they

The Bilderberg Group is convening for their annual conference in Switzerland over the weekend.  Conspiracy and speculation can be entertaining, and I feel that either the power-brokers from Europe and the Americas getting together for a informal brain-storming session without the ideas they throw out being beholden to their politicians, press or investors to promote trans-Atlantic cooperation and sustainability or reptillian overlords plotting the enslavement of all of humanity are both equally plausible--behind closed doors.  I do not think, however, that this body is deciding on the news and developments for the coming year or acts as the shadow, world government.  If that were the case, I think they would be better hidden, less tolerant of the unexpected, and their agendas maybe would have been betrayed by puppets' string long ago.

eschatology or a peck of pickled peppers

Being somewhat inured to out breaks of food poisoning, being much more common occurrences in the States, the wrath and general indignation to this episode that’s apparently originated with a harvest of Spanish cucumbers is laudable. Such risk coming from the normally innocuous is rightly intolerable. I have a lot of sympathy for the people that have gotten sick, as well as for the farmers and truck-farming industry that has garnered a bad reputation. It is difficult to attribute this out break to simply a quality control issue—although the draconian austerity measures being imposed on the Spanish people may lead to more cutting corners in the future and possibly more farmers entering the marketplace without proper training and experience with organic agriculture, the preferred cultivation method for German consumers—there is moreover the dangers of a monoculture emerging here, I believe. Culling one uniform type of cucumber, instead of a variety, makes the whole crop more susceptible to pests of opportunity—maybe this one robust strain of E. coli (DE) too. Monocultures, uniformity, in the form of designer seeds, I think, has also fuelled the frequency of out breaks in the US, but such cultivars arise even without genetic meddling.  Tastes adapt and call for this standard, and it doesn’t stay a Spanish problem. The flora and fauna in human digestive systems make up a delicate and complicated ecology too, and the bacteria attacks this wildlife preserve rather than going after the host, the game warden, directly. Variety allows for immunity and the strength to overcome the daily onslaught and poaching of our bodies.

senatus

An interesting German jobs market report came out of Leipzig, which mirrors one aspect of the anemic employment recovery in the US.

The analysis of career prospects for younger people entering the workforce shows that wages and chances of meaningful advancement are relatively low compared to historical levels. Even though the fluctuating US unemployment numbers sometimes suggest improvement, deeper scrutiny, however, reveals that there is disproportionate joblessness for younger people and those jobs that are returning are not nearly of the caliber of those that were lost and are not coming back. Despite Germany's Wirtschaftswunder, poor prospects and disenfranchisement for the young led all countries towards gerontocracy, rule by the council of elders that can turn into feelings of oppression. Wise, experienced counsel ensures good governance and continuity but also tends to want to maintain its own standard of living, and there are simply not enough resources, conventionally, on the poor old planet to keep billions, young and old, professional engaged. Incumbents of course should not be edged out and I think that would be a nightmare form of labour revolt, persecuting the past generation for the sake of up-and-comers--and a strange reversal of the retirement-contribution paradox. People everywhere need to become innovative in creating markets sustainably, and not jobs tethered to old profligate ways. Business is about scarcity but need for service and fulfillment is virtually inexhaustible.

Ein Leipziger deutscher Job-Marktbericht ist interresant, und dieser Bericht ist einem Aspekt des schwachen amerikanischen Wirtschaftsaufschwungs ähnlich. Berufsaussichten für jüngere Leute, die in die Belegschaft eingehen, haben niedrigere Löhne und weniger Chancen der bedeutungsvollen Förderung. Gegen oberflächliche Indikatoren der Verbesserung gibt es noch hohe Arbeitslosigkeit für junge Leute, und die Qualität von Jobs sind nicht dasselbe wie zuvor. Trotz Deutschlands Wirtschaftswunder führten schlechte Aussichten und Entmündigung für den Jungen Leuten alle Länder zu Gerontokratie. Weisheit und Erfahrung machen gute Regierung und Kontinuität aber es bewahrt auch selbst. Es gibt nicht genug Mittel (im klassischen Sinn) auf diesem Planeten, um Jobs allen zu geben. Die ältere Generation sollte nicht entlassen werden, um der jüngeren Generation zu helfen. Das würde ein Albtraum sein, und es macht Finanzierungsruhestand paradox. Kreativität muss Jobs unabhängig von alten Denkarten, beschränkten Mitteln und Marktluftblasen. Geschäft ist Knappheit, aber das Bedürfnis nach dem Dienst und Erfüllung wird nie erschöpft. Geschäft ist Knappheit, aber das Bedürfnis nach dem Dienst und Erfüllung wird nie erschöpft.

just deserts

Karma and irony are sometimes the only concepts able to connect and make sense of the disparate events of history. The same ideas, however, seem to also be taking on a commanding role in determining foreign policy and outreach in present statecraft, and seemingly in many cases, the only framing factors in diplomacy and decision-making.

On some levels, it is only fitting that the Western powers are struggle to contain the Frankenstein’s monsters, non-pejoratively, that they have created or stuff the genie back inside the bottle: many powers turned a blind eye to the injustices of those who were the bulwarks of stability politically and economically—however tyrannical or at least unchecked, Italy is facing an onslaught of immigrants from its former imperial aspirations, France is policing its former colonial holdings as well, Germany is being compelled to paid the dues of NATO membership, and the US is facing down hostile jets from the Libyan airbase it held until Qaddafi came to power.

I venture in the current atmosphere, intervention has been needful and protected many innocent people and perhaps gives them to opportunity to succeed, not burdened by governments serving in the omission of their clients and with those resulting price controls somewhat excused. It could be a slippery-slope, however. Why didn’t the French cavalry charge in to kidnap George W. Bush and deliver him to the disenfranchised electorate back in 2001? What if Russia championed a Bavarian independence movement or Hawaiian liberation? Iceland is refusing reparations to foreign investors over its failed banks, but who is to say that international condemnation on America’s fiscal policy is not too risky already and should be subject to the global good? Sovereignty is a delicate thing, which tends to wither before adventures en masse.

bucket brigade and bail-in

Collusion, conspiracy seems to play a big part in commercial affairs, especially when deferment, demurring on the inevitable, is playing an event larger role. Adventures in the Middle East, under U.N. sponsorship, are proving costly but sorties were inspired by the misapplication, transference of one uprising to another.

The pressure to act or react, according to a naïve paradigm, has anchored military and statecraft to a civil war or a tribal war, an internal affair, that even the rebel forces are finding awkward and unwieldy. Meanwhile, the same precedence that's potentially prejudiced with misjudgment hangs over the Ivorians, Syrians and the Iranians. Procrastination and bickering over nuance and semantics has been another form of deferment for the US government, interested in defanging, surgically certain programs. Kettled though undeterred, there is another uprising being organized, different though inspired by protests in the UK and witnessing what can be accomplished elsewhere, that aims to garner maximum attention, and make the beneficiaries of all this strife and delay take notice. There is a huge disconnection between economic health and the health of a people, of a nation--no matter what's selling, which is only proportional to the disconnection between the classes.

Solidarity and education are certainly powerful, but when fundamental problems are not addressed and too much profit is skimmed off of that dawdling, conspiring forces are invited in: with sovereign default and shutdowns looming, the spectre of meddlesome quagmire and people financially alienated, these major banks and their familiars only need the bad press of sunshine.

a working-class hero is something to be

A Washington, D.C. journal featured an important and intensely personal account of the how being out of work changes a person and a family, affecting one's dignity, attitude and outlook. It is absolutely crushing, gathering small blessing nonetheless, how the writer realizes that America has become a plutocracy, a kleptocracy and the only relatively safe careers are those that appeal to the vanities of the wealthy.

For the writer's intended audience, such transformations should be obvious and prevented, dealt with sympathetically, but just as hard as her revelations are about the state of affairs, understanding the consequences of unemployment or underemployment can be very difficult, for those spared the brutality and the insult.

The struggle is different for any individual anywhere, but it is nearly impossible to fathom for many Europeans, where the chance to live the American dream is still possible for immigrants and natives alike, who are rarely confronted with threats of eviction or a constant plague of bounty-hunter debt collectors or shudder in the absence of any sort of meaningful social safety-net, recourse or cushion. Sincerely, I hope that no one ever need to go through this, especially with the lowered expectations that globalization brings, disgust and futility with the ability and impetus to organize and protest against injustice even taken away.  One hopes, as well, that the message of this story shared is received and that awareness and empathy increases.

the calypso caper

It is difficult to discern what the involuntary consortium of Western powers, be they the UN, the US, NATO or some mandate or protectorate, are trying to accomplish in the Levant. They act against the vocal and tacit advice of many, including regional powers’ limited approval. To estimate the situation in Libya the same as other recent revolutions, with names spicy and colourful, may be over-simplifying and unflattering to call it imitation. America, feigning reluctance, is pushing forward and, I believe, clearing following a tragically predictable playbook. I wonder where is this war’s Curveball, the Iraq informant and agitator who fed the intelligence agencies and hawkish minds exactly what they wanted to hear. Or is there no such figure this time around, only the irresistible siren song of battle and Balkanization by dividing the region?

abwesenheit von lärm

“Meine Damen und Herren,” German Interior minister de Maizière began in a press-conference, “there is cause for concern but no cause hysteria,” citing foreign intelligence that gave more substantial leads on a possible terrorist plot to carry out attacks in Germany at the end of November. Such news could also transform into nebulous and scary, but necessarily de Maizière cautioned that response and vigilance should not negatively affect the hallmarks of a free society. Some critics claim the minister and whole security apparatschik for not sharing the urgency that the US unloaded a few weeks past about an even vaguer threat fear the blowback when something might materialize: at the time, it was offered that there was not need to change routine; now however, de Maizière excused this press conference precisely because people might see their daily routines disrupted—there might be a more noticeable police presence, and he just though “the public to know why.”

To call it a tempered and reasonable response sounds like the political talk that signifies nothing, but it is refreshing and affirming that not only are scare-tactics not unleashed wontingly, though the statement was brief, the news is also constantly repeated, including all the admonishments, with analysis and the public parsing every word. It is a lot different than in the US where measures, arguably morale crushing and furthering submissiveness, are only escalating. Statistics record that with the past decade tragically about three thousand people perished as a result of terrorist related air travel, albeit mostly on one day. When draconian response is not at all commiserate, then the boogeymen need do nothing else.

idée fixe

EU legislation has condemned the old fashioned, inefficient and heat-generating light bulb (German--Glühbirn, glowing-pear) in favor of the lower wattage, longer-lived variety. This is a good move which will reduce waste since light-bulbs are reputedly resistant to recycling--which is something I do not quite buy--and save consumers money on their utility bills, figured rather unexcitedly over the life-time of the light-bulb. This restriction, beyond promotion of a cost-saving measure and a sensible idea, could create a underground culture of after-market old fashioned light-bulbs to fit vintage and antique lamps. There must be surplus stock for decades-worth of lighting that are now barred from retail outlets but could span a grey-market. I do not want to buck the ecologically smart trend, but I like the idea of sneaking around to bypass newly-mandated contraband. It makes me think about those eternal, early incandescent bulbs that are still burning from Thomas Edison's time, the heydays of tinkering and experimentation. The designed obsolescence supposedly came later, once manufacturers realized that there was no money to be made in something that did not need to be replaced.

vini, vidi

Having resided in the European Union for quite some time, on official business, though without accompanying citizenship, I have gotten use to borderless pacts and relative freedom of movement. I have run up against a few logistical riddles lately, however, when it comes to travel. Though I had every assurance in addition to my own research on entry requirements for Turkey, I was still nervous and nearly flipped out when the guy behind the ticket counter informed me that my vegetarian meal, as requested, would be available on the flight. I misheard it. A visa is the short-form of the Latin phrase “charta visa,” the paper that has been seen. It think, however, a more apt expression might be quid pro quo, as everything escalated or otherwise sustained behind bureaucratic and diplomatic reciprocity and blow-back to the US for making travel in general such an unpleasant experience. H and I, projecting longingly to the next vacation, are hoping to spend New Year’s in Russia and I am already a bit overwhelmed by the process and who I belong to under these circumstances and travel arrangements. In an unrelated move, the airport at Hamburg is poised to start a pilot program to test full-body scanners, the city-state’s foreign minister announced. After the revelations, which should not have come as a big surprise, the US Department of Homeland Security is actively warehousing these images for more than just training purposes, I wonder why Hamburg would have committed to this exercise—which is apparently on a voluntary-basis, and risk being entangled in the same mistrust and suspicions that the US is courting. That makes about as much sense as a city-state having a full-fledged ministry of foreign affairs.