

Israel Becomes CERN Associate Member - wslh
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000683450

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_delirium
There are some interesting politics lurking in the background of this, around
what Europe is (ignoring the more specific politics of Israel itself). Until
this decision, the two pending applications for membership from outside
geographical Europe, Israel's and Turkey's, had been stalled for quite a
while. Now that Israel is in, there is a question of, what about Turkey? But
that one is tied up in EU expansion politics; Turkey is also an EU membership
candidate, and anti-Turkish-membership politicians don't want it admitted to
other European organizations like CERN, for fear of strengthening the Turkey-
is-European view.

There is also a longer-term question of what CERN (or perhaps other "European"
institutions) should cover geographically. Why are they "European", and what
does that mean? Could Egypt join, for example? One might say it's less
"culturally European" than Israel, but its scientific community is quite
western-oriented, and it already participates in some CERN projects on a case-
by-case basis.

~~~
edanm
Interesting, thanks for sharing.

I'd just like to add, for the benefit of those who don't know, that Israel
already takes part in many other European things, like sports (Euro Cup) and
the European Song Contest (Eurovision).

~~~
toyg
They were accepted by European sport federations a long time ago, usually
because Middle-Eastern federations refused to accept them either on
ideological or security reasons. It's usually not a big deal, they're crap at
everything except basketball, as far as I know.

~~~
edanm
Except for Hapoel Tel Aviv, which is my team! So treat with respect! :)

Seriously though, of the "Major Sports", Israel is only good at basketball
with Macabi Tel Aviv. But there are other niche sports we're ok at, like Judo
or others.

~~~
iaskwhy
Krav Maga just to add one that is getting famous in some european countries.
:)

------
Create
CERN is no longer a European Organisation. Actually, it never really was ("who
ordered that?" for those who know CERN history). Since nothing really new has
emerged in HEP in the last few decades, CERN is trying to grow into an
international lab, as opposed to European, mostly for scaling/funding purposes
(USA, Japan, Russia, China have actually built most of LHC: Russian in kinds
(steel, calos, beryllium etc.), Japanese semi (HAMA PMT, trackers etc), USA
hw/sw (intel, Oracle, RedHat, DDN, Force10, DLT, FPGA) and Chinese assembly
(any SKU built over 50 pcs-s)).

And since theoretical and applied physics needs ever more PR to get attention,
they are also trying to dress up as a technology provider hub, forgetting to
mention, that most of what is there is COTS. The ("management") problem is not
unlike the one that "killed" NASA (which it was modelled upon in terms of
matrix management).

 _"How should we make it attractive for them [young people] to spend 5,6,7
years in our field, be satisfied, learn about excitement, but finally be
qualified to find other possibilities?"_ \-- H. Schopper

What an euphemism. Almost like a scam.

btw: .il was already quite present on every level, obviously, so this is just
a formality -- Turkey is somewhat different in this respect.

------
saljam
This disappoints me. CERN is one of the most important representatives of the
European scientific community. Instead of boycotting the apartheid state which
openly practices racial cleansing on a daily basis, CERN embraces it. A truly
sad world we live in today if that's what our brightest minds consent.

Something tells me this won't go well on this forum, but I had to say it.

~~~
bpodgursky
No, what would be sad would be letting politics impede scientific cooperation
and progress.

~~~
saljam
South Africa never got past its apartheid stage until a global boycotting
movement forced it to. This isn't just a matter of "politics". This is
everyone's responsibility, including scientists.

