RANT: News Corp Sinks Even Lower

This is what one of News Corp's 'finer' newspapers, The Times of London, printed today as its editorial cartoon:




As if the wretched global behemoth that is News Corp hadn't done enough already to show us what a perverse organisation it is with the ongoing phone hacking scandal in the UK...

Now this?!

Any editor that sees fit to print a cartoon as unbelievably sick and in bad taste as this can only do so when part of an organisation that is endemically and fundamentally putrid and devoid of ethics.

The neoconservative, corporatist Master of the Universe that is Rupert Murdoch and his legions of lackeys in his media empire (of evil) do it again.

Do these media types have no shame?

Amoral scheisters - him and the whole bunch of them.

Do you get my point?

IN MEMORIUM: Norway's Day of Horror

Yesterday the proud, open nation of Norway was ripped apart by a bomb in the middle of Oslo and, even more horrifically, if that's at all possible, a gunman dressed as a policeman opened fire on those gathered at a youth festival on an island. Today the death toll stands at 91, of which 84 are said to have been those on the island.

How will Norway ever be the same again?

Yet again, I am at a loss for words at the decay of humanity in this world.

RAVE: Got to Love Those Belgians

I always knew I had a soft spot for Belgium.

Belgium has been without an official government at the federal level since June 2010. In doing so, the country is breaking records as the democracy for the longest time ever without an actual government.



And as of today that record keeps running and being broken.

According to an online article today from the UK's Telegraph correspondent in Brussels, "Belgium has been without an elected government for over a year after deep divisions between Flemish and Walloon, French speaking, political parties have led to history's longest political impasse in a democracy. Elections last June deepened the crisis after a majority of voters in Flanders, the richer Dutch-speaking north of Belgium, supported the separatist New Flemish Alliance (NVA), which supports the break-up of the Belgian state. Negotiations to form a new Belgian government have dragged on for over a year as Belgium's francophone Walloon minority have refused to give Flemish separatists new powers to control taxes and to run its own economy."

Yesterday was also the day when the Dutch-speaking Flemish majority celebrate what some Flemish politicians call the "Flemish national day", much to the chagrin and outright umbrage of the French-speaking Walloons.

The latest effort to broker an agreement between the discordant linguistic factions collapsed this past Friday, as the mediator asked King Albert II to be relieved of the duty. That's a full 13 months after the contentious federal elections were held in the beleaguered country.

The country is not without other problems: financially it's in  a mess. Yet another victim of the ongoing saga that is the eurozone crisis, Belgium currently has a public debt burden of about 96% of GDP. That's pretty damn close to the enormous public debt burdens that have plagued countries like Greece and Italy. Yet, much to its credit, it somehow continues to have one of the highest standards of living in the world.



What I also admire is the sheer irreverence with which many Belgians seem to be taking their political debacle, which is making them record breakers for a deadlock many other countries would find mortifying in the extreme. It must have something to do with the inimitable and uniquely Belgian spirit, as stated in an online article from the China Post back in February: "Beyond optimism, Belgians have also made it a moral duty to make fun of themselves." “We never take ourselves seriously. We are the country of the Smurfs, of Tintin, of Rene Magritte and surrealism. So it is a country that, compared with England or France, we dare to make fun of ourselves [my emphasis],” said Brussels politician Luckas Vander Taelen.




That's my kind of country and exactly what politics deserves in this day and age, to be perfectly honest.

I'm sure many Belgians are sick and tired by now of the ongoing impasse, and the divisions in the country go back many years. But I do still get a kick out of all of this

Very tellingly, the country ticks along, even as it fails to have a proper central government in place.

Interesting that, is it not? Hmmmmmmm...

Do you get my point?

RANT: E Doppo...Italia

And next it's Italy, as my title in Italian says.



Forget Greece - at least for a nanosecond. Now all the talk on the Internet news wires is that it's increasingly looking like Italy may too enter into its own debt crisis. And Italy in trouble will make the debt crises of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and even Spain look like a financial walk in the park.

According to Reuters today:

"The main measure of Italy's borrowing costs broke above 6 percent for the first time in 14 years before easing back on Tuesday as the euro zone's third largest economy [my emphasis] was sucked into the bloc's debt crisis. Italian 10-year yields at one stage soared more than 30 basis points on the day to leap above 6 percent -- the highest since 1997 -- getting closer to the 7 percent level most market players see as being unsustainable for Italy's borrowing costs given its huge debt pile."

"Italy is by far the country with the greatest sensitivity to rising debt servicing costs and particularly in terms of rolling over debt. This is not a situation it can afford to have going on for any sustained period of time," said Marc Ostwald, strategist at Monument Securities in London."

Yikes. That's bad, whichever way you slice it.

Reuters continues by adding that, "Italy has one of the world's highest levels of public debt. At around 120 percent of gross domestic product, it is second only to Greece in the euro zone. A total of 176 billion euros ($250 billion) in Italian government paper will come due by the end of the year."

There are signs that the Italian government has been able to steady today the creaking ship that is the Italian bond market - and one simply has to believe that one of the biggest economies in the world will be able to pull through this...

Surely, right?

However Italy is able to pull through this latest debt crisis, it no doubt shows that financial contagion is a speedy, scary and downright unpredictable bastard.

And do we need any more evidence that the euro project is, for all intents and purposes, a failed project?

Do you get my point?

RANT: Greece Set To Default

Greece is on the verge of defaulting on its massive debt.



(Cartoon courtesy of teamofmonkeys.com)

According to the Guardian online newspaper: "European leaders bowed to the inevitable and conceded that Greece is likely to default on its massive debt burden, which would be a first among the 17 countries using the euro."

A first to default, yes, but will it be the last? It hardly bears thinking...
The article continues: "As recently as last week, eurozone ministers stressed the need to avoid default in Greece, indicating the rapid shifts under way in an escalating crisis."
When the perceived issues with regard to the debt of a sovereign nation change on an almost day to day basis...well, then one must know that there is some SERIOUS trouble going on.

This is bad - really, really BAD.

The Guardian continues: "Accepting that a Greek default was now impossible to avoid, EU governments are hoping it will be brief and "selective", not triggering a "credit event" on the financial markets that could wreak havoc on the credit default swap markets, also in the US, and unleash contagion."

"Brief"? How will that ever be possible with all the crippling cuts to public spending that have been imposed on an ailing Greece? And "selective" to whom? Or rather, for the benefit of whom?

As Greece teeters (and I mean REALLY teeters) on the brink, one must ask: why did it all come to this? Was this fiasco really necessary?

And why now the sudden (desperate? pre-planned?) pledges by the EU powers-that-be to force private investors holding Greek debt to take a 'haircut' and alleviate Greece's debt burden and other concessions that, SURELY, could have been demanded much sooner than now, this late in the damn game?

Or was it all on purpose? The selling off of Greece at fire sale prices to foreign scavengers? The pre-meditated neo-liberal economic hacking of every social program and social welfare 'luxury' afforded to Greek citizens for the good of American and European (mostly German and French) banks and other speculators? 

Now that would make a lot of sense...

Do you get my point?

RAVE: Ferrari Slays The Bulls & Poms in Britain

It already happened two days ago, but I'm still enjoying the fact that Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won this year's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

And what is so great for me as a tifoso is that he did it in such emphatic style. To win on a circuit supposed to be heavily suited to the Red Bull cars and do so by 16.6 seconds on the last lap is no mean feat. And Alonso set the fastest lap of the Grand Prix, with his teammate Felipe Massa as second-fastest on the day.

This year's title remains undeniably Sebastian Vettel's to lose, so huge is his lead in the Driver's Championship, but it was still a magnificent day for the scarlet cars. 

It was almost as delightful watching other teams stuff up their pitstops for once! As any Ferrari fan knows (and has suffered), the Scuderia have made some ghastly mistakes in the pits in recent years. So it was positively fabulous to see the seemingly invincible Red Bull team make a balls-up of Sebastian Vettel's second pit stop.

Even more satisfying was watching the team I hate most in Formula 1, namely the McCheaters... ahem... McLaren, releasing Jenson Button without his front right tyre securely fastened, theerby stuffing up the Brit's race. Glorious stuff.

A Spaniard driving for the all-Italian team I have supported since 1977 at the British Grand Prix, the 'spiritual' home of British motor racing for British drivers and most of the teams in F1, it's... SUPERB.

Ah, the simple pleasures in life ;-)

RAVE: It Says It All - Arab Spring 'Eggs'

This cartoon I came across today really says it all:



It's brilliant.

The Arab Spring does seem to continue unabated as summer unfolds in the Maghreb and Middle East:

Tunisia: The proud birthplace of this 'Spring' continues to have its issues as its people try to reach their objectives against a stubborn ruling class. Power to the People.

Egypt: Mubarak was justly booted out - but now the people are back in the streets and in the iconic Tahrir Square demanding the Army follow through on its reform promises. As they rightly should demand. Power to the People.

Bahrain: The Saudis had to be called in to bail out the ruler, in what was a shocking display of  authoritarian muscle-flexing. But the people have won some concessions for now. Power to the People.

Yemen: A total mess for now, it must be said, but the 20-odd years regime was shook to the core and reforms are still on the cards in this poorest of Arab countries. Power to the People.

The other two remaing eggs yet to be fully broken:

Libya: The most 'testy' egg of all. Yes, the current conflict to 'aid the rebels' against Gaddafi may indeed be very cynical on the part of the United States, EU and Nato. Libya's oil reserves no doubt are key to all of their 'help'. But, nevertheless, Gaddafi's days do appear to be numbered and there is no denying that the Arab Spring 'flu' caught on here, regardless of geopolitics. Power to the People.

Syria: This egg needs to be broken. Assad, for all his preachings of being a 'reformer', has been brutal in his suppression of protests and killed hundreds of his people in the process. He is no democrat and it seems the bastard needs to go. I hope the Syrians are up for it. Power to the People.

The Moroccan king has been smart (not to mention scared?) enough to hastily call for reforms in order to ensure national unity, as did the government of Algeria to a lesser extent...for now. I have no doubt that the governments of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and even Iran continue to watch this Spring very nervously.

As ever, power to the peoples of the Arab Maghreb and Middle East. May their Spring continue, with all its many challenges and complexities.

Do you get my point?

RAVE: It Says It All - Israeli Paranoia

This cartoon says it all:



It may be funny, but the message is damn serious - what is it with these demented Israelis?

As stated by Gilad Atzmon in his excellent article, "Gaza Flotilla vs. Diaspora Jewry" http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/06/30/gilad-atzmon-gaza-flotilla-vs-diaspora-jewry/


"Jewish identity politics is shaped by a totally unique psychological disorder. I call it Pre Traumatic Stress Syndrome (as opposed to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). Jewish reality is shaped by an imaginary fictional future threat."

He continues: "To repeat the 19^Th century Yiddish joke. “A Jewish telegram: get worried, details to follow.” Yet, the lack of capacity to differentiate between reality and imagination leads to the inevitable emergence of the most tragic possible scenarios. Time after time, the Israeli collective easily buys into any given tragic fictional and imaginary treat, and would approve any ‘counter’ measures."

He continues, most fittingly:
"The end result is known to us all: an endless chain of colossal Israeli war crimes [my emphasis], that are committed in the name of the Jewish people."

How very true.

RANT: Shame on Greece, Gatekeepers for Israel

A flotilla of activist boats wanting to sail to Gaza in order to break the illegal and amoral Israeli blockade of Gaza remains blocked from doing so in a Greek port.And now, after almost two weeks of being held in limbo by the Greek authorities, this disparate group of about 300 brave activists are starting to disperse.

What else are they to do now that a European country has basically scuppered their chances of setting sail for Gaza?

What I find so obscene about all of this is how it is Greece, of all European countries, that is the one playing gatekeeper and watchdog to that most divisive and racist state of all, Israel.

Greece, for crying out loud!

This is the same Greece that is having its coffers pillaged by the likes of the IMF and ECB.

This is the same Greece that is on the verge of economic collapse, a victim of the sinister foibles of Eurozone politics and economics and the venality of their own leaders.

This is the same Greece who's population is sliding deeper and deeper into debt, recession and long-term poverty.

This is the same Greece who's populace has been striking and demonstrating and rioting in the streets of Athens and inspiring all those of us who want a better, saner economic future.

This is the same hijacked, demoralised, raped Greece.

And what do the Greeks see fit to do? Capitulate to archetypal Israeli bullying and perverted European political pressures that leave a flotilla of peace activists stranded in one of their ports.

Yet another Western stooge for the apartheid state that is Israel.

All of this from...Greece.

Greece should be ashamed of itself.

Do you get my point?

RANT: Dorothy Looking Over the Rainbow - Again

It has been about two weeks since my last blog. I was deliberating about what topic to write about - the ongoing crisis in Syria/ Libya/ every corner of the Arab world, the debacle with the Gaza flotilla stuck in Greece, the Greek financial crisis, the looming Portuguese financial crisis, even a rave about how Ferrari finally won a Grand Prix again yesterday...

And then I logged onto Blogger.

And what do I find? A whole new lay-out, a whole new look, new buttons to figure out, everything unfamiliar to me yet again and a whole new bloody reason to get annoyed by yet another turn on this infernal Road from (or to?) Hell known as the Information Age.

Why this need for CONSTANT change in this day and age? Yes, I know it's petty of me and it's just a 'new look' Blogger and hardly life-ending stuff, so what's the big deal, right? It isn't a big deal, in and of itself, of course. But what it is is yet another new quirk, another new kink in the already destabilizing world that is Technology [drum roll]. Cellphones, Internet, apps (schmapps, for all I care), even a simple blogging site - this constant state of flux that never allows one to be at ease, to be in a comfort zone, to have instant recognition. 

Just as I get used to a certain layout and way to get around Windows, so it changes. Just as I get used to a certain version of name-your-pick-of-annoying-must-have-utterly-essential-software, so it changes. Change, change, bloody change. Incessantly.



I hate this constant, neverending need of this often vile, increasingly 'organic' thing called Technology [drum roll ad nauseam] to keep updating, to keep changing, to keep altering, to keep reinventing itself that with which I have become familiar and, yes, comfortable.

It's like this modern era, beholden as it is to Technology, is Sybil with seven different personalities. And that's all seven personalities restless and reinventing themselves every other week. Demented as all hell.

I find myself yearning ever more and more for a time when things don't need to constantly change just to prove their worth or their staying power. And that includes simply how a bloody blog template works. Because I honestly find this relentless chopping and changing exhausting - and so futile.

Is this the mental 'environment' that advocates like Adbusters talk about and contend that we are having violated in this modern 'information' era? That feeling of having your mental space bombarded by so many stupid little changes and images and other clutter that actually add very little, if any, real value to one's life or wellbeing?

I have lived in five different countries and even more different cities, get itchy if I have to commit to a gym membership for more than a year, get bored by routine a trifle easily and can hardly be called averse to change in my life. I know change can be a good thing, even a great thing.

But sometimes change that looks different but actually means just more of the same thing is change that can irk and irritate and ultimately even alienate. It's not change for the better, but merely change for the sake of change.

This empty, soulless change with multiple personality disorder is the epitome of our desperate, perpetually adolescent age - an age that is never content with what is, is constantly having to re-invent itself and that assumes anything new and revamped simply has to be a good thing. Like, it has to be, right?



This empty, soulless change is Dorothy perpetually looking over that rainbow and always wishing it'll be better some day. Pity Dorothy.

Do you get my point?