Diaf0ora, diafaneia, pagkosmiopoihsh!

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Arage ti na skepteste ki eseis otan akoute autous tous orous;
Egw proswpika exw arxisei na upopteuomai suzhthseis kai autous pou tis strefoun h" tis arxizoun gurw ap'autous tous orous. Genika kata kairous se diaforous kuklous kai koinwnikes peristaseis pernane oroi (le3eis kleidia) pou parousiazontai, suzhtiountai, 3ana kai 3ana mexri na e3antlh0ei ka0e orio fantasias gurw ap'autes tis le3eis kai mexri na parousiastoun neoi oroi pou foriountai se diafora salonia suzhthsewn. Apo para0ura thleorashs mexri to tabernaki pou mazeuontai filoi, apo akadhmaika sumposia mexri th suzhthsh dipla sto periptero apo agorastes kapoias kentro aristerhs fulladas.
Autes oi anhsuxies proerxontai panta apo ton fobo MOY tou teratos ths de3ias pou prospa0ei na mas katapiei kai allazei sunexws morfes kai proswpa, wste na sthsei thn enedra tou. Ton fobo ths de3ias na isxwrei sta xwrafia ths aristeras kai sunexws na thn diaurwnei kai na thn dialuei, h" toulaxistwn na thn apodunamwnei.
Isws pragmati oi oroi autoi na kruboun kapoia shmantika problhmata, ta opoia bebaia oloi exoume akousei na analuontai. Emena den me endiaferei akribws h analush auth th stigmh alla h moda twn orwn san 0emata suzhthsewn. Mas endiaferoun; Giati; Mas dhmiourgoun problhmata; Pws; Giati asxoloumaste; Poios mas ebale na estiasoume se auta ta problhmata; Ti sumferwnta e3uphretei h dhmiourgia kapoias neas orologias pou h xrhsh ths mas epibaletai, enw stis rizes olwn autwn twn newn orwn krubetai to idio palaio problhma.
Mhpws einai problhmata twn "ex0rwn" tuligmena se xarti diata3iko; Mhpws entexna kapoioi prow0oun to problhma tous kalhmeno me diafores ptuxes wste diafores ta3eis politwn na to uio0etoun san diko tous; Mhpws ta metra antistashs sta problhmata auta e3uphretoun anti0eta sumferwnta apo autwn pou pane na ta lusoun; Mhpws pragmati kapoioi ki ap'autous diais0anontai kapoio wfelos apo thn epilush tous;
Na to suzhthsoume to 0ema, h" mhpws exw paranohsei kai otan akouw "diaf0ora" ftanei st autia mou McDonalds. Otan akouw diafaneia katagrafetai ston eggefalo mou CoCaCoLa; Mhpws otan akouw pagkosmiopoihsh oramatizomai General Electric, "we bring good things to life" ki ena glompo na anabei;Mhpws o 0anatos tou mikrou Housein sth Faluja den einai shmantiko problhma, alla h epektash ths GM sth Kina einai; Kat'epektash mas noiazei h poreia ths metoxhs ths GM pio polu apo ton 0anato kai ta basana twn "pagkosmiopoihmenwn";
Mhpws ena diafanes kratos e3uphretei thn egkatastash ths Ford se akoma mia xwra peinasmenh kai katapiesmenh; Mhpws h 3afnikh epektash ths pagkosmias mesaias ta3hs (mesw twn diplwmatwn me thn sesoula MbA, Business Management, Marketing, klp.) kai h diadedomenh pia anergeia tous kai h oikonomikh tous anhsuxia 0elei thn pagkosmiopoihsh uposeinhdhta, alla apozhta thn miwsh ths diaf0oras apo ligotero eidikeumenous dief0armenous texnokrates, kai thn prosluyh e3eidikeumenwn sthn diafaneia astwn; Panta bebaia uphrxe mia tribh meta3u newn anerxomenwn texnokratwn kai palaioterwn dieu0armenwn kratikwn leitourgwn, estw ki an den eperne polu xrono stis nees karekles gia na epel0ei h diaf0ora.
Ka0ara kai oi treis autoi oroi einai sundedemenoi. To dief0armeno kratos ginetai empodio sthn pagkosmiopoihsh giati oi manatzeriskoi pou proslabe h polue0nikh kai teleiwsan to Yale school of business management de 3eroun na ladwsoun to tritokosmiko lamoyo na tous bgalei adeia egkatstashs. To pioni me to MBA nomize oti thn ekane kai twra yaxnei gia douleia kai 0eei na ektopisei ton hmima0h lamogio pou exei 0esh sto dief0armeno kratos.
Emena ti me endiaferoun ola auta; Afou erxetai kai de mporw na to stamathsw, to teras exei hdh 3ekleidwsei th porta mou ki plhsiazei na me katapiei. Den agorazw pia mhla apo ton Mhtro ton mpakali alla apo to Lidl giati einai fthnotera kai pio gualistera. Brizw ton Pasoko politiko me th megalh koilia, th Mercedes, kai th balitsa me th miza. 0elw ena agno par0eno NDhmokrath pou 0a thn pernei th miza nomima kai diafana. Kai meta apo kapoia xronia to idio senario me allagh twn omadwn ND/PASOK, les kai mia paizoun sto ghpedo tou enos kai mia stou allou.
Par;ola auta sth Kina ftiaxnoun Cadillac, sth Faluja skotwnoun paidakia, sto Sudan e3afanizoun akoma mia e0nikothta an0rwpwn apo to proswpo ths ghs, kai sto Me3iko xanoun ergostasia mlis 5 xronwn kai blepoun ta metaforika ploia na salparoun gia Kina.
Gia na antista0w 0a piw Coca Cola maimou Albanikh, 0a yhfisw tous pio dief0armenous Pasokous stis epomenes ekloges, kai 0a prow0w thn idea oti den exw kanena endiaferwn na ma0w ti sxeseis exei o ergolabos me ton upourgo. 0a yhfizw OXI sto NAI kai NAI sto OXI, giati mono asuneidhta phgainontas kontra sto reuma ths epoxhs telika mporei kati na petuxei kaneis, kai oxi akolou0ontas to. Exoun ola ginei toso poluploka na ta katanohsoume pou prow0oume ta sumferwnta twn ex0rwn mas xwris na to katalabainoume.
H antide3ia den einai h aristera kai antistrofa h aristera den einai panta antide3ia.

Mhpws stou koufou thn bronta oso 0eleis porta;

KoZmas

To whomever it might concern

The story behind the recent events at Fallujah

iraq > politics > bestial
A version of this story, fuelled by that utterly shocking video, suggested that the people lynched were civilian conractors. Apparently this isn't true. The manner of their deaths was atrocious but these were pretty much foreign troops, stationed in an occupied country. Of troops, furthermore, involved in recent atrocities against Iraqis - and I must remind people, it seems, that the vast majority of civilian casualties in Iraq are indeed Iraqis.

What amazed me about the attack was the blazing blind hatred against those (not incorrectly it seems) perceived as US spies. For a random crowd (including children for chrissake) to reach this state of frenzied, unstoppable murderous violence... this doesn't happen because of the "evilness" of the people or their backwardness... it happens because they have been brutaly killed, violently hacked down in their own homes by foreign occupation forces. The story reminds me of the tales I've heard of popular lynchings of nazi collaborators after the war . The people who lynched the collaborators (responsible for an untold number of deaths) were treated like heroes (at first - then the quislings took over again - but that's another story...). And killing German soldiers was a badge of honour that one wore proudly for the rest of his life... I expect that local attitudes in Fallujah are quite similar.

I'm including a large excerpt of the UN Observer report because a lot of it is important to understand what is happenning...

"The US government and military have stated that the four Americans were contractors working for the private security firm, Blackwater Security, and employed to protect food deliveries in the Fallujah area. No explanation has been given as to why they were so far inside the city. AP cameras filmed a US Department of Defence identification card among the wreckage, giving rise to suspicions that the men may have been American intelligence operatives.

The passions of the crowd reflect the hostility toward the US invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq. In the last week, the American military has intensified the repression of the 500,000 residents of Fallujah. On March 24, the California-based First Marine Division took over control of the area, which has been one of the centres of opposition and armed resistance to the US. The newly arrived troops have been attempting to assert their control using brutal tactics.

Last Friday morning, hundreds of marines with tanks and armoured vehicles deployed into the city in force - the first time American troops have done so for months. Exchanges of mortar and gunfire flared throughout the day, especially in the working class suburb of al-Askari where the marines fought battles with local resistance fighters. Most of the 15 Iraqis killed and many of the wounded were non-combatants gunned down by the Americans.

A farmer, Jamal Mahesem, told the Washington Post he was shot in the leg while he was walking down a road. "I didn't even see the American soldiers," he said. "I don't know why they started shooting. I didn't hear anyone shooting at them."

Another wounded man, Ahmed Yusuf, who claimed he was shot as he turned his car into a side street, told the Post: "They think that they're going to control the city by doing this? They're wrong. They will never be able to control the city like this. They will turn the situation here to a war situation.” The man in the car behind him was shot in the head.

Among those killed by American bullets was Mohammed Mazhour, a freelance cameraman working for US ABC News. Hospitals reported treating at least 25 wounded, including five children.

The marines’ offensive continued over the following days. The major roads in and out of Fallujah were blockaded by US tanks and troops until Tuesday, with hundreds of people being subjected to vehicle searches. On Monday and Tuesday, marines carried out house-to-house searches for insurgents in three suburbs, including al-Askari. An unknown number of men were detained. A local, Khaled Jamaili, told AP: “If they find more than one adult male in any house, they arrest one of them. Those marines are destroying us. They are leaning very hard on Fallujah.”

As they rampaged through the city, the marines tossed Arabic leaflets into the streets that provocatively read: “You can’t escape and you can’t hide.”
The offensive has inflamed what was already a population fiercely opposed to the US occupation. Fallujah was a centre of support for the former Baathist regime and fighting has not stopped since the US-led invasion. As a result, the city has suffered considerably at the hands of the USA military. In April 2003, unarmed demonstrations were fired on by American killing and wounding scores of civilians. In the months since, resistance fighters have killed and wounded dozens of Americans."

See also this relevant BBC article:

Although several Marines have been killed, the Iraqi casualty figure has been much higher.

Some 30 are thought to have been killed in the last two weeks of March alone.

Many were simply caught in crossfire, and inevitably, that continues to fuel the tensions.

Recalling Pol Pot's Terror, But Forgetting His Backers

history > killing fields > a reminder
John Pilger reminds us of the events that transpired to bring the dreaded Pol Pot regime in power - and who supported it after it was ousted by communist Vietnam...:

"The genocide in Cambodia did not begin on April 17 1975, 'Year Zero'. It began more than five years earlier when American bombers killed an estimated 600,000 Cambodians. Phosphorous and cluster bombs, napalm and dump bombs that left vast craters were dropped on a neutral country of peasant people and straw huts. In one six-month period in 1973, more tons of American bombs were dropped on Cambodia than were dropped on Japan during the second world war: the equivalent of five Hiroshimas. The regime of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger did this, secretly and illegally.
Unclassified CIA files leave little doubt that the bombing was the catalyst for Pol Pot's fanatics, who, before the inferno, had only minority support. Now, a stricken people rallied to them. In Panh's film, a torturer refers to the bombing as his reason for joining 'the maquis': the Khmer Rouge. What Nixon and Kissinger began, Pol Pot completed. And having been driven out by the Vietnamese, who came from the wrong side of the cold war, the Khmer Rouge were restored in Thailand by the Reagan administration, assisted by the Thatcher government, who invented a 'coalition' to provide the cover for America's continuing war against Vietnam."

Papandreou: The dynasty continues
greece > politics > hereditary
This is happenning at home:

"PASOK, which began its political career as a party that was profoundly critical of US policy, both in Greece and internationally, has gradually become the "American" party of some contemporary Greeks, and not only thanks to the communication skills of George Papandreou."

The whole media blitz that Papandreou's nomination as party leader has entailed, reminds me of American elections, only worse. The private TV channels in Greece, owned in their majority by big business interests which have made a killing under the self-styled socialists, are playing day in and day out more and more pictures of Papandreou the third: a messianic thrill has overtaken the pundits, after the scare of what seemed like the spectre of certain electoral defeat this spring. Now with the force of the biggest Greek political brand-name behind them they are marching forward hoping to con everyone into giving them four more years of plunder.
The socialists have overseen the greatest upward redistribution of income in living memory and have created an ubiquitous system of corruption that makes the Andreas' Papandreou era seem pristine in comparison. They have allowed a handful of magnates to run the country as their own personal feudal property. They have sold off (or are trying to sell off) utilities and public lands, while changing the laws as to allow the destruction of most of Greece's forests. Yet, at the same time they have nothing but friends among TV channel owners who shape public attitudes and distract the populace by showing nothing but the most vile and insignificant gossip as news. Still PASOK was on the way for a major defeat, as the opinion polls were showing a gaping 8-10% between them and the (equaly abominable) New Democracy conservative party, which, however, is not considered by our ruling oligarchs capable of handling the further upward redistribution of income without creating serious social tensions.
Thus the bearer of the name was called so that a PR coup d' etat could be staged and the battle renewed. I doubt if it will work in the near term, but one can safely bet that George Papandreou will be Prime Minister of Greece sometime in the next four years...

And to make the whole thing more surreal, the most "Anti-American" European country will soon have the most pro-American Prime Minister in Europe.