Saturday, January 22, 2005

Flight of the Phoenix

I'm baaack! After disappearing for a whole month (and a half), trying to set up a new blog, I sorta gave up, so here I am, talking to the emptiness again...


Since it's the first day at work after a long vacation, I will take it easy and just quote an editorial of Le Devoir, Montreal's prominent liberal French newspaper:


"Le président Bush a placé son second mandat sous le signe d'une ambition colossale: imposer la liberté dans tous les recoins de la planète. Son discours inaugural a davantage emprunté les accents du sermon que ceux d'un programme conventionnel. À tel point que la conclusion du défi qu'il lance appartiendra, s'il est relevé, à la prochaine génération..(snip)..Il est écrit dans le ciel que l'ambition de Bush va être rapidement contrariée par la realpolitik..(snip)..En fait, ce discours se résume à trois (sic) mots : de la poudre aux yeux."


Approximate and very idiosyncratic translation: "President Bush placed his second term under the marquee of a huge ambition: to impose freedom on every single corner of the planet. His inauguration speech sounded more like a sermon than a traditional programme. So much so that the challenge he described will have to be faced by the next generation, should it decide to pick it up..(snip)..It is written in the sky that Bush's ambition will be quickly contradicted by realpolitik..(snip)..As a matter of fact, this speech can be summarized in one word : vaporware."

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