Russian nuclear bombers are once again in flight 7/24. With one single signature, Bush can officially transform USA into a dictatorship. Talibans openly say they'll use the ransom money to form suicide bombers. Strange operations on options, similar to those before 9/11, are taking place on Wall Street.

I really do. It is strangely addictive. Nothing really happens, the groups and networks are rather boring, yet it is somehow pleasant and, probabably due to its graphics and mask, appeasing.
Thus said, Facebook has also its dark side. First of all it is the perfect data miner. Secondly, its many recent applications transmit your data to tons of external developpers and it would be really nice to know whether these data remain in some god forgotten net farm.
Finally, having a rather perverted mind, I couldn't but stumble onto this "keynote". If 10% of what is stated there is true, I really wouldn't like it.
But then, I just love Facebook. So if you're in the mood to, catch me over there.

Critical terror threats, unidentified burning cars, increased police presence... It's been quite a while, but I remember they used to call it "strategy of tension".

Not quite. Not yet.
Firstly, the wonderful "show" (real or staged) that Mika Brzezinski made on CNBC a couple of days ago. Finally someone reminding that people, real people, real, young people die on the field in Iraq and that Miss Hilton's return to virtual reality is not as important as the dead people (not forgetting those who became invalids and will take the war with them for the rest of their lives) in Iraq or any other war torn place on the planet.
Finally a glimpse of decency from the TV screens. A free journalist is a huge piece of news itself.
With all the (more than) due respect for Ms Hilton.
24 June, once again my full support for a free, sovereign Québec.

Long before I decided to give a closer look to certain, ah, subversive websites, I noticed our skies have changed. As a kid, I used to observe plane trails high in the skies: small, short, trails left by planes flying high and desappearing in a minute or so.
Something has changed in recent years though: the trails appear at much lower altitudes, they are bigger, larger, longer and remain in the skies for much more than a few minutes.
Curiosity brought me to investigate the thing a bit and, guess what, there are a lot of people wondering the same. These strange, new trails have been denominated *chemtrails*. Point is, the contrails cannot be formed unless the plane is flying at an altitude of approx. 9,000 meters and a temperature of no less than -40 Celsius. Moreover, the many footages available show that contrails are produced from four and sometimes even more "spots" on the plane. Independent and unverified sources state that "chemtrails" are composed of various elements, mostly barium and aluminium. Experiments? Climate control?
To make the issue even more interesting, there have been various temptatives to obtain an official explanation: in Germany, several journalistic investigations have been conducted; metereologists have tried to get some information from the military, to no avail. In Italy, several parliamentary inquieries have been conducted, with no result.

Yes, yes, the secret Capital is still alive. Once again apologies for this *absence*... Congratulations to Mr. Sarkozy, he could have avoided the trip on Mr. Bolloré's yacht after the victory, but then, this is the 21st century... In the new Middle Ages that are just beginning, these are indeed small things.
Current soundtrack: Vivaldi, Primavera.

Il est un temps où le courage et l'audace tranquilles deviennent pour un peuple aux moments clés de son existence la seule forme de prudence convenable. S'il n'accepte pas alors le risque calculé des grandes étapes, il peut manquer sa carrière à tout jamais, exactement comme l'homme qui a peur de la vie.

Translation from French:

There is a time when quiet courage and audacity become for a people at the key moments of its existence the only form of adequate caution. If it does not then accept the calculated risk of the great steps, it can miss its career forever, exactly like the man who is afraid of life.

More about René Lévesque

À la prochaine fois, René...

Usually, one coincidence is just a coincidence. Two coincidences are... two coincidences. Three coincidences are a conspiracy, at least in my mind. This documentary, with all of its mistakes and naiveté, goes well beyond the number of three. The topic, that terrible and tragic date, 9/11, is still very hot and so gravid of consequences that probably most of this century will be interpreted through it.
"Loose Change" is a remarkable collection of facts or supposed facts. Judge it by yourself here, or try downloading it via some file sharing application.

America is in a good shape. Its economy is sound. People work, make money and spend it. Politicians and the establishment do their job, i.e. do what all politicians and establishments have done throughout history, mess up, conspire, manipulate but also do good.

So what's wrong? Well, truth is that US government bonds sold and still sell not just because of economical issues: being America's friend and/or partner also means being obliged to buy its bonds and thus sustain its giant debt. Things are changing: China and Japan for instance have trillions of dollars in US government bonds. The latter are paying below interest rates, while for instance China, despite its hugely positive trade balance, has reached the limit and wants to diversify its portfolio. At the same time, Americans themselves are hugely indebted and that undermines the economy itself, with the result that a more or less tragic economic "slowdown" (to be polite) is probable. That implies less taxes for the IRS and thus less money to dispose of, while the interest on the issued bonds will keep on maturing and the dollar losing value.
It is a potentially explosive, Argentinian, cocktail. The remedies are there, but the cure may be very painful for the ego of the world's only superpower.

As the indipendence of Kosovo and Metohija is approaching, I cannot but give my support to all of the oppressed peoples and Nations fighting and striving for freedom from the invasor.
If one of Europe's spiritual hearts can be so easily handed over to a bunch of criminals, still living in a pseudo tribal society, so that "we can finally have a Muslim democratic country" (words of Mr. Baiden, future head of the US Council for Foreign Relations) - as if, for instance, Turkey weren't a democratic and Musilm state - then I believe that regions such as Corsica, Québec, South Tyrol, Catalonia, the Flanders and so many other must be granted the freedom to be sovereign and independent.
Therefore, this small site will actively engage in supporting the more than rightful claims for independence of so many Nations.

One of the common points made by UFO skeptics is that aliens, ufos et similia have started to appear only recently and that history is devoid of such phenomena; the idea suggested is that TV and other mass media (altogether with the technological progress) have led people to see and imagine things.
It would be pointless to entertain a discussion regarding trolls, dwarfs and other creatures present in virtually all cultures around the globe, as these are always and by default and (more often than not) rightfully dismissed as popular fantasies and children stories.
Nevertheless, even ignoring many written records of strange aerial phenomena dating back as far as 3,000 BC, there are also many visual testimonies of curious visitors and flying objects throughout the centuries.
Check out this nice collection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz4cUSn2bNE

In the contemporary society, so fragmented, with so many different stimuli, most people need to have a sense of belonging. To a religion, a country, an ideology, even a company. It gives them the coordinates of behaviour, it helps them find their identity, their place, helps the bounding with other individuals, fills their loneliness, allows a more structured building of personality and ego.
Something similar happens with ethnic groups and nationalities. My thought goes to the Palestinians.
Basically, the idea is that the Arab populations of the Middle East had no particular identity before a more massive arrival of Jewish migrants from Europe, say in the first decade of the past century.
These locals were Arabs, (mostly) Muslims, but in the first place, simply the people who inhabited those places, with no particular sense of belonging, except for being, by default, part of the Al-Islam and possibly of the local clan. Even the rare Jews who lived with them were like them: they spoke Arabic, wore the same clothes, liked the same food. And if they fashioned strange behavior on saturdays, well, it had always been like that.
And then some blue eyed, pale peoples came and started building a new society. These "intruders" were different. They spoke strange languages. They brought curious ideas. They bought land and built on it. They believed in something quite amusing, something they called progress. 

By observing and dealing with the different, the sense of identity of the "locals" was awaken. By their presence and with their ways, Jews gave a sense of belonging, a collective consciousness and a more modern concept of identity to the Arabs in that region. So if today we have Palestinians, it is also because Jews "reminded" them that fact.

Well, first of all, sorry for my absence of the latter couple of weeks. Complicated days.
Music for healthy brain waves: Dolapdere Big Gang. A bunch of Turkish youngsters playing international hits on Turkish traditional instruments. Just wonderful.

No one decent can take Italian politics seriously. In fact, one of our guys, Romano Prodi, went up to the Quirinale to tender his resignation as PM in the hands of Mr. Napolitano, the Italian president. He couldn't restrain himself: he was smiling, laughing and quite energetically shaking hands with the frail old man. It must have been such fun.

Yeah, well, that happens too. Too many things happening during the day and when I get to the keyboard I'm just too lazy to put something decent and sensed together. Although, I'll admitt, my mind's full of ideas and provocations for the very few readers that still have the patience to read my bland thoughts.
So, upon various requests, I see myself morally obliged to put a citation of that fine Spaniard bearing the name of Miguel de Cervantes. I'll be honest: I've never come across a citation of his. Therefore, as any modern day smartass would have done, I paid a dutiful visit to Wikiquotes and picked one.

"He who loses wealth loses much, he who loses a friend loses more, but he that loses his honor loses all"

More about Cervantes

Depending on your ability to understand français québécois (not an easy task indeed), you may find these cartoons either funny or, like myself (after a québécois crash course), hilarious. My favourite is obviously Halloween... ;-)
Spend a few minutes by trying to understand the tongue and then enjoy human madness here.

Once again, nothing much to write. Yeah, ok, Ségo was disturbingly pathetic at her program presentation. The whole mother thing, the clenched fist, the aggressively broken voice and the "tears are almost there" show were plainly disgusting. Sarko was more viscid than usual but probably more effective.
An instructive book I'm trying to read these days is "The Silent Takeover", by Noreena Hertz. Nothing that we don't know about the workings behind the scenes of politicians, mutinationals and other highly suspicious subjects, but decently assembled and rich in less known, albeit occasionally excessively decontextualised, statistics. O thee, normal and decent dude, tremble before the profits fever.
Music? Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms. Obviously.

Santa Claus is the code word used by NASA astronauts to signal the presence of UFOs in their proximity in orbit. Believe it or not, Santa not only has been mentioned (and thus recorded) in conversations between the astronauts and the control center on surface, but there are many footages of strange objects flying at incredible speed in close proximity of our own people up there. You can find them on the net with little effort.
No matter what one believes and thinks, there is an incredible amount of material related to visits to our tiny little planet during the past centuries, and not only during the past hundred years. That does not mean that every single unexplained phenomena has necessarily to be connected to extraterrestrial visitors, but the proof is there and it is up to each of us to give her/his own explanation and vision.
A good starting point for a journey into the uknown could be a fine site called ufologie.net. The historical section is probably the most notable as it contains many documented facts most people ignore.

A greeting to all of you normal and conscious people. 

Some doubt that we're following the wrong flow
because we listen to music and play rock
but somewhere in us is the battles' flame
and I tell you what I well know
count on us

Trying to sum up in a few lines Sitchin's work is impossible. Generally considered among the most authoritative translators of ancient languages, his work is radical, generally intentionally forgotten and somewhat obscured by the more approachable, in a sense more politically correct, Däniken.
His theories are wild, some of them plainly provocative but there are many down to earth considerations that mainstream science and culture seem to voluntarily ignore, dismiss or, more simply, hide.
Alternative visions and interpretations of the bible, human history and universal knowledge combined with detailed analyses of many ancient texts but also many undeniable facts that have been politely put aside in favour of more reassuring fairy tales we're all acquainted with.

In honour of my adored and esteemed friend who complained about my ignoring the tongues of luminaries such as V. Hugo, Dante and Cervantes, I have decided to add a category dedicated to citations belonging to the great minds of the past, present and, why not, future. Original version and English translation.

Adagio for strings. Barber died in 1981 and his work is being just "discovered" by the general public. One of the greatest composers of contemporary classical music.