The Land of the Crazy People

I do not pretend to understand what is happening in the American Congress. It seems to be this:

First a law was passed.

Then the law was challenged in the court system and the law survived.

Then there was a presidential election. The challenger, who said the law was no good, was defeated about as badly as Napoleon at Berezina.

Not content with losing the election, the opponents of the law have tried approximately forty times to repeal the law. They have failed.

Now the opponents of the law have taken the American government hostage. They claim that they will shut down the American government if they do not get their way.

Two types of people negotiate in such a manner: Spoiled children and terrorists.

You may decide to which group belong the opponents of the law.

Nevertheless, they are politically, if not medically, insane.

America the Ironic

President Barack H. Obama was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

Now, he may order his military to attack another nation-- Not because that nation attached America. Not because that nation attacked an ally of America.

But because that nation attacked its own people.

President Obama may order this attack without any fig leaf of international authority.

Which very well may make this president the second recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize to commit a war crime.

(The first was another American: Henry Kissinger.)

Why Was That Not Theft?

I have attempted to pay attention to the situation involving the banks in Cyprus. The European Union apparently thought that it would be a very great idea to try to confiscate some of the money in the banks that had been deposited by Russian oligarchs, or the Russian mafia. It must be conceded that the border between those two groups is not distinct.

Still, I wonder how this would have been viewed by the Americans if the Grand Cayman Islands government, which I believe is a British colony, attempted to similarly confiscate a significant percentage of the amounts deposited in their banks. While Cyprus may have been a favored offshore banking haven of the Russian rich, the same can be said of the Grand Cayman Islands banks and the American rich. I believe that Mr. Romney, the losing candidate in the last American election, had significant amounts of money in the Grand Cayman Islands banks.

Another point worth your consideration, please: Many of the Russians who had money in the Cyprus banks are what you may call "hard men". If the European bankers had been successful in taking their money, it is not without question if the Russians involved would have let that go without giving the same sort of gift as was received by Anna Politkovskaya.