Outlook For 2014

Mon Dieu, Air France preponed my flight to Paris en route to Lima and as things stand i will spend New Year's Eve sitting on Charles de Gaulles airport, a place not short with one star ratings. However i will get over it, since there is hardly a better way to start the new year with a lenghty timeout from the daily grind with another trip probably to Vietnam later on the cards. 2014 features two major events, the football World Cup and the EU parliament elections. The World Cup is something, more and more people get crazy about, proving a national identity is deeply engrained and thus a project like the EU has to do with geopolitics, the striving for power of a finance elite and is nothing the population will benefit from in the long run. The former Soviet Union flew apart as well as Yugoslavia, because people don't accept any longer to be under the thumb from another ethnic group. And now we Europeans want to do it the other way around, perhaps even worth want to be governed by those folks occupying the top floors of this terrifying building, the new European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt ? To my delight the number of EU sceptics is growing and i hope the elections reflect that.  Although i sometimes think i should ignore all these absurdities for a more jaunty life , looking away is of course not an option, especially not during the World Cup, when politicians like to pass laws behind our backs intending to get ahold of our hard earned. So i keep trying to get on terms with all that razmatazz, attempt to filter out what is true and what is manipulation and write my point of view here once in a while, hoping to give something to think about. As always cheers for visiting my blog and a great 2014.

Christmas Sports

As ever i stayed clear of the Christmas shopping frenzy and rather thought about , how to take ol' Fred Done of Betfred to the cleaners with his Goals Galore, where both teams have to score. After some number crunching i came up with the following games : Gillingham v Leyton Orient / Huddersfield v Derby / Middlesbrough v Burnley / Bradford v Rotherham and Port Vale v Notts County @ odds of 17*** Only 8 of 10 teams scored, so Fred got away unscathed. Now over to the sport of Kings. Also on December, 26th the King George VI Chase takes place in Kempton. You could make a case for every runner in this top class field, why he could win the race, however my preference is for the striking grey Al Ferof (FR). He missed last season due an injury, but ran excellent in an recent race and seems to be back at his best. He definitely has, what it takes to win the chase and i am pretty happy with the early odds of 5 i got at Ladbrokes.*** 3rd

Putin

Like him or loathe him - i for my part have some sympathy for the Russian president and not only for granting asylum to Edward Snowden. To me democracy becomes more and more a mockery, when elected toothless and wishy-washy politicians of debt stricken countries or Barack Obama, who let us know he is good in killing people, then behaves like a silly teenager and is good friends with Wall Street , have nothing to oppose the financial power of global corporations. Here in Germany i can observe their influence day in, day out and in this scenario i certainly prefer Putin with his "controlled" democracy, than some CEO, who only cares about profits and is not squeamish with his methods. This anecdote shows Wladimir Putin has also a good sense of humor : He once invited Angela Merkel """over to the Kreml and knowing of her fear of dogs he let his puppy in to greet the flinching guest too.

""" Angela Merkel was just confirmed as the German chancellor for four more years and she swore to do her best to keep any damage away from the German people. Maybe this video shows her true attitude towards Germany and that Alexander Dibelius, a high ranked Goldmann Sachs associate, is her advisor speaks volumes as well.

Rwanda

Intriguing news from Rwanda, a country infamous for the Tutsi genocide in 1994. For quite a while now plastic bags are banned there and upon arrival at Kigali airport, luggage is searched and they are taken away, when found. That is a far cry from the weatern throwaway society, where micoscopical small plastic pieces can even be detected in toothpaste or cosmetics. These pieces eventually show up in waterbodies, where they are a menace to the flora and fauna and it is about time Rwanda is taken as an role model in this subject.

Art

That nightmare in orange to the left is called " balloon dog " and was auctioned at Christie's in New York for ... 2,50 $ or perhaps a tenner ? Nope, some unknown bidder dished out 55 million US $ to purchase it and i would assume he is a member of the champagne society, earned his fortune effortless and never experienced the joy of dollars earned with own hands. Creator of that botch is Jeff Koons, who came to prominence with a relationship to Cicciolina. He also once tried to erect a work of art of unparalleled ugliness here in Hamburg, however the plan could be thwarted. Anyway, let's hope Champagne Charlie has a big enough basement to stash that thing away for good.