iraq and then having to face the menace of the American administration that didn’t hesitate to cast enemies the ones that opposed their decision, even if that meant traditional allies like France and Germany. The short term economic results of this opposition were fast obvious for the European countries that tried to later calm the giant by legalizing more illegal actions and let the USA administration draw them into a swamp of illegalities.

According to the report, fourteen out of the twenty-five state members of the EU allowed the US to remove terror suspects. They are wrong, all twenty-five would have done it if the US had asked for it; it just happened to be these fourteen. Most of the European countries are members of NATO, an alliance that the US dominates or they want to be members. The ones who weren’t at the time, they eventually did after they gave their full support.

For the ones like Finland that kept their neutrality, it was a totally different game. President Tarja Halonen was advertising the neutrality; the Foreign Minister was assuring everybody Finland’s obedience to the UN decisions and the Prime Minister at the time Paavo Lipponen was assuring George W. Bush that he would have any help, so long as they kept it off the record.

So, when the time came for the CIA to employ flying prisons the question was, are you going to tell us the time you are flying so we can put out the red carpet or are you happy with just a small party in the VIP room? The report adds that the CIA had operated 1,245 flights, some taking suspects to states where they could face torture. That much about human rights, that much about everybody is innocent before proven guilty, that much about preaching democracy.

The truth is that Europe and the US have a lot of open wounds to heal and that will definitely take sometime. In the process of healing, the EU parliament had better demand justice instead of condemning the states that are in the middle of the cyclone the US has created and made them act like dumb children.

iBite - February 01

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Finland’s possible membership in NATO would not be good for relations between Russia and Finland.

Please somebody wake him up! The cold war is over and Stalin is dead!

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Sauli Niinistö, former leader of the opposition conservative National Coalition Party, has criticised the government for not having made provision for the ageing of the population.

And how old are you Sauli? Going for retirement and worrying?

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A panel of international scientists predicted Friday that global warming will continue for centuries no matter how much people control pollution, in a bleak report that blamed humans for killer heat waves, devastating droughts and stronger storms.

Let it snow, let it snow!!!

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There may be talk of ethics reform in Washington, but that won't stop some politicians and lobbyists from partying together this weekend in Miami at the Super Bowl.

Are they going to pitch?

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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted today that some militant fighters are crossing the border from Pakistan to support the Taliban in Afghanistan through border …holes.

And how big are these holes? In the size of a continent?

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A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a female worker at his Las Vegas parish before fleeing to Arizona could soon be extradited to Nevada, an FBI official said.

Send him to Guantanamo bay!!!

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Believe it or not ….Berlusconi is back!!!

Silvio! My hero!!!

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Global climate change is "very likely" to have a human cause, an influential group of scientists has concluded.

You mean they are not going to blame Iran for that?

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For the ones who live in Finland, remember

This ovi-lehti is a bad copycat of the original Ovi magazine you are just reading and is here, online since 2004!!!!

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The office of French President Jacques Chirac has issued a statement stressing France's opposition to Iran possessing a nuclear bomb.

He’s not candidate, so why should he care?

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Silvio Berlusconi apologized publicly to his wife for …flirting in a party!

Even men cry!

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A brother-in-law of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed in a robbery in Madagascar, relatives say.

Come now, the man is known that he relates with half Saudi Arabia!!!

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President Bush's choice for the new army chief of staff has denied that current US policy on Iraq has failed. General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq for the last two years, faced tough questioning at his Senate confirmation hearing.

He insisted that president Bush has a plan for Iraq!!!

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And don’t forget there is only one Ovi magazine, the original! No Ovi lehti or Ovi-lehti

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The last instalment of the Harry Potter saga will be published on 21 July, author JK Rowling has announced. She confirmed the date fans will be able to get their hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on her website.

I suppose she forgot to mention the …sequel saga!!!

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And don’t forget there is only one Ovi magazine, the original! No Ovi lehti or Ovi-lehti

Ovi magazine and the prestigious Grands Prix 2006 awards

Ovi magazine, an online daily magazine based in Finland, came second in Newropeans Magazine's prestigious Grands Prix 2006 awards.

They were nominated as one of the three finalists in its 'Citizenship - Information' section, along with Sitécon and Le courrier des Balkans, the eventual winner.

Newropeans is an independent magazine developed for the exchange of views on the future of a democratic Europe. The awards have been running annually since 2003 and are designed to reward the people or organisations behind the democratisation of the EU. Previous winners include the European Space Agency, EUobserver.com, Cafe Babel, the European Court of Human Rights and Skype.

A registered jury of around 1,000 actors of the European civil society coming from 25 States voted online awarding Ovi magazine almost thirty per cent of the vote.

Read more here… www.ovimagazine.com

Ovi magazine was launched in December 2004 by Thanos Kalamidas, a Greek national, and Asa Butcher, a Brit, who both live in Helsinki with their families. Ovi is a non-profit magazine produced via voluntary contributions from its global team in a variety of different languages. Their aim is to promote positive discussion and the exchange of opinion.

Happy New Year with Ovi magazine

New Year’s Day is a day for wishes and expectations. Happy new year, healthy new year, peaceful new year! We are not going to complain and we are not going to remind you of all the bad things happening around us, we just want to wish you warm feelings for the next 52 weeks.

We want to wish to you, your families, your friends, and everybody you love and care about, a very fruitful and joyous year. Let’s hope that 2007 will make that difference we all deserve.

We wish you a creative, happy and healthy New Year and thank you for being with us in our daily efforts. Our resolution is to bring you even more innovative idea through the Ovi project.

Happy New Year!

Thanos & Asa