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I destroy and build; keeps me busy for several weeks.

Roman heritage and the rest

To be simplistic, the occidental line of civilization and dominance mostly based on the mixture of Roman way of ruling and the divinity shaped in Rome, conquered most of the world by the end of nineteenth century. Colonizers like the British, French, German, Belgic, Spanish and Russian ruled most of the known world at the time. It is instructive to look at the places which were not colonized by the turn of twentieth century. Starting from the east the most prominent ones would be Japan, China, Persian and ottoman empires. Japanese were destroyed and rebuilt under Americans after the second war so they are not in odds with Americans. For China, British lasting presence in south eastern Asia serves as a working bridge between the red dragon and the previous dominant colonizers. Chinese still can’t forget the opium deal. Chinese case is very interesting as they haven’t been colonized like Indians so the society mostly pursues different values than the western ones, there is not any equivalent to western democracy in their terminology and they are almost a quarter of all humans on earth. Westerners including both European and Americans are aware of these and also the way the party has outlived the bigger red brother. Their smart moves to maintain constructive financial ties to the capitalist world define one of the prominent poles of ongoing globalization process. As it comes to Muslims like Iranians and Turks it is more complicated. After the first war Turks are not a major problem as they have realized they would be better off by joining the Europeans instead of confronting them, this opens a unique opportunity for Americans to preserve and support an ally and also for Europeans to think of a solution to the conflicts, the flow of the Muslim immigrants initiates in their countries. Iran has become a more complicated problem for the west; the modern Islamic fanaticism in the state level initiated in the country is not hot there anymore and has left its origin for sunnier Sunni lands. But still the country is such a source of problems to the west. The USA by adopting the direct confrontation has made the problem a soaring source of covert diplomatic tensions.
The way the west treats the islands of culture they didn’t coerce in nineteenth century will define both where and how the globalization will go through.

Lac Léman

The swans here are aggressive; this one is hissing and yelling at me as it comes close. In sunny days vapor rises above the lake and makes it difficult to see the French mountains at the front. But I don’t have any difficulty seeing the Sandra Botticceli’s girl friend coming out of the water. As everybody knows she has this lost and innocent look, her head leaning toward the right shoulder as if she is about to burst in tears any time. She is not pre-Victorian anymore, her hands swaying around her body like her hair in the wind as she comes toward me through the revealing water. “Ciao” I said, “Hey! Can I have a seat?” man she hasn’t changed.

Lausanne

Today is rainy, it is snowing in the Alps; soon I will leave this place. Where else you can find more stairs than this town? So many places you can sit at the table listening to live Chopin, Mozart and Schubert while having a drink before shops close at seven.
I sit at a table on the second floor, is it the non-smoking section? Below the terrace people are walking beneath me, looking at Boticelli’s girl friend sipping campari. I had missed her. I would tell her soon. She asks me if I want to finish the glass.
I haven’t had chicken soup in two years. “So the naturalization is not a matter of color or origin, as many say, at least in the more tolerant parts of the world, it is a matter of integration and complacency of strangers. The ones who nag all the time about not being accepted are the ones who are defiant.” I told Grace, as she washed the dishes. “Have you ever been to Geneva? They say it is international, i.e. it is Americanized, and that’s the truth of the unification of the world”. Grace says. I have to agree with her. In the middle of the downtown, MacDo agrees with her. All the French and Swiss agree with her, they like American music, all the dames dress like tanned American chicks while they curse Americans as the imperialist co-boys. That’s true. I stay silent. “We might not be hanging out with the right crowd though,” Grace says. “There might be some resistance network; you know French are good at this”. Well, if there is one, I don’t know the use for it, just leave it the way it is. Napoleon lost to Nelson long time ago.