All Hail Phoenicia!

Lebanon keeps getting gut-punched from sectarian strife to economic collapse. If it was a human it would be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but even with this dire diagnosis, it keeps hanging on for dear life. Many Lebanese around the world cite jealousy as a reason for this, after all, for a country that is only in size, it has a cultural richness and natural beauty that many countries ten times larger lack. Look at the nations in the Emirates, they build fake resorts with oil money to attract tourists and yet lack the authenticity of Lebanon. They also lack the democracy of Lebanon, not one religion can dominate. In Lebanon, the President must be Christian, Prime Minister Sunni, and the Parliamentary Speaker Shia. Perfect segway into the recent election...

Note: I've been advised by my 82-year-old aunt (who raised 3 sons during the 1975-1990 civil war and her ceiling caved in during the massive explosion on Aug 4, 2020) in Beirut to ignore any election that takes place. As my Armenian aunt puts it: we can survive anything, it'd those folk who live in western countries that are weak with their so-called wealth. Talking Armenians, they have always been protected in Lebanon. From being assigned representation in Parliament to their Christmas being nationally recognized. If you're not familiar with Antelias and Anjar, look it up. I digress...

Two big takeaways from the vote on May 15, 2022: Hezbollah and its allies lost its parliamentary majority (now down to 62 out of 128 seats) and Lebanese Forces (a Christian bloc led by a feared warlord from the civil war, Samir Geagea) won the largest number of deputies. Only in Lebanon: Christians are now in talks for a power-sharing agreement with Saudi-backed parties. If you thought the economic collapse (deemed to be one of the three worst in the world since the 19th century) was out of control, just wait for Iran to get antsy over this aforementioned deal.

The chances of anything substantial arising from the new parliament are minuscule at best, but at least democracy is alive in a nation that has faced more adversity than all nations put together. Call it the Phoenician heritage, but nothing will deter this nation and its 14 million-strong diaspora. Saudi Arabia and Iran will always use and abuse the land of cedars while the rest of the world yawns.

For those playing country nickname trivia: Lebanon’s is known as the Switzerland of the Middle East, which brings me to another referendum that took place in the wealthiest landlocked nation on earth. Swiss voters voted in favor (58.42%) to tax Netflix and Disney to fund local productions. Furthermore, requiring 30% of content available in Switzerland be produced in Europe. People power is how you put bloated entertainment conglomerates in their place, not with stupid orders by taxpayer-funded American politicians, refer to Florida where the Republican Governor (shall remain nameless due to being a complete and utter bumpkin of the child of immigrants variety who is racist - the worst kind of earthling) went after Disney World. The party of business meddling in the free market, so much for small government!

P.S. Stay tuned for a big announcement next month. Clue: GE's new home will be in a city with an annual average snowfall of 37 inches (94 cm).

Rocky Mountain High

As the world ends, it's an opportune time to head high up the mountains (9200 feet to be exact) and take stock that planet earth still delivers natural beauty.

Now, sit back and enjoy Colorado brought to you by: Amtrak. There's a special guest star, if you see this cheeky character, please engage with her curious eyes.

PS. France went back to the future with everyone's favorite insurance salesman, Macron. My piece in the wake of his win five years ago (another example of time going way too fast) need not be updated, except for the little fact that Le Pen got a few more bigots on her bandwagon with 41.6% of the vote.https://globaleditorial.blogspot.com/2017/05/liberte-egalite-fraternite-wins.html

FYI: Bring on May 15, Lebanon votes and the Swiss are back at it with some crazy referendums. 

Outing a world-class hypocrite

Let me educate those that suffer from a selective memory. Currently the world is swooning over a comedian (pretending to be a Ukrainian President) Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (VOZ), so it's my duty to balance out the love with actual criticism. Okay, go ahead, bring on the death threats! VOZ is all about not meddling in other nations, yet he made the following remarks in regards to the Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) war in October 2020, and I quote: "We support Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty just as Azerbaijan always supports our territorial integrity and sovereignty." 

VOZ, you sir are a grade-A hypocrite. You backed Azerbaijan in their slaughter of ethnic Armenians (a people that claim this land as theirs). Yes, the Azeri's will say this is also our land, but as you can see, you backed a nation to a claim over a territory they find kinship with, sound familiar? Sociopath Vlad is doing exactly what Azerbaijan did, laying claim to a territory which shares an ancestral lineage to Russia. Talking Armenian (as I literally do with my daughter), Margairta Simonyan is the no.1 apologist for Putin, in her role as editior-in-chief of that atrocious propagandist network, RT. Cannot believe an Armenian will go down as the modern day Goebbels. First Dr Kevorkian, then the Kardashians, and now this. Maybe I'm right in jokingly referring to my brethren as not a good people.

It's sickening that there's no critical thinking involved in reporting, go figure, the most views on youtube regarding the war are from late night talk show hosts. No disrespect to Stephen Colbert, but you're an American that wouldn't even know how to pronounce one letter from the Cyrillic alphabet. Funny how over Joey's botched Afghanistan episode he was twiddling his thumbs. I get it, you have a group of writers, but can you at least laugh at VOZ's support of massacres in NK. Stick to your lane, the US has done its fair share of invading nations, but hey, that's their right.

The players in this conflict are evil, sadly their people are suffering for it. I urge all readers to open their doors to anyone fleeing the crisis, no matter which side they're on. Shout-out to my ancestral homeland of Armenia, it might be economically poor, but it has opened its doors to Russians. You see, Vlad and VOZ are disgraceful excuses for earthlings. Let's all unite to denounce these war criminals and embrace the innocent folk having to live under their rule. Furthermore, don't forget the mass of humanity still in need of assistance from Ethiopia to Haiti. I get that white people being persecuted gets more airtime, but spare a thought for those with a darker skin tone that are being lost in the shuffle of this war.

The world needs real leadership, any nation that has not thrown stones or invaded others must speak up. I get this leaves very few nations, but the last thing we need is two-faced nations that have pillaged others to lecture us. C'mon Bhutan, this is your time, tell the world to unite and open up borders to all being trampled on by despots. What a funny world we live in, remember ISIS? We've gone from fearing Muslims to being frightened of a pasty white man aided and abetted by the Russian Orthodox Church. Good times, Christians are once again evil. See, our biggest threat isn't from brown people after all!

The DeLorean is on standby!

As the world gets all hot and bothered with a nation that's going back to the future (a movie that has actually dated well, I digress...) for all the wrong reasons. How quick we forget with the 2014 invasion of The Ukraine. The number one move made by despots is war, anything to suppress the toppling of a regime. Vlad is known to point out the evil in other nations whenever they have a go at him. Not that he has to do much, conspiracy theory publications (advertised as authentic media), like Pravda and RT News will do his bidding. Even American fruitcakes with a mouthpiece (some who are even paid 9-figures by Swedish companies to spew their filth, it's time to go: Spotify) are Vlad fanboys.

The skeptic in me says this is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin way of getting the baby boom going, nothing like taking pride in Mother Russia. As much as Vlad has controlled all facets of Russia since 1999, there's one place where he has failed, creating a population boom. As it stands, the current fertility rate is 1.50 (trailing their arch nemesis the US at 1.70). Maybe this is why he keeps making land grabs, even though he leads the world's largest nation, home to 11 time zones (shout out to all the time geeks out there).

Now on to the one man that has done his utmost to make Vlad look good, Viktor Mihály Orbán (VMO). Time flies, yours truly was live and exclusive at the world's most beautiful building in the world 4 years ago. I managed to survive making a vlog on a snowy day without VMO"s thugs in black turtlenecks taking me away in a van. 

Pearl of the Danube (Feb 20, 2018)

Hungary might just get back to what it does best in a little over 5 weeks, a vibrant central European nation that is home to the most beautiful city in the world, Budapest (apologies to Paris, you're overrated). Now if illiberal VMO and his Fidesz–KDNP (currently 133 seats in parliament) cronies take the majority once again it might never be the cosmopolitan heartbeat of Central Europe. If you're a free thinking earthling than you better hope, Péter "MZP" Márki-Zay (representing United for Hungary) is the next PM. He has included in his platform is a new constitution, restoring the rule of law, introducing same-sex marriage. He's not perfect, has a neo-liberal infatuation (doesn't support rise in minimum wage, wants corporate tax rate to remain a measly 9%), but Hungary has to rid itself of the VMO's suppression of free speech and cruelty towards minorities. AS they say in the classics: take the win, even if the alternative has fruit loop tendencies.

Let's hope on April 3 the number one movie at the global box office is: Back to the Future: Hungary resets, it's 2009 all over again!  Only a week later it's the French presidential election, which will most probably see the try hard insurance salesman born in 1977 getting reelected. So much for French culture being artistic.

7.9 billion + 1

Introducing the world's newest earthling (special bilingual vlog episode), currently into day three of a potential 36,500 day journey. Enjoy the debut of the future 70th POTUS in 2064. (For those playing US Presidential requirements trivia at home, she can run for office due to her Natural born American mother). 

Who knows, as a product of universal healthcare (shout out to the Royal Hospital for Woman at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital, you're a testament for upholding healthcare as a right for all) maybe she can take that experience and finally enact this right for all Americans as President - a father can dream, right?

Interesting times ahead for yours truly, keeping another human alive during the beginning of the end for our planet. Only fitting that my precious daughter, (latest addition to the exclusive American-Armenian-Australian club) was born on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan 17, 2022. (Small world, it was on MLK Day 2020 that I recorded my last vlog in Dallas, Texas). https://globaleditorial.blogspot.com/2020/02/bidding-farewell-to-big-d.html

Talking about Jan 17, two other great American luminaries were born on this day: Michelle Obama and Benjamin Franklin. I might just remind my daughter of this, to motivate her to become the first Australian born American President.