Mata Hari's conviction

Exactly 98 years ago on my birthday, Margaretha was convicted to death for spying in the first world war.

A premeditated crisis, à la Grecque

Photo from the Big Picture.

10 July 2015 Alexis Tsipras, with the full on drama of a man on the death row:
"No supposed reforms addressed the notorious triangle of corruption that was set up in our country many years ago, prior to the crisis, between the political establishment, the oligarchs and the banks. No reforms have improved the operation and efficiency of the State, which has learned to operate to serve special interests rather than the common good."
"Today, we come with a strong mandate from the Greek people and with a firm determination to not clash with Europe, but to clash with the vested interests in our country, and with the established rationales and attitudes that plunged Greece into crisis, and are putting a drag on the Eurozone, as well."

Europe, it serves no purpose to beat a dead horse.


8 July 2015 Greek style yoghurt, produced in Germany.

 










7 July 2015 France is leaning towards Greece, UK is out of the game. Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Austria, and Sweden are expected to join the German narrative.

The ripples reach all the way to China, with stocks loosing 25% of their value since mid June.

6 July 2015 Two parallel narratives are constructed in Greece and EU, the borders are already thickening.

Yanis Varoufakis steps down as a first concession to the creditors. The mastermind of the new Greek hope leaves the front stage.

5 July 2015 More than 60% of the greeks said OXI. Somewhere the big P pops open a champagne.

2 July 2015 Robert Kaplan on the geopolitics of the Greek crisis and why they can be more important than the economics.

Comments from the Indiegogo campaign:
"Enfin un geste symbolique et politique, un peu naïf et dérisoire mais c’est un bon pied de nez à la non-action-politique de nos dirigeants européens…!"
"With kind consideration from Romania. This campaign is a slap to all those oligarchs (the 1%) that know only to keep everything to themselves (and ruin countries like Greece) and a thumb up for true people that can show compassion and solidarity. Go humanity and go Greece!"

1 July 2015 Greece defaults on an IMF payment of $1.8bn out of a total of $40bn, the ordeal is only at the beginning. In the meantime, Indiegogo is closing on the first million mark. Somebody should bring the ice buckets on this one.



What does the Crimean status referendum of 2014 have in common with the Greek bailout referendum? They are both a mockery of democratic processes, where a few scared people are used in a dispute much larger than themselves.

If not more than this, the Indiegogo campaign gives us the scale of this massive debt in human terms. At the moment a town about the size of Galway (students out of town for the summer break) put in 17 euros each for the Greek bailout fund. We're not even close to 0.1% of this year's payment to IMF.

30 June 2015 Sell! Sell! Sell! Cried the wolves from Asia to Australia.

The Facebook feed goes on such a frenzy, unprecedented since the initial public offering of Facebook.

Crowd-funding to the rescue... and the servers are down.

29 June 2015 Greek banks close and fix a limit on cash withdrawals.

The EU president makes his call to arms. The biggest loosers of this deal are ship owners, corrupt officials, the energy industry, the public administration, and the military. But scaring pensioners is more effective in a public vote.

26 June 2015 Alexis Tsipras puts an abrupt halt to debt negotiations by calling a referendum that might as well just have a "no" for an answer. A wise politician only calls a referendum when they can be certain of the answer.

14 April 2015 The Greek public debt is at 180% of GDP, up from 164% in 2012, 146% in 2010, and 109% in 2008. More about a predictable crisis here.

The decline and fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (V)

"In every age, the absence of genuine inspiration is supplied by the strong illusions of enthusiasm, and the mimic arts of imposture. If, in the time of Julian, these arts had been practised only by the pagan priests, for the support of an expiring cause, some indulgence might perhaps be allowed to the interest and habits of the sacerdotal character. But it may appear a subject of surprise and scandal, that the philosophers themselves should have contributed to abuse the superstitious credulity of mankind, and that the Grecian mysteries should have been supported by the magic or theurgy of the modern Platonists. They arrogantly pretended to control the order of nature, to explore the secrets of futurity, to command the service of the inferior daemons, to enjoy the view and conversation of the superior gods, and by disengaging the soul from her material bands, to reunite that immortal particle with the Infinite and Divine Spirit."

"The neighbourhood of the capital of Persia was adorned with three stately palaces, laboriously enriched with every production that could gratify the luxury and pride of an Eastern monarch. The pleasant situation of the gardens along the banks of the Tigris was improved, according to the Persian taste, by the symmetry of flowers, fountains, and shady walks: and spacious parks were enclosed for the reception of the bears, lions, and wild boars, which were maintained at a considerable expense for the pleasure of the royal chase. The park-walls were broke down, the savage game was abandoned to the darts of the soldiers, and the palaces of Sapor were reduced to ashes, by the command of the Roman emperor. Julian, on this occasion, showed himself ignorant, or careless, of the laws of civility, which the prudence and refinement of polished ages have established between hostile princes. Yet these wanton ravages need not excite in our breasts any vehement emotions of pity or resentment. A simple, naked statue, finished by the hand of a Grecian artist, is of more genuine value, than all these rude and costly monuments of Barbaric labour: and if we are more deeply affected by the ruin of a palace than by the conflagration of a cottage, our humanity must have formed a very erroneous estimate of the miseries of human life."

"While Julian struggled with the almost insuperable difficulties of his situation, the silent hours of the night were still devoted to study and contemplation. Whenever he closed his eyes in short and interrupted slumbers, his mind was agitated with painful anxiety; nor can it be thought surprising, that the Genius of the empire should once more appear before him, covering with a funeral veil his head, and his horn of abundance, and slowly retiring from the Imperial tent. The monarch started from his couch, and stepping forth to refresh his wearied spirits with the coolness of the midnight air, he beheld a fiery meteor, which shot athwart the sky, and suddenly vanished. Julian was convinced that he had seen the menacing countenance of the god of war; the council which he summoned, of Tuscan Haruspices, unanimously pronounced that he should abstain from action; but on this occasion, necessity and reason were more prevalent than superstition; and the trumpets sounded at the break of day."

"Friends and fellow-soldiers, the seasonable period of my departure is now arrived, and I discharge, with the cheerfulness of a ready debtor, the demands of nature. I have learned from philosophy, how much the soul is more excellent than the body; and that the separation of the nobler substance should be the subject of joy, rather than of affliction. I have learned from religion, that an early death has often been the reward of piety;  and I accept, as a favor of the gods, the mortal stroke that secures me from the danger of disgracing a character, which has hitherto been supported by virtue and fortitude. I die without remorse, as I have lived without guilt. I am pleased to reflect on the innocence of my private life; and I can affirm with confidence, that the supreme authority, that emanation of the Divine Power, has been preserved in my hands pure and immaculate. Detesting the corrupt and destructive maxims of despotism, I have considered the happiness of the people as the end of government. Submitting my actions to the laws of prudence, of justice, and of moderation, I have trusted the event to the care of Providence. Peace was the object of my counsels, as long as peace was consistent with the public welfare; but when the imperious voice of my country summoned me to arms, I exposed my person to the dangers of war, with the clear foreknowledge (which I had acquired from the art of divination) that I was destined to fall by the sword. I now offer my tribute of gratitude to the Eternal Being, who has not suffered me to perish by the cruelty of a tyrant, by the secret dagger of conspiracy, or by the slow tortures of lingering disease. He has given me, in the midst of an honorable career, a splendid and glorious departure from this world; and I hold it equally absurd, equally base, to solicit, or to decline, the stroke of fate."

"It was an ancient custom in the funerals, as well as in the triumphs, of the Romans, that the voice of praise should be corrected by that of satire and ridicule; and that, in the midst of the splendid pageants, which displayed the glory of the living or of the dead, their imperfections should not be concealed from the eyes of the world."

Fever to the form, Nick Mulvey

Beni Hatırla, Cem Adrian

Starea națiunii

19 Iunie O consecință pozitivă a valului de arestări este că acum România este obligată de CEDO să îmbunătățească condițiile din penintenciare. Pe același principiu ar trebui ca măcar o parte din clasă politică să treacă din nou prin școala primară, să trăiască din ajutorul de șomaj sau din pensia minima, să locuiască la sat, să fie medici stagiari sau învățători și să fie internați într-un spital. Sigur ar reclama condiții inumane și degradante.

15 Iunie Biblioteca Batthyáneum și Ioan Rus sunt cele două subiecte folosite ca materiale de diversiune pentru zidul făcut de parlament in jurul lui VVP.

25 Aprilie  Năstase mărturisește că Uniunea Europeană nu mai e tot ceea ce a crezut că o să fie când ne-a negociat aderarea. Întâmplător tot el are și răspunsul, o apropiere de BRIC, presupunem că mai ales de R și C din motive pur istorice. Chiar și acronimul ar fi foarte atractiv, BRRIC.

25 Martie Șova are nouă vieți și nu din cauza mersului la grupul de rugăciune. Asta e pentru a servi prostimii explicații alternative pentru acest miracol.

21 Februarie Chevron renunță la exploatările de gaz de șist din România.

20 Februarie Între timp, dincolo de Dunăre lucrurile par trase la indigo.

19 Februarie Vizualizare a bugetului de stat pe 2013.  

Bugetul anual al SRI este 224 milioane euro, în creștere din 2012. În comparație, bugetul anual al DGSI din Franța este de 41 de milioane euro. De cinci ori mai mare pentru o populație de trei ori mai mică. 

10 Februarie Campanii politice mult prea scumpe, servicii secrete supradimensionate, presă și televiziune națională falimentare, procurori timorați, oameni de afaceri cu etică de bișnițar, polițiști atât de bine inflitrați între infractori încât nu mai știu nici ei diferența. Strâns legați între ei prin relații de rudenie și prin gustul pentru bani, cât mai mulți și cât mai nemeritați.

Casă de piatră, Jodi & Kiel

Card after Millie Marrota's Animal Kingdom.