1. Osama bin Laden has been induced to leave us. The good fortune of terrorists is on the vane. This applies to the ones in power that can apply the means of a government to oppress. It also pertains to the trade’s free lancers that head some bloody “NGO”. Bin Laden’s deserved demise comes late. His person and his, by now institutionalized, system have become separate entities. Like the McDonald chain, the gang’s franchises form a global network. This is likely to save the Qaida from disintegrating. On the other hand, “electioneering by terror” has suffered a major blow. Terrorism’s prestige will suffer and the remaining CEOs will need to spend much energy to hide. This will diminish the efficiency of their operations.

Bowing to fashion, we are mindlessly warned that the liquidation of OBL will provoke retaliation. Fearing al Qaida’s radicalization is like warning of what shark might do if made wetter. The terrorists have, and will continue, to do whatever they can to damage their many enemies. There is no higher gear left to shift if additionally provoked. Their activities will continue and they will conduct “business as usual”.

Critics and the doubters will also emerge. Duly Noted wishes to contribute to the theories that will circulate. KFC’s founder, “The Colonel” is the real head of the CIA. From his Disneyland HQ he still directs his network. Bin Laden has been a CIA tool whose threatrics secured the agency’s funding. The raid did not kill bin Laden. It was staged to enable him to retire. With a new identity, he will live as a used tire dealer in an undisclosed location.

2. Let this continue with “light appetizers” from the shelf reserved for oddities, the bizarre and our idiocies. 

(A) Any Carter-generated piece of news is likely to land in the file reserved for five-legged dogs, grandfathers marrying their granddaughters and related monstrosities. Carter’s significance allows for embarrassed silence that is motivated by the leniency that is due to the frail. The newest act reached for a bit role in world politics from early but involuntary retirement. Therefore, Jimmy Carter has visited North Korea.

Obviously, Carter nurtures some sympathy for the Stalinist system of starvation that betters the Soviet record. Does it speak well for Pyongyang that there Jimmy would not have been de-elected?

Carter went without a program telling whom he will meet. Thus reduced to be a humble petitioner, he hoped for admission to the Kims’ court. These scored on the prestige scale as acting presidents against a demoted one. Everybody’s Jimmy did not get an audience. He “retaliated” by accusing the US and the ROK of human rights violations. The South’s refusal to supply food is the proof of this ingenious view. Indeed, deliveries remain suspended as long as the North’s military, which regularly promises South Korea’s extinction, might receive a share.

Ungrateful although still not wiped off the map, the South resents the accusations. Meanwhile Carter is not accusing North Korea of anything. The silence is unrelated to the length of the list and the difficulty of choosing the item that deserves priority.

(B) Syria is a candidate to receive UN money. The discussed project wishes to give away millions for a good purpose. The UN is referring to a “well functioning partnership.” The funds are to assure that the world body is enabled to continue to work with the Syrian government and NGOs there. The idea is to help Damascus that is “embarked on a major administrative reform program”. We the retards, who are outside the UN’s generous establishment, have trouble to detect it. Seriously, the hope is to ensure “increased participation of civil society” in a “reform process.” The sharp-sighted donors that are deaf to the slaughter of demonstrators discovered an Assad program that pursues “inclusive” and “equitable development“ coupled to “greater transparency.” Seldom have massacres yielded higher potential rewards to their perpetrators.

(C) Perhaps the slaughter of indigenous populations in Syria and elsewhere should be credited to the account where the blame soothes best. How about condemning Israel? It is a safer idea than provoking dictatorships that need to be excused by the behind-the-scene stranglehold that “ultra’s” exert upon the nice guys running them.

Some weeks ago, an unusual shark attack has occurred near the Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt where well-nourished tourists like to gather. Teasing the sharks proved to be deadly. Blaming the gourmet animals for going after delicacies is not quite PC. Nor does it seem to have been opportune. Blaming the Tea Party movement might have been clever. Instead, the choice fell on the Mossad.

The automatism of a Zionist conspiracy might be, for sane contemporaries, about as convincing as is the tale that 9/11 had been planned and executed by the Israeli. Such shark stories can only be sold where there is a politically primitive public. That condition creates a difficult context to negotiate a reasonable and stable peace.

(D) For decades, a representative square of Budapest’s has been called “Roosevelt Place”. Hungary’s new government is cognizant of FDR’s attributed merits in the US. However, it cannot overlook his role during the closing phase of WW2. FDR’s decisions helped to put central Europe under Soviet control. Aware of that, the city’s government changed the name of the square. The honor will revert to Stephan Széchenyi a 19th century free market adherent who is regarded as the country’s modernizer.

Budapest has also passed a resolution that changes the name of another square. Its name is not entirely unrelated to FDR’s local consequences. “Moscow Place” will also get its original name back. This writer, being appreciative of Russia and aware that the security of his home country’s region depends on a good relationship with a democratic and progressive Russia, is made less than happy by the measure. The conflict of countries such as Hungary has not been with Russia but with Communism. The intended or unintended symbolism could easily be misinterpreted. First and foremost, the possible effect on Moscow’s hardliners causes unease. Relabeling Roosevelt Square is of less concern. Washington’s liberal establishment is, regardless of any action that might be taken, already suspicious of any rollback of socialism. 

(E) Yearly, “Time” magazine pays homage to the world’s 100 most influential persons. Not being a candidate enables your correspondent to examine the list with an interest that lacks the bias of disappointed hope. The roll call appears not to cite the influential but is rather the list of the most notorious and the fashionable.

It is possible to suggest a test of the validity of the above. Just compare this year’s with next year’s honor roll. The rotation will be significant. It will not be due to an attempt to democratize the feature by eventually including nearly everybody. The changes will reflect the superficiality of the original choices and the transitory nature of the glory of the barefooted that is anointed to membership.

(F) This comes from “The Telegraph”. It reports that some of the famous that might slip into the above list, have come up with yet another idea to improve mankind. The Journal of Animal Ethics is the source of the report. The ethicists, probably not animals themselves but humanoids, have discovered that calling animals “pets” is an insult. The proper term is “companion animals”. By the way, “wild”, if connected to “animal”, is also anathema. By the dictate of PC, the correct “newspeak” expression is “free living.” Those that refuse to go along will be bitten.