Roman Polanski

Un article effarant dans le Nouvel observateur au sujet de l'Affaire Roman Polanski.

Contrairement à ce que beaucoup de gens semblent croire, Polanski ne s'est pas retrouvé en Suisse par manque de précautions. Il possédait (et possède encore) un chalet à Gstaad, dans le canton de Berne, qu'il avait pu acheter en toute légalité malgré son statut de personne recherchée aux États-Unis. Il ne pouvait savoir que les autorités suisses décideraient cette année de l'arrêter.

La police suisse vient d'avouer avoir pris contact avec Washington avant l'arrivée de Polanski pour savoir 'si leur mandat d'extradition émis en 2005 était toujours valable.'

Le Nouvel Obs pose une question intéressante: tout ceci est-il une conséquence de la quasi faillite de UBS qui a été freinée en partie par le gouvernement américain?

Back To The Bonus

According to this article is TimesOnline, investment bankers in London and New York are expected to enjoy the largest bonuses on record.

That's right: the largest bonuses on record.

Apparently, after 'the worst financial crisis since the great depression', the market is going through one of the greatest bull runs in decades. J.P. Morgan reported a 72% rise in third quarter profits. London employees at Goldman Sachs are expected to receive an average of about $748,000 in salary and bonus this year.

So does this mean the financial crisis is over, or is it simply a temporary uptick? I'll let economist answer that one, but if it turns out that the world has gotten itself out of financial crisis, I suggest that we celebrate bonus season this year. After all, if investment bankers are raking in million dollar bonuses, it means that coordinated efforts of the world's economies have been able to limit the effects of a financial crisis that had the potential to paralyse the world's economy for many years.

Peace Prize

I have nothing at all against Barack Obama, but there’s something wrong when a President who has been in office for nine months and who recently sent 21 000 new soldiers to Afghanistan wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Obama is full of promise, and with time, it is quite likely that he will do enough to merit the Peace Prize. But we should give him time. Giving the Peace Prize to someone who has done very little yet only devalues the award.

It’s interesting that the Nobel Committee justified its decision by writing that "only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future." This is true, of course, but it speaks as much about Obama as about the Office of President of the United States.

Obama actually said as much himself: "Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations, (…) To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."

If there’s one thing to be noted from this prize, it is not Obama's so far minor accomplishments, but the world’s complete reliance on the United States for international leadership. If the United States do not take the lead on the world stage, if the President does make rousing speeches that foster hope in all peoples of the world, nobody will. Now, as much as ever, the world needs America.

Advice...

There's a building consensus among journalists that Michael Ignatieff needs to present some major ideas if he wants to reverse his slide in the polls. ''The opposition needs bold economic ideas, not copycat Harperism,'' write Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail. ''To be a credible alternative, the Liberals need to be fearless''.

It's funny, but I seem to recall a certain Stéphane Dion presenting as fearless, innovative, and visionary a plan as anyone could have asked for. It was called, if you recall, the Green Shift.

The Green Shift didn't do Stéphane Dion much good, did it. Actually, it was used by the Conservative attack machine to cement Dion's image as an out of touch academic, an image that the media was only too happy to sustain.

So, dear Michael Ignatieff, if you want to avoid Dion's fate, stick to your current strategy. Present ideas, certainly, but keep them vague. And this above all: to the media's hypocrisy be true.

President Blair

With the Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon likely to result in a 'yes' vote, the European Union looks set to undergo a major transformation that could turn it into a more centralised political entity.

The Treaty of Lisbon is a kind of Constitution that theoretically gives Europe a united foreign policy, army and significantly enlarges the reach of European institutions. It also gives Europe a President, elected for a two and a half year term.

The frontrunner for the President's job, even though he has still not declared his intention to run, is none other than Tony Blair.

This article in the Daily Telegraph, a right wing British newspaper, provides an interesting analysis of how a Blair Presidency could change Europe.

Obviously, Tony Blair would have an easier time generating media coverage than any other candidate, but I'm not sure that I buy in to the idea that electing Tony Blair as President would instantly establish Europe as a world player. Tony Blair may be famous, but he has many ennemies (see Irak War) and, sadly, he certainly hasn't made headlines as peace envoy of the 'Quartet' to the Middle-East. The way I see it, it's a risk, but maybe taking a risk is just what Europe needs.