Numbers vs. bullshit

Next time you hear the repetitive argument about "the innocent Israelis that have been slaughtered by Palestinian terrorists" as a justification of any atrocity, just remember this simple graph [click on it for large size]:

European crocodiles

The mild display of ‘humanitarian sensitivity’ by the EU bosses on the Gaza slaughter reminds me of crocodile tears.
Just remember what happened in 2006, when the Palestinians dared to elect Hamas as their major political group in admittedly fair elections: In one more shameless illustration of Western hypocrisy, the ‘humanitarians’ of today suspended economic aid to the Palestinian Authority because Palestinians cast the ‘wrong’ vote!
The Guardian wrote on 11.4.06: "The EU yesterday increased the pressure on the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority to recognise Israel and renounce terrorist violence by suspending all direct aid to the new government. ... Aid organisations warned that the decision to cut off assistance would simply damage people living on about £1 a day and drive them further into the arms of extremists. Aid accounts for 25% of Palestinians' incomes."
You probably remember that, after a while, clashes started between Hamas and Fatah, in a classic example of Divide & Rule.
You see, the foreign ‘democrats’ wanted Fatah to win regardless of Palestinian voters will. The match finally ended in a draw, with Fatah dominating in West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.
The same hideous 'scribes and Pharisees' that 3 years ago used misery to blackmail refugees, come now and beg Israel politely to show self-restrain in dealing with the same disobedient ‘desperados’.
Some years ago, during the Albanian ‘genocide’ in Kosovo by the ‘blood-thirsty’ Serbs, they had demonstrated their humanitarian sensitivity much more vigorously, bombing for 78 days the ‘bad’ civilians of Belgrade and Novi Sad.
Now their concern can only reach up to theatrical appeals, equalizing Hamas home-made rockets with Israeli ‘smart’ bombs and 400 dead Palestinians with 4 dead Israelis…
Seriously, who has elected such ludicrous hypocrites that are supposed to represent us?
Or they just snatched the wheel without us knowing (like many others have done)?
.

It’s Nice to Be Rich

[NY Times editorial, published June 28, 2008]

Millionaires are already wildly overrepresented in Congress. The Supreme Court gave a big boost to rich candidates this week by striking down the “millionaire’s amendment,” which was designed to help level the playing field for candidates running against wealthy opponents... [read full text]

Reporting the future

[Originally posted here in 2001]

The year is 1990.
Margaret Thatcher & Michael Gorbachev are in full power.
Comrade Yeltsin is regularly portrayed as a pathetic drunkard by the Western media (not knowing yet how useful he would be soon, forcing them to reverse his image building).
President George Bush (Sr.) is preparing for the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein, his former ally against Iran (who just 3 years earlier had been pardoned when his Exocet missile hit US Navy frigate 'Stark' killing 37 American sailors).
The Berlin Wall has fallen just a few months ago, and the European Community has 12 member countries, still not merged into the European Union that will appear 3 years later.
The Soviet Union is on the map as it has been for 45 years, and so is Yugoslavia and the rest of Europe, East and West.

In that context, the November 26, 1990 issue of Newsweek magazine presents a special report on the future of Europe as seen by its reporters (Pascal Privat and Michael Meyer, Scott Sullivan, Fred Coleman, Daniel Pedersen & Andrew Nagorski).
The report includes the following two maps of Eastern Europe & Yugoslavia:

Click for larger size; notice 'new countries' and 'border disputes' as foreseen in 1990

The remarkable similarity to the present map of Europe and especially Yugoslavia, a decade later, can be explained by one of the following:

• The reporters had an impressive skill to foretell the future, perhaps using Tarot cards or other magic tricks.
• The reporters have been very lucky in their wild guess or wishful thinking.
• The reporters had very good connections to those that shape the New World Order today; thus they managed to obtain an outline of the goals set by those powerful circles, a plan that has been promoted with impressive persistence & efficiency during the subsequent decade.

The bloody 'chess game' in Yugoslavia during the '90s, the clever series of all too obvious 'forced moves' which lead to the demolition of an 80 years old federation that had been 'too independent', the extradition, trial, and sudden death of the defeated 'Black King', plus the recent Montenegro and Kosovo independence, are strong indications that the third interpretation cannot be too far from the truth...

Or do you believe in magic?

Myanmar and "bioclimatic" shelters

I’m sure you heard the news about Myanmar [Burma for those yearning for the nostalgic past].
Here are a few reminding photos from Yahoo…

A few months ago, ARES-UIA competition jury selected the scheme shown below as the best answer to natural disasters, using “Renewable energy sources and bioclimatic architecture for shells, to shelter people affected by natural disasters”.

According to its designers, the scheme can be adapted to different regions of the world by changing the fabric colour; for Myanmar type of environment, green canvas is suggested.

The current humanitarian crisis of more than a million homeless people in Myanmar is a good test for the suitability of the selected design.

In this case, about 150-200,000 units from a prefabricated stock somewhere in the world should be flown to Yangon, and then transported by a fleet of trucks to the affected areas (care should be taken to send green units only, not yellow or blue ones which are for different climatic regions).
Legions of IKEA-trained specialists should accompany the shipments in order to unpack and assemble the units on site after the flooded land is dry again.
Once the costly PV panels and their batteries are in place, the lucky ex-homeless will be able to watch their favourite TV show in order to burry their grief.
Shortages of drinkable water or the danger of epidemics will be addressed by the ultra hi-tech sanitation compartments contained in each individual unit.
As for financial relief, the penniless refugees could fetch a good price for those expensive PV panels and batteries (before being blown away by the next storm).

Now, isn't that holistic sustainable design indeed?

A letter

This is a message that I emailed few days ago; whoever agrees with its contents should send a similar -or copy/paste- message to Mrs. Ferrer-Walder and other EU personae [see EU Parliament members list]. Remember, 'apathy is the fertilizer of intimidation'


To Mrs. Benita Ferrero-Waldner
Commissioner for External Relations
European Union


Madam,

This is to strongly protest against the recent European Commission’s disgraceful decision to suspend direct economic aid to the Palestinian Authority because of the Hamas agenda.

The fact is that the Hamas platform –like it or not- reflects the will of the majority of Palestinian voters, a fact that the Commission must acknowledge if its members truly accept the principles of democracy.

It is more than obvious that the Commission’s act has no other aim than to increase the misery of Palestinian people –as if they do not suffer enough already- in the hope that they will cancel their January vote and replace their elected representatives with others more of the Commission’s liking.

In case the Commission insists on that shameful blackmailing, there can be no doubt that its members want to impose their own views upon the Palestinian electorate, either because they believe that they have the right to do so in a good-old colonialist manner, or because they have actually turned the EU into a willing instrument of Israeli policy.

Until the EU decision is withdrawn, allow me to believe that the democratic rhetoric in Middle East or elsewhere is just a selective fig leaf to cover an immense hypocrisy.