The World is Talking About…

Isle of Lewis is Talking About...Windmills

Sheltered In Every Way But One

Massive wind project divides a British isle; "This is the land of our ancestors. If we lose it, we've lost the thing that makes us who we are," says schoolteacher Catriona Campbell.

By Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune

Isle of Lewis, Scotland - Those who inhabit this faraway island of windswept moors and rocky crofts seem to possess a sense of place that does not leave them at a loss for words.

Listen to Finlay MacLeod, a local broadcaster and writer who enjoys long ambles on the desolate moors, a jelly-like terrain that is more liquid than solid: "I know this place through the soles of my feet. I revel in it. I serenade it. I never go on holiday. When I do go away, I'm desperate to get back," he told a visitor.

"And now we are facing this terrible thing that threatens the very essence of what Lewis is. It's a small island. It's unique. And this will tear it asunder," he said.

The "terrible thing" to which he refers is a plan to construct what some promote as an environmental and economic blessing--a vast wind farm. Two British energy conglomerates have applied for permission to build 234 giant wind turbines that would generate 702 megawatts of power, one of the largest such projects in Europe.

The turbines would be 460 feet high; their rotors would have a diameter of 330 feet. A Boeing 747 jumbo jet could fly through the circumference with room to spare.

"There'd be no escaping them," said Catriona Campbell, whose kitchen window view would be compromised by dozens of the turbines about a mile away. She calls them a "physical and cultural desecration."

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Kalmykia is Talking About...Chess

In Russia, a Checkerboard Field of Dreams

In the only Buddhist region in Europe, regional president built a chess kingdom and then watched them come

By Peter Finn, Washington Post

Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, Russia - The obsessive energy of one man -- Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, former car dealer, present-day multimillionaire, Buddhist impresario and president of the Russian republic of Kalmykia -- has turned this remote corner of southern Russia into the Caesars Palace of chess. Now he is hosting his dream event, a $1 million bout to determine the undisputed chess champion of the world.

The contest, which is being followed online by chess fans worldwide, has proved as controversial as its sponsor. Replete with trash-talking grandmasters, it was almost aborted by a slugfest over bathroom breaks and allegations of cheating.

But for Ilyumzhinov, who has also been president of the World Chess Federation for 11 years, the uproar has had the side benefit of attracting yet more publicity for his chess kingdom, a desolate expanse of steppe and desert that runs to the Caspian Sea. "It's a great moment for the chess world," he said in a recent late-night interview that bounced from Buddhism to the $50 million Chess City the 44-year-old president has built here in the capital, Elista, to encounters he claims he has had with UFOs and aliens. ("They wore yellow suits," he said.)

Kalmykia is the only Buddhist region of Europe, the faith having come here with Mongolian migrants. It has the continent's tallest Buddhist temple -- built, like so much here, by its president, who glides around town in a white Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit.

"Rolls-Royce is a good car," Ilyumzhinov said, calling the Silver Spirit and the five other Rollses he owns his only personal indulgence -- apart from chess, which in one of his first decrees as president he made a school subject. "It helps children study well in other subjects -- math, physics," said Ilyumzhinov, who was a regional chess champion in his teens....Read more...

 

Tokyo is Talking About...Neighborhood Preservation

Now, something from my own backyard, as it were. No, I don't hang out here and I've only been there a couple of times -- I usually think of it as a transfer station between Shibuya and Kichijoji on the Keio Inokashira train line that I'm always passing through -- but I keep meaning to drop by some weekend and explore the streets and back-alleys to see what I can see.

For someone else's look at the neighborhood, check out "The cool sounds of 'Shimo'" by Steve McClure of the International Herald Tribune (February 4, 2004). Find out about Pizza of Death Records, and yes, the label's name does make perfect sense once you know the story.

Splitting a Hip Neighborhood, in More Ways Than One

"Until now, nobody cared if we destroyed the culture and environment of Tokyo," says urban planning professor. "People are gradually coming to understand that these things matter, too."

By Martin Fackler, New York Times

Tokyo, Setagaya Ward, Japan - With its vintage clothing stores, live music clubs and cheap noodle shops, Shimokitazawa is Tokyo’s answer to Greenwich Village, an epicenter of youth culture in one of Asia’s trendiest metropolises.

The neighborhood is popular for its cozy residential feel, drawing hordes of students and young office workers, who regularly throng its maze of narrow lanes and alleys.

Its tiny shops, many in converted houses or low-rise apartments, often bear names that recall a counterculture across the Pacific: the Village Vanguard Diner, Haight Ashbury, Mojo Rising.

But a shadow has fallen straight across the heart of this pulsing neighborhood. In four years, city officials plan to start building an 81-foot-wide thoroughfare that will slice Shimokitazawa in two.

The road has set off a rare battle for preservation in a country where big construction projects have long been welcomed as progress and used to grease the wheels of politics.

The fight pits boutique and bar owners, among them the first bearers of hippie culture to the neighborhood three decades ago, against city hall and older residents who resent the relative newcomers.

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See also:

• "The cool sounds of 'Shimo'" by Steve McClure of the International Herald Tribune (February 4, 2004)

Managua is Talking About...El Comandante

Ex-Firebrand Ortega on the Comeback Trail

Ronald Reagan’s nemesis returns to political life

By Marc Lacey, New York Times

Managua, Nicaragua - Washington's old Cold War nemesis, Daniel Ortega, is as divisive a figure as he ever was as a 30-something revolutionary who took on Ronald Reagan.

After three failed attempts to return to power in the last 15 years, El Comandante, as Mr. Ortega is widely known, is once again smiling down from campaign billboards across Nicaragua. Now 60 and balding with a slight paunch, he stands his best chance yet of returning to power in elections on November 5th.

Though opinion polls give Mr. Ortega about 30 percent support, he is the front-runner in a race splintered among five candidates. Yet the sentiment against him is broad and the scrambling to head off an Ortega victory is intense, and not just in Nicaragua.

The prospect has stirred deep anxiety in the Bush administration, which envisions him as a new ally for President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in challenging United States policy. Mr. Chávez has lent his support to Mr. Ortega, while Washington has sent word in no uncertain terms that aid will be re-evaluated if Mr. Ortega is elected.

The latest in a string of visitors to Managua was Representative Dan Burton of Indiana, chairman of the House subcommittee on Western Hemisphere affairs. While insisting that he was not telling Nicaraguans how to vote, he made it clear to local reporters that he opposed Mr. Ortega and that relations between Nicaragua and the United States would suffer should he win.

But Mr. Ortega's fiercest opposition is homegrown. He is not just a candidate. He is the main issue in the race.

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Berlin is Talking About…Gay Politicians

Berlin Mayor, Symbol of Openness, Has National Appeal

Klaus Wowereit, charming and gay, edges toward stardom

By Mark Landler, New York Times

Berlin, Germany - Fresh from his never-in-doubt re-election as Berlin’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit was soaking up the vibe at Popkomm, a music-industry trade show where the conventioneers favor fishnet stockings and motorcycle boots. In short: a typical Berlin scene.

It is Mr. Wowereit’s kind of scene, too, though the sunny, 52-year-old mayor was trying hard to look statesmanlike as he toured the floor with a scrum of television cameras. Famous for once being photographed at a party sipping Champagne from an actress’s red pump, Mr. Wowereit politely declined the bubbly offered by the organizers, drinking water instead.

Only when he spied a bank of headphones did the mayor break into a grin. Strapping on a pair, he bobbed his head to a new release by the American hip-hopper Lupe Fiasco. Later, Mr. Wowereit, whose nickname is Wowi, confided that his favorite pop singer was Madonna.

Charming, sociable and openly gay, Klaus Wowereit (pronounced vo-vuh-rite) is the newest star in the German political firmament. It is a firmament short on stars. After his victory, the mass-market newspaper Bild ran a front-page headline asking, “Will Wowi Be the First Gay Chancellor?”

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