All financial types: it may seem unfair to lump investment
bankers, traders, currency speculators, hedge fund managers and just about every other financial
schmuck all together into one pile of stinking manure but, frankly, don’t they richly
deserve it?
Goldman Sachs: As above, but these shysters are the poster
boys of why bankers today are nothing more than financial terrorists.
Merkozy: Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France were one
and the same in 2011 – so cosy and intertwined in their Machiavellian hijacking
of the Eurozone and EU it was positively incestuous – and sickening to watch.
The euro: The Eurozone was shown up for all its many flaws and many malignancies in 2011. It has allowed for the economic (and pending social) destruction of great countries like Portugal, Greece, Ireland and even Italy, and deserves to be put down - or at least decimated. Bring back the escudo, the drachma, the punt, the lira - now!
Obama: Talk about the biggest letdown in recent US political
history. Well, for many others – I had very few illusions about this one from
the beginning. But 2011 just proved how weak and how much of a Washington insider this man really is. Change indeed.
The American military-secrecy-corporate complex: The
horrific mess of Iraq, not to mention Afghanistan. Meddling in countless other ‘conflicts.’
American politicians bought to the hilt. More oil needed – ah, let’s invade
Iran. Madness, greed and hubris rolled into one – to all our detriment.
Mubarak: Egypt may still be in turmoil and Islamists growing
in stature in that country (never a good thing), but the toppling of this
dictator and his brutal regime can only be a good thing – not to mention
stunning to watch as it unfolded in early 2011.
Gaddafi: As cynical as his overthrow was, and as unpardonable
as his capture and barbaric murder was, not to mention a total perversion of
international law, this brutal, self-aggrandizing man cannot be missed.
However, the void now left in Libya can only be described as very, very scary.
Israel: As long as it remains a racist, apartheid state,
then his one’s a given. Year in and year out. Japan: For continuing to be the master manipulator in the horrific slaughter of the mighty whale, not to mention the farcical, scary debacle that was Fukushima this year, Japan deserves a mention. For all that it has and all that it can do, this nation really should be doing so much better.
China: For standing by and whistling away whilst the Western world went into economic meltdown. For its cynical self-interest which makes the self-interest of other countries pale by comparison. For continuing to give us crappy, badly made consumer goods, whilst local industries continue to collapse in many countries. For continuing to be the biggest threat on the horizon.
Canada: It may seem very unfair to pick on just one nation
for the breakdown (which it was, let’s face it) of real progress in 2011 with
regard to climate change and the Kyoto Protocol. After all, the United States
is arguably even a worse culprit, right? Yes, but one expects that from the
bully on the block, not Canada ‘the good and the fair’. Whether its defiant,
irrational stance on climate change, tar sands, seal culling or the wholesale
decimation of its boreal forests, Canada has become the biggest environmental hypocrite
on the block. And that makes it worse than even a bully.
There are many, many others. The list is too long and too exhausting.
So many shysters on such a small planet with so much to offer us all. Do you get my point?
