Γιατί στην Αίγυπτο δεν έχουν δάση;

Το μεγάλο ερώτημα του καλοκαιριού είναι ποιός φταίει για τις πυρκαγιές.

Μην είναι οι αδίστακτοι καταπατητές;

Μην είναι η άπειρη κυβέρνηση με τον νέο αναπτυξιακό νόμο που υποτίθεται ότι κάνει ευκολότερη την αδειόδοτηση για οικόπεδα;

Μην είναι η βρώμικη αντιπολίτευση που θέλει να δυσφημήσει την ηρωική κυβέρνηση που λέει και ο Γιακουμάτος;

Μην είναι η ανίκανη πυροσβεστική υπηρεσία με τις περιορισμένες (;) δυνατότητες;

Το πρόβλημα με όλες τις παραπάνω απαντήσεις είναι ότι δεν εξηγούν το γεγονός ότι αυξημένες πυρκαγιές είχαμε φέτος σε όλα τα Βαλκάνια και στην Νότια Ιταλία. Ποιός είναι ο κοινός παράγοντας που άλλαξε φέτος σε όλες τις παραπάνω χώρες;

Ο FT του Σαββάτου πρότεινει μια "ριζοσπαστική" απάντηση (εδώ): για τις αυξημένες πυρκαγιές, φταίει η αυξημένη, αφρικανικού τύπου ζέστη. Αυτή έχει προκληθεί από την μετατόπιση του χαμηλής πίεσης jet stream νοτιότερα με αποτέλεσμα περισσότερη ζέστη στην Νότια Ευρώπη και περισσότερο κρύο στην Βόρεια. Αλλά τι ξέρει και ο FT...

Veronica Berlusconi and the Respect for Women

In FT last week there was an article about the status of Italian women. Among others it is mentioned:

Earlier this year Veronica Berlusconi, Silvio Berlusconi’s wife of almost
three decades, tired of her husband’s reported boorish behaviour. After
hearing that he had flirted with other women at a gala media dinner,
Veronica wrote a letter to La Repubblica, one of Italy’s biggest newspapers
and a critic of Berlusconi’s rightwing politics. His conduct was an affront
to “my dignity as a woman”, she wrote, before demanding a public apology.
“Today for my female children, already adults,” she continued, “the example
of a woman capable of defending her dignity … takes on significant
importance.” She hoped her outcry would remind her son,
Luigi, “never to forget to keep among his fundamental values a respect for women”.

I found this letter really moving. It should remind to everybody that happens to have a priviliged access to the female market, how morally important is to restrain our promiscuous nature. We easily forget that in the hunting game, dignified women can be severely hurt.

Why I detest W.

It is not for Iraq, not for his religiosity, not for the record deficit, not for his intellectual inadequacy, not for the environment.

What really makes me detest G. W. Bush is his amorality. In every single occasion he put his interest, personal and partisan, above any principles. The Libby commutation is the latest proof, an unapologetic quid pro quo to cover Dick Cheney.
Note that when the investigation began, Bush had insisted that if anyone in his administration had violated the law, ''that person will be taken care of.'' Sure...
This is the same man that while a governor in Texas he had the lowest record of pardons, based on the principle that he should not intervene to the matters of the courts...

At least the Clintons were having an ideological pretention.