Bad Blogger

Out With IT already!!!

At first, I thought this guy was trying to be funny.



He wasn't (trying), but he IS (funny)...

“Cosmopolitanism” need not be an elitist project. First, cosmopolitanism has been labelled elitist and utopian by nationalists themselves in the late 19th century. “Cosmopolitans” were labelled as some dangerous enemies of the national unity, and the “patrie” because of Montesquieu’s theory that a democracy can only survive if its members love the laws and cherish the res publica. During the 18th century the “cosmopolitan” is labelled as a traveller, touring Europe, and having no fixed “patrie”. Therefore, how could he/she be a good patriot? The term symbolised the aristocrats, married to several European aristocratic families. These people were rejected during the revolution, as “tyrants”, and Sieyes and others replaced the King with the “nation”. However, the “nation” at that time was a very cosmopolitan one, it included just any freeman in the world. The French revolution was supposed to be a beacon for freedom. So much so that foreigners were included, and became members of the “national assembly”. So much so that some of these “foreigners”, like Anacharsis Cloots, would proclaim humankind the sole sovereign, and the only possible nation. The concept of “nation” at that time was thus not yet “nationalised” into a French, a Danish or a Spanish nation. This came later. Soon enough however, the idea of nation became exclusive. Cosmopolitan “idealists” like Cloots were sent to the guillotine — this wonderful modern invention used in France until 1981 (1977 last execution).

Wait! "...Montesquieu’s theory (?!) that a democracy can only survive if its members love the laws and cherish the res publica..." (again?!!!) He calls this a "theory" as we are dealing with the wreckage of an administration that did not in fact "love the laws [or] cherish the res publica", and trumpeted "globalization" while draining the national treasury & spiriting off our nation's assets to their personal offshore bank accounts.

Which brings me to the discussion of aristocratic families (oligarchs), as well as the last sentence. More on that to come...

Hey! We can kill two birds with one stone! Since UBS is handling investments in Dubai, we can take out two US Corporate (criminal) tax havens at once!

from Aug 31, 2008, zawya.com - Middle East Business Information

DUBAI(Zawya Dow Jones)-- Abu Dhabi Investment Co. appointed Vincent Gilles as the new Chief Investment Officer of ADIC-UBS Infrastructure Investment Ltd.

...ADIC-UBS is a recently formed joint venture between Abu Dhabi Investment Co. and and UBS Asset Management focusing on infrastructure investments within the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey.

Prior to joining ADIC-UBS, Gilles worked for UBS for 10 years and headed the European and Middle Eastern practice of UBS Infrastructure Asset Management, or IAM.