Adieu Belgium ?

Most Americans are caught in the never ending vortex of the Gulf oil spill. In the argument as to whether Obama failed miserably, or BP lied and cheated, we forget our oil addiction. When president Carter warned us that it would come back to haunt us in 1977(!!!), he was ridiculed and was stuck for ever with the word "malaise". He was right! Those who accuse Obama of incompetence have zero notion of the responsability and duties of a president. They also conveniently forget that, under the influence of the oil lobby and certain bought politicians (remember the Dick Cheney secret energy meeting?), everything has been done under the sun to remove all safeguards, safety measures, inspection, etc. The same people who gave you Enron, the Wall Street carnage of 2008 and the recent WV mining catastrophe, are now serving us with a gusher that nobody knos how to stop. Not a great publicity for those who advocate the supremacy of the private sector.
In the meantime, unbeknownst to the majority of Americans, brave little Belgium is fading away. The country that aroused anger and pity in 1914, is voting itself out of existence. Sunday's legislative elections gave victory to the NVA party of Bart de Wever, whose platform is the independence of Flanders, the northern majority of Dutch speaking Belgians. The French speaking minority, impoverished by a rust belt economy voted itself a socialist government. No doubt Mr De Wever will want to initiate a split. His model is the smooth divorce between the Czech and Slovak republics. Would the French speaking region want to rejoin France? Would France take them? What about the 80,000 German speaking Belgians? Actually, this could be the beginning of the unraveling of the Nation-State. Local affairs can be handled by Regions (Corsica, Britanny, Bvaria, Scotland, Alsace, the Basque region), and world affairs can be handled by the EU.

Europe?

On May 9, 2010, Europe celebrated its 60th anniversary.On this day, in 1950, Robert Schuman launched the European ideal with the Coal and Steel Community. It was a sad anniversary. Back then Europe was still partially in ruins. It limped out of a 31 year civil war (1914-1945). The human and material toll was unbelievable. Europe had just lost all influence on the rest of the world. A union of Europe was the only way out. 60 years later, the European Union is dead in the water. It has enlarged to 27 countries. But although it has a common passport, a common currency, a common agricultural policy and custom tariff, it is not a federation. Its great weakness, enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty, is to give all power to the 27 individual governments, with 27 budgets, 27 tax policies, and 27 armies. In other words, the farther Europe moves from its big bang, the more it atomizes. The current Greek financial crisis, demonstrates the powerlessness of a construction that stopped in the middle of its dream. The current European leaders want to stick to the obsolete nation-state. This way, they never will fulfill Schuman's dream.

Nuclear summit

I had the privilege of working at the Nuclear Summit in Washington this week. I started with a lunch at the Vice-President's Residence at the Naval Observatory on Wednesday. He was receiving a dozen heads of state from the "non aligned movement". I arrived early at the Residence and was able to admire the mansion, which, in fact is , as Mr.Biden himself says, more livable than the White House. Were it not for the Secret Service and the huge fence surrounding the house, the interior looks like a regular Washington DC home. Jo Biden told us that deer roam free inside the park, but are prevented from escaping by the fence. Hence, they are very tame. After my service was done with French speaking leaders, I scooted to the main event, the Summit on Nuclear Security downtown. Security, period, was at an all time high. Inside the cavernous expo Center, we promptly started with Obama's dinner. It was, as usual, fascinating to observe the relationship between the main world leaders in close proximity. I was very impressed , not only by Obama's maestria, but especially by the reverence demonstrated by his peers. I wish the American public had been able to feel the respect America inspires through its young president. Later on, I was able to observe close up, while interpreting her, Hillary Clinton at an energy summit at the IDB. For once, there is a country in excellent health.

Sarkozy in the US

As I write this, president Sarkozy of France is paying a short two days visit to the US. fresh from a landslide electoral defeat in France, where the Socialist party took 21 of the 22 Provincial governments (the 22nd was won by the fascist party). The US press barely mentionned this visit, although France is one of the strongest of our allies. His speech at Columbia sounded dangerously leftist to American ears (strict financial regulations, closing tax havens, making fun of the US for taking care of the sick 50 years after Europe solved that problem.) In France he is seen as a hard right conservative, dangerously enamored of all things American. Hence his huge defeat at the polls in this era of high unemployment and economic crisis.
Sarkozy had hoped for a State Dinner at the White House, but instead will have to be satisfied with a private affair.
He has remained deaf to Mr. Obama's call for more help in Afghanistan. Any French troop increase would not be supported by a public lulled by 60 years of peace in Europe and where the horrors of WWII are still the Nr. 1 topic at many dinner tables.
So whereas the Obama Administration is under fire for being dangerously socialist, the real Socialists in France are winning by painting a conservative Sarkozy as a dangerously pro-American politician.
The reality is that, whether Obama (on his country's left) or Sarkozy (on his country's right, but way left of Obama), little can be done as long as the Masters of Finances are the real rulers. The current crisis has caused huge unemployment, a surge in poverty, and destroyed the middle class. As long as our politicians will depend on them for their campaigns, do not expect much change. In 1922 president Millerand of France complained already about "The Money wall".

It is ridiculous for the Republicans to warn against "a European syatem" or a "French type solution". Just as it is for French socialists to say:" anything but the American system". If you take the Health Care Reform Law, for instance, you would think that taking care of the sick and the poor would be a natural policy for a party that claims so loudly to be christian. Isn't it weird that it is de-christianized Europe that leads the way in taking care its most vulnerable?

Ruins

The cradle of Democracy could very well become the grave of European hopes. Greece,was not qualified to join the Euro, the European common currency, back in 1997 when they applied. They did not fall within either of the three so-called Maastricht criteria (debt, deficit and GDP). But it would have been politically harsch to leave out the Mother of Democracies, the land of Aristotle, Pericles and Homer. So the founding fathers of the Euro closed their eyes and let Greece use the Euro instead of the Drachma. What they did not know at the time is that even the dismal figures the Greek authorities were showing were grossly inflated. Once they had the Euro, and a low interest rate to boot, the Greeks went beserk. It is as if they had gotten ahold of the family checkbook and embark on a shopping spree. Alas for them, the George Bush Great Recession brought the orgy to a halt, and now, the bills have started to accumulate. Greece`s debt is 130% of its GDP. But since they share a currency with Germany and 14 other Euro member states, they cannot devalue (which would have made it easier to reimburse the debt). Since they used the reserves accumulated by other member states, it is as if they had stolen it from them. Worse, because they now have to reimburse foreign banks, they might default on their loans. German and French taxpayers are understandably reluctant to bail out their Greek associates. All the more since the same disease seems to have infected the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).
Speculators have already bet against the Euro. This is a blow to the European construction and to Europe as a whole. Already the nomination of thenew EU prsidents and its Foreign Affair envoy had been a blow to Europe.
Back at the Dublin Summit, when Helmut Kohl sought to impose sanctions to member states who would leave the Maastricht criteria, President Chirac watered down the heavy fines, proposed `talks`instead. We can see the results today.

We, the People

One year after president Obama's triumphal inauguration, he is hitting a nadir. Scott Brown, an obscure Cosmo centerfold managed to upend Ted Kennedy's seat in Massachussets. But, much worse, the Supreme Court rendered a catastrophic 5-4 ruling allowing corporations to freely finance elections, thus changing a century old regulation. Nowhere in the first amendment does it say that corporations are the equal of human voters. The only regime that alowed its corporations to fuel elections, was Mussolini's in 1932..... So much for judges who swore against activism.
The much admired American system has become dysfunctional. When the majority is kept in check by a small minority through fillibusters.
The vast majority of Americans voted for Obama to have proper health care. A small minority has managed to rob them of this basic right. Besides, the present system, by linking health care to both employment and private insurance is particularly backwards in terms of competitivity and fairness.
Obama has been a failure as apresident so far. He has not been aggressive enough and has not defended his voters forcefully enough. He has lost his base and, of course, will never please his opposition.
He should have enforced single payer from the start to pull America back in the ranks of advanced democracies.
The recent decision by SCOTUS brings us back to pre-1907.

Dysfunction

The US Constitution has been subverted. The US system of Government, the oldest in the world, no longer works. The President has been elected by an overwhelming majority that even gave him both Chambers. Yet he is unable to impose his policy. The 40% opposition minority decides. Worse, one or two renegade senators use the 60 vote rule to hold their own party hostage. It was a sad picture of American Democracy. Result: a bad bill that sends the taxpayer's money to the coffers of Big Insurance, and Big Pharma. Obama yielded on single payer and assured us we would have "a public option" instead. Soon he abandonned that idea for a muddled "exchange". That idea disappeared fast and even its short lived opening of Medicare to 54 year olds did not last long. Now we are stuck with a compulsory assurance for all . The worst part is that Big Insurance invested only 396million dollars to buy our elected Senators. Their reward will be 47 million more customers subsidized by my taxes. I had not voted Obama for THAT!
I guess the US of A will remain stuck at 37th place out of 40 OECD countries. France, with its single payer system will not lose 1st place anytime soon. Sure it costs French taxpayers a lot. But far less than it costs US citizens in Insurance bills, and with the certainty nobody will lose his house to pay their hospital bill or will be denied care because of income level. The US is actually the only country where healthcare IS rationned .
I will take the "carte vitale" any day.