George Handlery about the week that was. It is smart to help folks vote for you. The constitutional right to disrupt speeches. The nuclear bomb clock is ticking. The Euro in hot water. The EU in trouble. “Help! We have a surplus!”

1. Comrade Lumengo is, as one would expect, ready to help the troubled. In this case, not the victims of capitalism received assistance but individuals that thought that they do not know how to mark their ballots. (Voting by mail, therefore not in a controlled booth, is the rule in Switzerland.) Lumengo claims he was not aware of doing something wrong by being as helpful as a candidate can be. This is surprising. The man holds a law degree. In the past Lumengo has already fought a similar charge. Then the case was dismissed. Now Lumengo will have to face a judge. If everything would be “as usual”, the consequences would be the obvious. However, there is a complication. His own party will hardly insist on effective sanctions. Under the circumstances, other parties will also feel inhibited. Lumengo is from Angola. Regardless of the case, that exposes those that demand more than a symbolic reprimand to the charge of racism.

 

2. This writer has seen a stunning recording of the attempted speech of Israel’s ambassador at the UC’s Irvine campus. Pro-Palestinians – visibly mainly non-Americans – in the audience have attempted to prevent the speaker through their unruly behavior from presenting his case. What their opposition did not entail was to debate so as to demonstrate the logical inconsistency of whatever the diplomat wished to allege. What we got was clearly a preference for disputation by violence and not through reasoned arguments. Had it been the other way around, had a compact Jewish group been attending a speech with the obvious intention to sabotage a Palestinian, the outcry would have been loud. Obviously, in the light of not only unstated but also repressed expectations, the standards by which the parties to the Near Eastern controversy are being judged are chosen according to the dictate of convenience. Leniency correlates with the inclination to use violence to support positions that might be difficult to defend in a purely cerebral context.

Several points are provoked by the clip. 1) Those who tell Israel to make a compromise with the loudest representatives of the Palestinians should view this. The images and the soundtrack suggest that no imaginable concession – short of liquidating the Jewish state and its population – will appease people that are represented in this action.

2) Questions. How were these guests revolting against the “culture of discussion” of their host country admitted to a university? Are they recipients of scholarships? How could they get study visas? The selection criteria the consulates apply seem crucial because the presence of comparable persons in an advanced open society is unlikely to civilize them. All they do is to learn about the easy-to-abuse rules of the game of the host-country’s politics. Democratic give-and-take will be interpreted as a sign of exploitable weakness.

3) Revealingly, the disturbance was carefully filmed by the proud perpetrators. An instinct such as that of the Nazis who documented everything they did manifests itself in the action. These activists are proud of their comportment and regard such performances as a demonstration of strength. Advertised strength, as totalitarian marching songs suggest, is excellent propaganda. People happen to want to be on the winning side.

4) The political criminals filmed have failed to learn lessons from the system that supports their studies. They seem to be unable to comprehend that they will be condemned for their actions, which could become thereby, depending on the political development of their host, a liability.

 

3. It is popular to allege that to achieve real peace in the Near East it is essential that Israel return the Golan Heights to Syria. If this is serious, then the stabilization of Europe can be said to hinge upon the return of East Prussia to Germany, or to Poland, possibly Lithuania. Here a long list, enumerating other possibly analogous territorial transfers could have followed. Could the Golan’s fate be one of the PR-effective issues with which the reluctance to seek and accept makeable peace is justified?

 

4. After el Baradei’s departure, the IAEA, under “new management”, makes unexpected revelations.  According to the report, Iran is developing an advanced rocket capable to carry heavy weights. “Heavy”, such as in “nuclear payload”.  It would seem that the CIA’s earlier certification that Iran had ceased to pursue the weaponization of her nuclear capabilities has been at best an intentional and tactical exaggeration. Even more likely is the speculation that the clean bill of health which had already been questioned at the time of its issue, was politically motivated. Let us hope that the error indicated by recent developments, has been a purposeful lie to mislead Tehran regarding what is known about its projects. An interesting corollary appeared on March 1st. Iran now finds that the IAEA is western-dominated. This will be a reason to hinder the already curtailed activities of the organization.

 

5. Greece’s newly publicized economic troubles that are of old standing hide some unpleasant facts. One is that the true situation, hidden under the data created by creative bookkeeping has been, for some time, no secret to insiders. The bad news is that Greece is not the only country that manages to cover up reality through falsified data. It is alleged that Greece’s entrance in the EU has been known to be based on economic information created by wishful thinking. Therefore, the surprised reactions appear to be somewhat artificial exhibitions meant for public use. EU countries have knowingly allowed cosmetically improved presentations to stand. Regarding the revelations the future is likely to bring, we will find out that such manipulations were not only resorted to by Greece. Such unpleasant facts – and the fear of what could be known but was kept under cover – points at great problems embedded in the Euro as a currency. Not having a state to back it up, this artificial “money” invites manipulators. They are exploiting suckers that are unaware of any risk they take through their government’s preferred membership. Essentially the € exists because the Germans pay and the others get. What a retroactive wisdom this attests to those countries that had, and are still refusing, to join the € -Zone!

 

6. A stubborn holdout against EU membership and a real economic heavyweight with sustainable status is, regardless of its size, Switzerland. If you live here, the inclination to throw money at problems and to tolerate parasites seems striking. The more surprising is the news that, regardless of self-made and unavoidable inadequacies that prevent better results, the budget surplus exceeds the plan three times. 2.7 billion above projections had been achieved. Regardless of prunable expenditures, such a penetration of the black zone, and generated by seven million people, amounts to a respectable performance. Round this out by mentioning that, the public debt has been reduced. Since comparable economies are swimming in red, these numbers, if compared, have a lot to say about misgovernment. However, those who feel attacked by success and desire uniform failure can rejoice. Audaciously, since they think they are spending the funds of others, the Social Democrats have managed to suggest a pork-laden budget that has a 13 billion deficit.

 

7. A Europe based on voluntarism and committed to guarantee the democratic internal order and the independence of its constituents is a commendable idea. The writer must confess to a conditioned reflex here. When he did forced labor some of the adults liked to start sentences with “if only there would be a united Europe, then…” The practical problem with the attractive theory is that a bureaucracy has kidnapped Europe. It tries to replace a spontaneous sense for the community with administrative institutions. Thus for many Europe is not there to protect the independence of member states but to become a state itself. This overrides self-determination on all levels including those that reach down to the individual. The other man-made weakness is economic. After having gobbled up politically too diverse, and by virtue of their government praxis unfitting states, economically unprepared members were also admitted. Now doubts emerge whether the assumption behind the Euro that, the rich will pay, holds water and if it does, then for how long. Spain, Ireland and Greece are regarded as infected men camping in the sterile ward. It is only by courtesy that the publicized list of candidates is not longer. It remains to be seen whether the policy of overlooking infections will bring recovery.