The other day the EU finance ministers fixed that banks cannot overcharge us for trans-border money transactions. They used to rip some 20-50 euro to transfer a hundred from Amsterdam to Athens. Not any more. They will save billions of euros to us, the consumers, but not much for me because I do not transfer any money anywhere but for my rent, Casema and life-insurance with uitwaart arrangement. Well, that is not the point. The point is that the smart people in IT have figured out that our ubiquitous mobile phone can be used as a paying device. Come to the cashier in the supermarket, wave the mobile in front of the scanner - and the transaction is done! Can you imagine that? This most alluring, contactless mobile payment, is known as Near Field Communication. In this case a chip in a mobile phone makes it possible the "toestel" (the phone) to be used as a payment device by simply waving it at a receiver in a shop, or for that sake at a vending machine in a railway station, cinema, bar or any other retail facility. You can hold the phone near a display of goods and services and charge them to your credit card using information stored in the phone. The most interesting stuff is that these services are much more secure compared with cards or wallets, as the handset can be set to allow payment information only when the user expressly authorises the transaction via a password. If your credit card is stolen - there will be some damage, but with the mobile - no. I though you will be better off knowing this. Nokia is ready to begin production soon. Wikipedia has a lot about NFC too.

The media in the US is all awash with reports that a new phenomenon, a service extended by a seven-month old firm, www.twitter.com is the new craze around Silicon Valley. While many disregard the service as juvenile and a passing craze, Jonathan Schwartz, the CEO of the huge Sun Microsystems warns that YouTube and MySpace were considered "funny" until YouTube suddenly became good enough for Google to pay $1,65 bn to acquire it. What does Twitter offer? Nothing much. Members (there were about 100,000 of them a week ago but only 50,000 two weeks earlier) can instantly send their micro or mini blogs (up to 140 characters or roughly 20-25 words) to as many friends over their mobile telephone sets as they have stored in memory but at the same time the messages, the "mini-blogs" appear on their personal web-page with twitter.com - nicely sorted by time and complemented with responses. The web-page has their small pic and the pics of the cluster of their friends too. I would hate to be disturbed by the rings of my mobile every time an acquaintance feels like sending a general message "I am bored, who is for a drink in Silversant?". On the other hand, the supporters of this miniblogging facility are young and brash. Some told me: "Listen you oldie, if you do not like it, why don't you simply get lost. Out." If this microblogging catches up it will be because people can easily communicate their ideas or feelings or attitudes, distress or other messages to all of their acquaintances instantly and all that community will immediately know how others feel about the earlier sent message. One needs to be careful, though, with the bills. Check your sms-ing conditions extended by your provider and, of course, begin devising a lingo to cram in more meaning into the short message.

This is the 9th in a series of Portraits of Special people.
Well, even the tiny little 80x120 pixel pic on the front page of the Volkskrant did command attention. Then, the one on the third page was even more revealing of the character of Florentine Rost van Tonningen, 93. If it was not already known that she was the Black Widow of the Netherlands - I would have taken her portrait as if of one of the women who I occasionally meet around the shopping center, couple of notches more robust, couple of degrees more stubborn but not particularly evil. My impression of her got some bashing, probably because I did not relay clear enough that I detest Nazism (she so determinedly embraced) a fact that has nothing to do with the face of the woman. She could just as well be a devoted anything. Her choice is so unbecoming. This face. I have always found it hard to believe in "baby-face killers" and tried very hard to find a twitch in some angle of the mouth that would betray a Dark Wader. But, being so old, I blame myself for still relying on my instincts and life experience in reading people faces. But then, some you win and some you lose.

This face, seemingly composed and calm, speaks of such a fury of emotions whirling behind those lightly closed eyes, there so much within, so very important decisions at hand's reach. Because the man is obviously a Japanese, I tend to imagine that he might be contemplating about life and death his life and definitely his death: that sort of decisions must be running through his head. He seems of a very noble ancestry. Or a descendant of a family that has been cherishing, cultivating honor and decency generation after generation. These features do not come out from nowhere irrelevant how mysterious the Japanese culture may be to an untrained observer. Then, after this image impressed me so much I read that it depicts Nobuyoki Oneida the chief financial officer of Sony Corporation. The reporters caught him after delivering the report (dismal) about the expected recovery of the electronic giant. The profits of Sony, he indicated, were going to be 62 percent below his previous forecats. Where did he go wrong? Is it in his family to go for a honourable exit? Then, what is a honourable exit? A seppuku? Harikiri? What on Earth he and his family have to do with those dumbs goofing it up with the lithium ion batteries and the massive recall. the damage? What do his kids, his wife, he - have to do with the delays of the Playstation? Why die, why take responsibility, why fee so down? Does he think about the clashes with the CEO, this British guy who does not understand Japanese ways and means and values? In any case - I have not seem many western executives display so much anguish, so much emotion as this chief financial officer from Japan. Just keep the money flows running, Oneida-san. Everything will fall in place slowly and you will sip your tea watching the sun rising and will display a smile when you remember this moment..

Somehow I feel as if I have seen this face before. Was it in the Albert Hein by Gelderlandplein or with the Kauhoff in Dusseldorf. No, no, it must have been in Auchan near Lille, or was it by Cap d'Agde, down by the Med? In any case it sort of tells me that I must have met him in a supermarket: the deputy chief or an aspiring chief of the chief. If diligent he may move up, but he is young. Obviously hard working, honest, modest, simple, bright, straightforward. He does have some sort of forward looking inclination, a sort of a different kind of dreamer. Not much chance to full around with this guy. He may be abrupt, does not indicate that he can take much joking or time-wasting. Does not seem fir to entertain. Too serious. Somehw tired, nearly sleepy although alert. So very pale: he must be, wasting all those hours between storage and the aisles with goods, always under neon light, always inside. Or is it so? This face belongs to Chad Hurley co-founder of YouTube. (The other two are Steve Chen and Jawed Kaarim). You may have a gun pressed on my temple and I would say "No Way". This pic was taken relatively soon after YouTube was bought for $1,65 bn in November by Google. He could not have tanned so fast, that is why he is very pale. Even in Davos he did not go to the slopes, did not expose himself, stayed in and under the lights. ``Still so very pale.

There are people who claim they can nick a crook in a wink. I cannot. Not always, that is. But believe you me - I would definitely NOT be happy to buy a secondhand car from this man atop of this text. There is this hiding-something look all over his face, the eyes especially, and then, the position, the wrinkles of years of the same expression, of his mouth, the twitch, the insincerity of it, all these little signs they tell me - go look for a car elsewhere. The man is Peter Hartz, just two years my junior, former VP for Personnel with VolksWagen motorwerke. If my poor judge of characters has this hunch that trusting that face may be risc-ladden, how could the Board of VW let him run such a delicate sector as Personnel? So - either those others were blind, or crooks, or blind crooks or totally naive people whop got on those high-salaried positions on a lottery draw - or I am nuts. Look at the masked protester: his bright eye look burns into the camera from under the expressionless cardboard while Hartz evades eye-contact. Earlier this January of the Year of James Bond (it is 007, is it not?) this face admitted in court that he personally endorsed €2,5 million in illegal payments scandal that damaged badly the reputation of the largest European carmaker. Thee money was used for perks and prostitutes, for luxury holidays (fucking sessions abroad, eh?) for clothing used to be undressed, for jewelry and for his Brazilian girlfriend. The man had a long-legged, samba-dancing, sex-extending Brazilian girlfriend and the German special services did not alert the then bundeskanzler Gerhard Schroeder not to let the guy close to him. So Schroeder appointed this guy to preside over the commission for reform of the German labor market! I know the Germans have left-handed, butter-fingered Polizzei, but this bad? This is all scam. If a scandal like this happened around Vladimir Putin these days the newspaper columns would be printed with shrieking (text) as special gizmo gizmo of anti-russian technology. Glide your eye, the pink paper (imported from China) senses it and resonates acoustic text as if from a Bose loudspeakers. But, since this incredible story of whoring and hoarding public moneys for personal pleasures comes from a Deutschland - then, the court will not even drag the whores to witness their client's behavior. The third column of power remain the refuge of last resort for rotten capitalists, does it not? Or maybe this guy was clever enough to have included some influential people from among the German judiciary on those lay-fuck-and-drink business trips to Brazil, Mexico and India. God only will know... So, what do you say: Have a picture for me to analyze?

Do You Know What is so Badly Wrong With Patricia Joan Remak? The expression on the face of this young woman (ma bit latter I found out that it belonged to Patricia Joan Remak) struck me with its grief or deep disillusion with the world around her, with some tinge of bitterness and still, it was, in my eyes, crying out that the person was hurt. It sort of appear honest. There is a twitch around the lips that some (I had a visitor, no, somebody I would rather not disclose) who came in and saw the pic on the 20 inch monitor, and, requested, commented. -She wears a pullover knitted by herself or her mother, I think she lives with her parents, she sort of feels being unjustly hurt, but she hides something. She looks as if fighting to have her financial ends meet, but then, there is this disdain coming out of her looks, her posture. This is typically masculine position, I have not seen many, if any, women sitting like that for the camera, because it is obvious that she knows she is being photographed. Then I disclosed the info: that face showed Patricia Remak, once elected member of the the Dutch Parliament (1998-2002) on the list of VVD, a darling of Frits Bolkestein. Then she slid to Provinciale Staten and then further closer to her electorate. That's funny. The crowd that one would expect to be her power-base, the neighbors, mainly from Surinam, hated her guts. They called her (according Het Parool) names, among other thing she was white man's bitch a servant of the whites! Tough life, for a mother of those three lovely daughters, is it not? That shows on her face. On her web-site, here, nothing much shows. She had cleaned it, obviously. But she is all over the internet. Referred to on 28,500 pages. Then the whites came and accused her, a trained accountant, of theft, of meddling with the books, of syphoning public funds and what you want. It is not the point whether I believe he accusations. There are courts and the judges found most of it credible and ruled against her. She might go to prison. She is not the first and she will not be the last elected person who serves term. But then - the face. She has the face of someone who can scream back. She said she had enough of the arrogance of the liberals, of the VVD. Then, it strikes me how many more controversial people we have to count among the Dutch liberal party top echelons before we figure it out that they attract each other, those profiles of fakes and forgers like Hirshi Ali, those beneficiaries of perks (like Nelie Croes) who traveled the world while their partners, people they shared the bed and table with, were sinking into dubious accounting and disgrace. Patricia actually confirmed what Rita Verdonk declared: that her party comrades may try to fake the election results of the VVD interior vote for a new leader. You do follow what she meant, Rita Verdonk, that is. She actually implied her party-comrades were thieves and were going to rob her of the party leadership! She told THAT to all the Netherlands and the world to hear. How can one trust the Dutch liberals after such a pronouncement? But this face, this face has something dramatic, something tragic.

She, my friend Marija Bejanovska-Levavasseur did not know what was she doing when she hit "enter" and her e-mail clinked on my iMac. She rose a fury of memories so nicely buried away. She wrote that a publisher in Amay, Belgium, will promote her latest project, a translation of a book of poetry titled Under siege with her introduction about the author, Bogomil Gjuzel. She could have just as well hit me with baseball bat.
We were 10 or 11. We sat in the same class of Goce Delcev elementary school. We were the best. My dad and mum were in two different communist goulags. His dad was hanged by the communists when we were six. Bogomil Gjuzel (in Macedonian the name means "Dear to God", the surname, from Turkish, "the handsome one") was pensive. A handsome kid dear to God. Who would not be. I think the kids knew. There was never a hint of a comment. We played, during recesses, on a construction site behind the school yard, Vinetou. Cowboys and Indians, not Germans and partisans. He lead. Small. Large chick-bones. Huge, deep-set, calm, clever eyes. He was the first who read Karl May and he assigned the roles for us. He was Old Shatterhand, the blood-brother of Vinetou. I was Fat Jim. Even then, 57 years ago, fat. We jumped over the most dangerous construction blocks spiked with rusted, murderous irons shooting at their edges. In retrospect, he might have had enough of it all and dared death itself. Or maybe not. Other kids fell and hurt themselves badly, even seriously and eventually that game was forbidden by the director of the school. Playing Vinetou, thus, became a double challenge. Click here if interested to read the full story about my school-time hero of some 57-58 years ago, an internationally renown poet-laureate, translator, playwright from Macedonia re-introduced in next-door Belgium courtesy of the travailles and talent of my other friend, Marija Bejanovska-Levavasseur and La maison de la poésie d'Amay.

This very morning I have heard that a large investment consultancy, Apax Partners suddenly decided to dump (get rid of the 51% of the shares) Dutch PCM Uitgevers (de Volkskrant, NRC, Trouw) because the managers read my warning that bloggs by Doortje and Tijdrover were turning the expensive VK public facility into a porno-website. The link up tells you THE WHOLE STORY. If you do not trust me - go ahead, call and ask Siobhan Loftus, Director of Marketing, Apax Partners, if he agrees with the content of this web-page with "Tijdrover" post? Yes, go ahead. Here is his e-mail address: Siobhan.Loftus@apax.com. What, you find it difficult to press that foul stuff out of the Volkskrantblog? You are scared how will Dortje or Tijdrover react? You are not ashamed of that? Of their company here?

Portraits: Special People - 4 - Toshihiko Fukui, Bank of Japan Governor It does not take a wizard to conclude that the amiable face above is of a straight-forward, very polished, possibly noble person of rock-solid character. It belongs to Toshihiko Fukui, 72 this September, the current Governor of the Bank of Japan. The rules of this game: "Can you read a character from the face of a person" do not require that one does not know a thing about the featured individual. That would be impossible because the underlaying rule is that the presented people here are more or less personalities, therefore people who must have been spotted by the visitors before. The point is to judge or chat about the character on the basis of the particular portrait not another photo of the same person. This portrait radiates credibility. One feel to be able to fully rely on the man. He looks strong. Also clean. Very calm. Very much aloof. Nice qualities. I would expect him to speak softly but clearly heard, with a mild baritone he probably can use singing among close friends or family. I would put my hand for him over a naked fire that he is not an adulterer, but there are confirmed reports that he was entertained (with other official) at expensive restaurants, He loved that and asked, no, insisted for more of the same treatment. One such restaurant was a hostess club featuring "no panties shabu shabu" and Fukui used to visit on a regular basis. He escaped arrest for any wrongdoing, however. This means my hand would have bean scorched peace of flesh. I should not pursue this game. Probably i'll discontinue it after a number of data tell me how wrong, how poor I am at reading faces, an attitude I thought was my very strong point. He appears well trimmed, he may entertain some sport, possibly martial and he obviously pays attention to his appearance. Why should he? He is judged the best central banker of the world now that Alan is gone. Actually, like many Japanese, he likes baseball. So, would you extend your judgement over the character of Toshihiko Fukui on the basis of the published portrait? Go ahead, may be fun.

There is so much benevolence, inner calm, tolerance, readiness to listen and understand The Other, perseverance, harmony with his deepest motives and health, visible devotedness to ideals, personal vows and immense intellectual power behind the features of Barack Hussein Obama US Senator from Illinois, the man who had recently announced that he will extend his candidacy for to become Democratic Party nominee for the Presidential elections in November next year. His hands and head suggest me that he is active, probably recreating, probably playing ball with his kids. You might say that he is "ridiculously good looking young black man", as I have heard others, and I would agree - Harry Belafonte pales (not enough) in comparison with Obama. He is elegant and I would say very careful about his appearance: note the haircut, note the nails. He is obviously blessed with modesty and sincerity. (By the way, Barack means "the blessed one") I read recently that he used that in his now famous speech in Boston during the 2004 Democratic Convention endorsing John Kerry as their presidential candidate. You may wish to visit Senator Obama's online office (I did) and see for yourself, through his words and act in the US Sente what kind of person is this young, black man. If you do, then click here. You'll be instantly on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. You will be, of course, most welcome to share your views about Barack Hussein Obama (isn't it really too ideal that the possible next President of the United States has a middle name Hussein? Simply too good to be true, but it is. Imagine him going to the Middle East: how will the Muslims react, what do you think? (He is not muslim). He is young (this pic shows him well too older, or shall I say much more mature than most of his other photos) but will be 47 when and if elected. Thus: why don't you air out what do you think from what you see.? How good are we all in reading characters from people's faces, eh? Senator Barack Obama has conquered my whole constituency.

There are these two images of the guy who is known by all the Doortjes and the rest of the world, and they are so different, that I am confused when it comes to reconcile them into one feeling, one prejudice about the person I will probably never meet. Before his overdose that was nearly fatal for him, Giovanni Accongiagioco (Lapo) Elkann, appeared, judging from the circulated pics, as an angel. But then, although he was not as heavenly handsome as his two years older brother, the young guy had all the world at his feet, so refined and still masculine. On the Balkans men would immediately say:"What, him? Must be a sissy or a full-size queer." I would disagree, by consenting: "Yeah, yeah. So handsome and rich, probably a homo. But every little check of my senses told me that he was O.K. guy, actually both were O.K. guys, obviously sharp, obviously very comfortable with the riches of Agnelli, obviously at ease with the attention concentrated on their every move. But he, Giovanni Accongiagioco (better known as Lapo), simply, just as John, could not be queer. In the other hand, I was never careful enough to really pay attention whether Lapo was Lapo or whether John, his elder brother, was Lapo. I have been sort of careless about them all the time. The older appears much younger, but that is irrelevant. When I look at Donna Lavinia Borromeo dei Principi di Angera (I think she is a real princess) next to John I see nothing angelic in her face, she might seem to reflect some of his chaleur nd charm, but that's like comparing the Moon and the Sun playing with clouds. (Here: more photos from the wedding of John Elkann and princess Lavinia Borromeo) The Financial Times spreads the story that Lapo Elkann, 29, after a lengthy rehabilitation in Arizona, is clean now and back in business. Neither him nor John look or show that they are the only two of the 160 pax strong Agnelli family who are involved with FIAT. I sense some toughness in the character of both guys: the lips, perfectly sculptured and tough, clearly indicate it. Their tenacity is also but hinted, but hinted, from the look of their eyes, in such a way as to signal that they have all the experience needed to survive among hundreds if not thousands of other noble, old and rich family clans that Italy and Europe are ruled by. I would never associate Giovanni Accongiagioco (Lapo) with Brazil, but he was raised there. That face does not show that the brain behind it has worked (once) for Henry Kissinger but that's a fact. I mean - it is obvious that there is some high-power intellect behind all those polished, strong, perfectly proportioned features of this guy's face. What the fuck could he do for Kissinger? Probably his visible ability to spot things and concentrate, like a hawk over a pray. Killer instinct? Yeah, I would expect so. But deep down he must be emotional: I gather that from his brother's features. Then I read somewhere that he had had the tattoo (on his wrist) of his latest ex girl-friend Martina Stella covered with another tattoo - the flag of Italy. Tattooing oneself so much is a disturbing sign, although, if ones thinks better, it is also in the features. In any case - this is an impressive portrait and you are ll welcome to comment on it. The glasses Giovanni Accongiagioco (Lapo) wears are his own new brand

The guy you see on this borrowed pic is Howard Stern. At 53 of age - he is an American phenomenon. He is a media mogul: just was awarded $83 million for pushing the subscriber count for Sirius satellite radio from 600,000 to 6 million in two years. He ridicules whoever he wants and (mocking Michael Jackson self appellation as "The King of Pop" Howard decided to call himself "King of All Media". To me, this guy looks like a freak. People say that he uses highly controversial, scatological, sexual and racial humor. I cannot stand anything related to statology, I even go away disgusted when I see adds and similar crap on our Dutch TV-chanels with people seated in the toilet and producing all sorts of faces. Anyway, scatology stinks. Even on the air. And particularly through it. He looks a nervous wrack. Obviously sharp, very intelligent, probably quarrelsome, probably thriving on conflict and very probably with a bunch of friend who adore his witty pranks, his eclectic scope of themes, his courage to affront the establishment, his life-style. He and his team added &300 million to the value of Sirius Satellite Radio in about 18 months! But from watching this fce I could not gues whether he would actually have the guts to ask Barbara Walters, herself a white shark in the air-waves waters, whether it was true that she slept with actor Richard Pryor on the basis of leading his interview with Walters to tell her that she did publish a lot of intensive interviews with the comedian Hollywood star. But he did ask the celebrity anchor-women and she answered him flatly with a big NO which he let hang in the air. But, no, that far I could not read from this face. Virginia Hefferman from the New York Times described him as "a mean, little, pornography-addicted freak" and got away with that. Now, if you knew nothing about the guy - what would you write here, in the reactions, what do you thing hides behind that particular face?

So, this is the final pic taken during last year's Memorial Day Air Show at Jones Beach, NY. The pics are courtesy of my friend Milan Uzelac who went way from Skopje when we finished high-school. he played a photographer in Hollywood for some time but eventually settled in Florida and runs a property Agency. He did not shoot these pics but found them and sent them to me as I am in love with the Big Apple. You may have not yet seen the Statue of Liberty from this angle.

New York harbor often displays an air-carrier of two and tourists flock to visit the big ship. Here a view of one from the skies. This picture comes here courtesy of Milan Uzelac a friend originally from Skopje but now well settled in Florida where he deals with property and only occasionally invites me for a ride on his yacht (for rent) moored in Croatia.

Downtown New York, of course, is not the Central Park South, Lincoln Center area and Ritz at Fifth Avenue. Downtown is Wall Street, of course. And I think that few of us who love the Big Apple have seen the tip of Manhattan rock from this position right under the feathery clouds. The pic is curtesy of my friend Milam Uzelac originally from Skopje, but now enjoying his days in Florida.

My good friend Milan Uzelac, who likes i very much when people liken him to actor Jack Nicholson, sent me several fine aerial pics of New York City and some of its best known vistas taken during the Memorial Day Air Show from Jones Beach, NY. Some of them feature really cool airplanes, but others show the Big Apple from new angles. If you have enjoyed them - the credit should go to Milan Uzelac who, otherwise, is a property realtor in Florida now although he occasionally rents his fine yacht (moored in Croatia) to qualifying parties.

There is this guy Wolfgang Munchau, a journalist, who you may think is a German writing for Schwarzsweinstein Zeitung, and who, I think, you have never heard of although he is a columnist of a typical British imperial daily newspaper printed on pink paper. Anyway, Her Munchau, just like the little naughty shepherd from the fable, screamed "Wolf" the other day and scared the wits out of me, but probably of other people too. He warned Europe, no, he warned the World, that The Dutch, of all the many nations here, are leading a popular rebellion. (The pic at the top needs to illustrate that the Dutch are complacent with little: she could be in Hollywood but she is an airplane waitress...) I live among the Dutch for nearly 20 years now and was amazed with Her Munchau's alarm. In my book "popular" means something embraced by the majority of people, something that people enjoy very much, something people find close to their hearts too. The British have, occasionally, opposite or quite different meaning tucked under same words and I was confused not to have noticed any popular revolution around me. The problem, then, sharpened with the "rebellion", because (again in my book) that word denotes something rather messy, usually a conflict, most often bloody, sort of Eisenteinish, bullet-full rolling baby-prams, quite nasty. Even if it is not that bloody, it appears that the British-paid-journalists sort of shudder at the mere talk of any rebellion (it is the next thing to revolution, or counter-revolution) depending how one sees it. Rebellion or revolution, especially pink or red one, annoys the British imperial media tremendously, and one can witness it whenever Latin America is mentioned these days. That is why I was shocked: such a benevolence with a popular rebellion in The Netherlands! The first question Her Munchau (in the name of the British big money) posed was what the heck went wrong for the peaceful Dutch to strengthen anti-globalisation Socialists? He says the Dutch were unsecure in their future. Why did they went away from the Christian-Democrats and the Partij van de Arbeid which loses orientation, to the pure Socialists? Svolta a sinistra? Of course, but the electorate is cheated again. The parties that were castigated at the polls. the losing concepts - form the government again. That is why the voters rebel. They are fed up by arrangements that do not reflect their demand for general correction of thew political course. I know that voters will punish the German and the Dutch socialists come next election. They, the socialists, were expected to accept responsibility now not when they calculate. Jan Marijnissen is wrong to have withdrawn himself from the formation process: this was his perfect chance to promote his party program even sharpen it, define it better that the document that brought him 26 seats in the parliament. He was supposed to move away from his anti-Turkish position and admit that people do form alliances according the way they earn their living, not around personal religious (rather lax) views. But he had goofed it. His socialists are incapable of rebellion. The Dutch as a whole cannot rebel. They are complacent serfs to the rich and mighty. All they can do is scream at newcomers forgetting that the time when they'll be shouted back is approaching real fast and they cannot do a thing about it. There is a handful of aggressive people who blogg here and try to shut up others who cary the same passport but different attitude to elementary, here visibly lacking, basic human liberties. Like the right to elect mayors. Like the right to stage referenda. Like the right to question laws at the constitutional court. Quite a lot. Now we have a party that may support the next government althought it is anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia. Those issues were resolved differently time ago. The moment CDA-PvdA sit and talk with the CU it becomes plain that they do not give a damn what the electorate thinks. All they want is a grip on the power. That is what the electorate sees. And since it is not the first time - it rebels. It will rebel again, with unpredictable swings. Till it chooses to rebel once in four years for a day at the polls.

There was not much point (nor need, indeed) finding out whether my Ohrid relatives and friend will get the first TV-global news broadcast á la française, but I owe it to these people (the top photo) to say that some 30 years latter their strive to make a dent in the one center Anglo-Saxon global media dominance is finally becoming a reality. What you see is an impressive gathering of professionals hosted by the Association of the Journalists of Macedonia in Ohrid. We thought that a new Information Age Order was a necessity, we believed that the agenda of the Conference of European Security and Co-operation signed in Helsinki needed media support and we were adamant that a new Codex for Journalist integrity was a must if the world public wanted an honest, ideologically non-aligned, thus free and straight-forward news coverage.
What a dream it was! Now Jacques Chirac has had his day. France has launched at 8:29pm CET a bilingual 24-hour global news service. The world events will not be seen only through the tinted glasses of CNN, CBS or BBC. Eventually, the TV-news consumers will have a wider choice than the views of the world in the image of Christianna Amanpour, Ralitsa Vasileva, or Addie and John Simpson, or whatever were their names. There will be one more view-point on the same hot events, a vie point from a different political and cultural position. That is what we initiated out there, by the monastery of St. Naum, right at the Macedonian-Albanian border so many years ago.
Strange, but it was another Frenchman, my old friend from "Le Monde" and internationally very respected journalist, Jacques Schwoebel, who presided over this Club of CESC (now OSCE) which had UNESCO and Government of Macedonia financial support. With the hoopla now coming from Paris (we did rely on Paris, then, too) with all those plasma screens along the Champs-Elysee and the Tuileries manucured gardens - my part of the actual beginning of this great story will seem superfluous. But I owe it to some people who have contributed to conceive it and therefore, finally make it happen.
Now late Blagoj Popov (not related) was the prime-minister of Macedonia at the time. When I went with (another late friend) Blagoja Stoilkovski, president of the AJM and Macedonian-Radio editor to ask for his political backing and financial support he said: "We have very little money left but you will get it all. It is superb effort, pity it such a long-term idea, we shall not see it materialized". But he did come, with ministers

The media in Macedonia and its diaspora is awash with news about this weekend unveiling of a monument in honor of Stoyan Christowe a legislator of the state of Vermont, USA but also a proliferate novelist and journalist, member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU). Christowe (Stojan Hristov) died in 1986 in Dover, Vt. Please use the link above or here to see the full story and do NOT comment on this post here for it will be deleted shortly. This is just a link to the yesterday's full story.