Impunity

The page is about to be turned. GWB has already checked out and is thinking about Crawford. The American public is not interested in the past and knows that impeachments are messy.And yet. As long as there is no accountability for the infractions to the Constitution, human rights violations, violation of the UN Charter, war crimes,and other crimes and misdemeanor committed by the Bush administration, World Public Opinion will not follow the United States.
To wit: Most Europeans accept Russia's invasion of Georgia as morally equivalent to the invasion of Iraq.What is good for the goose is good for the gander. As long as the US has not faced its recent past, it will have no real voice to defend human rights.

It is a real weakness for the US, but, worse, it is a fatal flaw for the world community or at least the West (what Americans keep calling the Free World"). The Putins of the world know full well that there is nobody out there that can shame them.

Shame on all those who, for ideological reasons, want to sweep this sad chapter in US history, under the carpet.

Obama and the Europeans

Just as the US media have mistaken the very protectionist Mr. Sarkozy for aan all out US sympathizer, I am afraid the European public is vastly mistaken about Mr. Obama. The 200,000 spectators from all over Europe who cheered B.O. around the Victory Column in Berlin (a monument honoring Bismarck and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine), stopped swooning when the US candidate asked them for more commitment to the war in Afghanistan.
Barack Obama is a great hero for the European left which sees in him a mix of Malcolm X and Jack Kennedy.Their adulation is in direct relation with their hatred of the hapless George W. Bush. I was amzed to see marginalized arab and black kids of French immigrant ghettoes sign petitions in favor of Obama. They too have illusions about the phenom.
The immense wave of hope and admiration raised by B.O.on the Old Continent shows that there is still great admiration and expectations about America. The recent disaffection was almost entirely due to the war in Iraq and the likes of Rumsfeld, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo etc. An Obama administration could actually regain credit rather quickly.

But Obama is not the Messiah the young Islamists of the Paris suburbs have been expecting, neither is he the gutless pacifist most Europeans have become. An Obama Administration would expect Europe to send more of its youth to the front, and will certainly nt put America's interest behind that of the rest of the Globe.

What the Vulcans wrought.

Who still remembers 2003, when the then Masters of the Universe, the so-called Vulcans, thumbed their nose at the World, invaded an independent nation, snubbed the UN and declared the Geneva Convention quaint. Their counterpart geniuses, other heirs of St Ronald Reagan practiced their art in the economy. They gave us Enron, New Orleans, the subprime crisis, Fannie Mae, and a 4.40$ a gallon gas.We can discuss the total destruction of American values and reputation abroad, the gigantic debt and the huge power given to Iran later. But as a result of the "go-it-alone", exceptionalist, no-regulation, trickle down world of the Neocons, we now have to ride Smart cars instead of Hummers and drink Stella instead of Bud. The Emiratis have bought the Chrysler building.City Bank, United, Delta, Wachovia Fannie Mae and countless other pillars of US capitalism are going belly up.
Good Bye Clydesdales, Hello Belgian horse!

JULY 4TH

This is my first July 4th as an American.
I have had the usual firework, music and backyard grill. The Constitution is still going strong after 232 years. in spite of the Patriot Act, TIA, Guantanamo, and other frontal attacks it has righted itself . A survey tells us that over 90% of the population feels patriotic. Patriotism, according to Dr. Johnson, is the last refuge of the scoundrel. One thing is to be proud of one's country and quite another to be for "my country right or wrong". As a recent citizen and as a world traveler, I think that, if the USA are a great country, many people around the world think the same about their own country. The worst side of patriotism is the blind acquiescence of the worst excesses in the name of love of country. On the contrary, the true patriot never hesitates to criticize his government whenever it errs, or worse, violates its own Constitution.

See you in November

After a prolonged tragedy, the Democratic campaign ends in a farce. The "Hillary quit" camp has won. All the weak sisters have jumped ship. Oprah Winfrey's latest wonder,Barack Obama has been anointed by the DNC last Saturday at the Marriott in DC. 30 delegates have wiped out the vote of 600,000 Michigan voters in a coup reminiscent of Florida in 2000. The last vestige of a shred of a figment of American democracy has finally fallen.
The hate the country has for the Clintons blinded the media and the party elders to the point of picking a young upstart with nothing to offer but "Hope" and "change" (the oldest political trick in the world), rather than a seasoned politician with a solid progressive program.
Hillary "lost" with a majority of the votes (Hello Al Gore!).
Come January 2009, on president McCain's inauguration day, I will not watch the media trying to explain what happened.
For some incredible reason, the Democratic party deprived itself of a great candidate to bank on an illusion.
I am waiting for really solid arguments not to vote for John McCain.

Mobutu Sese Seko

I have had the dubious honor of meeting President Mobutu Sese Seko Wa penza....etc. I also met Presidents Eyadema, Houphouet Boigny, Mengistu, Omar Bongo, etc. I must admit I had to shake their hands (But , hey, I also had to shake GWB's).
I have generally not been impressed by the administrations of the above mentionned rulers.
Whether Mugabe, (I also had the misfortune of meeting him), or thabo M'Beki, Paul Biya, or the current elected dictator of Kenya, Sankara or Sekou Toure, none of my African acquaintances impressed me with their skills.
Great speakers, they all insisted on Hope and Reconciliation . They were all victims of Bwana, the mean Toubab.
I am voting for Hillary.

The losing machine

The French say they have the stupidest Right in the world. I believe the US have the stupidest Left. Before the campaign started, Hillary Clinton was the anointed candidate, far superior to all her rivals, true and tried, with an ironclad platform, and coming after the worst president the republic had ever seen.

The media, Tim Russert, George Stephanopoulos, The washington Post, Broder, Robinson, etc.., the very same journalists and pundits to whom we owe both the two disastrous GWB terms and the war in Iraq , thank you very much, decided to spice up the race.
In part to settle an old account with Bill Clinton, whom they never managed to destroy, and to jack up their numbers, encouraged a young upstart, Barack Obama to challenge Hillary.
Obama, untried and untested, launched his campaign with a visit to Oprah, a true measure of the seriousness of his candidacy. After all she already gave us Dr. Phil!
Today, every Hillary win is minimized, every Obama loss is forgiven, and any Hillary hanger-on is painted as a racist for good measure.
What about the 98% black voters who vote Obama? Not the race card?
Is the glass ceiling harder to break than the race barrier?
Instead of having an unbeatable candidate facing John Mc Cain, the stupid left now has two weakened candidates. One weakened by the Press (Quit Hillary, Quit!), the other weakened because he will lose the white vote, the female vote, the catholic vote,the hispanic vote and the blue collar vote and perhaps my vote come November.
If Obama is the Democratic candidate, many Hillary backers will either abstain or, worse, vote Republican.
Obama could have waited for his turn, he could even have been a great vice-president.
But no, the pundits had to take their revenge on the Clintons. That will show her!
We will all end up with a 3rd GWB term.
thank you Oprah!
Thank you Chris!
What part of the Clinton legacy was so hard to swallow? Peace or prosperity?
The dummest Left in the world.