Election results and thoughts on ‘change’

It’s over. I’m happy. Even while I feel a bit like the xdcd guy, even while the election process was hilarious and I’d love to see more fun political stuff + Sarah Palin madness (that prank call, I’ve watched it over 5 times and still laugh out loud every time I see it) coming out every few days, I’m relieved that it finally is over with pretty much the same results as predicted in the polls.

I watched it last night and morning with a big group here in Amsterdam, which was a lot of fun. McCain finally looked like 2000 McCain and gave his best speech so far. Obama speech was good as usual and gave me goosebumps. Finally went to bed 10am this morning after being awake for about 24 hours. Ah well, historic moments are worth that I guess.

Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see what this ‘change’ is exactly going to be. He’ll probably undo many of the Bush policies (also Guatanamo Bay etc), the taxes will become a bit fairer. Healthcare and education will have some reforms, it’ll be interesting to see how successful these are going to be and if it’ll be of New Deal proportions. I hope so. Other things that seem to be priorities on Obama’s agenda are ending the division between ‘conservatives’ and ‘liberals’ and investing in alternative energies to make the US energy independent, both things are complimentary.

Then there’s the imminent change of course. The fact that an Afro-American with a funny name can become president is just… mindblowing. It’s inspiring for all ethnic minorities in the US, but also all over the world. It really does seem that with all this ‘positive emotion’ all over the world, the color and ethnic background of a person did become less important. Africa is dancing, Asia and Europe look at it with great respect and the fundamentalist mullahs will have troubles inciting their religious base against Americans when they’re lead by Hussein Obama (with both names having positive Arab meanings). And that’s good. Very good. Just this was enough to hope and support Obama to become president.

But I wonder if there’s more. How ruthless is Obama going to pursue the US’ national self-interest? I’m sure he will, and I’m sure the national self-interest of the US will coincide with the self-interest of the rest of the world most of the time. I’m also sure he’ll be more diplomatic and the US isn’t going to start a new Iraq-like war. But will there be more? Will Obama go against the US’ self-interest in some situations to make this world a better world? Will they finally accept the International Criminal Court, sign climate proposals that don’t favour the US (Kyoto etc), nuclear arms control, give up power in international insititutions (UN, IMF) to democratize and improve them? I do not know, but I certainly hope so as the EU isn’t strong and coherent enough as power bloc to force these changes upon the world even if the willpower is there, neither are countries like France, Germany and the UK. Whatever you say, I’m afraid we need the United States for this. I would love to see some sort of Geopolitical New Deal and I hope Obama is up for this, but I’m not sure about this at all.

(Oh, I think Desmond Tutu pretty much nailed it here as well, what a man)

Some stuff worth reading:
Views of smart people in different countries on the outcome. Time.com
http://www.newsweek.com/id/167582
There’s much more of course, but these are the best two articles I’ve read today. Also check the McCain and Obama outcome speeches on youtube of course.

Soundtrack of the day is The Evens – Everybody Knows. Just two more months Mr Bush, let the door hit you on the ass.

You arrive with empty duffel bags, hungry eyed
You looked around taking measurements to move inside
The capital it is your proving ground, your centering
You and yours can keep your scores, but Washington is our city

Everybody knows you are a liar
Everybody knows you are a liar
Everybody knows you are a liar
Everybody knows you are a liar

Too much technique with no texture below
You fabricated your way in here and everybody knows

Everybody knows you are a liar
Everybody knows you are a liar
Everybody knows you are a liar
Everybody knows you are a liar

Too many distractions just obscure what should be shown
Stop with the abracadabra ’cause everybody knows

You return via machinery and public lies
You broke to break, you’re breaking everything, it’s no surprise
The capital it is your playground now, your center ring
You and yours can keep your scores, Washington is our city

You and yours and all your wars have run your last campaign
You’re fired from a job you never should have had
That hideous strength absolutely sinks
You better watch your back

Let the door hit you on the ass

Anyway, from the bottom of my heart: Thank you for making it happen, yankees. Good job.

How to sell a war

Got to love public tv in the Netherlands sometimes. Of course, 90% of it is crap and for some reason our government-sponsored tv still has to fight viewer-rates and downgrade it’s quality to appeal the masses (something that was decided a couple of years ago..), but it’s good to see some amazing stuff for everyone on public tv every now and then. Yesterday there was a very nice dutch documentary about how the Americans sold the Iraq war to the public. Nothing new eh? But it was worth watching. It was also fun to see our very own Prime Minister shaking on his feet while talking with G.W. Bush 5 years ago. Unbelievable, must say he became a lot more presidential the last few years, although he’s still rather uncharismatic. There was also an interesting suggestion about why exactly the Dutch government supported the Iraq war, might have something to do with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Heh.

Anyway. It’s a dutch documentary, but it’s mostly in English with dutch subtitles. Watch it here.

Some quicklinking

-  Hacking Democracy in the US. It’s a HBO documentary and it’s rather scary, go watch it.
- The most dangerous roads in the world pictures.
- Tegenlicht: 2008 Agenda. Saw this a few days ago on dutch public television. It’s are 3 experts (Jim Jones, Peter Schwarz, Tariq Ramadan)that give their views and predictions of 2008. In short: According to Jim Jones (who predicted the house-market fall in 2003, the recession in 1987 and probably quite a few other things as well) the dollar is going to make a free-fall and the US will enter a recession, he’s also pissed off about the Feds lowering the rents to give short economy boosts all the time and their short-term vision. There’s Peter Schwarz that believes in Global Warming and while he’s optimistic about the climate, he sees an upcoming conflicts (war) about the water of rivers comming from the Himalaya in Asia. Then there’s Tariq Ramadan that says some good and true things about integration in Europe. Most of it is in English with subtitles, only Tariq also talks quite a lot of French. But this is good stuff really, watch it when you find time for it.
- I also wrote about a fascinating article on my other blog about a Chinese MMO and gambling, while it’s game-related I’m sure it’s still very interesting and readable for people that don’t give a fuck about games.
- Then there’s another link to my other blog about how “PC Gaming should be like Punk Rock” and how well the DIY ethic applies to a lot of pc-related things.

That’s all for now.

The Power of Nightmares

If you’re even only remotely interested in the world around, the people in power and ‘terrorism’. You should watch this documentary. I’ve watched it some time ago and it’s amazing. Not that it showed me that many things that I didn’t know already, but it puts them all into a perspective. The documentary confirmed things I assumed and adds some bits to it.

This Adam Curtis that made this docu also made some other documentaries. Still have to watch most of them myself though.

Anyway. It’s three parts. Starting with the first neo-cons 50 years ago, to the fight versus communism 20 years later and then to the war against terrorism. I’m not going to spoil more of it, just remember to watch it when you find the time for it. It can be found here: http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares

I think you can also stream it on google video if you prefer that.