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POPSAlexander The Great he began to organize the territory into a realm such as he envisioned. His early death brought an end to his plans. Alexander was born in Pella, capital of Macedonia. His father was Philip II of Macedon, who had conquered Greece; his mother was Olympias, a princess from Epirus. Aristotle was Alexander's tutor, and the literature of Greece was his inspiration. The handsome youth took Achilles of Homer's Iliad, a reputed ancestor, as his hero. Alexander's teachers in military science were his father's generals. When he was only 16, he commanded forces in military actions against hill tribes.
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POPS Ancient Greece Ancient Greece consisted chiefly of a peninsula that separated the two seas, nearby islands, and the coast of Asia Minor (now part of Turkey). Greek civilization developed later than that of the Euphrates and Nile valleys, but earlier than that of Rome. Ancient Greece reached its highest point of achievement in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., but its influence remained strong throughout the era of Roman supremacy. Vigorous, adventuresome, and freedom-loving, of strong practicality and great intellectual capacity, they produced art, architecture, literature, drama, and philosophic concepts that have never been surpassed. The Greeks developed the political institution of democracy, established freedom of speech and religion, and founded a system of law defining the rights of citizens. They made major discoveries in astronomy, physics, mathematics, and medicine. The first experimental scientists were Greeks.
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POPSFrance and Germany Thwart Bush's Plans Many German papers on Wednesday questioned whether enlargement eastwards would really do anything to enhance security. US President George W. Bush seems determined to put pressure on his European allies to welcome Ukraine and Georgia into the NATO alliance, despite reluctance in Paris and Berlin to unnecessarily provoke Russia with such a move. In his keynote speech delivered hours before the 26-nation alliance meets in Bucharest on Wednesday, he said "NATO membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it, and are ready to share the responsibilities of NATO membership." However, Moscow has made it clear that it will view any enlargement of NATO to its borders as a threat. Russia is particularly sensitive to any further loss of influence in the states it used to control. spiegel.de
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POPSDisingenuous "fact" file on Kosovo "Peace talks in France failed and in March 1999 NATO started bombing to force Serbia to withdraw." What's hidden in that bland statement is that the reason that peace talks failed was the intransigence of Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, who was determined to have a war.
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POPSAnnual Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007: RWB "The detention of Al-Jazeera’s Sudanese cameraman, Sami Al-Haj, since 13 June 2002 at the military base of Guantanamo and the murder of Chauncey Bailey in Oakland in August mean the United States is still unable to join the lead group." "All of the EU countries made it into the top 50 except Bulgaria (51st) and Poland (56th). The countries of northern Europe are always the ones who behave best. The exception is Netherlands (12th), which has fallen 12 places because it kept two Telegraaf journalists in custody for two days for refusing to reveal their sources to the judicial authorities. "The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information."
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POPSMore Bush Lies from National Address: Grand Coalition More: The most substantial non-U.S. troop contribution, from the UK, pulled back from Basra earlier this month to assume the non-combat "overwatch" role that General Petraeus believes that the U.S. can adopt at some as-yet-undefined point in the (far) future. Others are pulling out: the Danes, proud contributors of 470 troops in Iraq, have said they would withdraw in August, but that seems not to have happened yet. South Korea is expected to get out at the end of the year. Then there's Fiji, which devotes 150 troops to helping secure the United Nations' assistance mission in Iraq -- a job mostly done from outside of the country, but with a new mandate approved by the Security Council last month, it may soon have a more substantial presence inside Iraq. Go Fijans!
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