Donald versus Duck

Seim debates regarding the Smolensk accident have not only failed to put a period to the most important and urgent issue of domestic Polish policy but rather started the new round of national madness instead. They threaten Poland if not with the civil war, then surely with a loss of control over the country. 

Eight years that changed America. Part II

8. Iraq. The Iraq war was a screw-up of such colossal magnitude that it's easy to forget how many discrete screw-ups went into the making of it. There were the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and the nonexistent links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. There's the humiliating spectacle of Secretary of State Colin Powell presenting hours of bogus testimony to the U.N. Security Council. There was Paul Wolfowitz's bizarre claim that the war would pay for itself, when the real price tag is now in excess of $1 trillion. And let us not forget the 4,000 Americans and 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, more than 30,000 American soldiers wounded, and several million Iraqi refugees forced to flee their homes. A strategy that was supposed to bring U.S.-friendly democracy to the Middle East instead produced an empowered Iran and a more fragile balance of power in the region. The only thing more astonishing than the scope of these blunders is the fact that the former president does not regret his decision, even now.

Eight years that changed America. Part I

Exactly two years ago, on the 20^th of January, 2009 the first black American President moved into the White House. Since then everyone’s tenderness with the color of Barack Obama’s skin was replaced with disappointment in the hopes and expectations that he failed to live up to. Then there were apprehends regarding the abrupt drop of his popularity. It was getting worse and worse as it went. Democrats lost the midterm elections and, as a consequence, have lost the House majority. Emergence of a new political power (the Tea Party), deep economic crisis, weakening of American foreign policy positions in the world in general and particularly in Europe — all of that changed America, its public image in the world and it gives us a good reason to think about what’s happened.

Tunis: desperate revolt of frustrated poor or the jasmine revolution?

Villa of the fled President is burning away just fine

Recent color revolution — this time the Tunisian one — has already been dubbed the jasmine one and has been considered to be yet another democratic victory. Commentators tend to think that Tunisians have demonstrated their urge for democracy and disproved a thought that Arabs can exist only under the rough authoritarian regime. I have a completely different opinion about that.

MOVE OF BISHOP: REPUBLICANS START AND… LOSE AS OF YET: “Pre-election America 2012”

Several weeks ago Pentagon has discovered to its utter surprise that even the state-of-the-art American weapons contain “made-in-China”, i.e. apparently counterfeit, computing components. The hype is easy to understand even without going deep into technical specs of modern arms production, let alone the potential fighting capacity of an army, armed with the remarkable weapons like that.

While pre-election battles take place at Republican field, the incumbent President may sleep the sleep of just, amused by the Elephants trampling each other into mud and cutting all the more wounds of GOP would-be-occupants of the Oval Office open.

What is Khodorkovsky doing his time for. Part III

Khodorkovsky as a one of modern Russian political system Framers

During next three or four years Mikhail Khodorkovsky became one of the wealthiest people in Russia. Due to the experts’ estimates his fortune used to make up $18 billion. Time of financial affairs, acquiring the best tidbits of the national pie was over. Being, without doubt, a very gifted man, Khodorkovsky understood that money is not everything at all. From now then his goal changed — he desired to become a part of establishment, gain more power rather than money.

What is Khodorkovsky doing his time for?

Part 2

This elegant smiling man knows exactly what he wants

Five grannies make a ruble

Big money lacked a brand-new signboard and the diversification of business. That’s what new „Intersectorial Scientific-Technical Programs Center” — or just „MENATEP[1]” in short — was found for. Competition at the market of financial services, which Khodorkovsky majored in, increased drastically and the commission charges for transactions of that kind reduced to 3–5%. New era of business — import of goods — was on the rise.