Palestinian Statehood and the DSK Jurisprudence

Last Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu seemed confident no vote on Palestinian statehood would happen at the UN this week, and it looks like 2012 candidate Barack Obama is dutifully making sure both the American and Israeli governments are spared the humiliation of a recognition by the international community followed by a veto from a supposed promoter of Palestine's emergence as a state.

Mahmoud Abbas was right to push his luck in the wake of the Arab Spring. No dialog being possible between the two radical factions ruling over Gaza and Tel Aviv, moderates had to remind the public opinion of the need to stop an unacceptable injustice.

But these days, there's no justice to be seen in New York. The Dominique Strauss-Kahn jurisprudence ruled that a rape victim has no right to be considered by justice unless she's the Virgin Mary*, and that's exactly what's happening to Palestine.

It could be worse : if UN headquarters were in Georgia, Mahmoud Abbas could be sharing the fate of Troy Davis.

blogules 2011

* see "DSK is not 'not guilty' : US Justice's standards are poor"

Herman van Rompuy, haikus, humor and religion

The new President of the European Council is praised for his talents as a negociator and haiku writer as well as for an undisputable sense of humor. What bothers me is the main reason why Herman van Rompuy probably got the job.

I strongly campaigned against once front runner Tony Blair. Less for his role in the invasion of Iraq than for his belonging to the clique of fundamentalists who, after ruining World peace along with their Islamist friends, are deliberately turning Europe into their new playground (see "Tony Blair : a newborn fundamentalist President of Europe ?"). But I'm afraid this man could be as dangerous for democracy in Europe.

If HVR passes for a moderate who "hates extremists", he is in favor of a fusional relationship between politics and religion.

For starters, he belongs to CD&V (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams), Belgium's Flemmish Christian-democratic party. European-style Christian Democracy usually promotes rather balanced platforms for politics, economics and social affairs, but fundamentally, they mix religion with politics and expose a vision of politics somehow superseded by religion, which is incompatible with the concept of secular, republican democracy. Yet at this stage, mentioning fundamentalism would be more than far-fetched.

I nonetheless observe that Mr Van Rompuy, who regularly fights with Luc Van den Brande over the political future of Belgium, supports his CD&V colleague at the European level, where this ayatollah efficiently undermines democracy by promoting Intelligent Design.

Furthermore, our moderate who "hates extremists" is himself using rather radical terms, usually associated with ultra-conservative Christians in Europe. Turkish media didn't forget his outburst during the debate on Turkey's candidacy for the EU : "it's a matter of fact that the universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are also the fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigour with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey".

Everybody knows Herman Van Rompuy majored Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) in economics, but he also majored in philosophy. And there again, he tends to blur lines.

Van Rompuy maintains he never campaigned for the job but that's not true. On October 19, 2009, exactly one month before his nomination, he delivered a conference on the last encyclical of a certain Benedict XVI about the Church's social doctrine.

I cannot help but think about John McCain giving a conference at the Discovery Institute ahead of his own campaign, as a guarantee to US theocons (see ""Change is coming" and Mac "will fight", but for whom and for what ?").

In this conference ("Conférence de Herman Rompuy sur Caritas in Veritate", on LaCroix.com), economics / philosophy expert Van Rompuy talks about love and humanism, but also and first of all, just like Pope Benedict XVI, about politics :

. "No political regime, no social organization and no economic system can claim the realization of ultimate salvation" - all this is nothing compared to faith and religion
. "According to Social Doctrine, the political community is at the service of civil society where it originated. This civil society represents the sum of all relationships and goods, either cultural or associative, which are relatively independent from politics and economy" - politics cannot rule over everything, and a superior power somehow needs to be materialized
. "The principle of subsidiarity is binding, each human should have the opportunity to contribute to the construction of well being and prosperity. Yet, the difficult question is to know how today, we can achieve this principle within an unified Europe and in a globalized world where more and more decisions are taken at a level actual individuals cannot reach, even as they know how they condition his well being and prosperity, his work and his responsibilities" - BTW: did you notice that religions are not only relevant when it comes to essential issues, but also perfectly organized to cope with subsidiarity issues, and to reach each and every individual ?
. HvR then directly pushes Benedict's agenda, using the core message of his encyclical : "there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago." - the new President of Europe stops here his quote, but Ratzie and his followers perfectly know what comes right after that sentence : "Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good, and to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by the values of charity in truth" (...) It would also "require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order, to the interconnection between moral and social spheres, and to the link between politics and the economic and civil spheres, as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations". So like Ratzinger, Van Rompuy wants the lines "between moral and social spheres" to disappear.

I already denouced the imposture of Benedict XVI, a hardcore fundamentalist undermining, beyond Evolution itself, centuries of evolution for the Church from a Medieval mob to a modern, compassionate religion. If you purge elaborate and nice sounding circonvolutions from his texts, they always come down to the same message : let's go back to the time when religion was at the center of education, science and politics, the very attributes of democracy, that corrupt system (i.e. "Le mauvais plan de Benoît XVI"). Watch him exulting at the FAO meeting the other day : the "true world political authority" he envisions welcomes religious authorities as star constituents. In this quest, he already had the support of people like Ban Ki-moon at the UNO : very discreet regarding his own faith, and always pretending to be neutral in that field, Secretary General BAN pushes inter-religious dialogs INSIDE institutions he is reponsible for. European secular organizations were likewise appalled to see similar oddities recently performed in official EU meeting places.

Now Herman van Rompuy joins Barroso, van den Brande and company as an eminent element of the wedge strategy of fundamentalists against truly democratic European institutions.

I'm curious to see if this Christian democrat will be more "democrat" or "Christian" when it will come to defend European Court of Human Rights against the next attacks from fundamentalists*...

I wish I investigated a little bit earlier to expose the Herman Achille Van Rompuy imposture.

At this stage, I didn't find anything suspect against Cathy Ashton, alias Lady Catherine, a.k.a Baroness Ashton of Upholland, the EU's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

blogules 2009 - initially published on blogules (V.F.) "Herman van Rompuy, les haikus, l'humour et la religion"

* see "European Court of Human Rights slams fundamentalists (a)cross Italia and Europe", "Traditions, conservatismes, obscurantismes et fondamentalismes"

Israel accepted as true the choice between its security and its ideals

Ahead of a September 29 presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United Nations' Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict released its key conclusions.

Unsurprisingly, both Hamas and Israel have been proven guilty of war crimes in a report covering 36 "incidents".

Between December 2008 and January 2009 or, as I pointed out (see "A Christmas Gift for Fundamentalists ?"), during the no-top-man's land between Obama's election and his formal inauguration, 13 Israeli and more than 1,400 Palestinians died.

Against Palestinian terrorists, the reports pointed out indiscriminate bombings, but found no evidence of "human shields", bringing even more pressure on Tel Aviv hawks who get most of the blame : disproportionate actions, collective punishment, use of illegal weapons (white phosphorus shells)...

Worse : this is the consequence of wrongdoings by a few rogue soldiers, but "the result of deliberate guidance issued to soldiers", or as Richard Goldstone put it, "policies". I suggested another word for that in "Israel openly embraces fascism". The report went as far as mentioning "crimes against humanity".

The mission wants the United Nations Security Council to investigate further and to consider bringing charges to the International Criminal Court. If the US don't put a veto on it, it may fly, but up to a certain point : the ICC's jurisdiction is not accepted by Israel.

Israeli hawks denounce an unfair and biased mission and as a matter of fact, Christine Chinkin, a member of the commission, accused Israel of war crimes in an op-ed published last January.

But blaming the thermometer doesn't cure the flu.

And even after the embarrassing revelations on a prominent Israeli human rights activist*, Israeli moderates are more than ever welcome to speak up and loud against their unruly rulers.


blogules 2009


* Human Rights Watch's Marc Garlasco happens to collect Nazi memorabilia !

Department Of Climate Defense - 2007, ground zero of environment - Red blogule to Philip Cooney - White blogule to the IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its 4th Assessment Report* today in Paris. Yet another set of scenarios, and certainly not the worst case we've heard of so far. But considering the compromizes needed to produce it, this new finger pointing in our direction looks definitely frightening.

Philip Cooney resigned today. The White House Council on Environmental Quality's chief of staff had been on a hot seat for a couple of days and yes, global warming had something to do with it and yes again, human behavior too.The New York Times revealed how this former oil lobbyist edited many reports confirming both global warming and the impact of man. We can now measure the impact of one man, George W. Bush.

2007 is the ground zero of environment, where everybody gapes at the horror and starts to react. We certainly don't want the same leaders to take the same kind of decisions.
I'm sure the former next president of the United States would have done a better job. By joining the Kyoto community and putting more pressure on developping countries, Al Gore would have led the world to a slightly better trend at a decisive moment.

Gore wouldn't have prevented global warming, which is bound to rule for the next millenium at least. Besides, at the geological level, both Philip Cooney and the IPCC are insignificant. But we are enjoying global warming right now and what we are doing now is significant. At the personal, collective, national and international levels.

The IPCC does have a WMO / UNEP / UNO label, but the United Nations Environment Programme itself has no power. China and Russia are not likely to empower it that soon. Ditto at the WTO, even if Davos exposed interesting concerns across the entrepreneurial elite.

At the national level, I'd like the US to stand a little bit more sanely on this ground zero. Because this is also a matter of national security and defense. We are at war, we are defending our land, and the intervention of military is already often required. I'm not talking about financing federal environmental policies with the budget of defense : I mean defense should have its own environmental agenda, money to build natural fences, to fight the very causes of climate change. The budget of defense already contributes to R&D with civil applications, why not devote one fifth of it to the war on climate change ? For a change.


* download it at ipcc.ch

White blogule to Roh Moo-hyun - protecting Korea from the US

The Bush Administration has been working on a violent collapse of Kim Jong-il's regime for years. Bush even refused proposals by Pyongyang dovishest hawks to make peace and step by step becoming a strategic ally in the region. Former Ambassador Christopher R. Hill hasn't stopped putting oil on fire since North Korea's first nuclear test. For the White House, any diversion could help before November 7 mid-term elections.

So Roh Moo-hyun decided to protect the peninsula from this bilateral dead-end and announced the subject a purely intra-korean matter right before Condi Rice's visit in Seoul, without warning his closest advisors - especially those working on the Secretary of State's agenda.

Roh politely removes the US, Japan, Russia and China from the landscape, but also the UN, even if all voted resolutions will carefully be respected. Korean medias criticize the way secretary general elect Ban Ki-moon is cast away by his own Government the very week of his election at the head of the United Nations Organization, but this could prove to be a very smart way of helping Ban prove his independence from his country.

In the short term, I cannot see what can prevent NK from setting another nuclear test. In the medium term, Kim's regime will not survive. In a not so far future, Korea will face yet another nuclear neighbor : remilitarized Japan.

Right now, South should meet with North with the blessing of Beijing. For the time being, the 6-party talks should at least officially shrink to a 2-party-plus talks. Just to remind what's at stake if Korea as a whole collapses.

Red blogule to Kim Jong-il and to the six party talks

Unsurprisingly, North Korea proceeded to its first nuclear trial. An underground fart worth 4.2 on Richter's scale. Just loud enough for people around to get the message without the poisonous stench. In the dead middle of key commitee meetings in China, right during Abe's first visit to South Korea, and a few days after the quasi-confirmation of Ban Ki-moon as the UN's next secretary-general.

Kim Jong-il is guilty. For maintaining his country in terror, absolute denial of liberty and basic human rights, for imposing starvation, torture, deportations and other sweets to a people brought back to the Middle Age under the rule of a totalitarian sect. For having no other goal than preserving his own liberty, whatever the consequences.

South Korea is guilty. For avoiding the touchy "human rights" topic in order not to hurt the feelings of its neighbor. For balking in front of a reunification that would cost thousands of times more than Germany's from an humanitarian as well as an economical, social and political point of view.

Russia is guilty. For exporting the Stalinian model in its most perverse version. For nurturing a monster in the middle of a region under American influence.

China is guilty. For not seizing the opportunity of Russia's collapse in order to cool Kim's regime down when it was the weakest. For strenghtening militarism instead of encouraging reforms. And of course for wanting a Korean reunification INSIDE China.

Japan is guilty. For doing everything in order to delay a reunification that would cast it away from the center of the New Far East. For sabotaging each and every progress in the six-party talks as efficiently as its American friends.

USA are guilty. For letting their hawkiest wings crush any opportunity or opening, for wanting the messiest degradation of the situation, for purposedly strenghtening Kim's regime in its most diabolical sides. For refusing bilateral talks and becoming the most negative player in these 6 party talks, even before Kim himself. For knowingly provoquing the nuclear crisis and eventually collecting a much awaited diversion right before the November 2006 elections : "hey lads, see what kind of mess we prevented by removing Saddam from power ? see what happens when you let the UN or the IAEA take care of the WMD proliferation control ?"

The UN is guilty indeed. For relying on the goodwill of the United States of America, China and Russia for any decision going beyond the purchase of staples for the 8th floor.

Let's hope last night's trials will lead to a positive opening. Just like India and Pakistan did before declaring PAT instead of CHESSMATE.

White blogule to UNIFIL v 2.0 - Touche, Mr Bolton

As expected, France will contribute with about 2,000 soldiers to the new UNIFIL. The Quai d'Orsay managed to get what it wanted : a stronger force, a stronger UN, a stronger Europe and above all (let's hope) a stronger Lebanon. Not a remake of the 1995 fiasco in Bosnia. Not the dirty quick fix the US diplomacy dreamt of.
Bush dared criticize France for doing nothing but there is a big difference between doing nothing during the bombing of Lebanon (follow my stare) and putting a positive pressure on peacemakers during the ceasefire. I tend to believe the second option to be more efficient for a durable peace in the region. Besides, I prefer the French position (send 200 troops first, add 2,000 once the conditions are confirmed) to the Italian (promise 3,000 troops first, send 2,000 once the frame is set).
As expected, some Israelis are starting to wonder what went wrong. Many do ask the right questions : did we have to wage this war in the first place ? why did we use forbidden US weapons against civilians ? can we trust our leaders ? what's wrong with our country at the national and the international level ?... Unfortunately, others speak louder with the wrong answers : victory was at hand but politicians failed the military and didn't go all the way, Israel needs a tougher regime.

White blogule to Lebanon - please do survive

Israel fuels terrorism as efficiently as the Bush administration : instead of acting carefuly and with the help of the international community after outspoken terror attacks (9/11, Hezbollah raid), they attack blindly and unilaterally, appear as the aggressors and bring chaos where it definitely wasn't needed (Iraq, Lebanon). Only military action is considered, all political options and all legal frameworks being nixed.
I wonder if Lebanon can survive now. People came back once but this looks even worse than civil war. The country is politically, economically and socially devastated. A week after the first Israeli riposts, half a million people have been moved and more than 200 civilians killed, half of them kids. Who cares ? There's nothing but culture to be saved over there.
Bush applauds, Europe remains silent, Arab countries fear for their own stability, the UN is as dead as John Bolton wants it. Welcome to Diplomacy's Ground Zero.

White blogule to Kofi's last throes of morality

Why now ? All of a sudden, the UN's Secretary General asks Koizumi to stop his provocating visits to Yasukuni and a UN panel asks the US to stop Guantanamo's tragic farce. Maybe Kofi Annan feels his days are counted at the head of this not yet dead international body. That won't save Darfur but bad guys can be found everywhere.
Anyway, both Japan and the US do as if nothing happened. Toni Snow said "everything that is done in terms of questioning detainees is fully consistent with the boundaries of American law" and I'm afraid he is right : Amerika's administration changed America's laws to allow torture, illegal tapings, illegal abductions among other small steps for W but giant leaps backwards for humanity.

White blogule to the State of the Union speech - complete and uncut edition

Exclusive - a blogules scoop: Here is the original speech to be delivered by President George W. Bush today. The text may undergo some edition but the key issues shall remain valid.

Dear fellow Amerikans,

You didn't elect me on my 2000 program, where I presented myself as a "compassionate conservatist". I had to get my mandate through other channels.
You did elect me on my action during my first term, though, and on an openly radical and fundamentalist agenda.

The least one can say is I've been delivering the goods. You can count on me to go further in the same direction and with the same determination once my lifetime nomination is confirmed. I will durably lead Our Beautiful Country towards Freedom, Obscurantism and Absolutism.

I've been criticized for not nominating Billy Graham at the Supreme Court, but I simply had in mind a position more suited for his outstanding talent : from now on, Your Government will have a Chief Evangelist to whom will report, beyond the Supreme Court : the Department Of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department Of Education. The Chief Evangelist will only report to God and the President and will always be nominated by the latter. He and his teams won't have to report to the Congress. On the contrary, the Chief Evangelist will nominate one third of all congressmen, selecting the most reliable candidates according to their knowledge of the scriptures and their devotion to the Intelligent Design.

Dear fellow Amerikans, despite being focused on the fight against Evil and Terror, Your Government keeps in mind other major challenges. Confronted to the rise of such countries as India or China, Our Wonderful Country can leverage on over 9 million square kilometers of land, but on a little bit less than 300 million people. We should be able to reach the density of - say - France, which would help us reach the one billion citizen mark.
Verily, verily, I say to you : Grow and Multiply ! Your Government will facilitate the building of new colonies across our most remote territories. We will for instance make sure every part of Alaska is not only suitable for well heated housing projects but also for tobacco or cotton fields. This dream can be fulfilled thanks to the immense reserves of this vast part of Our Glorious Nation.
We will also facilitate the circulation of all Amerikans between Alaska and the Mainland in spite of the wall we had to erect along the Canadian borders in order to stop their murderous terror attacts and their weaselish infiltrations of subversive ideologies.

I solemny remind the Canadian Government how seriously they should consider our ultimatum. Their pathetic gesticulations at what's left of the UN in Geneva won't help them escape their duties : we expect the full disclosure of their WMD programs and our british allies fully support this most vital request.
We will prevail : abandoned by the Commonwealth, the Canadian Government are in the last throes of their insurrection against their own people.

More than two centuries after its foundation, Our Lovely Country has never been so close to fulfil its dream of Freedom across the whole territory it was meant to liberate. We soon will be able to get rid of the absurd local administrations that paralyze our institutions. Inch'Allah, The United States of America shall become The United State of Amerika.

Long life to Liberty, long life to Freedom and God bless you all, Amen.

White blogule to Bob Woodward - Blowing another fuse

Going for another impeachment ? With an exquisite sense of timing, Bob Woodward revealed I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby wasn't his Plame-Wilson deep throat. The Bush Administration may have to blow another fuse and look for another scapegoat.
They easily replaced Scooter with another hawk : the only specie to avoid the laws of evolution does breed by entire flocks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC, USA (watch out : herd flu hazards). David Addington is already at work to please his masters Lobby Dick and King Dubya, revising the U.S. Army Field Manual in order to allow torture and escape such un-american and un-patriotic documents as the Geneva Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture or the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights.
If he were to chose, W could pick Rummy instead of Dick or even Alberto. He would then please a great part of the Army and even find an alibi to change strategies in Iraq, "his" Rep majority pushing harder than ever for a clear withdrawal agenda before 2006 elections.

Red blogule to stop-and-goes - the wisdom of crocodiles

A slomo brain can be something other than a curse. Take President Bush, for instance. After yesterday's signature of the deal with North Korea, he took a "wait and see" stance. Hours later, Pyongyang would add more conditions and threaten all previous efforts. And as Mayor C. Ray Nagin called for a homecoming of New Orleans citizens, King W said more time was needed. Hours later, a new hurricane alert would support this piece of wisdom.
After crocodile tears, the wisdom of crocodiles... Now that he knows the UN is not for him, Bill Clinton tries as hard as he can to get Dubya's skin and offer a nice bag to his lady. But the beast ain't dead yet.

Red blogule to Europe's Genetically Modified candidates

While Dominique de Villepin exposed his ego to the UN spotlights among actual world leaders, Nicolas Sarkozy paid a visit to a fellow White House nominee for the Supreme Court of New Europe Courtisans, Poland's Donald Tusk.
Tusk had already met with yet another neocon favorite, Angela Merkel, and received the support of a longtime US Christian Fundamentalists' icon, Lech Walesa. Sarkozy also shook the hand of this great servant of Mother Amerika.
Merkel is suffering a tough campaign but Tusk is left with no opponent since Wlodziemierz Cimoszewicz, the man who weeks ago was supposed to win the elections, gave up after a smear campaign so perfectly led it could have been directed by The Great Architect himself (a walk in the park considering the quality of the building material : oil scandal).
Now that W.C. has been flushed down the toilets of History, press group from all across the world rejoice : they won't have to invest massively in Scrabble boxes and can save time each time they write about both Tusk and the ennemy of "Old Europe", Donald Rumsfeld.

Red blogule to the UN Bomber - remember FDR words

As George W. Bush is rehearsing his United Nations speech, I propose a few words by a great American President who designed this institution, a man he is so often pretending to resemble ; Franklin Delano Roosevelt :

. "Why should one outlaw nation be able to run amock and murder or maim a brother nation without being called to account for it, without being prevented from further misdeeds in the community of nations?"

. "We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations-far away. We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger. We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community. We have learned the simple truth. Emerson said that "the only way to have a friend is to be one". We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust and with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding and confidence and courage which flow from conviction."

No wonder Dubya sends his UN Bomber to get rid of such a subversive outfit.

And no wonder the US reject France's proposal of a tax on plane tickets : NWA and Delta can't be listening to Villepin's speech while reading chapter 11.

Red blogule to "Intelligent Design" - Fundamentals and fundamentalism - Creationism and cretinism

"Pro-Life", "Intelligent Design"... these guys do have a knack for positive wording (don't even think about positive thinking). I gather they call torture in Abu Ghraib "Truth Quest" and the negation of all independant safeguards or watchdogs (the UN, the Geneva Convention, the International Criminal Tribunal...) something like "Active Freedom".
Bush's position on evolution resembles that of Revisionists on gas chambers : since there are alternative theories, students should be taught both angles*. This image may strike you as indecent and it is, but it clearly exposes the loopholes in the argumentation.
I'm not making any sick parallel between the existence of gas chambers and the existence of God, nor between proven facts and beliefs : I'm comparing people who knowingly manipulate opinions through biased rethorics.
I'm not even defending the theory of evolution, which is the best to date but won't explain everything. I just think the fundamentals of human society should be protected from religious fundamentalism.
Creationism** puts faith at the same level as science and that is the very negation of science. You can believe in ID if you want but you cannot call this science (and of course you have no right to believe in the non-existence of gas chambers).
Just the same, you cannot call "democracy" any approach of politics based on nor even mixed with religious beliefs. That is one of the reasons why, once again, Bush thinks and acts as an enemy to democracy, justice or science.

* or as the Washington Post relates it : "Both sides ought to be properly taught . . . so people can understand what the debate is about". You want to "teach" about Creation, Dubya ? If there were a place for it in school, it would be the History of Religions (with a "S" so that, this time, all angles could be presented). And you want "debate" now ? That's what I call "evolution" : you've been avoiding the debate on every other issue and the one you picked doesn't rely on any facts. Can you believe it ? No one can contest your belief !
** I realize that up to now my blogules on this issue have been spilled in French (see "National Geographic - Points de vue et images du monde" or "Creationism & Cretinism"). And I guess "creationism" should be rebranded into something more suitable : I suggest a generic term like "Religion-Based Beliefs" for all the likes of Creationism.

Red blogule to US - Japan erasers

As they celebrated the 60th anniversary of liberation from Japan and listened to Koizumi repeat the same empty excuses for an excuse as his predecessor ten years ago, Koreans learned why they couldn't get the proof of major wartime atrocities committed by Japan.
They knew the proof was in the US, they now know why it landed there in the first place : the US purchased all data related to Japan's sick medical experiments on civilians of occupied countries. Actually, they bribed the perpetrators to get the exclusivity and even granted them immunity for this favor. This completed the scandalous Hiroshima-Nagasaki cleanup : you don't sue us for using weapons of mass destruction against your civilians, we don't sue you for committing atrocities on civilians from other countries. The 1951 San Francisco Treaty put an ultimate lid on this sick stew between one of History's most fascist regimes and the World's most cynical country.
Sixty years have passed and Japan is just realizing it may have to postpone its claim for a permanent seat at the UN council. Ten years from now, all witnesses and survivors to their atrocities will have vanished. Japan's radical old guard too, but they've made sure younger generations got overwhelmed by their forgetful propaganda and textbooks.
The US ? Don't worry about them : they know propaganda by heart. Hell : it didn't take them sixty years to have most people believe they defeated the Nazis singlehandedly (if it weren't for another master in propaganda - Vladimir Putin - who would remember the lighter side of Uncle Joe ?). And if you ask US citizens about the use of WMDs or torture against civilians, they point the finger to some far away Evil.

Red blogule to the UN bomber

I've been asked why no blogule had been spilled following John Bolton's scandalous appointment*.
Well, I'm on a 7 red blogule hitting streak and I already dubbed the guy both a UN bomber and a Troyan horse. What could I possibly add ?
Bolton said "There is no such thing as the United Nations" ? I answer "so what ? there is no such thing as the United States" anymore.

* Just like with Iraq, Bush didn't wait for an official nod to launch his unilateral attack : John "the UN bomber" Bolton arrives on time to blow the institution up during the september reshuffle. This "recess appointment" badly resembles a "regress appointment" : once again, the "Washington Dodger" bypassed democracy and accountability inorder to push his not so hidden agenda.

Red blogules to veto abuses

NON it is, then. At least, not the vicious knuckleball kind of nay : a straight to strikezone fastball backing a solid .700 batting average for a nice 55 to 45 lead.Yet, France lost for walking first. Not to first base but outta the ballpark : Europe may not be lost but the country's out
of the game for the World Series and the UN reshuffle. This misuse of the veto right at the EU level brings the spotlight on the mid-XXth-century-but-so-XIXth-century heritage of the French veto right at the UNO. Can the country which tore apart the European constitution written by one of his own citizens decently play any role in the building of the new UN ?
This time, and even without his Troyan horse Bolton on board, President Bush won't have much to fear from the Gallic diplomacy.

Red blogule to Junichiro Koizumi - Wake up Japan !

Strange way of apologizing : just a few days after restoring a public holiday as Showa Day, a controversial homage to war-time emperor Hirohito and when asked by a parlementary committee IF he would get back to the Yasukuni shrine after all the turmoil it caused across Asia, Japan's Prime Minister answered he would decide on time WHEN his next visit is appropriate...
Strange how Showa sounds like Shoah... as if revisionist Japan wanted to destroy the memory of that tragedy too...
Strange how this man plays a dangerous game at the international level as well as at home : Japan Inc could get tired of his boldness (Sony and Co surely were instrumental in the said parlementary committee).
Once again : no way Japan should be allowed a permanent seat at the UN.

Red blogule to the "oil for fools" program

- "Am I my brother's keeper ?"
Jeb should answer "sorry Georgie but I'm affraid you ain't. Bush '08 relies on the Architect's craft again. Say... what have you done for America ?"
Terror is on the rise (and the next generation gets all the motivation it needs from Uncle Sam), WMDs are blooming in North Korea and still nowhere to be found in Iraq, and George II is almost rejoicing to the perspective of using anti-nuclear devices against his fellow tyrant Kim Jong-Il. Besides, lies and torture have been institutionalized by Amerika and the "age of diplomacy" is about destroying the international bodies the Bush Administration snubbed during the first mandate (in order to get rid of these embarrassing bodies, Bolton is supposed to act as a UN-bomber and Wolfie to take the money and run). The Axis of Evil got stronger, the Axis of Weasels exhibited courage and King Dubya is still leading the Axis of Liars, a lame duck asking for a few lame bucks...
Yet, Neocondi still has a crush on "my husband", and her disdainous snarl keeps resembling that of Lobby Dick by the day.
Barf bag anyone ?