Posted on 12/28/2004 9:44:55 AM PST by alnitak
Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 December, 2004, 17:17 GMT
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Kohl rescued as Swedes fear worst
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Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was among thousands of foreign tourists caught in the tsunami disaster in southern Asia. Britons, Swiss, French, Australians, Danes, Italians, Japanese and Americans in the region were hit, but Swedes seem to be among the worst affected. Sweden's foreign minister said 1,500 were still missing, mainly in Thailand, and she feared many would not be found. Sri Lanka says its troops airlifted Mr Kohl from the roof of a flooded hotel. A spokesman for Mr Kohl said the 74-year-old had been staying at a coastal resort in Sri Lanka, where he was undergoing heath spa treatments, and was not hurt. "Kohl intends to complete his holiday," he added. A huge undersea quake triggered sea surges on Sunday killing at least 38,000 people, with thousands more feared dead. Millions of people are homeless, and the disaster zone is now threatened with outbreaks of disease. Hundreds of holidaymakers have already flown or are flying out of the region. The bodies of more than 700 mainly foreign tourists have been found in the Thai resort of Khao Lak - the government says the death toll in Thailand may rise to about 2,000. Text messages The BBC's Lars Bevanger said six Swedes are among the dead, but tour operators in Sweden say more than 1,500 of their charter tourists are missing from various tourist resorts on Thailand's west coast.
An unknown number of Swedish independent travellers are also missing. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Laila Freivalds, told journalists in Stockholm she feared many of them would never be found. She is travelling to Thailand with relief workers to assess the situation and help in efforts to get Swedish nationals home. The Swedish government has sent text messages to everyone who has a Swedish telephone in Thailand, hoping to gain some answers as to the whereabouts of some of the missing. The Swedish government has responded by chartering three large passenger planes, which will make 20 flights to Thailand in order to get all Swedish citizens back by next Tuesday. The south of Thailand is a very popular for Swedes, particularly at this time of year, which is normally the coldest in the Scandinavian country.
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really? and you know this how?
The morose Jacques Derrida used to talk about travelling since he travelled a lot and was a professional thinker. He pointed out that when going on a journey or voyage the odds were significant that one and ones travelling companions might die on the journey and that one might choose his travelling companions as to whether he might not mind being buried with them.
Thank you for making this observation about Kohl's rescue. I was thinking to myself about how much of a waste Kohl's personal airlift was. What do you suppose President Bush would have done? I would hope he would have tried to direct some of the rescues himself.
Well, there seems to be a lot of gloating around here that some Europeans have died. I hope I will have the good manners to refrain from doing the same when we hear about the American tourists who, no doubt, have likewise perished.
Incidentally, if 1500 Swedes are dead then that makes it a far larger disaster for them, relatively speaking, than 9/11 was for you.
Umm.... Did you pull this out of your ass, or what?
Just to be clear, it is not in fact a global catastophe, unless we have redefined global catastrophe to mean anything that is so bad that the whole world should feel "at one" over it as opposed to a catastrophe that actually happens on a global scale.
well, a lot of people from a lot of different countries died, that kind of makes it global, doesn't it?
Just as it wasn't only Americans that died on 9/11.
Come hell or high water, oh wait...
Well, the catasrophe itself was local. I would say that it would be a global catastrophe if the tsunami hit around the world.
exactly.
A homo metaphor?
Not everyone vacationing on Asian beaches is a sex tourist. I have a cousin who spent considerable time in Sri Lanka. He is a professional whale watcher, which believe me is a very competitive occupation to get into. He sailed there on a 35-foot sailboat. (He has been dismasted twice, in rollovers during storms.)
I have other inlaws who have been to Thailand and Cambodia on shoestring budgets.
Helmut Kohl was one of the good guys as a politician. You can't blame him because he's an Important Man for whom rescue planes are sent. He got to be an Important Man completely legitimately.
When he says he'll remain there on vacation, I take that as solidarity with his Asian hosts. What do you think this quake will do to their tourist business? There are plenty of legitimate entrepreneurs running beach hotels there, I'm sure, and plenty of poor Asians who rely on tourists for jobs. They've suffered enough, without losing their livelihoods as well.
Thanks.
Ping to the Swedish Ping List.
Exactly. Amazing how FR posters always ascribe the worst motives to people. Granted, years of reading about the Clintons on these pages make one jaded, but still... ;)
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