OPEN BOUQUET (May-June)

By William Markiewicz

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

Bush's Tuesday Speech (6/28)

In Bush's speech the main message is: whatever we do, we will win because we are stronger. Haven't we heard it already? People enthusiastically applauded when he talked about "our army." Haven't we seen this infatuation with army before? Conclusion: history always repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce as Marx said. Bush's reputation will not emerge triumphant from his wars -- to his speeches -- to his wars. We cannot lead a colonial war in the 21st century because the Third World doesn't mean 'savages.' Iraq doesn't qualify for the label 'Third world' any more than, for instance, Mussolini's Italy did. Still, the conquest of Afghanistan and Iraq is handled in a purely colonialist style, no matter what official propaganda claims.

Soot Coloring Urtica and Our Lungs (5/26)

Last Monday, I saw a TV program about the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario. It highlighted some plants that contribute to cleaning the atmosphere. For a long time I've wanted to communicate to somebody my observations from Europe in places where a lot of wild Urtica (Nettle) grew. In one spot, where traffic was particularly heavy, there was Urtica, completely blackened from absorbing pollution. Other plants around didn't show those symptoms. What was interesting was that, black and ugly, those Urtica were not dying but continued to grow vigorously. Only their aspect was affected, not their health. I concluded that Urtica is a natural pump that absorbs microscopic impurities like soot and yet survives. Then the massive use of Urtica in polluted areas might be an efficient way to fight pollution. Urtica planted along highways or in city centers, intermixed with some other plants to mask their unaesthetic look, may make a serious change in air quality. I hope that somebody takes an interest in this idea.

A Liberating Earthquake for America -- Again? (5/24)

What's new? Not too much. So let's ponder the usual.

Most of the wars of great conquerors like Alexander the Great, those of the Roman Wars, Mongolian, Ottomans, Napoleon, Hitler were show-off wars with no political or economic necessity. Only Islam, the Crusades, Communism introduced universalism in conquests. Other conquests belong to dictators who would have been more successful remaining on their local scale. So Franco was smarter than Hitler and Mussolini. Saddam should have learned from Franco how to know his limits. Because of all those egomaniacs, "History went on", an expression of boredom, Ego and philosophy of dictators. The population back home profited little from their leaders' imperialistic designs. Colonial powers gave up their ambitions when they realised that those ventures were not profitable. Filthy rich America doesn't need to conquer oil or anything else. Everybody around is ready to sell everything from oil to soul (if anybody's interested in such an item). Also, security is a poor excuse. Nobody is crazy enough to threaten the all-powerful. The lesson of Saddam Hussein's mistakes in Kuwait will never be forgotten. So, all the giant military bases built by the Superpower around the world serve only as an absurd display of power and arrogance, and put a threatening shadow over the universe. It is not a deterent to terrorism but all the contrary.

Bush also builds his interior fortress through various means from patriot acts to Judges nomination. The political animals will not notice when the water turns into ice and the ground into rock around them. Is there still hope? Will America be able to initiate a liberating earthquake like the one that ended McCarthyism?

And the Volunteers Line Up (5/12)

The volunteers for the army in Iraq are slaughtered by suicide bombers and still more continue to line up at the recruitment points. Is it the economic situation that makes them stoic? Perhaps. But another option is possible: until there's proof to the contrary, the Shiites form the overwhelming majority of volunteers. The Shiites are very organized and disciplined. Their leaders know that the kamikaze can't forever stop a countless number of Shiites from forming the army that will be essentially Shiite even if officially called Iraqi. Even if the Sunni cooperated fully, the balance of power would remain overwhelmingly Shiite. Once the army is formed, its next step will be into the Sunni Triangle to make them pay dearly for all the Shiite losses due to kamikaze. Of course their offensive will be held in the name of the fight against terrorism. Will Iraq's unity be achieved via a hecatomb for the Sunnis presented as "a triumph for democracy"?

The Top Spins (5/07)

Iraq is a slaughterhouse; Afghanistan and partially Pakistan -- not much better. And the Brits calmly re-elect Blair. In America it seems business as usual. The excellent information site antiwar.com is running out of money and visits are shrinking. Obviously Western society has become indifferent to what happens on their periphery, meaning, the rest of the world. We witness the Western world becoming immersed in a deep frost; a bit similar to what happened in Nazi occupied Europe, because -- yes -- Nazi occupied Europe was, on the whole, indifferent or even sympathetic to Nazism. The Resistance was rather marginal, on the outskirts of society, except in Serbia and Greece. European youth joined the SS in such numbers that Germans became the minority (Leon Degrelle). Neocons serenely feel that the future belongs to them; meaning, they will continue to spin the top as they like.

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William Markiewicz