.. nuclear chicken in poland ..., page-58

Yeah, kaya, laughing is a good things - I pick my friends according to how much fun they are to be with! (having lost my husband, friends are very important.)

This is such a good thread - one could get addicted!

Re Obama: I have great hopes for him too, but, firstly he has to get in (remember the redneck voting public in the U.S. who would never contemplate voting for a black man) and if he gets in, and stays in (remember what happened to Kennedy?), he will have to continue along the same path as his predecessor, at least for a while. I expect a little more humanity and willingness to negotiate from his camp, but also realise he will be restrained by heading one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Yes, still the most powerful nation in the world! They simply got the rest of the Western world (and China and everybody they buy oil from) to pay them tribute in the form of financing their debts and taking our economies down as well. I am not into rubbishing the U.S.A. - I have an admiration and affinity for their citizens' get-up and go. If you ever visited the U.S. you would know what I mean. They've got a long way to go before giving up their power base.

Have you ever read: "The Prince" by a late medieval Italian writer, one Macchiavelli? A short book, but full of brutal truths and advice to a Ruler, that still apply today. Apparently, privately, Macchiavelli was a nice and gentle man; put simply he was one of the first people to evaluate politics as 'realpolitik'. Maybe the ancient Greeks and Romans did as well, but I am not well-read enough to have an opinion there.

cheers and carpe diem

Taurisk