Friendly fire 19/10/09

Going green to be greener.

Iran to Russia: where are our missiles?

NK boosts its special forces.

In honor to Jordan: no more 23s.

Sarah Palin still on the frontpages. Literally.

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Friendly fire 05/10/09

- Polling round: The Yes wins in Ireland. The Socialist Party wins in Greece. And Rio defeats Chicago, Madrid and Tokio in the race for the Olympics.

- Should Roman Polanski be above the law?

- While waiting for the 2009 Nobel Prizes, here are 2009 Ig Nobel Prizes.

- Seriously, what's wrong with Asia? Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis...

- Israel, in Honduras too? Unlikely.


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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 game, ManU was the favorite. Partly because of the own Barca, with several injured or suspended, specially in the back and forward. Partly because of the English media, that made CR7 Caesar even before arriving to Rome.

But in the end, the modern soccer coliseum was the tomb for ManU and the esctasis for a social mass, the Barcelona supporters, that now can walk proud along the biggest teams in History.

Last night's victory makes Barcelona the first Spanish team to get the triple crown: Spanish League, King's Cup and Champions League, the three major tournaments a SPanish team can be involved in. They are also just the fifth team in all History that achieves that. The others are Celtic, Ajax, ManU and PSV. But of course, it's not the same achieven that in Scotland or Netherlands that doing it in Spain or England.

Last night, the soccer won. It won a style, a way of living this sport, an elegant way of playing it. Seven player of the starting lineup of the Barcelona were from the house. Some of them (like Messi or Pique) are now the reference in their positions in the field.

But also individually, there was some kind of justice. Silvinho and Henry saw the price to a great career with the only title they were lackying. Guardiola, on the other hand, got the privilege of getting into a prestigious club: the one with the players that have won the Champions League both as players and managers. The other two are Cruyff and Rijkaard. Worths saying that all of the three guys won the cup at least once with Barcelona.

But there was some space too for the other side of the coin. CR7 has shown the world before he's just a kid, and last night he did it again. And although in Rome there wasn't any incidents, in Nigeria a ManU supporter killed 4 Barcelona supporters that were celebrating the thriumph.




Photo: EFE/Ettore Ferrari. More photos here.

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Just Iniesta

I'm still on tears of hapiness...

Definition of hapiness? This:

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Friendly fire 26/03/09

- The Top 10 conspiracy theories of all time.

- Biker brutal deadly brawl in Sydney's airport.

- Two American journalists detained in North Korea.

- Watch out! Let's don't put ETA's cons in jails near to the Basque Country. That could drive us into another peace process. And we don't want that, do we? El Mundo dixit.

- Last defense line in Iraqi soccer are bullets.


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61 years later: "Kick anything over the grass". Again.

Finally, after 61 years, Ireland won last weekend a Grand Slam. Last one was in 1948. This time was the last chance for the Golden Generation to reach glory and they took the opportunity on their hands.

In an exciting game, Ireland survived a late scare as Steven Jones’ long range penalty fell just short, giving Ireland a 17-15 win, the Triple Crown, the Six Nations Championship and that coveted Grand Slam.

It wasn’t so clear during the game. The first half was a disaster for Ireland. However, half time is when coaches earn their corn and Declan Kidney’s team talk is destined to go down in folklore. It is at least at the same level as that Jack Kyle’s “Kick anything over the grass” from 1948. When Ireland came back out, they were a changed team. The first 6 minutes of the second half will live in the memory for a long time.

In just no time at all, Ireland put the score on a 6-14 lead. O’Gara was decisive in this. But Wales woke up and gave it away with a turnover for a 15-14 score. Irish dream was fading when a mistake from Jones got them into the game again.

With the ball again in Irish hands, O’Gara converted the final drop to put ahead his team 17-15 with four minutes to go. But the game wasn’t over. Jones had a final chance to break Irish hearts. With time up on the clock, Jones stepped up, the kick was on target, but just fell short.

With the triumph over Wales, Ireland got it all: the 6 Nations tournament, the Grand Slam (winning over all the opponents) and the Triple Crown (winning over the three UK teams, Wales, Scotland and England).

Congratulations Ireland.

PS. Not so sweet was the tournament for France and Italy. Maybe because of that, Chabal and Castrogiovanni went into a fight in a pub in the “third time”.



Photo: PA

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Friendly Fire 21/03/09

As I’ve been out for a while, here is a double portion of Friendly fire.

- Another March Madness for the Americans: Sarah Palin’s daughter, in the end, won’t marry the redneck.

- Drone wars: if they are up to the challenge in Afghanistan, they are up to the challenge for Global Warming. Northrop Grumman dixit.

- Russia wants to rearm itself. Heavily. USA wants more updated nuclear bombs. So, cold war is not already over? Apparently, not.

- Madagascar’s descend into chaos.

- If you are on a tour in Iraq, better get cover: back at home, war wounded are not under Social Security insurance. Socialist Obama dixit.

- Financial crisis arrives to the media. First was Colorado’s oldest newspaper, the Rocky Mountain. Now it is the turn for the Seattle Post-Intelligence.

- No more back to the future in Iran: Khatami pulls out of presidential election.

- Ospreys ready for action in Afghanistan.

- Amstettem monster pleads guilty.

- Ireland, on the road to make History in the 6 Nations.

- Not even in OZ they got out from the breakdown.


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Matter of priorities

There are two sports over any other in the Commonwealth world. They aren’t soccer (king of sports worldwide) or the basketball (king of sports in America and somehow in China). They are instead two minor sports: rugby and cricket. The first one lives right now the 6 Nations craziness. The second one lives in between the anxiety and the fear for being targeted by terrorists.

Last March 3, a group of gunmen assaulted the bus where Sri Lankan national team was. The terrorist attempt ended up with eight dead (none of the sportsmen) and a few cricketers wounded, including a coach. It is the first attack on a sports team since the Munich massacre during the Olympics in 1972.

The attack helped many to, once again, argue between them. India took the opportunity to call on the lack of security and control over terrorist groups in Pakistan. Mumbai attacks were still fresh. Pakistan, on the other hand, tried to blame hhis neighbor country for the attacks. Some time after, however, they have to dismiss that idea.

Even from Japan some people used the attacks -with the excuse of Sri Lanka being involved- to blame China(!) for the regional instability. The visit of Sri Lankan Defense minister to China was just some more fuel to the fire.

However, the greatest affected by all this mess remained silent. Why? And why is only now, a week alter, that they start asking questions?

The reason remains in Sri Lankan sovereign soil. At that time, Lankan army was involved in a great offensive against the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), that were responding with everything they had, seeing themselves seizes and outnumbered. In other words, they were pretty busy. Now, with the LTTE leader fled out of the country or at least defeated, and with the militia in control of an area of less than 45 square kilometers, priorities have changed.

What hasn’t changed a bit is the situation of the thousand of civilians trapped in the conflict. According to India, there are at least 70,000 people trapped in the warzone, while the UN says they are 200,000. NGOs in the ground, like Doctors without Borders, have been raising awareness about the situation of the region for months. But the only thing they have achieved has been losing their own members, as stated by the last victim: a Red Cross worker.



Photo: Getty Images

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Friendly fire 07-08/03/09

- At the end, Karzai won’t delay the elections. And he will continue with the help of his brothers to stop corruption in Afghanistan. Capone's way.

- How would look Barbie if she was a real woman.

- NBA, stuck from the free throws line and awesomely awesome with the long distance throws.

- What diplomacy didn’t handle, maybe will the science.

- Jon Stewart vs. Twitter.

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