beyond the mountains

The Island of June If you're feeling the need of real relaxation, In a climate that's lazy, a perfect vacation, Away from the snow and the slush that annoys you, Away from the worries and cares that destroy you, Try Nassau, the Island of June. There are bluest of seas at your door to enthral you, With no sudden temperature changes to gall you, And laziness comes on you, quietly stealing Along with a cheerful, a 'world's all right' feeling, In Nassau, the Island of June. -'A Song of Nassau" by Fred Winslow Rust

2 Dias en Cuba, Con Muchas ganas de volver... Mucho mas divertido todavia con Mr Moore...

Nassau has neighbourhoods that range from exclusive enclaves for the extremely wealthy to slums inhabited by the chronically unemployed and underemployed. Construction materials are roughly evenly divided between limestone and wood. The upper class consists of wealthy business owners, corporate managers, professionals, high-ranking government officials, and some foreign citizens. Historically, this class was composed of Britons, white Bahamians, light-skinned Bahamians of mixed race, and a few Americans and Canadians. Most were self-consciously British in speech and behavior. In addition, we are led to believe that "the upper class today includes many more residents of African ancestry. Emulation of the old colonial elite is less common. The middle class consists of small business owners, some professionals, civil servants, and lower-level corporate managers. This generalized depiction of The Bahamas stands in stark contrast and contradistinction to other scenarios that depict The...

I take the opportunity to be in Hong Kong to update my blog, since the chinese authorities don't seem to allow blogspot to work properly within their "internet range". So here are random pics from Beijing, Hangzhou (where I am currenlty staying for my project) & Shanghai!!! I wish I could update my world more often and with more extensive text, but time is running short in the "outside world" Take care

Revista Grande Reportagem: United States of America Somalia European Union Brazil Burkina Faso Angola China Colombia

Pope Benedict XVI has weighed in on the sensitive issue of rapport between Islam and the West: He said that violence, embodied in the Muslim idea of jihad, or holy war, is contrary to reason and God's plan, while the West was so beholden to reason that Islam could not understand it. Nonetheless, in a complex treatise delivered Tuesday at the university here where he once taught, he suggested reason as a common ground for a "genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today." In all, the speech seemed to reflect the Vatican's struggle over how to confront Islam and terrorism, as the 79- year-old pope pursues what is often considered a more provocative, hard- nosed and skeptical approach to Islam than his predecessor, John Paul II. As such, it distilled many of Benedict's longstanding concerns, about the crisis of faith among Christians and about Islam and its relationship to violence. And he used language open to interpretations that could inflame...

By Sa'ad Al Deen Ebrahim, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service_ US President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may be quite right about a new Middle East being born. In fact, their policies in support of the actions of their closest regional ally, Israel, have helped midwife the newborn. But it will not be exactly the baby they have longed for. What is happening in the broader Middle East and North Africa can be seen as a boomerang effect that has been playing out slowly since the horrific events of September 11, 2001. In the immediate aftermath of those attacks, there was worldwide sympathy for the US and support for its declared "war on terrorism", including the invasion of Afghanistan. Then the cynical exploitation of this universal goodwill by so-called neoconservatives to advance hegemonic designs was confirmed by the war in Iraq. The Bush administration's dishonest statements about "weapons of mass destruction" diminished wh...