Three-Quarter-Term Elections

Obama's back from Europe, where he managed to score rare photo ops: with Pope Francis in Rome, and with the Shinzo Ehud Abe - Park Yasser Geun-hye duet in The Hague (see "The Tripartite Summitulacra").

Historic handshake between war criminal grandson and dictator daughter - Nobel Prize winner observing (twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/448630575683751937 20140326)

The POTUS went out of his way (literally only) back to the States to say goodbye to Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud (90), who just nominated the successor of his successor Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (79): don't expect stupendous reforms from this young Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (69), the former head of the local intelligence agency...

So Barack Obama lets John Kerry cope with Putin's adventure in Ukraine, Park and Abe sort things out directly together, and the Saud clan stew in their own juice (now that the US of A have their own shale gas to dirty themselves with...).

Back home, the President keeps his eye on the ball: neither climate change, nor gun control, but Obamacare, The Reform That Must Work Before The November Elections, save the Senate majority, and end the House stalemate.

I bet Hillary Clinton is also praying for the success of this landmark healthcare reform. 

OFA's last call

blogules 2014
Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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Qaddafi: thank you Amanpour

The madman was cornered, still a dangerous Nero ready to set his country alight, but an isolated tyrant losing the PR battle (remember those sightings of a weirdo under an umbrella or waving from the top of a wall under an armored suit ?).

The dictator recovered. At the military level by crushing rebels, but furthermore in the media, with the blessing of international franchises looking for a scoop.

Ever the attention junkie, Christiane Amanpour waltzed the waltz for ABC. The Beeb, LCI, they all got their photo op with the ailing Adolf.

Guess what ? The message passed very well. Not that Muammar is telling crazy things, but that the same old Qaddafi is more than ever at ease in front of cameras in his own country. What, me worry ?

Meanwhile, the international community is as expected doing nothing to stop the carnage. At one stage, the League of Arab States seemed eager to pose a threat, but the only intervention so far has been a Saudi Arabian invasion of Bahrain to save the local Sunni king.

Is Qaddafi's fall the best case scenario ? Can Benghazi resist ? Will Libya split ? Will Daiichi melt in Fukushima ? Which one got your attention ?

blogules 2011

And now for something completely different

"It’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds".

With this, President Obama could let Sarah Palin drown in her own blood libelling pool if he weren't a truly compassionate leader : "we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other".

From Tucson, AZ to Tunis now: the great people of Tunisia managed to push dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his Trabelsi clique out. But some of their thugs remain loose on the street, and at the other end of the hate line, fundamentalists are more than ever eager to wedge their ways into the country. They obviously were not invited at the table for the national unity government : the unity they seek doesn't quite fit the democratic agenda.

From Tunis to Juba: here, the democratic agenda is set and a new country is about to emerge from the referendum. Complete with controversial borders, and strategic pipelines, Southern Sudan is also the perfect target for hatemongers.

From Tunis and Juba to Abidjan: these days, Laurent Gbagbo is probably paying some attention to what's happening in other African countries. To the Ben Ali scenario, I'm sure he'd prefer to see Ivory Coast split in two. Of course, without any democratic process.

From Tunis to Washington, DC : no need to wait for the next WikiLeaks batch to know that Ben Ali's quick retreat to Saudi Arabia owes something to US diplomacy. A small compromise, but an overall B+ for Secretary of State Clinton in this (at long last) booming region. Maybe Chinese diplomats contributed : all of a sudden, supporting local dictators in exchange for raw materials is not as politically correct as it used to be.

Cynics would say that after this African Yalta, the Chinese will keep nurturing their dictator in North Sudan, while Americans will start pumping oil in South Sudan.

Another victory for Africa yesterday ? The new Front National leader has African origins : like her dad Jean-Marie, Marine Le Pen shares her origins with all of us French, Americans, Chinese... you name it. But I don't think she's going to celebrate this politically and scientifically correct fact. In a way that heals.


blogules 2011

"Antagonizing Muslims" ?!? Look who's talking, Osama

Osama Bin Laden has got a sick sense of humor : Barack Obama would be "antagonizing Muslims"... that's according to a man who killed much more Muslims than non-Muslims.

Remember this : the main targets of al Qaeda are not Americans but moderate Muslims across the world. And George W. Bush's Amerika was not an enemy but a partner, and a very efficient at that : a double imposture that fueled fundamentalism over the past few years (see "Universal Declaration of Independence From Fundamentalism").

Bin Laden speeches resonated well with a fellow fundamentalist at the helm of the US but now, they fall short. His attacks sound more unfair, less sincere than ever, and at last, the impostor is exposed.

Bin Laden is not a religious leader with consideration for coreligionists, but a selfish warlord purely motivated by hatred, on a personal crusade against himself, alienating his own allies because he is unable to build anything positive, hiding behind Zawahiri's fundamentalist rethorics to make himself believe he is fighting for a cause. Bin Laden is not submitting to Islam but to his own troubled ego. He is not defending Islam but destroying it.

Barack Obama is not a religious leader (and he most certainly doesn't want to be that One !) but he has the qualities required for a great religious leader. Not respected because feared ; respected because respectful.

Barack Hussein Obama is not antagonizing Muslims when he says "I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries".

Barack Hussein Obama is not antagonizing Muslims when he says "My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people" (...) "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy" (...) "My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect".

President Obama doesn't act like a stubborn again Christian fundamentalist pretending to force caricatures of democracy into other countries, but as a humble leader trying to restore the core values of democracy in his own country.

Of course, Ayman al-Zawahiri can mock at Mubarak or King Abdullah, the kind of leaders who make al Qaeda's day almost everyday. But what is Zawahiri doing except reminding us what his top job consists of : "antagonizing Muslims".

And while touring the Middle-East, Obama will probably put as much pressure on the Egyptian and Arab leaders as he did on Netanyahu.

Bin Laden (or his al Qaedan impersonator) doesn't dare to flash the Palestinian card in his attacks. So he focuses on the usual new weak spots*, and pushes hard on Pakistan : "Obama and his administration have sown new seeds to increase hatred and revenge on America. The number of these seeds is equal to the number of displaced people from Swat Valley."

Not totally untrue : as everybody concedes, US bombings in Pakistan as well as civilian casualties both sides of the border, an unsettling echo of the Bush heritage, hurt the image of the country and trouble the message of its leader.

But somehow, Bin Laden is not as much planting new seeds in order to harvest future generations of terrorists as trying to secure his own old and shaky alliances with Talibans.

Osama Bin Laden is weaker than ever : USA's main target is no more a fake icon pretending to lead the Muslim world, but the very roots of fundamentalism upon which this impostor feeds and thrives. Obama means to fight poverty and unfairness, help moderate Muslims reclaim their hijacked religion, contribute to a sustainable resolution of key conflicts...

You simply can't grow in popularity by criticizing this kind of agenda.


* see "Next stop: Pakistan"

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.

Red blogule to demokracy - professor Bush's vision

There were eventually quite a few changes between the final version of Dubya's State of the Union speech and the complete and uncut version I published last week. But as for surprises, I didn't get a lot.
I don't need to learn from such a lousy teacher "terrorists have chosen the weapon of fear". I don't need the President of the United States to quote an unknown soldier (Dan Clay) to paint a thin emotional layer of justification on his strategic mistakes. I don't need W to speak directly to the people of Iran the same way he did with the people of Irak right before invading their country.
Democracy definitely is on its way and here are the results : fundamentalists won in Iran and made their highest scores ever in Saudi Arabia or Egypt in 2005, and fundamentalists won in Palestine in 2006 because fundamentalists won in the US in 2004.
When George W Bush is talking about "a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people", is he talking about Iran of the Amerika that harrassed and fired all the good law people within its own administration who confessed some doubts regarding the use of torture ? The Amerika that reserved the best positions for the promoters of Intelligent Design and crucified the ones who refused to mix religion and science ?
And yet, this man is asking for more support : "tonight I ask for yours. Together, let us protect our country, support the men and women who defend us, and lead this world toward freedom". The freedom of being either with him or against him, the freedom of facing the consequences, the freedom of either being a good Amerikan citizen/churchgoer or abandoning all rights and dignity, the freedom of contributing to the economic domination of the Liberator or undergoing boycott and pressure.
And what is his ultimate goal, the final point of his brilliant speech ? "By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment … move beyond a petroleum-based economy … and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." What an inspiring vision... I suggest another wording for this back-to-square-one agony : "Help me outta there ! I've been stuck to that damn Texan pit ever since I started digging for my life but I've never been able to collect anything but mud, debts and shame."

Red blogule to die hard habits - blood on your face, big disgrace

At last, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined the club of the really tough guys : instead of injecting steroïds in his own body, he had something more directly lethal injected in the body of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Driving a Hummer wasn't enough for a Prez candidate, especially one pushing a rather environmentaly ambitious agenda ; hardliners prefer Gubernator when he's praising Adolf Hitler or when he's actually killing some punk (even without using his NRA right to shoot). Am I my brother's keeper ? Am I my Beta Kappa ? You are a beta beta now, Arnie ; welkome to the Fraternity.
At last, Saudi Arabians are diversifying their economy : instead of leading the world in oil production, they're going for a much more noble output : fertilizers. Smart move : at least, next generations will still find some stinking stuff when they dig their deserts.

White blogule to The Economist - Big bother is waiting for you

I fully agree with the last words of The Economist's article on France's strategy against Islamists : "Mr de Villepin's approach will be studied with interest - even, perhaps, in America" (December 18th 2004). "Big Dominique"'s rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, may well already receive some support from the US in his own "fight against Islamists"... as well as in his other fight for France's presidency in 2007.
Mr Sarkozy published his very controversial book (calling for a change in the French law which could mean the end of the separation of religion and the State) just a few days before the American elections. This could be interpreted as a signal to the Bush Administration which welcomed him as a friendly statesman a few monthes earlier. If I were an American Christian fundamentalist or a Saudi Muslim fundamentalist, I guess I wouldn't hesitate when it comes to picking a successor to Jacques Chirac. Stephane MOT