My # 1 investment advice:
If you still have money left when you die, you have done something wrong.
Too much hedging can be boring.
France, first of all congratulations on getting rid of xenophobic Mr Sarkozy.
Because of Mr Hollande’s proposed 75% tax rate on incomes of more than 1 million €, some rich residents of France have threatened to leave France. Where do they intend to leave to? To the Bahamas? To Malta? To the Cayman Islands? No. They want to move to the UK, of all places. To London to be more precise.
If you still needed any evidence that the rich are not necessarily smarter, now you have it.
Let’s look at the most important differences between France and the UK (which will show that no reasonable person would want to move that way, but rather the other way round):
Nature
France
UK
Cities
France
UK
Food
France
UK
Art
France
UK
Women
France: Mélanie Laurent
UK: Susan Boyle
To the emigrating rich of France: if you really want to come to London, I’ll swap my place here with your place in Paris, in the Pyrénées or in Bourgogne anytime. Je suis prêt pour le déménagement immédiat!
So we have the 2012 Summer Olympics coming to town. As a Londoner, I am not excited. A busy, crowded and polluted city like London needs two more weeks of a massive rumpus like a hole in its head. And the UK, now officially in a recession once more, needs this tax-payer funded orgy for the few even less.
“At least we didn’t need to buy tickets to watch the match.”
I once applauded London for its measured response to the 7/7 terror attacks, but a few years later most people in the UK have gone security mad. About 1 billion £ will be spent on security for the upcoming London Olympics. (Providing security at the Olympics will therefore cost the same amount in 2 weeks as the Department of Energy and Climate Change spends in a whole year.)
The plans for security at the London Olympics include helicopters, fighter jets, assault ships, missile bases in residential areas, snipers, sonic weapons and an aircraft carrier. A 30-mile zone will become a restricted flying zone. People who blog subversive stuff like this will probably be detained during the Olympics.
“These new doping substances are highly explosive.”
London will be more heavily fortified than during some times of World War II and more military will defend stadiums, swimmers and runners than is stationed even on the Falkland Islands. Speaking about the Falklands, defending the whole group of islands costs about a third of the security expenses of the Olympics; but in a whole year.
With all this gear in place and the expenses already draining public funds, I almost hope for terrorist attacks during the London Olympics, so that there will at least be some action. Air assaults, urban warfare and sniper duels would definitely be more interesting than water polo, gymnastics or rowing. Therefore, please use this map of the military defences in any way you wish.
My assignment in Malta has come to an end and I am about to embark on the next adventure, but the people of Malta will not easily forget my stay with them. With my magnificent photos and my investigative reporting, I have catapulted this small island into the limelight of international attention. Even though my contributions to the public debate and my attempts to enhance the level of intellectual discourse were not welcomed by all, the overall majority of Maltese seem to feel enriched by my presence. I was therefore unable to prevent them from expressing their gratitude.
As is to be expected from a country where everybody and his cousin have a statue in some park, on a highway or at a bus stop, the people of Malta commissioned a statue for me, with my name on it and a rather good depiction of myself:
statue for Andreas Moser at the Rotunda of Mosta in Malta
Thank you very much! I appreciate this honour.
– – –
Or are the Maltese just happy to see me leave?
Anläßlich der aktuellen Koranverteilungsaktion in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz rufe ich den folgenden Unterschied erneut ins Bewußtsein, damit Sie nicht mit einem Einkaufskorb voll Unerwünschtem nach Hause kommen:
"Korane! Frische Korane!"
"Kormorane! Frische Kormorane!"
In Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz ist zur Zeit eine islamische Organisation unterwegs und versucht, 25 Millionen Exemplare des Korans in deutscher Übersetzung unters Volk zu bringen. Kostenlos. Wer Interesse hat, kann ja mal sehen, ob seine Stadt auf dem Tourneeplan steht.
Ich bin ein begeisterter Leser, und “kostenlos” hat in meinen Ohren eine höchst positive Konnotation. Dennoch werde ich mir kein Exemplar abholen und insbesondere keines lesen. Warum nicht?
Der rohe Befehlston verbunden mit der maßlosen Selbstüberschätzung fürt also dazu, daß mich selbst dieses kostenlose Angebot nicht zu locken vermag. Der Koran schafft es trotz dieser Aktion nicht auf meine Bücherwunschliste. Ob der Islam eine friedliche Religion ist, wird sich in den nächsten Wochen daran zeigen, ob bei mir ein Paket mit etwas ganz anderem als einem Buch eintrifft.
I have already reported about the Easter procession at the Maltese town of Dingli in the light of its publicly humiliating treatment of a child with Down Syndrome.
But this was not the only scandal I witnessed that evening: the procession also revived the Christian tradition of anti-Semitism.
Look for yourself. Who are these guys that are following Satan?
I don’t exactly know who these guys are, but in order to make it easy for us to identify them, the organisers stuck a big fat sign on each of their chests.
The Star of David leaves no doubt: these grim-looking guys must be the Jews.
I assume that their appearance meant to symbolise the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus, but using the Star of David not only misses the fact that it was not used as a Jewish symbol in Jesus’ time, but only became a symbol of Judaism at least 1,500 years later, but it is also a dangerous allusion to the Christian belief of Jewish deicide, a belief that places the responsibility of Jesus’ death on the Jewish people as a whole and a founding stone of anti-Semitism.
Even the Catholic Church has meanwhile – ok, it took them until 1965, well after the Holocaust – repudiated the belief in the collective Jewish guilt for Jesus’s death. But here on Malta, organisers of a public procession for Easter are still happy to use the symbol of Judaism in this context, thus linking Jews in general to the crucifixion of Jesus.
And finally, when you organise a religious pageant and you design the costumes for the Jews, which colour will you pick for the Star of David? Well, that’s simple, because there is another historic example which you can depend on. You can’t go wrong with yellow.
What were they thinking?
For months, people have asked “What are you actually doing in Malta?” For months, I incessantly maintained my cover story of being a student and a tourist. At least it was a more comfortable cover story than others I had used on previous assignments.
But now, as my job here is coming to an end, I can reveal the real reason behind this stranger’s presence on this island. I am also able to do so and to lay open the results of my clandestine investigation because part of these results have already been made public.
The press has reported today that Iranian shipping companies based in Malta used these ships to circumvent sanctions against Iran and lately also Syria. The Islamic Republic of Iran uses Malta as one of the prime places for its shell companies with the aim of hiding its activities. It has to be said unfortunately that Malta was less than cooperative in these investigations. Business and profit seemed to trump laws and human rights.
In addition to this exhausting investigation, which led me from the offices of notaries in Valletta to the hull of ships anchoring in Marsaxlokk Bay, I have single-handedly uncovered another example of Maltese companies defying the sanctions against Iran:
On a side note, I wonder if the Iranian producer is aware that “Goldstar” is the brand of a well-known beer from Israel.
On a second side note, the product description “Whilst every effort has been made to remove the stones, complete removal cannot be guaranteed” also describes how Iran deals with the opposition and human rights movements.
To the few of you who always suspected me of being a spy: Hats off! Stay tuned to find out about my next assignment.
Walking around Vittoriosa (or Birgu, to use the Maltese name) yesterday, I saw this government notice posted on a door, stating that it is “URGENT”.
Taking a step back, neither the door, nor the house, nor the street actually oozed any sense of urgency. Quite the contrary.
Probably it wasn’t that urgent after all. The notice had been there for two months already.
Remember this quiet alley in Malta when someone tries to rush you with the pretended urgency of something.
Visiting Vittoriosa (Birgu in Maltese) and its harbour, one of the boats stuck out and particularly caught my eye among all these beautiful boats.
Exactly, it was the orange one.
Not only its colour, also its shape was rather special.
The Happy Hermit 