Politics as usual (week 8)

Seems at last that hurricanes are way past over, and now it's the time of rebuilt. Or isn't it? What weather-specialists call "hurricane season" ends on November, so better be careful. For now, what is outrageous is the capacity to ask an enormous amount of money out of the Federal government. Is the disaster worth it? Let's hope that, at least, is well-spent money.

For the rest, I'd say politics as usual. In Italy, the opposition complaints (again) that public TV is too much on the government's side. That critic is old as the very RAI. That could have been avoided ages ago, by managing it like the BBC in the UK, but now it's become part of the political game in that country. What is revolting now, is that leftist parties want Berlusconi's private TVs not to support the one he feds them. Pathetic.

As to Spain, dear Spain. The catalonians have managed to fool everyone in sight. They are requesting, in the end, more authonomy than the other regions because "they are a nation". A "nation" with 4 million inhabitants (more or less the NY population, I believe). Signs of such return to barbarism could only happen in Spain, in the century of the global village What is truly barbaric is the end of the trial against an Al-Qaida cell in Spain. The "Leader" got just 27 years in jail, out of 74.000 requested. And I bet they will release him sooner than that. The column is from Álvaro Jimenez-Casas

And in the southern Argentina, the president's quest for total domination is at hand. Sounds like a mix of sorcery and magic, but no. He's the government. he controls both the Press, the law-makers and soon he will replace the Supreme Court judges as he sees fit. How you call? I call him a tyrant. No better than Castro or Chavez.

Finally, the question of Turkey joining the EU has gained some headlines this week. Is not that they're different, but that they don't have much respect for human rights, and that they don't recognize the greek side of Chypre what is bringing them crazy in Brussels. My best advice for them is establish a commercial partnership and forget about letting them join. But I'm affraid it's a little late for that.

That's all for this week. I'm Miguel Vinuesa and these is news to me!