Tag Archives: US

WHICH COUNTRIES WOULD SUPPORT CATALONIA INDEPENDENCE?

Let’s imagine that Catalan people can do something so simple as to decide their future. And let’s imagine they choose to become another state of Europe.

Then, which countries would support the independence of Catalonia?

That is my guest:

Inside the European Union they will try to be in good term with Spain and Catalonia as both will have quite soon a lot of money to return to Europe!

Inside the Arab world maybe the independence of Catalonia could be seen with good eyes as it seems that Catalonia would then be with France and Belgium the country  in this part of Europe with most Muslim population.

The US, a very old democracy, had no problem in supporting the government of dictator Franco so I have no idea what may happen. I have seen webpages on the Internet that are trying to put fear that an independent Catalonia could become an Islamic Republic so that maybe a US ruled by the Republicans could be not friendly to an independent Catalonia? So it depends how the US related to the Muslim world that it supports or not Catalan independence? If that was the case that would be quite weird because the formation of Spain is quite related to the fight some centuries ago between Christians and Muslims. The fight against the Muslim made that different kingdoms of Spain united to fight them. So could the Muslim have today also a say in what happens with Catalonia? Could the past repeat itself?

Well, about Russia and China I do not care after seeing in which side they are in the Syrian conflict.

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WHO IS AFRAID OF HUAWEI AND ZTE?

I wonder if you can buy an iPhone in Teheran but in any case as Apple is an American company maybe one should be afraid that Apple could be spying for the US.
And what about Google. Have you never had the feeling that maybe the US army is taking advantage of Google to spy on all of us?

Anyway, I am saying that because now I have read that Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE seem to pose a security threat to the US.

I have not enough knowledge to see that as total non sense or an example of paranoia but I have the feeling that if the US is so worried about other countries using its firms to spy on the US maybe the US is doing the same.

In fact the iPhones are made in China. So, can we be sure about the iPhones not been used to spy on us.

Huawei and ZTE are very successful Chinese companies. The US report puts a doubt about them. By doing that the US is putting doubts on their products.

Because one can think that if the US says so myabe there is a bit of truth.

But maybe it is just the US being afraid of the success of China?

I do not know how this is going to end but things have to be proved and if this is not the case I hope Huawei and ZTE sue the US government. Because now anyone who wants to buy a mobile worldwide can find very affordable Huawei and ZTE phones. And with the US warning one may think twice about buying them.

I do not know if Huawei and ZTE are spying on the US or on all of us. The only thing I know is that you get quite good products at an incredible price.

Should we be afraid of using a Huawei modem? Is Huawei and ZTE sending information of us back to Chinese government?

Who controls that the US is not the one making all this up?

I am afraid that behind the American scrutiny of these Chinese companies there is a clear message: DO NOT TRUST CHINESE PRODUCTS. THEY ARE MADE IN A DICTATORSHIP THAN CAN USE THEM AGAINST US.

Should we act in the same way and be afraid of MICROSOFT, GOOGLE and APPLE?

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ABOVE THE NIAGARA FALLS

We are used to see some animals doing amazing things in the documentaries. So it is nice to see that the humans can do too amazing things and not just starting wars or creating nuclear warheads.

A man has crossed through a cable from Canada to the US accross the Niagara Falls.

This is amazing because it tells a lot about the potential of the human beings! It is not related to top technology that brought the man to the moon. It has to be with the witty inside the humans.

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CHEN GUANGCHENG OR HOW CHINA IS THE REAL BOSS OF THE “FREE” WORLD

There are two ways to try to show to the world that you are the great nation of freedom. One is by facts and the other, just for idiots, by just words.

We always hear that the US says it is the land of the free but when the case comes that the US has an opportunity to show that it seems that it prefers jus not to offend to the greatest dictatorship of the world: China.

Chen Guangcheng deserves better that the way he is treated by his own country and by the US.

It is quite strange. If the US is the great superpower of the world, why the big superpower must act in the way that the dictatorship of China wants?

I imagine that the answer is obvious: the real boss of the world is not the US but China. I cannot see other reason for the US to kness to a dictatorship. No other at all.

Shame to the US and to Europe and to all those countries that talk about democracy but are happy to have business with this dictatorship. I hope one day one realizes that to have iPhones made in a dictatorship has a prize to pay. And that is the prize we are paying.

What is doing the Nobel Prize winner, Barack Obama, meanwhile? Just celebrating he killed Osama.

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THE.CAT IS NOT A US WEBSITE …

Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New York.

Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

THE.CAT is a website made in Europe and written mostly in Catalan and English. Nonetheless, most of the visits come from the USA so I feel that a bit strange as this website is meant more for a European audience.

But these visits from the US make me realise the weight of the US. It is true that writing in English is not strange that I receive visits from the US but I thought that most visits would come from any country in Europe as a lot of people in Europe can read in English and I write about uropean subjects.

So, seing so many visits from the US I just have thought that maybe I could write more about subjects related to the US. After all, although I try to write in British English and I have in mind more the UK when I am writing in English there are a lot of things that I like from the US: I like its golden cinema from some decades ago. I like Sinatra songs, music from Billie Holiday, The Beach Boys. I like Paintings from Hopper and Pollock.

Who knows, maybe I should get more interested in the US. Anyway, maybe I receive most visits from the US because I am writing about Europe … Anyway I am quite happy with having visits from the US. I just wished Europe also visited the.cat too!

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MR OBAMA: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

Official presidential portrait of Barack Obama...

... CHINA CANNOT GIVE ADVICE TO EUROPE IN HUMAN RIGHTS. NEITHER CAN OBAMA GIVE US ADVICE ON HOW TO HANDLE THE ECONOMY ...

Maybe Mr Obama is one of the American presidents that more expectations brought to the international arena so that it is possible that a lot of Europeans like him a bit but I find outrageous that the president of a country with a nightmarishly superastronomic debt sees himself as the right person to give advice to Europe.

If China was the one to give us, the Europeans, advice I have nothing to say but it is ridiculous that the president of a country that lives thanks to the money from China should dare to say something to Europe. I cannot imagine a worse country to give example to Europe.

I could say here the things that the US could do instead of attacking the European Euro but as a European, I also have not any right to give advice to the US.

An advice of the US to Europe is like a drunk man saying to another drunk man that he should drink less. The advice is not bad but it does not come from the right person. That’s the reason why I say to Obama to mind his own business.

Accepting advice from the US in how to handle the European economy is like accepting advice from China in human rights.

So, Mr Obama: STOP ATTACKING THE EURO. If you want the dollar to look stronger, reduce the ASTRONOMICAL US DEBT  instead of attacking the euro! To cut heads to look taller is nonsense.

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SEPTEMBER 23TH 2011 OR THE END OF THE US GLOBAL SUPREMACY

Flag of Israel with the Mediterranean sea in t...

THE FLAG OF ISRAEL

I have the sense that September 23th 2011 will be remember in schools as the day when the United States of America ended its global supremacy of the last decades. This Friday will remembered as the day where the US showed that the world was not just ruled by its rules and that the US was no longer a reference of justice around the world.

I think that it is a very very big mistake that the US vetoes tomorrow the existence of the Palestine state.

Barack Obama is right when he says that negotiations are the key to solve the problem and that the declaration of the Palestinian state won’t change the thing as by a miracle. In this reasoning one could argue that if the declaration of a Palestinian state is not going to change thing on the ground then there should not be too much trouble to recognise the Palestinian state: it should not change much by the same reasoning!

The US has lost its credibility.

And the one who is writing this is someone who, in contrast with most people in this part of Europe, is not a blind supporter of the Palestinian cause. In fact I feel that I must be one of the people in Catalonia that is more sympathetic with Israel. I have not problem to say that I have admired always the democracy of Israel and I always have thought that I would feel much more comfortable living in Israel that in most Arab countries.

According to the US a declaration of the state of Palestine would bring frustration and violence. If that’s one reason not to declare it then one should take into account that the veto of the US could  also cause frustration and violence.

I think that the wise think is to support the declaration of the state of Palestine as the UN supported the declaration of the state of Israel. Once that is done any attack against Israel will have the rejection of the international community too.

A lot of Arab youngs have dies these last months for freedom and democracy. By vetoing the declaration of a new Arab state the US will pass to history as a country that talked a lot about democracy and freedom but that at the end had another agende. And that is the end of the US as a respectable nation of the world.

By the way, has not anyone realise in the US administration that by supporting the Palestinian state on Friday they would be supporting the Arab world who recognises THE EXISTENCE OF ISRAEL WITH THE 1967 BORDERS?

MAHMOUD ABBASS BY ASKING A RECOGNITION OF A PALESTINIAN STATE WITH THE 1967 BORDERS IS RECOGNISING ISRAEL! ONLY A FOOLINESS ACT WITHOUT COMMON SENSE WOULD VETO THIS DECLARATION OF A NEW STATE THAT RECOGNISES THE STATE OF ISRAEL (IN CONTRAST WITH HAMAS, FOR EXAMPLE). THIS IS A PEACEFUL STEP!  HISTORY WILL TELL IF I WAS RIGHT OR WRONG.

Let me end to show my love for Israel by saying that if I had to choose between being a Palestinian citizen or a a citizen of Israel I would prefer Israel because I feel I have more things in common. But I want Israel to be fair and Israel cannot be a fair state if we do not have TOO a Palestinian state!!!! I am sorry that the US goverment is going to make this big mistake of the veto. FORTUNATELY THE US IS MUCH MORE THAN ITS GOVERNMENT. SO i WILL BE JUST DISSAPOINTED WITH ITS GOVERNMENT.

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DESTÍ VS DESTINACIÓ

Fa uns minuts he llegit a EL PERIÓDICO un text on deia DESTÍ quan havia de dir DESTINACIÓ. De fet a TV3 aquest error també és el pa de cada dia.

De fet aquest error és tan comú que moltes vegades tinc la sensació que potser sóc jo el que estic equivocat. Però és evident que la meva manera d’utilitzar a vegades DESTÍ i a vegades DESTINACIÓ enriqueix la llengua. Suposo que tot això passa per influència del castellà on DESTÍ i DESTINACIÓ es tradueixen per DESTINO. Qui sap, potser quan aquí la gent sàpiga més anglès, llavors començarà a fer servir el català correctament, ja que en anglès també fan servir dos mots: DESTINY per DESTÍ i DESTINATION per DESTINACIÓ.

Exemples pràctics que a certs diaris i certes televisions sembla que encara no han arribat:

“L’ús freqüent de destí quan en realitat es vol dir destinació em fa pensar que el destí del català no és gens prometedor”

“El destí de les destinacions basades només en sol i platja tampoc és gens prometedor”

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