WEEKLY BLOG COMMENTS
DATES:
2013/09/22 – 2013/09/29
ANALYST:
Domingo Trassens
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Dear
Friends:
I would
like to share with you a series of comments posted by myself in the WSJ Journal
Community and PBS through Twitter during the last seven days about the top news
of the week.
The
comments are organized in the following sections:
- United States
- Europe
- The
World (Asia, Africa, Middle East…)
- Latin America
-
Education
-
Economy, Business, Technology.
DAT
September 29, 2013
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UNITED
STATES
My Comment: In this
shutdown, the entire country is involved and the subject is Obamacare.
Some Republican lawmakers put on the table the concerns of the People, but the Democrat lawmakers don't want to listen to the People. (2013/09/29) 6 Recommendations
Some Republican lawmakers put on the table the concerns of the People, but the Democrat lawmakers don't want to listen to the People. (2013/09/29) 6 Recommendations
My Comment: You say:
“Let ObamaCare Collapse”, but the people have fears because any expensive
healthcare program plays with the health and the money of the people. (2013/09/28) 1 Recommendation
My Comment: The press remarks that the
15-minute call between Barack Obama and Hasan Rouhani is "historic".
In the
life of countries there are historic events that are good and others that are
bad.
Till now
it is too early to know if this strange friendship will produce positive
results from the American side. Mr. Rouhani refused a handshake with Obama in New York but after that he talked by
phone.
Probably
he didn’t have the authorization of the Supreme Leader to take a photo with the
American President in New York or perhaps he had the order to
talk by phone through a censorship system.
Meanwhile,
all these actions are a good “propaganda” for Iranian President Hasan Rouhani:
“A call with the Great Satan!”
We have
to hope that Secretary of State John Kerry will not offer more than we receive
from the Iranian side. Good diplomacy is the art to deal exactly what we have
to deal.
(2013/09/28)
PBS – ANALYSIS: Sept.
27, 2013:
Shields and Ponnuru Discuss Government Spending Showdown
My Comment: You continue
considering Ted Cruz as a “devil”, however, we need lawmakers who talk for the
people in Congress.
During
the last few years we saw that “government” and “real life” are two different
“universes”. The politicians only see their problems but they don’t pay attention
in the problems of the normal citizens.
At least
till now, Ted Cruz looks like a “conservative” with feelings for the people. Of
course, he is running against the Establishment and his attitude is shaking the
institutions, but what is more important: the government or the people? (By
TWITTER) (2013/09/28) 1 Recommendation
Opinion: Opinion: IRS Firing Squad
My Comment: I agree
that the IRS case demands a deep purge. All the officials in charge of the
operation have to go to jail. (2013/09/27) 1 Recommendation
PBS - ANALYSIS: Sept.
26, 2013:
Weekend Deadline Looming, What's Going on Behind the Scenes of the Budget
Fight?
Subject: Lawmakers on both sides of the budget fight
have come out to wage a public war of words and sway opinion, but what's going
on behind the scenes?
My Comment: About the shutting
down the government, I like the comment of Ron Bonjean when he says:
“Republicans want to negotiate with the president over avoiding all of this.
They want to talk about reducing spending, they want to talk about delaying
Obamacare, and the President is saying he won’t negotiate. And the Republicans,
that is very surprising considering that the president is saying he will
negotiate with Syria, will negotiate with Putin, Vladimir Putin, and his
secretary of state will be talking to Iran.”
It is
not the first time that President Obama doesn’t want to negotiate about
internal political issues with the Republicans. From the other side, he changed
his mind because President Putin took the lead in the case of the Syrian
chemical weapons, but before he canceled Moscow’s conference programmed next to
the G-20 meeting.
President
Obama only negotiates when his public figure is damaged for events that are not
under his control. (2013/09/27)
2 Recommendations
Opinion: Opinion: The Cruz Campaign Against ObamaCare –
Part 1
My Comment: Also in the case that Ted Cruz
cannot stop the ObamaCare, his “push” is the awakening of a new kind of
lawmaker who will change the way to make politics in the country.
Definitively,
we need politicians who understand the fear of the people and act with
resolution… (2013/09/24) 8 Recommendations
Opinion: Opinion: The Cruz Campaign Against ObamaCare –
Part 2
My Comment answering to another
Journal Community member: XXX: I feel that you don’t like Ted Cruz, but at least he has guts to
say that a lot of people have fears to say: “Obamacare is increasing the costs
of our medicine.”
Some
weeks ago, IBM informed that it will cut the special healthcare plans for the
retirees due to the increase of the medical costs.
We need
a new kind of politician who goes ahead when the Establishment doesn't move.
The United States was built for men and women with
courage. (2013/09/25) 1 Recommendation
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EUROPE
My Comment:
Everybody knows that Italy
is the “dolce vita” with Silvio Berlusconi as a “master director” behind the
scene.
The government of Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta was weak since his first day running the country. (2013/09/29)
The government of Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta was weak since his first day running the country. (2013/09/29)
My Comment: France continues its campaign against
American technology companies. Now it is looking for the way to charge more
money as heavy punishment against Google.
They
want to build a “Wall” between Europe and America with the pretext they are
protecting French industry. (By the way, today the majority of French
technology companies are not significant in the world context.) (2013/09/28) 2 Recommendations
My Comment: It looks like the government of France has nothing more important than
to fight against the business companies and entrepreneurs who have success.
We saw
when Mr. Hollande became French President, all the problems that his government
created to people of the media and the business environment with high incomes.
In the
moment that the economy doesn’t run well, it is suicidal to interfere in the
normal operation of business companies that run well and attract million of
customers per year.
The socialist
governments and unions have to care for the social issues without suffocating
the genuine sources of income of the countries. (2013/09/24) 1
Recommendation
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THE
WORLD (Asia, Africa, Middle East…)
My Comment: The Pakistanis can do what they
want, but we have to delete this country from the list of “partner” and stop
any financial assistance... Often we help the wrong people. (2013/09/26)
My Comment: The majority of the news that
comes from Syria reflects the strong influence of
Islamist extremists on the side of the rebels.
If the
Western countries continue helping these people, we are “feeding” the enemy.
At the
end of this tragedy, they will behead us like cows in the slaughterhouse. (2013/09/25)
1 Recommendation
My Comment: Perhaps
this earthquake destroys some of the “caves” of the Taliban militants. (2013/09/24)
3 Recommendations
My Comment: The reports from Nairobi are really bad. 62 people were
killed in 4 days, but according to the news, till now the security forces
continue battling against militants with hostages.
Today
all the countries must have to form command groups of police forces able to
confront terrorists or criminals with hostages in efficient and fast
operations. (2013/09/24) 3 Recommendations
Story: Assault on Mall Stuns Kenya
My Comment: Nairobi became the new bloody spot on
the road map of the Muslim extremists.
According
to the story, the attackers to the Nairobi mall asked about the religion of
the hostages: “…If you are Muslim you are on the safe side, but if you are
Hindu or Christian you will be killed.”
The
Muslims continue pointing against Christians as the target of their hatred and
religious fanaticism.
From the
other side, like in Algeria last January and Mumbai in 2011,
the Kenyan security forces didn’t show capacity to fight efficiently against
terrorist groups. (Till now three days of panic and death for the hostages...) (2013/09/23)
2 Recommendations
My Comment: Warning! The “Holy War” of
Muslims against Christians is spreading across the world with some resemblance
to the religious wars of the Middle Ages.
During
decades, in Sudan and other African countries the
Christian minorities suffered frequent attacks.
Several
years ago, a sectarian group of Muslims burned Catholic churches in Iraq and a lot of Christians left the
country.
In Egypt, since Mubarak’s fall, the
persecution against Christians became something normal. According to different
sources, members of the Muslim Brotherhood were involved in the recent attacks
to churches in Cairo and other cities.
Now, the
news from Pakistan shows how sectarian groups of
Muslims are spilling the blood of Christians in another country of South Asia.
The
religious fanaticism and intolerance are signs of social decadence and determinant
factors of economic stagnation.
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LATIN AMERICA
My Comment: The speech of Ms. Dilma Rousseff
shows a level of arrogance that doesn’t plug in the current circumstances.
Is she a
politician with impeccable background? Probably, she forgot when she went to
jail (1970-1972) for terrorist activities as part of Marxist urban guerrilla
groups.
From the
other side, nearly every month since Ms. Rousseff is the Brazilian leader we
read news about corruption and other non-clean political behaviors.
If Brazil have problems with the United States, the correct way is to discuss
these problems directly, but never to use the UN forum as the “barricade” by a
leftist combatant. (2013/09/25) 2
Recommendations
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EDUCATION
My Comment: We don’t need to go to the zoo or
the jungle to learn about altruism looking for monkey behavior.
We find
a lot of cases of altruism across the human world, but normally we don’t pay
attention to the good actions of our neighbor. (2013/09/29) 1
Recommendation
My Comment: The
author of this story begins with this statement: “I had a teacher once who
called his students “idiots” when they screwed up.”
Personally, I think we have to differentiate between tough attitude and insult. The term “idiots” is not a good word to use in a classroom when somebody makes mistakes. Frequently it is used as an insult.
A tough teacher can get good results without insulting his/her students. During my studies from the primary school to the university I had tough teachers who helped me a lot in my education with their hard attitude but nobody insulted me. (2013/09/29) 0 Recommendations
Personally, I think we have to differentiate between tough attitude and insult. The term “idiots” is not a good word to use in a classroom when somebody makes mistakes. Frequently it is used as an insult.
A tough teacher can get good results without insulting his/her students. During my studies from the primary school to the university I had tough teachers who helped me a lot in my education with their hard attitude but nobody insulted me. (2013/09/29) 0 Recommendations
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ECONOMY,
BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY
My Comment: Since last year, BlackBerry is a
ship navigating without direction through a sea of uncertainty.
The new
CEO made a series of mistakes in a short time. With this mismanagement, it is
obvious that BlackBerry has losses. (2013/09/27) 0 Recommendations
Story: Finding Microsoft's New CEO
My Comment: I met
John Thompson personally in a press conference when Symantec started its
international campaign to extend its business everywhere long time ago. The
short dialogue with him gave me a very good feeling
I think Mr. Thompson can help a lot to change the Microsoft’s image due to his strong experience in the technology industry and its independent way of thinking. But I don’t believe that he will want to take an executive position in this software company because the Microsoft CEO position is a very hot seat in this moment.
However, if John Thompson accepts the challenge, he could be a top independent leader like Lou Gerstner, when this external executive assumed as IBM CEO in 1993. (2013/09/27) 1 Recommendation
I think Mr. Thompson can help a lot to change the Microsoft’s image due to his strong experience in the technology industry and its independent way of thinking. But I don’t believe that he will want to take an executive position in this software company because the Microsoft CEO position is a very hot seat in this moment.
However, if John Thompson accepts the challenge, he could be a top independent leader like Lou Gerstner, when this external executive assumed as IBM CEO in 1993. (2013/09/27) 1 Recommendation
My Comment: Till now Apple is lucky because
it continues selling millions of new phones, but if it doesn’t change its
strategy, one day the “fat cows” will end.
The
iPhone’s father has to use all its experience to develop cheaper devices for
the popular markets, like the car makers that have vehicles for all economic
levels of customers. (2013/09/23)
My Comment: BlackBerry has not a lot to offer
to investors who dream of future gold mines. (2013/09/23)
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SOURCES:
1)
External Sources: Wall
Street Journal, The New York Times and PBS NewsHour
2)
Own Sources: My
own research for previous publishing projects: TTT of Comlab Corp, Spanish
English Club online.
Website: http://world-rethink.blogspot.de/
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