Skip to main content

We hold these truths to be self evident...

In the 231 years of American independence, the United States has stood for many things, from the opening up of a new frontier to becoming a bastion of democracy in the cold war. Yet while by and large the country has much to be proud of, it has also had much to regret. The strange persistence of slavery in the Land of Liberty and bigotry and racist violence have persisted even to our own day. The astonishing despoliation of the land that must have truly seemed like Paradise to the early settlers by ugly strips and endless suburbs also takes some getting used to- and the pollution and waste that the American dream produces are not far from shocking.

As the lamest of lame duck Presidents adds to his grim legacy of failure by pardoning a former associate for his crimes, it is clear that the US is undergoing a period of reflection, a dark night that will only lift when the 43rd President and his unpleasant gang are out of office.

The fall-out of the Bear Stearns funds collapse is unsettling markets that are already jittery over the sub prime collapse- and the consequences may prove to be extremely unpredictable. Indeed it is hard to construct very many positive scenarios that solve the growing economic imbalances that are emerging across the globe.

Yet the US remains a flexible and dynamic place- and a great country, despite its pygmy President- so to the many American readers of this blog I wish you a great holiday - it is good to know that despite the little unpleasantness 231 years ago (and indeed the slap that we were compelled to deliver in 1812) we are still bound together by ties of fellowship: democracy, loyalty and history and of course the easily understood variants of our common language.

Happy Birthday America!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Indeed Cicero,

Most unfortunate while we dealing with the Dictator Napoleon, that we had to burn the Govt Buildings in Washington in response to the sack of Toronto.When the Americans came back they simply whitewashed the Walls. Hence the White House is the White House! All friends now, as you say Happy Birthday. I await you on the previous thread. BTW I hope you caught me on Rome last night. Your end is near!

Lepidus
3:26 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Concert and Blues

Tallinn is full tonight... Big concerts on at the Song field The Weeknd and Bonnie Tyler (!). The place is buzzing and some sixty thousand concert goers have booked every bed for thirty miles around Tallinn. It should be a busy high summer, but it isn´t. Tourism is down sharply overall. Only 70 cruise ships calling this season, versus over 300 before Ukraine. Since no one goes to St Pete, demand has fallen, and of course people think that Estonia is not safe. We are tired. The economy is still under big pressure, and the fall of tourism is a significant part of that. The credit rating for Estonia has been downgraded as the government struggles with spending. The summer has been a little gloomy, and soon the long and slow autumn will drift into the dark of the year. Yesterday I met with more refugees: the usual horrible stories, the usual tears. I try to make myself immune, but I can´t. These people are wounded in spirit, carrying their grief in a terrible cradling. I try to project hop
Post a Comment
Read more

Media misdirection

In the small print of the UK budget we find that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the British Finance Minister) has allocated a further 15 billion Pounds to the funding for the UK track and trace system. This means that the cost of the UK´s track and trace system is now 37 billion Pounds.  That is approximately €43 billion or US$51 billion, which is to say that it is amount of money greater than the national GDP of over 110 countries, or if you prefer, it is roughly the same number as the combined GDP of the 34 smallest economies of the planet.  As at December 2020, 70% of the contracts for the track and trace system were awarded by the Conservative government without a competitive tender being made . The program is overseen by Dido Harding , who is not only a Conservative Life Peer, but the wife of a Conservative MP, John Penrose, and a contemporary of David Cameron and Boris Johnson at Oxford. Many of these untendered contracts have been given to companies that seem to have no notewo
Post a Comment
Read more

One Year On

  Head vabariigi iseseisvuspäeva! Happy Estonian Independence Day! It is one year since I stood outside the Estonian Parliament for the traditional raising of the national flag from Tall Hermann tower. Looking at the young fraternities gathered with their flags, I was very sure that Estonia too would soon be facing the aggression of the criminal Russian regime. A tragic and dark day. 5 eyes intelligence had been clear: an all out invasion was going to happen, and Putin´s goals included- and still include- "restoration" of Russian imperial power across Europe, even to the Atlantic. Yet there was one Western intelligence failure: we all underestimated the guts of the Ukrainian armed forces, the ZSU, and its President and people. One year on, Estonia, and indeed all the front line states against Russia, knows that Ukraine saved us. Estonia used that time to prepare itself, should that "delayed" onslaught ever be unleashed, but equally the determination of Kaja Kallas,
Post a Comment
Read more