India-Europe Trade Corridor

 
US President Joe Biden’s announcement over the weekend at the G20 meeting of an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), with India to be linked to the Middle East and Europe through rail, shipping lines, pipes, and cables, conceives Israel as the hub of the regional trade. The corridor would be an alternative to the Suez Canal. Something like Singapore in the Far East. Fantastic.

I looked up what merchandises could be traded on this new corridor. India is big and populous but sells and buys very little. I could not find one product in my professional area where Indian products were used, Indian pumps are of low quality and antiquated. This is a paradox since India just put a vehicle on the moon while the Russians failed. It has technology and excellent Iyer Brahmin minds. In time it may develop. 

More Food for Vultures

 Argentina keeps providing more food for the vultures. They keep doing mistakes and owing more and more. The fools expropriated 51% of YPF in 2012 after accusing the majority shareholder, Spanish company Repsol SA, of failing to invest sufficient resources into oil production. At the time, Argentina was already fighting claims by investors led by Paul Singer’s Elliott Management over its 2001 default on $95 billion in sovereign debt, and the YPF takeover further contributed to a perception of the country as an inhospitable place for foreign investment.

Judge Preska found that the by-laws of the company, which had been privatized in the 1990s, required any future re-nationalization to be accompanied by a tender offer at a predetermined price. But when an expropriation came in 2012, Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof called the requirement a “bear trap” that only “fools” would expect Argentina and YPF to honor, according to a court filing.

My next jobs will fall from the sky

 

Tel Aviv 1992.I was manager of the Herzliya WWTP and the Municipality wanted to use "my" pumps to dry off the "Bassa". And the Insurance accused the WWTP of flooding with wastewater some construction site.  This winter appears to be especially rainy, so I think I shall have lots of order in drainage.

 Get ready!

War of Religion in Israel

Evey weekend thousands demonstrate in the streets of Israel. It is a pacific civil protest, with many national flags and big antigovernment posters. There have no social demands, like better salaries, nor foreign policy changes, or destruction of the settlements on the West Bank. Their issue is against nationalism and religion. Apparently, they are fighting for democracy in the abstract, since they פhave no concrete demands. The big difference is religion: all the protesters are secular, they are against religious impositions like separation of male and females in public spaces, against patriarchy and for sexual freedom. And most they hate that full time religious students don't serve in the army. On the other side, we have a government democratically elected. It is rather conservative, and family orientated - so in my opinion, the dividing issue is the belief in God. It is secular (unbelievers) vs religious (Jewish). Secularization has won all over the West and the East, here we are the last remnant. It is only in Israel that the seriously religious are part of the governing coalition and fighting for the survival of Judaism. 

God always wins.

Escapism in America

 Since I know myself, always admired America. The first thing I did after graduation was to take a long coast-to-coast trip on a 3-month Greyhound pass. To my surprise, the real thing did not measure up to my expectations. I was disappointed with the food - the gelatinous pies, the over-fried chickens, the dirty bus station restaurants. Without a doubt, I returned to Argentina and took a job. But this graph shows something different - today, Americans are smoking marijuana by the ton and are stoned on the road and on the job. They are hooked on drugs. I can compare them to Yemenites with their khat. What good can come out of this? How will they compete against the ferociously money hungry, work obsessed Chinese? 

Campaign of Intimidation

 The despicable fishwrap of HaAretz is persistent in its campaign of intimidation against the elected government of Israel and against the majority. It reports Palestinian claims before the International Court of Justice in The Hague against the occupation of the West Bank and the frightening consequences of not vacating it. Government officers stand to be judged and jailed, soldiers will be identified and processed, pilots will be detained in foreign countries. I checked the Court site and there is nothing. It is incredible that Israeli Jews would be manipulating world institutions of the goyim to cause problems, ultimately to themselves. In yiddish it is called moyser and there is no pardoning them. Pic.: Tomas de Torquemada, Head of the Inquisicion. 

The Greek Disease hits Calabria

In Italy for every 100 INPS pensions there are 111 active workers, and the bill drops to 103 if we exclude professionals who pay contributions to private funds. And in 39 provinces out of 107, almost all in the Centre-South, the employed are less than social security checks. In Calabria the record: 67 workers per 100 pensioners.

Calabria is the birthplace of the name Italy, given to it by the Ancient Greeks who settled in this land starting from the 8th century BC. The region is the Magna Graecia, with the foundation along its coasts of many Greek city-states (póleis) that remained for centuries among the richest and most culturally advanced of their time. During this period, Calabria was the home of key figures in history such as Pythagoras, Herodotus and Milo.

Eventually, their sybaritic lifestyle led to the depopulation of these rich and cultured settlements. The same happened to Greece proper.