・・・Wen's statements on the currency issue appeared to close off the possibility that China would allow its currency, the yuan, to appreciate against the dollar anytime soon. On Thursday, President Obama, in rolling out a plan to increase American exports, called on China to adopt "a more market-oriented exchange rate [that] would make an essential contribution to that global rebalancing effort."
Wen countered that he didn't think the yuan was undervalued and that the U.S. method -- of seeking to enlarge exports through tweaking currency exchange rates -- was protectionist. ・・・ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/14/AR2010031400368_pf.html
・・・there is more than just fish politics and food culture at stake for Japan when it comes to whaling. Even though few Japanese ever sit down to a plate of whale sashimi, they still resist viscerally the idea that the international community could force Japan to stop whaling. A country that arguably never returned to full sovereignty after World War II ? its constitution greatly limits its military, and U.S. armed forces are still based throughout Japan ? can get tired of the world telling it what to do. ・・・ http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1971807,00.html
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・・・Some commentators speculated whether her mother’s problems had made Aiko overly sensitive or emotionally frail. ・・・
Some said Aiko’s troubles might even feed growing calls by conservatives for her father, 50, to step aside as the successor to his father, Emperor Akihito, 76.
“Many people won’t want such an unhealthy family to become emperor and empress,” ・・・ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/asia/12princess.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print
・・・In the U.S., we spend more than any country on health care, yet American women are at greater risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes than in 40 other countries・・・
・・・black women in the U.S. are nearly four times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes・・・ http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1971633,00.html
器楽演奏を小さい時にやらせるの、ものすごーくいいことだってさ。↓
・・・music is little more than ear candy for the brain if it is consumed only passively・・・
Learning to make music changes the brain and boosts broad academic performance.・・・
・・・spending money and time on music lessons and practice is a solid investment in mental fitness.・・・
After a year, kids who got keyboard or voice lessons showed a 3-point IQ boost on average over the kids taking drama or no lessons at all.・・・
In the musicians, the bundle of connective fibers that carry messages between the brain's right and left hemispheres ? a structure called the corpus callosum ? was larger and denser on average than that of their non-musical peers. The brawnier bridge was particularly notable toward the rear of the brain, at the crossing that links areas responsible for sensory perception and voluntary movement.
It suggested not only that musicians might be able to more nimbly react to incoming information but also that their brains might be more resilient and adaptable, allowing right and left hemispheres, which specialize in separate functions, to work better together.
Schlaug and colleagues also found that the musicians who had begun their musical training before the age of 7 showed the most pronounced differences ? suggesting an early start might rewire the brain most dramatically.・・・
A team led by Trainor reported that in kids chosen randomly to get a tightly structured instrumental training called the Suzuki method, brain responses were two to three years more mature on average than those in children not taking music lessons.
Electrical signals traveled more swiftly and efficiently through the brains of the Suzuki-trained kids, who also showed improved performance on tasks that required sustained attention and the ability to hold information in memory long enough to execute complex tasks ? what neuroscientists call working memory.・・・ http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-0301-brain-music-20100301,0,3251510,full.story
・・・researchers from Washington University and the University of Arizona found a correlation between feelings of well-being and the amount of time spent talking every day. Moreover, the more substantive your conversations, the happier you're likely to be. In other words, heart-to-hearts trump small talk. ・・・ http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum11-2010mar11,0,7125128.column
・・・The trouble, unbelievable as it may seem, is that sudden acceleration is very often caused by drivers who press the gas pedal when they intend to press the brake. ・・・
We noticed that the complaints were far more frequent among older drivers・・・drivers who had little experience with the specific car involved ・・・and people of relatively short stature. ・・・
Richard A. Schmidt is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11schmidt.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
With its strong emphasis on technology, the military, strong single-party leadership and a collective national identity that refuses to recognize pluralism, China is displaying increasing ? and worrying ? symptoms of fascism.・・・
→今頃、何を寝ぼけたことを。（太田）
One of the most peremptory signs of fascism is the state’s negation of individualism and the idea that citizens draw their identity and raison d’etre from the state. Evidence of this emerged earlier this week when Chinese Vice Sports Minister Yu -Zaiqing (于再清) chided 18-year-old Olympic champion short track speedskater Zhou Yang (周洋) for thanking her parents ? but not her country ? after winning gold at the Vancouver Winter Games last month.
“It’s OK to thank your parents, but first you should thank the motherland. You should put the motherland first, not only thank your parents,” Yu told the Southern Metropolis Daily.
・・・There is also concern that Beijing will allow universal suffrage only after Hong Kong passes some sort of antisedition law that could make it illegal to campaign for democracy in the mainland the way Liu Xiaobo did or to call for the independence of Hong Kong, Tibet or the Uighur autonomous region of Xinjiang. In 2003 an antisedition bill proposed by the local government was defeated after a million people took to the streets in protest. Beijing has not formally made the antisedition law a precondition to democracy, but there have been subtle hints that it may be a factor: in December, Chinese President Hu Jintao praised Macau, China's other SAR, which has passed one. ・・・ http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1971283,00.html
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米国の世紀末前後（続々）（その１）
http://blog.ohtan.net/archives/51834112.html
太田述正コラム#3668（2009.11.25）
＜米国の世紀末前後（続々）（その１）＞（2010.3.12公開）
１ 始めに
ジャクソン・リアーズ（Jackson Lears）の 'Rebirth of a Nation' をコラム#3333と3335でご紹介したところですが、この本を入手して斜め読みしたので、「太田史...sakimono9992010-03-12T08:15:44+09:00
＜米国の世紀末前後（続々）（その１）＞（2010.3.12公開）
１ 始めに
ジャクソン・リアーズ（Jackson Lears）の 'Rebirth of a Nation' をコラム#3333と3335でご紹介したところですが、この本を入手して斜め読みしたので、「太田史観」を裏付ける材料として使えそうな箇所を抽出し、改めて皆さんにご紹介することにしました。
「南部連合との戦いとスー（Sioux）族やフィリピン人との戦いの違いは、＜後者の＞黒い色の敵に対しては、焦土政策が意図的絶滅戦略となったことだ。
ウィリアム・T・シャーマン（William ＜Tecumseh ＞Sherman＜。1820～91年＞）将軍は、グラント（＜Ulysses S. ＞Grant＜。1822～85年。後に米大統領＞）に対し、1867年にインディアンが陸軍の部隊の８名全員を殺した後、「その男達、女達、及び子供達の絶滅さえ視野に入れて、スー族に対し、復讐的な真剣さでもって行動しなければならない。・・・」と書き送った。
それが、それ以降、19世紀の終わりまで、陸軍がインディアン達に対して続けたやり口だった。
フィリピンにおける司令官達は、村落の生活の中に溶け込んだ、神出鬼没のゲリラ戦士達に直面し、彼等自身、同じような絶滅主義者的目標・・ジェイコブ・スミス（Jacob Smith）将軍の悪評高い命令であるところの、小銃を携行できるすべてのフィリピン人を殺せ、というような目標・・を採用するに至った。
もう少し具体的にと求められると、彼はこう言った。10歳を超える者全員だと・・。
歴史家のジョン・フィスク（John Fiske＜。1842～1901年＞）が、その著書の『ニュー・イングランドの始まり（Beginnings of New England）』（1889年）の中のペクォット（Pequot）戦争（注1）に関する章の中で、野蛮人達と戦う場合は、野蛮に戦わなければならないという所見を述べたように・・。
（注2）「この法の最も強力な支持者達の幾ばくかは、マディソン・グラント（Madison Grant＜。1865～1937年＞）と、彼の1916年の本である『偉大な人種の死（The Passing of the Great Race）』の影響を受けていた。グラントは、優生学主義者であり、人種的浄化（hygiene）理論の主唱者だった。彼は、データで、米国を建国した北欧諸人種の優越性を示そうとした。
しかし、この法の賛成者達の大部分は、人種的な現状維持を図ることによって外国人労働者達との競争を回避することに、より関心があった。
この法は、よく知られた労働組合指導者にしてAFLの創設者である、サミュエル・ゴンパース（Samuel Gompers＜。1850～1929年＞）によって強く支持された。ゴンパースは、ユダヤ人移民であり、多くのユダヤ人からの、＜この法が定めた人種別＞枠は、反ユダヤ主義に立脚している、との非難を意に介しなかった。」 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924 （太田）
・・・Budget carriers have sprung up across the region, but Japan’s airline industry, dominated by giants Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines ? and plagued by expensive and inefficient airports ? has been largely left behind.
Experts say the greater Tokyo area, especially, could use another airport to handle flights by low-cost carriers, much like the Stansted or Luton airports outside London. The capital and its environs, the largest metropolitan sprawl in the world with a population of 40 million, are served by two airports, Narita ? which handles most of the international traffic ? and Haneda.
But capacity is notoriously tight, and that is expected to continue even after expansions at both airports in the next year. Strict regulations have stifled the flexible allocation of flights. Moreover, high landing and other costs put Narita and Haneda beyond the reach of low-cost carriers. ・・・
・・・＜茨城空港は＞got rid of boarding bridges・・・
＜また、同空港では、＞Passengers instead will board from the tarmac. ・・・
・・・＜更に、同空港では、＞passengers・・・carry their own check-in luggage to the plane＜まで計画中である。＞・・・
Planes landing at Ibaraki will taxi and park in a way that does not require the help of a tractor to push them back onto the runway before taking off・・・
Its finances are not as dire as many of Japan’s other airports, in part because it was built as an extension of a military air base. ・・・
Ibaraki offers unlimited free parking,・・・
Accounting for the time it takes for the plane to taxi on Narita’s runway and the passenger to make his way through that sprawling airport, the total journey to central Tokyo from Ibaraki is about the same ? less than 90 minutes・・・ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/business/global/11airport.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print
何だかんだ言っても、日本の司法と中共の司法じゃ、比べようもないほど、後者が遅れとるわな。↓
・・・Article 306 of the P.R.C. criminal code, which makes it an offense for a person to assist or encourage another to give false testimony, goes beyond standard perjury laws and has been used to hobble defense lawyers. If, as in the vast majority of criminal trials in China, the accused is found guilty, then the defense lawyer could be liable for evidence submitted on the client's behalf. ・・・ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1969642,00.html
・・・67% of men ages 65 to 74 said they had been sexually active in the past year, compared with just 40% of women in that age group. ・・・
・・・more than one-third of men ages 75 to 85 said they had sex in the past 12 months, compared with just 17% of women in that age group.・・・
Sexually active people tend to be healthier, and healthier people tend to be sexually active. ・・・
・・・women live about five years longer than men, so when you do the math, all this means that women go approximately twice as long without sex as men before they die.・・・
Married women ages 57 to 64 who haven't been divorced or widowed report having about as much sex as married men in the same age group. But while 77% of partnered men in that age group say they are interested in sex, only 36% of partnered women report the same interest. These figures suggest that a lot of older women may be having sex when they don't really want to. ・・・ http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1970975,00.html
・・・Relaxed men who took part in the study rated women on average 14% less appealing if they looked very different from themselves compared with women who looked similar. But a group of stressed men found dissimilar women 9% more attractive.・・・
We think that chronically stressful environments should increase outbreeding, because inbreeding may lead to offspring that are not genetically diverse enough to deal with the varying circumstances that a risky and stressful environment imposes on them,・・・ http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/10/men-sexual-tastes-broaden-stressed
突然、トヨタ激励記事ばかりになったのはどういうわけだ？
新アメリカ財団（New America Foundation）のシニア・フェローが次のような一文で終わるコラムをNYタイムスに載せてる。↓
・・・even if every sudden-acceleration complaint proved valid, Toyotas are among the safest cars made.・・・
・・・why the emphasis on mechanical defects above all else? Evans says it began with Ralph Nader and his 1965 book, "Unsafe at Any Speed." Today it's perpetuated by trial lawyers seeking the deepest pockets and a media that know it's sexier to crusade against corporations than emphasize individual responsibility. ・・・ http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-fumento9-2010mar09,0,3126393.story
アカデミー賞での元夫婦対決の結果をみごとにまとめてる。↓
・・・The Hurt Locker has taken to date, 100 times less money than Avatar. ・・・
The contrast between the two films speaks for a yin and yang as old as cinema. Truth versus magic; reportage versus make-believe; Lumière versus Méliès. Next year it is quite possible a good fantasy epic will beat a not-so-good reality drama. There is nothing intrinsically worthier in either genre. It is simply that The Hurt Locker is the better film.・・・ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4b7440e8-2b0b-11df-93d8-00144feabdc0.html
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この史観への援軍が、面白いことに米国で出現しました。
さすがに、そっくりそのままでは使えませんがね。
それは、ジェームス・ブラッドレー（James Bradley。1954年～。米国の著述家）の 'THE IMPERIAL CRUISE A Secret History of Empire and War' という本です。
The EU ban on seal imports was imposed last July on the grounds that Canada's annual hunt was cruel.
The east coast seal hunt, the largest in the world, kills about 275,000 harp seals between mid-November and mid-May. The seals are either shot or hit over the head with a spiked club called a hakapik.
Animal rights groups believe the hunt is cruel, poorly monitored and provides little economic benefit. Seal hunters and Canadian authorities say it is sustainable, humane and provides income for isolated communities.
The EU ban includes processed goods derived from seals, including their skins which are used to make coats, bags and clothing, as well as meat, oil blubber, organs and seal oil, which is used in some omega-3 pills.
It exempts products derived from traditional hunts carried out by Inuit in Canada's Arctic, as well as those from Greenland, Alaska and Russia. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/08/sealmeat-canada-ottawa
・・・It was the UK in 1822 who introduced the world’s first animal welfare law with the Act to Prevent the Cruel and Improper Treatment of Cattle. It was Jeremy Bentham’s thinking that invertebrates should have common value to other animals・・・ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/lawyer-who-defends-animals
YUKIHISA FUJITA is an influential member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. As chief of the DPJ's international department and head of the Research Committee on Foreign Affairs in the upper house of Japan's parliament・・・
Mr. Fujita's ideas about the attack on the World Trade Center, which he shared with us in a recent interview, are too bizarre, half-baked and intellectually bogus to merit serious discussion. He questions whether it was really the work of terrorists; suggests that shadowy forces with advance knowledge of the plot played the stock market to profit from it; peddles the fantastic idea that eight of the 19 hijackers are alive and well; and hints that controlled demolition rather than fire or debris may be a more likely explanation for at least the collapse of the building at 7 World Trade Center, which was adjacent to the twin towers.
As with almost any calamity whose scale and scope assume historic proportions, the events of Sept. 11 have spawned a thriving subculture of conspiracy theorists at home and abroad. The only thing novel about Mr. Fujita is that a man so susceptible to the imaginings of the lunatic fringe happens to occupy a notable position in the governing apparatus of a nation that boasts the world's second-largest economy. ・・・
・・・his views, rooted as they are in profound distrust of the United States, seem to reflect a strain of anti-American thought that runs through the DPJ and the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. ・・・
Japan's alliance with the United States・・・and its benefits for the・・・East Asia・・・region, will be severely tested if Mr. Hatoyama tolerates elements of his own party as reckless and fact-averse as Mr. Fujita. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/07/AR2010030702354_pf.html
The hard-hit 'Club Med' countries of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy once flourished within the eurozone. Now the financial markets have turned on Athens, and Greece's neighbours fear they could be next
The managing director of a British company that has been selling bomb-detecting equipment to security forces in Iraq was arrested on suspicion of fraud today...At the same time, the British government announced that it was imposing a ban on the export of the ADE-651 detectors because it was concerned they could put the lives of British forces or other friendly forces at risk...Iraq has invested more than £50m in buying the devices and training people to use them. Police and military personnel have used them to search vehicles and pedestrians for explosives...McCormick, managing director of ATSC, based in a former dairy in Sparkford, Somerset, defended his devices last year. He claimed they were derided because of their flimsy appearance and said the detectors pinpointed explosives in the same way a dowsing rod finds water...ATSC's brochures claim the device can detect minute quantities of explosives at large distances ? up to 1km...McCormick once told the BBC that "the theory behind dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar." http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/22/bomb-detectors-iraq-arrest
「・・・モーゼを冷戦の英雄に仕立て上げたのはセシル・B・デミル（Cecil B. DeMille）だった。
1956年に封切られ、史上５番目の観客動員数をたたきだした＜映画＞「十戒」の始めの部分で、デミルは、銀幕に登場し、観客に向かって、この映画は自由対共産主義についてであると伝えた。
そして、この映画の終わりの部分で、＜モーゼを演じた主演の＞チャールトン・へストンは、自由の鐘に刻まれたモーゼの言葉を口ずさみ、自由の女神のポーズのまねをしてみせるのだ。・・・」（注4）（B）
（注5）黒人霊歌。歌詞は次の通り。
When Israel was in Egypt's land: Let my people go,
Oppress'd so hard they could not stand, Let my People go.
Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt land,
Tell old Pharaoh,
Let my people go.
この中のイスラエルは黒人奴隷を、エジプトとファラオは奴隷主を指している。 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Down_Moses （太田）
・・・A pair of German politicians, incensed at the thought of paying for a bailout of the profligates to the south, suggested Thursday that the Greeks consider plugging the large hole in their budget by selling off some of their lovely islands. Several Greek politicians and commentators have argued that the Germans should pony up reparations for the death and destruction wrought by the Nazis during World War II. ・・・
Few recall today, but the Greek War of Independence (from the Ottomans) was followed by 30 years under the rule of a king from what today is Germany. In 1832, a 17-year-old Bavarian prince became King Otto I of Greece, chosen by Britain, France and Russia, ushering in an era of unpopular foreign rule labeled “Bavarokratia.” ・・・
A coup sent Otto into exile in Bavaria in 1862,・・・
The year after Greece lost another war against the Ottomans, Germany joined five other European powers in imposing the International Financial Commission on Greece in 1898. The commission controlled customs duties at ports including Piraeus and Corfu; state monopolies for products such as kerosene, matches and playing cards; and duties on stamps and tobacco consumption, all to ensure that Greece continued repaying its loans. ・・・ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07kulish.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print
・・・P.I.I.G.S. forcing together Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. ・・・（同上）
中共の対ドル平価切り上げ近しだってさ。↓
・・・Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, gave the strongest hint yet from a senior official that China would abandon the unofficial dollar peg, in place since mid-2008. He said it was a “special” policy to weather the financial crisis. ・・・ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6cd3a766-2925-11df-972b-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
・・・George Orwell with introducing the term in a 1945 essay on the meaning of the atomic bomb. Orwell wrote of the prospect "of two or three monstrous super-states, each possessed of a weapon by which millions of people can be wiped out in a few seconds, dividing the world between them." Although it was widely feared that these new weapons would lead to another great war, Orwell wondered whether it was not more likely "that surviving great nations make a tacit agreement never to use the bomb against one another? Suppose they only use it, or the threat of it, against people who are unable to retaliate?" This new form of supreme power would lead to an uneasy standoff between states, with each in "a permanent state of cold war with its neighbors." As he saw it, this would lead to more effective ways of controlling the world's exploited classes and "a peace that is no peace" between "horribly stable . . . slave empires."
Orwell feared that such an order could result in a system of universal totalitarianism like that in his dystopia, 1984. ・・・
・・・the original use of the term in the United States was much more prosaic. The journalists Walter Lippmann and Herbert Bayard Swope put forth rival claims on who was first to invent the term "cold war.・・・
Both Lippmann and Swope saw the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that was emerging in the late 1940s not as a completely new phenomenon deserving of a special name but merely as a new example of a phenomenon they had observed not long before. It was not necessarily a durable situation; unless the United States adopted more sensible policies, the tentative standoff might lead to a full-blown "hot war."・・・
1983, with the Reagan administration at its most reactionary and bellicose, Fred Halliday, a British political scientist, wrote about a "second Cold War." ・・・
＜ちなみに、＞Both the United States and the Soviet Union were born of revolutions that took on universal, rather than nationalist, values.＜このこともあって冷戦は深刻化した。＞・・・ http://www.foreignaffairs.com/print/66112
Kathryn Bigelow has become the first woman to win the best directing Oscar・・・only the fifth woman to be nominated in Academy Awards history・・・, as her Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker took six prizes, including best film.
James Cameron's 3D sci-fi juggernaut left with just three technical awards - for art direction, cinematography and visual effects. ・・・
The Hurt Locker has made just $15m (£9.9m) at the box office, becoming the lowest-grossing film ever to win best picture.
Avatar, meanwhile, has become the biggest-grossing film in history, taking more than $2bn (£1.32bn) in the box office. ・・・ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8554786.stm
あたりで、ゴードン・バーガーの論を論拠とされている（詳しくは同著をご確認願いたい）。
戦前の日本が民主主義国家であったことの理解を妨げる桎梏は、やはり、憲兵による抑圧に見られるようないわゆる人権の制約が起きてしまうことであろう。ここは程度の問題（That's a question of degree.）とするべきところだ。
・・・"love" was the most frequently used word in Harlequin romance novel titles (occuring 840 times), followed by "bride" (835), "baby" (696), "man" (672) and "marriage" (612). Other frequently used words included "cowboy" (314), "night" (340) and "nurse" (224). Delving deeper, into the most popular professions in the romance books, they found that "doctor" topped this count with 388 making it into titles, followed by "cowboy" (314), "nurse" (224) and "boss" (142). "・・・
Many of the occupations were centred around high incomes (eg surgeon), or positions that demand physical fitness (eg cowboy). ・・・
・・・long-term commitment and reproduction are important to readers.・・・ http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/04/evolutionary-psychologists-romantic-fiction
・・・Toyota has always・・・treat＜ed＞ parts makers as collaborators. Contracts are awarded based not primarily on price but on defect rates. If a manufacturer is fumbling, Toyota will send engineers to help fix the problem. American companies long took a more adversarial approach, analysts say. Cost was the No. 1 concern ? generally, if you were the low bidder, you won ? and when mistakes were made the supplier was fired. ・・・
Where American workers feared recriminations if they spoke up, Japanese workers feared recriminations if they spotted problems and said nothing. The difference is part of a culture of shared responsibility ・・・ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/business/07quality.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
翻訳戦線に新人登場？
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米国とは何か（続ｘ４）（その１）
http://blog.ohtan.net/archives/51661536.html
太田述正コラム#3652（2009.11.17）
＜米国とは何か（続ｘ４）（その１）＞（2010.3.7公開）
１ 始めに
学者の手になるものではありませんが、ブルース・フェイラー（Bruce Feiler）という一人の米国人が、新著 'AMERICA'S PROPHET Moses and the American Story' の中...sakimono9992010-03-07T08:06:07+09:00
＜米国とは何か（続ｘ４）（その１）＞（2010.3.7公開）
１ 始めに
学者の手になるものではありませんが、ブルース・フェイラー（Bruce Feiler）という一人の米国人が、新著 'AMERICA'S PROPHET Moses and the American Story' の中で、米国史に対するコロンブスの卵的な新しい見方を打ち出し、米国の草の根のメディアの間で大変な話題になっています。
さっそく、書評等を手がかりに、彼が主張していることをご紹介しましょう。
・・・The British Museum, which acquired objects from all these men, was itself a public-private partnership par excellence, originating in a private collection bequeathed to the nation, and established by act of parliament.
The public side of these partnerships has often been downplayed by historians, who portray British cultural endeavour as a rather amateurish affair. Post-colonial critics might attribute this to a purposeful whitewashing of the role of the imperial state. But it also has to do with another British trait, namely an exceptionalist desire to distinguish itself from continental Europe. Not for Britons the ceremonial pomp and bluster of the French, or Prussian-style martial triumphalism, or the showy despotism of the Hapsburgs. Britons were contained, reserved, never so brash.・・・ http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/06/empires-imagination-politics-holger-hook
・・・The system is known as "fakelaki" -- a word meaning "little envelope" and which refers to the bribes regularly demanded of Greek citizens to "expedite" service. In reality, of course, no fakelaki often translates to no service. Sums of money stuffed in envelopes are passed across desks to secure appointments, documents and permits. It's a playful form of corruption that is firmly anchored in everyday Greek life.・・・
In a recent survey, 13.5 percent of Greek respondents admitted to paying fakelaki; on average, they said they paid ?1,450 ($1,970) a year. In reality, though, the numbers and sums could be much, much higher. ・・・ http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,682030,00.html
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一人題名のない音楽会の「ロシアとウクライナ」の第四弾、最終回です。
ようやく、ウクライナにたどり着きました。
以下、お聴きになると分かりますが、ウクライナの曲は、田園的で素朴であり、明るいものも多く、かつ、ウクライナという言葉が登場する歌詞が多い、という印象です。
「・・・1989年の種々の出来事は、「一つの帝国の崩壊をはるかに超えることだった。
それは、２世紀にわたった時代の終わりだったのだ。
それは、最初に欧州で起こり、ついで世界の政治が近代社会に係る幻想の概念・・地上における虐げられた人々が調和と平等に立脚した社会を創造する・・によって強力に影響された時代だった。」
エドムンド・ウィルソンがマルキストの伝統とロシア革命について 'To the Finland Station' で披露した古典的説明のように、プリーストランド（＜David ＞Priestland）の本＜、'The Red Flag: A History of Communism'＞ は、1789年のフランスの革命期の夜明けから始まる。
彼は、それからお馴染みの登場人物達・・ロベスピエール、バブーフ（＜François-Noel ＞Babeuf＜。1760～97年。共産主義の祖と称せられる＞）、サンシモン、フーリエ（＜François Marie Charles ＞Fourier＜。1772～1837年。空想社会主義者にして哲学者＞）、ブランキ、プルードン、カベ（＜Etienne ＞Cabet＜。1788～1856年。哲学者にして空想社会主義者＞）その他から、同じ場面への1848年におけるマルクスとエンゲルスの到着、そしてその先まで・・を整列させる。
最初から、プリーストランドは、やがてやってくるいくつもの悲劇の前兆を見出す。
「人民の敵」という新しい犯罪者概念を含む「ジャコバンのるつぼの中に、共産主義者の政治とふるまいの要素的諸傾向が粗っぽくかつ混ぜもののない形で登場した」と彼は記す。
フランス革命においては、後の諸動乱の時もそうだが、指導者達は、平等の約束を通じて大衆の革命的熱狂を掻きたてることと、内からと外からの敵から守るために強力な国家を建設する必要性の認識との間で股裂きになった。
究極的には、共和国の徳がナポレオン３世＜による統治＞へと道をあけたように、後者の衝動が勝利を収めた。・・・
マルクス主義は、次第にますます革命と科学の両方の哲学となって行った。
そして、その両者の間の緊張はマルクス主義の中に亀裂を生み出し、この亀裂はその歴史を通じて続いた」・・・
「＜東欧がソ連圏となってから＞後の期間、ずっと、東欧はソ連の軍事的かつ経済的資源を恒常的に減少させ続けた。
これは奇妙な帝国の形態だった。
各植民地が宗主国を＜潤すの＞ではなく、宗主国が各植民地に補助金を与え、そのため、臣民たる人々が宗主国の人々よりも高い生活水準を享受したのだ。（とはいえ、西欧の基準に照らせば、彼等は貧乏だったが・・。）・・・」（F）
「・・・早くも1981年には、その翌年にレオニード・ブレジネフ（Leonid Brezhnev＜。1906～82年＞）のソ連の指導者としての地位を引き継ぐことになる、KGBの長のユーリ・アンドロポフ（Yuri Andropov＜。1914～84年＞）が、彼の同僚達に、「我々はポーランドに部隊を導入するつもりはない…。仮に連帯のコントロール下にポーランドが置かれることになったとしても、かまわない」と語っている。
アンドロポフと彼の後継者のコンスタンティン・チェルネンコ（Konstantin Chernenko＜。1911～85年＞）の下で、ソ連の東欧でのねらいは、クレムリンの外＜にいる人間＞からは引き続きはっきりは見えなかった。
でもゴルバチョフは、東欧の共産主義諸体制は自分で歩め、そして自らを運命にゆだねよ、という紛うことなき信号を送ったソ連の指導者だった。（そして、短期間で、ソ連もそうなった。）
1989年10月にドイツ民主共和国建国40周年祈念の行事に、しぶしぶゴルバチョフが赴いた時、集まった群衆から次々に声がかかった。
「ゴルビー、我々を助けて」と。
プレシャコフは、ゴルバチョフをドジの機会主義者であるとこきおろす。
「彼は大義を抱いていたわけではなく、彼の同輩者達や仲間達に対し、おしなべて風見鶏的に接した。だからこそ、彼は、人生の終末近くなった現在、独りぼっちなのだ」と。
これに対し、セベスティヤンは＜ゴルバチョフについて、＞もっと暖かい、そして究極的にはもっと公正な評価を下す。
「彼自身の意図に照らせば（By his own lights）彼は失敗した。しかし、何百万人もの人々は彼に礼を言うべきだろう」と。・・・」（F）