Music for the End of Time

From an online magazine I just discovered:

Herded into cattle cars, Messiaen and his fellow prisoners of war were shipped across Germany to Silesia where he was imprisoned in Stalag 8a. He had no food and little clothing, but somehow he had managed to take with him a knapsack stuffed with Bach's Brandenburg concertos and scores by Ravel, Beethoven, Berg, and Stravinsky.

Goto Website

Is Syria Next?

In an eerie replay of the buildup to the war on Iraq, the demonization of Syria has swelled to a chorus in Washington, whose members include not only Republicans but pro-Israel Democrats like Tom Lantos, the senior Democrat on the House committee that passed the act. The leading Democratic presidential candidates backed Bush's support for Israel's bombing in Syria. Only months ago we were told that the "road to peace in Jerusalem runs through Baghdad." As resistance to the US occupation of Iraq grows and the road map continues to crumble, the neocons are having a much harder time making that argument, so we are now being told that the twisted road to peace runs through Damascus.

From The Nation -- Full story here.