OPEN BOUQUET (July-August)

By William Markiewicz

(As other short items may follow, I've decided to group them together.)

Right or Wrong, It Was a Pretext (8/22)

CNN's special report, "Dead Wrong: Inside an Intelligence Meltdown", mentioned a Saddam Hussein/Al Qaeda connection. If Saddam Hussein couldn't find a trusted refuge among his friends in or around Iraq but, instead, had to dig a hiding hole in the ground, that's because he had to protect himself not only from Americans but also from Osama and Al Qaeda. The invasion of Iraq opened a Pandora's Box of flourishing terrorism. Bush could never have believed in an alliance between enemies Saddam and Osama. The invasion of Iraq had Iraqi oil as its exclusive goal and in the 'new Iraq', building now, the US has a firm plan to maintain a grip on oil. Now Iran is aggressively targeted. As a draft would prove difficult this next war may be aerial and nuclear. See "Is Another Hiroshima Possible?" in this issue.

Why I Didn't See "The Passion" (8/21)

I just saw the CNN Report on Mel Gibson and his "Passion" which triggers me now to explain my views about those nests for emotions.

I didn't see "Darwin's Nightmare." I don't like to watch destruction of the environment. I wouldn't go to see documentation about vivisection. I don't like to follow the Milosevic 'trial' to see how the all-powerful practice vivisection on their victim by blocking the efficacity of his defence. Personally I feel sufficiently enlightened that I don't need to seek out this material. What do I have in particular against "The Passion"? From the little I saw, I concluded that it is not a spectacle of violence and sadism in service of religion and art but uses religion and art in the service of sadism and violence. In conclusion, I accuse "The Passion" of being in bad taste. Yes, perhaps I'm guilty of a superficial judgement based on a gut feeling. I just speak about myself and about my reticence to see this, in its own way, masterpiece.

The Best Power is Evenly Distributed Power (8/20)

The USA recently condemned China's dangerously growing economic, military, political might, as well as its record on human rights. I wish I could write that the US doesn't impose its military, political, economic might on the rest of the world, that its human rights record remains impeccable. I have to accept instead the reality that the US is practicing the adage: 'Do as I say not as I do.'

As I've written before, America is a good country, but excess of power spoils even the best one.

They Persist in a Lost War to Save Face (8/18)

Persisting in a fight to save face is a game even too juvenile for junior highschool playgrounds. To leave Gaza is a cosmetic procedure as long as the whole occupied territory is not restored to the Palestinians in accordance with the Oslo agreement for which Begin and Sadat received their Nobel Prize. Whether it's the West Bank, Iraq or Afghanistan, Sharon's, Bush's and Blair's wars are lost in advance as colonial conquests belong to the remote past. The myopic, all-powerful demagogues engender situations that start triumphantly and end in tragedies. History will not forget to judge them.

Disinfecting the Universe (8/11)

I read a science fiction story about a planet so advanced that they purified their oceans. They got water clean of infection and dead.

Toronto up to now has been full of birds - sparrows, pigeons, sea gulls, starlings - which gave life to the air of the city. Since the avian flu alarm, the sky is strangely silent and empty. Since 'they eliminated stray cats, there is an epidemic of mice and rats that 'they' eliminate now with poison. So much for 'their' contribution to the environment. What tonnage of poison will they have to use to eliminate the plague of insects that follows the disappearance of birds? We've lost natural immunity because of excessively protecting ourselves from nature. Will we slowly sink into an artificially life-safe environment where the occasional removal of our breathing masks will be a life threatening experience?

Northern Ireland and Bosnia (7/29)

Both, in their past were conquered by a foreign invader. In both, the prominent class today is the one that sided with the invader. In both, the original inhabitants, faithful to their past, were reduced to a minority. The difference is that while in Yugoslavia's civil war the world took the side of the separatists in defiance of basic international laws, in Northern Ireland, nobody dared to take the nationalist side against the English. Obviously in democratic societies some are more equal than others. Will the nationalists' success in Northern Ireland help the Serbs in Bosnia or will paupers always remain paupers for the arrogant Western world?


Rule Britannia (7/21)

If only 33 percent of Britons believe there is a big link between the Iraq invasion and London bombings, it shows that the British people don't take seriously enough the implication of their present war in Central Asia. They remain deeply rooted in their colonial tradition. After all, you don't brush away centuries of "Rule Britannia." Long lasting pride has deeper roots than freshly inflicted wounds.


From WMD to Women's Rights (7/17)

Tony Blair, in one of his latest speeches, mentions the oppression of women in Muslim countries. Why has he taken such a long time to reveal that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq were inspired by the women's liberation movement? The myth of WMD has vanished so he's busy finding other arguments. One piece of information for him: Saddam Hussein's Iraq was a haven for quite liberated women, contrary to the new Iraq created by US and English invasion.


The 'World' Deserves Him (7/16)

Tony Blair's face fills the cover page of the Swiss magazine, L'Hebdo (No. 28), with the headline: "Tony Blair, Leader of the World." As Tiberius said: "Caligula, Rome deserves you."


Two Champions: Mugabe and Bush (7/02)

Mugabe destroys his country in order to improve it. Bush sows destruction in Central Asia for oil which he could get cheaper and more safely through peaceful means. He foments terrorism to fight it.


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