vladimiro has left 928 comments

vladimiro comments on How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow

To stop borrowing from China, implement fiscal responsibility, and Billy's suggestion of cutting off china's access to the US market, all would require Americans to sacrifice greatly - no more cheap consumer products, for instance . If Americans are incapable of making the necesssary sacrifices, then what can Obama really do? It is not Obama who is weak, it the US and its poeple that are weak.

vladimiro comments on How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow

Its representative of the Americans new role in the world. A reality that, as we can see from the above comments, Americans are still having trouble getting used to. If Obama had to bow to Japan to show respect, when arriving in China he should have to get on all fours and kiss the Chinese leaders' feet for the Americans owe the Chinese *alot* of money and are now highly dependent on thier Chinese banker boss. An example of how dependent the Americans are on the Chinese, which is the principal banker for the US economy, can be seen in the below NY times article. "in April, the Treasury Department retreated from the claim that china was manipulating its currency, issuing a report that said China was not manipulating its currency to increase its exports." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/asia/15china.html

vladimiro comments on Chinese product sources?

www.AliBaba.com recently started Ali Express which is allows you to buy small quantities, too.

vladimiro comments on Taliban Leader Tells 'Invaders' To Study History

I listened to US marine companies of about 250 soldiers discuss the difficulty of securing just 2 miles around their base. Can you imagine how many soldiers it would take to secure the entire country? Afghanistan's territory is a guerilla war heaven.

vladimiro comments on Would your family be happier abroad?

If its the children you are concerned with you should go to the country with the largest economy which would offer them better long term career prospects, that is UK,Germany,France, or USA. If its only for a year or two then consider a country like China/Hong Kong which would let them learn a useful new language.

vladimiro comments on Noam Chomsky visits Caracas

hehe or waging aggressive war and calling it "liberation" :)

vladimiro comments on Restaurant review - Queareparaenamorarte,El Retiro,Antioquia

EL Retiro is nice little village outside Medellin that is known for its many handmade firniture shops. Since its near the airport in rio negro its a safe place for foriegners to visit too

vladimiro comments on Military backs Zelaya's return to power

Fact #1 The military endorsed the San Jose Accord. Fact #2 The San Jose Accord re-instates Zelaya as President of Honduras. Again, the miltary endorsed this, so.......doesn't that mean the military endorses the reinstatement of Zelaya? Are you complaining that I used the word "back" in the title instead of "endorse" :)

vladimiro comments on The U.S. Steers Left on Honduras

But Carmona potentially had billions of oil revenue while the guys that took over Honduras have bananas,literally, and it looks like they are having trouble selling them now: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/22/content_11750764.htm Honduras pressure mounts, U.S. wants deal "now" Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim called U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week to complain that Zelaya should be reinstated without conditions, a Brazilian diplomat said. http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSN2124095620090721

vladimiro comments on The U.S. Steers Left on Honduras

Do you remember Carmona "the brief" ?

vladimiro comments on The U.S. Steers Left on Honduras

The coup against chavez allowed him to consolodate power if honduras can't withstand sqanctions zelaya will be back and more powerful than ever

vladimiro comments on The U.S. Steers Left on Honduras

Its really stupid to resort to a coup just a few months before a presidential election, because not even the US can publically support that. The coup mongers should have atleast waited until after the election - their candidate could have won ! If not, you can always make up a fraud claim without showing any evidence like in Iran and then have some legitamacy for the coup. Now they'll face sanctions and without the export of bananas and such they might not have the money to pay the military that protects them.

vladimiro comments on Iranian Elections, Israel and the United States - STRATFOR Insights

Unlike previous protests, these are being instigated from above, by regime insiders. The vote fraud, whether true or no, could be part an internal power struggle between Rafsnjani's faction and Ahmadinejad/army faction. (Mousavi pictured below with his billionaire backer Rafsanjani).

vladimiro comments on Vote Dispute Leaves Iran in Tumult

Mousavi is an ardent khomeinist, former pm who presided over the creation of lebanon's hezbollah, bombing the marine barracks, and the war against the western backed sadaam. The west will be dissapointed if they thought a mousavi presidency would be less relentless in fighting for Irans rights and against western crimes such as the illegal sanctions against its nuke program and the ethnic cleansing of palestine

vladimiro comments on Vote Dispute Leaves Iran in Tumult

Robert Fisk is in Tehran, his MidEast reports are always worth reading: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-iran-erupts-as-voters-back-the-democrator-1704810.html "Tabriz voted 80 per cent for Ahmadinejad. It was he who opened university courses there for the Azeri people to learn and win degrees in Azeri" [Azeri's are a minority in Iran whose first language is turkish] "You know why so many poorer women voted for Ahmadinejad? There are three million of them who make carpets in their homes. They had no insurance. When Ahmadinejad realised this, he immediately brought in a law to give them full insurance. Ahmadinejad's supporters were very shrewd." "In Mashad, the second city of Iran, there was a huge majority for Ahmadinejad after the imam of the great mosque attacked Rafsanjani of the Expediency Council who had started to ally himself with Mousavi. They knew what that meant: they had to vote for Ahmadinejad."

vladimiro comments on Vote Dispute Leaves Iran in Tumult

Its too early to say. Look at how bad western media made it look when the Iranian-American journalist was arrested in Iran for spying recently. It turned out that she was in fact copying classified documents and sending them to Israel. If this had happened in the US she would be in jail for the rest of her life. Look how bad they make the nuclear program look when its perfectly legal. I think if Iranians did no more than study math, western media would point out that math is a key component of any weapons program, so Iranians must be prohibited from learning calculus :) I would have preferred Mousavi to win, but Ahmadinejad effectively portrays himself as a very brave, simple, humble man of the people. During the debates, his sharp attacks on his opponents' corruption, including their billionaire backer Rafsanjani really resonated with large segments of the Iranian population.

vladimiro comments on Vote Dispute Leaves Iran in Tumult

Some of the positives for Iranian politics I noticed included: 1) No holds bar televised debates in which the president was forced to account for his economic policies with graphs and data. 2) 82% turnout 3) 46% population is middle-class (only 26% of the pop was middle-class when Khatami was elected in 97) We'll have to see what the outcome is, but Ahmadinejad did benifit from an oil boom which he used to significantly decrease inequality between rich and poor. Like him or not that is exactly what he promised to do, so I would not be surprised that he is re-elected. If interested, the "Tyranny of Numbers" blog by an Iranian economist at the brookings institute is very informative. For instance, see his post below: "Is the election pitting the poor vs the middle-class?" http://djavad.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/the-poor-vs-the-middle-class/

vladimiro comments on Why Is There a Holocaust Museum In Washington D.C.?

If Palestinians tried to build a museum in wash. not only would untold number of lawyers and organizations try to block it but so would most members of congress :)

vladimiro comments on

It appropriate that Obama's speech in Egypt, a brutal US-backed dictatorship, comes on the 20th anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death - the man who kicked out a similar US-dictatorship. I think Obama's speeches are mainly for US consumption, because the reality of US dictatorships and violence continues unabated.

vladimiro comments on Wine glorious wine!!

I too used to buy casillero del diablo in colombia(and the US too). Now I like to try new wines. Check out gary vaynerchucks winelibrarytv shows and you might become a wine geek too. Here's today's episode. http://tv.winelibrary.com/2009/05/22/tasting-with-a-long-time-vayniac-episode-681/

vladimiro comments on

increased military presence? the entire country has looked like its under martial law since the atleast the 1940s:)

vladimiro comments on

increased military presence? the entire country looks like its under martial law since the atleast the 1940s:)

vladimiro comments on Plan China vs Plan Colombia

Colombian government has one of the worst record of human rights. human rights watch said the paras are the 6th division of the colombian military.... yet this in no way hinders the US from funding the Colombian gov. Colombia might be better off to align more with China and could be rid of thier communisr guerillas just like sri lanka After all, the Tamil Tigers are a far more formidible force than the FARC.

vladimiro comments on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Keep in mind its election time and he has strong competition from this guy http://ow.ly/3fXA

vladimiro comments on VIDEO (bloody) of killing peaceful demos with high-powered teargas canisters

"Tristan Anderson–38 years old and of Oakland, California–was shot by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on March 13th while peacefully protesting against the “separation wall” deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in the Palestinian West Bank village of Bi’ilin. Israel was ordered to halt building the wall and compensate Palestinians for land illegally annexed. The wall–longer and taller than the infamous Berlin wall–zigzagged into Palestinian lands, thus preventing farmers and villagers from reaching their farms, hospitals, and schools. Tristan was among 400 Palestinian villagers and international peace activists. He was shot directly by tear gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier at the end of the protest. Contrary to Israel’s claim, Tristan was not shot “during clashes” with the soldiers and was not in a closed military zone either. The Israeli claim was refuted by an Israeli peace activist, Jonathan Pollock in an interview with Israeli press." http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/03/29/tristan-anderson-deserves-medal-of-freed

vladimiro comments on VIDEO (bloody) of killing peaceful demos with high-powered teargas canisters

Firing bullets at peaceful protesters is problematic in case you did not know :)

vladimiro comments on Installation of U.S. Military Base in Colombia Part of Cooperation: U.S. Ambassador

Colombia better have negotiated a big bribe for that base to be worth the problems it will cause.

vladimiro comments on Rick Steves - Iran

The Revolution Era murals including the anti-American murals mentioned in the video are being replaced with paintings that reflect themes more relevant to today's Iran. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hlR3s-QjA9fXx-EjDpCg294bG5fg " If painter Mehdi Qadyanloo has his way, the famous "Down with America" mural at a busy central Tehran intersection could soon be replaced by a new painting symbolising peace. " The anti-American murals were necessary propaganda at a time when US re-imposition of the Shah's son or some other US puppet dictator was a real possibility.

vladimiro comments on Goodbye Scotty......

"may his soul be commended by any god that can find it" - terry pratchett

vladimiro comments on Palestinian kills Israeli teenager with pickax and injures 7 year old

Your right billy, his parents walk around with ak-47s, but its still a nice place to take your kid to teach them how to colonize and ethnically clense the indiginous population..I'm just saying don't be surprised if one them sticks a pick ax in his head

vladimiro comments on Palestinian kills Israeli teenager with pickax and injures 7 year old

Atleast they don't hide what they are and call their village a 'colonial settlement' and even refer to themselves as 'settlers'. These settlers have a choice of where to live - palestinians don't. They chose to colonize but the kid did not his wierdo parents took him to colonial settlement. To use a child as a pawn to colonize land should be a crime and is not unlike using child soldiers. The parents are to blame for using thier kid for thier own political/religious agenda

vladimiro comments on NATO Wrangles Over Top Post as Turkey Balks at Dane

NATO is already getting its ass kicked by a few thuosand disgruntled afghan peasants "Militants cut NATO's Afghan supply-line" http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0203/p99s01-duts.html NATO will be lucky to leave afghan with a shred of dignity

vladimiro comments on Obama creates another Guantanamo in Afghanistan

yes, the sentence you quote "The detainees' attorneys say the three men were picked up outside the country and later imprisoned in Bagram (afghanistan) " means the US detained them in some other country and moved them to afghanistan :)

vladimiro comments on

being british means being faithful servants of the americans

vladimiro comments on Arabic Class/Lessons in Medellin?

Have you tried Colombo-Americano institute? They teach many languages. Also, I would ask arab immigrants living in Medellin such as arab restaurant owners. Persian Carpet stores, and "artesenias orientales' stores in Medellin are also owned by MidEast immigrants , though, I found they mainly spoke persian not arabic. There might also be a mosque in Medellin with arabic speakers.

vladimiro comments on Hezbollah en Colombia!

"Honor killings" are part of a common Mediterranean culture in which a man's honor is tied to the ability of other men to seduce his women :) That's why in Colombia, which like many moslem countries is also a Mediterranean influenced society, killing your wife if you caught her cheating only became illegal in 1980. According to HRW its still legally tolerated to kill your wife in many parts of South America.

vladimiro comments on Any of you get sick when returning to the U.S.?

yes, after arriving in the US I ate at a Garcia's restaurant and was sick for a week.

vladimiro comments on Obama's Happy Nohruz Video To Iran

The fact is, the US has been trying to get rid these guys from the get go, but the situation in Iraq and now Afghanistan has forced the US to change tactics. In my opinion, this "cold war" will come to an end not long from now when Iran finalizes its nuclear insurance policy.

vladimiro comments on I have very bad news about scotty

The Last Lecture is worth watching if you haven't seen it. Its a funny talk from a computer science professor who died of cancer shortly after, but made good use of the time he had.

vladimiro comments on Obama's Happy Nohruz Video To Iran

khameini's response :) "This is my advice to you. For your own benefit, for your own good, for the future of your country, restrain from your snobbish attitude, hegemony, and your lecturing attitude. Do not interfere in the affairs of other nations. You will see that the United States will gradually lose its hated image in the world. "

vladimiro comments on

The last time I was there the younger generation seemed like immitation Americans wearing Chicago Bulls t-shirts even though they don't watch basketball, obese eating junk food every day, etc. I guess that what happens when you hang on to Uncle Sam's coat tails instead being an independant country.

vladimiro comments on

Unfortunately, many hotels and homes in the UK still have the original 1800s design with a chain hanging over your head that you pull to flush and they still don't know about showers with whole famlilies sharing the same dirty bath water Btw, most of the world doesn't have western style toilets (just a big hole that you must death defyingly balance over) but they atleast have showers :)

vladimiro comments on Hilarious Daily Show interview with Jim Cramer

2 weeks after Jon Stewart appeared on CNN's CrossFire, the show was canned. How long before this Cramer scumbag is off the air? I disagree that Cramer is not to blame. In the video his big mouth lets out how illegally manipulating the financial market to steal peoples retirement accounts is a common practice. He said on video that its technically an illegal, but "very satisfying" way to make money. In China he would be executed for these crimes, but in the US these people are untouchable. "Jim Cramer's full explanation of stock market manipulation" http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10196471-62.html

vladimiro comments on An American fighter jet took down an Iranian drone over Iraq last month, A close ally of hugo chavez

A related article explains US-Iran back room deals. Hillary Mann, one of the US delegates, remembers how one Iranian military official pounded the table in his eagerness to get the Americans to change targets. "He unfurled the map on the table and started to point to targets that the US needed to focus on, particularly in the north," she told the BBC. "We took the map to Centcom, the US Central Command, and certainly that did become the US military strategy." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7901101.stm

vladimiro comments on Marrying a 17yr old Minor

Congratulations. Its a perfect age for both of you to get married. Marriage offers young people a better, more rewarding lifestyle than bar hopping and the other typical alternatives in my opinion. Go to Visajourney.com. I don't think you will have a problem with the visa.

vladimiro comments on

its not just the words, the whole world is getting smaller

vladimiro comments on

the criminals who run the banks would cause another great depression if the government does nothing In most countries these poeple would have already been tried and hanged

vladimiro comments on

the key point is that banks would have gone bankrupt anyway thats why the government has been forced to intervene

vladimiro comments on

ojala que si

vladimiro comments on Hollman Morris Investigated For Guerrilla Ties

I think Uribe is able to clamp down international news coverage in war zones this way. He has gone after this journalist in the past.