Burqa

The American public can be forgiven for not keeping up with the rest of the world, what with the 4th of July, Ms. Palin's antics, or the ubiquitous Michael Jackson. But North Korea is acting up, our boys are dying in Afghanistan, and the French have won the arms market in Iraq. Talk about unfair!
Talking about the French, their President, Nicolas Sarkozy, decided to ban the burqa in France. His argument is that it represents the oppression of women by men. He could have added that it was also a sort of " in your face" gesture by young, freshly converted French girls. (Two French Congressmen from Alsace recently confided to be worried about the rate of conversions into Islam by their young formerly christian constituents).
Already, the wearing of the scarf is not allowed for women in public service. Rightly so, given the separation of church and state.
In Holland and Sweden, potential immigrants are shown a film depicting topless sunbathing and sex ed in schools. If anybody has any objection, they are not allowed to immigrate.
Besides, when shorts and mini skirts are allowed in Riyad or Tehran, the law might be reviewed.

Single payer

One of Mr Obama's most awaited electoral promise was to fix health care.
Not quite one month after his election, I attended a pharma conference, hosted by Billy Tauzin and Trent Lott. In that room were the largest drug companies as well as some of the best private insurances. The theme of the day was to explore the first steps to block the president's reform.

Without any shame, Republican politicians are trying to block Single Payer solutions under the pretext of "socialism". In fact, these politicians are paid by lobbyists from the health industry, drug companies, private insurances and the AMA to prevent any reduction on their huge profits.
In the US, health care is vastly more costly than in Europe and far less people are covered. Infant mortality is greater in the US. As to quality, patients receive the best care in countries like France (voted best health care in the world by WHO for the 7th year running).
Adversaries of Single payer always mention Britain or Canada to scare voters. You never hear them explain the continental system (Germany, Belgium, France, Holland or Scandinavia). There, the Public System insurance covers care, hospital care, dental, eyes, ambulance, drugs, spa treatment etc. Non citizens and non employed are covered by CMU , Universal Mutual Coverage. Better even, Europeans enjoy this coverage any where in the world.
You can choose your own physician , your own hospital, and doctors earn every bit as much as their US counterparts.
So, Americans are lied to by a group of professionals trying to preserve their profit at the expense of their health. Worse, 47 million Americans do not enjoy any care at all, and those who pay their premium can be denied payment. And they tell you Single Payer would put the Government between you and your health, whereas the current sysytem puts the shareholder between you and your health.
Is single payer too costly? Imagine the savings if you could get rid of drug ads, insurance ads, insurance profits, lobbyists bribes etc. Besides, imagine the bargaining power of Single Payer facing drug manufacturers. And do not think it would kill research. Some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world are in Europe: Novartis (which just found the vaccine against H1N1), Ciba-Geigy, Glaxo Wellcome etc..

So why is Obama backing off Single Payer? Why , after sacrificing many policies in order to win Health Care, is he even taking the so-called Public Plan off the table?
I think we should all write our Congressman in favor of Single Payer.

The Third Way

President Obama is finding that he has to adapt to reality. He put an end to his lofty rethoric and is now facing tougher realities. If he wants to achieve his main goals, fixing health care, education and the energy, and perhaps go back to Congress for a second Stimulus Package, he must please his opposition. And he is more than ready to oblige: Already he has announced that the war criminals who ordered, condoned or practiced torture, hmmm, "harsh treatment", will not be accountable. For Education, he will not change NCLB which was a major coup against teachers unions from the Right. In terms of Health Care, he will keep a market based system, although shareholder profits, execs bonuses and advertising add tremendously to the cost and will not help the 50 million without any insurance. For Energy, he condemns US carmakers to building clown cars that nobody will want and that they have never been able to build (Pinto, Pacer, or Chevette anybody?)

Obama's strategy is called the Third Way. It was attempted by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair and resulted in failure for both. Barack Obama was elected by an electrified electorate who wanted to run the Vulcans and the Wall Street bandits out of town , tarred and feathered. They wanted to finally enjoy a single payer, universal health care system and guaranteed pension rights, like the rest of the advanced countries. Instead, the new president, has decided to sacrifice most of these aspirations by navigating a middle way. Is he pleasing his opposition? "NO" as they themselves keep telling him. Is he disappointing his base? Yes.
Dick Cheney's virtual immunity, Big Pharma secure profits, Detroit forced to import wound up cars from China rather than to keep jobs (Obama wants to retrain them for green jobs...... gardening?), Goldman Sachs at Treasury, thousands more troops to Afghanistan, and Military Commissions reinstated, all that does not pass the smell test.

Anyway, all this will be quickly forgotten when Israel bombs Iranian nuclear centers and our friend Kim Jong Il prepares more of his firework.

The "Barbarians"

In February 2006, a gang of 27 young French "barbarians" kidnapped a 26 year old Jewish student, Ilan Halimi, near Paris, and after torturing him for several days in an appartment, murdered him. The cause of this rampage? The leader of the gang, Youssouf Fofana, a young French Moslem of African origin, wanted to avenge the killing of palestinian kids he saw every night on French television. Today Fofana went on trial. He entered the court insulting the judges, and the public and yelling Alahu Akbar, Allah is great!
The French are right when they say that the Israeli-palestinian conflict is a domestic problem for them. Most French media is biased against Israel and readily displays the "crimes" of the Israeli military in Gaza and West bank. For the young, mostly unemployed young French moslems, parked in soulless high rises in grey suburbs, the constant viewing of dead Palestinians on French, Algerian, Morroccan or AlJazeera TV (they all have satellite dishes) acts as a red rag on a bull. Seen from the US one could think that it is a resurgence of French anti-semitism . Far from me to say his scourge has fully disappeared, but in this case it is wrong. True, the murderers are French nationals. But they are also second generation of an immigration that has never adapted. They are moslem first and last. Worse, they have scapegoated the French Jewish population (second largest in the world) for what they perceive as prsecution of Islam.
The Middle-East conflict has entered our courts. But France knew it had a problem, when, several years ago, at the opening of a soccer game that opposed Algeria to France, the young French-Moslems booed the French national anthem.
Fofana's gang of the barbarians is only the beginning.

French Response to Piracy

Much has been written recently about Captain Philips 'ordeal at the hands of Somali pirates. He is a true hero and owes his life to the Seals. Many Americans wonder aloud why the international community does not give them a hand. It is all due to the lack of interest by US media in what is going on outside the US. The world has reacted last year by creating a Task Force made up of Chinese, Russian, NTO and US warship that patrol the straits of Aden and the coast of Puntland in Somalia. The French have intervened several times. They attacked the pirates who captured the Ponant, a leisure ship, and pursued the pirates way into the desert. They captured 15 of them now waiting in a French jail for their trial. Last week, the same French Commando attacked the pirates who had taken the Tanit and killed all 5 pirates.
The problem is that Somalia is without a government. The entire population, made up of tribes and clans is engaged in piracy in order to profit from ransoms of goods and humans hostages. Luxury SUV dealers have a brisk trade on the coast.
Unless the combined force of western powers intervenes to destroy the pirates'infrastructures, lookouts, motherships, communication network and safe havens, the situation will get worse.

Medellin

I spent last week in Medellin, Colombia. A former stronghold of narco traffickers, Medellin is now a charming city in a spectacular mountain setting, where you can take the "Pablo Escobar tour". I was very impressed by the politeness, friendliness and education level of the Colombians. The rapid transit in the city make it a model for other emerging nations. A "metro-cable" has been built in order to help the poor in the favellas come down the muntains to work in town.
President Uribe managed to get rid of most narcos and reduce the strength of the FARCS. Actually, his success could inspire the US effort in Afghanistan.....
Besides president Uribe, I attended interesting conferences with such participants as Tim Geithner and president Clinton.

Guantanamo

President Obama has promised to close Guantanamo before the end of the year. His administration is under pressure to find a home for the 450 inmates remaining in this little carribean paradise. A real paradise, these are the words used by an inmate recently relocated in Britain when he compared the camp to his previous experience, a stay at the "black hole" camp in Kabul. There , according to an interview on the BBC, he spent 6 months in total darkness on a dirt floor, with constant loud music..... the same rock record for months on end.
Of course, in Guantanamo he was made to sign a confession under torture, and lived in conditions unworthy of a human being. Guantanamo probably caused more harm to the US than several divisions of jihadists, not to mention the trashing of the American model of democracy, so needed by the rest of the world.
What to do with the soon to be former inmates? The Administration has created a Task Force, in charge of reviewing each case. Many are innocent, sold by their brothers to US forces for a reward. Others cannot be sent home for fear of a terrible fate. A few will land in the US, either to be judged or freed.
The European Union has sent a high Level delegation to Washington to negotiate the intake of the rest of them. Problem: some EU member states refuse to have anything to do with them. Some agree to take a few, but want the US to apologize for its behavior. And some accept to welcome some of the lost jihadists only if they can negotiate a bilateral agreement.
Europe now has the "Shengen Area", a system that allows the citizens of its member states to travel , settle and work freely in any country. Borders have been abolished. So if a former Guantanamo guest were to be sent to Portugal, he could decide to move or stay anywhere within the zone.
After so many fervent prayers, vigils and demonstrations against the existence of this infamous camp, it seems now that it will be even harder to close it down.