Intermezzo »

I got this link from Rima’s site and couldn’t stop giggling until now! Can’t help to put it in here. Here we go…

It’s Me!

On his trip to Great Britain, George Bush had a meeting with Queen Elizabeth. His smirk looked more like a grimace as he told her:

“I’m in deep doo-doo over 9/11-we’re heading for a Constitutional crisis and treason trials. But you folks over here, you have been running a nice stable monarchy for centuries. How does one manage to run a country so smoothly?”

“That`s easy,” she replied, “You surround yourself with intelligent ministers and advisors.”

“But how can I tell whether they are intelligent or not?” he inquired.

“You ask them a riddle,” she replied, and with that she pressed a button and said, “Would you please send Tony Blair in.”

When Blair arrived, the Queen said, “I have a riddle for you to answer for me. Your parents had a child and it was not your sister and it was not your brother. Who was this child ?”

Blair replied, “That`s easy. The child was me.”

“Very good,” said the Queen, “You may go, now.”

So President Bush went back to Washington and called in his chief of staff, Karl Rove. He said to him, “I have a riddle for you, and the answer is very important. Your parents had a child and it was not your sister and it was not your brother. Who was this child ?”

Rove replied, “Yes, it is clearly very important that we determine the answer, as no child must be left behind. Can I deliberate on this for a while?”

“Yes,” said Bush, “I’ll give you four hours to come up with the answer.”

So Rove went and called a meeting of the White House Staff, and asked them the riddle. But after much discussion and many suggestions, none of them had a satisfactory answer. So he was quite upset, not knowing what he would tell the President.

As Rove was walking back to the Oval Office, he saw former Secretary of State Colin Powell approaching him. So he said, “Mr. Secretary, can you answer this riddle for me. Your parents had a child and it was not your sister and it was not your brother. Who was the child?”

“That’s easy,” said Powell, “The child was me.”

“Oh thank you,” said Rove, “You may just have saved me my job!”

So Rove went in to the Oval Office and said to President Bush, “I think I know the answer to your riddle. The child was Colin Powell!”

“No, you idiot!” shouted Bush, “The child was Tony Blair!”

Read the full story »

Domestic Issue »

Setelah permasalahan BBM teralihkan oleh insiden Monas, kali ini giliran Kejaksaan Agung yang mengambil alih headline berbagai media tanah air. Tertangkapnya Jaksa Agung Muda Tindak Pidana Khusus (Jampidsus) Urip Tri Gunawan, menjadi awal terbongkarnya berbagai “busuk” yang terjadi di Kejaksaan Agung. Read the full story »

International Issue »

It is the twilight of our time, that everybody is connected within a click away.

The recent internet sensation of Wen Jiabao’s Facebook profile proofed to be one unique phenomenon in this internet age. International Herald Tribune reported that Wen’s page was created on May 14 and last time I checked it, Wen has already gained 29.810 supporters in only two weeks! “Grandpa Wen”, as his people calling him now, gained this phenomenal popularity out of his recent visit to towns and villages that had been struck by earthquake lately.

The government of China has been long-known for its iron-feist approach to its people. But take a look at China now. People seems love their ‘grandpa Wen’ so much. Staggering economic success and his developmentalist approach make Wen as one of the most successful prime minister in China’s modern history. Read the full story »

International Issue »

Another catchy headline while I was cleaning my email struck me out. Just out of curiosity, I opened this article titled Is It Time to Invade Burma?

While the article mainly talks about how the government of Myanmar has been rejecting many foreign aid since the disaster struck out and therefore torturing their people by letting a humanitarian crisis continued, I found out that some parts of the article are interesting to comment on. Here it is.

….The trouble is that the Burmese haven’t shown the ability or willingness to deploy the kind of assets needed to deal with a calamity of this scale — and the longer Burma resists offers of help, the more likely it is that the disaster will devolve beyond anyone’s control……That’s why it’s time to consider a more serious option: invading Burma…..

Wow, hey, take it easy there! What is it with American people and their minds?? Now if we have an authoritarian regime in one country and they can just show up and attack the country? Even the UN Charter does not give the Security Council authority to use force for humanitarian purposes.

Without any permission from the legitimate government of a state, even humanitarian intervention violates the principle of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of a state. Armed intervention however justifiable in a strict interpretation only if the problem cannot likely to be contained, thus posing a threat to international peace and security.

….The Bush Administration has so far rejected the idea (of commencing a humanitarian intervention in Myanmar)— “I can’t imagine us going in without the permission of the Myanmar government,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday….

Can’t imagine going in without the permission of Myanmar government? What a polite statement coming from a state who has been doing “intervention” all the time, huh? At least his point was well delivered… Read the full story »

Domestic Issue »

Kompas.com hari ini memuat satu berita menarik tentang mantan Mensesneg Yusril Ihza Mahendra. Headlinenya, ‘Film Laksamana Cheng Ho, Alat Kampanye Yusril?’.

Sebenarnya berita tentang keikutsertaan Yusril dalam film laksamana Cheng Ho ini sudah cukup lama beredar. Namun rencana peluncuran film di bulan Agustus yang akan datang diartikan sebagian orang sebagai upaya Yusril untuk mendongkrak dukungan terhadap rencana pencalonan dirinya sebagai calon presiden di pemilu 2009 nanti. Read the full story »