Ring of Fire

7.0 on the Richter scale. 8.8 on the Richter scale. These kinds of earthquake measures are not uncommon. The Pacific Rim counts all countries that embrace the Pacific Ocean, and these countries are known to be haunted by earthquakes and other natural disasters, following the movement of tectonic plates, volcano and under sea eruptions, etc. These disasters will happen, and no human being has the power to stop them - however sincere and dedicated the efforts may be. They generate world wide sympathy and a generous flow of relief funds. Because everyone knows that damages that are not self-inflicted can't be the cause of blame of those trapped by them. As nature will have it - there are limits to what human beings can be deemed responsible for.

For further information, please see:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tectonic_plates.png
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8540625.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8540473.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/28/chile.quake/index.html

Meta-Comment No. 18

The editor-in-chief of Paradoxical News believes very firmly in personal responsibility and accountability. Hence the below segment on blind fist fighting. But there are even limits to that. Forces majeures for instance. When your maneuvreability is limited to square feet, and you can't move an inch. When your chest is under pressure, and your health is endagered. When your roads are constricted, and your funds non-existent. When your lines of communication are blocked, and you can't do anything to get yourself out of your situation, because these efforts are constricted by stronger powers than you. Then all you can do is to stay put, play by the rules, try to appease the powers responsible above you - and hope for the best. Hence the below segment on blind fist fighting.

Blind Fist Fighting

You spell like the blind fight! - goes an old saying. The problem in this scenario is not the visually impaired. All due respect. And the point here is not that the spelling at Paradoxical News on and off may be like the throwing of dice in a game of Yatzi. That may be, and sometimes corrections follow. The point is that the editor-in-chief of Paradoxical News has spent quite some time practicing blind fist fighting. It's been quite a challenge - and I must say, a bumpy ride. Spurting out dissatisfactions. Moving HQ. Just to mention a few punches.

So what is blind fist fighting? A new Olympic discipline started in Vancouver? Well, if you've seen the film Fight Club from 1999, based on Chuck Palahniuk's novel, directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter in leading roles - you may be able to picture the scene with Edward Norton towards the end. If not, go see (again). The point is not split personality. The point is what you do to yourself. You do not talk about Fight Club. You show it. Who cares about the spelling, anyway?

Homage to My Favourites

Victor Borge, Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jon Stewart - just to mention a few. I grew up on these tv-people, and so many more comedians. They have caused me to bite in the blanket and shed tears of giggles so many times over. It goes without saying, that they can't be blamed for the less entertaining bits of Paradoxical News. I take the full responsibility there. But whenever I have managed to write something that is even remotely funny - I owe it all to them. And to so many others.

Good on Ya, Mate!

What's come over the funloving, openminded Australians? Whitney Houston has come back for a concert in Brisbane on 24th February - and according to CBS, fans and audiences were disappointed, and bashed her performance completely. Paradoxical News wasn't there, but it got the editor-in-chief thinking: How cruel do you have to be to a woman, who has had a very rough couple of years and undergone so many adversities that most people never experience themselves? At least she has made the effort - how ever incomplete it may have been - to make a comeback. Doesn't that count for something? A little empathy, perhaps?

When I'm so surprised of the rough reactions to her concert, it comes from my knowledge of the Australians. I have come to know many during my travels all over Australia - and I even spent the most hilarious Y2K celebration there - and was among the first to see the turn of the century surrounded by fun, cheering, and open Australians.

Whether in Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Tasmania, Uluru, Alice Springs, Darwin, Perth, Monkey Mia, Albany, Kalgoorlie, or so many other places during my trips (hello again!) - I've met nothing but fun and open Australians. Always there to greet you, and to stretch out a helping hand. I'm just so surprised that at least the audience didn't consider that this performer has struggled to come back. All that is needed is a little empathy to get everything right again. It just doesn't get easier with a bashing from the get-go. Give Whitney Houston a tap on her shoulder - Good on Ya, mate! And she will prevail.

For further information, please see:
http://cbs2.com/entertainment/whitney.houston.brisbane.2.1518365.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXUVHjzYDk&feature=related

Another Change of Guards

It's been stated many times over here at Paradoxical News why exactly it was founded - and the editor-in-chief has made the necessary disclaimers on the front page and in several segments along the way: sometimes politics become just one bit too paradoxical even for Paradoxical News to follow.

Although it's been fantastic to see that many new world leaders and Danish political roles play out within just a span of 1-2 years, perhaps also too much about a constant shift of new faces - in Denmark and abroad. More so than actual political programmes and actions. The editor-in-chief started out with the best of intentions, methods, and seriousity in Danish journalism (I know that at least some of my editors, professors, and co-students along the way will confirm the starting point) - but was caught up by the paradoxical events that followed that mixed up these serious intentions. And chose the right medium to report the events.

And though Paradoxical News fully recognizes the effort and the perseverance that Danish politicians have shown over the past years, this latest change of guards as of today will only be referred to by PN. If you have the mind and the perseverance to follow the political life and roles of this new - and in many cases non-descript - crew, feel free. Best of luck to the new gallery of people in Danish politics. The editor-in-chief hopes they will be having fun. It certainly has been entertaining up until now.

For further information, please see below:
http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Temaer/2010/Ministerrokade/0223032706
http://politiken.dk/politik/article908236.ece
http://www.berlingske.dk/politik/regeringsrokaden-er-paa-plads

Sorry Time!

I forgive you, Tiger! In the aftermath of the heart-wrenching apology from US golf player Tiger Woods on Friday for his extra-marrital curriculum, the editor-in-chief of Paradoxical News would like to express support for a man who has the courage to take a public spanking. And the empathy to make a complete public announcement about his mistake. Proof that he is - paradoxically - just another human being.

For further information, please see:
http://web.tigerwoods.com/news/article/201002198096934/news/

Sorry Time! And while we are at it, why doesn't this editor-in-chief send out a sincere apology for all those people, whom I may have offended, disappointed, or compromised this year or in past years. No time is too soon. Spread the word and trend. Feel free to do likewise.

Sometimes you can't really be sure who you may have offended - but with my luck I'm sure that there must be some people out there. Friends, supporters, sponsors, teachers, superiors, inspirations. You know who you are. If not, why don't we include all people on the entire Paradoxical News THX list - and then some (just let me know) - that I may have wronged at some point:

http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2008/10/award-speech.html

Gade-Gate Status

Apart from the spin around it, Gade-Gate itself is at a stand-still while the police investigation goes on. Paradoxical News tried to get a comment from the one responsible for another investigation about the so-called special force soldier book (Jægerbogen) by former special force soldier from the defence in the fall of 2009, i.e. the man in charge from the judge advocate, Peter Otken, but he only had short comments:

'The judge advocate carries out investigations along the same lines as the Administration of Justice Act, like the police investigations. It is not until a file is taken to court that there is a duty to give liable explanations,’ he says.

How come that it is not left to the judge advocate to carry out a more thorough investigation of the leak in the Ministry of Defence?

’I can't explain that, but the judge advocate has the competence to investigate suspicion of punishable offences. And if you simply don't know who the culprit is, that must be the reason why the informer has turned the matter over to the police in Copenhagen. But I'm not in charge of that matter,’ Peter Otken explains.

Hasn't there been an internal debate whether the judge advocate should carry out that investigation?

’I have no knowledge of that. Contrary to the other case, where I'm in charge of the investigation and can make statements - I have no knowledge and therefore can't comment in this particular case,’ the judge advocate rounds up by giving information about the so-called Jægebog-case:

The Jægerbog-investigation and report from it was expected some time during the month of February. But so far the officially appointed examiner for the two main witnesses from the Ministry of Defence (Jesper Britze, IT-responsible, and Lars Sønderskov, in charge of communications) has taken a prolonged vacation out of the country in February. Which means that the witnesses paradoxically can't be interrogated. So according to Peter Otken the final report of the investigation is not to be expected before earliest after the end of February - and no one could say, says Peter Otken, if the case will drag out even further.

Two seperate investigations, possibly several trials, and lots of spin down the road. Gade-Gate is still on the move.

For further updates, please see:
http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/gade-gate-on-spin.html
http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/gade-gate-on-move.html
http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2010/01/defense-in-shambles.html

Gade-Gate on The Spin

Gade-Gate is not only on the move - it's on 'The Spin' now. Since last reported here at Paradoxical News, a long list of events have tumbled over each other in the story about the leak from minister Søren Gade's Ministry of Defence. Many events have been too paradoxical even for PN to cover. But a short resumé suffices: Defence Minister Gade's spin doctor, Jacob Winther, has reported documentarist Christoffer Guldbrandsen to the police instead of filing a slander case against him directly. Since that a DR/Danish Broadcasting Corporation employee - and close friend and co-worker on the Guldbrandsen documentary - had made a tape recording, allegedly with Jacob Winther, and allegedly proving Guldbrandsen's major claim against Winther.

DR claimed the tape recording back, and it turned out that after hearing the tape Director General of DR, Kenneth Plummer, would protect the source and therefore NOT publish it. Leaving all Danish media and the public in the dark. And now every editor-in-chief of all major Danish media are firing at Kenneth Plummer for locking up the tape. Among them editors-in-chief Bent Falbert from Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet, daily Jyllands-Posten's Jørn Mikkelsen, daily Politiken's Stig Kirk Ørskov, tabloid B.T.'s Olav Skaaning Andersen, and daily Berlingske Tidende's Lisbeth Knudsen.

Alongside these events, several media people and other spin doctors are commenting the tape recording, saying that communication with a press officer and spin doctor is to be understood to be confidential background talk and not for quoting and publication, among them TV2 commentator and former spin doctor for Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Henrik Qvortrup. Others are claiming Jacob Winther's leave of office, due to a lapse of trustworth, among them Charlotte Aagaard, Defence reporter at the independent left wing daily of Information. Confused? You won't be after the next episode of Soa...arhm Gade-Gate.

Paradoxical News tried over and over again for the past three weeks to get a hold of Christoffer Guldbrandsen for a comment, since already speaking with Jacob Winther, Søren Gade, Søren Espersen, de facto PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen - see segments below (not easy at PN working with a phone line and a mailbox that apparently only give access to pro-government people).

Furthermore, today, PN tried to get comments from DR Director General Kenneth Plummer and news editor at DR, Ulrik Haagerup, again Christoffer Guldbrandsen, and again Jacob Winther (on vacation) - all with the purpose of getting more facts straight. But PN managed to get a short statement from chairman of the board at DR/Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Michael Christiansen (a politically influential person who has been criticized for meddling in Gade-Gate and Tape-Gate):

'I have no comments about the so-called leak story apart from the one I already made, which is that the Director General has my full support,' Michael Christiansen says (in keeping the tape recording under lock).

The paradox in all this? That a serious story about a leak from the Ministry of Defence with potential widespread consequences for Danish special force soldiers and national security - not to speak of the serious consequences of imprisonment for a ministry press officer leaking national security information to members of the press - has turned into a spin story with media people falling over each other to move the story away from the focal point - i.e. the PN angle: Gade-Gate on The Spin.

For further information, please see:
http://politiken.dk/politik/article903014.ece
http://www.berlingske.dk/politik/enhedslisten-kritiserer-dr-i-laeksag
http://journalisten.dk/fem-chefredaktorer-plummer-har-handlet-helt-forkert
http://journalisten.dk/pressechefer-forventer-fortrolighed-fra-journalister
http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/gade-gate-on-move.html
http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2010/01/defense-in-shambles.html

If You Can't Beat Him - Kiss Him!

The editor-in-chief of Paradoxical News would like to send out a sincere Valentine for a very special man - he knows who he is - whilst at the same time sending a message for all lovers out there with an impossible man in your thoughts today: If you can't beat him - kiss him!

Hook, Line, and Sinker

Time for storytelling!

A fisherman is sitting on the shore. He has put on his bait, thrown in his hook. Carefully prepared his fishing. Holding and testing his line. He now gets a strong pull and pulls back, fighting to get his catch. An exhausting power contest sets in. The fish must be huge, the amount of struggle he's in for.

On a distant, opposite shore sits another fisherman. He has put on his bait, thrown in his hook. Carefully prepared his fishing. Holding and testing his line. He now gets a strong pull and pulls back, fighting to get his catch. An exhausting power contest sets in. The fish must be huge, the amount of struggle he's in for.

The two fishermen can't spot each other. But both are convinced they have their great catch. Both convinced they will be victorious. They are hooked. Can't give it up. Both in too deep. Hook, line, and sinker. There's just an old fisherman's paradox for you.

Meta-Comment No. 17

Observation. Insight. Stamina. Time. Patience. These skills are inherent and mark the true strategist. They can't be taught. They will board the apex and can carry the weight of secrets. The rest are just tacticians playing at it. The huger the desk, the larger the shoes and arm movements - the less of a strategist. Only a strategist can spot another strategist. My favourite strategist is sharp. But sadly - as yet - searching for foot soldiers. Patience will have him spot the strategist among them. It may take a while.

Gade-Gate on The Move

Since the onset of Gade-Gate, the Minister of Defence, Søren Gade, has been under pressure from the media to initiate an internal investigation of the leak of information about a covert mission of special forces in 2007. Allegedly coming from his special advisor and press officer, Jacob Winther. And the latest information is that the tape recording is said to have come from an employee at DR/Danish Broadcasting Corporation. Minister of Defence Søren Gade still maintains that a police investigation is sufficient.

’I hope that citizens of this country – like myself – have great confidence in the police force. And as I've said several times, naturally we will assist the police as best we can. We have provided them with the information we have. I've said - like the chairman of the foreign policy committee - that if anyone has information, to shed a light on this matter, I think that they should go to the police,’ Minister of Defence Søren Gade said yesterday. A point he maintains today at an open asking time with the joint opposition.

The minister was asked what information he had given to the police.

’Among other things the lists with the group of people, who had information before the meeting in the foreign policy committe in 2007. That was what was laid as a basis for the consultation, now given to the police,' he elaborates about the long list of people within the Ministry of Defence and its affiliate personnel institutions who knew about the covert mission.

Minister Søren Gade was then asked if it wasn't best if his chief press officer was relieved of duty during this investigation.

’Like elsewhere, we have no double standards in the Ministry of Defence. And in all other connections, both journalists and politicians claim that a person is innocent till the opposite is proven,' he maintained, until further standing by his press officer.

Paradoxical News wondered if a political paradox with these national security implications is to be left to a police investigation alone, and at that left to one police officer as the story goes, and so asked the de facto PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen (V):

PN: How can you live with the fact that this matter is to be left to a common police investigation - and as such not under witness liability?

’We rely on the police to investigate these matters. A leak from the foreign policy committe is an action liable to punishment. It is an offence of the penal code. And it is a police matter to uncover. Apart from that I have to refer to the Minister of Defence...,’ de facto PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen responded.

PN: Shouldn't the investigation be carried out by the judge advocate - where questioning of the sources is carried out under witness liability?

’I have to refer to the Minister of Defence for an account of this matter. I can only say that DR is running stories about this day after day, more than insinuating that an employee at the Ministry of Defence has done something illegal. If that is the situation, actions should be taken. And the ones who have proof should lay it out openly. Anything else is indecent,’ the de facto PM Løkke Rasmussen maintains.

PN also asked the Søren Espersen (O) from The Danish People's Party in his capacity of member of the foreign policy committee.

PN: If the matter and the tape recording is subject to a civil case why should the tape be produced here, is that reasonable?

’No, but many people and the media are debating this issue. It is not reasonable that we are to wait for maybe fifteen or eighteen months, before we have a resolution. So if someone has the proof of someone who comitted a criminal act, they should go to the police with it. I think that this is the duty one has,' was the opinion of Søren Esperson (O).

PN: But is it satisfactory with a common police investigatioin which is not carried out under witness liability?

’A police investigatioin may not be under witness liability, but I still think that it is fair enough for the police to investigate the tape recording. That should be fine,’ Søren Esperson refrained from demanding any further internal legal investigation in the Ministry of Defence.

Here it comes, here comes the paradox: As Winther-Gate has turned into Gade-Gate, Paradoxical News wonders if a national security leak is in the hands of a single police officer? It would seem that PN will never run out of news stories to cover.

For an update and further information, please see:
http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2010/01/defense-in-shambles.html
http://www.dr.dk/nettv/update/?video={db2f2b7f-0ad4-4dbc-8294-2cb193befa4c}

The Pinkie Paradox

If you offer China your little finger - the country will end up taking your whole arm. To be coined here at PN as The Pinkie Paradox. Now China is really boosting its muscles with the USA, playing hardball. The 'offence' being President Barack Obama's decision to sell $6 billion dollars worth of weapons to Taiwan, an old thorn in the eye of China. So now China's feelings are hurt. According to Chinese analyst, Victor Gao, a director of the China National Association of International Studies, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Right. If you start with the old feelings argument, how can you ever solve the problem with political means? And guess what - the US feelings are hurt too. And more importantly, so is the country's sound mind. If China wants the pinkie, take it. But the country won't win the arm's race - as it were - over Taiwan. There's just that legitimacy issue with the international society to solve first. Play the economic card, and the US legitimacy card will trumph. Play the power card, and the US power card will trumph again. Because the threat is just what nobody can stomach. And China knows this. This is why they're only being offered the pinkie every time. China just has to solve that little paradox first - The Pinkie Paradox.

For further information, please see:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/02/04/china.relations/index.html

The Material Girl & The Money Maker

Lovers and Fighters. Could someone please find a couples' therapist for USA and China? These two super powers keep shifting between courtship and fighting. This time a battle over Barack Obama's side affair with Dalai Lama. China won't accept such extra-marital affairs. And now China is threatening USA with economic pressure. Threatening to cut the credit card into two pieces, to stop the shopping binge. So who really wears the pants in this scenario?

Subsequently, the USA demands that China revalue its currency, because the yuán, President Obama says, is kept at an artificially low level to give China an unfair advantage in selling its exports. 'I don't want your material goods, I just want a lover' - seems to be the message.

Paradoxical that these two fighters and lovers can't make up for good. They both know they need each other. China for legitimacy, and partly for the spreading of a US cultural image of the good life to its growing middle class. And with China's hands deep into the pants - the real treasury - of the USA, the USA needs this massive bread winner for its livelihood. A match between The Material Girl and The Money Maker. A match made in heaven gone wrong. So please find a couple's therapist. Fast.

Source:

BBC World - and the US Sensus Bureau

For further information, please see:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8497492.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/02/03/china.us.relations.ft/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/world/asia/05diplo.html?hp

Nicaragua: Pact Revival

Oh Dear, here comes The Pact again! In Nicaragua the so-called pact (El Pacto) has been revived (if it ever died down). According to founder Chamorro's CINCO/Centro de Investigación de la Comunicación, the political winds are blowing in much the same direction as around the turn of the Millenium, when the so-called pact was originally made between Daniel Ortega's FSLN/Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional and former president Arnoldo Aléman's old party PLC/Partido Liberal Constitucionalista. They simply split the political power between these two major parties on each side of the political centre, and split the state institutions likewise. With limited room for maneuvres of opposition parties, and with Ortaga now ruling by decree.

Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aléman served from 1997-2002, after Conservative Violeta Chamorro, and exchanged in 2002-07 by centrered Enrique Bolaños - who simply had no succes in ruling due to The Pact in the parliamant and state institutions. Former President Aléman was out on a ban when his presidential period ended. For a while. On 7 December 2003 he was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for a string of crimes including money laundering, embezzlement, and corruption - but this was later overruled again.

In 2006, when I last visited Nicaragua in the aftermath of the 2006 presidential election, there were already widespread rumours that Aléman, though sentenced to imprisonment, was seen on several occasions around town in Managua, and that his sentence would be overruled. Due to The Pact. The rumours maintained that Ortega won his election as part of this pact (he spoke up for the church and against abortion to make his part of the deal, as the story went). And that Aléman would be out and once more running for president after his sentence would be overturned.

Lo and behold! Last year, on 16 January 2009, Nicaragua’s Supreme Court did in fact overturn the 20-year corruption sentence against the former president. And CINCO now reports in the latest edition of the 'Boletin - Perspectivas 2010', that Aléman will be running for president at the next presidential election in 2011. But of course, you should never listen to local rumours in the streets of Managua. Although the latest jungle drums from end of January now reports that the Tribunal considers to re-open two other cases against Aléman...

Paradoxical Pact aside, maybe Ortega is not quite done serving as President?

For further information, please see:
http://www.cinco.org.ni/
http://www.cinco.org.ni/archive/173.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnoldo_Alemán
http://www.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2009/enero/16/noticias/ultimahora/306700.shtml
http://www.laprensa.com.ni/2010/01/29/claves/Arnoldo%20Alemán
http://paradoxicalnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/nicaragua-in-political-quicksand.html

Meta-Comment No. 16

The media are like a teenage flirt. The less you court her, the easier she is to get. The more you want her, the harder she plays to get.