What a world
In case you've been hiding under a rock recently, I just had a glance through the Times headlines from the last two or three weeks and I'm constantly amazed at what's going on in the world these days. Russia has finally convicted the one oil tycoon that could run a decent company, essentially for the crime of becoming a political threat to Putin in a country where the man at the top means everything. (It's no coincidence that his term ends right after the next election.) Bolivia is in utter turmoil, its president offering to resign for the second time, because the common folk are feeling ripped off by foreign energy companies. There have been over 800 protests, with an expressly anti-globalization agenda. We finally got to meet "Deep Throat," though personally I found it rather anti-climactic. The French and the Dutch both rejected the proposed EU constitution, which was to be a major step towards solidifying Europe as a single entity. The dispute is not looking temporary, since a recent summit broke down in anger and shame with Britain and France unwilling to pay more towards the Union in order to hold it together. Nobody's claiming that the EU is going to break down anytime soon, but it's a major setback, indicative of the deep rift between the desire to preserve the European socialist model and the urgent need to liberalize markets and promote free trade. The Bush administration, not surprisingly, continues to make an ass of itself around the world: telling Africa that free trade and democracy will solve all their problems and criticizing China on the one thing that it really, really can't stand hearing about: political freedom. (It's terribly important--but telling that to the Chinese does nothing but insullt them. That's not a good idea.) But the politicians aren't all bad: in the first vote of the year on the Patriot Act, the House pushed back against Bush and denied that intelligence officers should be able to access library records. No guarantee that Bush won't get what he wants, but it's heartening to see that 238 of the 425 representatives were concerned enough about civil liberties to make it hard for the administration to keep its Big Brother powers on the books without change. Finally, and depressingly, the five-year case against Big Tobacco has been gutted: what was going to be $130 billion in penalties levied on the tobacco industry has been deflated down to a paltry $10 billion. Following the Times' slant, it sounds like there's strong evidence for political (read: monetary) motivation behind the decision. With this administration, that's a slant I'm highly inclined to believe.
What a world. In Fight Club, Tyler complains that Gen Xers have had no great war to give shape to their character. I tell you, all you have to do is pick up the paper: there are plenty of wars out there, with fighting on multiple fronts. It's a little easier to ignore--there's very little patriotic propaganda and no shortages of goods--but the issues are no less pressing.
What a world. In Fight Club, Tyler complains that Gen Xers have had no great war to give shape to their character. I tell you, all you have to do is pick up the paper: there are plenty of wars out there, with fighting on multiple fronts. It's a little easier to ignore--there's very little patriotic propaganda and no shortages of goods--but the issues are no less pressing.