The Barcelona-based European Institute of the Mediterranean, IEMed, reports that at the second North Africa Business and Development Forum (NABDF) in Barcelona, “government representatives, business people, economic actors and experts” expressed the view that “the countries of the Maghreb need more direct investment to guarantee their growth and stability.” Of course they do, but as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ramón Gil-Casares, felicitously observed in his closing speech, economic reform has to be part of the package.

The IEMed was active the week before, giving respectability to a Damascus-based PR op for the Syrian regime disguised as a conference called Modernity and Globalisation. Respect for Cultures. Syria is, of course, a state where a bunch of Ba’athist thugs maintain in power a feeble-minded optician from the minority Alawite community and a state that shelters groups dedicated to the eradication of Jewish culture. I sincerely hope the IEMed doesn’t start respecting my culture.

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1. JWdB
   October 5th 2003 23:51

   And what culture would that be?
   The Human Rights Watch report uses a curious spelling for the transcription of Arab names, but that Bashir was trained as an “opthamologist” must have been due to poor eyesight.
   The Israel based Psychodiagnostic Chirology (http://www.pdc.co.il/bashir.htm) comes a little closer, but still brings chills to the classically educated reader.

2. Trevor
   October 6th 2003 05:42

   Why is the page entitled Shimon Peres? How long will Hillary survive as president (http://www.pdc.co.il/hillary.htm) before impeachment hearings commence? “Far more critical is the length to which this phalange reaches against the ring finger. Note the yellow line which sets the top of the little finger above the line separating the middle and tip phalanges of the ring finger. The reader may turn to article #50 on the Download page entitled Dishonesty – money and the obsession with primary security in the adult. This theme would be very relevant in our present instance. The reader will find that the construction of the little finger as defined in that article is perfectly duplicated in the instance of Hillary Clinton.”