Can't buy me love

The US sponsors peace process in the Middle East : 30 billions for Israel and 12 for Egypt. The sums are already allocated for weapons made by Uncle Sam. The White House's PR artists found that system more PC than their usual sale pitch ("we widened the Federal deficit by giving away 42 more billions to US death industries"). Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries added 20 billions to the pool in order to get the same Weapons of Mass Destructions as their neighbors.

France sponsors environmental policies in Africa : Nicolas Sarkozy helps Libya get drinkable water and Gabon restore its forests. The Elysee Palace's PR artists preferred that version to their usual sale pitch ("we sold a nuclear plant to Muammar al-Qaddafi and we gave 50 millions to Omar Bongo"). To make good measure, France will generously allow Libyans to purchase 100 millions worth of weapons Made In France.

Diplomats, no. Deep loot mats, si.

Back to square one, back to Ground Zero

Bin Laden determined to strike in US.

It took six years to say it out loud, the creation of a Department of Homeland Security, the death of thousands of US civilians in the 9/11 attacks, of thousands of US soldiers in Iraq, of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who lost their country along with their dictator.

The war on terror is a total failure : the US helped islamists draft millions of new sympathizers and thousands of new terrorists, and even provided them with a new real size training ground. Whether US troops leave Iraq or not, these apt pupils will put into practice their cultural learnings for make benefit glorious nation of Amerika as well as of all other nations.

Furthermore, instead of fighting the right battle at the root of terror, the US have fueled anger, despair and unfairness, deliberately slaughtering what was left of the peace process in the Middle East and especially between Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.

The man in charge proposes peace talks the way he has always been talking about peace : are you with us or against us ? are you good or evil ? will you help us remove from power this Saddam / Hamas we empowered all by ourselves ?

David Attenborough, one life on Earth

I would never tire of watching TV series from Sir David Frederick Attenborough. Each time I end up thinking why wait for this strange animal to disappear from the surface of Earth before paying hommage to such an utterly exotic and brilliant naturalist from the BBC ?

Because the David Attenborough is an endangered specie ; a dodo exhibiting improbable feathers, carrying a surprisingly melodious breathless tune, and with a unique way of shaking all over while delivering incredibly valuable messages in an otherwise vanished language. Maybe the missing link between Darwin and Monty Python... actually, a discreet hello was sent by none other than the unforgettable agent of the Ministry of Silly Walks during John Cleese's cult documentary in Madagascar.

But Sir David would never dare compare the tarsier with a microwaved cat. His sense of humor is full of love for life in all sorts and shapes, life starring in breathtaking and voluminous tales matching the greatest of XIXth Century novels. This naturalist probably produced the most ambitious works to date on the ephemeral story of life on our ephemeral piece of cosmos, and "The Living Planet" may perfectly sum up both his achievements and those of life on Earth. Actually, "life" / "living" and "planet" appear in all titles, like trademarks. Non for profit trademarks : just marks of respect traded every day for any kind of emotion on any kind of place and under any kind of weather.

The younger brother of director Richard Attenborough (whose rather classical "Ghandi" shall be better remembered than a rather classical role of scientist in Spielberg's Jurassic Park), this Londoner works essentially for the Beeb, in audiovisual formats, and never balking at the most surprising images. Yet, I do believe his main talent lies in his writing : everything seems so simple and natural, like water running down the mountain... but imagine what it takes to start a sentence in Antarctica and complete it six months EARLIER in Kalimantan ! Even under the charm of his tale, one cannot but admire the clarity, the relevance, and the synthetic mind of this splendid achievement of evolution.

Naturally (indeed), years tend to go by, hills to draw more sighs, and winds to agitate a whiter shade of hair, but even at 81, Sir David remains this curious kid dreaming his naïve environmental dreams, and radiating eternal love for life.

Some sad day, England will cry for the loss of this beautiful life on Earth. That day, let us not keep his brain in formalin on some dusty shelf of a museum, but disseminate his ashes and works around to keep our planet and minds fertile.

Take me to the Moon, Daddy

George H. W. Bush will deliver a speech at the 25th anniversary party launched for The Washington Times by its owner, Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
The Washington Times is a lousy media losing a lot of money every year, but owning a newspaper in DC is more about influence than edition.
Herbie and Barbie already attended other anniversaries, of the birthday of the very sect leader, for instance. The thing is Moon is good at wedding people by batch, and 41 is good at faciliting meetings between bad and worse guys.
Moon Sun-myung for Senior and Billy Graham for Junior - the religion of money-making runs in the family blood.

Paris Hilton and the Scooter Libby Redemption

I was just reading for the nth time Steve King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" ("Different Seasons") - an all time classic if any, where a detainee, supposedly innocent, covers the hole he's digging in his wall with posters of pin-ups.

Both Paris Hilton and I. Lewis Scooter Libby Jr are guilty far beyond supposedliness. The former did go to jail, pass go, collect $200, go back to jail, pass go, and even collect a few more $200s while her daddy purchased more hotels on high street. The latter won't go to jail and may even get a few more "chance" cards from George W. Bush - the guy who's been plundering the community chest for 7 years.

Nothing can hide the hole this excuse for a president has created.

Red blogule to Luc van den Brande

Guy Lengagne's report on the dangers of Creationism and Intelligent Design for democracy in Europe was withdrawn from the agenda of the European Council assembly at the last moment.

The successful defensor of obscurantism is a member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party named Luc van den Brande. He claimed the issue was about science, not politics.

But Creationism has nothing to do with science, and everything to do with politics and the restoration of theocracy.

Shame on Europe for allowing such people as van den Brande to set its agenda.

Alice Walton - Everyday Low Art at High Price

Sam's daughter developped a taste for the kind of XIXth and XXth century American art the average Wal-Mart shopper loves to purchase on Hallmark Cards, chocolate boxes, jigsaw puzzles, embroidery designs... only she goes for the real thing, spending tens of millions of bucks on each "masterpiece".

Alice Walton knows about marketing. She can build the most comprehensive collection ever : no one will compete with her on that one, and all the has to do is to siphon oceans of uglities from big East- and West-coast basements, and to put a few top shelf items up front in order to lure consumers. This massive collection of cheap images will be exposed at the heart of Walmartland, in the billionaire's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art*. Grand opening : Fall / Winter 2009.

I can't wait to visit it. I always dreamed of passing by the Rogers Daisy Airgun Museum and Bentonville, AR would be only a short detour from Rogers, AR... Much closer than Fort Smith, AR and its famous Fort Smith Trolley Museum. Unless... Come to think of it, I could go all the way from Crystal Bridges to Eurora, AR : you don't want to miss the Rubye and Henry Connerly Museum ! I would then stop at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum** (Little Rock, AR), and get some refreshment at the Pine Bluff, AR Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame / Band Museum where, according to the Director, "there is a fully-operational 1950’s soda fountain"... Boy, what a ride ! Better kick than Route 66...

NB : to my beloved visitors from Arkansas : nothing personal. I'm realy glad to see heart collections bloom at the art of the country... even if they compete more easily with Guggenheim for the shells than with Chicago for the contents. And I can find even more XIXth century academic monstruosities and ugly colorful sunsets in Orsay Museum.


* crystalbridges.org
** clintonlibrary.gov - 1200 President Clinton Avenue Little Rock, Arkansas 72201(501) 374-4242. Hours Monday–Saturday 9:00 a.m.–5:00p.m.Sunday1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Admission : Adults $7.00 Senior citizens (62+) $5.00 College Students (With ID) $5.00 Retired Military (With ID) $5.00 Children (6-17) $3.00 Children under 6 Free. All Active Duty, Military Reservists, and National Guard Free. All White House interns Free.

Palestine : the Pakistan-Bangladesh scenario

Ehud Olmert and his fellow hawks eventually succeeded in putting the Gaza Ghetto in the hands of the most radical elements of Hamas. All they needed was to inflict years of humiliation, to illegally abduct key moderate leaders, and to carpet bomb any attempt of conciliation.

Back in January 2006*, I envisioned a Pakistan - Bangladesh scenario for the Gaza Strip - West Bank couple, with radical islamists ruling over the former and unharmful people struggling to survive in the latter. Among the key differences : the Bengali suffer from abundance of water.

The time has almost come.

Israeli hardliners can measure the success of their strategy, and the crucial** help of a fellow fundamentalist named George W. Bush. They didn't need Dubya to get rid of Yitzhak Rabin, but they badly needed his support to crush the peace process initiated with Bill Clinton.

As usual, Shimon Peres keeps the glam (Nobel Prize, presidence) and avoids direct combat in favor of peace. Ehud Barak joins the government with the label of a member of opposition, but the new Defense Minister is a renowned expert in camouflage as a cross dresser who paved the way for Sharon by sabotaging the 2000 Summit in Camp David, putting the first nails on Arafat's coffin.

Now I don't see how moderates can win elections in Israel, how violence can be prevented from spreading. Fundamentalists have won in Palestine, in Israel, in the USA and in the Muslim world. Warmongers are gaining momentum and the only way to stop this madness would be to give a strong signal against the Commander in Thief.

Impeach Bush-Cheney.

PS : don't bet on strong critics on Israel by US prez candidates before November 2008




* see "Red blogule to Ehud Olmert - the Bangladesh scenario" (20060125)
** no pun intended, Mel

White blogule to a globalized globalization

(answer to the question "Is globalization a good thing?")

The XXth Century is well over, but some people feel like going back to the XIXth (Adam or Carlito, pick your fave). I'm confident about the emergence of a XXIst century approach more adapted to what's at stakes.

"Thanks" to key globalization enablers (communications, information, travel...), time and space have dramatically shrunk, allowing what I call "instant players" to grab the bulk of the value worldwide. Finance grew omnipotent and blind, means becoming aims. But obviously, the party is almost over : there is far too much greedy money and players around, and disruption niches grow thinner and thinner. Our economies definitely need to adopt a sounder tempo and I guess it won't take as much time as people think. I'm sure a general consensus will soon emerge on the diagnostic, just like it did for global warming. Well beyond the financial dimension, Economy (human activity) shall regain some decency.

Most anti-globalisation protesters are purely "anti", most "altermondialism o/ altermondialization / alterglobalization" labels only recommand the end of economics (and ultimately the end of mankind as a global parasite). Only a few propose sound and pragmatical approaches.

I believe in a regulated and fair market economy. Open, but sustainable. Global, because globalization demands the switch towards a comprehensive approach of the whole ecosystem, humans and nature included. WTO is not bad in itself, it is just as necessary and fragile as the UN.

In this transitional period, protectionism is definitely back, and well beyond what is needed (because some countries, among the weakest, do need some protection), and sometimes a rather subtle way. For example, Bush pushes a multi-bilateral, US-centric globalization, refusing all international / multilateral approaches : less WTO, more FTAs (NB : same logic as "less UN, more Abu Ghraib" or "less Kyoto, more Alaska drillin'"). All these "Free Trade Agreements" have some kind of protectionist and unbalanced flavor. They may sound positive for the US economy, but only in the short term, and only for Dubya's base of "Haves and Have-mores".

Paradoxically, this strategy reflects a denial of globalization = the refusal of a global approach of globalization.

The Vladubyan summit : who gives a Heiligendamm ?

Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush are great democrats.
Vlad will have a puppet elected next year, change the constitution, and keep His seat warm till He returns as a perennial czar. Pharaoh may then rename the planets after Himself, ressuscite Gandhi to have a serious discussion with Himself, and shoot some journalists.
Dubya managed to get a nod from the Congress for his errands in Baghdad. Now pumped up to the max, Our Dear Compassionate Leader feels like spreading democracy in Iran (flame throwers, napalm, torture, pick your weapon).
God forbid, Persians won't have to wait for another earthquake to have Bam and other national treasures flattened to the ground. Fundamentalists are great and Bush is their prophet.
Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush are great environmentalists.
This G8 was supposed to tackle such issues as global warming or hedge funds ? Both leaders decided to change the agenda thanks to a clear and immediate threat of nuclear war. Ennemies come in handy when you are cornered by tricky questions...
Both XXth Century superpowers act as if nothing happened after the Cold War. The problem is they are not dictating the world's agenda anymore. Both Vlad and Dubya are mere dictators over their own countries, period.