The Lion Cub in Winter!

Our President still can’t make up his mind as to how he wants the world to see him. He tries his best to come off looking smart and reasonable, only to look foolish and dumb. He bends over backwards to get a deal with the US, only to get none. What’s a dumb petty dictator to do in this world to get the powers-that-be to buy into his most obvious and ludicrous lies? Oh why, oh why, oh why, has life changed so much from the time when his father was still alive, at least in theory, and when the world seemed so willing to buy any shit that the regime had to peddle?

I think the lion cub will never know. He may not live long enough for that.

Merry Heresies!

I never believed in the homeland. I never liked the people. I never really had a cause. I don’t think I ever will. If I seem principled to some, it is because I was born this way. If I seem dedicated, it is because I am compulsive. I never really had a choice in these matters. My opposition to the Syrian regime, among others, is born out of the intrinsic “assholeness” of its members, not out of any hypothetical patriotic sentiment on my part. I prefer practical working arrangements to principled stands. But I also realize that no such arrangements can be made with idiots, not to mention bloodthirsty idiots. Continue reading →

From Zorro to Voltaire!

“When the people are ready, the maser will come!” So says Anthony Hopkins in the Mask of Zorro. I wonder though when will people be ready for the absence of masters? When will they become their own masters?

Some will argue that the peoples of the Middle East are simply not ready for that. I agree. Giving the freedom to do what they want, most people in the Middle East might seek to simply create an alternative form of servitude, e.g. Iraq. Still, I see no other way for people to learn anything about self-governance but to muddle though, e.g. Iraq. Continue reading “From Zorro to Voltaire!” →

The Myriad Faces of Heresy!

“…it is highly unlikely that the Syrian regime will voluntarily effect any major changes in its general structure or its modus operandi. Half-hearted pressures on it to do so will probably not be enough. Still, a full-scale invasion with the goal of effecting a regime change, even with a good casus belli in hand, will most likely prove too problematic at this stage. Syria has a relatively new president who has been received with all due honors by many world leaders, including Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Prime Minister Gerhardt Schroeder, and French President Jacques Chirac. Syria’s relations with the world community are much more intricate and ambivalent than those of the Taliban or the Saddam regime, as we have noted earlier. The case against Syria will never be as clear-cut as that against Afghanistan or Iraq. A full-scale invasion of Syria would seem to require a U.S. administration that is even more oblivious to the rest of the world than the current Bush administration seems to be. Continue reading “The Myriad Faces of Heresy!” →