So where's the moolah??

Many people in the Balkans and other places where corruption and the misappropriation of government funds is supposedly rife tend to think that such practices just don't exist in Western societies. Oh, how are they wrong! As I am quick to point out, the West is just as corrupt, only that we hide it better. This fact came to mind with the news that the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says the US Department of Defence is unable to account properly for 96% of the money! In figures, that means out of just over $9bn (£5.8bn), $8.7bn is unaccounted for! That's a lot of dosh, and this time we can't blame those shifty, dark Iraqi Muslims.

The US military has a novel way to avoid facing the music - the well-tried tactic of drowning in bureaucracy. According to the big brass, the funds were not necessarily missing, but that "spending records might have been archived". That means that in attempting to account for the money might require "significant archival retrieval efforts". How convenient.

Yet again, the chaos of 'freedom and democracy' in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed, wounded or disabled, and millions had lives destroyed, is just a money-making operation for some in the West. As my ancestors would say 'igrajat so nas' (They're playing with us).

Much ado about nothing - the myth of immigration numbers

As Australia's politicians gear themselves for the upcoming election on the 21st August, one of the main issues has been immigration. Of course, a majority of the public believes that there's too much immigration and for all the usual groundless stereotypes of 'they're taking away our jobs' etc. and 'they get special treatment to services'.

I was suprised to see that the numbers of immigrants to Australia is currently at 170,000 a year, which is the highest they've ever been. However, when looking at the numbers of arrivals as a percentage to the Australian population at the time, the level of immigration has significantly dropped from the 1950s-1970s period. Still, numbers have been steadily increasing ever since the lows of the early 1990s when the net migration total was as low as 30,000 per year. What is suprising about this is that during the past 15 years most of the Australian political discourse on immigration has been overwhelming slanted at cutting numbers, however in practice, that has not been the case. So we have a situation, not unique to Australia I might add, of politicians rather publicly saying immigration should be and will be slashed but secretly, away from public view, are not following through with what they preach. What does this mean? It certainly points to the fact that having a 'tough stance on immigration' is just a smokescreen for racism. When members of the public complain about immigration, often what they really mean is that they don't like visible minorities - Africans, Asians, Muslims. Rarely these days (at least in Australia) is much, if at all any, anger is directed at the much larger numbers of immigrants still arriving from the UK and especially New Zealand. By pandering to just talk of immigration cuts allows people to express deep-held (and otherwise socially-unacceptable) racist views towards 'others'. The people holding these views aren't usually the ones who would delve into statistic archives to find out true numbers nor are they really into politics or the complexities of population and demographic dynamics (too many syllables for them). Just some easy sound bites about cutting immigration is enough for them to feel rest assured that their insecurities won't be threatened by dark people and the ignorant majority and courting politicians are all happy.

Of course, by allowing this latent racism to flourish only gives the courage for ignorant people to be more forthright about their views. As what happened one time in Australia - I was waiting for the bus located next to flat complex that is notorious for being the first place of residence for the waves of immigrants to have arrived into Australia these past 30 years. Once they have settled into jobs and have cars (very important for Australia), they move on to other areas only to be replaced by the latest immigration wave. In the 1980s this complex was inhabited by Poles having fled martial law. By the early 1990s, it was a mini-Yugoslavia full of refugees from the Balkan wars. At the turn of the millenium, many African refugees called this complex home, and now it is the turn of Indian students and Sri Lankan refugees. Not surprisingly, the majority of the people waiting for the bus here are usually South Asian. However there was one white woman, aged in her 50s who arrived at the bus stop, approached me and immediately started talking, despite me obviously wearing white headphones and texting furiously. She said she was surprised to see someone that wasn't 'one of them' (while pointing at two Indians standing not far) waiting for the bus. I acknowledged her with an unfriendly grunt which she interpreted as an invitation to rant. "These people just come in here and they get everything served to them on a platter. I think that we should be looking after our own kind first. I mean how about all of the homeless people out there. They should all have a flat first", she said. That was it for me! I told her, "there are already social programmes available for the homeless plus we have a social security system." She pondered a little and said "Yes, but these people get everything and they should wait for the locals to get it first". I wanted to listen to my music but be polite (she could have been an axe-murderer - she looked like one), so I said "You can't play God here saying that one person is better than someone else to be entitled to stuff just because they're local. We all bleed you know". I wanted to say that we all shit and piss so who's to say someone is better than anyone else, but I didn't want to add more fuel to the fire. Now here's the catch. White woman then backs out by saying "Well, I'm from New Zealand anyway".... !!! What the...??? So who's the local then? I wanted to use that stalwart racist line 'well, if you don't like it here, go back to where you came from', but I just couldn't be bothered, and the woman herself realised how stupid she sounded. Yes, she was not that concerned about the homeless - she was just plain racist. Gotcha!

The 5 biggest lies about changing Macedonia's name

From taratur.com ('taratur' is better known as 'tzatziki' in English speaking countries)

The spin doctors operating in some of Macedonia's political parties and media, who tirelessly work for the Greek cause use a few tricks all with the purpose to convince the Macedonian public to change its own name and to accept the compromise proposal 'Republic of North Macedonia'. This time we will show that their 'arguments' have as much worth as Yugoslav dinars.

Lie number 1
The name has already been changed and they're just waiting for a date for that to be announced

This is a line being put forward by Macedonian opposition parties and their media fellow travellers (columnists and 'experts'), all for the purpose of weaking the so-called 'hard core' who under no circumstances want to change the name; a reason why the current Macedonian government still polls very high. Their impetus can be witnessed in two segments - the first is clearly partisan, while the second is clearly in cooperation with Greek political elements that so far remain in the domain of speculation.

That is to say, partisan logic suggests that because the biggest reason for the high approval ratings for the current ruling nationalist party is their strong stance on the name issue, if they were to change the name, no doubt their high opinion polls would mindspinningly tumble, being that they will lose the largest part of the trust they had obtained. So here is the opposition's chance.

In other words, by witnessing the daily Macedonian political scene, you see politicians constantly describing their political opponents as false patriots misleading the public. If this were to be proven (i.e. if the ruling party changes the name), automatically the opposition will come to power claiming in part that it was right about the ruling party's treachery all the time, and that valuable time was just lost.

The second element can be found in the connections of prominent opposition party members, 'experts' etc. with Greek political elements, as evident even in the book written by independent Macedonia's first president Kiro Gligorov. It's not possible to go into detail now, however a large section of the Macedonian public believes that soon enough lists of Macedonian journalists, quasi-experts and the like who are on the Greek payroll will be released.

Why is this a lie?
1. Because if a Macedonian government at any time were to announce a name change, they would face losing government and would end up being on the backburner of history, just like their party predecessor who was held up as a 'legend' but finished up less than glorious. Furthermore, the chances of a popular uprising are very high, something that would have an uncertain end.
2. Because they have been saying this now for 4 years and may continue to do so for another 40, but the aim will be only to weaking the Macedonian resolve. In other words, this lie is as effective as a pogo stick in quicksand.
3. Because if this was true, then the current Macedonian government would not have launched legal proceedings against Greece at the International Court in The Hague, or make moves in an attempt to mimick Greek policy (statues of ancient heroes etc.), nor constantly insist that there would be a referendum on the name. If it were so, the government would simply wait for a lull before announcing capitulation.

Lie Number 2
Any other name is better than 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' (FYROM)

And this hypothesis comes from the same circles and has the same purpose as lie number 1 - to weaken Macedonia's positions in talks and to brainwash the Macedonian public. In other words, according to this hypothesis, FYROM is a 'necrophilic' name that is much worse than 'North' therefore the name should be changed immediately by accepting the Greek proposal.

Why is this a lie?
1. Because it is wrongly devised. Namely, FYROM is a 'reference' and not the legal 'name' by which Macedonia is represented at UN and other international organisations. So long as there is this 'reference' Macedonia can fight to receive international support through the recognition of its true name - Republic of Macedonia, which it has been doing these past 18 years, and has achieved from over 120 countries worldwide. If Macedonia were to accept a change in name, then it's the end to all this. Macedonia would have to accept the name Republic of North Macedonia and bye-bye to the Macedonian name.
2. Because noone so far (except Greek nationalists) have used terms such as Fyromian for the language or people of Macedonia. Macedonians are still referred to as Macedonians by an overwhelming majority of the world's population or, at the very least, citizens of FYR Macedonia by the bean counters in Brussels. If the name 'Republic of North Macedonia' were to be accepted, as much as they convince otherwise, Macedonians will become 'North Macedonians' just like how the citizens of North Korea are known as 'North Koreans' and the citizens of South Africa as 'South Africans', as the term 'Macedonian' will imply citizens of Greece with Greek ethnicity that live in the Greek region of Macedonia. That's how it says in Wikipedia, in the UN and all other powerful organisations. That is Greece's aim - so much so that their leaders don't even hide this fact.
3. Because in the name talks, the Greeks are also placing additional conditions which not only mean a change of Macedonia's name but also a change of identity and prefixes and such. With the current 'reference', the Macedonians are not obligated to use the term 'Fyromians' or 'Fyromese' etc.
4. Because to the rest of the unencumbered world, Macedonians are still Macedonians. If you were to go to ... say Jamaica, there the gracious hosts will greet you as 'Macedonians'. However if Macedonia was to capitulate, expect to be awaited as 'North Macedonians', not matter how much you were to protest, as a name change would imply acceptance of being called that.
5. Because the Greeks would not smear their reputation as a 'problematic' country in foreign policy terms if they were happy with FYROM. Greece knows that if Macedonia were to enter the EU and NATO even under the FYROM reference, Macedonia soon enough would be freed from this cumbersome reference and win the dispute fully. The Greeks are fully aware that this reference is just plain silly to other countries, so that's why they are in full force in trying to pressure Macedonia to sign capitulation. To get this to happen, they have engaged the services of a large number of Macedonian journalists and quasi-experts who cry like little babies when someone, or they themselves are called 'traitors'.

Lie Number 3
The name must be changed (to solve the dispute) otherwise the Albanians will split

According to this construct, which also have the goal of scaring little children from their sleep, the Albanians are war-like people but also supposedly pro-European orientated, and who won't be waiting for the Macedonians to solve this 'irrational dispute' as the Albanians want express entry into the EU and NATO. That's why they'll go up in arms and will separate so as to join NATO and EU.

Why is this a lie?
1. Because this relies on many conditions and many shaky foundations. First of all, it is not for certain that without hesitation the EU would accept a supposedly war-like people facing huge problems with mafia and terrorist formations in all territories where they live (the Albanian mafia is seen to be one of the most problematic in the world), where weddings are characterised by the shooting of guns and armaments, and drug and prostitution trafficking has deeply entered into many facets of Albanian society. That's not to talk about the current anti-Muslim mood in a majority of European countries that are ever increasingly banning burqas, niqabs, minarets etc.
2. If the Albanians were to want to separate, it can be safe to assume that Macedonia will not allow that to happen in a peaceful way, which means that it would result in a military conflict, something noone wants - neither the citizens of Macedonia, nor neighbouring countries, let alone the EU and the USA. This means that if there were to be a new military conflict, the whole Balkans will remain, as now, stagnant for many more years. Therefore the Albanians would not get express entry into the EU or NATO. On the contrary, it would mean that Albania would remain outside the gates of Europe for many, many more years! This scenario was even warned by a group of Albanian intellectuals on TV in Albania's capital Tirana last year when they confronted the Albanian nationalist leader from Macedonia Menduh Thaqi, that his irredentist policies were working against the interests of all Albanians.
3. Let me pose to you a rhetorical question. If integration into the EU was more important for the Albanians than their national issues, then why did Kosovo then separate from Serbia? According to all indications, Serbia will integrate and join the EU much quicker than an independent Kosovo. Why then didn't they just simply remain as part of Serbia so they can enter the EU quicker, rather than form their own country, which for at least 10 years has no chance to even think about starting talks on EU membership? However, the fact is that when their national issues are at stake, they come first. Macedonia should be the same. Macedonia must keep its name and identity the same way how Macedonia understood Albanians' interest for Kosovo being independent, hence recognising it as an independent country.

Lie Number 4
Only in the EU and NATO can Macedonia survive

According to this construct, Macedonia cannot develop economically and politically by itself. On the contrary, Macedonia's survival is uncertain and that it's only a matter of time that the country will collapse, disappear or experience a cataclysm.

This lie has been told for more than 10 years and to be honest, its propensity gains strength only when the Macedonia's nationalist party is in power. This can be seen by going through Macedonian media archives and files on internet from the period when the ex-Communists were in power from 2002-2006, when none of the doomsdayers were emphasising this lie.

Why is this construct a lie?
1. Firstly, the creators of this lie never elaborate on their fatal scenario. Basically, what will happen with Macedonia and how will it 'no longer exist'. Will Macedonia be occupied by a neighbouring country; will it be bombed by a nuclear bomb; or will Macedonia be overcome by a serious plague? They just simply say that there won't be any more Macedonians, but how this will happen is not that clear. Honestly, I'm not planning of getting rid of myself anytime soon, nor do I think that at least another 2 million people, the population of Macedonia, are planning the same. That would mean someone would need to exterminate all 2 million of Macedonia's population. How this will happen? Please, could someone who says such constructs please explain?
2. Secondly, because in the course of history, this has proven to be a lie. It only serves to scare little children, while Macedonia still survives. It is not that Macedonians are satisifed being outside of the EU and NATIO and have little or no economic growth, but simply that the price to be paid for this, to self-renounce ourselves as a nation and people, is unacceptable.
3. Because the world's current power circles just would not allow Macedonia to collapse. The world's greater powers are fine with Macedonia and they are involved in the country with their economic and political structures, so they have no interest in making the fate of Macedonia's future uncertain.

Lie Number 5
By solving the name issue (by changing and selling the name Macedonia), it will all be milk and honey

This lie is the 'carrot', as opposed to the 'sticks' of the previous ones. Accordingly, when Macedonia changes its name, the hard transition period since the early 1990s will come to an immediate end, Macedonia will finally join the EU and NATO and all of its current economic, social and political problems will be solved. The Macedonians then will live happily ever after in Eldorado to the end of their lives. We just don't know who is the prince and who is the princess...

Why is this a lie?
1. Because every other 'carrot' so far have ended up as a lie. Macedonia changed its flag under pressure in 1995, accepted the reference FYROM under pressure, accepted more than 300,000 refugees fleeing Kosovo under pressure (despite Macedonia having no resources to look after such numbers), accepted a new Framework Agreement after a limited ethnic conflict in 2002 under pressure, and for all of the 'carrots' dangled in front of it for all this, it has come to nothing. Macedonia just desecrates itself, while Eldorado is looking much further away than the planet of Pluto.
2. Because if it were to change the name, Macedonia won't gain express entry to the EU. Instead talks will start which will drag out for 5-6 years minimum. That means that for Eldorado to arrive, Macedonians will need to wait at least that many years PLUS even more years on top for any possible economic effects (if any) from ever dwindling EU funds to achieve their minimum effect. That's notwithstanding all possible unpleasant future economic scenarios that are ever more present in recent times.
3. Because joining the EU and NATO has not solved Bulgaria's serious problems with corruption and poverty, while Greece is financially and socially bankrupt and will be in a terrible economic crisis for many years to come. Belgium is still threatened with a political split into Flanders and Walloonia entities, even though Brussels is the effective capital of the EU. If the above construct was true, then none of these countries would be facing these problems they have at present. Simply, the EU and NATO membership does not automatically mean all problems will be solved. Entry into these structures only means better political and economic conditions on certain terms and a possibility for greater prosperity, however not at the price of renouncing national identity.

In conclusion, the price to be paid in changing the name is just too much for what most likely will be too little. The rebuttal to Lie 5 say it best. The idea that EU membership will solve everything and that Macedonia overnight will become as prosperous and efficient as Germany is a delusion. Greece today, despite 30 years of billions of euros and the superficial application of EU standards, is still a corrupt, inefficient and essentially poor country no much different from Macedonia now (only with better roads). Some Macedonians consider the EU to be, either positively or negatively, as the new Tito Yugoslavia, when Macedonians lived like the Greeks of late - an artificially high standard of living funded by subsidies from northerly Germanic regions and credit, without any fundamental change to age-old traditions of corruption, nepotism and political patronage. Macedonia is still paying for that period, but a name change to only get the same will be even more devastating on identity and esteem. Fortunately most Macedonians are quite aware of this, that's why applying their first-hand experience with that other union of European nations - Yugoslavia, they see that multi-ethnic unions don't last. As what one Macedonian friend once told me: The EU is, like Yugoslavia was, just temporary; the name and national identity is forever, so why pay that price forever for something temporary.

PR in the DPR

The first posters promoting the eagerly awaited 3rd Party Conference of the Korean Worker's Party have been released and are appearing around North Korea. It's widely anticipated that this party gathering, the first of its type since 1966, will herald the official political debut of Kim Jong-il's youngest son and possible successor, Kim Jong-un, much like how the last Party Congress, held in 1980, was the vehicle for Kim Jong-il's first public appearance in a political role.
This poster says "Greet the conference of the Workers' Party of Korea as an auspicious event which will shine forever in the history of our party and country!"


This poster says "The conference of Party representatives: With a high degree of political enthusiasm and admirable labor achievements!"

Big Brother is watching

An amazing photo of a DPR Korean soldier peering through to see US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while on a visit last week to Panmunjom on the DMZ dividing Korea. Clinton annouced even tougher sanctions on DPR Korea as punishment for the supposed Cheonan attack, an incident the UN even said in its ratified statement that Pyongyang was not responsible for. While at the DMZ, Clinton looked through binoculars into the North giving a sense that entry into the reclusive country was forbidding, despite the fact that her husband had been there last year. The hope now, like that with other unsuccessful blockades elsewhere (Cuba in particular) is that by strangling the country economically will lead to further hardship and an eventual popular uprising to usher in capitalism. However, in practice such sanctions only give the authorities further opportunity to easily blame all economic failings on the hated American imperialists and their blockade. The only people who suffer are the poor and powerless, the people the USA ostensibly want to help.

Haiti? Where?

Remember the earthquake? Did you buy the CD and donate money to the aid programme? Oh, and every celeb and his dog rushed to Port-au-Prince and had their photo taken. Weren't we so loving and caring, us Westerners, because we are soooo nice. 6 months on and Haiti is back to where it was - forgotten and downtrodden. The main support group in Haiti are the Cubans, who have been operating in the country since 1997 and did not purposely seek the media's attention to prove how nice they (honestly) are.

So now that Haiti is no longer in the Western media's radar, it's business as usual for the continued suffering of the proud people of the first ever independent Black republic. As reported by Democracy Now, debt relief activists are praising the International Monetary Fund’s decision to cancel Haiti’s $268 million debt to the institution. However, at the same time some groups have criticised the IMF for continuing to give Haiti loans, such as one for $60 million, awarded earlier this week, to help fund post-earthquake reconstruction efforts. Eric LeCompte of Jubilee USA said, "The role of the IMF in Haiti has been long criticised and this new loan could set Haiti on the wrong path toward a new cycle of debt." So it's give from one hand and take from the other.

Miss Russia is covered in bling

Miss Russia, known also by her mortal name Irina Antonenko, will soon depart for Las Vegas to represent her country in the Miss Universe competition. In her suitcase is a custom-designed dress embroidered in gold, becrusted with sapphires and amethysts, and, sorry to say Pamela Anderson, trimmed in sable fur. It is supposed to resemble the old tsars’ crown, ye olde Monomakh’s Cap. Total cost? US$60,000.

But if you think that is extravagence, then check this out. In 2006, when the now-bankrupt Greece was living high on the hog with other people's funny money, it hosted the Eurovision Song Contest. Their representative that year was Anna Vissi, left, who wore this Jean Paul Gaultier outfit. How much did Greek public broadcaster pay for this disaster of an ensemble? €200,000, no less. Please charge it to Germany, efharisto para poly.

Aussie politician on FB: Non-Christians worship false God

In what has been a brain-dead Australian election campaign so far, it didn't take long for someone from the Christian-right of the conservative Liberal Party to make a complete goose of him/herself and publish something idiotic (with the obligatery speling and Capitalisation mistackes) against Muslims or immigrants. This stunner of a bloke, the Liberal candidate for the electorate of Chifley, David Barker, has had this to say on his Facebook profile and in letters to target groups:

"I am going to win this seat. I claim it as mine and when I get in I will give my votes all of them to God who is on the side of the Liberal Right,"

"I don't believe God would have called me to run in this seat if he didn't expect me to win."

"I vote for freedom of worship if the worship is of Jesus Christ or The Jewish God anyone else well they are worshipping a false god anyway so who cares." (note: so the Christian God and Jewish God are two different entities. OMG! ... well, depending on which one, so it seems)

"Voting should only be voluntary for Liberal and National voters the rest can not bother since with every vote they bring the nation closer to the brink of disaster and closer to the hands of a (sic)muslim country."

"Someone get me into parliament ... and watch me go. They will see my talent as the voice of ... God himself."

In a letter to Christian leaders in his electorate, Barker says there is "corruption and a lack of moral direction in some politicians", and asks for their support pointing out that Julia Gillard is an "atheist" and his opponent in Chifley, Ed Husić, is a "strong Moslem".

A lovely, devout Christian, obviously. I guess he's also a devout McDonald's and KFC consumer too, judging by his rather diabetes and heart disease candidate figure. It has been discovered that he used to be a member of the whacko extremist Christian 'Call to Australia' Party led by the anti-everything Fred Nile, famous for leading prayers for rain at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in the 1990s. This skeleton from Barker's past makes perfect sense as to his current delusions of Christian, and self, supremacy.

Campaigning in outer Sydney suburban electorates like Chifley has been notorious in the past for such anti-Muslim sentiment. The last federal election in 2007 saw the husband of the outgoing Liberal member for Lindsay, Jackie Kelly, distribute a fake pamphlet by the supposed 'Islamic Australia Federation' endorsing Labor for their support for Islamist terrorists. Kelly tried passing it off as a 'funny prank', but no-one was buying it, resulting in a resounding defeat for the Liberals.

Chifley, a very safe Labor seat, covers some of the poorest and most underprivileged suburbs of Sydney. However, the electorate also covers some areas of Sydney's growing bible-belt like Quaker's Hill, where the ever growing Hillsong church started, whose members might take a shining to someone with such religious zeal. Candidate registrations and endorsements are to be finalised this coming week, giving very little time for the Liberal Party to act. They must be fearful of a repeat of the party's bad 2007 performance after Jackie Kelly's bad stunt, or of 1996 when a little-known candidate was disendorsed from the Liberal Party due to racist comments but went on to win the safe Labor seat of Oxley - the infamous Pauline Hanson. It will be interesting to see where Chifley goes on this as this would be a gauge of general feeling among the 'battlers'.

By the way, it's only a matter of time until Barker claims that he's no racist because his wife is Filipina.

UPDATE!!!

David Barker has been unceremoniously dumped by the Liberal Party and has been replaced by Venus Priest, a small business owner who immigrated from the Phillippines in 1985.

Barker told the Australian public broadcaster ABC "I'm not anti-Muslim. I believe every one should have their own beliefs. But I don't know if we want at this stage in Australian politics a Muslim in the Parliament and an atheist running the Government."

Barker said he did not understand why he had been disendorsed as the Liberal candidate for Chifley. "I made a comment that I believe God is the only way to heaven and we shouldn't have a Muslim candidate running in that area," he said. His would-be opponent, Labor candidate Ed Husic, who is nearly certain to win the very safe Labor seat, is of Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) background. But in true Bosnian style, where fasting during Ramadan and wearing the veil is rare while alcohol and pork consumption is high, Husic is hardly a Muslim in the Western stereotype. Nevertheless, the Christian crusader Barker said about Husic's (nominal) Islam, "I don't believe that's exactly in line with what we believe as Australians."

In true 'I'm not a racist but...' style, Barker said about Muslims that "I'm not attacking them on the basis of their faith, I'm attacking them on the basis of their ideology." Based on comments like that, if he was to see past his belly, then he would realise that Husic is really the type of Muslim he would like. However, it's clear that Barker so ignorantly anti-Muslim that if someone was to suggest to him a book-burning of Muslim authors, he wouldn't see the symbolism.

Gay Italian priests party... tsk tsk

As reported in many media outlets, conservative Italian magazine Panorama has published an report following the lurid double lives led by gay priests in Italy. Using hidden cameras, the priests were found to be frequenting gay clubs and engaging in casual sex.

Personally, I find this report hypocritical and a set up by the Catholic Church to divert attention from the more funadamental problems it is facing and trying to use homosexuals as scapegoats for all of its ills. The insinuation here with this report is that only evil deviates like gay people could committ such treachery. Of course, anyone who has had any affiliation with any organised religion knows that it's not just the gay priests who are engaging in sinful ways. For each of these three naughty gay priests, there would be dozens more straight priests doing the same and more. However there's no deliberate attempt to make this public.

Essentially, the more the Catholic Church avoids the real issues, such that it has been their straight priests who have been sexually molesting children, the more it heads towards its own self-destruction.

Madonna of Central Asia wades into ethnic conflict through pop song

As in any conflict, all aspects of society are eventually drafted in to make their contribution. The lastest fighting between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz is no exception. As reported in Central Asian news websites, the 'Madonna of Central Asia', the extremely popular Uzbek singer Yulduz Usmonova has released a song called Kyrgyzlarga (To the Kyrgyz), where she asks “What was this bloodshed for? Don’t you have a conscience? Ah, my Kyrgyz, how cheaply you’ve sold yourselves and destroyed your wellbeing.” She also hinted at reports that the violence was instigated by provocateurs who paid locals to take part in attacks on Uzbek neighborhoods: “Don’t trust every hand that gives you bread; don’t rejoice in victory for nothing. You’ve inflicted pain on the souls of my Uzbek people; don’t regret it tomorrow.” Now this is something I believe is true. Usmonova goes on to sing “If you kill and strangle each ethnic group, who will stay in the land of the Kyrgyz?” Usmonova asks in the song, to accompanying images of people fleeing, people in burnt-out houses, APCs driving through city streets and houses belonging to ethnic Uzbeks painted with SOS signs in a desperate plea for help. Here's the song:

Naturally the Kyrgyz are not answering Usmonova's questions and see this as a provocation. What I expect now is that Kyrgyz pop singers will sing something just as provocative in response, and there, a pop war. I've seen this happen in all Balkan conflicts, resulting in some of the scariest lyrics ever I've ever heard.

When you have pop stars and conflict, soon after come the bitchy comments. In response to Usmonova's song, Kyrgyz composer Gulshair Sadybakasova wrote “Better a slave who has a motherland than a singer who has no motherland.” Meow! This is a direct reference to the fact that Yulduz Usmonova now lives in Turkey where she has expanded her already successful career to become a high profile star there.

So how come Yulduz Usmonova is considered the 'Madonna of Central Asia'? She was born in Marghilan, Uzbekistan in 1963 to a poor Uzbek family of silk factory workers . Her talents as a singer and composer were discovered quite early with her big break coming in 1991 when debuting at the Voice of Asia song competition held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, she won with the hit 'Kyzyl alma' (Red Apple). Her powerful delivery and exuberance on stage, added with her compositions displaying an intoxicating mix of traditional Uzbek music with Russian and Western pop landed her with a huge fanbase not only in Uzbekistan and neighbouring countries, but eventually among the World Music scene. Her third album 'Jeli jeli' was released by a Dutch label and soon after her songs were being copied and sung into many other languages, most famous of which was the signature Alabina song by Ishtar. Here is the original by Yulduz:

And here is the Ishtar version released four years after

Due to her popularity, she was courted by Uzbek president Islom Karimov. Usmonova was invited to write the anthem for the newly independent Uzbekistan and was also a deputy in the Uzbek (rubber stamp) parliament. Now this wouldn't be Central Asia if there was no nepotism - Yulduz's daughter Nilufar also has become a pop singer though decidedly more Western in approach than her mother.

Despite being quite close to the Uzbek leadership in the 1990s, Usmonova did have fall outs with the authorities. As I have written before about the importance of politicial patronage with the careers of music stars in the former Eastern bloc, Usmonova is no exception, who has seen her career rise and fall in Uzbekistan in accordance with the level of favour she showed to Karimov's dictatorial government. In Uzbekistan, where freedom of expression is tightly restricted, singers often use the arts to address political themes. She wrote the song "I Won’t Give You to Anyone, Uzbekistan" after a series of terrorist bombings in Tashkent in February 1999, earning her brownie points. However Usmonova turned against Karimov in 2005 after the bloody crackdown on opposition forces in her home region of the pious Ferghana Valley. Her opposition to the government was displayed in subtle ways, such as her greater use of Islamic imagery in her video clips, appearing increasing more in full veil and her 2007 album was written using Cyrillic and not the officially sanctioned new Latin alphabet - all symbols of opposition. Her fall from grace came in 2008 when an arrest warrant was placed on her, which some in Central Asia speculated that this was more to discredit Usmonova not only for her increasing disloyalty but also to wipe out the competition to Karimov's despised daughter Gulnara Karimova who had decided then to become a pop star. Usmonova was arrested while singing at a wedding in the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek and was threatened with extradition. However she was able to make her way to Turkey where she has been based since. Usmonova has been on the record of saying that she moved in protest against the government’s efforts to exert control over artists’ creative independence. Her release of her second Turkish album in 2009 has made her immensely popular there. However, the release of this new Uzbek nationalist song against the Kyrgyz is seen as a mending fences exercise with the Uzbek authorities.

I had the rewarding opportunity to have seen Yulduz Usmonova perform live at a World Music Festival in Adelaide, Australia in 1998. It was amazing to see how many Uzbeks actually live in Adelaide, coming out en masse to see their superstar and elegantly dressed in colourful Uzbek-style glam - lots of colour! The group of obsessed Kylie-fan gay men with me instantly were mesmerised by Usmonova's enchanting performance style, energy and charisma. I'd love to see her again, though we'll see what her next step is. By making herself persona non grata in an increasingly polarised Kyrgyzstan, a rapprochment with her old political patron may now be on the cards, especially since the President's daughter quit singing.

Please enjoy my favourite Yulduz Usmonova song, released in 2000, called 'Dunyo' (World) featuring vocals by a South African choir. Magical!

Russian tourists heading to Cuba for the nostalgia

Interesting report about how Russian tourists are arriving in ever increasing numbers on holiday in Cuba. Many are people who had been based in Cuba in the 1980s as technical and military advisors. It should be added that during that time there were also large numbers of advisors and experts coming from other Eastern Bloc countries, in paricular the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. It was also at that time that Cuba (along with Vietnam) became an exotic destination for some Eastern bloc tourists. One aspect that this report touches on that I can personally testify is the nostalgic and time-warp element to it all in Cuba in seeing the 'Pioneer' schoolchildren wearing their red kerchieves and the thousands of impeccibly-maintained 1980s Ladas on Cuban roads. It's also quite amazing to see the same type of highrise flats so common throughout Eastern Europe amidst the tropical setting, or 1970s and 80s Russian technology, complete with Cyrillic markings, still in use, such as air conditioners and tractors, or the same traffic posts used by the police at busy intersections once common in the Eastern bloc and still in Cuba. It's also very interesting to meet Cubans who had spent time, either as students or guest workers, in Eastern bloc countries up until the early 1990s. Plus, it's freaky to meet Cubans (born in the 1960s usually) with names like Iván, Vladimir, Lyudmila and Svetlana. The one thing I also insisted in seeing in Cuba was the huge bust of Lenin at the huge park named after the Soviet leader - I felt like I was 5 years old in Bulgaria again! When watching the BBC report, check out the Cuban woman who conducts tours for Russians - her Russian is great!

Suicide attack in Iraq kills 43

As reported (in muted terms) by the world's media. No-one cares and it's no longer than newsworthy - we've become desensitised to Iraq's suffering. It means nothing. So sad! Of course, those Iraqis shouldn't complain as they have 'freedom and democracy' now.

Meet Tajikistan's new newsreader - the President's little girl

As has been reported by the BBC and independent Central Asian news sources, the 16 year old Zarina Rahmonova (hmmm... how come she hasn't dropped the Slavic -ov ending from her surname like papa commanded??), one of the seven daughters of Tajikistan's president Emomalii Rahmon (formerly Emomali Rahmonov), currently studying in the UK, scored herself a summer job reading the news in English on state TV. No guesses as to who scored her the job. Am I really surprised? Not at all. As the BBC reports, Zarina's sister Ozoda is deputy foreign minister (free trips abroad and a diplomatic passport) while her husband is deputy finance minister (let's fiddle with the books). Zarina's brother Rustom was elected to the city council of Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe.

For Central Asian standards, this type of nepotism is standard. The daughter of Uzbekistan's president Islom Karimov, Gulnara, has done everything under the sun - she studied at Havard and has a PhD, is claimed to have extensive business interests in all of Uzbekistan's most lucrative and extensive businesses and industries, designs jewellry, has her own UNESCO charity fund (very Evita Peron), once was a pop star, hangs out with world famous celebs, and is now Uzbekistani ambassador to Spain (again, free travel, diplomatic passport and lots of celebs to party with). All this and she isn't even 40 years old! Thanks dad!

Kazakhstani president Nursultan Nazarbayev has three daughters, the eldest of which, Dariga, has her own political party which, surprise surprise, is supportive of her father's rule. She has plenty of business interests, loves singing opera arias (despite having no training, she often gets to perform them anyway at state functions) and was a judge on Kazakhstani Idol (she's just like Cheryl Cole - sorta). When she divorced her husband Rakhat Aliyev, supposedly on the insistence of her patron father, Aliyev quickly fled the country as the slow wheels of the Kazakh justice system went into Ferrari mode in bringing him to face the music.

Of course, you could be Ilham Aliyev, who became president of Azerbaijan after his father Heydar died in 2003.

Now, let's not kid ourselves here. Central Asia does not have a monopoly on nepotism. It's a worldwide phenomenon that occurs in varying degrees in all societies and at all levels. We can point fingers and say tsk tsk to Central Asia, but are the same parallels, and to the same extent, made of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush? Think about it.

Cancer 'cures' atheism

Not ones to miss an opportunity to convert sinners and non-believers no matter how horrible the circumstances (much like 'shock doctrine'), some religious types are discussing on the internet that author Christopher Hutchins could be 'cured' of his atheism now that he has been diagnosed with cancer. The logic behind is that in facing possibility the horror of death, somehow non-believers will need to seek consolence in the belief of the after-life and possible miraculous recovery by the hand of the almighty. As what Francis Phillips wrote in the Catholic Herald:

Some years ago, I happened to mention to a saintly Irish priest (his one small vanity was to think he looked like the actor Robert Mitchum) that the scientist Francis Crick – of Crick & Watson, the well-known firm of DNA supplies – had just died. “He didn’t believe in God,” I added. “He does now,” replied my Irish friend.

Perhaps visiting his doctor will be a wake-up call for Hitchens?

While George Berkin, writer for the New Jersey-based Star Ledger wrote this:

But maybe God is doing it this way because he desires that Hitchens give up his "god," that is, Hitchens' pride in being different from the run-of-the-mill mortal. Maybe God is doing it this way so that Hitchens can encounter the God he has been denying for so long, before eternity sets in.

To have someone religious insinuate that someone 'deserves' to get cancer so they can change their view to the 'right' way is disgusting.

All this is something quite personal to me as I too have been through stage III cancer and months of chemotherapy. What happened in my case is that when I was in hospital suffering from complications arising from post-chemo loss of immunity, I was paid a visit by the hospital chaplain. The last thing I was up to then was dealing with anyone other than the nurses, doctors or family, so I was very much uncooperative. Thinking that a person of the chaplain's capacity in a hospital would possess a great sense of empathy, I thought that my initial hostility would dissuade her from engaging in further conversation. Unfortunately that was not the case. She interpreted my non-cooperation as some sort of anger over having cancer, and proceeded to ask me questions to this vane. "Do you feel angry at God for having you go through this ordeal when there are bad people out there who are healthy?" she asked. I was flabbergasted, as I believed that the Bible taught not to compare yourself to others and look at retribution or anger. Obviously I have been mistaken. I answer by saying "No, because I have cancer, it was just my luck and there's nothing I can do about that. So why worry about seeking some sort of justice when my main priority id getting myself better. To think that way is wasting valuable energy and time for nothing". She was relentless, constantly asking me about God and in a way, trying to use my very disvantageous position to 'cure my atheism'. She was not there to help. In the end, I explained to her that the most important person who can help me get over cancer is myself. If I don't do it, noone will. She eventually got the picture that I am 'incurable' and left.

This reminds me of a story I once heard, of all places, on Radio Pyongyang, the North Korean shortwave radio service that I used to listen in the early 1990s. In one of Kim Il-sung's many reminiscences (he seemed to have a photographic memory of the minutiae of rather uneventful events from more than 60 years back - I have trouble remembering 5 minutes ago), he told of a story when he confronted some evangelical Christians, who happen to be very active at the time in Korea (Kim Il-sung apparently used to be one before discovering Marxism). It was a time of great hardship in Korea, as it always seemed to be until he came into power (by his reminiscences) and so the evangelicals decided to pray for hours for salvation, while Kim and his crew when out to the fields and worked for hours. In the end the evangelicals were left with nothing but empty prayers while Kim's gang ate the food they gained from working on the fields. OK, it's propaganda, but it does put the point that the only way you can get something done is not by relying on some greater mythical force but by doing it and believing in yourself. The fact that I still remember this story must mean that it does have some value.

What I do also believe is each to their own. If a belief in a higher being and afterlife helps you, then good on. All I ask is that anyone who believes otherwise or differently be treated with the same respect they bestow on you. As it says in the bible: Do as they be done by.

I don't remember Tito's Yugoslavia being like this!

To launch the latest edition of Serbian art-fashion magazine FAAR, focusing on Tito as a pop icon, a special fashion and art show was held in Belgrade. Here is FAAR's editor Duška Jovanić posing with a štafeta mladosti, the baton of youth that used to be relayed all across ex-Yugoslavia by selected members of the Mladina (Youth Communist League) who had earned the right to participate in running with the baton for a few kilometres after performing exemplary work and achievements. However, I do know of occasions when bystanders by accident were handed the baton of youth and carried on running. The baton would make its way to Belgrade by the 25th May for Dan mladosti - the Day of Youth and Tito's official birthday (Tito's actual birthday is still unknown) in time for a huge mass gymnastics display (like the ones now only to be found in North Korea) performed in honour of the 'great marshal'.

FAAR's show also featured a fashion show inspired by the style of Tito's most famous wife Jovanka, who was 32 years his junior. I have to say that I don't remember Mrs Broz ever being that thin. Now this is how I remember Jovanka, who happens to now live a less than glam life on a meagre pension in Belgrade.
Yes, these stylised, airbrushed visions of the past are just so much better than the real thing.

Arab man who posed as Jew convicted of 'rape'

As reported in the world press, an Arab from Jerusalem who had consensual sex with a woman who believed him to be Jewish, was convicted yesterday of rape by deception and sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Jerusalem District Court. The Jewish woman apparently was looking for a serious relationship with a Jewish bachelor, so she says. Some reports have stated that she only thought he was Jewish because he said his name was Daniel. Well honey, he could have been Christian too with a name like that. However, nothing says more than wanting a serious relationship than going off to a nearby building after meeting and having a quickie. Once the couple had 'got to know each other', Arab-cum-Jew Romeo (mind the pun) left the building without waiting for the woman to get dressed. When the woman found out that this love of her life was not a Jew but an Arab, she filed a complaint that resulted in charges of rape and indecent assault. What I would like to know is how did she find out he was an Arab?
In the verdict, deputy president of the Jerusalem district court Tzvi Segal, along with fellow judges Moshe Drori and Yoram Noam, wrote that although this wasn't "a classical rape by force," and the sex was consensual, the consent itself was obtained through deception and under false pretenses. "If she hadn't thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated," the judges wrote. "The court is obliged to protect the public interest from sophisticated, smooth-tongued criminals who can deceive innocent victims at an unbearable price - the sanctity of their bodies and souls," Segal wrote. "When the very basis of trust between human beings drops, especially when the matters at hand are so intimate, sensitive and fateful, the court is required to stand firmly at the side of the victims ... otherwise, they will be used, manipulated and misled, while paying only a tolerable and symbolic price," he wrote.
So there.
All I can say is that the best comment I have seen in response to this case was by a guy called Freddy who said: Wow I can't go to Israel. I'll be in the slammer within a week! I've been Arab, Spanish, Italain, Irish, American and even French to get hook ups.

The US Right's power of infrastructure

From Consortium News, a very insightful article by Robert Parry, the American journalist who exposed the Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980s of how right-wing forces have built an elaborate and unaccountable infrastructure network to ensure prolonged rule:

Dwight Eisenhower, after commanding Allied forces in World War II and serving eight years as U.S. President, came to appreciate the power of political and economic infrastructure, leading to his famous warning about the threat to the American Republic from a “military-industrial complex.”

Yet, in the years since Eisenhower’s Farewell Address in 1961, the U.S. political system has allowed the “military-industrial complex” to continue growing and, indeed, to evolve into a sophisticated organism that collaborates with a supportive propaganda arm of think tanks, political apologists and media outlets, further distorting American democracy.

This infrastructure expanded sharply in the early 1980s when President Ronald Reagan secured a massive military buildup (despite the fact that America’s Soviet adversary was already crumbling) and pushed for a “pro-democracy” apparatus using both public and private funds.

Though Reagan’s “democracy” promotion ostensibly worked to undermine anti-U.S. governments abroad, the apparatus – ranging from the federal National Endowment for Democracy to the quasi-private Freedom House – became, in effect, a jobs program for neoconservatives, giving them a base of income, access and respectability within Official Washington.

Also, coinciding with Reagan’s presidency was the construction of a right-wing media machine that propagated Reagan’s political philosophy and attacked public figures, both in politics and in journalism, who refused to get in line. In the three decades since Reagan came to power, this media machine has grown into one of the most feared forces in American political life.

Reagan’s creation and expansion of these interlocking and self-interested institutions set the stage for the next explosive growth of the national security bureaucracy, after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Cheered on by influential neocons (and think tanks) and supported by the right-wing news media, President George W. Bush had no trouble erecting a new national security infrastructure that rose quickly from the already well-funded foundation of the U.S. intelligence community.

The expansion was dramatic. In less than a decade, the estimated $30 billion a year intelligence budget more than doubled to $75 billion, a figure that doesn’t count many related military and counter-terrorism operations.

In a landmark investigative article, the Washington Post attempted to quantify this mind-numbing expansion. According to Post reporters Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, this “Top-Secret America” represents “an alternative geography of the United States” with clusters of highly classified government agencies scattered around the country though concentrated most heavily in the Washington area. (I'd like to add that this had been reported years before - me)

The first article, entitled “A hidden world, growing beyond control,” highlighted the key findings:

“The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. …

“After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

“The investigation's other findings include:

“* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

“* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

“* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

“* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.

“* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.”

In other words, President Bush launched a crash program to create a massive infrastructure dedicated to fighting the so-called Long War against Islamic militancy. But the size of the endeavor was so vast and its construction so hasty and haphazard that it may not actually be adding to the national security.

But what this Top-Secret America is sure to do is to fight aggressively to maintain its jobs, money and power. In that, it will be aided by its key allies in the complementary institutions of the old “military-industrial complex,” the neocon “democracy” infrastructure, and the right-wing media. Other potent groups, such as the Republican Party and the Israel Lobby, will help, too.

The combination of these factors – especially when weighed against the relatively weak and severely underfunded counter-forces of America’s progressives and independent media – suggests that a meaningful democracy may no longer exist in the United States.

Many on the Left have fumed about President Barack Obama’s failure to reverse Bush’s national security policies. However, if one examines the relative power factors, it would probably amount to political suicide for Obama or any national leader to try to dismantle these interlocking infrastructures.

While the Right has worked diligently over the past several decades to strengthen its institutions and influence, the American Left has marginalized itself, choosing to possess no media outlets or think tanks that even come close to rivaling what the Right has in multiplicity.

For instance, wealthy progressives allowed the liberal talk-radio network Air America – a modest effort to balance the Right’s enormous advantage in talk radio – to collapse this year. Meanwhile, worthy Internet sites go begging, while the right-wingers keep adding and adding to their media assets.

(Further revealing the asymmetry of today’s American media, right-wing Newsmax, run by conspiracy theorist Christopher Ruddy, has put in a bid to buy the Washington Post Co.’s financially troubled Newsweek. Though best known as an Internet site, Newsmax already publishes a national magazine.)

Besides the Left’s benign neglect toward institutions needed to fight a “war of ideas” with the Right, there is also the cumulative impact of the ever-expanding military-intelligence-neocon arsenals that can level almost any political adversary who poses a significant threat. “Themes” knocking down a political enemy can be put into play instantaneously and will quickly reverberate through the Right's media echo chamber into the mainstream press.

Allied corporate interests also can now fund attack ads almost without restrictions, thanks to a ruling by the right-wing-dominated U.S. Supreme Court last January. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Democracy’s End of the Road.”]

On an individual level, fewer and fewer professionals in Washington will dare take on this fearsome complex of interlocking infrastructures, what might be called a new Iron Triangle comprised of wealthy military/intelligence contractors, neocon ideologues and right-wing media outlets.

Official Washington – both in media and politics – will become even more deaf to the needs of average Americans. After all, a corollary to Eisenhower’s “military-industrial-complex” warning could be Upton Sinclair’s old truism that “it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

With so much money on one side and so little on the other, few professionals would be willing to put principles over their pocketbooks.

As noble as it might be to fight the good fight without resources, in the real world, that is simply a recipe for failure – especially when the other side has a war chest in the billions of dollars and growing by the day.

Russian rocker latest darling of West

Yuri Shevchuk, legendary rock star famous for fronting the cult Soviet-era rock band DDT, has had a lot of press lately in the West over his opposition to Putin and how he is being excluded from TV and radio, in a pattern much like he faced during Soviet times. The West is using this as yet another example of how Putin's Russia is USSR 2.0. The reality is that it is true that Shevchuk is being shunned, but he is not unique nor is this purely a Russian phenomenon. As I have mentioned briefly in previous posts, just like under the former Communist regimes as today, political patronage is the most important factor to building a music career not only in Russia but in practically all former Eastern bloc countries undergoing democratisation. The Shevchuk experience is also being faced by artists in countries allied to the West such as Georgia, Ukraine and even current EU members.

While most musicians, singers and actors in the West are and can be apolitical, in the Eastern bloc that is just not possible. As a layover from Communist times when good politicial credentials was the main prerequisite for a long and fruitful career, the same still applies. That there is multi-party politics in most former Eastern bloc countries makes it even riskier than before. A singer must carefully chose for which political party he/she will sing for at politicial rallies during election campaigns. If that party wins and enters into government, expect to appear on TV quite a bit. On the otherhand, if a singer is identified with an opposition party, quite often they will face a difficult time appearing on TV, getting advertising and face punitive bureaucratic hassles. A firm example of making and breaking political patronage in Eastern Europe came with Ukraine's selection of its representative for Eurovision this year. At first the relatively unknown singer Vasyl Lazarovych was announced as Ukraine's singer and that a competition would be held to pick a song for him. Lazarovych happened to be close friends with the government-appointed Director of the Ukrainian national broadcasting station, the organisation responsible for Ukraine's selection for Eurovision. When elections in March saw the pro-Western Yushchenko government ousted for pro-Russian parties led by Yanukovych, as is often the case with political appointees, the Ukrainin TV director was quickly replaced with a new person close to the new government. Also to go was Lazarovych as a supposed anti-corruption measure (Lazarovych was selected as he would self-fund his Eurovision campaign), but most people in Eastern Europe saw the real reason for this sacking of sorts was that he was too closely identified as a Yushchenko supporter. A new competition to select a new song was quickly organised, heavily featuring singers who had been sidelined under the previous government and consequently sung on the election campaign for political parties that eventually formed the new government. Another obscure singer won the competition and went on to sing at Eurovision.

Ukraine is not alone in having had politically motivated selections for representatives. Bulgaria's singer at Eurovision 2008 worked as an assistant to the head of Bulgarian National TV and was an member of the youth wing of the then ruling Socialist Party. Macedonia's 2000 entry featured the cat screeching of 'I lurve you a hundert persent yes ay du' by XXL, a girl band whose members happen to be the daughters of high ranking functionaries tied to Macedonia's then ruling party. While the Serbo-Montenegrin entrants in 2005, 6 boys hoddled together as boy band 'No Name' were all sons of businessmen with very close relations with the sleazy and very corrupt Montenegrin president Milo Djukanović.

As always, politics and music go hand in hand. It's no surprise that many of Russia's top singers of Russia happen also to be members of Putin's Edinnaya Rossiya (United Russia) party, much like how many were Communist Party members back in the day. In Serbia, the pink-haired turbofolk singer Zorica Brunclik will always be associated with her membership in the much despised JUL party led by Milošević's wife Mira Marković. Being close to the ruling family awarded Brunclik with heavy exposure on the government controlled media, a string many surprising number one hits and even a short stint as Minister of Culture. After Milošević was toppled in October 2000, so too did Brunclik's profile and career, disappearing from public sight due to her close connections with the old regime and not daring to reappear on the idiot box until many years later, and that being only on local provincial stations. Brunclik recently appeared on a celebrity reality TV show, helping her to resurrect her career, though she had to face a barrage of criticism due to her past political allegiances while being followed by the cameras.

Now don't think that all this only applies to the Eastern Bloc. Country stars the Dixie Chicks faced a major backlash after their very public opposition to the US invasion of Iraq and disapproval of George W. Bush. The US government were not behind this, but many political elements close to the then administration were responsible for villifying the country music band.

Relatively speaking, it would have been better if Shevchuk was the unique case that the Western media would like us to believe. However, the reality is that in any political system, if you want to go far, best toe the line.

Despite economic crisis, European institutions continue to grow

In a report by EUObersever, one unnamed senior EU official spoke of his frustration that while EU residents are having to face serious cuts to services, welfare and income, the number of unaccountable EU institutions continues to grow. In 2011, the administrative costs for all EU institutions will climb 4.4 percent, with the total amounting to €8.3 billion out of the bloc's budget. The cost rises from other institutions including the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Committee, the European Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors and the various agencies will come to 4.8 percent, with the total costs amounting to just over €3 billion. This comes at a time when most EU Member States, in particular Romania and Greece, are facing massive cuts. One of the most costly and wasteful aspects of the EU's functioning is that the French city of Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament and its secretariat is in Luxembourg, but most work is done in the parliament's buildings in Brussels. The cost of the "travelling circus" shuttling between the three cities in 2011 will come to an estimated €240 million over what would be spent for a single location. France however has consistently called the move to a single seat "non-negotiable." Best comment was that in German many EU institutions are referred to as 'Tintenburgen', or 'Ink Castles', producing a mountain of reports that few people pay any attention to. I can testify to that, and add that they are written in EU-ese versions of the 23 official languages of the Union, rendering their functionality for EU citizens completely useless.

'A new brotherhood and unity'

That's how the Belgrade daily 'Press', using the Communist Yugoslav-era motto of ethnic cooperation, in describing the success of the official visit by Croatia's president Ivo Josipović to Serbia. Yesterday he was walking rather casually with Serbian president Boris Tadić down the streets of Belgrade, where the Serbian and Croatian flags were hanging from Communist-era flagpoles side by side without much disgust from the locals. It makes you think for what the hell were they fighting about 15 years ago? It's a great sign of how the madness of the war years have passed and that ex-Yugoslavia is moving forward by going backwards to Yugoslavia (of sorts). Josipović even met with Serbs who were ethnically cleansed from the former breakaway region of Serbian Krajina, which too is a good sign, and possibly could assist in bringing back refugees to their place of origin. The Serbian president also handed to his Croatian counterpart an icon that had been looted by Serb soldiers during the wars of the early 1990s. Josipović also made a visit to the northern Serbian city of Subotica where a quarter of the population is Croatian.

There, peace in the Balkans can be done and without help from the EU. The fact that the way the Balkans has slowly but surely removed the anomosities of the 90s has been through the common aspects they share - music, television, food and drink. Serbian singers regularly perform in Croatia and vice-versa, while Croatian soap operas such as Dolina sunca (Sun Valley) have been successfully winning the ratings up against stiff Turkish competition. This proves that the Western stereotype of 'centuries-old ethnic hatred' in the Balkans just really isn't so.

Greek journalist shot dead

A popular investigative journalist, Sokratis Giolias, famous for uncovering corruption, has been shot 15 times outside of his home in Athens. Though the police have been quick to link the shooting to an obscure terrorist group called 'Sect of Revolutionaries', I suspect someone else was really involved.

Now, this is the type of action more commonly associated with poorer European countries with short histories of the rule of law and the presence of organised crime. The murders of journalists precluded Croatia from joining the EU quicker a few years back, and is very much reminiscent of similar killings in Milošević's Serbia, or more recently in Bulgaria and Russia . The thing is that this has now happened in an 'old' member of the European Union, where the freedom of speech is supposedly guaranteed and a democracy of sorts has been functioning for many decades. Essentially on paper, such shootings should just not happen in a place like Greece. However, this is yet another example of how Greece is not EU material. The fact that 30 years of EU membership has not been able to prevent such a murder indicates that more than just the economy needs to be fixed in Greece - its whole society needs a complete overhaul, and that will only be possible if Greece is made to reapply for EU membership.

In the meantime, I express my deepest condolescences to Sokratis' family and friends over their sudden loss, and to Greece for being what it is now - a failed state.

'Recommended outfit for everyday life - office, shopping'

So says this ad for 'tattoo-like mantyhose'. Why go through the pain of getting a real and elaborate tattoo when you can wear these pantyhose giving the impression of one. Good for those who like the idea of having a tat but would like it to match and change depending on fashion, season and mood. Though, I'm not sure wearing these to the office or shopping would be as recommended as the ad claims.

How to score $$$$ of US taxpayer money in Cuba

The US is giving away more than US$3.5 million to groups and individuals that would “expand Cuban civic participation and leadership in social relationships and independent civil society groups with a view to supporting the ability of Cuban citizens to freely determine their own future.” How nice. In other words, anyone who opposes Castro and the Communist Party. Pity that US citizens cannot be granted the same type of money for similar activities.

The US Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor does have a few vague stipulations. Cuban aid recipients should be “local groups; cooperatives; associations; informal groups; NGOs; student groups; and media outlets” that do not support a “member, affiliate, or representative of a designated terrorist organization, whether or not elected members of government.” Oh dear, I saw that dreaded term in the middle - NGOs. In the West, an NGO is precisely that - a non-governmental organisation. In emerging and developing countries, especially ones going through democratisation, an NGO is usually a Western-funded slush fund fronted by those working solely for the benefit of their Western patron's interests. 'NGOs' were the main tool used in the Western-funded, fake, colour revolutions of Eastern Europe (Serbia 2000, Georgia 2003, Ukraine 2004, Kyrgyzstan 2005). Basically, most NGOs are usually not trusted in these countries, especially when NGO heads and their children are often seen driving around in fancy Jeeps.

In Cuba's case, the breakdown of the US$3.5 million goes like this: The sum of $500,000 will be distributed to family members of Cuban political prisoners. Using dissident Elizardo Sanchez’ own figures, there will be about 100 political prisoners in Cuba once the releases that are currently underway are completed. That calculates to about $5,000 per dissident in a country where a decent yearly wage is around $300. It surely does pay to be a 'dissident' in Cuba then. And now it also can mean a quick and all-expenses paid getaway to Spain as well.

The US government will also be scouting talent and doling out a whopping $1,500,000 to their preferred performing artists, visual artists, musicians, poets, writers, journalists, and bloggers who apparently charge to freely express themselves. The US knows that entertainers and celebrities are the real money when it comes to 'capturing the hearts and minds'.

Another $500,000 will be awarded to religious groups to foster freedom of religion. Never mind the fact that religions of all shades are already freely practiced on the island. An additional $500,000 is also tagged for “independent” labor unions, obviously excluding the already existing unions. Visions of Polish Solidarity come to mind.

Women rate second to last with only $350,000 earmarked for supporting “on-island efforts to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of women.” One wonders, does an equivalent grant for Las Vegas exist? Anyway, it would be nice if that money were to be granted to the organizations currently working on this issue in Cuba, e.g. CENESEX and the Cuban Women’s Federation, but that’s doubtful.

Lastly Santa Sam will give $300,000 to “groups and individual Cubans who request small grants for independent civil society initiatives that are Cuban-conceived and Cuban-led.” Can’t get any vaguer than that! A lot of small grants can be carved out of $300,000 and being on the US payroll is one of the best paying jobs around. Too right!

The report goes on to say: As a US taxpayer and thus contributor to this program, I would at least like some accountability. But to my dismay, when I tried to get information on last year’s award winners (yes this has been going on for years), the grants manager informed me that they do not “make the names of the organizations or the amounts they were awarded a matter of public record” because “information about the programs would jeopardize the grantees’ ability to operate safely on the island,” and to “minimize the risk that their Cuban partners on the island would be targeted for harassment or reprisal from the Cuban government.”

So, while the US government cannot see fit to extend unemployment benefits to its own struggling citizens, it is clandestinely paying Cubans to work against their own government — thus turning those accepting the money into what we in the US call “unregistered agents of a foreign government”.

But that’s OK, because when the recipients get arrested sometime down the line, the US will have new political prisoners to replace those being released nowadays with which to attack Cuba in the international public opinion arena. It’s a win-win situation!

So when they show images of the 'brave dissidents' and their families, just remember that their motivation is not so much for their often vague ideals of a better Cuba but because being a 'dissident' is a very profitable profession.

Thank you Gary for alerting me of this.

Here we go again!

Thank you Sonia for bringing this to our attention. Today's Guardian reports that 'financial speculators have come under renewed fire for their bets on food prices, blamed for raising the costs of goods such as coffee and chocolate and threatening the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries'. It goes on to say that 'The World Development Movement's report - Great Hunger Lottery says "risky and secretive" financial bets on food prices have exacerbated the effect of poor harvests in recent years. It argues that volatility in food prices has made it harder for producers to plan what to grow, pushed up prices for British consumers and in poorer countries risks sparking civil unrest, like the food riots seen in Mexico and Haiti in 2008'. Food riots in 2008? That was hush-hush. Imagine had they happened in Cuba or Venezuela? We'd never be allowed to forget them. Come to think of it, there were no food riots in either of those countries. Sorry, yes, if we believe the way the West instructs us to believe, that would be because of 'repression'. Back to the report. Don't think that we in the West go unscathed as the Guardian quotes Deborah Doane of WDM, "Nobody benefits from this kind of reckless gambling except a few City wheeler-dealers. British consumers suffer because it pushes up inflation, because of unpredictable oil and raw material prices, and the world's poorest people suffer because basic foods become unaffordable."
So what happened to all that talk in the past 2 years that our banks and society have learnt their lesson?? Yeah, the only lesson learnt was where it went wrong in getting sustainable profits. But who is to challenge this?