Latvia: Paris of the East

I spent this week in Lativa with Mark Rodgers (from exchange in Copenhagen), his Latvian mate Ravis and Antonia (Australian) from The Hague. Ravis showed us an amazing time. We spent three days in the capital Riga and the rest of our time in the country side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Latvia is a country that is booming. Shopping centres, buildings and skyscrapers are springing up everywhere, and there's a real sense that people are revelling in their ability to pursue individual wealth. In our short time we managed to see an old soviet prison, go kayaking, check out the Riga nightlife, smoke a turkish water pipe, have a Latvian Sauna as well as check out the local markets, which were housed in an old German Zepellin hanger. It's an amazing country. If you ever get the chance, go there!
Old man in front of Cafe.



The Monument of Freedom is Latvia's prize possession and has been a rallying point for all Latvians whilst under control of the Germans and Soviets. Two guards stand completely still in front of the monument at all times.
The Turkish water pipe, or "Hooka" (a word that needs to be carefully pronounced when ordering in Riga, the capital of English Bucks party weekends).
Me, Ravis, Antonia and Marky. Latvia for Life.

The Societ Prison, where political prisoners were held and Marky being dominated by the guard. Prisoners were walked around like this to prevent them getting away.


Poignant tourist photos. Barbed wire album cover and guard tower frollicks.

Marky and I escaping from jail.
Marky, Ravis and I in front of a magnificant Russian Orthodox church, which was situated in the middle of the poorest region we visited.
Lativian beaches.
Flying Pender.
These were some of the buildings that surrounded the Russian Orthodox church, deserted, delapidated and quite frankly, unsafe.

Marky and I in front of deserted soviet era buildings. They were originally constructed for the army, but with the army having left, they have been left to disintegrate.
Album cover no. 2.
Latvian Ladies catching up on gossip after doing their shopping.
We drove past this strange collection of dolls in the middle of no where. Bit of a where's wally special.

The sun sets on Latvia.

Till

Till Zimmermann, a most dangerous looking German friend, finished his internship in the Hague and headed back to Bonn to finish off his PhD. Till, you will be missed.

Latvian Teaser

I just returned from a week in Latvia, Paris and London with Markie Rodgers. I will be posting more soon but in the meantime here's a panorama of a Latvian swamp that we walked through... It was beautiful, desolate and a little scary. Mark and I kept thinking a hand was going to pop out of the water and pull us under.

David Hicks

Here is a video Dan Ilic (formerly Ronnie Johns cast member) made about David Hicks. I'm not sure what Cribs is... but I think it might be an American TV show where you show off your house on TV (possibly?).

So yeah. Take a squizz.

A new look me....

Last time I shaved my head was when I went to Nepal with a group from school to do some hiking. It has been a liberating experience.

The hairdresser who did it was Turkish and could not speak English... ... I mimed a shaver and made a "bzzzzzz" sound. He understood... and we were friends. His 5 year old daughter laughed as my hair came off. She even offered me an ash tray and a pack of cigarettes to go with my haircut... I couldn't quite get across that not only do I not smoke, but I don't really accept ciggies from five year olds....

Parliament House in The Hague

The motto of The Hague is "Come as strangers, leave as Friends."

A Canadian guy here suggested it should be a picture of a guy giving the thumbs up with the title "My Hague, Your Hague".

I think "If it's not raining sideways, there's something wrong." could quite possibly work as well.

Anyway: the Parliament House by night.

Delft

A little town 20 minutes from the Hague, which is famous for its blue and white china ware (Delftware! I'd never heard of it but i'm sure it means something to the more cultured amongst "youse all")

Anyway. It's a cute town. Roll tape.

Saturday Turkish Markets in the Hague

These photos speak for themselvesm but every saturday there are turkish markets on just near my house (everything is "just near my house" in the Hague). They remind me a little bit of the markets in Cambodia. I wish I could play you a video, because the markets are accompanied by a symphony of screaming and shouting as each vendor tries to sell his or her wares. You can pretty much buy anything you need, food, clothes, furniture for half the price of supermarkets in the Hague. For all the australians, check out the bananas... they're like 1 euro a bunch... For someone who has a staple diet of cereal, it's great to have access to cheap bananas...

If any of you would like to talk further about bananas, and their general thriftiness, you know where you can get in touch with me.

Rotterdam

Took a quick trip a couple of weeks ago to go to the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Saw a very thought provoking film called AFR, which was about Ander Fogh Rasmussan, the Prime Minister of Denmark. It basically spliced together a whole lot of interviews by prominent Danish politicians so that it looked as though the Prime Minister had a gay lover, who he had killed in order to protect his political career. It was meant to be about freedom of speech (after the Muslim Cartoon crisis in denmark) and about how the media manipulate source material to give their tilt to the truth. The director came out afterwards and spoke. It was an all round top day out of the Hague... even if Rotterdam is a little forgettable (apologies to Rotterfolk!).

Here are some photos of the dam of Rotters:

The View From My Room

A few months back it snowed heavily in The Hague. Here are some shots from my room window.

Me

Hey everyone.

Only about two weeks to go in the Hague. It all seems to have gone so fast. Sorry for the lack of posts. Life has been very very hectic of late.

I hope to post some more soon.

James

I saw Donny Darko

I saw Donny Darko over the weekend...

What an intriguing film... I mean, apart from not really making any sense plot wise it's a really nice portrayal of teenage life...

My review: Highly ambitious but lacking in message... a bit like looking at the mona lisa... you know it's meant to be significant, there's something to it, but you can't help thinking that it's just a painting of a woman looking directly at camera. Anyway, if nothing, I recommend you see it... Like the UN and world peace, you want to believe in it, you want it to work. At the same time, you know something just isn't quite right, but you'd rather look at the screen and say "cool" and believe in it than acknowledge the fact that it's all utterly confusing.

Anna begins...

Everyone please welcome my neice ANNA PIGOTT to the blog.

She was chairing the local land care meeting in Berry and managed to take the opportunity to model the latest headware.

I think she will be a swimmer. Look at those flippers!

Go Anna, It's your Birthday, We got the Deathstar, It's your Birthday, We got the Deathstar. (Big shout out to Andrew J)

Why you should always comb the back of your head...

The Secretary-General of the UN recently came to visit the ICTY and addressed some of the staff in the foyer on his way out to the limo... I managed to get a pretty good possie for the press photos. Let's face it... this photo is all about me. I couldn't have made Ban Ki Moon any more insignificant in this photo if I tried. (Ok, everyone. Smile- No-... No. Mr Ban Ki Moon, maybe if you just turn around so we can't see your face... yeah... that's better... yeah... yeah... bit more.. yeah... bit further... perfect.)

Like the curse of the new Australian cricket captian, who for the first year of his captaincy will, regardless of his performance have countless articles written about him which generally amount to "yeah he's alright, but he's no Steve Waugh" (previous incumbant), the moon-meister was subject to some rampant "he's no Kofi" comments amongst the interns. However, I think, considering he'd already visited and had talks with the International Criminal Court and all its judges, the International Court of Justice and all its judges, the ICTY and all its judges (not to mention Carla Del Ponte) and it was only 10:30am... he was doing ok.

Sorry for the lack of posts... but to be honest... there's been a lack of posting by you guys as well so i figure unless you pick up your game I'm really only keeping an online journal of my life that some 13 year old american kid in wyoming who makes a spelling mistake whilst trying to search "Fender" is going to chance across.

Your sooky little boy,

Jamesy Wamesy no friends blamesy.

My Favourite Song #3

This song has one of the most beautiful guitar solos I've heard. So simple but so heartfelt. It's by the ex-guitarist of PULP. Have a listen.

Enjoy!

Baby You're My Light - Richard Hawley

Other Artists that you should be investigating if you want to still be friends with me.

• Swan Lee
• Blue States
• Beth Gibbons
• Sufjan Stevens
  

Politics v Law: The Game of the Century.

I'm currently going through a dilemma as to which field I would like to assert myself in professionally. International Law or Politics ? That, my dear friend Mr Shakespeare, is the question. When I talk of Politics I mean everything policy driven outside Law. That is, everything that is based on diplomacy and inter-governmental negotiation. When I talk of law I mean international law, international treaties and the struggle for realistic internationally applicable, binding and "upholdable" rights.

I feel like I am at the stage where I have learnt a bit (not enough) about both, and I can see the impact that both have and it is now up to me to choose a path. I want that choice to be based on ensuring that what I do with my life can have a maximum impact in bringing about the possibility of real global change at a high level. I think globally beneficial change is most possible through political negotiation, but is most probable through law, if you follow what I'm saying.

What I mean is that, global change, for better or for worse, is ultimately brokered through political negotiation. However, political negotiation or "realpolitik" will always be based around notions of power. Those with power will rarely if ever negotiate themselves out of power and will rarely if ever make concessions that might give more power to those without power. In this sense, "unchecked" politics leads to a self perpetuating hierarchy of state power.

Law, on the other hand, can guarantee fair negotiation, but perhaps not effectiveness. That is to say, whilst law can provide a fair process, and demand equal standards for its players, law is often determined/interpreted/dictacted/violated/or just plain ignored, by real politik. The Rule of Law is often at the mercy of the hierarchy of power created by politics (and is thus weakened in its effectiveness).

So the choice is between:

Law, a system that is slow, little respected, often unrealistic but wholly binding and the sole tool that can, in theory, enable true equality of arms in negotiations between all states.

AND

Politics, a system which is by its very nature based on power relations and thus a system that will always be wholly biased towards powerful states, but a system that nonetheless determines the world in which we live.

To break it down, for me, the difference between politics and international law is this:

International Law is like a cricket team that has great potential, a team which (if adhered to) would obliterate the best side in the world, a team which everyone in the world would be proud to watch and call their own. But for some reason International Law is a cricket team that continues to turn up to play in a park cricket competition in Mudgee on Saturday afternoons rather than playing in the international arena. Predictably, International Law always wins its matches against the Mudgee Bears 4th grade team, but it's a hollow victory, and those who watch them play (a dedicated bunch of supporters who call themselves The International Lawyers) always have the feeling that they're watching a side show, rather than the main stage. Sometimes, late at night, when The International Lawyers are really honest with themselves, they realise that hardly anyone has heard of their team, and quite frankly, probably never will.

Politics, is the cricket team's manager. It realises that it could make a lot of money if it entered its cricket team into the international arena instead of forcing it to play in Mudgee. But for the moment, Politics is making more money by running a gambling syndicate at Mudgee race course. Unfortunately, the syndicate is rigged. The members of the syndicate don't have an equal share, so the wealthier members always win more than the poorer members. The wealthy members aren't completely unreasonable though. They often offer to pay for all the poorer members' beers whenever they go to the races, provided of course the poorer members, with their significantly inferior cut of the winnings, buy cocktails for the wealthier members next time.

Politics sometimes feels a tinge of guilt about running its rigged gambling syndicate, most especially, when it sees the poorer members rifling through the bins in front of the local RSL looking for money to pay for the mounting number of cocktails they owe. Be that as it may, although Politics feels that its gambling syndicate membership may not be the best thing in the long run, just for the moment, it can't argue with the odds.

For me the choice is about what offers us the most hope. And it's there that I get confused.

James

Bienvenue chez moi a DEN HAAG!

Hey all,

Sorry I have been a bit slack with the old blog. I have arrived safely in The Hague, a place so important it needs two capital letters. After the first week of my internship here at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia I have to say that the work is really interesting, the people are really nice, and generally things are going pretty well. If only the weather were better! It has rained pretty much non-stop since I got here. And when it's not raining, it's windy and cloudy, or windy, cloudy and rainy...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've attached a solitary photo which is taken from the front balcony of my apartment and shows my street. My apartment is pretty well situated. I'm about ten minutes bike ride from the tribunal in one direction and about ten minutes bike ride from the city centre in the other. Having lived at least an hour from school and work in Sydney, it is a real pleasure to be home in ten minutes after leaving work at night. (Note: that's ten minutes of rain time)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the great things about these internship experiences is that you tend to meet a lot of really interesting people and that has certainly been the case here. Most of the other interns have already completed or are in the process of finishing a masters or Phd in international law and have plans to work in the international law field. The melange of cultures is really stimulating and I've been trying to benefit as much as possible from this unique opportunity to speak, listen and learn about ways of approaching global justice from a global perspective.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you would like to get in touch with me here my address is:
Van Diemenstraat 94

2518 VE Den Haag
The Netherlands

I also have a new mobile number (for those of you who had my french number I will be keeping it for when I return to Paris so don't delete it) My home phone is communal so please, no 3am phone calls and lame "oh I'm sorry I couldn't work out the time difference" excuses. ; )

Mobile: +(31) 6 16 837 049
Phone: +(31) (070) 355 18 63

More to come soon...

Five things you don't know about me...

I was tagged by my cousin Andrew to write five things you don't know about me. So here goes..

• I used to have epilepsy.

• I once sang in front of 15,000 people on the Sydney Opera House forecourt as part of a Sydney Festival show I was in called "Kelly's Republic" in 1997. I have a video of it which my parents have often threatened to play in front of my friends.

• I once pierced my ear for grand total of three days. I was on holidays with my mate Andrew in Italy and it seemed like a good idea... but somehow an earring didn't go with my personality.

• I would love to act in a cult film (think The Big Lebowski) but I would hate to have to be in all the hopeless dud films recquired to get famous enough to finally get cast.

• I can often cry when watching slow motion sport montages set to emotional music with the original commentary in the background... (Steve Waugh's 100 at the SCG or Kieren Perkin's swim are dead certain tear jerkers).