Yo! Wassup?
A few years ago I had cause to go to a burlesque show in aid of a charity that helps disabled performers out. Apologies, but I can't recall the name of the charity. Anyway....it was all pretty adult fare.....burlesque dancers (gorgeous as they were) treating us to enchantingly erotic stripteases and I recall one young guy who (all set to ear-thumping clubby music) sat on a series of dildos that progressed in size from the norm to eye-watering and on again to anus-rupturing, all with a smile so beguilingly innocent that you wouldn't think butter would melt in his mouth! Impressive stuff! However, one of the acts took even these levels of 'good taste' to the extreme, though to be fair to the performer, it wasn't entirely his fault!
So, what happened?
We were on a table next to the stage. The guy came on, did his striptease, all very commonplace by this time of the evening. Then, just as he seemed about to finish he bent over, wiggled his newly waxed arse right in the face of my wife, Latifa, who is not known for her timidity! Not that I particularly wanted to have a close up view, but the guys rectum was but inches from my face and I couldn't help but notice he had a link of a chain protruding from his puckered little hole! He whispered to Latifa, 'pull the ring my lovely! But do it slowly!' He wiggled his arse once again...perhaps getting comfortable....or more likely to make me feel even less comfortable!!
Latifa grabbed hold of the link and proceeded to tug! The chain slipped from his arsehole, one link after another, getting ever longer. It was a heavy chain; the sort that many use to lock their bikes up with! Amazing he could even walk with that up his arse, let alone do a dance and still manage a smile!!! And the more she pulled, the more bored she got!! So, Latifa being Latifa, turns to face the audience and starts to yank the chain faster and faster! Whether the poor guy suffered any after effects (other than acute embarrassment) I do not know. The chain was dripping and oozing all sorts of....well, shit, I suppose....and it seemed to be endless!
I could see what was going to happen, as could one or two others at our table. I edged my chair away and began to take cover beneath the table as Latifa continued to pull, faster and faster. Finally the chain slopped out of his arse at such a speed that (and here's the horrible part!!) as she then started to swing the effluent covered chain about her head, whooping and hollering for all she was worth, the shit just flew off in all directions as she was muck-spreading in a field!! OMG!!!
From where I sat, cowering beneath the table, I could see Latifa as if in slow motion, standing above me, laughing and cheering, swinging the chain about without a care in the world, as the shit flew off the chain and around the room landing with soft, wet splodges on everyone and everything around!!
Laugh? I almost died!! But when she finally sat down again with a face beaming and looking as innocent as a child, she took umbrage with me when, back at the table, I pointed out her...ummmm....little transgression!! She didn't believe me! Not one word! Even when I pointed out the ghastly, shit splattered table and chairs!! Then she sat back into her chair and felt the unreal squelch of human waste on her back! "Ooooh! Did I really do that?"
All the other women were aghast, understandably! Latifa, in her typical way, wasn't a bit embarrassed, even when the stripper came over to apologise! "I had 3 enemas before I came out! Sorry luv!! Shouldn't have happened like that!"
For the next 30 minutes the women crowded the bathroom as they cleaned themselves up! Latifa too had disappeared in that direction. The other women slowly filed out cursing and swearing, covered in fading brown spots! When Latifa finally reappeared she looked, once again, like a million dollars! In her tiny little bag (no bigger than my wallet!) she had folded and cajoled a spare evening dress, which she now wore with added aplomb! The only woman at the venue not covered in shit stains!!
"You never know," she told me! "Always be prepared!"
Not ever having been a boy scout this motto was NOT in my repertoire! But Latifa gave us all a good lesson that day! You never know when the shit might fly your way! I just ducked, kept my head down and was lucky, whereas others came in for the full pebble-dashing!! Not a pleasnat thing at all....as funny as it all seemed at the time!
And in light of all the shit flying around the global financial sector at the moment being prepared for the worst is a lesson that she could well teach to many current heads of state.
Yesterday Spain and France, collectively, failed miserably to raise the 10bn Euro they had hoped from bond sales. After trading had finished Spain had sold a paltry 3.6bn Euros of Spanish 10 year yield bonds but had to pay an average 6.975% interest in order to sell those (see http://gu.com/p/33e3h for more detail). This is the highest rate paid since 1997 and the highest they have paid since entering the Euro. Despite this sales did not reach the expected 4bn ceiling increasing the Eurozone uncertainties and further fracturing the already fragile major stock markets that have, without exception, opened depressingly down this morning!
France went on to sell their 10 year bonds at (the relatively high rate of ) 2.8% yield, a figure which is up substantially on similar auctions 6 months earlier.
Britain also auctioned off some its' debt at just 1.44% yield, an interest rate that still shows the levels of confidence the market has in Britains ability to weather the latest crisis. However, this has not stopped the German press ( for example, see http://www.spiegel.de/ or http://gu.com/p/33eqx for a partial translation) taking a swipe at Britains ever growing youth unemployment problem and the poor (expected) growth of the UK economy.
David Cameron is due to meet with Angela Merkel later today and we can well expect some fireworks at that meeting where both sides are up in arms (figure of speech...not an absolute) about their differing approaches to the various problems.
All this whilst new ECB President Mario Draghi used his first speech to fire a broadside at the major Euro powers over their tardiness at implementing the Eurozones 'European Financial Stability Facility' (EFSF) rescue plan which was agreed on May 10 last year and has yet to be implented.
You know, I read all this and I basically understand whats going on. What I don't get is why Europe seems to be picking away at its' own sores. We are supposed to be all Europeans now and yet the powers that be bicker like school kids fighting over a toy! They tug and they pull and they push each other about, until finally the toy ends up the dirt broken and useless.
Where's the unity? Where's the team spirit? Or maybe I am just being overly cuddly wuddly about it all? Hopelessly naïve even? Someone tell me, please!!!!
And finally....on sunday we have the general election here in Spain. All indications are that Mariano Rajoy, leader of the People's Party, will romp to a landslide victory. He has made much during his campaigning of Zapatero's woefully poor handling of the financial crisis (not that I disagree one iota) and the Spanish electorate seem to have latched onto the need for a change. Once again though I find I am left bemused by the vagaries of Spanish politics. Rajoy's whole campaign has been about slagging off Zapatero and his (outgoing?) Socialists and the need for change.
Ok! Fair enough!
But, not one word has he uttered about how he will change things! And what's more the voters don't seem to care! Again...I'm in need of some further explanation yuet again. Someone please explain to me how this can be? Why doesn't anyone seem interested in what changes Rajoy might bring?
Maybe Monday will bring some more answers.
Have a great weekend and remember...when the shits flying all around, the safest place is always under the table!
P xxxxx
Friday, 18 November 2011
Thursday, 17 November 2011
True or false: All Somali's are terrorists.
Hiya!
Hope you had a good week....a bit of a drink maybe, some dancing, some good food and some sex thrown in, just for good measure! And if you didn't enjoy any such delights.....then what the hell were you thinking? Next week don't be slacker. Life is short.....get out there!
Not quite sure why I started out like that but I have and I'm not a deleter...once my comment is out there, it remains so. I'm not one for backtracking or post-bloggie editing. It's on my screen so out it goes....although I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not. First thoughts are often the most coherent, so I tend to go with that and let it all hang out.....open it up to the breeze...see what happens, you know?
I'm in real danger here of just having a complete blog entry as an aside and not really writing anything at all.
Would that be such a bad thing?
I digress......
Now - having said what I said I find I have something to say after all - time for the meat in the sandwich. I feel it necessary to update a couple of my earlier entries, not because there's anything big or new to say but because it annoys me intensely when such things are just left dangling, kinda like movies that end without tying up the loose ends. I prefer a neat package with no fraying ends. So.....
In Somalia things have moved on apace. The Kenyan invasion is ongoing. Now an estimated 2000 Kenyan troops are in Somalia with Kenyan officials saying that the force will not leave until the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab have been destroyed. However long that may take! But, at the end of the day this is still Africa. Chaos is the norm and such a thing as a straight answer to a straight question is simply not forthcoming. For example, official Kenyan reports said an air attack on Jilib was successful in killing at least 10 of the al-Shabab jihadists and injuring more than 45 more. However, Médicins sans Frontières (MSF) said (after the attack) they had treated only injured women and children, and there were only 3 dead and not the expected larger figure. But, the sad truth of it is that no matter how many died or were injured, or who was telling the truth and who was not, it just doesn't matter. No-one really gives a toss what happens to a few black Africans in a part of the world which is poorer than most Westerners can ever imagine and has no resources (if you discount the amazingly good-looking indigenous peoples) worth grabbing by the rich northerners of the various Western and Northern alliances. In fact, al-Qaeda have latched onto this in a big way (see this amazing video and you end up not knowing what to believe... http://gu.com/p/32q3d) and are making definite headway winning the psychological battle for hearts and minds.
I do not doubt for one second that there are many bad and terribly dangerous men and factions at large in Somalia and the surrounding areas. Some of the atrocities committed - the kidnappings, the murders, the rampant piracy - are truly horrific and these men need to be brought to justice. But, in the same breath I am also equally sure that these men are a very small minority and yet, in my mind as in many others I'll wager, the word Somali is synonymous with terrorism. And that can't be right! The poor people of the horn of Africa - the Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea - have suffered decades of strife of one form or another. No sooner is one tragedy over than the next one hits. Drought, famine, war, civil war and then the same all over again. Sometimes a deadly melange of them all and yet we can sit happily in our armchairs watching the evening news condemning these people as terrorists, extremists and the like, just because one of them gets tricked into becoming a suicide bomber. But we haven't led their lives. We haven't felt the pain and the hunger and the desperation they have felt. We haven't lost everything we ever owned because a kid carrying an AK-47 told us to leave or to die. It's too easy to condemn in the (neverending) wake of 9/11 all of those who dress differently from us, who think differently, who worship differently. Again, I am guilty of generalising - there are surely those of you who may indeed be enlightened, even understanding perhaps - but generalising is what the media, in particular, and the human race in a larger context, is all about. It's what we do. Most people feel comfortable being part of a group and as such we extend that comfort zone to those around us and those we see on the TV or in the newspapers just because they live in the same country or are in the same social class. For example.... all Chinese cannot say the letter R; all black men have big cocks; all footballers are stupid; all teenagers are trouble; all Americans are naïve; all Brits are stuffed shirts!! Catch my drift? And finally, all Somali's are terrorists!
In this blog, as in the pages of many a western newspaper, al-Shabab are seen as a terrorist organsation, but I can't help asking the question 'who is winning the propaganda war?' In the west, in our papers and on our 24hour news channels, there is no doubt that the US led world press contingent seem to be able to spoonfeed us any report with the words 'terrorist' or 'al-Qaeda' and we just swallow it down without so much as chewing it over. In Somalia al-Shabab are seen by many as the legitimate heirs to this drought ravaged, war-torn African nation. I am as guilty as the next man in assuming that the forces of good (i.e. those NOT associated with al-Qaeda) know what is best and are taking appropriate steps to make our world a better place. And I've no doubt that they (the Goodies) are, hand on heart, doing what they think is the right thing. Al-Qaeda are the bad boys and that is all there is to it! But after watching the above video you have to wonder if 'we the people' are being hoodwinked. How can it be that al-Qaeda are distributing food and offering medical assistance?
Far from being a sympathiser, I now feel that I am equally far from denouncing them, at least in as far as Somalia is concerned. There is always so much that we do not know and we rely on the internet, TV news, etc to tell us the truth. Now, I'm not suggesting that they lie - far from it - but I do think that we (the viewers, the listeners) are victims of the Western propaganda machine as much as those poor unfortunate souls who get lied to and cajoled into becoming martyrs for their cause when anyone with more than a grain of common would see those Koran-ic distortions for what they truly are - a mess of lies. Who's to say that if you and your family were pushed to the brink of starvation, were forced to leave your homes and to live life as a refugee, that you too wouldn't find yourself supporting the people who gave you what you needed even if they were reviled and feared elsewhere? - who's to say that al-Qaeda are the bad boys when they have just given you cash, food and a ride back home?
I guess that what I'm trying to say is that there are always two sides to every story and until you have lived both sides of the fence it is difficult, if not impossible, to fully comprehend any situation. I will do my best to remain a bit more objective in the future and not to just assume that every battle is simply a matter of good versus evil.
I have just come back from my lunchbreak where I continued to plough my way through the excellent "With the Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge (the book on which the HBO series, "The Pacific," was partly based). For anyone wishing to understand more about the Pacific wars of WW2 or to try to understand the horrors of war, I can only heartily commend this book and its' author for its blatant sincerity, heartfelt simplicity and the matter of fact manner in which PFC 'Sledgehammer' deals with the death and mayhem around him.
I put the book down and it got me to thinking about the situation in Somalia. Of how the Kenyan forces had launched air and shelling raids against supposed al-Shabab hotspots and of how those below the barrage must feel. Especially the innocent.
I can't believe what we do to each other in the name of politics, religion, greed or jealousy.
Time to breathe.....and move on!
Have you ever seen 'Blood Diamond' with Di Caprio? You remember when he says "T.I.A."? Or "This Is Africa"....well, at home now we (the missus and I) have our own version which comes rolling out whenever Spanish politics or the economics are discussed. We just shrug our shoulders at the myriad inequities, malformations, distortions and illegimate processes in this country we call Spain...and say, "T.I.S." ...This is Spain.....which if we are to believe what we hear, is actually a part of Europe, but once you live here you realise that this isn't Europe any more than Canada isn't the U.S. Spain is part of Africa. It's governmental processes, the endless red tape, the mañana mentality, the ubiquitous corruption and the immensity of the black economy all go to prove the relevance of that statement. Spain is more African than it is European. Maybe more than just the sands of the Sahara lands in our gardens? African vicissitudes soar like eagles here and if the crisis continues and things take a further nose-dive then those little African foibles may well reassert themselves in a much more visible way. As pockets tighten and desperation grows we may see the face of starving Africa much closer to our little safety zones than any of us might wish it to be.
I hope I'm wrong.
And also, just for the record.....I DO love living in Spain, really I do! It's just a bit, and occasionally more than a bit, frustrating when one is trying to achieve anything that may involve some sort of fiscal or administrative process! As to all my bitching...well, what's life if not for bitching? I do love it here but I would see many things changed as perhaps you've gathered. However, in truth...do I ever expect those things to change?
Do I hell! After all....T.I.S.
P xxxxx
Hope you had a good week....a bit of a drink maybe, some dancing, some good food and some sex thrown in, just for good measure! And if you didn't enjoy any such delights.....then what the hell were you thinking? Next week don't be slacker. Life is short.....get out there!
Not quite sure why I started out like that but I have and I'm not a deleter...once my comment is out there, it remains so. I'm not one for backtracking or post-bloggie editing. It's on my screen so out it goes....although I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not. First thoughts are often the most coherent, so I tend to go with that and let it all hang out.....open it up to the breeze...see what happens, you know?
I'm in real danger here of just having a complete blog entry as an aside and not really writing anything at all.
Would that be such a bad thing?
I digress......
Now - having said what I said I find I have something to say after all - time for the meat in the sandwich. I feel it necessary to update a couple of my earlier entries, not because there's anything big or new to say but because it annoys me intensely when such things are just left dangling, kinda like movies that end without tying up the loose ends. I prefer a neat package with no fraying ends. So.....
In Somalia things have moved on apace. The Kenyan invasion is ongoing. Now an estimated 2000 Kenyan troops are in Somalia with Kenyan officials saying that the force will not leave until the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab have been destroyed. However long that may take! But, at the end of the day this is still Africa. Chaos is the norm and such a thing as a straight answer to a straight question is simply not forthcoming. For example, official Kenyan reports said an air attack on Jilib was successful in killing at least 10 of the al-Shabab jihadists and injuring more than 45 more. However, Médicins sans Frontières (MSF) said (after the attack) they had treated only injured women and children, and there were only 3 dead and not the expected larger figure. But, the sad truth of it is that no matter how many died or were injured, or who was telling the truth and who was not, it just doesn't matter. No-one really gives a toss what happens to a few black Africans in a part of the world which is poorer than most Westerners can ever imagine and has no resources (if you discount the amazingly good-looking indigenous peoples) worth grabbing by the rich northerners of the various Western and Northern alliances. In fact, al-Qaeda have latched onto this in a big way (see this amazing video and you end up not knowing what to believe... http://gu.com/p/32q3d) and are making definite headway winning the psychological battle for hearts and minds.
I do not doubt for one second that there are many bad and terribly dangerous men and factions at large in Somalia and the surrounding areas. Some of the atrocities committed - the kidnappings, the murders, the rampant piracy - are truly horrific and these men need to be brought to justice. But, in the same breath I am also equally sure that these men are a very small minority and yet, in my mind as in many others I'll wager, the word Somali is synonymous with terrorism. And that can't be right! The poor people of the horn of Africa - the Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea - have suffered decades of strife of one form or another. No sooner is one tragedy over than the next one hits. Drought, famine, war, civil war and then the same all over again. Sometimes a deadly melange of them all and yet we can sit happily in our armchairs watching the evening news condemning these people as terrorists, extremists and the like, just because one of them gets tricked into becoming a suicide bomber. But we haven't led their lives. We haven't felt the pain and the hunger and the desperation they have felt. We haven't lost everything we ever owned because a kid carrying an AK-47 told us to leave or to die. It's too easy to condemn in the (neverending) wake of 9/11 all of those who dress differently from us, who think differently, who worship differently. Again, I am guilty of generalising - there are surely those of you who may indeed be enlightened, even understanding perhaps - but generalising is what the media, in particular, and the human race in a larger context, is all about. It's what we do. Most people feel comfortable being part of a group and as such we extend that comfort zone to those around us and those we see on the TV or in the newspapers just because they live in the same country or are in the same social class. For example.... all Chinese cannot say the letter R; all black men have big cocks; all footballers are stupid; all teenagers are trouble; all Americans are naïve; all Brits are stuffed shirts!! Catch my drift? And finally, all Somali's are terrorists!
In this blog, as in the pages of many a western newspaper, al-Shabab are seen as a terrorist organsation, but I can't help asking the question 'who is winning the propaganda war?' In the west, in our papers and on our 24hour news channels, there is no doubt that the US led world press contingent seem to be able to spoonfeed us any report with the words 'terrorist' or 'al-Qaeda' and we just swallow it down without so much as chewing it over. In Somalia al-Shabab are seen by many as the legitimate heirs to this drought ravaged, war-torn African nation. I am as guilty as the next man in assuming that the forces of good (i.e. those NOT associated with al-Qaeda) know what is best and are taking appropriate steps to make our world a better place. And I've no doubt that they (the Goodies) are, hand on heart, doing what they think is the right thing. Al-Qaeda are the bad boys and that is all there is to it! But after watching the above video you have to wonder if 'we the people' are being hoodwinked. How can it be that al-Qaeda are distributing food and offering medical assistance?
Far from being a sympathiser, I now feel that I am equally far from denouncing them, at least in as far as Somalia is concerned. There is always so much that we do not know and we rely on the internet, TV news, etc to tell us the truth. Now, I'm not suggesting that they lie - far from it - but I do think that we (the viewers, the listeners) are victims of the Western propaganda machine as much as those poor unfortunate souls who get lied to and cajoled into becoming martyrs for their cause when anyone with more than a grain of common would see those Koran-ic distortions for what they truly are - a mess of lies. Who's to say that if you and your family were pushed to the brink of starvation, were forced to leave your homes and to live life as a refugee, that you too wouldn't find yourself supporting the people who gave you what you needed even if they were reviled and feared elsewhere? - who's to say that al-Qaeda are the bad boys when they have just given you cash, food and a ride back home?
I guess that what I'm trying to say is that there are always two sides to every story and until you have lived both sides of the fence it is difficult, if not impossible, to fully comprehend any situation. I will do my best to remain a bit more objective in the future and not to just assume that every battle is simply a matter of good versus evil.
I have just come back from my lunchbreak where I continued to plough my way through the excellent "With the Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge (the book on which the HBO series, "The Pacific," was partly based). For anyone wishing to understand more about the Pacific wars of WW2 or to try to understand the horrors of war, I can only heartily commend this book and its' author for its blatant sincerity, heartfelt simplicity and the matter of fact manner in which PFC 'Sledgehammer' deals with the death and mayhem around him.
I put the book down and it got me to thinking about the situation in Somalia. Of how the Kenyan forces had launched air and shelling raids against supposed al-Shabab hotspots and of how those below the barrage must feel. Especially the innocent.
I can't believe what we do to each other in the name of politics, religion, greed or jealousy.
Time to breathe.....and move on!
Have you ever seen 'Blood Diamond' with Di Caprio? You remember when he says "T.I.A."? Or "This Is Africa"....well, at home now we (the missus and I) have our own version which comes rolling out whenever Spanish politics or the economics are discussed. We just shrug our shoulders at the myriad inequities, malformations, distortions and illegimate processes in this country we call Spain...and say, "T.I.S." ...This is Spain.....which if we are to believe what we hear, is actually a part of Europe, but once you live here you realise that this isn't Europe any more than Canada isn't the U.S. Spain is part of Africa. It's governmental processes, the endless red tape, the mañana mentality, the ubiquitous corruption and the immensity of the black economy all go to prove the relevance of that statement. Spain is more African than it is European. Maybe more than just the sands of the Sahara lands in our gardens? African vicissitudes soar like eagles here and if the crisis continues and things take a further nose-dive then those little African foibles may well reassert themselves in a much more visible way. As pockets tighten and desperation grows we may see the face of starving Africa much closer to our little safety zones than any of us might wish it to be.
I hope I'm wrong.
And also, just for the record.....I DO love living in Spain, really I do! It's just a bit, and occasionally more than a bit, frustrating when one is trying to achieve anything that may involve some sort of fiscal or administrative process! As to all my bitching...well, what's life if not for bitching? I do love it here but I would see many things changed as perhaps you've gathered. However, in truth...do I ever expect those things to change?
Do I hell! After all....T.I.S.
P xxxxx
Friday, 11 November 2011
The Eurozone Crisis: A Retrospective View
Hiya!
Well it seems we are heading for global Crisis 2 this decade. Makes one wonder if the International Banks are playing some sort of game. "I know...let's see how badly we can fuck the planet up whilst still drawing top dollar for ourselves!"
"Can't be done!"
"Wanna bet?"
And the rest is history! And what isn't history, is either the present or the future of course!! In the present (in Spain at least) the people are suffering. Businesses seem to be closing on an almost daily basis and in many stores the shelves are sparsely covered with over-priced tittle-tattle that no-one wants. And that's just today? What calamities await us in the near future? Only God and Wall St. probably have the answer to that one!
But the short answer would seem to be that we are fucked and we are going to continue being fucked for some time yet!
The Eurozone is sliding towards chaos at an ever increasing rate of knots. Germany and France...our Euro buddies...Not!...have been meeting secretly to discuss the next step (http://gu.com/p/339bf) in (what might laughably be called New) Europe. If, as seems increasingly likely, one or more nations leave the Eurozone, then where Oh! where does that leave us who remain? Probably doffing our caps to German fiscal policies, that's where!
There is no doubt that Europe must change and whatsmore, change quickly if it is survive in any workable way. Leaving the Euro was always in the past an impossibility until the events of the past few months caused a fundamental turnaround in the minds of those in Brussels. But it's no good now saying that Greece should never have been allowed in. They were and now we have to lump it. The same with those countries who agreed to (voluntarily) join the Euro. Perhaps the big mistake was tying the Euro to pre-Euro exchange rates of the German Mark. Nations such as Greece and Italy should not have been allowed to enter the single currency until they had sorted out their own economies as well. As it was they were allowed to adopt the Euro despite being heavily debt-ridden, a situation that has now developed into a complete disaster. Qualification for the Euro was always fractious and changeable where it should have been strict and rigid. So desperate were we to embrace our 'neighbours' that no-one ever dreamed it might all backfire. Oh! for a time machine!
"We are witnessing fundamental changes to the economic and geopolitical order that have convinced me that Europe needs to advance now together or risk fragmentation. Europe must either transform itself or it will decline. We are in a defining moment where we either unite or face irrelevance," said José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commision said on Wednesday.
A defining moment indeed. Italy is now the big concern with many shouting above the endles din that it is too big to bailout! Europe's third largest economy cannot be allowed to sink and yet it cannot be bailed. What's the answer? Print bonds, my little Italian Presidente! Print bonds! That no-one will buy and are illegal anyway, not that illegality is something that has ever worried Belusbalony thus far! And why print bonds? Because, if Italy is too big bailout and yet it cannot be allowed to sink because it would surely drag the rest of Europe under the waves, printing bonds (or money) seems to be the only possible route out of the path of the on-rushing tsumani.
Quite rightly now, the Euro bosses are now getting more involved in national politics (witness the demise of both Papandreou and now Berlesconi) . Another thing that Brussels was never supposed to do. But retractions, back steps, sidesteps and reneging on previous promises is just political expediency these days. Make no mistake. Things are desperate and they are only going to get worse. And yet some still to believe that the Euro can survive. 'Charlemagne' at the Economist says we Europeans are now family (http://www.economist.com/node/21538204) and all that is happening is a family row!!! I don't know where he lives but it is definitely not anywhere close to me!
On the contrary in fact. I think that if the crisis deepens, as every predictor says it will in the early part of next year, and if we do see the loss of perhaps Greece, maybe Italy, possibly even Spain from the Euro, not only would the Eurozone 'family' be shrunken down, I think that in those dispossessed and debt-ridden countries we could well witness a return to strong nationalist fervour that could easily spread and engulf countries that are, and will remain, financially on their knees for the foreseeable future.
Even as the shadow of imminent disaster slowly envelops us all in Europe I cannot help but make comparisons with what has come before. After WW1 Germany was a country in name only. It had massive unemployment, low, if not non-existant national pride, an infrastructure that had been decimated after years of conflict and yet, within 25 years it had risen to become the most powerful nation in Europe. We all know what followed.
Hitler rose to power on the back of nationalist fervour the like of which has probably never been seen before or since. He roused the pride in Germans. Made them proud to be German again and the German people adored him for this (nothwithstanding his later war-mongering and megalomania). In pre-War Germany Hitlar was a hero. A visionary who gave Germany back to the Germans and got them working again.
Today, with the Eurozone's policies of open-door immigration we have all witnessed the floods of people from the poorer European nations to the richer ones. That these people should be entitled to make a good living, I think is a universal human prerogative. Problems have arisen though, as we all know, in limiting the numbers of immigrants. In the UK this became a huge problem a few years ago and it is still not resolved. I'm not sure it ever could be solved now. The UK is too multi-national, too cosmopolitan these days. And certainly in the UK it has led many, (myself included) born and bred in the British Isles, to wonder where our Britishness has gone. Today in the UK it is a widely vaunted sin to be proud of being British. Those with national pride are viewed as low-browed Neanderthals who need to be cleansed of the sin of patriotism. And what's more patriotism always seems to be equated with racism. Admittedly, in some cases this may be true. But for me, to be a patriot is not to be racist. They are quite clearly, NOT one and the same thing. For me, in the UK today, there is no British culture anymore. True Brits have become so scared to stand up for their Britishness that it is now all but gone. 'PC' politics and the need to respect another's culture have been taken to ridiculous extremes and resulted in a watering down of your average Brit until our culture is harder to find than than a thin man in Mississippi! In London today every culture is represented except British. We, as a cultural force, do not exist anymore.
But not so elsewhere in Europe. And (in Spain at least) there is much talk of reversing the open-door policy and getting rid of all the unwelcome additions. In Spain we have elections in the next few days and, even though, the parties are all pretty much of the same monotone grey, there has been a definite move towards a more socialist ideal. Vive Franco!!! The Spanish want Spain for the Spanish and it seems the clamour for a man who can deliver this is growing proportionately as the crisis deepens. And if that is happening here, where most people are fairly moderate and open-minded, then what must it be like in Greece? Or in Italy? Or even in Germany, where they can see all their hard-work being squandered by the tinpot, partying politicians (i.e. Berlusbalony!) of broke and breaking Euro-allies? In France, a country with a strong socialist base, there are many calling for a complete rout of the country to kick out the 'legal' invaders and to return the country to it's people.
For me a rise in nationalism in those nations worse-affected is inevitable should this crisis continue to deepen and whilst I seriously doubt that it would end up in WW3 I do think that the protectionist policies that would follow such a rise would result in a rise in patriotism, much racial discalm and would eventually lead to violent conflict somewhere down the line.
The last time the whole world was in global financial meltdown was following the Wall Street crash of 1927 and the debilitating depression of the 1930's. And what got the world out of depression was of course a global conflict. It is a very different world now to that before WW2, but the parallels are there for all to see. Now we just wait, watch and hope that things improve before such extremisms can develop.
Well it seems we are heading for global Crisis 2 this decade. Makes one wonder if the International Banks are playing some sort of game. "I know...let's see how badly we can fuck the planet up whilst still drawing top dollar for ourselves!"
"Can't be done!"
"Wanna bet?"
And the rest is history! And what isn't history, is either the present or the future of course!! In the present (in Spain at least) the people are suffering. Businesses seem to be closing on an almost daily basis and in many stores the shelves are sparsely covered with over-priced tittle-tattle that no-one wants. And that's just today? What calamities await us in the near future? Only God and Wall St. probably have the answer to that one!
But the short answer would seem to be that we are fucked and we are going to continue being fucked for some time yet!
The Eurozone is sliding towards chaos at an ever increasing rate of knots. Germany and France...our Euro buddies...Not!...have been meeting secretly to discuss the next step (http://gu.com/p/339bf) in (what might laughably be called New) Europe. If, as seems increasingly likely, one or more nations leave the Eurozone, then where Oh! where does that leave us who remain? Probably doffing our caps to German fiscal policies, that's where!
There is no doubt that Europe must change and whatsmore, change quickly if it is survive in any workable way. Leaving the Euro was always in the past an impossibility until the events of the past few months caused a fundamental turnaround in the minds of those in Brussels. But it's no good now saying that Greece should never have been allowed in. They were and now we have to lump it. The same with those countries who agreed to (voluntarily) join the Euro. Perhaps the big mistake was tying the Euro to pre-Euro exchange rates of the German Mark. Nations such as Greece and Italy should not have been allowed to enter the single currency until they had sorted out their own economies as well. As it was they were allowed to adopt the Euro despite being heavily debt-ridden, a situation that has now developed into a complete disaster. Qualification for the Euro was always fractious and changeable where it should have been strict and rigid. So desperate were we to embrace our 'neighbours' that no-one ever dreamed it might all backfire. Oh! for a time machine!
"We are witnessing fundamental changes to the economic and geopolitical order that have convinced me that Europe needs to advance now together or risk fragmentation. Europe must either transform itself or it will decline. We are in a defining moment where we either unite or face irrelevance," said José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commision said on Wednesday.
A defining moment indeed. Italy is now the big concern with many shouting above the endles din that it is too big to bailout! Europe's third largest economy cannot be allowed to sink and yet it cannot be bailed. What's the answer? Print bonds, my little Italian Presidente! Print bonds! That no-one will buy and are illegal anyway, not that illegality is something that has ever worried Belusbalony thus far! And why print bonds? Because, if Italy is too big bailout and yet it cannot be allowed to sink because it would surely drag the rest of Europe under the waves, printing bonds (or money) seems to be the only possible route out of the path of the on-rushing tsumani.
Quite rightly now, the Euro bosses are now getting more involved in national politics (witness the demise of both Papandreou and now Berlesconi) . Another thing that Brussels was never supposed to do. But retractions, back steps, sidesteps and reneging on previous promises is just political expediency these days. Make no mistake. Things are desperate and they are only going to get worse. And yet some still to believe that the Euro can survive. 'Charlemagne' at the Economist says we Europeans are now family (http://www.economist.com/node/21538204) and all that is happening is a family row!!! I don't know where he lives but it is definitely not anywhere close to me!
On the contrary in fact. I think that if the crisis deepens, as every predictor says it will in the early part of next year, and if we do see the loss of perhaps Greece, maybe Italy, possibly even Spain from the Euro, not only would the Eurozone 'family' be shrunken down, I think that in those dispossessed and debt-ridden countries we could well witness a return to strong nationalist fervour that could easily spread and engulf countries that are, and will remain, financially on their knees for the foreseeable future.
Even as the shadow of imminent disaster slowly envelops us all in Europe I cannot help but make comparisons with what has come before. After WW1 Germany was a country in name only. It had massive unemployment, low, if not non-existant national pride, an infrastructure that had been decimated after years of conflict and yet, within 25 years it had risen to become the most powerful nation in Europe. We all know what followed.
Hitler rose to power on the back of nationalist fervour the like of which has probably never been seen before or since. He roused the pride in Germans. Made them proud to be German again and the German people adored him for this (nothwithstanding his later war-mongering and megalomania). In pre-War Germany Hitlar was a hero. A visionary who gave Germany back to the Germans and got them working again.
Today, with the Eurozone's policies of open-door immigration we have all witnessed the floods of people from the poorer European nations to the richer ones. That these people should be entitled to make a good living, I think is a universal human prerogative. Problems have arisen though, as we all know, in limiting the numbers of immigrants. In the UK this became a huge problem a few years ago and it is still not resolved. I'm not sure it ever could be solved now. The UK is too multi-national, too cosmopolitan these days. And certainly in the UK it has led many, (myself included) born and bred in the British Isles, to wonder where our Britishness has gone. Today in the UK it is a widely vaunted sin to be proud of being British. Those with national pride are viewed as low-browed Neanderthals who need to be cleansed of the sin of patriotism. And what's more patriotism always seems to be equated with racism. Admittedly, in some cases this may be true. But for me, to be a patriot is not to be racist. They are quite clearly, NOT one and the same thing. For me, in the UK today, there is no British culture anymore. True Brits have become so scared to stand up for their Britishness that it is now all but gone. 'PC' politics and the need to respect another's culture have been taken to ridiculous extremes and resulted in a watering down of your average Brit until our culture is harder to find than than a thin man in Mississippi! In London today every culture is represented except British. We, as a cultural force, do not exist anymore.
But not so elsewhere in Europe. And (in Spain at least) there is much talk of reversing the open-door policy and getting rid of all the unwelcome additions. In Spain we have elections in the next few days and, even though, the parties are all pretty much of the same monotone grey, there has been a definite move towards a more socialist ideal. Vive Franco!!! The Spanish want Spain for the Spanish and it seems the clamour for a man who can deliver this is growing proportionately as the crisis deepens. And if that is happening here, where most people are fairly moderate and open-minded, then what must it be like in Greece? Or in Italy? Or even in Germany, where they can see all their hard-work being squandered by the tinpot, partying politicians (i.e. Berlusbalony!) of broke and breaking Euro-allies? In France, a country with a strong socialist base, there are many calling for a complete rout of the country to kick out the 'legal' invaders and to return the country to it's people.
For me a rise in nationalism in those nations worse-affected is inevitable should this crisis continue to deepen and whilst I seriously doubt that it would end up in WW3 I do think that the protectionist policies that would follow such a rise would result in a rise in patriotism, much racial discalm and would eventually lead to violent conflict somewhere down the line.
The last time the whole world was in global financial meltdown was following the Wall Street crash of 1927 and the debilitating depression of the 1930's. And what got the world out of depression was of course a global conflict. It is a very different world now to that before WW2, but the parallels are there for all to see. Now we just wait, watch and hope that things improve before such extremisms can develop.
Friday, 4 November 2011
What's it all about anyway?
Still waiting for my first visitor ......which begs the question 'why do I bother?' And a very good question it is too! Why indeed? Well, basically, I suppose I don't really care if anyone reads my drivel or not, the point is that it's there...my thoughts, my ideas....me! I'm there! And that is all the reason I need.
Or is it?
Ten years ago blogging was in it's infancy. Now there are God knows how many blogs published every day (I've no doubt the stats are there somewhere but I'll leave that mundane digging to some other anorak) and I cannot help but wonder what did all the bloggers do before blogging existed? I mean, I know what I did....my thoughts used to go down in badly cornered notebooks, most of which disappeared, swallowed by time and forgetfullness. But what about the rest of them? What did they do?
And even now I wonder how many bloggers find the time not only to pen their thoughts and opinions, but to do the research and reading necessary to write a factually correct blog (yeah, yeah, I know many do not read, research or worry about their facts being correct....but many do!) ....replies on a postcard please labelled 'what I did before my blog!' The most original idea gets a picture of my dog autographed by the canine herself ...(Lola has always secretly hankered after the limelight) ... and for something truly original she might even add a 'woof' or two!
For myself, it can take the best part of several hours getting my fingers to tap out the motley procession of letters and that is without the time needed to research an idea. Oh!.... to be a free-form writer, words spilling onto the page (screen?) like so much spilled milk, spreading across the page in a tsunami of fluid prose and faultless grammar, the fingers of the typist exhibiting stamina, dexterity and independence so that the words seem to drop, thoughtlessly, seemlessly, onto the page in an order that implores further investigation.
But for me...no such luck! I slog over my blog,
Sweating and pawing, a literary hog,
As I stress and I worry,
What should I say on my page today?
What subject shall I broach?
My ideas beyond reproach....
I must go the whole hog.
Not fear getting stuck in a bog,
For I have opinions to flavour and to curry
But what should I say on my page today?
There's no need to encroach
Mine is not to be poached.
As I slog and I slog,
Over my blog like a dog,
My heads in a mess, nothing comes in a hurry
About what I should say on my page today?
"Many are dead. A crash with a coach..."
"Disease can be spread by a new type of roach..."
And I slog and I slog,
As I ponder my blog,
And I stress and I worry,
Tell me, what should I say on my page today?
So, what on earth should I write about next?
Choice is a funny thing, don't you find? Too much choice makes the very act of choosing a trial. And let's face it...the world is fucked up...there is no shortage of subject areas for would-be and paid up bloggers to blather on about. Yet with too little choice one runs the risk of drying up one's (few) ideas or worse yet, drying up one's words! I don't see myself as any sort of radical. At heart I'm a true liberal (not politically, but morally and emotionally) and liberals find it hard to get overheated about anything other a scalding hot bath! The truth being that liberals are invariably empathetic (if not always understanding) towards any counter-arguments and with the empathy often comes a certain tranquility - not a bad thing in 21st century Europe, I might add - and with the tranquility comes a degree of watchfullness. Do you follow the train? We sit back, we observe and we do not, under circumstances, rock the bloody boat! We ( the liberals) like to live and let live, and as such, to demonstrate radicalism goes entirely against the grain, begging the question (once again) why do I bother (to write a blog)? People want controversy, gossip and (dis?)agreeable opinions strained through a net of enmeshed political insightfullness and witty repartee, none of which I possess. Though, in my darker moments (of which there are relatively few, thank the stars) I can admit to a smidgen of jealousy of those endowed with a Noel Coward/Oscar Wilde type of wit that I find so sadly lacking in much of today's media and even more sadly, lacking in myself!
Tragic innit?
And all of which rather nicely brings me back to the original question - why do I bother?
Well, here's the thing. I may well be a wit-free liberal, lightly dusted with insecurities and void of interesting ideas on a daily basis..... but that doesn't mean that I haven't got something to say. I shall persevere and continue to slog, racking my brains for opinions and thoughts because I enjoy having my say, whether anyone reads it or not!
Have a nice weekend and I'll be back next week with more baseless opinions and comments!!!
P
Or is it?
Ten years ago blogging was in it's infancy. Now there are God knows how many blogs published every day (I've no doubt the stats are there somewhere but I'll leave that mundane digging to some other anorak) and I cannot help but wonder what did all the bloggers do before blogging existed? I mean, I know what I did....my thoughts used to go down in badly cornered notebooks, most of which disappeared, swallowed by time and forgetfullness. But what about the rest of them? What did they do?
And even now I wonder how many bloggers find the time not only to pen their thoughts and opinions, but to do the research and reading necessary to write a factually correct blog (yeah, yeah, I know many do not read, research or worry about their facts being correct....but many do!) ....replies on a postcard please labelled 'what I did before my blog!' The most original idea gets a picture of my dog autographed by the canine herself ...(Lola has always secretly hankered after the limelight) ... and for something truly original she might even add a 'woof' or two!
For myself, it can take the best part of several hours getting my fingers to tap out the motley procession of letters and that is without the time needed to research an idea. Oh!.... to be a free-form writer, words spilling onto the page (screen?) like so much spilled milk, spreading across the page in a tsunami of fluid prose and faultless grammar, the fingers of the typist exhibiting stamina, dexterity and independence so that the words seem to drop, thoughtlessly, seemlessly, onto the page in an order that implores further investigation.
But for me...no such luck! I slog over my blog,
Sweating and pawing, a literary hog,
As I stress and I worry,
What should I say on my page today?
What subject shall I broach?
My ideas beyond reproach....
I must go the whole hog.
Not fear getting stuck in a bog,
For I have opinions to flavour and to curry
But what should I say on my page today?
There's no need to encroach
Mine is not to be poached.
As I slog and I slog,
Over my blog like a dog,
My heads in a mess, nothing comes in a hurry
About what I should say on my page today?
"Many are dead. A crash with a coach..."
"Disease can be spread by a new type of roach..."
And I slog and I slog,
As I ponder my blog,
And I stress and I worry,
Tell me, what should I say on my page today?
So, what on earth should I write about next?
Choice is a funny thing, don't you find? Too much choice makes the very act of choosing a trial. And let's face it...the world is fucked up...there is no shortage of subject areas for would-be and paid up bloggers to blather on about. Yet with too little choice one runs the risk of drying up one's (few) ideas or worse yet, drying up one's words! I don't see myself as any sort of radical. At heart I'm a true liberal (not politically, but morally and emotionally) and liberals find it hard to get overheated about anything other a scalding hot bath! The truth being that liberals are invariably empathetic (if not always understanding) towards any counter-arguments and with the empathy often comes a certain tranquility - not a bad thing in 21st century Europe, I might add - and with the tranquility comes a degree of watchfullness. Do you follow the train? We sit back, we observe and we do not, under circumstances, rock the bloody boat! We ( the liberals) like to live and let live, and as such, to demonstrate radicalism goes entirely against the grain, begging the question (once again) why do I bother (to write a blog)? People want controversy, gossip and (dis?)agreeable opinions strained through a net of enmeshed political insightfullness and witty repartee, none of which I possess. Though, in my darker moments (of which there are relatively few, thank the stars) I can admit to a smidgen of jealousy of those endowed with a Noel Coward/Oscar Wilde type of wit that I find so sadly lacking in much of today's media and even more sadly, lacking in myself!
Tragic innit?
And all of which rather nicely brings me back to the original question - why do I bother?
Well, here's the thing. I may well be a wit-free liberal, lightly dusted with insecurities and void of interesting ideas on a daily basis..... but that doesn't mean that I haven't got something to say. I shall persevere and continue to slog, racking my brains for opinions and thoughts because I enjoy having my say, whether anyone reads it or not!
Have a nice weekend and I'll be back next week with more baseless opinions and comments!!!
P
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