The Financial Times had a good article on the slow decomposition of the hawkish members of the Bush administration.

Already in 2004, I thought the blatant lies, the absolute unwillingness to reconsider failed policies and the arrogance of the team at the White House would be enough to cause a change of administration. We know this did not happen. It begs the question: where is the point of saturation? When do people consider they have had enough?

In the US case, voters in 2004 did not think it was time to punish President Bush for his policies in place. By 2006, they sent him a warning, changing the majority in Congress. It seems to me the main difference between the two years is the lack of progress in Iraq.

In Ukraine, people could not stand the electoral frauds in 2004 and launched a movement of protests known as the Orange Revolution. That said, today, the total blockage within the government and the lack of reforms engaged by both the President and the Prime Minister is not enough to push people in the street (those outside today are being paid by each political side).

It’s hard to judge, but there is clearly a threshold that politicians cannot cross, or they may have to deal with the street. That level may be reached when officials start taking their constituents for more stupid people than they really are. When is that? Only good politicians know.

We don’t wish the Minsk-Tehran axis of junior evil a good health and hope their offspring can reform itself to something better than its parents.

I am working with a number of Russian colleagues, all living in Moscow, and we were discussing yesterday the issue of the memorial to the Soviet war heroes in Tallinn, Estonia.

Those who joined the conversation were definitely pro-Kremlin and reacted angrily at the move of the memorial. I was not following them.

Why make a fuss about the change of location of a memorial? A pure demonstration of bravery? Latvia had also changed the location of a similar memorial, only it did so 10 years ago or more. No big headlines at the time. Ah yes, the barrel was not at US$66 at the time…

My only reaction to the decision by the Estonian government was more about the timing of the displaced memorial. Either it was clear provocation to do this just before the 9 May celebrations, or it was plain stupidity. In both cases, it was the ideal way to enrage the Kremlin.

Anyway, I thought the Russian government had taken another opportunity to piss off a pro-Western country AND a member of the European Union. It was yet another demonstration of “strength” by the Kremlin, alongside its opposition to the nuclear shield the US would like to set in Eastern Europe, the opposition to sanctions against Serbia, the quiet support for Iran and North Korea, the jacking-up of gas prices to Europe, etc, etc. I am glad I am not the only one thinking along those lines, but it surely struck me to see how supportive of the Russian government my colleagues are.

As to my colleagues support? I guess one enjoys having a strong leader trying to regain some of the splendor of ancient times… (this conclusion was later confirmed to me when I was in Moscow a few days ago, realizing how hated Gorbatchev is - for having “destroyed” the empire, and how Yeltsin was seen as a failure, because too often drunk and way too pro-West).

If Russia has time to spend on these petty things, it means the country is in trouble.

Serbia just won tonight the Eurovision Song Contest. Who cares? Nobody excepts maybe Serbia.

One thing remains constant: the votes are still quite political. Check it out:

Russia and Belarus continue their love affair by granting the maximum points to each other. Moldova votes for Belarus.

Some large ethnic groups make themselves heard: the large Turkish population of Germany has tilted Berlin’s vote in favor of the Turkish band; Israel’s immigrants from the former Soviet block have voted for Russia (8 points), Ukraine (10 points) and Belarus (12 points); Switzerland goes for Bosnia, Turkey and Serbia.

Some classics remain: Cyprus being the only ones to vote for Greece and Armenia (to piss off Turkey), Armenia votes for Russia, one of its few allies in its neighborhood, Malta votes for its former colony the UK and Albania sends SMS to its Muslim neighbors, Bosnia and Turkey.

The Scandinavian countries play among themselves: Norway and Denmark give 12 points to Sweden, Iceland votes for Finland and Sweden picks Finland. Baltic countries do the same with Latvia voting for Lithuania.

The surprises come from those you expect the least:

The republics of the former Yugoslavia say “sans rancune”. Montenegro gives 12 points to its former ruler Serbia; Bosnia does the same, which is more surprising. Slovenia grants 10 and 12 marks respectively to Bosnia and Serbia. Macedonia votes for Belgrade.

And the prize for the best surprise goes to Turkey, granting 12 points to Armenia.

So I wonder if one day, we will see the following:

France and Poland vote for Germany, Greece and Armenia go for Turkey, Turkey picks Greece, the Baltic countries vote for Russia, Azerbaijan selects Armenia, Serbia goes for Croatia and Bosnia… and everybody votes for Israel? OK, I know, I am pushing it…

I am a big foody guy, as would say the Americans. Yet, as I revisit the pages with all the various restaurants to recommend, I must say that I have forgotten a good third of them. If I have forgotten about the food, it means it has been a long time I haven’t been there and I was not that impressed. And if it’s a long time, there is a good chance - especially in places like New York - that the chef is gone elsewhere.

And since this list is for you, you should have the best recommendations. So I am going to take my red pencil, I mean my “delete” button and leave the best ones.

We are finally in our new walls, with a blog and a site connected and a new design!

A MAJOR thank you to Sebastien for his help and patience on this website for making things work! His talent and kindness are simply unique and if you haven’t done so, I strongly encourage you to visit Seba TV. It’s funny, thoughtful and well done. And you can add it to your iTunes podcast feeder and you’ll get automatically all the new audio/video postings.

Another thank you goes to Saramanda for thinking about the design and listening to my very conservative requests and making a little less boring.

Thank you guys.

To the few readers: go ahead, put your comments! With this new website, you can finally do so!

And to those foodies out there, yes, I promise to add a few good addresses in the “Dining Out” section

Enjoy!