They are doing to Iceland what they did to Argentine in 2001.
I hope they don't fuck up this magical and most beautiful country. This country who recently went bankrupt has received a ridiculous offer of a public bailout, in fact its a rip off and a joke. How the IMF and local government think they can get away with it is astonishing! Bring on the back lash! Power to the people!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
pseudo political celebrities
Why are the entertainers at Obama's party more like Andy from the 'Extras'?
let the word go forth from this time and place
"Let the word go forth in this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans...". as JFK declared before famously asking "what can [we] do for our country?" in his 1960 inauguration speech. Sentiments that seem to echo the current predicament and feelings. Like JFK, I'm sure Barack Obama will deliver an equally historic speech tonight. I have eagerly awaited this moment since November when he won the election by taking the key states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida before the polls had even closed on the other side of the country in the west. Undoubtedly it's a time of change and hope. We know that he will be better than George W. Bush and probably many U.S. presidents before him. But with the current constraints of the global environment, how much better?
Barack Obama stands to inherit a circus kindly left to him by corporatist fools more concerned with their individual profits than sound policy for the country. He will inherit a world economic crisis. A privatised government reeling in the wake of 8 years of enterprise money making republican policy tailored for a select group of Bush's close friends. Of course I forgot to mention the mess in Iraq which he is also due to acquire. A so called 'rebuilding' process built purely by U.S exports instead of encouraging locals to rebuild one of the first civilization's in history. Many of the companies engaged to 'rebuild' Iraq are run by powerful people with conflicting interests. Rumsfeld and Cheney to name but two, furthermore selling their disaster capitalist products at exorbitant prices to poverty stricken local governments. Ridiculous.
What is even more ridiculous is the fact the there was no regulation to pick up on such conflicts of interest. Cheney and Rumsfeld simply refused to sell their stocks. Not only did they not have to sell up but they maintained their stocks whilst in some of the most powerful political posts in the world. As Vice-President Cheney's stake in Halliburton's stock price (supplying materials for the US army) grew 300% through the war. Rumsfeld too with his biotech company Gilead saw his stocks price rise from $7.45 each pre war to $67.60 each in 2007. I wonder if this increase had anything to do with the fact as defense secretary the Pentagon purchased $58 million worth of Tamiflu (a Gilead product) and the Health and Services Department ordered $1 Billion a few months later? This is ludicrous! Money they are firstly not entitled to but more so money generated by waging a nonsense war on a country then robbing it the opportunity to rebuild it themselves and making millions in the process. Shame on you for robbing from the a poverty stricken country traumatised by an unprovoked war. Obviously money making instead of country making is more of a priority. What was good for these companies is cataclysm, something achievable in such powerful posts.
The Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld trinity who so brilliantly conceived the 'war on terror' gave birth to a disaster. A disaster carefully planned and derived from shock doctrine tactics combined with mass privatisations and deregulated government and defense departments. Many of which were conveniently restructured to support the 'patriotic' president Bush post Sept 11. An economic disaster that rewrote ridiculous new warfare and corporation 'rules' created through the introduction of new legislation to a senate majority and on the back of media scare mongering to the public. This left a ridiculously unrecoverable, not to mention unfinished, job for someone else of higher diplomatic ilk to deal with.... introduce Obama.
The war in Iraq, combined with a world financial crisis, the recent activity in Gaza to which some degree of negotiation on Obama's part will inevitably occur, and the ongoing idealism reminiscent of Martin Luther King that people now expect of him, makes me question just how effective can Barack Obama be? How long will it take to tidy up before he can do what he was elected to do? One term? Or will the devastation of predecessor's plague him and destroy a revolutionary legacy throughout his two term mandate?
When you see the appointment of people on his economic team such as the notorious Lawrence Summers, known for negotiating large debts to Russia Post Yeltsin coup when at the International Monetary fund, you cannot help but be disappointed. Will this stimulate more privatisations, deregulations and promote laissez-faire economics requiring shocks to succeed? Optimistically we share a collective hope that the difference this time lies in Obama's character. The very characteristic that people believed in so much to vote him in and the thing that catapulted him to an historic victory. He is a strong enough person in his own write not to assume Summers advice as gospel and allow corporatist policy to cancel out his very appointment as leader of the free world. Appointments like this are potentially a step backwards, but as Obama preaches, we base our opinions on his ever reliable rhetoric....hope. Hope that he can deal with all the pressures and still govern the way he campaigned, calmly, rationally, and with an energetic spirit.
I hope he succeeds with his egalitarian approach, and based on what we all know and have seen if one man can it is Obama with his self-assured and equanimous charm and his ability to motivate. When the words "yes we can" leave his mouth their conviction invokes genuine inspiration that fills you with a sense of 'in the moment' presence. Things look bleak for the first black U.S. president with the simple democratic dream of change. He has an almighty struggle ahead of him, and if he pulls off what everyone is expecting of him, he will go down in history as a great, if not the greatest, U.S. president. A president one third Lincoln who abolished slavery, one third FDR who saved the drowning country from the depths of the great depression and one third JFK who charmed the nation with his youthful vigor. Obama the man who transformed terror into to hope and then changed history with overwhelming aplomb.
Barack Obama stands to inherit a circus kindly left to him by corporatist fools more concerned with their individual profits than sound policy for the country. He will inherit a world economic crisis. A privatised government reeling in the wake of 8 years of enterprise money making republican policy tailored for a select group of Bush's close friends. Of course I forgot to mention the mess in Iraq which he is also due to acquire. A so called 'rebuilding' process built purely by U.S exports instead of encouraging locals to rebuild one of the first civilization's in history. Many of the companies engaged to 'rebuild' Iraq are run by powerful people with conflicting interests. Rumsfeld and Cheney to name but two, furthermore selling their disaster capitalist products at exorbitant prices to poverty stricken local governments. Ridiculous.
What is even more ridiculous is the fact the there was no regulation to pick up on such conflicts of interest. Cheney and Rumsfeld simply refused to sell their stocks. Not only did they not have to sell up but they maintained their stocks whilst in some of the most powerful political posts in the world. As Vice-President Cheney's stake in Halliburton's stock price (supplying materials for the US army) grew 300% through the war. Rumsfeld too with his biotech company Gilead saw his stocks price rise from $7.45 each pre war to $67.60 each in 2007. I wonder if this increase had anything to do with the fact as defense secretary the Pentagon purchased $58 million worth of Tamiflu (a Gilead product) and the Health and Services Department ordered $1 Billion a few months later? This is ludicrous! Money they are firstly not entitled to but more so money generated by waging a nonsense war on a country then robbing it the opportunity to rebuild it themselves and making millions in the process. Shame on you for robbing from the a poverty stricken country traumatised by an unprovoked war. Obviously money making instead of country making is more of a priority. What was good for these companies is cataclysm, something achievable in such powerful posts.
The Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld trinity who so brilliantly conceived the 'war on terror' gave birth to a disaster. A disaster carefully planned and derived from shock doctrine tactics combined with mass privatisations and deregulated government and defense departments. Many of which were conveniently restructured to support the 'patriotic' president Bush post Sept 11. An economic disaster that rewrote ridiculous new warfare and corporation 'rules' created through the introduction of new legislation to a senate majority and on the back of media scare mongering to the public. This left a ridiculously unrecoverable, not to mention unfinished, job for someone else of higher diplomatic ilk to deal with.... introduce Obama.
The war in Iraq, combined with a world financial crisis, the recent activity in Gaza to which some degree of negotiation on Obama's part will inevitably occur, and the ongoing idealism reminiscent of Martin Luther King that people now expect of him, makes me question just how effective can Barack Obama be? How long will it take to tidy up before he can do what he was elected to do? One term? Or will the devastation of predecessor's plague him and destroy a revolutionary legacy throughout his two term mandate?
When you see the appointment of people on his economic team such as the notorious Lawrence Summers, known for negotiating large debts to Russia Post Yeltsin coup when at the International Monetary fund, you cannot help but be disappointed. Will this stimulate more privatisations, deregulations and promote laissez-faire economics requiring shocks to succeed? Optimistically we share a collective hope that the difference this time lies in Obama's character. The very characteristic that people believed in so much to vote him in and the thing that catapulted him to an historic victory. He is a strong enough person in his own write not to assume Summers advice as gospel and allow corporatist policy to cancel out his very appointment as leader of the free world. Appointments like this are potentially a step backwards, but as Obama preaches, we base our opinions on his ever reliable rhetoric....hope. Hope that he can deal with all the pressures and still govern the way he campaigned, calmly, rationally, and with an energetic spirit.
I hope he succeeds with his egalitarian approach, and based on what we all know and have seen if one man can it is Obama with his self-assured and equanimous charm and his ability to motivate. When the words "yes we can" leave his mouth their conviction invokes genuine inspiration that fills you with a sense of 'in the moment' presence. Things look bleak for the first black U.S. president with the simple democratic dream of change. He has an almighty struggle ahead of him, and if he pulls off what everyone is expecting of him, he will go down in history as a great, if not the greatest, U.S. president. A president one third Lincoln who abolished slavery, one third FDR who saved the drowning country from the depths of the great depression and one third JFK who charmed the nation with his youthful vigor. Obama the man who transformed terror into to hope and then changed history with overwhelming aplomb.
the times of good people, evil people and indifferent people
I was struck by wisdom today. I had an encounter whilst doing some research for a feature film. At the Holocaust Museum near my home I got talking to a survivor of concentration camp. Kitia intelligently summed up the entire Second World War in about 4 sentences. As if this wasn't impressive enough she remarkably went on, telling stories involving her own "Schindler" and "Anne Frank" escapades. She told of her survival in the Auschwitz death camp despite the evil committed against her and her scapegoated minority of the Jewish people, who comprised only 1% of Germany at the time. What was more remarkable though was her reaction to Nazism. Whilst not outwardly begrudging the crimes against her, behaviour which she is understandably entitled to, she was optimistic, declaring the ink forever tattooed on her forearm not as daily reminder of the atrocities inflicted upon her, but as the one tangible link to the remnants of her family, an everlasting tribute. To not sustain an intense hatred towards all Germans, which I expected and would probably maintain myself, if not use as an excuse for my poor fate, is a tribute to the way she lives her life. When we (my brother and I) questioned her further about her tattoo she referred to it as an ignominious symbol of evil of which the perpetrator's should be ashamed to see, not her. I considered this attitude extraordinary considering the humiliation she and the Jewish people suffered at this time. To illustrate just some of this humiliation, she told of witnessing Nazi's prying babies from quivering hands and staking them on bayonets. Yet with images such as these cemented like concrete into her memory she still has the wisdom to surmise that these were indeed crazy times of moral quandary's in which under duress good German citizen's undertook inexplicable acts. Whether conscious or unconscious, they still occurred, whereby if a golden egg from Hitler appears on your doorstep for your deeds, you don't question it. The guilt is then merely passed on to someone else and not internalised. For Kitia to conclude "the times were filled with good people, evil people and indifferent people" is simply incredible! I will quote these words of wisdom at the beginning of my film.
Where to Begin?
This is my blog, these are my thoughts, and if you are reading you're obviously interested. You are interested in arts, cultures and politics which is also what I share an interest in, so here goes...
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