I hope nobody will make the connection between my stay in Venice and this “Superman” boat:
(Seen and photographed in Venice in January 2012. More photos to follow.)
Superman’s holiday mission in Venice might explain why he couldn’t help out here.
Superman in Venice
Would you want to live in “Toilet Creek”?
“Rio de la Toletta” may sound fabulous to foreign ears, but once you translate it, it is far less glamorous. Still, as all of Venice, it was beautiful.
Seen and photographed in Venice, Italy in January 2012. (More photos to follow.)
How to Pay for this Blog
Both you as the reader and me as the writer enjoy this blog:
- I enjoy writing for you to inform, educate, entertain and distract you. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and receiving your thoughtful comments about them. I enjoy travelling the world to take photos for you.
- You enjoy reading it and you cherish my photography skills. You are impressed by my wit and knowledge (as well as the blatant absence of any modesty). It is your preferred source of information. If you are a student, my blog has helped you to finish papers and assignments. Reading this blog improves your life.
But we also both face a dilemma concerning this blog:
- I have dozens of great ideas every week about what to write. Really brilliant ideas sometimes. But I cannot put them all into writing because I don’t have the time. I have to study and sometimes I also have to work a bit to finance my life. Because I don’t get paid for writing this blog, I cannot always prioritize it. Great ideas remain dormant and eventually wither because of this dilemma.
- You on the other hand don’t want to pay me for writing a blog because you don’t know in advance if you will like my posts (enough). You may enjoy some of my articles, but you find others really silly. You may think that I don’t write regularly enough to warrant an annual subscription fee. A paywall (like my colleagues at the Wall Street Journal, The Times or the New York Times have installed it) is therefore not practical.
I am sure you can detect the vicious circle. But vicious circles are there to break them.
I suggest the following solution:
- You may continue to read the blog for free.
- If you like an article or a series of articles so much that you feel the urge to express your appreciation, you pick a book from my wishlist and send or pass it to me.
- For this, I will reward you with two extra services:
- I will write a review of the book (after having read it, of course).
- You can pick a subject of your choice, and I will write a blog post about it.
- Deal?
- Thank you very much in advance!
Support your favourite blogger!
Film Review: “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is the fourth instalment in the Mission: Impossible series, a series known more for improbable stunts and action than for a plausible storyline. Ghost Protocol fits right in.
Not that the story matters that much, but Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of IMF agents are disavowed by the US administration (hence the title Ghost Protocol) after they are blamed for an explosion at the Kremlin. Without any backup, support, safe houses, access to satellites or to extraction protocols, they have to stop a nuclear war from being launched. The chase takes them from Budapest via Moscow to Dubai and Mumbai.
An action film has to be judged on the action scenes. The pace of the film is fast, with no lulls or lows. Some of the action sequences look too unrealistic, for example the explosion at the Kremlin, the high-speed car chase in the sandstorm in Dubai and the fact that agents escape barrages of bullets. I don’t mean to criticise that they are unrealistic, because that’s to be expected in a movie, but that they look unrealistic, computer-generated. Anyone who has – like me – seen real explosions, sandstorms and car crashes will be able to tell the difference.
Other aspects of Mission Impossible 4 that I have to list as negative:
- The annoying IMF face masks are back again. Can’t this technology be shelved finally? They don’t serve to cover up faces, but huge holes in the plot.
- This time, one of the agents is not lowered into a shaft by a cable, but by a magnetic suit. Still the same old idea. Let’s have something new, please!
- Why does there have to be a silly and pointless story about Ethan Hunt’s wife, involving one of his team members?
- The romance between Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Trevor Hannaway (Josh Holloway) is equally silly and pointless – but luckily brief – that it reminded me of a similar romance between two agents in Team America: World Police.
- The disguise of Ethan Hunt and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) as Russian generals was as bad as the disguise of the police officers in Starsky & Hutch as rockers. They even copied the moustache.
- A hand-to-hand combat between two woman in tight dresses is too much of a cliché.
Don’t look down.
Another action sequence looks realistic because it was filmed on site instead of being computer-generated (see the video at the bottom): Ethan Hunt climbs part of the wall of the Burj Kalifa in Dubai, the world’s highest building, to access the server room on the 130th floor. Watching Ethan Hunt attempting this feat without any harness, only equipped with two magnetic gloves, of which one fails, this scene already got me sweating from watching it.
Some more of the positive aspects of Mission Impossible 4:
Do look down.
- The hand-to-hand combat scene in the automatic high-rise car park is something new and quite good. (Except maybe for the final and voluntary vertical dive with a BMW.)
- There is some humour.
- Jane Carter (Paula Patton) is hot!
Overall, it’s a solid action film. Good enough to kill some time while we are all waiting for Skyfall, the next James Bond film, due to come out in October 2012. I still wish though that the film’s director Brad Bird would have worked on a sequel to his fantastic animation movie The Incredibles instead.
Here is a short “making of” the best action scene in the film:
Posted in Cinema
Tagged Cinema, Mission Impossible, mission impossible 4, movies, Paula Patton, Tom Cruise
8 Comments
The Personification of Greek Austerity
Greece first cooked its books to enter the Eurozone, then used cheap credit to live beyond its means. A profligate pact by the Greek government and the Greek people expanded the state and ran up deficits and debt. With a budget deficit of more than 15% of GDP and government debt of more than 126% of GDP, Greece is one of the most indebted countries in the world. Tax evasion is rampant.
In order to receive further loans – on which Greece seems to be hooked like an addict – the Greek government has reluctantly promised some austerity measures and economic reforms. Except for some cuts and tax rises, the reforms have mostly been empty promises so far. Oddly, Greeks still think that none of this is their fault and that austerity is not necessary. Because of this, attending one of the many strikes is much preferred over working on reforming the country, as is blaming the EU, the IMF and Germany in particular.
The Greek Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, perfectly personifies the Greek attitude to austerity.
Evangelos Venizelos to Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank: "Move over the money, Mario!"
Evangelos Venizelos to Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg: "Come on, just a few million. You have so many Euros in your little country."
Evangelos Venizelos to Jean-Claude Trichet, former head of the ECB: "Austerity? Reforms? You guys in Frankfurt really have funny ideas!"
"I wonder if I can eat these two stars when nobody is watching."
Evangelos Venizelos to François Baroin, French Finance Minister: "What do you mean, you have steaks of less than half a meter? How is that enough for breakfast?"
"What a stupid meeting. No food at all!"
Two years ago: Birthday Vigil for Neda Agha-Soltan
Exactly two years ago, on 23 January 2010, a vigil was held for Neda Agha-Soltan who had been shot and killed on 20 June 2009 by an Iranian government militia when they cracked down on protests in Tehran. Because Neda’s death was captured on video and quickly broadcast around the world, she became the symbol of the millions of Iranians who dared to protest against the rigging of the elections in 2009 and against the lack of personal and political freedom in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
I was among the people who organised the vigil in London. We chose 23 January because it would have been Neda’s birthday. We chose to protest outside of the London offices of Press TV, Iran’s foreign TV channel because this channel had just broadcast an inflammatory piece in which they had blamed the BBC and the usual array of foreign intelligence services for her murder. (The UK’s media regulating body Ofcom has now finally revoked Press TV’s license.)
Here is some video footage from the event. I read a letter from Caspian Makan, Neda’s fiancé:
If you want to learn more about Neda and the protests in Iran in 2009, I highly recommend to watch the documentary “For Neda” (in which I play a small part again).
As someone who has been to Iran twice and has a deep interest in the country’s future, I am disappointed that there is still no improvement at all in the political and human rights situation in Iran. The Iranian opposition is highly ineffective and – especially if compared with the opposition groups in the countries of the Arab Spring – far too timid, lame and more concerned about arguing with each other instead of toppling the brutal regime. It is sad to say, but there is absolutely nothing that makes me optimistic about Iran’s future.
I discovered the 12,000 US troops on Malta.
Yesterday I reported about the claim by former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney that 12,000 US troops are stationed on Malta, ready to invade Libya. I dismissed it as a ridiculous speculation by someone who probably did not know where Malta is. I found it especially dubious how 12,000 soldiers could arrive on a relatively small island without anyone noticing.
Many comments on my blog suggested that the US soldiers would be disguised as tourists. At first, I dismissed this as the typical conspiracy theory which always finds more amazing “answers” to any question posed.
But today, I have to admit I saw the first pieces of evidence myself. In a dramatic scoop for this blog, I can reveal the first and exclusive photos of the US soldiers currently stationed on Malta, inconspicuously posing as harmless tourists.
On first sight, they hide really well:
But when you get closer, as I dared to, there are many tell-tale signs that give the US soldiers away. Look at these gentlemen: wearing the typical US military sunglasses, one of them – of course – drinking a beer, others eating food that makes them even more fat. Clearly, the guy who is pointing at something is the commander.
But it becomes even more obvious. You see these two? One of them reads instructions for the upcoming invasion of Libya. She is so sure of herself that she even has her weapon right next to her!
The following two members of the US military were sitting in front of what looks like harmless phone booths. But of course, nobody uses phone booths any more, we all have mobiles. So these green (which is a military colour, after all) booths surely are US military communication installations.
If you still need more evidence – beyond the beer and the ice-cream – that these foreign occupying powers are indeed American, here it is. One of the persons depicted reads a newspaper. And in what language is the newspaper? Exactly: in English! Now, Malta has it’s own language, Maltese. So who on earth would read an English newspaper here? Only Americans!
I hope you acknowledge by now that all these photos were taken under extreme danger to my own life. But when I noticed that something is going on here, I thought I owe it to you to discover the truth. And if is the last thing that I will do in my life.
Look at the following guy. Who on earth sits in a park with a computer? No sane person does that. He must be a soldier. I bet he controls a drone strike in Iran via his notebook. And do you see what clothes he wears? Adidas. Adidas is German, not American. But we all know that Germany was occupied by the US Army in 1945, so it all fits together.
One reason why I initially dismissed the idea of 12,000 US soldiers on Malta was that I didn’t think anyone could hide tanks, artillery, helicopters and other equipment.
But I even solved this puzzle. I discovered stockpiles of the most advanced transportation equipment.
And then I saw a large troop transport vehicles, in military colours, with tinted windows. This vehicle alone has a capacity to transport hundreds of troops, invisible to anyone outside. It is also suspicious because Malta is such a small island, it would never need such large buses for its own population. And were the old Maltese buses not just replaced a few months ago, even though nobody in Malta had been unhappy with the old buses? Now it all begins to make sense!
If you still have doubts – like me initially – I submit the following photo as the final piece of evidence. What is this? A camel! But there are no camels in Malta. Why would there be a camel in a children’s playground? – Which country has camels? Exactly: Libya.
All photos were taken on Malta on 18 January 2012. (C) Andreas Moser
Posted in Libya, Malta, Military, Photography, Politics, USA
Tagged Cynthia McKinney, news, war
37 Comments
Wikipedia Blackout
Today, on 18 January 2012, Wikipedia and other sites have closed down and will blackout the internet for one day. They want to protest against a bill currently being considered by the US Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
I realise that without Wikipedia, many students, researchers and journalists will despair.
If you have urgent fact-checking questions, you can therefore post them here and I or some of my readers will answer them. This service is not offered in an effort to circumvent the blackout, but I am simply fed up with how many mistakes seep into newspapers or TV news every day already and I don’t want these mistakes to multiply today.
Where are the 12,000 US Soldiers on Malta?
A few days ago, on 13 January 2012, Cynthia McKinney, a former six-term member of US Congress, wrote on her blog:
It is with great disappointment that I receive the news from foreign media publications and Libyan sources that our President now has 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in Malta and they are about to make their descent into Libya.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t reveal any of her sources.
Cynthia McKinney: “I really have no idea what I am talking about.”
As a resident of Malta, I can guarantee her – and you – that this is untrue. There are no 12,000 US soldiers stationed on Malta. And trust me, this island is so small, I would have seen them. There isn’t enough space for 12,000 troops to hide, especially not if they have the typical soldiers’ equipment of tanks, artillery, helicopters et cetera with them. – To put things into perspective: the whole military of Malta is 2,140 troops strong. Even at the height of World War II, when Malta was hotly fought over as the central location in the Mediterranean, no more than 26,000 troops were stationed on Malta.
Granted, I did see the USS Whidbey Island in port in Valletta last Friday, but this ship only has a crew of about 400 sailors.
Also, I can’t see why US forces would go to Libya now. Gaddafi is dead, Libya is liberated, the job is done.
Ms McKinney either has no idea about international politics and the state of the world, or she is one of these conspiracy gurus, or she doesn’t know where Malta is and confused it with something else. Either way, it’s very embarrassing for a former US Congresswoman to make these ridiculous statements.
But just in case, people of Malta: let’s keep our eyes open in the next few weeks for any suspicious activity on the ground, on the sea and in the air. If you spot anything, please let me know.
“I am trying to hide on Malta. And so are 11,999 of my comrades.”
(I have contacted Ms McKinney and asked her to comment on her statement. As she has not allowed me to make a clarifying comment on her blog, I doubt however that we will hear from her. Until she comes up with the next bogus story.)
A Tale of Two Ships: How Europe welcomes Refugees
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”Emma Lazarus: The New Colossus (engraved on a plaque inside the Statute of Liberty)
Last weekend, a few people on a boat experienced a sudden problem while they were sailing in the Tyrrhenian Sea, west of mainland Italy. Their cruise ship “Costa Concordia” ran aground, listed and partially sank.
More than 4,000 people had to be evacuated to the close Italian island of Giglio. There and on the Italian mainland, they were welcomed by the rescue services and quickly housed by local communities and residents in schools, hotels and churches.
A warm welcome, an organised response, helpfulness, everything provided for: shelter, blankets, food, medical attention. The whole community, actually the whole country, stood behind the rescue.
How different the passengers of a different boat must have felt, even though they also arrived in Italy, namely on the island of Lampedusa:
Lesson learnt: If you want to come to Europe, try to look as white as possible. It makes for a much warmer welcome than if you are black.
Posted in Europe, Human Rights, Immigration Law, Italy, Politics, Travel
Tagged Costa Concordia, Human Rights
39 Comments
The Happy Hermit 