Christine Lagarde and I

I am not sure what I think about Christine Lagarde, the Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but she evidently like my ideas:

It took Lagarde four years, but she has now joined me and supports my suggestion that the Olympic Games should be moved to a permanent home in Greece.

Here’s what Lagarde said: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2016/07/01/surprise-from-lagarde-let-the-olympic-games-come-home-to-athens-permanently/

And here is what I wrote in 2012: http://davidranan.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/move-games-to-greece.html

No wish to be castrated

Senator Joni Ernst, one of the US politicians who were mentioned as possible running mates by Donald Trump, did not get the job.

Could it be that Trump was worried that this female senator, who had boasted about her experience in castrating pigs, would be too close to him?

Metaphors change

We cannot say that we have not been warned: Some six months ago, Turkey’s president, explained that his craving for more power, has precedent and brought Hitler’s Germany as an example.

Now we have stage II: In the aftermath of last week’s putsch attempt, thousands, probably tens of thousands, have been arrested. Erdogan, who has promised to bring in the death penalty, explained that "they will pay a heavy price for this. This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army." 

Erdogan spoke of the need to “clean the virus responsible for the coup.” The virus being the purported "terror group", led by Erdogan’s former associate, Fethullah Gülen.  

Going back to the role models, brings to mind the “night of the long knives”, in which Hitler had the head of the SA, Ernst Röhm, killed. Röhm had been a close friend and ally, who had become too powerful for the rest of Hitler’s team. As Hitler and his associates set to dismantle Röhm’s organisation, Hitler explained, “I gave the order to cauterise down to the raw flesh the ulcers of this poisoning of the wells in our domestic life.”   

Virus or ulcers poisoning the wells… Metaphors change.

The Johnson Suicide

It has very quickly become apparent – not only to the remain camp – that the leaders of the leave campaign have irresponsibly misled and lied and thereby led the country in a downward spiral to a frightening unknown.

The unexpected outcome of the Brexit referendum has opened an interesting discussion about how to avoid following the wish of the majority (albeit a slim one) as it was expressed on 23 June. The referendum would not have taken place at all, had we had a responsible adult in Great Britain and more than anything else this is what we are lacking now: a charismatic politician to responsibly lead the country out of this mess. A Churchill or De Gaulle would have been right for the occasion.

Some have suggested calling a general election, but the parties need a trigger to clarify clearly what their positions on Europe are. And here’s my suggestion:

Going out with a bang would establish Boris Johnson forever as a truly tragic hero. Books, plays, even operas would be written about him, were he to commit suicide. 

He would need to leave a suicide note addressed to his followers, explaining that the whole Brexit idea was a terrible mistake, his miscalculated bravado, for which he apologises to the British people. He would add a suggestion that Parliament be dissolved and new elections be called, in which the competing parties would clarify whether they are IN or OUT.

The ball (?), Boris Johnson, is in your court.

Quds Tag Berlin

The Quds Day, on which anti-Israel demonstrations take place in many countries, was brought to life by Iran as anti-Israel propaganda. Often these demonstrations would include anti-Semitic slogans, and in Germany, an anti Quds Day lobby has managed to successfully emasculate the Quds demonstration.

So the organising committee no longer simply call for a demonstration against Israel but instead define the demo as “together against Zionism and Anti-Semitism”. 

The demonstrators are instructed not to chant any slogans that were not pre-approved by the committee (and checked by the police). The speaker had his own little erective moment in which he fully quoted the slogan about cowardly Jewish pigs that the participants were not to repeat.  Various other limitations, including Hizbollah flags that were not to be flown, were made on the group of ca. 300 demonstrators who saw nothing weird in carrying placards about children-killing-Israel, only two days after a Palestinian terrorist killed a 13- year-old girl sleeping in her bed. 

The icing on the Quds Day cake were three ultra-orthodox puppets from a small anti-Zionist sect, Neturei Karta, who were flown in from London to show their support. The sign they were holding said that according to the bible, Palestine should be under Palestinian sovereignty. I repeatedly asked them to tell me where exactly this can be found in the bible. They did not know and suggested I send an email to their HQ in London...