The second round of matches in Group B got underway with an enticing tie between Denmark and Portugal at Ukrajina Stadium in Lviv, Ukraine.

Denmark, buoyed on by their impressive draw against the Netherlands in their opening match, started brightly against the more highly favored Portugal, passing the ball confidently and looking strong at the back.

Misfortune struck early though for the Danish, first with an injury to Niki Zimling, who was replaced by Jakob Poulsen, and secondly by an opening goal for Portugal. A Joao Moutinho corner in the 25th minute was met by an unmarked Pepe at the near post, the Portuguese defender coming up with a superb glancing header to beat the Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen.

The goal seemed to highlight the discrepancies between the two sides and Portugal began pushing hard for the second. Ten minutes on from the first goal and Portugal were once again celebrating, this time thanks to a Helder Postiga goal, the striker getting in front of the nearest defender to collect a low cross from Nani and score a fantastic goal from a tight angle.

Denmark were far from out of the game however, and grabbed themselves a lifeline just before halftime with a well worked team goal from Nicklas Bendtner. Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio rushed out to deny Michael Krohn-Dehli an easy attempt on goal, but instead the Dane headed the ball back across the goal towards the arriving Bendtner who then had only to knock the ball into an open goal.

All of Denmark’s positive work at the end of the first half was nearly undone early in the second when Poulsen played a poor pass along the Danish defensive line which was picked up by Postiga who looked to be clear through on goal and was only denied by a last ditch tackle from Daniel Agger.

Portugal certainly seemed rattled by Denmark’s goal, with the Danes looking far more assured in possession and frequently foraying into the Portuguese penalty area, with the leading side looking far less comfortable going forward than they had in the first half.

Despite their renewed efforts, Denmark were struggling to create real chances once they were in Portugal’s half, with the Real Madrid defensive duo of Pepe and Fabio Coentrao seeing off most threats.

With just over 10 minutes to play, Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo spurned a great chance to put the game beyond Denmark when he was one on one with the goalkeeper but his effort was uncharacteristically wide.

With Ronaldo still lambasting himself for the miss, the Danes counter-attacked with pace and proficiency, a deep cross finding Bendtner at the far post for the tall striker to head home his second goal of the night and draw Denmark level in a game which Portugal must have thought they had won in the first half.

Unfortunately for Denmark though, heartbreak was still to come. With just three minutes left in the game Silvestre Varela, after scuffing his first attempt at the ball, swiveled and struck a powerful right footed effort at the bottom corner of the goal and the ball flew past the outstretched fingertips of Andersen to give Portugal a vital 3-2 victory.

The win gives Portugal everything to play for in their final group game against the Netherlands, meanwhile Denmark are unlikely to have much more than pride to play for in their next game against Germany, a game which will most likely be their last at these championships.

Image Courtesy of  Rui Alexandre Araujo / Shutterstock.com

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Group B of the European Championships got off to a competitive start when Denmark took on World Cup runners-up the Netherlands at Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The Dutch were favored heading into the match and started well, pressuring Denmark all over the pitch and causing a number of errors, but despite going close through both Robin Van Persie and Wesley Sneijder, they were unable to break the deadlock.

The opening goal, against the run of play, fell to the Danes in the 24th minute when Michael Krohn-Dehli picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty box following a cross from Simon Poulsen, and burst past defender Ron Vlaar to fire the ball beneath the helpless Maarten Stekelenburg in the Dutch goal.

The Netherlands continued to threaten and should have equalized when Vlaar was left unmarked at a corner but his header went harmlessly wide of the goal. An even better opportunity beckoned minutes later when Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen attempted to pass to one of his defenders, but instead sent the ball straight to the feet of Arjen Robben, but the wingers’ curled effort hit the post to the relief of the travelling Danish fans.

The rest of the first half played out with the Netherlands in almost complete control of the game, repeatedly denied an equalizer by the impressive duo of Daniel Agger and Simon Kjaer at the heart of the Denmark defense.

The Dutch onslaught continued at the beginning of the second half, Robben forcing Andersen into a good save to his right whilst Ibrahim Afellay was inches wide of the goal with his left footed strike from outside the area. Frustration from the Dutch players at their inability to break down a resolute Danish defense led to some poor passing from the Netherlands, gifting possession back to Denmark on more than one occasion and allowing the Danes to relieve some of the pressure being exerted on them.

With the Netherlands getting more desperate for a goal, they began to push more players forward and were only denied it by the heroics of Andersen, the goalkeeper coming out to smother the ball at the feet of Klaas Jan-Huntelaar, as the Dutch striker was readying himself to lift the ball over the rushing goalkeeper and towards the unguarded net.

Despite their best efforts, the slick passing game of the Dutch could not break down a well disciplined Danish side, and Denmark recorded a highly impressive 1-0 victory.

Denmark manager Morten Olsen will be thrilled with his sides’ victory, a feat even more impressive given that Group B has been dubbed the ‘Group of Death’ as it boasts European powerhouses the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal. The defensive work of Agger and Kjaer will have been particularly pleasing and will have given Olsen confidence that his side could also upset either Germany or Portugal and defy the odds by qualifying from Group B.

Bert van Marwijk, the Dutch manager, will be far less pleased as he watched his side slump to a 1-0 loss to a side they will consider inferior to themselves. This game will have been highlighted by coaches as a must win for the Netherlands and they will now face an uphill battle to qualify from the group as they take on one of the tournament favorites in Germany, and a skilful Portugal side led by the talismanic Cristiano Ronaldo.

Image Courtesy of  mooinblack / Shutterstock.com

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Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, famed Bahrani activist and former president and co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, ended his 110 day hunger strike 28 May 2012. According to al-Khawaja’s wife, the activist ended his protest after he was force fed by doctors; al-Khawaja also believes that the hunger strike has finally begun to draw enough attention to the rights violations in Bahrain. Friends and colleagues of al-Khawaja also called for him to end his hunger strike.

Al-Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison in June 2011 with at least eight other activists. Twenty in total were tried by military tribunal as well; seven were tried in absentia. These activists, most of whom are Shia Muslims, were charged with trying to overthrow the Sunni royal family. Since the military ruling the highest court in Bahrain, the Court of Cassation, has said that the case must be heard by the civilian Court of Appeal and threw out the decision from the tribunal; however, al-Khawaja remains in prison at least until the end of the trial.

For a short time in April many activists around the world and family members of al-Khawaja worried that he had been killed or died in prison. The activist went missing and neither his wife nor his lawyer were allowed access to see him.

Nabeel Rajab, another famous Shia activist who was arrested for inciting protests via social networks, was released in late May. Rajab is the current president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and had expressed concern about al-Khawaja when he was being force fed.

Al-Khawaja’s daughter, Zainab al-Khawaja, was arrested 21 April 2012 after she was found sitting on a main road in a lone protest demanding the release of her father, the end to the government crackdown on protesters, and the cancellation of the Formula 1 races in Bahrain. She sentenced to one month in jail but was released for time served on remand. Zainab al-Khawaja was also forced to pay a fine of 200 dinar (US$530).

Al-Khawaja received political asylum in Denmark in 1992 after the Bahrani government began arresting and torturing those it suspected of trying to overthrow the government. While he was living Scandinavia, he and other Bahrani activist founded the Bahrain Human Rights Organization. Al-Khawaja returned to Bahrain in 1999 after several political reforms were passed and created the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. During the Arab Spring Revolutions of 2011, al-Khawaja was a leader of several non-violent, pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

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Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine intends to build transport and energy infrastructure facilities in Afghanistan, as well as help repair military equipment produced in the USSR, said the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych at the meeting with Hamid Karzai, the Afghani President. The meeting took place in the framework of the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago.

Ukraine also aims to continue providing NATO with air transport support to finish the peacemaking campaign in Afghanistan by 2014, mentioned the Ukrainian leader. In addition to the listed intentions, President Yanukovych supported the security transition in Afghanistan by 2014, as outlined in the Lisbon Roadmap.

As a nation contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Ukraine also supports the 2014-2024 strategic partnership that involves the USA and NATO and is set to help establish peace on the territory of the Central Asian country.

Addressing the summit, Ukrainian leader also expressed the country’s readiness to join the Danish initiative Coalition of Committed Contributors. The so-called 3C-initiative will help fund Afghani security forces after 2014. So far 23 nations joined the initiative, reported Stephen J. Flanagan, PhD, at the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia hearing on April 26, 2012.

Ukraine has already joined the Central Asia Counternarcotics Initiative, countering threats of stability from Afghan and Pakistani violent extremist groups which use drug trafficking to fund their activities.

Currently, 22 Ukrainian peacekeepers are stationed in Afghanistan. The team from Ukraine features mine clearance experts, medics, army aviation advisors, and staff officers. It was recently announced that Ukraine planned to add to its ISAF mission a dog handler who specializes in mine and explosives detection.

Ukraine sent its first ISAF representatives to Afghanistan in May of 2007. A team of 10 to 30 Ukrainians (depending on the stage of the mission) performed tasks along with the peacekeepers from Denmark, Croatia, Georgia, and Lithuania. Among other peacekeeping jobs, Ukrainian team helped construct a mosque in a refugee camp in Chaghcharan.

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For years, women world-wide have been fighting for their rights and to have equality with their male counterparts. While some nations have progressed much more rapidly for the equality of women, other nations are still struggling to give women the rights and freedom that men have.

According to the dailybeast.com, “in the last year, Denmark elected a female prime minister, Brazil elected a female president and a female took the helm of the International Monetary Fund. In the last decade, Ethiopia passed the most progressive abortion laws in Africa to combat unsafe abortion rates and Mali passed a law that says women are not required to obey their husbands.

It seems the state of women’s rights and freedoms worldwide are perhaps better than ever before. But, large and sobering discrepancies remain. Women aren’t allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, are subject to genital mutilation in Mali and are killed for honor in Pakistan.”

Another country, which is considered one of the worst to live in for women, is Turkey. Their rights are extremely limited. But for Turkish women, things might start looking up for those who have succumbed to inequality for decades. According to the United Press International (UPI), “the European Parliament (EP) recently adopted a report urging Turkey to follow up on its recent work toward securing gender equality and women’s rights.”

The report, written by Socialists & Democrats Member of European Parliament Emine Bozkurt, lays out a series of goals for Ankara, Turkey’s capitol, to accomplish by 2020 in raising the status of women to fully equal members of Turkish society as Brussels and Ankara seek to breathe life into the country’s stalled European Union (EU) accession bid.

Bozkurt, the EP’s rapporteur on women’s rights in Turkey, discussed the passage of the report and named it, “A 2020 Perspective for Women in Turkey” which is meant to ensure that the European Commission keeps the issue of women’s rights and domestic violence in the forefront of its efforts to promote a “positive agenda.” Also, the report “stresses that there can be no democracy without women and that women should be treated as individuals rather than just as family members or as mothers.”

While ministries are working toward gender equality in Turkey, many problems remain.

According to the report, Turkey’s new law against domestic violence “lacks a mechanism which immediately removes [alleged perpetrators] from the vicinity of the woman who has been subjected to violence.” Stefan Fule, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, believes Turkey still has a long way to go and that several inequalities still need to be addressed.

Fule says, “On women’s rights, every step needs to be taken to implement the recent law on violence against women, also, to improve the situation on the ground of women in Turkey as regards education, employment and political representation.”

Image Courtesy of  homeros / Shutterstock.com

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Part two of our feature of players to watch at EURO 2012 takes us to Group B, the group of death. Denmark may have their fair share of talented young players coming through for this summer, but being put up against many people’s favorites (Germany, Holland, and Portugal) will make this group undoubtedly the most entertaining in the tournament. Here are eight possible players to keep an eye out for in Poland and Ukraine.

Kevin Strootman (PSV & Holland)

Kevin Strootman may already be 22, but that does not mean his potential is fulfilled already. The PSV midfielder has attracted the interest of top Premier League clubs and has had a meteoric rise since he left relegated Sparta Rotterdam 18 months ago. One season at Utrecht was enough to catch the eye of PSV, who took him on last season, and he has already made an impact in Holland.

Strootman broke into the Holland set-up last year and has made 11 appearances, making him almost certain to be going to the EUROs this summer. If Holland is to challenge for the tournament, nevermind making it out of a very tough group, Strootman in the midfield will be a key aspect of their side.

Ricky Van Wolfswinkel (Sporting Lisbon & Holland)

The brilliantly named Ricky Van Wolfswinkel is another of the boys from Utrecht who has carried on building their reputation before being linked with every top Premier League club. Van Wolfswinkel moved to Sporting Lisbon last summer and has scored nine goals since. Like Strootman, he has all but claimed his place at EURO 2012.

The striker has been strongly linked with Manchester United and Tottenham, and if he continues to impress on the big stage this summer, the likes of him and Strootman could be the new generation of Dutch stars that bring silverware back to their country.

Daniel Wass (Evian & Denmark)

This may be one you have not heard of before, but right-back Daniel Wass is progressing nicely through his career at the moment. After impressing at home in Denmark for Brondby, Wass had done enough to attract the interest of Benfica. The Portuguese side snapped him up last summer, but loaned him out immediately to French side Evian. Wass has made eighteen appearances for the Ligue 1 side so far and has scored three goals from his attacking full-back role.

He does not have a guaranteed place in the Danish squad for the summer and has only made four international appearances. However, his impressive performances in France and his growing reputation means we could see a bit more of the 22-year-old in Poland and Ukraine.

Christian Eriksen (Ajax & Denmark)

My next few names seem painfully obvious, but it would be rude not to mention them anyway. Another one of the young Danish contingents who is certain to go to EURO 2012 is Christian Eriksen. The Ajax superstar came to the front last year when he started to impress in Holland and began to make an impact on the international stage. He has already claimed 21 caps for Denmark and will be central to his country’s hopes of progressing from a tough group this summer.

Eriksen is linked with almost every major club in Europe at the moment. If he does have an impressive summer, it is hard to imagine the little play-maker will still be at Ajax come the start of the new season.

Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen & Germany)

All the talk in Germany at the moment surrounds the excitement of Borussia Dortmund star Mario Goetze and their future star Marco Reus, but one man who has been making great progress for Bayer Leverkusen is Andre Schurrle.

Starting his career at Mainz, Schurrle soon was the center of attention and got a move to Leverkusen last summer. He has made more progress with the German giants this season and broke onto the international scene impressively, scoring five goals in his mere twelve caps for Germany.

Despite that, Schurrle is not a likely starter for Germany this summer, but it would be a surprise if he was not included in the squad and given some sort of role in the tournament.

Marco Reus (Gladbach & Germany)

I say Gladbach, but Marco Reus will be joining the ever-impressive Borussia Dortmund in the summer to play alongside the other German star, Goetze. He has scored 34 goals for Gladbach at the age of 22 and is another who might not make the German XI, but will surely make the final squad. Dortmund will be happy they already have him signed and sealed for next season, as he is sure to attract a lot of attention this summer.

There are only four appearances for Germany, but Reus has a big future. EURO 2012 may be the opportunity for the attacker to make an impact with Germany looking to replace the likes of Miroslav Klose et al., sooner rather than later.

Mario Goetze

The final of the new German threesome who will shake up EURO 2012 this summer is Mario Goetze, and he may be the most impressive of the three. Already a first teamer at German champions Dortmund, Goetze will be the subject of much interest this summer and could find himself in the first XI in Poland and Ukraine.

Goetze may not be at Dortmund for very much longer, although with the German side about to seal another Bundesliga title, maybe they can convince Mario to put off the attractions of Europe’s finest for one more season. However, an impressive tournament may put into play any plans Dortmund had to hang onto the midfielder.

Nelson Oliveira (Benfica & Portugal)

There probably will not be an awful lot different about Portugal’s squad compared to that of the 2010 World Cup. Nelson Oliveira is not even guaranteed to get a spot in the squad, in all honesty, but he did finally get his international debut this year, so will definitely be in contention. He is not a prolific goalscorer, but a hard worker upfront and holds the ball up well.

He scored in the Champions League last month to put Benfica through to the Champions League Quarter-Finals, and we might see a bit more of Oliveira this summer if Portugal feels the need to take him.

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Contradicting Europe’s right-wing rise, the Danish Social Democrats have won the Danish Parliamentary election on September 15. The election have ended a decade of center-right majority in the Danish Parliament whilst electing their first female leader, Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

According to three polls released on the 14th September, voters were ready for a change as they prepared to cast their vote on the 15th, in order to elect the 179 members of Parliament. The Prime Minister in office Lars Loekke Rasmussen, who took over two years ago, replacing Anders Fogh Rasmussen who went on to be NATO Secretary General, was not taken too kindly by the Danish people as early voters cast their ballots and criticized his policies. Rasmussen lead a coalition composed of pro-market Liberals and Conservatives and was supported by the Danish People’s Party (DPP), a far-right and xenophobic party.

The election is expected to usher in the end of market reforms and strict border control, while the Socialist Democratic party will make a comeback as the majority leader in the Parliament, after 10 years in opposition.

Even though significant changes aren’t expected, Thorning-Schmidt, 44, hopes to protect the welfare system by raising taxes on banks and the rich and refrain from several austerity measures formulated by the government in order to avoid waves of contagion from debt-ridden countries. Altough Denmark did not hop on the Euro train, its economy relies on the export of national products to other European countries and its currency is subject to the uncertainty attached to the Eurozone.

According to a recent Associated Press interview, “We have a government that has believed that austerity was the right way to achieve more growth in Denmark,” Thorning-Schmidt said, “Austerity and tax cuts are not the right course for Denmark. What we want to achieve is to create more growth, kickstart the economy and then after that create the foundation for a new sustainable growth.”

The votes of Thurday’s election have been accounted for and resulted in a narrow win for the Social Democrats, with 92 seats, against the 87 seats won by Rasmussen’s coalition. Thorning-Schmidt must now manage a left-wing alliance consisted of former marxists, environmentalists, social democrats and liberals, who don’t see eye to eye in a small array of topics. There is some evidence of possible disagreement among the coalition parties. Margrethe Vestager, leader of the Socialist Liberal party, agreed to the austerity package presented by the previous government and is not backing away from that decision:

“We have made a deal which we believe is really good. It means that we will get more money in the chest and a sound economical starting point,” she said. Thorning-Schmidt’s toughest challenge has proved to be finding room in her Cabinet for the leaders of the Socialist Liberal Party and the Socialist People’s Party. According to political analyst Rune Stubager of the University of Aarhus “Her two coalition parties will try to almost tear her apart. The early retirement issue will be a big one for them to deal with.”

Hopefully, the election have created a turning point in immigration policy, as ten years of strict immigration and refugee legislation come to an end.

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I spoke with Julie Rafn Abildgaard a month ago about her research on the sophisticated Japanese/Danish humanoid Geminoid-DK. The impressive robot, designed to be an exact copy of a living human being, will Monday be presented at Aalborg University in Denmark by Professor Henrik Scharfe, who is also the face and body behind the first Caucasian geminoid. But who is Julie? And what can she tell us about her experience?

Julie Rafn Abildgaard (JRA): I study persuasive design at the centre for computer mediated epistemology at Aalborg University (EPD), an elite master program. Studying at EPD means that you’re studying persuasion but angles differ a lot. Some focus on the theoretical things, some on applied aspect of persuasive design and some want to explore the boundaries between persuasive design and emotions design or robotics – which I am doing.

We were five new students at persuasive design and any one of us should join one of the running projects in the department. [I expressed an] interest in the difference between western and eastern culture and Henrik Scharfe asked me to join the Geminoid project.

My role is to make research based on experiments and I also have to come up with ideas to make the experiments with the Geminoid and take part in the cooperation with ATR in Japan. Actually I have a lot of roles [that include] taking part in experiments, analysis and write papers about it and help build the Geminoid lab for when the Geminoid arrives to Denmark. And that’s just some of the stuff!

Tell us about your experiences in Japan

JRA: We were in Japan for eight days to do business and it was very exciting. The people at Kokoro, the manufacturing company and the people at ATR, the robot research centre were very hard working and very kind. Henrik Scharfe and the people at Kokoro worked on getting the Geminoid to look even more like Henrik and I was the first one to ‘teleop’ (teleoperation of a multi-agent reactive robotic system) with the Geminoid and that was a very good experience.

I waited for half a year to see this robot and I saw it for the first time in Tokyo on February 14. Kokoro also built the HI-1 and Geminoid-F. Geminoid-F is the female geminoid which is made from a Japanese woman and HI-1 is the one Hiroshi Ishiguro, the inventor of the Geminoid, made to look like himself.

It was very weird, I was almost shaking but I think it was because I’d waited that long to see it. At first sight, the robot was very humanlike although it was easy to see that it was a robot because it didn’t have a wig on. But it was still humanlike in a strange way so it actually took me a few seconds to feel comfortable looking at the robot and I guess what I felt was the feeling called ‘uncanny valley’. [The theory of] ‘uncanny valley’ describes the unpleasant feeling you get when something scares you when it’s not what you expected it would be. But I would underline that I only had that feeling once and after I had no problem looking at the robot. Many people think that the robot will keep scaring people but I think that my experiment with the robot shows that you get used to being around the robot after spending a short time with it.

How will you use the robot?

JRA: Well, the robot as it is now is basically meant for research. The very good mimics makes the robot usable for research regarding human nature. We want to make research in issue like – What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to have a relation to another human or a robot?  What does identity mean and what does the presence really mean. We want to look at areas such as emotional affordances in human robot interaction, ‘Blended Presence’ and study culture difference in perception of the robot and right now, I’m studying culture difference in the perception. The main purpose is of course to make research about human-robot interaction.

Part of the reason why the robot looks almost exactly like a human is that we want to find out to what extend it is appropriate to make robots look like people surrounding them and you can make very exciting and amazing studies with robots who look like humans and humanoids.

What are your expectations?

JRA: The development of the technology is expanding and therefore I think that it is very important to find out how we can differ each technology device so that it can fit into either Danish culture, Japanese culture or others.

In the research, I expect that we find out that Japanese test persons will be much more respective to the robots than Danish test persons. In Japanese religion and [society] you consider that both material things and living creatures have a soul but in western culture we don’t believe this so that, of course, makes a difference.

We’ve gotten a lot of emails from other people who are interested [in the project], also from other countries but they’re not working with Geminoid yet. Maybe in the future.

How would you feel about a robot of you?

JRA: Henrik Scharfe has joked a lot about making a geminoid that looked like me and I actually don’t know if I would feel comfortable having a copy of myself but it is a funny idea – I don’t know yet.

Is your future in the field?

JRA: I hope to get employed as a ph.d. student to continue making research in human robot interaction, but you never know. I hope to get a ph.d.

For more information, please visit the project website or the website for today’s event.

Image provided by Julie – many thanks!

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During the initial international military operation in Libya, the coalition forces engaged in operation Odyssey Dawn between March 19-31. However, the operation was essentially a code word for actions of war disguised as humanitarian aid. The allied forces collaborated against Muammar Gaddafi on their mission of ‘liberation’ to save the people of Libya from their ‘bloodthirsty’ oppressor, forgetting that for several years they had a civil relationship and strong political and financial bonds with the very same man.

At the beginning, NATO’s participation and exactly who was going to be heading the mission, was a mystery. However, within a few days, France’s PM Nicola Sarkozy, took the lead in this operation. “Sarkozy likes nothing better than a crisis, a fight and a gamble,” said Financial Times columnist Peggy Hollinger. “With his approval ratings at an all-time low, this Libyan intervention could be just what he needs to revive his faltering popularity at home.” However, without the firepower of the United States in the form of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles and aircraft carrier based aircraft, nothing would have been achieved. For the U.S., Odyssey Dawn was a coming out party for America’s newest military formation, African Command (Africom). It is no accident that at the very moment that African oil reserves are becoming a major source for the United States, Washington should create a military formation for the continent. It is very important to keep in mind that the control of energy resources is always central to U.S. strategy, and with world reserves declining, the scramble to hold the petroleum high ground is always part of the agenda.

The big argument for the operation leadership was between France and England, while the Americans made their involvement obvious via missiles but reiterated that they did not intend to deploy any soldier into Libya. Washington, Paris, and London concluded that Muammar Gaddafi is not a target himself, even though his palace in Tripoli had been under attack. A missile also landed just 50 meters away of the famous tent that he used to welcome the foreign leaders in.

The types and numbers of forces against Gaddafi were massive. France, Britain, United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Qatar and United Arab Emirates comprised an undefeatable opponent against Gaddafi’s forces.

I’m wondering, what kind of humanitarian mission consists of fighting as well as spying aircrafts, aircraft carriers, submarines, battle cruisers, tankers, and a rain of missiles?

On the other hand, regarding Libyan forces, colonel Gaddafi is considered to have a personal army consisting of thousands of members, much more than a   simple army. However, we cannot be sure how many of them have defected so far. They have tanks, aircrafts, armed and armored vehicles for transportation, submarines, armed ships, and picket boats at their disposal. Although, many of them are either destroyed or useless.

Is this another war for oil? We all know the scenario and the answer is probably affirmative. Curiosity, somehow wouldn’t let me rest, and after a little research a dilemma suddenly appeared – Was the Libyan war being pursued for  obtaining black gold or for water?

One conspiracy theory, called New World Order (NWO), seems to suggest a link. Between the lines, since the beginning of the past century, oil magnates created a cartel to take control of all oil reserves around the planet, as well as  take some of them out of production. Nevertheless, some years ago the NWO conspirators reached the conclusion that very soon oil would be replaced as the Earth’s most valuable resource by another, less suspected one. Instead,  that valuable resources will be pure, sweet drinking water. Of course, water is an abundant resource with enough on this planet to satisfy the needs of many times the current levels of population. But, exactly as they did with oil, another abundant resource, they plan to make drinking water artificially scarce by having control over its main sources.

So, why Libya?  In late 1983, Qaddafi created the Great Man-Made River Authority. The job of the authority was to take water from the aquifers in the south, and bring it in the most efficient and economic way to the Libyan coastal belt. In 1996, the Great Man-Made River Project, reached one of its final stages, and a huge amount of sweet, unpolluted water began reaching the homes and gardens of the citizens of Libya’s capital Tripoli. The rest I leave to you.

I do not assume that all these are necessarily truth, but I believe it is important to have as much information as possible so we can make up our minds more accurately.

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Sune Rose Wagner of the Danish rock-duo The Raveonettes told the Danish newspaper Jyllands-posten about their source of inspiration for the newly released album Raven In The Grave. Wagner and his musical partner Sharin Foo has been the front and back of one of the most successful rock bands out of Denmark. Personally, Wagner first made a name for himself in the 1990s with the band Psyched Up Janis, but has since 2001 influenced the indie rock stage with The Raveonettes’ hard-edged electric guitar and dark lyrical content. As a musician, Sune Rose Wagner explains that he finds inspiration in other musical contexts and art forms; “A lot of the tracks on the new album reflect classical music in the sense that they were written from a piano. We never really did that before.”

Wagner has his own piano at his Manhattan apartment in New York and takes classical piano lessons – just as he did when he lived in Brighton, UK and later in Seattle. “I’ve been able to read notes since I was a kid and am perfectly capable of playing any pop song on a piano,” he says. “But I’m just as interested in classical piano music in order to enter different directions in the music. You discover alternative harmonies which leads to completely different ways of constructing a track. On the new album we have tracks which,  inspired by classical music such as Richard Wagner, never returns to the point of departure which denies the listener the deliverance you usually get from a pop song.” However, the duo still insists on recording the tracks with a guitar at their studio in Brooklyn.

If you listen to the repertoire of The Raveonettes, you cannot help but notice the cinematic touch of their sound. The musician admits that he has personal ambitions of writing songs for a movie in the future: “For years I’ve had the desire to create a soundtrack. However, I don’t think I will actually do it before I feel ready to deliver a soundtrack in the classic sense – I mean, a sound which is founded in the classical genre. It’s not something you just do. It demands a great insight into compositions and theory.” So far, it has just been the mood and lyrics of the Raveonettes which has benefited from the songwriter’s fascination of film. He tells Jyllands-posten that the song “Attack Of The Ghost Rider” from the duo’s first album Whip It On was inspired by the opening sequence of the classical Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho – while David Lynch’s Blue Velvet greatly influenced much of the material from the early years of The Raveonettes.

“I’m not sure if other’s notice these sources of inspiration. But I was guided toward the mood of a track – or a sentence of the lyric – because of the atmosphere of various movies” Wagner explains. The new album is inspired by the 1983 American drama Bad Boys starring Sean Penn. “It’s a tough story with love and criminal behavior as the main ingredients while the songs in the movie give off a good portion of longing and hopelessness which I found extremely inspiring.”

Since 2005, the band has been responsible for their own releases after breaking with their record company Columbia Records. According to Wagner, this has been made possible because of the duo’s tour schedule – but he still believes there’s an industry in releasing albums.

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She was born and raised in Denmark, and as a child she discovered how much she enjoyed reading. “I am a big fan of reading all kind of stuff. When I learned how to read, I would always read everything.”

Becoming a journalist was always a secret dream of hers, but after reasoning that it would be hard to find a job in such a competitive field, she decided to study a less career specific subject and got her bachelor degree in international studies and English. Once finished, she went to England to study International affairs: “I had already realized that I didn’t want to be a politician, but I was interested in the events and developments on the global scene and wanted to tell people about them”.

Her search for a suitable internship began like many others. “I submitted my CV online and Toonari Media found it! I started out hoping it was going to be interesting. I didn’t have any expectations, but as the days passed by my expectations were fulfilled beyond my imagination.”

She was one of the first interns to join Toonari Post. Even though her adventure has just begun, the past months have already challenged her. “I had a hard time when we started doing interviews. I think I could be a journalist in the future though. I have an interest that is big enough for me to pursue a stories. And Toonari Post is one of the best mediums for this. They give us some guidelines but they allow us to explore the field ourselves, give us responsibility and make us want to improve. I always feel I want to contribute to Toonari. In other work environments you can’t expect this freedom. It really helps your motivation to get involved as a writer, as an editor.”

Also, the internship at Toonari Post offered her a virtual experience that other newspapers seem unable to provide. “I think it’s the future. It was something that I hadn’t thought about before. The more I worked with people virtually, the more I got used to it. You get to meet people from so many different countries. Get a completely new perspective on collaboration, and you don’t really expect it, everything just comes to you. You just open the door.”

Claudia shared one of her experiences, when she did her first interview with an Openleaks member. “The whole thing about getting the interview with Mr. Snorrason, finding a contact from Openleaks, was an expedition. The task of finding a way to reach the organisation seemed impossible. We ended up getting immensely frustrated. Finally, when it happened it was such a relief but you realize that the process is so long – you interview, you hear the recorded version and you think, “do we really sound like that?” Then you transcribe the whole thing and have the audio edited. It’s an ongoing thing, it feels so far away but its not”.

Being part of Toonari is a different experience. “It feels like I’ve worked here forever, it feels like home, but despite this familiarity you continue to learn new things, meet new obstacles, new experiences – and new people every week, joining the internship.”

The mentoring part of the internship is a very important part as it takes your training to a new level and gets you to advance your knowledge, skills and leadership abilities. “In the meetings, I try to find a road to develop. I realized how hard it is to explain to people what I mean, to train them, and to get them to learn and understand. For me it is like trying to explain how the universe expand! Every week there is a new challenge, I still get exited about work and every day is just a new chapter.”

Claudia wanted to share a message to all Toonari readers out there, and new people that want to join the internship. “Our concept has a great potential and once we’ve reached out to the masses, we can make a big deal out of it. We encourage young talented writers to become media active people, and awesome journalists. Keep your mind wide open, and take responsibility for your own fate and luck as a writer. We just need interest, and enthusiasm; this is going to be a big step in the right direction.”

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Denmark – a small Scandinavian country in the Northern part of Europe, sporting around 5.6m people and known for an extensive welfare state, windmills and design. This country has in modern days kept a quiet, peaceful society and has been described as the ‘happiest place in the world’.

But as a native, I dare you not to take this idyllic image at face value. In February alone this year, three cases of horrific character have splashed the front pages in the small country. First there was the case of a 44-year-old man who killed his three children aged 2, 8 and 10. The motives are unknown but the police explained that the man, who is divorced from the children’s mother, had shot the children with a hunting riffle during the early hours of February 9. Before during so, he texted his ex-wife with the message that he was taking the children on a ‘journey’. Fearing that he might leave the country, the mother alerted the police who upon arrival to the house found all the children dead.

It was reported that the man had tried to commit suicide afterwards but this was soon rejected by the investigation. The initial interrogation was conducted behind closed doors and the man remains in custody at a psychiatric ward. The motives are still unclear and considering the gun control laws in Denmark, the use of a riffle is unusually dramatic.

The second case was of a 29-year-old man who contacted the police, explaining he had found his 22-year-old brother dead. When arriving to the scene, the police came to suspect that the man had in fact killed his younger brother himself and took him into custody. At the hearing, which was done behind closed doors, the 29-year-old was charged with strangling his younger brother do death with an unidentified string on February 16. The man refused to give a statement to the police and the court but pleaded not guilting before the hearing. He did not however appeal the court’s decision. In this case, the motives were also left unclear.

Finally, a gruesome case in the lines of the Fritzl case in Austria saw a 41-year-old father and 38-year-old mother and step-mother being charged on February 18 for gross neglect of their nine children. According to the public prosecutor, the children had been living for years in an accommodation filled with animal and human feces and without adequate sources of water and heat. The neglect of the children was so severe that a former chief psychologist with many years of experience in abusive violence admitted to never having reviewed a case so bad in an interview with the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen-Jyllandsposten.

The children were all subjected to a weekly regiment of violence – regular beatings, torture and depravation with an instance of boiling tomato soup being poured down the throat of one of the young boys. However, the main target was the oldest daughter who’s biological mother lives elsewhere. The investigation showed that she had been forced to eat animal feces, to shovel snow barefoot which had given her incipient gangrene, been raped repeatedly by the father – who also tried to get strangers to rape her. On top of this, the father forced the other children to beat her with objects and made them a part of the sadistic abuse of their sister.

This case is one of the worst known instances of child abuse in Denmark and has also been highlighted for the severe failures on behalf of the authorities who had been notified several times by concerned citizens about the state of the children. It was not until the now 20-year-old eldest daughter escaped that the police intervened and arrested the parents while handing the rest of the children over to child services.

Something is rotten in Denmark – just as it is in many other places. To be a small country does not mean that we are safe from evil, it only means that evil is less publicized outside of our borders.

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