On March 31st, I wrote an article which I started with ‘I never thought I would agree with John McCain!’ and finished by saying that ‘I believe he was right when Tuesday he said “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers”.’ After publishing the article I got some mail and questions asking me if I really believed the government should not help in the subprime crisis. Several people pointed to me that doing nothing would result in hurting many people as well as the economy. I want now to go back to what I said and repeat that my agreement with McCain at that time was based on the government bailing out “those who act irresponsibly.” Read the rest of this entry »

Last April 4th in the New York Times Paul Krugman wrote an article about health care in the US. Its title alone “Voodoo Health Economics” and with the increasing crisis with health care in the US was enough to attract anyone’s attention. Specially in this election year. There are a myriad of problems in the US that need to be attended to but nobody would dispute that health care is with the economy and the Iraq disaster one of the three sides of the triangle that whoever becomes next president should concentrate on. Read the rest of this entry »

For those Americans who were dreaming about a summer vacation in Europe this news is not too rosy. Facing the fears over the American economy just before the G7 meeting of the finance ministers, yesterday morning at 11:15 (Paris time) or 5:15 am (New York time) the Euro reached a new record: 1 Euro = $1.5913! Read the rest of this entry »

One realizes that to win voters the candidates, and specially in such a close contest as the one between Clinton and Obama is, have to be alert and try to cover all their bases as to not be seen as uncaring or unknowing. But Obama is pushing it to the limit. When he was criticized by gay advocates for not speaking to the gay media after The Philadelphia Gay News last week ran a large blank space on its front page next to an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton to highlight that he did not talk to the publication, it took him only three days to conduct his second interview of the presidential campaign with a gay news magazine with a national audience, The Advocate. And to emphasize his ‘care’ for the gay community, voters after all, in that interview with The Advocate he said that if elected president he will not require that his Joint Chiefs of Staff be opposed to the ”don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military. Read the rest of this entry »

At the hearing which began yesterday on Capitol Hill with General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the different committees, if we were to be honest, we should say that we were not expecting much on the way of clarification of how things really were going in Iraq and even less about a timetable for withdrawal of the troops. Blessed are then the ones who don’t expect much as they would not be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »

We saw them in London, we saw them in Paris. Most probably we will see them in San Francisco. Who are these men? Officially they are flame attendants employed by Bocog (Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee) which has organized the global relay whose role is to make sure the flame never goes out. In reality they are well trained Chinese security guards sent to ensure the Olympic flame is always on even at night and during the flights, when the torch is kept in specially-made closed lanterns. What it could have been a relatively easy job for them has been complicated by the ongoing tense situation between China and the Tibetans which has escalate with the intense protests from pro-Tibet and human-rights demonstrators intent in disrupting the global procession of the Olympic flame. Read the rest of this entry »

Spain had general elections a few weeks ago and the incumbent socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won. In 2004 Zapatero defeated the previous conservative president Jose Maria Aznar who had been a follower of Bush, agreeing blindly to all decisions of the American administration, and an avid supporter of the Iraq war. One of the first acts of Zapatero upon his ascension to power had been to bring all the Spanish troops home from Iraq, following so the wishes of the majority of the Spanish population. This obviously did not carry favor with the Bush administration and the last four years have been characterized by a certain coldness between both countries.

Today in his speech of investiture Zapatero sent some warm signals towards the United States. Expressing his wishes for a new chapter in the relations he declared “we want to look towards the future, counting in a mutual respect to confront the common challenges and to intensify our relations.” If the next president of the United States is a Democrat, it is most probable that such an improvement in the relationship of both countries will take place.