EVENTS UP TO THE NEW DECADE

The world already knew, based on historical facts and tradition, that the Iranian people, unlike
other people in the middle-east, are independent-minded and proud fighters when it comes to
their country's well-being and its historical position as a center of civilization in the league of
nations. It seems that it is only their own government, corrupt as it has become, that refuses
to acknowledge, and build, on these historical strengths and give Iran, once more, its deserved
place as an example to follow in modern world culture and modern world affairs...
 

Why can I not believe him? Where did the humongous fortune of such an untalented human
being originate from? How such a gaffe-prone, uncharismatic political figure ended up wielding
such extraordinary power and holding the fortunes of one of the most powerful and of the most
corrupt states in modern history?


When a country organizes a referendum, there are two expected possible outcomes:  "yes" or "no".
If the citizens of the country are under a threat that one of the two results will lead to imposition
of severe sanctions against them, then there is no point to even hold the referendum. The people
responsible for the threats might as well go ahead with the predetermined outcome. I am wondering
why it is so difficult for a politician to recognize that. Does he need to take Political Science 101?


I think that Senator Boxer is in fact condescending and disrespectful and I think that her
behavior stems from her low self-esteem that she is trying very hard to conceal. Why would
anyone demand from anyone else to be called by a title if they were confident enough that
their capabilities bestowed that title upon them? There are reasons to believe, by observing
her behavior, that she really knows and appreciates the fact that, even though she sits on
that Senate chair, there are other men and women around her in California that are more
capable and suitable to occupy it...and she's naturally bitter about it.


Miracles do not happen that easily. Despite Dubai's $10B bailout by Abu Dhabi, the financial
bubble that the emirate has created will burst sooner or later, like so many others in recent
memory, and creditors will be wondering about "how they did not see things coming". Déjà vu?


If the healthcare reform bill does not clear the Senate because of this unacceptable senator,
the Connecticut democrats may be proud of themselves for sending such a figure to the Senate
to block the aspirations of all US liberals. After his support for the Iraq war, which has emptied
the US coffers and led to the recession, this abominable figure is now concerned about raising
the deficit by providing medical services to deserving Americans. Good night, Lieberman...


The cutest panda's complete genetic sequence has been revealed.
 

In Italy, Berlusconi has caused enough damage to democracy. Idiots that are trying to cause even
more damage by aspiring to replace the judicial and electoral processes by vigilantism are not at
all welcome. Italy, its political leaders, its businessmen and its people, have to become at last
accustomed to the idea that there is a constitution and that there are constitutional processes that
need to be followed. This is not the beginning of the 19th century anymore...


It turns out that history does come around full circle. When Kurds, blinded by religious differences
and lacking any kind of political foresight, sided with the radical Young Turks in attacking and
exterminating the Armenians towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries,
little did they know that the reborn Turkish state, through its judicial institutions, would not even
allow them to be part of the democratic processes...


Up until today there had been no scientific definition of a dellusional pliable psychopathic ba***rd.
But now, due to British politics, there does exist one.


Barack today collected the Nobel Peace Prize that he was awarded so undeservedly and he admitted
so himself, also proving so by reiterating his support for stubbornly and questionably increasing the
US military presence and aid to a corrupt, deceitful government in Kabul. But, probably, it was an
opportunity for him and Michelle to find out how it feels to be an awardee in such a ceremony...


Freedom is great and it reigns in Iran...


It will be a major mistake for the US to make the commitments that Karzai is asking for. He has
proven himself to be a deceitful and unreliable partner that should not be entrusted either with
Afghanistan's civil development or with its military build-up. If the US bankrolls this corrupt
state of a State for the next 15+ years, it will prove to be one of those foreign policy decisions
that it has come to deeply regret. Temporarily supporting rogue regimes in various other areas
for short-term expediency has repeatedly created long-term instability... WE MUST LEARN.


It will be funny how every official in the Afghan state machine without very close ties to Karzai
will be sentenced for corruption, whereas everyone else will be protected by a presidential blanket,
while, at the same time, the Western officials will be nodding their heads with satisfaction at the rate
of arrests and convictions and dishing huge amounts of aid at the Karzai government, proclaiming
successes at its battle against corruption. Is there anyone close to Karzai or Karzai himself ever to
be touched by any of these investigations? Of course not...


"I'm the president, but he's The Boss"


It is really a pity that the Obama administration has intentionally fallen so short of his original
promises for transparency and openness...


Girlfriend may have merited; may have not merited U.S. attorney nomination. THIS IS BESIDES
THE POINT. When are people, like Max "Min" Baucus and others, going to understand that there
is a thing, called CONFLICT OF INTEREST, in public life. If one of the nominees that you are
inclined to submit for a position is your girlfriend or one of your cronies, you excuse yourself from
the power of nominating and let someone else nominate, based only on considerations of merit.
But maybe, if people like Baucus did not offer such perks to girlfriends, not everything would have
been "straight, on the up and up"...


I understand that the Swiss People's Party, which put forward the proposal to ban the construction
of minarets, is concerned that minarets are a sign of "Islamisation". Do I understand this correctly
to mean an "increased influence of Islam"? If yes, those voters who supported the ban have a clear
need for a course in logic. Usually, when you are concerned about something, you do not try to
combat its effects, but rather look at its causes. The problem is that "Islamisation" of Europe, in
this sense, is inevitable because of the high rates of immigration and the higher rates of birth in
Muslim communities. But trying to cope with a perceived problem by tackling its effects because
you are unable to do anything about its causes is pretentious and doomed to failure.


I hope, for the good of both Iran and humanity, that Mohammad Karamirad's statement that
Iran may pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is an empty threat, expressed by a
lawmaker that is, unfortunately, not realizing the consequences for his country and the world.


Unfortunately, there also exist rich, well-dressed and well-disguised "polo socialite" scum that
the President and others have to deal with. I bet that, if someone had done the same thing to this
couple of socialite scums, they would have been so furious that they would have fired their own
private securitats... But that is how much they respect themselves and the President...


Barack and Michelle's smartness and impeccable manners, as well as their excellent record in
representing this country domestically and abroad give an answer to all bigots that are trying
so desperately to hand on to old prejudices. It is admirable that the White House has declined
to comment about the image.


"...Cancemi walked up to the gate of a carabinieri barracks and turned himself in... When he
was reunited with Tommaso Buscetta at a trial (the two were in the same Family and had become
friends while in prison in the 1970s), he confessed that he had personally carried out Riina's order
to strangle two of Buscetta's sons. The history-making mafia defector embraced Cancemi and said,
`You could not refuse the order. I forgive you because I know what it means to be in Cosa Nostra.'"
John Dickie, COSA NOSTRA A HISTORY OF THE CICILIAN MAFIA

Greek President Papoulias cordially welcomed his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov in
the Presidential Palace in Athens today. He spoke of the "existential relationship" characterizing
the excellent climate in the bilateral relations between the two neighbors. The Bulgarian President
responded by saying that relations now "are better than have ever been" and added that in the
context of the European Union bilateral relations have acquired a "new, European, dimension".


Our President welcomed the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to the White House
as a show of respect to the largest democracy on earth and its leader, one of the most respected
politicians; also as an indication that growing ties with China in the Asian Continent will not
leave American-Indian relations behind.
 

In terms of foreign policy, the British are the most pathetic people on this planet. And despite
that fact, they wanted to implant one of their most pathetic politicians ever as president of the
European Union. Their best bet has been joining the European family; and yet and still they are
Eurosceptics. Their worst bet has been maintaining the commonwealth to still feel important
through an obsolete colonialism; and yet this they do with pride. And now, they decided to set
up a committee to investigate (what is obvious to everybody else) whether they had grounds to
go to war in Iraq; they still cannot come into terms with the fact that an American clown pulled
their most incompetent politician of all times into an adventure that he is still trying to justify;
maybe because his own MI6 and MI7 and MI8 and.. and MI-whatever was clueless...

The magistrates: Antonino Caponnetto, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Giuseppe Di Lello,
Leonardo Guarnotta. The police force: Beppe Montana, Ninni Cassarà, Roberto Antiochia.
"it was not Italy that was fighting the mafia; it was an embattled minority bound together by
fierce team spirit and a sense of duty."
John Dickie, COSA NOSTRA A HISTORY OF THE CICILIAN MAFIA

Humanity...
 

Karzai had five years to reinvent himself. In any decent country with working democratic institutions,
he would have been thrown out of office in a re-election campaign for failing to deliver any results, other
that extending corruption, fraternizing with warlords (at the expense of the western aid-supplying powers
and the lives of their soldiers) and reinstating Taliban-era laws and regulations to buy local support.
Too late, far too late, for any hope for positive reforms from this dubious personality.


The European Union's top job appointments started on the left foot yesterday. Baronness Ashton,
by proclaiming herself as "the best person for the job" of High Representative for Foreign Affairs,
verified her critics' concerns that she does not have enough experience for the post by letting her
mouth run before her mind in her first reaction to the criticisms. Expecting good diplomatic skills?...


The process of electing an EU President is completely flawed. The EU Lisbon Treaty should have
delegated that very important power to the EU electorate. How are we supposed to feel that the
EU institutions care about what we think, if that very important decision is taken behind closed
doors by country representatives? We need to have an EU-wide vote in two rounds, one to narrow
down the list of candidates to two and the next to elect the President. Change the constitution now!

I am ashamed on behalf of the "Conspiracy of Fire Kernels". I am ashamed that my country, with
such a long history of struggle for democracy, freedom and equality, still produces anti-democratic
scum like that, who only aim at creating instability and new questionable adventures... You would
have been proud to have had only a tiny fraction of the history that Mikis carries on his shoulders
on your own. Even to utter his name with your lips is a sacrilege, but you do not know any better...


Oprah is doing a disservice to this country by publicising a garbage "political memoir" and by
providing air-time to a politician that is not intelligent enough to run this country's affairs. After
eight years of Bush administration and Oprah's experience of the effort that is needed in putting
someone smart and intelligent in office, it is a pitty that she promotes potential Bush-level
"leadership" or lack thereof.


The BBC reports "Obama presses China over rights". It is more accurate to say "Obama praises
China over taking a leading role in world affairs, invites China to a historic partnership with the
United States, but also presses China by advertizing the value of the "freedoms of expression and
worship, of access to information and political participation"." The President has taken a very
balanced, even-handed approach. Our President has fared well.


Organizations like the "Conspiracy of Fire Kernels-Fraction of Nihillists" have no place in a
free and democratic society with long established institutions and police force that are oriented
towards the protection of the citizens and the law. After all, a group of a few dozen people
does not have the right to fight for something that the overwhelming majority of citizens is
strongly and vehemently opposed to. Arrest, try and jail for life all members of CFK-FN.


It seems that the political unworthiness of Palin shines through her "memoir" as a form of
kitchen-style chit chat and pettiness... It is unfortunate that people spend money on this kind
of books, written by losers and intended for losers.


Not a soldier more, not a penny more in Afghanistan. Draft a plan to gradually return all our
remaining troops home. Let the Afghanis, that want unconditional sovereignty, sort their own
problems out. Let dictator Karzai live or perish depending on the democratic predisposition
and instincts of the Afghani people.



Papariga is one of the most miserable and out-of-touch politicians in the world; possibly the
only politician on earth that, in a completely irrational and absurd way, is still celebrating the
building instead of the fall of the Berlin wall. How is it possible for such an unintelligent human
being to be leader of a political party and to get any more than her own and her families votes
in a national election?


Representative Tom Latham, Iowa 4th Congressional District, let us all down. He voted
against the historic legislation that the House passed yesterday on Health Care Reform.
Unless he votes for the historic bill, when it passes through Congress for the final vote
to become law, Latham does not deserve our vote for re-election. Unlike what he claims
on his website, he will NOT be working for the people of Iowa's 4th Congressional District,
but for the special interests of an insatiable and unreasonable insurance industry.


Pagalos was an usuitable choice for a government official. He is well known to have issues in
making sure that his brain functions before he opens his mouth. George Papandreou, being
the exact opposite, will find it difficult to cope with this "unpolitical" figure. Predict a change
of persons in the next government shuffle if Pagalos' utterings cannot be controlled.


Bravo to the House of Represaentatives. You wrote history tonight. That is the reason why we voted
you and President Obama in office. You made possible what we thought our country was not up to.
What we thought  was only a Scandinavian privilege. THANK YOU!


Pull out of Afghanistan now! Let them enjoy their national sovereingty, their corruption, their round
tables with the warlords and their massacres with their Taliban. Let them cope with their own problems
with their own money. Let them realize that there does not exist unlimited financial and unconditional
political support from the west. Let them sense that the Bush years here  and there are over...
   

Turkey should not allow the beast Al Bashir, accused by the international community for war crimes,
crimes against humanity and genocide, to set foot on Turkish soil. Any action breaking the isolation
and desperation of this worst of human existences is not helping in international efforts towards holding
leaders, politicians and people of power accountable to the world community.


The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have, once more, messed up big
time in the developing world by putting all their money behind a huge fraud. By supporting the
dictator Karzai and, in essence, backing the fiasco of his cooking the first round of the presidential
elections, going unpunished for it and becoming uncontested president without a second round of
elections are sending the same old wrong signal to all similarly-minded "leaders" of comparable
countries: Do what it takes to establish a firm, albeit illegitimate, grip on power and our money
and support will always be there for you. Shame, shame, shame...


The withdrawal of Abdullah Abdullah from the presidential runoff elections in Afghanistan,
although partially justified because of the lack of significant guarantees for avoiding the repeat
of the fiasco of the first round and of the lack of any penalties against Karzai for his party's
large scale fraud, is unfortunate. Abdullah's party has been the only credible alternative and,
therefore, its withdrawal signifies complete and utter lack of choice for the Afghan electorate.


The choice on November 7 in Afghanistan is, unfortunately, not anymore about who of two
leaders is the most capable of leading the country into the future. It has become a choice between
the democratically-disguised, but foreign-backed and implanted authoritarian dictator Karzai,
who, like every other dictator, has cooked the books to remain in power, and the only alternative,
to be seen how democratic, the opposition leader Abdullah. And Afghanistan deserves better than
Karzai...


Berlusconi is just taking care of business in the ordinary, quintessential, Italian way; ordering
his associates to issue warnings, spread fear, intimidate and, if the message is not delivered and
understood properly, Saviano knows what comes next... It is a shame that the old politics and
the old Italian techniques work with the same rigor and without any hindrance in a "modern",
but not so modern, state.


NAME and SHAME: The following Senate Finance Committee members, with their extra fat
salaries and comfortable health insurance coverages did not vote for Healthcare Insurance
Reform, denying some form of coverage to their 45M fellow uninsured Americans, despite the
fact that they do not dare deny their votes when the time comes around:
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
JON KYL, AZ
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID 
PAT ROBERTS, KS 
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
MIKE ENZI, WY
JOHN CORNYN, TX
The only Republican member, who can now look voters in the eye and say that she fought on
behalf of the uninsured Americans (and all Americans that think they deserve what our Washington
representatives have) is OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME


...the origins of the mafia are closely related to the origins of an untrustworthy state-
the Italian state.
John Dickie, COSA NOSTRA A HISTORY OF THE CICILIAN MAFIA


"President" Karzai must be ashamed at what happened with voting in his country. He is a
pariah of a leader, someone that is not worth the hundreds of millions of our dollars that
our governemnt has invested in his shortcomings, inabilities and eventual deceptive and
highly unreliable behaviour. Saying that the confusion of the results of the election in
his country had been created by Western elements, when, up until now, he had been fully
satisfied with the aid that this same Western elements have been providing to his government
in bucketloads, shows that he is untrustworthy, panic stricken and gasping for his last
breaths of air in his justifiably ending political life. Allies should put more pressure for
change by sending him and his entourage home. Afghanistan deserves better.


Despite the fact that Barack's foreign policy is highly commentable and a deep and fundamental
change away from the shameful policies of Bush's administration, awarding Obama the 2009 Nobel
Peace Prize was a premature decision that is cheapening the significance of the award. There are
many individuals who have the same hopes and aspirations as Barack has in terms of global peace,
cooperation and prosperity. Not everyone of these individuals can, nor should they, win a Nobel
Peace Prize. The Prizes have been about achievements; not merely aspirations and encouragement.
It is my opinion that the nervousness and anxiety that surrounded the Norwegian (and other European)
societies on world prospects and world affairs during the Bush administration years made the decision
for this award shallow and automatic, not reflecting the actual achievements of Barack and the Obama
administration in the world scene...


The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) has won a convincing victory in Greece's
Parliamentary elections ousting the center-right New Democracy government.


The most beautiful first couple on earth was in Copenhagen trying to sway the Olympic
Committee members to send the 2016 Olympic Games to the city of Chicago. The challengers:
Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.
 

Shame on the Honduran dictators. When so many times, South-American countries have
complained of foreign-backed and foreign-imposed dictatorships, it is a shame that a local
idiot, like Micheletti, has resorted to that kind of action to express political dissatisfaction.
All South-American and world organizations should put pressure on Micheletti to step down,
try him for treason and impose the life-sentence penalty for him and his associates.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her CDU were handed a second term in office and a
chance to create a new right-wing government with the pro-business Free Democrats.


Bravo to Barack for reconsidering and for scrapping the US plan to build a missile defense
system in Poland and the Czech Republic. It brings the US, its European allies and Russia
closer together, it lowers military and cold-war era antagonisms at the expense of the old
continent and, in addition, extends a conciliatory hand to the "rogue" states that, sensibly
speaking, are not looking forward to destructive confrontations.

Bolton and other Bush-era officials with bankrupt defense and foreign policy credentials
would do better to shut up. NO NEW ARMS RACES IN EUROPE

One more example of the many that we've had over the last couple of years of the
utter pretentiousness of ethical conservativism in America...

Karzai has to step down now. His government has lost whatever little credibility it had
left after the widespread allegations of election fraud. It is one of the few elections in
recent memory, in which the results are changing daily so as to give the governing party
absolute (albeit completely incredible) majority.


Three beasts have been found guilty of plotting to kill thousands of people by
blowing up planes from London to North America with home-made liquid bombs.
As if natural disasters do not cause enough pain to the human species, there are
some human disasters around us that are not getting it. Let us hope Allah has in
store for them exactly what they deserve...


Bravo to the US State Department for halting all forms of non-humanitarian aid
to Honduras. For the first time ever in recent and not-so-recent memory, the US
sides with Democracy instead of with short-sighted self-interests. Barack, with this
strong and unequivocal move, shows that the double-standards of the past in US
foreign policy may be over.
 

National Organization for Marriage your Reclaim Iowa Project is not welcome in
our state. Iowa is a state that cherishes tolerance, plurality and diversity alongside
equality, freedom and opportunity for all. Our State Supreme Court has just re-
emphasized the values that Iowans consider dear and nonnegotiable. Rename your
Reclaim Iowa Project "Reclain New Jersey Project" and take it to where you come
from. Make your own society worse; not ours.

The leftist Democratic Party of Japan is set to win at least 300 out of the 480 seats
in the lower house of parliament ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed
Japan for all but 11 months since 1955. Headed by Yukio Hatoyama, the Democratic
Party will replace Taro Aso and establish a new cabinet within the next few weeks.