Friday, April 25, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 12:54 PM
Football Hypocrisy
Italian football clubs and not media darlings
It’s irritating to find so many stupid comments on Italian football teams on the international (predominantly English) media. All you hear about Italian football is how it plays negatively, how it employs catenaccio defensive attitude to the game etc. etc. As opposed to the wonder-football that apparently all other European Teams employ. I wonder if any of these commentators actually bothers watching the games or they just go with the flow without really investigating what they are saying.
For instance, the Milan-Ajax game the other night was as entertaining as the Real-Manchester one, and with a similar final result (3-2 instead of 4-3). But all I hear is about how Inter defended tooth and nail against Valencia. Btw, have anyone noticed that the most defensive of Italian sides, Inter, is coached by Cooper who was at Valencia’s helm two seasons ago and hailed as a football genius when in Spain?
On top of it, everybody seems to quote all the times the 60s, when Italian teams were really playing catenaccio, but nobody bothers with the 90s when Milan and Juventus dominated the European cups with an entertaining and aggressive style of play. I remember Milan beating Barcellona 4-0 in the Champions league final (that was the Crujiff’s Barcellona) and playing some of the most entertaining football ever.
I suspect a lot of this has to do with the International Football media being dominated by English commentators. There is some racism in England against Italian football, as if the inventors of football could accept to be beaten at their own game by the machine-like Germans, or the Spanish entertainers, but refuse to accept that Italians can match them at temperament and overcome them with better tactical organisation.
It’s the same fallacy that keep popping up when I hear Manchester
hailed as the best team ever (after Real), instead of a good team with a great character. Every year I hear comments that only bad luck or, now, mighty Real could thorn the Champions League from its rightful owners in Manchester. All that fails, of course, to remember that Manchester managed to reach the final only once, and even then winning with a last minutes stun against Bayern Munich (that played much better throughout).
I would say it’s time Italian football gets his due. True, Italian teams are not entertaining as Real (but who else is), but also they are not as defensively disastrous as Manchester. The game between Real and Juventus will probably not be as fun to watch as the one against Manchester, but it will probably be a better football match, at least if you consider football as a game and not as a circus where defenders leave four meters of space to Ronaldo to do as he please.
posted by Mooraq at 11:36 AM
US of E
It’s crunch time for the European Convention
Seven weeks to go for the blueprint of European future. The European Convention chaired by former French President Giscard D’Estaing is reaching its conclusions on what the future of the EU should be. Of course, whatever the results, a lot of additional wrangling and bargaining will take place at a later stage between the participant countries, the European Parliament and the Commission. Nevertheless, we can expect the general structure of the final result to be fairly similar to what will come out of Mr. Giscard D’Estaing’s machine.
Regardless of the constitutional minutiae, the result should be a more efficient and effective EU, without the confusing and increasingly illogical rotating presidency (can you picture the six months of Malta’s presidency?) and inevitably a strengthening of European Institutions.
As a keen Europhile, I cannot but rejoice at the prospect, the pragmatic experience of fifty years of increasing integration has been exceedingly positive, not only for Europe but for the rest of the world –the US first of all – too. A more united Europe will be greater market, a greater opportunity and a powerful and peaceful player in international affairs. I don’t subscribe to the idea of a EU as a counterbalance to US supremacy but I see a much more fruitful relationship between the two with the emerging of a more cohesive Europe. Steering the world towards peace and prosperity is a difficult business, costly and very complicated, the more big players willing to put money and effort in it, the better. Especially if they share, as we do, basic principles of freedom, love for democracy and the value of the human being.
Thursday, April 24, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 3:28 PM
Ground Control To Major Tom
Private space flights soon to be with us?
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo has a very nice graphic simulation of the SpaceShipOne, a private program that plans to offer sub-space flight to privates. Why should somebody pay what I imagine will be a lot of money for 3 minutes of micro-gravity is beyond me, but the idea is interesting.
posted by Mooraq at 10:40 AM
Latin Dances
Italians are back with a vengeance
After few years of draught, Italian football is back on the top. Three of the four semi-finalists for the Champions League hail from the Bel Paese.The fourth is, of course, Real Madrid.
The Spaniards remain everybody’s favourites, but I am not so sure they will find the Juventus defence as easily perforated as Manchester’s. Given the vaudevillian qualities of Real’s own rear, the reigning champions may be in for a nasty surprise. Still, any team with Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo, Carlos, is capable of anything on a good day
I confess I am happy to see the Italian teams where they deserve. After having the Italians dominating the European competitions for so long, in the last three-four years Spain seemed poised to replace Italy as the cradle of football. What many saw as the end of Italian football, to me was simply a case of generational change. The Vieri, Totti, Del Piero and co. are now into their golden years, and it shows. Spain will be complaining of bad luck, of anti-football etc. etc. but the truth is that Italian teams were better this year. Even Roma, who failed to gain access to the quarterfinals, managed to beat both Real and Valencia in previous games. My bet for the final is Juventus vs. Milan, with the bianconeri lifting the cup.
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 5:28 PM
Another Wall’s Falling...
…and not a moment too soon
The Turkish section of Cyprus is slowly relaxing its grip. Shame that this is happening too late to have an impact on the EU enlargement where only the Greek section of Cyprus has been included.
This latest development has probably something to do with Erdogan consolidating his position. It was really unfortunate for Turkey that he wasn’t able to exercise full control during the last couple of months, due to his inexperience and the awkward position he was in. Both Cyprus and the row with the US on Iraq have been two costly mistakes for Turkey.
Hopefully, this present event signals de-frosting of Cyprus not-so-cold war.
posted by Mooraq at 5:14 PM
Good News On The Palestinian Front
Abu Mazen wins the strong-arm contest with Arafat
Internal and international pressure have helped Abu Mazen to get the upper hand in forming his new cabinet. It’s good news for the Palestinians as well as for all those who genuinely want to see an end to the bloody conflict that has scarred the Middle East for more than 50 years.
Now the ball is starting to fall squarely on the US and Israeli court. The majority of Palestinians are showing the will and the commitment to a renewed peace process, it is the time the other side shows an equal interest in the success of the peace plan. I see a rocky path ahead for Sharon and his ultra-right Government, they will have to face the stark reality that the settlements have to be stopped and rolled-back if Israel wants a lasting peace. If Sharon dares take that path, as I hope, political attacks will multiply and, I am afraid, also personal ones as the one that killed Rabin.
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 2:56 PM
Change Of The Guard
It’s time for the Palestinians to act
Contrary to conventional wisdom, this is a propitious moment for the Palestinians. After Saddam’s removal, the Palestinian issue is squarely at the center of attention of the international community. Even the US, traditionally Israel’s ally, needs to be seen as more even-handed by the Arab world if it really wants to rebuild the region in a democratic fashion.
It comes as no surprise that Israel is trying to delay the publication of the quartet roadmap. As things stand, any roadmap would necessarily mean the disbanding of Israeli settlements (sooner rather than later). The Sharon Government is clearly against any such move, therefore no peace is realistically possible – unless one counts the slavery, deportation or extermination of Palestinians as realistic alternatives -.
But in order to achieve something, the Palestinians need to step up and decide what they want for themselves. The fight between the new Prime Minister Abu Mazen and Arafat’s old guard is the struggle between the old, corrupted regime that has missed its historical train when it failed to grasp Barak’s hand at Camp David, and a new more open and accountable leadership. Unless Abu Mazen is strongly supported by his own people, the Palestinians will confirm what is said of them: that they never miss the opportunity to miss an opportunity. Let’s hope for their own sake that this will not be the case. The time is ripe for a significant step towards peace in the region, the Palestinians have nothing to lose except their corrupted leaders.
posted by Mooraq at 2:14 PM
Jayraq
General Garner arrives in Baghdad, and finds a mess….
The post-war Iraq is still in its infancy. It was unrealistic to expect a country emerging from 30 years of tyrannical regime and without any traditional political structure, to emerge as a democratic phoenix from Saddam’s ashes. Nevertheless the anarchic implosion of the last few days exceeded most expectations.
Confirming my suspicions that the US Army is better at waging war that at maintaining peace, a power vacuum has appeared in Iraq, a vacuum quickly filled by Shia’s extremists, who have, I suspect, strong ties to Iran.
I also have my suspicions that the post-war was not planned beyond some dreamy scenarios of the places coming together and a local Karzai emerging. General Garner arriving in Baghdad only yesterday smacks of improvisation, as well as the assassination of Al Khoei and the failure of the first conferences on post-war Iraq.
The US has to realize that rebuilding a country, even one as potentially rich as Iraq, takes a lot of work and time Unfortunately, both are not currently in ample supply. A prolonged US protectorate could carry a huge political backlash, especially if the local population turns out to be more hostile than expected.
I still believe that the best guarantee for a future stable Iraq is a quick handover of the civilian control to the UN, which can claim more legitimacy than General Garner until a democratic political structure can emerge.
posted by Mooraq at 9:49 AM
Big Is Beautiful
Concorde retirement highlights changed flight patterns
When the Concorde was first launched in 1969, it was supposed to herald a new age of supersonic flight. As it often happens, the future did not turn out as expected. Doomed since the beginning by its highflying costs, increased by the oil crisis of the 70s, the Concorde never really took off. It was a marvelous engineering feat but also a product that nobody really wanted to pay for.
Thirty years later the Concorde is going into retirement this October and no supersonic liner is expected to see the light for at least another 20 years. On the other hand, mass air-transport has become a huge business, despite setbacks in the post-September 11 and the current SARS crisis. Instead of sleek super-fast jets, air transport has turned to slow, economical juggernauts like the forthcoming Airbus A380 to satisfy a ten-fold increase in demand. If anything the SARS crisis has highlighted how much more interdependent we have grown, with people rapidly moving around the world as easily as our grandparents were taking a train to the next station
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