Empantanarse

Dick Cheney, actual vicepresidente de EEUU, en una entrevista en 1991, tras la Operación Tormenta del Desierto (donde las tropas militares no entraron en Bagdad ni derrocaron a Hussein), cuando él era Secretario de Defensa:

"I think for us to get American military personnel involved in a civil war inside Iraq would literally be a quagmire. Once we got to Baghdad, what would we do? Who would we put in power? What kind of government? Would it be a Sunni government, a Shia government, a Kurdish government?
"Would it be secular, along the lines of the Baath party? Would it be fundamentalist Islamic? I do not think the United States wants to have U.S. military forces accept casualties and accept responsibility of trying to govern Iraq. It makes no sense at all."

Traducción: Creo que involucrar a personal militar Americano (yanqui) en una guerra civil en Irak seria literalmente empantanarse. Una vez que llegásemos a Bagdad ¿que deberíamos hacer? ¿A quien deberíamos poner en el poder? ¿Que tipo de gobierno? ¿Sería un gobierno Sunni, un gobierno Shia, un gobierno Kurdo?
¿Sería un gobierno secular, como el del partido Baath (el partido de Saddam)? ¿Sería fundamentalista islamico? No creo que EEUU desea que sus fuerzas militares tengan bajas y acepten la responsabilidad de intentar gobernar Irak. No tiene ningun sentido"
fuente

Europa del Este 2

Ayer fui a una fiesta donde habia dos chicas de Bulgaria. Nos pusimos a charlar con una, que esta hace 7 años en Barcelona. Me contaba que ahora tiene residencia legal, pero a pesar de que Bulgaria ya es parte de la UE desde Enero, los capitales se mueven libremente desde y hacia alla, pero al gente no puede moverse hasta dentro de 7 años. Esta chica decia que esta bien, lo mismo que decia mi amiga Rumana: si abriesen las fronteras, los profesionales (medicos/as y enfermeros/as principalmente) se irian de Bulgaria o Rumania a trabajar a Londres o Paris, donde son requeridos a sueldos enooormes.
Es un defecto profesional mio, asi que le pregunte sobre los años pre 1989. Me contaba que hasta el dia de hoy, su fruta preferida es la banana. Decia que solo podian comer banana o naranja en Navidad, porque era muy cara. Y aun asi, solo 1 kg por familia. Decia tambien, que soñaba con que le regalasen un huevo Kinder. Solo los ricos tenian un huevo Kinder, o alguien con familia afuera.
Tambien me dijo que la educacion superior era mucho mejor, no habia pobreza, y la gente amaba mucho mas a su pais. Pero no podian comer bananas.

Les dejo un videito sobre una peli muy recomendable: Good Bye Lenin!

Pequeñas dosis de sabiduria filmica 3

Pulp Fiction (1994)

"THE GOLD WATCH"

Hello, little man. Boy I sure
heard a bunch about you. See,
I was a good friend of your Daddy's.
We were in that Hanoi pit of hell
over five years together.

Hopefully, you'll never have to
experience this yourself, but when
two men are in a situation like me
and your Daddy were, for as long as
we were, you take on certain
responsibilities of the other. If
it had been me who had not made it,
Major Coolidge would be talkin'
right now to my son Jim. But the
way it worked out is I'm talkin' to
you, Butch. I got somethin' for ya.


This watch I got here was first
purchased by your great-granddaddy.
It was bought during the First
World War in a little general store
in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was
bought by private Doughboy Ernie
Coolidge the day he set sail for
Paris. It was your great-
granddaddy's war watch, made by the
first company to ever make wrist
watches. You see, up until then,
people just carried pocket watches.

Your great-granddaddy wore that
watch every day he was in the war.
Then when he had done his duty, he
went home to your great-
grandmother, took the watch off his
wrist and put it in an ol' coffee
can. And in that can it stayed
'til your grandfather Dane Coolidge
was called upon by his country to
go overseas and fight the Germans
once again. This time they called
it World War Two.

Your great-granddaddy gave it to
your granddad for good luck.
Unfortunately, Dane's luck wasn't
as good as his old man's. Your
granddad was a Marine and he was
killed with all the other Marines
at the battle of Wake Island. Your
granddad was facing death and he
knew it. None of those boys had
any illusions about ever leavin'
that island alive. So three days
before the Japanese took the
island, your 22-year old
grandfather asked a gunner on an
Air Force transport named Winocki,
a man he had never met before in
his life, to deliver to his infant
son, who he had never seen in the
flesh, his gold watch. Three days
later, your grandfather was dead.

But Winocki kept his word. After
the war was over, he paid a visit
to your grandmother, delivering to
your infant father, his Dad's gold
watch. This watch. This watch was
on your Daddy's wrist when he was
shot down over Hanoi. He was
captured and put in a Vietnamese
prison camp. Now he knew if the
gooks ever saw the watch it's be
confiscated. The way your Daddy
looked at it, that watch was your
birthright. And he'd be damned if
and slopeheads were gonna put their
greasy yella hands on his boy's
birthright. So he hid it in the
one place he knew he could hide
somethin'. His ass. Five long
years, he wore this watch up his
ass. Then when he died of
disentary, he gave me the watch. I
hid with uncomfortable hunk of
metal up my ass for two years.

Then, after seven years, I was sent
home to my family. And now, little
man, I give the watch to you.

Europa del Este

En mi doctorado tengo una compañera de Rumania, su nombre es Irina. Es bastante loco, los unicos rumanos que habia conocido antes eran inmigrantes en Argentina... tenes que estar mal para emigrar desde Europa del Este hasta Argentina.

Es una chica bastante interesante, en especial porque su vida es tan diferente a todo lo que hemos vivido nosotros. Como pueden sospechar, cualquier sugerencia de comunismo o economía planificada le pone los pelos de punta. Segun dicen, el espectro partidario en Rumania va de democracia cristiana hacia la derecha. No hay nada a la izquierda.

El otro dia hablabamos sobre los 80. En realidad, la conversacion comenzó con otro compañero, sobre las peliculas romanticonas truchas de los 80 tipo "La chica de rosa" y esa mierda. Ella contaba que en Rumania no llegaban esas peliculas, y en el cine pasaban peliculas previamente "aprobadas" (censuradas) por el gobierno. La respuesta rumana era ver videos. Una reproductora de video costaba tanto como un auto, y era ilegal. Los videos se comerciaban en un mercado negro bajo la vista gorda de la policia, que debia cobrar su buena coima. Asi, veian las peliculas años despues, en versiones grabadas y regrabadas. Ver "La chica de rosa" se transformaba en una experiencia increible. Para Irina, ser como Julia Roberts en Mujer Bonita era un sueño, salir a comprar con decenas de bolsas de grandes cadenas por Beverly Hills. Se olvido que el personaje era una prostituta.

Otro dia sigo contando mas cosas de Europa del Este, mientras les dejo un video sobre el gato y el ratón favoritos de detrás de la Cortina de Hierro: "Trabajador y Parásito"