HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

All I can say is...may the coming year be a whole lot better than the year that is about to pass. 

Here's to 2011!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2011!!!!!

Top 10 Events of 2010

 There can never be a definitive list of the ten biggest events of a year, especially one as mad(dening) and as filled with newsmaking events as this year. Nor is this list meant to in any way diminish any of the other big events of the year that are not mentioned. Below are ten of those events that I believed shaped 2010, some of which will resonate for years to come:

1.  Wikileaks cables: Because they scared the hell out of those that have too much sinister power behind the scenes and too much leverage over our lives. Because we all have a right to know what is going on. Because state secrecy is not absolute, nor should it ever be. Because the too-powerful Establishment needs to be jolted sometimes
2. Global warming/ climate change/ deforestation/ biodiversity loss, etc: Because these issues will not go away, nor should they as long as the eco-carnage continues. Because many love to speak 'sustainability' in breathless tones, but don't have a blinking clue of what it actually means. Because we're humans and remain lousy stewards of this planet 
3. Chilean miners: Because all 33 Chilean miners stuck underground made it up alive after more than 60 days. Because this event made me wish with all my heart that total strangers would be alive and well. Because amongst all the doom and gloom in these scary and sinister times, wonderful miracles still do happen.
4. International financial terrorism: Because it showed, time and time again, what blood-sucking scheisters international finance and banking can be. Because it proved just how speculative the world capital economy has become, and how speculators are at war against savers and governments. Because it showed that most top bankers and banks are not geniuses but a bunch of lying, conniving vampires who are sucking nations (and us) dry  
5. Eurozone crisis, Greece & Ireland: Because it showed us just how dangerous this little thing called 'soverign debt' can actually be when hijacked by international banking terrorism. Because it shows what big bullies the likes of Germany, France and the IMF actually are. Because it shows how uncompromising, unfair (to poorer EU countries) and doomed the Euro project actually is. Because the citizens of Greece and Ireland deserved better 
6. Iceland - the financial meltdown and volcano: Because Iceland and its citizens had the bravery to be bankrupt rather than be indentured slaves to international financial terrorists. Because Icelandic citizens voted against being hostage to the monstrous risk-taking of a few bankers. Because the Icelandic volcanic ash was the sweetest and most ironic gift that Iceland could send to disrupt one of its chief hostage-takers, the UK   
7. Ascendancy of China: Because the decline of the American Empire is happening faster than we thought. Because China is definitely on the ascendancy on the world stage, and that's not a good thing either. Because the West has only itself to blame for destroying its own industries and selling itself out like a whore to the cheap labour, cheap (and badly made) products and human rights abuses of China
8. Haiti earthquake: Because this was the one nation on Earth that did not deserve, nor cope with, such a devastating natural disaster. Because it showed (along with many other events this year) that Mother Nature can be one blindly vindictive, nasty lady. Because subsequent events proved that Haiti really needs to get its act together, once and for all. 
9. Gulf of Mexico oil spill: Because this proved, yet again and for the umpteenth time, that our addiction to oil is not sustainable. Because this proved, yet again and for the umpteenth time, that offshore oil drilling is ludicrous in its environmental and social risks. Because this proved, yet again and for the umpteenth time, that multinational oil companies are amongst the biggest lying, greenwashing environmental pillagers on the planet. 
10. Ascendancy of alternative media: Because most traditional media has been asleep at the wheel (or worse) for far too long. Because the 'news' is more subjective than ever (wasn't it always?), and the alternative media is doing it so much better. Because the Internet, for all its pitfalls and inherent dangers, remains a powerful tool for necessary change

2010 Other Man of the Year: MAX KEISER

 

Until Wikileaks and Julian Assange blew the lid off international news in late 2010, it would have been Max Keiser all the way. This man was my revelation of the year:

• Because his twice weekly show 'The Keiser Report' on Russia Today is my must-see TV show
• Because he and Stacy Herbert are so terrific and in sync on his show that it's scary
• Because he calls the bastard banking and finance swine on Wall Street and globally "financial terrorists" - because they are
• Because the man is an ex-Wall Street trader and financial expert who knows his stuff
• Because he taught me more about how financial markets work in just a few months than countless others together have been able to do for nearly twenty years
• Because I now understand more about globalized finance - thanks to him
• Because I learn something new every time I watch his show
• Because some of his guests have been amazing minds that have taught me even more
• Because he hilariously rants and raves on TV like no one else - and it's terrific
• Because he is unbelievably passionate about what the financial terrorists are doing to all of us
• Because he has utter contempt for the thieving "kleptocracy" that seem to rule the world
• Because he calls the bankers and politicians the crooks and scheisters they absolutely are 
• Because he supported Iceland's brave attempts to save itself from the financial terrorists this year
• Because he hates the likes of Goldman Sachs with a relish that is terrific to watch
• Because he took on JP Morgan's illegal silver dealings and scared the hell out of those crooks
• Because the only person that hates globalized casino capitalism more than me is Max Keiser
• Because he is the coolest, smartest financial guy on TV and the Internet

2010 Man of the Year: JULIAN ASSANGE

It was such an easy choice, it didn't even bear thinking: Julian Assange was without a doubt one of the most influential and one of the most important people on the international scene in 2010. He was also the one that I, like millions of others worldwide, most identified with.

For what he is all about, as detailed below, he is unreservedly my Man of the Year for 2010:

• Because the man is brave, whatever anyone might say about him
• Because he heads up an organization that is about truth and exposing corruption
• Because his organization has exposed the excesses of power worldwide
• Because he believes in the truth as a means to guarding democracy
• Because he does not believe that governments have the right to so much secrecy
• Because he is the epitome of what journalism should and could be in this Internet era
• Because he has the powers that be in the West, and especially the United States, running scared - very scared
• Because he has helped expose governments, corporations and, those chief bastards of 2010, banks
• Because he has helped show up, yet again, why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a disgusting sham
• Because he has inadvertently showed up the likes of PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, Amazon, a Swiss bank, a Dutch Internet service provider and a host of others for being the hypocritical corporate swine that they are
• Because his jailing and the farce surrounding his bail in the UK has shown up just how desperate - and very dangerous - those in power and under threat can be 
• Because he showed up Sweden for being decidedly undemocratic and a lackey of international interests 
• Because he has proven just how tenuous democracy actually is
• Because he has proven that having a voice that threatens the establishment can be very, very dangerous
• Because he has proven why the establishment must be rigorously monitored at all times
• Because he runs the threat of being extradited to the United States under trumped up treason charges that expose even more how perverse American/ governmental power can be
• Because humanists of impeccable integrity like John Pilger and Ken Loach didn't hesitate to support him without reservation
• Because he has shown tremendous grace under pressure - at all times
• Because he is always eloquent, well-spoken and soft-spoken, always to his credit
• Because Steve Zuckerberg may be Time's Man of the Year, but Facebook beating out Wikileaks says it all
• Because he is a(n) (anti-)hero for our times 
• Because he is a man of real conviction and he commands my utmost respect

Julian Assange is the embodiment of what our times came to signify during 2010 - the growing struggle between those that have excess wealth and power and all the rest of us.

He is whistleblower for all of us, nothing less than an important light in a time that seems to be getting darker and darker, not to mention increasingly sinister.

2010 Organization of the Year: WIKILEAKS

In a year as tumultuous as this one, it was still an easy pick for me: Wikileaks is my organization for 2010. Below are just a few of the reasons why they were the organization that defined a year:

• Because they seek to expose the truth, ugly as it often is
• Because they are a bulwark for democracy, not those who vilify them
• Because they showed up the established p(r)op media for the weak corporate hacks they are
• Because they leaked that which is in the interest of all citizens everywhere
• Because they proved, yet again, how very wrong the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are
• Because they made us think about the power that governments have...and shouldn't have
• Because they re-iterated how dangerous excessive power can be
• Because they re-iterated how power does indeed corrupt 
• Because they go after large corporations and banks as well
• Because they inadvertently showed up the likes of PayPal, Visa and Mastercard for the hypocritical corporate swine they are
• Because they gave a middle finger to the American political-corporate-military complex
• Because, contrary to American propaganda, they go after everyone anywhere
• Because they chose to be brave in this increasingly Brave New World

George Orwell once said, "To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle." Wikileaks has taken up that struggle on all our behalf.

Wikileaks, may you go from strength to strength in 2011 and well beyond. Thank you so much.

Snip Those Posts, Vittorio...

Now that I am back again to revive my blog, I shall endeavour to make life easier both for myself and those who choose to read it. The solution is simple - make my posts shorter!

Verbose and opinionated animal I tend to be, it will be a good exercise in making me a more succinct writer. 

Cut the fat, Vittorio!

Procrastination Station & the Horrors of Keeping a Journal

It's more than five months and, finally, I am writing a post again. What the hell took me so long? I only have two excuses - and quite lame ones at that:

1. I took time out to write my first novel. Yes, at last I got that done, after years of procrastination and putting it off for a myriad of reasons - at least HURRAH for that, though. However, the fact that the time period I took off to solely focus on my novel was a period of about five weeks from late July to the end of August hardly justifies...ahem...this ridiculous lapse in time re my blog...
2. It was a rollercoaster of an end of year for me, more taxing and nerve-racking than most other years during the same period. I simply wasn't in the mood most days.

Truth be told though, the time just dragged on and on. At first I meant to get right back into it by late August. But then I was too tired of writing and being all damn 'creative', so I gave myself some weeks off, thinking I'd come back by late September. Big fat mistake. Before I knew it, each passing big and momentous event in the world or issue that left me shouting at the television or at my computer screen or simply moved me in itself became yet another Great Wall of China in my blogging psyche.

The red toxic tide in Hungary, the ongoing saga and eventual joyful release of the trapped Chilean miners, the hijack of the Irish economy by financial terrorists, the never ending scandals emanating from Wall Street, the student riots in the UK - their importance and my need to have an opinion on them snowballed to the extent that all they could do was induce mounting writing debt for me and, eventually, total inertia. An inertia that has lasted over five months.

It is also the inertia of procrastination. I, like the vast majority of human beings, am a procrastinator of note. And, no, I do not like that about myself. It impedes me, it stalls me, it makes me less than I can be. It can even be exhausting to procrastinate for too long. As William James said, "Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." How true.

It isn't just about procrastination, however. I'm also bloody lousy at keeping a journal, and always have been.  I wish it wasn't so. After all, as an aspiring writer surely the keeping of a personal diary should be something that comes naturally for me, something I should relish doing nearly every day, right? Wrong. At least for me, the keeping of a journal is like being stuck in therapy for perpetuity with the most boring psychiatrist on the planet. I'm not the world's worst therapy patient for no reason. It does start as a liberating, fun experience that I look forward to faithfully doing every day. Then it creeps up on me - after a few weeks the joy has become a chore and then a grind and then an almost-evil exercise in futile self-importance to be dreaded and even hated. Finally, the despicable journal is a gargantuan anchor on me the size of which could sink the Titanic.

I commenced a journal on my birthday this year, with much aplomb and self-belief. Barely over two months later I was so utterly bored with the whole process which I saw as self-indulgent and plain boring. The journal got trashed. In the paper recycling bag, of course. In that very instant the sense of relief was enormous. What a drag it was to feel obliged to write about my day and my thoughts and my hopes and my aspirations and my frustrations and all the rest of that blah day in and day out. Just awful.

The terrific thing about getting older is that one becomes a lot more forgiving about one's shortcomings and so much more ready to embrace who one is. Thank goodness for that. I am at peace with the fact that I find keeping a journal a tedious affair. So bloody what? I may wish to curb the ease with which I procrastinate, but I do not wish to curb that which feels like its sapping the life out of me. My final acceptance of my hate of journal-keeping was an important self-realization this year - a definite silver lining in my dark blogging cloud.

Blogging is a form of keeping a journal, whatever the topic and whatever anyone may think or argue to the contrary. So, what to do then? Cease with this blog? For now, no. I do still like the idea that motivated me to start this blog in the first place. The idea that I can use this as my platform to rant and rave on all those issues that stir me one way or the other. And I do like the fact that it does keep me more on my toes with regard to the issues that I find important and opens me up even more to those people and opinions that I feel make a difference.

So, I'll keep with this 'electronic journal' for now, and see where it takes me in 2011. In any case, it sure beats the wretched anchor that is a daily personal journal.