Good Guys and Bad Guys in World Politics

Just finished watching a Youtube video of Lada Ray titled 'Putin's Gambit: Germany To Replace Ukraine As Russian Gas Transiter'.

Here are my thoughts and comments:

Lada Ray is a good political analyst and commentator. Sometimes she talks beyond the mundane. Her comments in this video and others tell me that she see things well from the Russian perspective. I agree with her that Putin is a great chess player. Of course, Uncle Sam depicts Russia as the bad and isolated guy. The truth is that Russia is not isolated. As to who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, please study, observe and decide for yourself.

In diplomacy, there are no bad guys. In war, you are the good guy and your enemy is the bad guy. In politics, the good guys and the bad guys are the same guys. An angel blinks his eyes and becomes a devil. A devil snaps his fingers and becomes an angel. Politicians are neither good nor bad. Politicians are politicians.

If you are interested in oil and pipeline politics, watch this video. It is about 21 minutes long. I feel sorry for the people in Ukraine. However you look at the situation in Ukraine, it is a loser, not a winner. Ukraine is not a good chess player. It is not even a player. It is the chess.

Ukraine is a chess game played by the two major players, the U.S. and Russia. Some NATO countries like Germany and France take side with the U.S. against Russia for external show, but work with Russia not-so-openly for their self interests. Peace! 

Unity Rally In Paris

Je suis Charlie. Où est Obama?

Unity ? The world leaders were not even with the crowds. They only had a Photo Op holding hands at a separate location. A good number of these world leaders showed support to freedom of speech in France, while banning or censoring free speech in their own countries, even harassing journalists and putting them to jail.

This is my guess why Obama did not attend this so-called Unity March: 

The world of Islam is huge. There are billions of Muslims just as there are billions of Christians in this world. The Muslim World is not only one small country like North Korea that Obama could easily pick on. Obama himself has a Muslim family background and spent some childhood years living in Indonesia, the country with a very large Muslim population. Some people even believe that Obama is a closet Muslim, although he claims that he is a Christian. 

The point I want to make is this: Obama understands that one may not create an image or picture of Mohammed, the Muslims' prophet. While freedom of speech is a fundamental right available in most countries in the West, creating an image or picture of prophet Mohammed is an unforgivable blasphemy to the Muslims. Obama is not a stupid man. I believe he decided not to attend the rally. Had he gone to attend the freedom of speech rally in Paris, that would have offended the Muslim world, and be seen taking side with France and the West against Islam and  the Muslims in the world. Instead, he just sent his spokesperson to issue sort of an apology or excuse afterwards. Well, it is only my guess. 

All said, it is my opinion that all violence, killing, war and terrorism are wrong. Love and Peace are always right. Unfortunately, in the name of God, Religion, Democracy, Nationalism, or Whatever, some people would justify the use of violence, killing, war and terrorism. And then some others who are against terrorism are ironically terrorists themselves. Oh, so much hypocrisy, so much failure ! Yes, we still live in a messy and 'uncivilized' world ! What do you think ? 

U.S. Sanction Against Russia

U.S. sanction against Russia, and probably also the dropping of oil prices, got to be an economic, geopolitical and currency war of the U.S. against Russia.

Does sanction work? Yes and No, if you ask Obama. For Cuba, with whom the U.S. has just re-established diplomatic relationship, Obama said No. For Russia, Obama said Yes. If it didn't work on small Cuba, having been proved for more than 50 years, how would it be possible to work and hurt big Russia ? Mr. President Obama, please tell us ! 

U.S. sanction would hurt Russia and make it difficult for Putin for a while, yes, but not for a long time. It won't take 50 years or more, like in the case of Cuba, to find out. We'll wait and see. 

Sanction, in my opinion, largely hurts only the people - your own people, those of your allies, and those of the sanctioned country you try to hurt, but not so much the elites and governments in power. 

U.S. sanction against Russia has pushed Russia even closer to China. It hurts not only Russia, but also Europeans who do business with Russia. Maybe Germany, France and a few other European countries didn't really like the sanction against Russia, but wouldn't dare not to "obey" Uncle Sam, being under political pressure to follow.

Good Bye Country, Hello New Home

Just finished watching a Youtube video titled ' Time to Get the Hell Out of the U.S.' As the news channel was RT (Russia Today), there would be people who just wrote it off as nothing but Russian propaganda. 

Here are my thoughts and comments: some haters of Putin and Russia would say that this is nothing but Russian propaganda, but I do think that there is some truth in this report. You can argue about different ideologies, but you can't deny facts. There has been an increase of Americans who gave up their U.S. citizenship and moved to other countries. If you are an American citizen, you have to report your world wide income to Uncle Sam wherever you live. This controversial and complicated tax system alone would be a reason for Americans living abroad to give up their American citizenship.

For example, Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook, surrendered his U.S. citizenship and moved to Singapore. He said it was a personal choice which had nothing to do with tax saving. Whether he told the truth or not, he had saved millions in tax money. Uncle Sam got mad and increased the exit tax to punish such non-patriotic Americans. Give me your money before I let you go !

Tina Turner, an iconic American singer also gave up her U.S. citizenship and now lives in Switzerland. Dear Uncle Sam, I know I know, this one really hurts ! Tina Turner is no longer an American ... WTF ???!!! 

French actor Gerard Depardieu left France and became a Russian citizen. Putin happily granted him a Russian passport. There are people who envy the rich. There are people who look down on the poor. But most people do not fully trust their governments. In this case, can you blame Gerard at all, that France's tax rate was going up from 45% to 75%? Russia has a 13% low flat rate. For comparison, Singapore's rate is 18%.

In the past, people looked to the West. So many people wanted to go to America, the Land of the Free. Today, people look to the East. The center of world economy has already gone to Asia. There are so many troubled spots in the world today, and I feel so lucky to be in Canada. I feel both free and safe here. I don't see any need for me to move away from Canada. Dear American friends, would you consider moving to Canada, the true North strong and free ?