TresSugar

Czech Men Wage Legal Battle Over Fake Land

LibertySugar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:00:49 -0700

Actor Bolek Polivka is suing his former business partner Tomas Harabis over the rights to the Wallachian Kingdom. Only the Wallachian Kingdom isn't on a map - it exists in a magical land, far, far away and was founded by Tomas and some friends as a joke.

The Wallachian Kingdom shows up on tourist maps in the south-east corner of Moravia, which is part of the Czech Republic. Since its creation in 1997, hotels, restaurants and bars have popped up, profiting off believers and perpetuating the fake world. There's currency (the Jurovalsar) and even a University of the Wallachian Kingdom (it's like Hogwarts, without the wizards). More than 90,000 people own special Wallachian passports. And of course, there's a lot of mead imported.

To learn about this legendary legal battle, read more.

Before the kingdom became known Bolek Polivka had himself crowned "Wallachian King, Boleslav I the Gracious, Forever" on his TV show. Later Tomas Harabis began casting around for a monarch to head his fictional kingdom and "King Boleslav" was his first choice. Years later, Tomas decided to overthrow Bolek (something about him "acting too much like a real monarch") and a "Queen Mother" was appointed to rule the troubled kingdom in his place.

Bolek's lawyers filed a lawsuit to stop Tomas from using the Wallachian Kingdom trademark he had registered in 1998, claiming he was profiting unlawfully from Bolek's name. In 2007, Polivka lost the case, and appealed. The real Olomouc court must now decide whether Polivka is in fact "Wallachian King, Boleslav I, the Gracious," and whether he also owns the intellectual property rights to the Wallachian Kingdom as a whole.

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Picture It: London Calling

CitizenSugar — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:00:30 -0700

The president and first lady departed for the G20 Summit in London this morning, the first stop in his European debut. Next up? France, Germany, Czech Republic, and Turkey.

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German Faces Five Years in Prison For Holocaust Denial

LibertySugar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0700

The trial of a 72-year-old former left-wing terrorist group founder, and current neo-Nazi, began today in Germany. Horst Mahler is accused of posting documents online denying the Holocaust. Mahler likes trouble, as he received an 11-month sentence last year for delivering the Nazi salute at his prison booking for a previous conviction. And in 2003, he had to pay thousands of euros in fines for saying the Sept. 11 attacks were justified.

Mahler could spend five years in prison, if convicted of Holocaust denial. German law specifically prohibits anyone from claiming that the genocide of the Jews did not occur. A total of 13 countries forbid denial, including: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland.

Outlawing neo-Nazism is an obvious choice, but what about criminalizing Holocaust denial- is that a reasonable limit on speech, crucial to making sure the atrocities are never forgotten and never happen again? Should the prohibition include the Internet?

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Which Countries Are Most Corrupt? Not New Zealand, Denmark

CitizenSugar — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:00:59 -0700

Money could very well be the root of all evil - though in the latest study of corrupt countries, it's actually the lack of money that sparks trouble. The new report by Transparency International found that in two-fifths of the world's nations, corruption continues to intensify - a trend that can be traced to economic realities. In the countries found to be the most corrupt, 40 percent are classified by the World Bank as low income.

Transparency International's rankings range on a scale from 10 (on the up-and-up) to 1 (rampant corruption). How common is corruption? Of the 180 countries surveyed, 132 of them had scores below a 5. Other factors that contribute to a cloudy ethical picture are weak governments and conflict. The chairman of Transparency International says, "Countries torn apart by conflict pay a huge toll in their capacity to govern. With public institutions crippled or nonexistent, mercenary individuals help themselves to public resources, and corruption thrives."

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Another troublesome mix? Weak government plus plentiful natural resources, like in Equatorial Guinea where 30 percent of the newly discovered oil profits go straight to government officials' wallets. To see which countries ranked where, read more.

The Top Three Least Corrupt: New Zealand (pictured), Denmark (not corrupt and happy!) , and Finland win with scores of 9.4 out of 10. Wealth, stable economies, and a removal from international controversies keep them corruption-free.
The Two Most Corrupt: Somalia and Myanmar. With scores of 1.4 out of 10, the armed conflict, political oppression, and troubles from Mother Nature (Myanmar's horrific cyclone) and pirates (Somalia) corruption is undeniable.
Third and Fourth Place: Iraq and Haiti, respectively. Afghanistan comes in at #7.
Three Countries in Africa Who've Improved: Seychelles, South Africa, and Swaziland all made gains from six to 37 places.
Five Countries Out of Africa With Improvements: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Romania, and Italy. Transparency International points to the European Union accession process on the fight against corruption.

I don't know, but if Denmark keeps winning prizes for being great, they better expect a lot of visitors. What do you think is the biggest contributor to corruption?

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Bush and Putin Disagree on a Missile Shield. Do We Need One?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:45 -0700

Presidents Bush and Putin met for the last time this weekend to reminisce, say goodbye, dress completely alike, and discuss the European missile defense shield that Bush would like to build in Poland and the Czech Republic, just a stone's throw from Russia.

Putin is firmly opposed to such a plan, especially if the shield is installed in Europe and so close to Russia. Despite Bush's enthusiasm for the plan, he himself announced, “We spent a lot of time in our relationship to get rid of the Cold War ... it’s over.”

If the US president says the Cold War is over, and Russia is opposed to a shield on their border - and the possibility that the United States's newest enemies don’t have the capability to build, yet alone launch a nuclear missile the question is, do we still need a missile shield? Does the act of building a shield become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy? If we build it, they will come?

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