The Woerth-Bettencourt affair made the French suspect corruption inside the government and, as the spiral of revelations wouldn't stop, Sarkozy couldn't find any better than blaming immigrants and, just to make sure he's made enough noise, the "French of foreign origin". So, now hundreds of Roma are being deported (even though they're European!), parents whose children miss school could be financially penalised and go to jail, but it is also said that french people of foreign origin would be stripped of the french nationality if they try to kill policemen. I don't see how that would increase security in France. Since then, the UN condemned Nicolas Sarkozy's policies, the international press condemned Nicolas Sarkozy's policies, even the Pope condemned Nicolas Sarkozy's policies!
Image credits: Act-Up
The masks have fallen. Nicolas Sarkozy is ready to dangerously stir xenophobia in France, and to attack the basic principle of republican equality, just to get re-elected in the next presidential election. It's just revolting and I will be on Saturday September 4, on the Place de la République at 2pm to protest with the Human Rights League.
Sarkozy is still very low in the polls and since the huge defeat of his party last March for the regional elections, it now appears possible to beat him in the 2012 presidential election. Moreover, the economy is not going well and he's about to cut public spending and social rights, but not the "tax shield" (a law he implemented, that prevents very rich people from paying too much taxes). However, people could very well re-elect him if he keeps stirring tensions as he's doing right now. Yes, we found our George W. Bush, our own worst President of the Republic!
Have you heard of the Tea Party? It's a political movement that is on the right of the Republican Party.
Because Bush wasn't enough.
Here is the advert of one of the candidates they support for the November elections.
The credits of that video must be on the website hosting it.
It's been two months now that BP's oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and letting oil flow uninterruptedly since, at a vertiginous rate that is impossible to estimate precisely. It's a real ecological cataclysm, the worst in US history (but don't worry, not of mankind history!).
BP has done everything to stop the leak but nothing works. The british firm has to recognise that it didn't properly assess neither the risks, nor the solutions. It also has to face accusations that it didn't respect security standards in order to save money. So it's trying everything it can to save its image, even by buying all the possible keywords on Google to redirect internet users to its website. It also said:
I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case with BP. We care about the small people.
This "small people" thing has not been taken in a good way in the US. especially now that Tony Hayward, the CEO, is currently taking part of a yachting competition in England.
In a nutshell, BP doesn't need anybody to make things worse for itself.
And the other main characters of the story are getting trapped in the oil as well. The first of them is Barack Obama who keeps making speech saying "it's not right!", but only shows he can't fix it. You can't blame him: indeed, he can't do anything about it. Well yeah, he's the President of the United States, not God.
The american Congress is not spared either. This week, the lawmakers received Tony Hayward, and they couldn't stop piling on him (which is kind of easy). the funniest thing is that a Republican apologised over this "shakedown". And the Democrats replied the Republicans were trying to protect their friends the rich, and so on and so forth.
So Congress had this great idea: call actor Kevin Costner. Why? Because he owns a company that makes (and sells!) machines that can separate water from oil. Will it really work? Watch the next episode!
And when you thought the world was going really wrong, here comes Sarah Palin, on Twitter:
Gulf disaster needs divine intervention as man's efforts have been futile. Gulf lawmakers designate today Day of Prayer for solution/miracle.
Thank you Sarah. If it ever works, it will be thanks to God, and if it doesn't, it will be because of Obama!
So yeah, the new couple at the head of the UK is very glamourous. It is even said that David cooked the first night.
Yeah, I'm talking of David Cameron, the Conservatives' leader and Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats' leader, the new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. What an unlikely alliance... But hey, the political landscape is such a mess over-there. So far, everything was about the Conservatives and Labour, especially because of a very unbalanced electoral system. This time, Labour lost, as planned, but the Conservatives didn't manage to convince either, which deprived them of an absolute majority, in a system that was conceived in a way to create strong majorities, though. So they made a coalition withe the Nick Clegg's LibDems.
What actually surprises me is that the Conservatives didn't ally with Labour. These two parties seemed closer and they would have had a stronger government and a bigger majority in Parliament! Since the Labour Party became New Labour with Tony Blair, it moved to the right a lot, going even further to the right than the Lib Dems who are considered as centrists. During the latest election, Nick Clegg clearly represented the left!
It is by the way the second thing that surprised me: I thought Labour would lose the previous election, in 2005, because of the war on Iraq, just like in Spain. Actually, it is very strange, I have the feeling that Labour lost only because of Gordon Brown's personality. When he came to power in 2007, the newspapers were mercyless regarding him. He was always mocked at because of his lack of charisma, his overweight, and stuff. He did bad things, but compared to Blair, it was nothing! And still, he's the one who lost. I'm not complaining for Brown, I just would have preferred Blair to lose.
The new "Clameron" government looks so unlikely that it is possible it doesn't make it through the end of the year. Until then, I hope Nick Clegg will have passed his reform of the electoral system, which was a priority in the coalition agreement. It will be a first step for the improvement of the political landscape in the UK.
Menwhile, Labour has to choose a new leader and I hope it will seise that opportunity to go back to the left. For now, there is a very media-friendly fight between David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary, a blairite, and... his brother, Ed Miliband, former Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, who is supposed to be more left-wing. The latter already said the war on Iraq was a mistake, while David tries to play down polemics by saying that you shouldn't look to the past, blah blah blah...
Anyway, this whole mess is not going to help the country which is going through a touch economic slump.
You must have heard of the National Equality March that happened last weekend in the US, where loads of LGBT people converged to Washington in order to ask Obama that he realises his promises towards lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals. On Saturday evening, there was another event, the Equality to End HIV/AIDS Rally and Vigil, in front of the White House for the struggle against AIDS, but it hasn't been as successful. Blogger Andrew Sullivan was there and didn't refrain from speaking his mind about the Democratic Party, as well as the HRC (the main organization for gay rights in the US).
The credits of that video must be on the website hosting it.
I loved the Lady Gaga bit.
Le Figaro claims Tony Blair is still the front-runner for the job of President of the European Council, but they also list other possible candidates, some unlikely, some expected. There's Gordon Brown, François Fillon, as well as Juncker and Gonzalez. Every candidate has their advantages and their drawbacks, but when one of them got my specific attention.
Image credits: Unknown
When I read the name of former irish President Mary Robinson, I thought I shouldn't get carried away because she's the only woman in the list. But when I read she was honorary President of Oxfam International, a powerful, famous NGO, I was stunned: you don't imagine politicians neither commiting themselves to charities, nor being supported by organisations they haven't created themselves! Then I saw that she had been High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations, and that she had been awarded by Amnesty International for her work there. Wow!
This profile looks almost too good to be true. I'm sure that if we look a bit further, we can find something wrong. A journalist at the Washington Post wrote she didn't deserve the presidential medal of freedom, awarded by Obama, roughly because something was missing in her resume: a real achievement. He accuses her of talking the talk, but not delivering. (It's almost ironic now that we know that Obama has just got the Peace Nobel Prize, hardly nine months after his inauguration...) Likewise, she was President of Ireland, and not head of the government. It makes a difference because in Ireland, the President has very limited powers. She could then be reproached her lack of executive experience. It could indeed be a problem if we want a strong President, to really give pulse to Europe.
Anyway, I guess the 27 european leaders, who will decide who will be the first President of the European Council, do not want to choose someone who would urge them to respect their promises regarding Congo, among other things.
Nevertheless, I would be proud to have someone whose commitment for the Human Rights and fight against misery will have been so strong, as Preisdent of the European Council.
Providing only one space of accomodation in therapy apartment, when we receive every month fifteen or twenty requests, it's not a challenge, it's a scandal.
And it's only the very beginning of the article.
What the hell is happening?
In Germany, the FDP, a right-wing, pro-free market party led by Guido Westerwelle, won enough seats in the Bundestag to govern with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Everybody expects openly gay Westerwelle to become Foreign Minister. Gays.com highlighted in an article the year will have been good for gay politicians, especially since the victory of Johanna in the parliamentary elections, who became the first openly gay elected head of government in History.
Thinking about it, there's more and more prominent gays in the world... In the United States, the most active person in Congress among Democrats, after speaker Nancy Pelosi, is Barney Frank. He's on the front line regarding the health care reform. In the United Kingdom, Lord Peter Mandelson is one of the most powerful government members, gathering no less than three titles, including First Secretary of State, so much that the opposition called him "the real Prime Minister".
Nevertheless, can we talk of a real change for the gays? In the US, we saw that, during Barack Obama's election, last November 4, States also voted against every law project that would grant LGBT people new rights. Likewise, in Iceland, in the UK and in Germany, homosexuality is already broadly accepted. These issues of persons in charge doesn't seem to have any real impact, it's rather the other way around: it's the tolerance of a society towards LGBT people that seems to enable citizens from the sexual minority to be elected.
The Irish will have voted yes, in the end. The Lisbon Treaty is on its way to enter into force by the end of the year.
Now the question is: who is going to get the job of permanent President of the European Council created by the Treaty? Everything tends to say that this choice has already been made. The first Europresident would then be... suspens... Tony Blair.
Image credits: Peter Schrank for The Economist
Tony Blair. The man who followed George W. Bush into Iraq, who committed to give a pro-european feeling to his country but quickly gave up, whose country has not even accpeted the euro, and so on. To my eyes, it's really the worst choice that could be made, only because it would give the image of a Europe submitted to the United States, although one of its vocations is its independence.
When Tony Blair quit Number 10 to give his seat to Gordon Brown, he was named Middle East Peace Envoy for the Quartet (United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia). This choice was already a big mistake: Who could think that a man who took part to an unjustifiable war could help peace? By the way, you can see the results: Israel attacked Gaza last December and January, and a government opposed to a Palestinian state got elected in Israel. The situation has deteriorated.
But this is not the most ironic thing. Tony would like the EU's top job but something makes him hesitate. What could that be? A conflict with some leaders? The will to change the definition of his job, in order to make Europe stronger? A matter of conscience regarding Iraq??? Well, no, again, Mister Blair surprises us:
Meanwhile, Blair is said by some to have had some reservations about the presidency post, chief among them that he would earn less money than he does now giving speeches and other private work, and that the job would involve a lot of bureaucratic grind. But he would still earn about £250,000 a year with generous EU tax allowances, have a staff of at least 20 and a splendid Brussels residence.
Of course! Blair hesitates because he's offered ONLY £250,000! Well, let him say no to the job! Europe is an ideal. It needs to be carried by people who have a vision for it, not by some guys looking for attention and money!
How can we stop him? I know there's a website and an online petition taht I have already signed, at stopblair.eu. I'm wondering if I can do more, like... sending a letter to the head of State or government? To my MEP? Subscribing to the "No to Blair" Facebook group? Any ideas?
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