Yes we can (Irish way)

Obama made a new style of campaigning, creating a new school of propaganda. Even a new school of politicians. Issues like PR, image and new technologies become much more important than what they already were and were exploited at their maximum (for now). The tactics gave so good results that have been copies all around the world. In Israel they used Obama's websites and new tech tactics, in Spain they almost use Obama as their candidate (with no presence whatsoever of their own candidate) and even in Iran, Obama's archenemy, Ahmadinejad, has copied the "Yes we can" from the American president's campaign.Ireland is different. As a sample, a few...

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Yes we can (soccer way)

They said it was going to be a year of transition. A new manager, a newbie. A demoralized team. A strong and fit archenemy. A huge challenge. And they lost their first game of the season against one of the weakest teams of La Liga. But in the end, today Barcelona is the present king of world soccer.Just a few times in a lifetime is possible to see so magical moments like the ones lived in Rome. With an excellent game -although not so excellent as everybody though it will be-, FC Barcelona won by two-nil the former European Champions, Manchester United. The difference in the scoreboard reflects the difference of quality on the field.Before the...

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Friendly fire 28/05/09

- How to: assist to a charity auction for the free sandwiches and come back home with a fighter jet.- Israel and the USA, full cooperation for anti-missile shield.- Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, tracked down in Google Earth.- Australia wants to increase the fleet of sub from 6 to 12, but for now, it struggles to have at least one operative.- Maybe in the end the FCS of the US Army is not a dead walking zombie...

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Arms race goes east II (The Dragon wakes up)

2030 is also the date in red on Chinese’s agenda. By then, according to the graphics we have been seeing for a decade, they will be the first economy of the world, way upper than the USA. And of course, it’s expected that the military power will follow similar paths as the economic development.But we don’t have to go so far. Today’s Chinese Armed Forces are a power to take in consideration. And even a step behind, the number of them and their inventiveness keeps them in the frontline. Well, maybe inventiveness is a bit excessive, as many progression is not theirs, but a copy of other’s work.However, whatever they do, they are doing it well. In...

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Arms race goes east I (Central Asia)

The USA and Russia, with endangered economies because of the economic instability, seem keen to go forward with the disarment programs. Not for the Asia-Pacific region.The approach from Medvedev and Obama looks logical. Not only from a strategic and military point of view, but also economically. In the end, if they can forget about the expensive expenditure of the Defense bill -specially the one derivated from the upkeeping of the nuclear deterrent- that could mean a huge relief for their bad economies. In the US there is even a debate around about if Obama should renounce to the “first strike”, something Americans never took out from the table....

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Arms race goes east III (Australia and the guardians of the West)

Before this perspective, the traditional guardians of the West -although some Japanese may disagree on this- are rearming themselves too for what may come.Japan, mentioned above, plans the biggest remodelation of their Armed Forces since World War II. Not only a material one, but spiritually and in essence. After WWII, as their name states, Japanese army is only an Autodefence army, just for defensive means and not expansive as the previous empire. But just a few years ago, Japan started to go abroad, always keeping in mind avoiding the direct combat, however. Now, Japan’s army has have presence in Iraq and Japanese navy sails the East coast...

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Obama starts playing politics

It was a matter of time. In the end, Obama is just another politician. Deceptions were about to come sooner or later. But maybe the last one, the relative to the tortures, is even more significative, because was one of the few things where both McCain and Obama agreed. And is even more worrying because this time, the one who agrees with Obama is Dick Cheney.First is the delay of the release of photos regarding tortures to detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. Maybe after seeing the photos, Obama decided it was too much for the average American stomachs. The official argument lies on the possible threat that could represent for American...

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Friendly fire 17/05/09

- Fighting the Taliban in shorts. Kudos to David for the link. On other terms, the oldest casualty in Iraq is a Vietnam veteran.- The economic crisis through Google Earth eyes.- Zombie ants. No, it isn’t next horror blockbuster title; it is something real.- Iran frees American journalist, who flies home. She wasn’t in jail enough to get a place inside the Time 100 most influential people of the world in 2009.- Wars simplified to a fool-proof mathematical formula. It’s a pity that for now is everything but accurate. EXTRA: A military analysis on Star Tre...

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Anglosaxons 2 - 0 Latins

There is a difference between Anglosaxon politicians and the Latins: the first ones still keep some honor and shame, despite being politicians.If you decide to live your life in Washington, London, Brussels, Rome or Madrid’s halls, chances are that after living a life of high standards, near the power and always insulting your opponent (in a mannerly way) will head you into corruption soon or later. You have to be a real angel to avoid a moment of weakness. We just have to look at all the democracies; in all of them have been, are and they will be corruption cases. Not to talk about non-democratic countries.We all can fail sometime. Politicians...

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Stop bullying the USAF!

First was the shame of the Defense budget, being left aside from the party with the smallest portion of cake. Then, they steal from their hands their “precious”, the Airborne Laser (ABL) project and the missile shield program. But at least they still had the F-35, a whole bunch of $11.2 billion to spend in 30 aircrafts. Only to know later that in fact, they only will have $10.4 billion for the same 30 jets.Then, when they though that it couldn’t be worse, it happens this:Check the photo (an official shot from the DoD). It isn’t only that Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force Chief, has been displaced from the rest of the group, but also his title...

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Replacements are in

Since the beginning it was clear that pacify Afghanistan softly has been a priority for Obama. Gen. David McKiernan, however, didn’t agree with that soft policy. That’s why Robert Gates, the Republican support of Obama in the Department of Defense, decided to get real and forced his resignation.McKiernan is an old school Army man. He thinks anything is possible with more raw power. That’s why he was always asking for more and more boots on the ground. However, Obama and Gates, this one even since Bush Administration times, were very skeptical to that idea. For them, a softer approach was worth more than old infantry military manuals.That’s why...

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Shhhh! (Pentagon's Black budget, revealed)

Here is a fact for the Republicans claiming for the decreased spenditure in Defence -in fact, a 4% increase: Pentagon’s black (or secret) budget will go up to mora than $50 billions. That’s an increase of a 3% compared to FY09 and the biggest sum in history dedicated to secret operations.But numbers alone aren’t enough to get the big picture, so let’s find some comparatives. The UK, i.e., has the second largest military budget on the world; $60 billion. Chinese and French spend $58 and $54 billion each on their Armed Forces. Japan is the fifth position with only $44 billion.According to those numbers, “black” budget is enough to make the 5th...

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Air Force One revisits 9/11

When last April 27th New Yorkers watched a Boeing 747 over the city escorted by two jet fighters, everyone felt into the worse. Windows shook; stairs were full of people trying to escape from the skyscrapers, everyone wanted to go out the buildings fearing another 9/11.In fact, everything was quite inoffensive. The plane, -to be precise, a VC-25, the modified version of the 747 used by the Air Force One- was just being shot (just photo shots) against the Statue of Liberty to renew the library of images.Everything had been prepared to the detail to become something to be used later as a PR boost -as if Obama needed any marketing...-. Well, everything but a little thing: no one told the New Yorkers about it. Not even to the Mayor; Bloomberg was unaware of the photo op. Because, why tell the...

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We're back rockin'

I’m really sorry for the temporary absence from the blog in the last week. My job (the real job, the one that pays the bills) kept me quite busy during the last week. And according to the current economic climate, it’s not wise to make something that could fire you. To make things easier, a badass flu (the normal one, not the swine flu) kept me in bed while not in front of my boss with a terrible headache, a giant project in one hand and a tissue in the other. Hard times for being creative in the office. And obviously, last thing I wanted back home, was to sit down and start writing again.But I have on my backpack plenty of topics to start writing again during this week. Let’s ro...

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Just Iniesta

I'm still on tears of hapiness...Definition of hapiness? Th...

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Friendly fire 06/05/09

- 30 years of Lady Tatcher.- Dozens killed by a US attack in Afghanistan. Tolls go from 30 to hundreds. Karzai demands an investigation.- Strange coalitions in war against piracy: a South Korean navy ship rescues a North Korean freighter.- The only pig in Afghanistan, under threat for the swine flu.- Ahmadinejad says too "Yes, we can...

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The Italian job

A month ago we talked here about corruption in Israel. But if there is an expert country on this, that’s Italy. And Silvio Berlusconi is his biggest product.I always wondered why Italians keep voting him. In the end, many of the nationals from that country I met in the past hate him or think he is an idiot. Il Cavalieri, as he likes to be called, made his media-sportive-political emporium first, shielded it with laws and now lives on the rents from that. As leader of a long tradition corrupt political class and with an opposition without ideas or unity, Berlusconi’s empire looks pretty stable.During the time he has spend in politics, he have...

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