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Post by Dee Dee on Aug 26, 2009 18:58:44 GMT -5
Which books are you currently reading? Personally I´m reading "Baader-Meinhof" by Danish author Peter Wivel. The book is about the political history of the Red Army Fraction in Germany in the six-; seven- and eighties. What are you all reading?  |
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Post by Chan on Aug 26, 2009 20:14:05 GMT -5
Misfortune by Wesley Stace.
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Post by Ouch on Aug 26, 2009 21:05:53 GMT -5
Interesting read, diva...what specifically does the book cover? I've read about the Red Army Faction as well, but by different authors.
As for what I'm reading currently: Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Storms: My Life With Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac by Carol Ann Harris, and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Oh, and 'Principles of Accounting' by some boring old professor guy...
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Post by BA on Aug 27, 2009 19:23:08 GMT -5
Drink, Play, F@#k by Andrew Gottlieb (hysterical) and Nothing by Paul Morley.
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Post by Triassic on Aug 27, 2009 23:56:43 GMT -5
fucking baader-meinhof...man, there's nothing i loathe more than upper-class revolutionary terrorists. didnt they let one of those pukes out of jail recently?
we've got a few ex-weathermen walking around free over here too-more's the pity.
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Post by Triassic on Aug 27, 2009 23:59:02 GMT -5
ha ha, AB, i was thinking of writing a book titled; 'shit, curse, hate'. |
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Post by Ouch on Aug 28, 2009 2:38:37 GMT -5
f*cking baader-meinhof...man, there's nothing i loathe more than upper-class revolutionary terrorists. didnt they let one of those pukes out of jail recently? we've got a few ex-weathermen walking around free over here too-more's the pity. Are you thinking of the Pan Am Lockerbie attacker, Tri? They just let him go (unfortunately) due to his terminal cancer or something like that... ...upper-class revolutionary terrorists? You mean the Republican Party? |
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Post by Triassic on Aug 28, 2009 10:57:21 GMT -5
ah, nooo.....wind. i think i'm aware that baader-meinhof didnt perpetrate that one. this was awhile back. i could be wrong, but i seem to recall that germany set one free.
i get the impression that europe-and britain-scarcely even have a penal system anymore...that murderers only ever do a few years of cushy incarceration.
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Post by Ouch on Aug 28, 2009 19:15:50 GMT -5
ah, nooo.....wind. i think i'm aware that baader-meinhof didnt perpetrate that one. this was awhile back. i could be wrong, but i seem to recall that germany set one free. i get the impression that europe-and britain-scarcely even have a penal system anymore...that murderers only ever do a few years of cushy incarceration. Ah, I know who you're talking about, I forget his name as well at the moment. |
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Post by laurasweetou on Aug 29, 2009 17:46:16 GMT -5
I just bought Wally Lamb's third book. it's called The Hour I First Believed. He's also writeen She's come Undone and I Know This Much is True ALL amazing reads.
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Post by Dee Dee on Aug 31, 2009 2:51:29 GMT -5
Interesting read, diva...what specifically does the book cover? I've read about the Red Army Faction as well, but by different authors. As for what I'm reading currently: Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Storms: My Life With Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac by Carol Ann Harris, and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Oh, and 'Principles of Accounting' by some boring old professor guy... Can I please borrow "Principles of Accounting" the next time I´m suffering from insomnia? ;D Triassic, the Baader-Meinhof/Red Army Fraction (Rote Armee Fraktion in German) were certainly not all upper-class. They came from every social class in the German society. Ulrike Meinhof was a renowned journalist, Gudrun Ensslin was a university student and Andreas Baader was rather a hillbilly. The book covers the entire political history of RAF. From the beginning in the communist milieu in Berlin in the sixties to post-Berlin-wall society in the nineties. There were three generations of RAF-members and it´s true that some of them have been released in recent years after having been imprisoned for 15 years or more. The reasons why I find the book interesting are: 1. It tells us a lot about the whole complicated east-west relationship in the Cold War era; specifically in regard to German conditions; Germany being rather unique due to the division of the country. 2. We have had a similar group in Denmark, who called itself "Blekingegadebanden" and who has committed some of the worst crimes here - all due to political aspirations to set the third world free, so to speak. 3. At one point, Ulrike Meinhof was going to sacrifice her twin daughters; meaning that she was going to send them to a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, so she could follow her cause. The two other aforementioned people had already given up their children. Fortunately, the children (Regine and Bettina) were saved by their father and some courageous men. The camp, where they were supposed to have lived, was later totally destroyed in what is known as "Black September". No children survived. How do people turn into radical terrorists? To the point where they would sacrifice their own children for the sake of ... ideology? And how do they defend killing people in order to save other people? When I´ve finished reading the book, I´ll know if it can provide me with some answers ... |
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Post by Ouch on Aug 31, 2009 5:17:03 GMT -5
Interesting read, diva...what specifically does the book cover? I've read about the Red Army Faction as well, but by different authors. As for what I'm reading currently: Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Storms: My Life With Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac by Carol Ann Harris, and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Oh, and 'Principles of Accounting' by some boring old professor guy... Can I please borrow "Principles of Accounting" the next time I´m suffering from insomnia? ;D How do people turn into radical terrorists? To the point where they would sacrifice their own children for the sake of ... ideology? And how do they defend killing people in order to save other people? When I´ve finished reading the book, I´ll know if it can provide me with some answers ... You want the book? It's thick enough to stop bullets. No, I kid you not, my professor literally had a video he showed to the class of him shooting one of the books with a .45 calibre pistol... People don't turn into radical terrorists, they're labeled terrorists, because they are a combative minority. One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. Nowhere is this more the case than in Pakistan and Afghanistan with the Taliban and al-Qaeda organisations. How can anyone defend killing people in order to save other people? Conventional armies do the same thing. They just wear uniforms. If the enemy has most of the able bodied non-children in their forces, as well as the uniforms...well, if a person believes in their goal so much, and that is their true love, they would sacrifice anything for their true love, which would include children. The love doesn't necessarily need to be the ideology even. It could be money, a shot at fame (or infamy). Consider the French Resistance - we'd probably all label the members has a group of freedom fighters, but they could've been considered terrorists as well (and they did not attack just military targets - German contractors and related civilians were kidnapped and killed (and not just Germans...some French were even killed by the Resistance, and well as a few Polish and Austrians...)... |
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Post by Triassic on Aug 31, 2009 8:34:41 GMT -5
i think some of the things the u.s. military has pulled in afghanistan with these drone-delivered attacks, come pretty close to terroristic activity. i mean, i GEUSS that it's one thing if innocents are killed accidentally when striking a legitimate target...but if you're launching a missile at a building that YOU KNOW is full of 'civilians', little kids, etc, just to kill one bad guy...well, i dunno; how is that so different from an IED bomber?
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Post by Ouch on Aug 31, 2009 14:10:45 GMT -5
Yeah, that is a good point, Tri. The key to Terrorism is inspiring fear - parents won't send their kids to school in case the Taliban man decides to hide out and make the flying bomb blow up the classroom.
...but it just goes to show, also, 'civilian'...when does one become a 'civilian' and one become a 'terrorist'? How does one separate the 'bad guys' from the 'good guys'? It can be a hard question to answer, I think, and therefore why I believe a terrorist is not bred, but simply labeled.
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Post by Ciao Bella on Sept 1, 2009 19:52:00 GMT -5
I've actually gone back to the classics just recently. At the moment, I'm trying to finish Persuasion by Jane Austen - during lunch breaks |
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