Sunday, June 24, 2012

Greece Scores On Germany

HT to Charles Crawford for this bit of classic British silliness:

Monty Python blast one into the back of the net - and describe the Eurozone Crisis with unerring wit and prescience.



How hopeless do you have to be when even Marx can't put any life into your attack?

The Germans are putting up a better offense against Greece in real life, fortunately.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post TSB! That really captures the essence of the game.
Finally. A post I can share with my friends!gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: This is from a NYT article on the health care bill but I think it highlights WHY we are so post-constitutional.

David B. Rivkin Jr., who filed a challenge joined by 26 states, said that extended across party lines. “Nobody in Congress is interested in constitutional issues,” he said. “The Republicans on the Hill were no better than the Democrats. It really was very late in the game when Republicans realized there would (be constitutional problems with the bill.) gwb

TSB said...

SCOTUS's Obamacare ruling might be a big educational moment for both sides of Capital Hill. I'd like to see that.

Anonymous said...

http://dawn.com/2012/06/27/us-sent-thousands-of-troops-to-wrong-province-book/

A good summary of "Little America" or "How and Why The White House Screwed Up The Af-Pak Mess" gwb

TSB said...

GWB: The WaPo's article on that misguided deployment was really good. The administration's finger-pointing over Afghanistan is obviously in full swing.

I was surprised to see how the Marine Corps had so much autonomy over where they would deploy. But, when you don't have a national strategy in the first place, maybe it doesn't so much matter.

Anonymous said...

For sure! It looks like everybody was exercising a lot of autonomy TSB.
Including Holbrooke getting his ASAP 80 million$ hotel conversion. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: There should be a Monty Python or equivalent comedy classic to explain this one. (Or else it's time to create a new classic movie.) Foreign accents would be an essential element. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: I was astonished to learn from an official Pakistani study that in 2010-11 Pakistan spent 0.27% of GDP on healthcare. In 2001 the figure was
0.75% of GDP. At the other end of the world spectrum the US spends 18% of GDP on healthcare. (and gets fat corporate profits)

If you read Pakistan Wikipedia you will find no mention of healthcare spending. Basically poor people who get to see a doctor get a prescription or order for lab testing that they can never fill because it costs money they don't have. They seem to have our model:the totally for profit healthcare system under government control.

Anonymous said...

TSB: I've never had a clue what to do about Syria besides "support Turkey" but I do think Syria is getting ready to explode in a few weeks. The UN guys say only diplomacy will prevent that. So if it does explode what do we do? I think I'd be in favor of leaving to the GCC and the Arab league. Hope your AC is working! gwb

TSB said...

GWB: My AC, and everything else electrical, has been out since Friday night. This is the first time I've been online since, except for BlackBerry access.

Exploding Syria is a biger problem for Turkey than it is for any other country that is willing and able to do anything. I think we should let them have the lead.

Anonymous said...

Thanks TSB: I hope you get juice soon!

Anonymous said...

TSB: Winning elections in Mexico is so easy! They post the results right after they are counted at each polling station so there is no cheating. My wife's niece checked her neighborhood voting place: 144 votes for PRI. It was later reported as 444. This was reported in lots of places. Viva La Revolucion Party! gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: Here is the photo evidence for the above mentioned voting place. As you can see this method also makes the turnout look much stronger! Since Yo Soy 132 tried to get this at all the voting places it will be interesting to see what the authorities do. gwb

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=437280209626352&set=a.198240640196978.46605.100000331293335&type=1&theater

Anonymous said...

Lopez Obrador says that his team has detected "irregularities" in more than 113,000 of the 143,000 voting centres.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/07/2012741127958427.html

gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: That Erdogan guy fakes me out every time, being so erratic. If Syria explodes Atimes points out that Turkey is desperately dependent on Russia (Gazprom) for a pipeline deal that includes Iran. Maybe that explosion will lead to Turkey deciding to forego NATO in favor of an energy future with Putin?

Anonymous said...

TSB: Something else that could get really hot by early August would be Iran deciding to exercise it's right under international law to stop and inspect oil tankers entering it's waters headed to countries supporting the oil embargo. It would be something if the mighty US military was stymied by some lawyers! gwb

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NG07Ak02.html

TSB said...

GWB: If Iran inspected all tankers going through the Straits of Hormuz - which carry 20 percent of the world's crude oil and natural gas - that would create quite a nautical roadblock. And have all sorts of operation costs and insurance problems for the shipping companies. Well, well. If warfare is our game, maybe lawfare is their game.