Red blogule to the DP World - P&O deal's Architects and winners

When Karl Rove claims total transparency and George W Bush puts his veto in the balance, something pretty vital for the Bush Administration must be under way.
We're just talking about a takeover of the P&O Group (The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company), which happens to operate all major US ports on the East Coast, New Orleans, Florida and Texas included. Some are worrying because national security is at stake and the new owner, DP World (Dubai Ports World), is wholly owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm sure DP World will do as good a job as P&O - if not better. The issue lies elsewhere and quite a few questions burn my lips :
. why are the Bush Administration so eager to push the takeover, defend DP World and take as many risks in an election year ?
. what can they get in exchange for DP World's new entry points, and not only in North America (ie Asia - including Russia, India, Indonesia and China -, France, the UK, not to mention P&O Estates' 25 million ft² of property in Western countries and Australasia ?
. what role did Dave Sanborn play during his one year of service at DP World (as a Director of Operations for Europe and Latin America) to deserve a nomination by Dubya himself as MarAd (Maritime Administrator - under Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta) ?
. why was the recent replacement of Russ Peters by Helen Deeble as P&O's CEO announced by, among all the company's top guns, Sir John Parker* ?
. what promises were made by Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World and so much respected by the Haves More of the world (also Chairman of Nakheel, the owner of The Palm and The World luxury resorts) ?
. why did DP World overpay so quickly and overwhelmingly for P&O, far beyond what PSA could ever consider realistic (this Singapore-based competitor also coveted the UK operator and immediately gave up), and to the point they even had to admit by themselves the price was excessive ?
. ...
Looks like DP World's takeover of P&O was not only accepted by, but made possible by the Bush Administration. If not how, time will tell why.


* An advisor to the Defense Academy and a President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, Sir John has been cruising in the naval circles for ages (Carnival Corporation, National Grid Transco, P&O...), claims a few prestigious memberships or chairmanships (Court of the Bank of England, General Committee of Lloyds Register of Shipping, Lloyds Technical Committee...), but also seems to know quite a lot about lobbying in the US :
- Brambles Industries plc (support services for heavy industries),
- Babcock International Group plc (technical services and engineering, aerospace and defense, a major contractor in Afghanistan and Iraq),
- Chairman of the RMC Group plc (alias Cemex, the leader of concrete in the US)...

Red blogule to Wal-Mart's H. Lee Scott Jr. - "Can I hate you ?"

I suggest a new 10-foot rule to Wal-Mart's employees : if CEO Lee is less than 10 feet away, you're compelled to ask "can I hate you ?"

Judging by "Lee's Garage" worst of as selected by yesterday's NYT ("On Private Web Site, Wal-Mart Chief Talks Tough"), you can easily tell how this man made it to the top : his blog just reeks of the retailer's awful corporate culture ; XIXth century capitalism at its ugliest.

Everyday low, period.

White blogule to Dick Cheney - Shooting Star vs silver star

Unlike John Forbes Kerry, NRA fave Dick Cheney didn't get any silver star for his courageous behavior during the Vietnam war*.
So I'm pleased to unanimously award Richard B. Cheney a white blogule for his almost perfect shot at his hunting pal in Texas**.
This white blogule rewards Mr. Cheney's creativity and dedication to invent new reasons why he should be the most hatable, abhorrent and repulsive man in the US.
Training all day long with the toughest emulators does help. For an Administration to reach this level of ignominy, it takes more than one Architect.


* Mr. Cheney courageously supported the said war while serving the Nixon and Ford administrations, and later proved his courage by voting against the Martin Luther King, Jr day, against the creation of the Department Of Education, against the overriding of Reagan's veto (protecting South Africa from sanctions for maintaining apartheid) or against the liberation of Nelson Mandela. Even after joining the private sector, he lobbied against the US boycotts of Iran & Lybia because they didn't help the eradication of terror, nor the development of Halliburton.
** Despite 10 pellets in the torso, neck and face, 78 year old Attorney Harry Whittington shall survive and remain at the Texas Funeral Services Commission as a chairman - not a commodity.

Red blogule to New New Orleans - the bleach blitz

The Federal authorities are in no hurry to allow Louisiana citizens back to what's left of their homes : the area is enjoying a 2/3 white supremacy very much different from the 3/4 pre-Kathrina black rule. As in neighboring Texas, pro-Bush Hispanics may get their share of the cake, were this situation to last till next elections.
They'd be right to stick around : according to many wheather forecasts, greenbacks are supposed to start pouring soon over the region. I'm not sure they will land in the pockets that most deserved them.
One could recycle the tactful words the Queen of Diplomacy Condi Rice once uttered about another massive disaster, "I do agree that the tsunami was a wonderful opportunity to show not just the US government, but the heart of the American people, and I think it has paid great dividends for us".
Praise Lord Dubya and his clerical clique ; always fighting against Evil and defending the Haves and the Haves More. Let their followers enter the kingdom of whealth. O when the Saints go marchin in...

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."

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.

Red blogule to Ehud Olmert - the Bangladesh scenario

Olmert shares Sharon's vision of a Great Israel that takes into account the demographic factor : Israel cannot remain a Jewish state if it doesn't give a piece of land back to the Palestinians*. Since Sharon didn't want to give much land, he needed to pile up as many Palestinians in as small a space as possible, even if this meant a total redifinition of borders... a tradition for this bold warrior used to touring neighbouring countries driving his tank the foot to the metal and both hands to the gun (same for political borders : creating Kadima was maybe Sharon's smartest move ever).
Olmert speaks to both the Likud and Hamas radicals : no one can win it all and both parties have to give up part of their dreams. But it sounds as if the Israeli sacrifice is over (past tense) while the Palestinian's still has to start somewhen in the future (more tensions ahead)**.
What theses semi-harliners dream of is a not so Eretz Israel and a political failure in Gaza so that they won't have to liberate much more land. Not only do they want to keep Jerusalem all for themselves : they expect a "Bangladesh scenario". Parted from India, Pakistan couldn't survive as two seperate parts of land. The radicals concentrated in the Western Part while the weaker ones remained in an innofensive bayou miles apart.
Sharon followers may get what they want : an independant undersized West Bank turned into some kind of a Bangladesh too concerned with its own survival to be dangerous. They may also get what they fear : a Gaza strip turned into a bellicist Pakistan and a fundamentalists' hub.


* (even if the word "back" never appears) "The choice between allowing Jews to live in all parts of the land of Israel, and living in a state with a Jewish majority, mandates giving up parts of the Land of Israel (...) We will not be able to continue ruling over the territories in which the majority of the Palestinian population lives."
** "The Palestinians will have to give up part of their national dreams, just as we have given up some of our national dreams".

Red blogule to W's preemptive counterstrikes

"43" said he was open to a debate over Iraq... provided it only did "bring credit to our democracy, not comfort to our adversaries".
So only he has a right to wage a dirty war at home, using all the illegal tools one dictator could dream of. And he denies politicians as well as medias the right to investigate, to use such terms as illegal eavesdroppings, abduction, torture or all of the above ?
This isn't what I call an open debate. Nor even a debate, for that matter. Actually, it rather looks like the denial of a genuine debate, the refusal to confront democracy, and once again, a shame for America.
I don't think history will "bring credit" to Dubya's democracy*. And I do think democracy's adversaries find a lot of "comfort" in seeing Amerika turn its back to its own values.


* Mercifully enough, Iraq will eventually move towards democracy. But this far, all major steps have been reached thanks to a lack of Bush doctrine : the UN made the first elections possible and the talks with insurgents are the only way of kicking Al Qaeda out of the country (yeah, those very foreign terrorists who came in after the US invasion).

White blogule to the Republican parting - Great National Divide

The State of the Nation ? Just as I predicted before Dubya's landslide Nov 2004 victory : if he wins the Republican Party looses and is bound to implode.
"You're either with us or against us" : these famous November 2001 words are no more related to the so called "fight against terror". This is about a fight against democracy. Either you support the Bush system or you support the values that used to make America respected all over the world.
We shouldn't wait for the 2006 elections as the turning point. The Alito case must be the wake up time for the true democrats (from both the Dem and Rep sides).
And don't you think it's high time impeachment be considered ?

Red blogule to the 2006 Cold War - Gazprom and Gazpogrom

Because Viktor Yushchenko refused Putin's diktat, Gazprom just cut their Ukrainian pipes. Vlad the Impaler wanted Yushchenko dead but could just alter his face : now he doesn't care whether people die in this indecent and unfair armwrestling contest.
Russia is back to fascism but no one seems to care. Germany ? Gerhard Schröder just joined the board of a Gazprom subsidiary. The US ? Dubya can't locate "Ukrainia" on the map of Texas and has trouble translating his one-size-fits-all terror / freedom / democracy speech in Uzbek (hell, making friends with local despot Islam Karimov fulfills his understanding of Islam agenda). France, then ? Duh ! We're not interested in human rights either... actually, we're not even fighting for our gas or oil supplies anymore since we found the best way to solve both heating and gas consumption problems : we burn our own cars.
Sign of the times, Jews are fleeing Russia. Those who didn't reach Israel's shores land in Germany, where the Berlin community is blooming a beautiful way.
Back to Red Square One. So much for the U-turn of the Century.