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Fifty years since 9/11
… the one in Chile, the US-orchestrated disaster that opened some Western eyes to US foreign policy. What we should have understood back then – but most of us didn’t – was that many countries, including my own, have both an official and an unofficial foreign policy. In the case of the USA and my…
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La semana trágica
No language can compete with Spanish when it comes to heartbreaking titles (surely you will admit that “The tragic week” isn’t up to much). There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of tragic weeks scattered throughout the pages of history, even (or rather, not least) recent history, yet my search engine only returns results from…
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Inquisition
So what if I were wrong. What if there was no US-supported coup in Ukraine in 2014? What if the Ukraine war is not a proxy war waged by the USA against Russia? Does that mean that such suspicions, such suggestions, such ideas should be banned from all mainstream and social media on the grounds…
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Pelshval?
While I was rebuilding this website after it collapsed like a house of cards a couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that perhaps I should finally explain a thing or two: What is pelshval? Or who? And what is he, she or it doing here? The Norwegian word “pelshval” means furry whale. There…
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Hubris
In 1809, Napoleon’s troops surrounded Vienna, bombarded the city for 24 hours or so, until it surrendered. By then, the local aristocracy, of which there was more than enough to go around, had long driven off in their splendid equipages to go and visit aristocratic relatives in other duchies, princedoms and kingdoms, whereas the dismayed…
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Social cohesion
No matter where you turn for information and guidance, these days, at least in my country, journalists and commentators are sure to raise their arms as a sign, not of innocence but of ignorance. “I don’t know,” they say, “I have no idea what will happen,” they say. Obviously, they would never declare such ignorance…
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Chile on fire
When Pinochet came to power, he gave the so-called Chicago Boys (economists inspired by Milton Friedman) a free rein in remodelling Chile’s economy. Also, he enacted a new and obviously controversial constitution. When Pinochet stepped down, the dictatorship ended, but the Pinochet constitution, enacted in 1981, is still in force. Moreover, the Chicago Boys’ neo-liberal…
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Annoying the general public
I’m writing today in response to this: http://www.musicradar.com/news/5-reasons-why-your-protest-song-is-making-things-worse Mind you, it’s well worth reading as the guy evidently has a point – five, actually – as well as a sense of humour. And he’s not the only one who’s sick and tired of bedraggled lefties who go on and on about “the scourge of neoliberalism”,…
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Football from the sidelines
Almost blinded by the sun and my own perspiration as I drag myself up the steep hill, I find that the cobbled roads are near empty while the normally empty bars are packed. Packed with men, shouting men. Football, I assume, and snarl. Mind you, I don’t at all mind football. What bothers me is…
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Scylla and Charybdis
My compatriots seem unable to talk about anything else, so great is their dread of waking up on Wednesday to learn that what they consider … – actually, I’d better not say what they consider him – … anyway, that he will turn out to be the world’s most powerful man. The media here is…