AUSTIN BAY writes on the upsurge of extreme nationalism in Europe. Just to make sure how serious this problem one only has to hear what an allegedly moderate Basque nationalists (from the supposedly far-from-ETA nationalist PNV) said the other day during a speech (link in Spanish, my translation): "Whoever doesn't feel a nationalist nor loves his own, doesn't deserve to live" ("El que no se sienta nacionalista ni quiera a lo suyo no tiene derecho a vivir"). This has been ignored by the national media except for that local newspaper, which also pointed out that the speech was applauded by several prominent Socialist (Zapatero's party) politicians in attendance.

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I KNEW that sooner or later Christopher Hitchens would crush British MP and anti Iraq war 'hero' George Galloway over his allegation that the murder of Tony Blair would be morally justified as revenge for the Iraq war. Well, take a look:

[I]f you examine his statement, and the statements that he has made subsequently, you will have an idea of the complete mental chaos that has overtaken a whole section of the "left" who regard Galloway as an anti-war champion.

If the killing of Blair would be "morally equivalent" to the deaths of thousands of Iraqis, then obviously it would be equivalent to something of which Galloway presumably strongly disapproves. In other words, it could not be "morally justified" at all, except by an utter moral cretin. And this is to say nothing of the unmentioned question: How right can it be to remove a thrice-elected head of government by any means other than an election? Galloway is a member of Parliament by the grace of an electorate in the East End of London but is widely regarded as a corrupt scumbag, an egomaniac, an apologist for tyranny, and a supporter of jihad. How would he phrase his complaint if someone were now to propose overruling his voters and offing him as the insult to humanity that he has become? I think I can hear the squeals of self-pity already.

The fascinated GQ interviewer then asked Galloway what he would do if he actually came to know about such a plot against Blair. Once again, Galloway appeared to have an evasion ready to go along with his endorsement. Would he alert the forces of law and order? "Yes. Such an operation would be counter-productive because it would just generate a new wave of anti-Arab sentiment [and] … new draconian anti-terror laws." I have to say I admire his cool use of the term "operation," which is the word that he and his admired "insurgents" in Iraq have long used for their beheadings, car bombs, mosque detonations, and school burnings. And I further note the firm way in which he condemns the possible murder of an elected prime minister—lest it increase "anti-Arab sentiment." I thought Galloway objected to the association of Arabs with terrorism. Who said anything about an Arab doing this hypothetical deed?

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GOOD OL' Ted Nugent. I can almost see the face of the European lefty reporter.

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THIS IS HOW IRAN treats political dissidents, particularly when they are women:

A leading Iranian pro-democracy and women's activist, who was jailed on trumped-up charges last year, has revealed how the clerical regime cynically deploys systemic sexual violence against female dissidents in the name of Islam.

Roya Tolouee, 40, was beaten up by Iranian intelligence agents and subjected to a horrific sexual assault when she refused to sign forced confessions. It was only when they threatened to burn her two children to death in front of her that she agreed to put her name to the documents.

Perhaps just as shocking as the physical abuse were the chilling words of the man who led the attack. "When I asked how he could do this to me, he said that he believed in only two things - Islam and the rule of the clerics," Miss Tolouee told The Sunday Telegraph last week in an interview in Washington after she fled Iran.

"But I know of no religious morality that can justify what they did to me, or other women. For these people, religion is only a tool for dictatorship and abuse. It is a regime of prejudice against women, against other regimes, against other ethnic groups, against anybody who thinks differently from them."

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BILL ROGGIO arrived in Kabul the very day of the deadly protests after a US vehicle hit and killed some civilians. Guess what his impressions were.

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THAT SPECIAL Australian character, and that not so special (because it's so common) character of the media intent on sensationalizing everything and on catching everyone else but themselves in hiding the truth, all encapsulated in this telling anecdote:

He was pressed by Today host Jessica Rowe about whether Dili really was as safe as the Australian military claimed, given the presence of armed soldiers at his shoulder.

Pausing briefly, Brig Slater replied: "Jessica I feel quite safe, yes, but not because I've got these armed soldiers behind me that were put there by your stage manager here to make it look good.

Ouch.

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HEROINE ADDICION is little more than a romantic myth, and the perdurability of the myth has important social consequences, writes Theodore Dalrymple who, besides being a writer, is a physician.

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THERE WE GO AGAIN?

Around a hundred youths clashed with police during the night after setting fire to cars and rubbish bins in a Paris suburb that was the scene of violent riots last November, a local official said on Tuesday.

Seven police officers were slightly injured and six youths were arrested in a neighbourhood of Seine-Saint-Denis in confrontations that started at about 2030 GMT on Monday evening, according to a security official from the suburb to the North of the French capital.

The youths began burning cars in reaction to a police operation in which a young man was arrested several hours earlier. Officials said they did not yet know how many cars had been burned.

There were also incidents in the neighboring area of Clichy-Sous-Bois, where last year's riots began after two youngsters died while they were apparently fleeing police.

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DON'T MISS this lengthy piece on Oriana Fallaci in the New Yorker.

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THE OZONE LAYER is repairing itself quicker than expected; at this pace, the hole might be a thing of the past towards 2050 (via Futurismic).

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THAT'S DEFINITELY the best summary of the feelings underlying in the commemoration of Memorial Day: sadness, absence, pride, appreciation of the sacrifice made. All is encapsuled in this Cox & Forkum cartoon that speaks a lot with no words.


Thank you.

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A PALESTINIAN SCHOOL FUNCTION. Very didactical. I'd even say heartwarming:




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HEH.

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IRAN ERUPTING?

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SPEAKING OF PAJAMAS MEDIA, the latest Week in Review podcast is up. This time with Jeff Goldstein, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, Eric Umansky and Austin Bay moderating; you can stream it there, download it or subscribe at iTunes.

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REUTERS HAS SUSPENDED an employee after Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs (full disclosure: also co-founder of Pajamas Media, where I'm in the staff as Western European editor) received a death threat. Read it all here.

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THERE ARE two articles that you must definitely read about the terribly irresponsible coverage of the Katrina crisis by the media: this one by Lou Dolinar and this one by Jonah Goldberg.

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FANTASTIC PICTURES by Michael Totten of Beirut and Lebanon, were Michael has been living in recent months.

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NOW IT SEEMS that for the AP, the fact that Iraqis laugh at their government is bad news.

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I AM NOT an American citizen, as you know; still, I follow American politics very closely because I'm very interested (no matter how CW in Europe goes; Europe doesn't have one single thing to teach the US in terms of politics), and also because of my work in Pajamas Media. So I cannot vote in the elections, but if I could and was considering my vote this superb piece by The Anchoress would definitely close the issue.

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FORTY-FIVE million dollars is what several European governments have secretly paid as ransom for kidnapped citizens in Iraq. Very edifying, no doubt.

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AND THEY CALLED AZNAR an arrogant unilateralist who had turned his back to Europe:

Spain's industry minister has accused the European Commission of "impertinence" for seeking to discipline the country over a move to protect Spanish electricity company Endesa from takeover by German energy giant E.ON.

"Brussels' speed and impertinence in this matter surprise us, in view of its bureaucratic slowness and lack of initiative regarding other problems," Industry Minister Jose Montilla told the Barcelona daily El Periodico Sunday.

His comments referred to infringement proceedings being brought by the European Union against Spain for passing a law aimed at thwarting E.ON's takeover bid.

The commission, the EU's executive arm, should be "as sensitive to the dramas of immigration as it is to the pressures of E.ON," the newspaper quoted Montilla as saying.

Actually what the Spanish minister is much, much worse, because besides the previous sentences he also said (link in Spanish and requires registration): "Tanto derecho tiene la Comisión Europea a llevarnos a los tribunales como nosotros a no hacerle caso. No tenemos ningún complejo ante Bruselas." (my translation: The European Commission is as entitled to sue us [the Spanish government] as we are not to pay any attention. We have no inferiority complex at Brussels.")

Just imagine what would be the reaction if Bush said anything remotely arrogant in any policy issue affecting the Americas.

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OSAMA AND SADDAM: this cartoons are actually shown on TV in Abu Dhabi. Heartwarming, eh?



(via Drinking From Home)

UPDATE. I admit I wasn't aware -and I'm afraid there's quite a few people who aren't either- that this is a parody by Robert Smigel.

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REMEMBER THE "STORY" about Airbus planning to offer stand-up seats? Well, if it smelled like a false story it's because it was: the New York Times' ombudsman yesterday had to wipe off some egg from his colleagues faces.

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GOOD ONE in New Yorker:

(via Harry's Place)

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"AFTER THE 'TRUCE': A Basque Story"; Trans-Atlantic Intelligencer points to an article in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quite skeptical on ETA's ceasfire. One bit:

In 1980, Baglietto was shot by a young ETA terrorist whose life he had saved as an infant. This did not prevent Cándido Aspiazu from dropping death-threats in Baglietto's mailbox, following him in an automobile and killing him on a country road…. As astonishing as the case itself, is its chilling aftermath. For last year, Aspiazu, having been released from prison after serving his sentence, opened a glassware store on the ground floor of the same building in which Baglietto's widow, María Pilar Elías, lives. Since then, the widow and the murderer undoubtedly cross paths in the front hall.

Read the rest.

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SO THE UN should take control of the mess in Iraq, then? You mean the same UN completely incapable of controlling Chad?

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PAJAMAS MEDIA'S latest podcast is up: Glenn Reynolds, Tammy Bruce, and Eric Umansky weigh in on Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Net Neutrality and General Hayden’s CIA nomination. Austin Bay moderates. Ed Driscoll produces.

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BY NOW IT SEEMS that the story about the badge for non-Muslims in Iran was at least not sufficiently confirmed, and probably false. Hot Air does a great job following the developments. So a correction seems in order, or at least a caveat.

No I just wish that all those who jumped histerically at the false NSA eavesdropping allegations were as quick retracting.

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DON'T MISS this absolutely fascinating post by Michael Totten from Ramallah (West Bank), aka Hamas-central. And don't skip the postcript!

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FRANKLY, I DON'T CARE if it's a Muslim or a Nazi idea (tomato, tomahto); I just care that Kofi Annan, the UN, my country's prime minister and quite a few others think it's a good idea of creating an Alliance of Civilizations with people capable of this:

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

Worse till, someone might get the idea in Spain, not for religions, but for political oponents, since illegal arrests obviously didn't come out well.

UPDATE. An important update of his post, here.

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THAT'S CLASSY:

The Partido Popular (PP) has said that it will be taking the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC) [Socialist Party of Catalonia] to court over a pre-statute referendum campaign theme they are using - ‘El PP utilizará tu no contra Cataluña’ (the PP will use your no against Catalonia) - because they feel it is ‘converting the PP into an enemy of Catalonia.’

After hearing over and over that Bad Bush stiffles dissent by wrapping himself around the flag, accusing his critics of being unpatriotic yada yada, this is, well, fun.

Just to make things clear: this is not a mere attack ad like the ones often present in American campaigns: it's the main, and shall we say, single slogan. It goes much further than being one TV ad, and it's not paid by a 527-like organization: it's by the party itself. Funniest of all was hearing the campaign manager on the radio this morning say that in Spain we're shocked about attack ads, but it's normal outside the country; we only have to remember, he said, Bush ads attacking Kerry. So this means that for Catalan socialists Bush is their role model? Go figure.

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AND STRIKES YET AGAIN:

After expropriating and nationalizing property belonging to Spanish energy giant Repsol-YPF and sending an ultimatum to Spanish bank BBVA demanding that it turn over the shares in Bolivian pension funds that it manages, Bolivian president Evo Morales announced yesterday that he would revise the Sabsa corporation's contract to manage three Bolivian airports. Sabsa is owned by the Spanish companies Aena and Abertis. Foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and PSOE spokesman Diego Lopez Garrido continued to stress the "good relations" between Spain and Bolivia.

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CANARIES FLEEING the coal mine: TigerHawk comments on the many Europeans threatened by Islamic fanatics that are moving, or considering to move, to the US. I'd like to think there's no similarity to what happened around 70 years ago, but I can't help thinking on the similarities.

UPDATE. More or less thinking along the same line; and see Cox & Forkum too.

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IAN BURUMA writes on Western leftism supporting Chavez, as it has been supporting other leftist leaders; read it all.

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EVO MORALES strikes again:

Bolivian president Evo Morales said yesterday that his nationalization of Bolivian fossil fuel resources "does not expel or expropriate anyone," to the applause of the Euro-MPs. Meanwhile, the Bolivian government announced that Spanish bank BBVA must turn over the shares in Andina, Repsol's Bolivian subsidiary, that it manages through a pension fund, within three days.

"These pension funds will be closed down in three days if they do not obey the decree. That's it," said Bolivian vice president Alvaro García Linera, who signed a further decree allowing Bolivia to "take absolute control" over the fuels industry.

UPDATE. Heh (via Spanish blog Zapaterias Rimadas)



(on the left, Spanish foreign affairs minister Miguel Angel Moratinos)

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CYNTHIA MCKINNEY should take comfort from this:

A Convergència i Unió (CiU) councillor in Gràcia (Barcelona), Víctor Cullell, has made a formal complaint over the insults and light injuries he received from a security guard based in municipal offices located on Calle Francesc Giner.

The incident occurred at the entrance to the office last Friday when, 15 minutes before the offices were due to close, Cullell arrived to hand in a number of documents as he does ‘like any other Friday’ - only to find the doors locked and various members of the public remonstrating that ‘it’s still not time to close.’

The security guard - who worked for a private security firm - is said to have then opened the door and shouted to those assembled that the office was shut.

The councillor asked the guard for an explanation but was met with pushes, insults, jostles and said that he ‘was grabbed by the neck.’ Cullell was also told by the security guard to stick the card identifying him as a councillor ‘up his arse’.

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HEY, MAYBE this is a solution against NSA wiretapping:

If you are looking for Johnny "the Potato" or his wife, "Chinese" Luciana, the Spanish phone book may not be much help if none of their neighbors can recall their real names.

The habit of giving people nicknames leads to so much confusion in Spanish country towns and villages that the 600 inhabitants of Cedillo, in western Spain, have published their own phone book -- using nicknames instead of real names.

It means that Johnny the Potato can be found under P for Patata while Luciana is under C for Chinita.

From Pedro "the Whistle" to "Balls" Francisca, the Cedillo phone book is designed to give people the quickest and easiest way of finding their neighbors' phone numbers and addresses.

The new guide also helps distinguish between those who share real names with them now defined by their individual nicknames.

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I'M NOT SAYING that situations are identical, but this is what happens when you give a blanket amnesty to illegal immigration as Spain did last year:

A veritable flotilla carrying nearly 1,000 illegal immigrants from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands over the weekend has set off alarms in Madrid, prompting fears of a further onslaught fuelled by traffickers and good weather.

The Spanish government reacted yesterday by announcing a series of emergency security and diplomatic measures to help stem the tide.

I'm all for legal immigration, in Spain, in the US or anywhere else, but there must be a process; we can argue how wide it is, but we shouldn't argue that once established it must be enforced.

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WELL, NOT QUITE: this report says that ETA terrorists appealed for dialogue in a "rare interview". Thing is, they did an Osama-like appeal: they'll be tolerant as long as the other side does exactly what they want:

The armed Basque group ETA has stated publicly for the first time since a ceasefire declaration in March that it still demands self-determination for the Basque Country.

"The final agreement ... must be negotiated in terms of self-determination and territoriality*, for these are the keys to overcoming the conflict," two leading ETA members told the Basque daily newspaper Gara in a rare interview, published Sunday.

"Without solving these problems, it is impossible to overcome the conflict and reach a democratic solution," the newspaper quoted them as saying, without naming the pair.

With the ceasefire, "ETA has already made its principle contribution to provising an impulse for the (peace) process," the two ETA members said, adding it was now for the politicians to "fulfil their commitments."

[*territoriality is the euphemism Basque nationalists use for the annexation of neighboring province of Navarra in Spain and three departments in France. Don't know about the chances on the former, depends on how appeaser feels Zapatero; but on the latter I'd say they're dreaming if they think France will agree]

Big question here is what commitments they're talking about: Zapatero's government has always denied that they had already made any concessions to ETA, but ETA seems to be asking these concessions to be done.

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GUESS THAT if this was in Baghdad instead of Brazil, people would say it confirms there's a civil war going on:

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Prison riots and attacks on police by a criminal gang extended into Monday, raising the reported death toll to 70 in four days of violence that has started to choke normal life in South America's largest city.

Brazilian media reported that the federal government was preparing to send troops to enforce control of Sao Paulo.

Officials said Sunday the death toll had reached at least 52 after at least 100 separate attacks since Friday, but the Globo TV network reported that additional overnight attacks had raised the toll to more than 70.

Most of those dead were reported to be police officers targeted by a powerful criminal gang protesting the prison transfer of some of its leaders. Officials said they had arrested at least 72 suspects.

Attacks on public buses prompted many companies to halt service, stranding thousands of people trying to reach work Monday.

Video on TV showed the buses engulfed in flames, while Folha Online news service said passengers were ordered out of the vehicles before bandits set them ablaze.

Officers in bulletproof vests set up checkpoints to search vehicles, and barriers were placed in front of many police stations.

Time for the Portuguese to go back home, there's too much violence in the place where they set foot; they obviously don't know how to pacify a country!

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IRAQPUNDIT on Brookings' Iraq Index (see yesterday's post for background):

Brookings is to be thanked for its attempt to present an in-depth picture of a complicated society undergoing dramatic transition, when the major Western press is content to present us with a portrait of a place beset by car-bombs, kidnappings, and retrograde clerics.

I'm not in any way shrugging off the security situation in Iraq; it's very serious, and has repeatedly been a threat to the safety and well-being of my own family. But there are a lot of things happening in Iraq, with numerous developments pointing in welcome and even heartening directions.

[...] To me, these are indications that Iraqis are using their freedom to improve their personal lives and, in the process, to build their country. One of the most infuriating aspects of the Western media's presentation of Iraq is that Iraqis themselves are reduced to being the bleeding, mourning victims of terror; they are bit players in a narrative that is about Bush wrecking the country. The material in the Brookings report not only credits Iraqis with initiative, it restores to them the dignity that the Western media's one-dimensional presentation denies them.

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BUSH IS REALLY an incompetent who cannot shoot straight; remember those tax cuts devised to enrich his cronies? Well, turns out that the only managed to make the American tax system more progressive than it was.

This man should give his MBA back, he's useless.

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OOPS:

Spain's High Court released one of the 29 suspects charged in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings on Wednesday after authorities failed to apply for the power to hold him for longer.

Saed El Harrak was set free after completing the maximum two-year period for which suspects can be kept in prison without trial. Authorities can apply for the power to hold suspects for a further two years, something they failed to do.

Would be good to know if there's been some kind of threats against the court officers involved.

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THE LATEST Iraq Index by the Brookings Institute is certainly interesting. You can read it in full here (warning: pdf file), or you can read a summary of its main points:

1. Per Capita GDP (USD) for 2005 is forecast to increase from the previous year to $1,051. In 2002 it was $802.

2. Increases in GDP for the next five years: 16.8, 13.6, 12.5, 7.8, and 7.2.

3. Actionable tips from Iraqis have increased every month this year. In January, 4,025 tips were received; February, 4,235; and March, 4,578.

4. On an index of political freedom for countries in the Middle East, Iraq now ranks fourth, just below Israel, Lebanon, and Morocco.

5. Crude oil production reached 2.14 million barrels a day (MBD) in April of this year. It had dropped to 0.3 MBD in May of 2003.

6. Revenues from oil export have only slightly increased from pre-war levels of $0.2 billion, to $0.62 billion in April.

7. Electrical output is almost at the pre-war level of 3,958 megawatts. April's production was 3,600 megawatts. In May of 2003, production was only 500 megawatts. The goal is to reach 6,000 megawatts.

8. The unemployment rate in June of 2003 was 50-60%, and in April of this year it had dropped to 25-40%.

9. The number of U.S. military wounded has declined significantly from a high of 1,397 in November 2004 to 430 in April of this year.

10. Iraqi military casualties were 201 in April of 2006, after peaking at 304 in July of 2005.

11. As of December 2005, countries other than the U.S., plus the World Bank and IMF, have pledged almost $14 billion in reconstruction aid to Iraq.

12. Significant progress has also been made towards the rule of law. In May 2003 there were no trained judges, but as of October 2005 there were 351.

13. As of January 2006, 64% of Iraqis polled said that the country was headed in the right direction.

14. Also as of January 2006, 77% said that removing Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do.

15. In May of 2003, Iraqi Security Forces were estimated at between 7,000-9,000. They numbered 250,500 in March of this year.

16. The breakdown of foreign terrorists by country of origin is interesting. The largest number come from Algeria, at 20%. The next two countries are Syria and Yemen, at 18% and 17%, respectively.

17. The number of foreign terrorists fighting in Iraq was estimated at between 300 and 500 in January 2004. That number increased in April of this year, to between 700 and 2,000.

18. From May 2003 and April 2006, between 1,000 and 3,000 anti-Iraqi forces have been killed each month.

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AS I WROTE when the incident took place, it's no wonder Zapatero is best buddy with Castro and Chavez, since they're doing similar things:

A Spanish court jailed three police officers for illegally detaining two opposition Popular Party supporters who barracked the former defence minister Jose Bono.

It is the first time police officers have been jailed on charges of this kind since democracy returned to Spain in 1975 with the death of the dictator Francisco Franco.

The court in Madrid imposed prison terms ranging from three to five years on a police chief and two inspectors on the false arrest charges.

The police chief and one of the inspectors also stand accused of falsifying public documents.

Of course, this report by government-owned press agency EFE duly sanitizes things, because they're worse:

A Madrid provincial court sentenced three police officers to a total of 13 years in prison for illegal arrest, forgery, and blackmail in the arrests of two PP members at the Association of Victims of Terrorism's demonstration in January 2005.

Ex-defense minister Jose Bono was shouted at and insulted, but claimed he had been physically attacked, leading to the arrests of the two PP members. Madrid prefect Constantino Mendez resigned yesterday afternoon after the decision was made public and calls for his resignation were made.

The PP members announced that they would donate the €24,000 in indemnities specified by the sentence to the AVT. The judge also ruled that Madrid provincial prefect Constantino Mendez committed perjury at the trial. The prosecutor's office asserted the police officers had not committed any crime, and called for the three to be acquitted and released. The three will be expelled from the police force. They may appeal their sentence to the Supreme Court.

The judge's ruling quoted Mendez as saying on January 24 that "there would soon be identifications and arrests because the police investigation provided sufficient evidence." According to the judge, "That did not correspond with reality. since the police investigation did not detect either aggression against the minister or any identifications in the incidents."

It's even worse than what this second report says: the Defense minister at that time falsely claimed that he had been hit; the pictures were published in the press nevertheless, and among them two PP members appeared relatively close to him which were identified by the Socialist-friendly press. Even worse, when orders from above called for arrests, some police detectives refused to go along and pick two people without any evidence that any crime had been committed (because merely shouting at a politician is not a crime, is it? if it was, how many people would be in prison in the US?). These police detectives were disciplined and removed from the case until the ones who would agree, and who would dare to falsify the witness reports, were found.

Just imagine if this had happened in Bu$hitler's US, or in Spain itself under Aznar, when several prominent politicians from his party were actually hit during the March 13 2004 demonstrations following the Madrid terrorist attacks, or in the run up to the war in Iraq when "pacifists" chanting No to war, no to violence often chased and hit PP politicians because they were supporting toppling Saddam Hussein.

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AARON HANSCOM writes about United 93 and courage, with other examples beyond the heroes of 9/11.

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CUBA, CHINA, and Saudi Arabia, the three proud new members of UN's Human Rights Council; Robert Mayer at Publius Pundit has the goods.

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AL QAEDA is losing. It's not my impression; they're saying it themselves.

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CLEVER AD:

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CHINESE ECONOMIC MIRACLE, or mirage?

ESTIMATES of the growing pile of non-performing loans (NPLs) in China appear to have caught many by surprise, especially because Beijing's efforts to clean up its rickety state-owned banks were thought to have greatly reduced NPLs and the risk of a full-blown financial crisis.

According to Ernst & Young, the accounting firm, bad loans in the Chinese financial system have reached a staggering $US911 billion ($1.18 trillion), including $US225 billion in potential future NPLs in the four largest state-owned banks.

This equals 40 per cent of gross domestic product and China has already spent the equivalent of 25-30 per cent of GDP in previous bank bail-outs.

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THE GAS EMISSIONS from cars and factories in the Bronze Age sure were bad; so bad that women in Norway wore miniskirts!

You can see a reconstruction here.

Turns out that, as Thomas Gale Moore of the Hoover Institution at Stanford, the best thing that can happens to manking is the planet warming up:

History demonstrates that warmer is healthier. Since the end of the last Ice Age, the earth has enjoyed two periods that were warmer than the twentieth century. Archaeologi