What about or what if? 

What if we bailed out the third world's global debt? (Only $72bn)

Version imprimable Obama gives Guantanamo another name

Cares so much about Afghanistan

After his famous and repeated position concerning Guantanamo and its lawless, hapless detainees, one expected the new president to pursue his fair stand for justice concerning the second most illegal American detention camp outside of the USA.

Alas, as many of in other areas to come (or stuff that already happened, like the deadly use of drone in the midst of populous areas in Pakistan) the new administration only abides with the former, in as far as Bagram and its unknown number of detainees -some since 2002-, are concerned.

“Having considered the matter, the government adheres to its previously articulated position,” wrote Michael F. Hertz, acting assistant attorney general.
 
So, no trial for them. Knowing the degree of haste, panic and ignorance with which the US forces acted at first and the degree of incompetence and corruption on the part of the Afghan government, one can only wonder:
what is the proportion of wholly innocent people whose lives have been mercilessly destroyed?
Can they not expect a little of this hope and change we've been told was coming?

Version imprimable Bailed-out surroundings {UPDATE}

Obama and his absent-minded secretaries

After all the the talk about the thorough vetting to which anyone susceptible to be part of the new administration was supposed to go through, I find discouraging to learn, like everybody, that so many guys fretted out unimpeded.
First it was Gov. Richardson, and we all thought "Okay, the guy had this thing going and Obama's staff found out a bit late about it, but not too late since the flamboyant (and very efficient diplomat) Latino politician took it on himself to step out early.

Then it was Geithner, who didn't pay his taxes when he was an IMF employee. Supposedly, the forms were so complexes the poor man got a bit confused and mixed American and International tax revenue, blablah...
Geithner, highly recommended by Rubin, the man who brought Citi to the meltdown and utter collapse, the big guru of derivatives, one of Obama's main economic advisers during the campaign.
Geithner, who finally got the job of Treasury Secretary...
Still, I thought "Okay i don't like the guy Geithner and his explanations while facing the Senatorial Comittee didn't convince me, but maybe the President knows better..


I couldn't miss to measure my cooling enthusiasm

Now, it's Daschle, whom every senator seems to be so fond of, who forgot to pay about $140,000 in taxes due to the use of a car and driver lent by a friend whose company is a big donor of the Democratic party.
Daschle, who made $200,000 during the last two years (out of around a total of 2 millions in revenue) in helping health care industries make their way in Washington.
Somehow, I thought I read somewhere that the revolving door habit of coming from an administration to work for the related industry and vice-versa was prohibited by Obama?
Change, you said?
Update
Hard to say if it is a matter for laughs or tears.
The moment Daschle announces he retires from Secretary nomination because of his tax issue, we hear that Nancy Killefer, who had been appointed by president Obama to a new job consisting in scrutinizing government spending, told the administration on Monday that she would  step down from the position at the Office of Management and Budget...because of tax-related issues..
Either it means Obama doesn't know who to pick, or that his team is better than previous ones at insisting on clean records?

Version imprimable The ban on the ban

helping the young women in poor countries

Obama's order to abolish the deeply unfair, narrow-minded and catastrophic ban on aid to movements, organisations or foundations that helped abortion or contraceptive measures in emerging countries is right, and puts America backwith hte , privileged countries already providing assistance to women.
→ more Lire la suite...

Version imprimable Obama'sMidEast policy

How to close doors that were open

Version imprimable Obama's first...bad move

Wrong call

How disappointing was Obama's speech at the State Department where he outlined his approach toward the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict!
Heavily insisting on the priority he gave to the so-called Palestinian Authority and its illegitimate ex-president, it all resumed in saying the USA will only (and as usual) follow Tel-Aviv's wishes.
How come Obama didn't acknowledge even slightly that there was another choice made by the palestinian people, even if he doesn't agree with Hamas policy?


one voice for the people of America, the other in spite of the people of the world
Then he went on, as self-confident as always, repeating over and over that he's ready to nearly double the amount of troops there, to support Hamid Karzai's totally corrupt regime...
Like if no one had told him the Afghan people resent any foreign army on their soil as they would an army of occupation.. and rightly so.
The only new element was his mentions of Pakistan.
But then again, seeing how unconscious he seems to be in Asian affairs, one can worry about his handling of the main nuclear-armed country.

We hear newly-intronized President's first call abroad was for Mahmud Abbas, whose term of president of the Palestinian Authority had expired on the 9th of January...
What a dreadfull move!
Where is the imaginative policy we've been lectured on so often during this fabulous campaign?

Not only Mahmud Abbas is not anymore president (he legally is a non-citizen of a people whithout a State of their own), not only Mr. Abbas is a totally inefficient politician surrounded by a Fatah well-known for its corruption, not only has he shown again and again that he lacked the support of his people, not only is he as patriotic as Marshal Petain was during the Nazi occupation of France (a collaborationnist doubled of a traitor), but Abu Mazen (his other name) offers no credible alternative to Hamas and is actually utterly discredited even among the anti-hamas palestinians.


Is it really how Obama reaches out?
Making his first foreign policy call to such an outdated player is sending the wrong message to the Arab masses in general and the Palestinian in particular.
It is also enforcing the actual autistic Israeli policy, and letting us fear that nothing new is gonna come, something we already guessed from Dennis Ross's foreseeable nomination as special envoy to the Middle East.
Not to mention that President Obama's following calls were for Olmert, Mubarack and King Abdullah, the other trio of the Arab youth's most-hated leaders.
Unless, of course, Barak Obama called these four guys to show them the door.
One can live on hope, after all.


Urging_surge 

Gone by 

Index of articles keywords 


Site powered by ViaBloga.
Skin is Vertigo by Brian Gardner.