Obama and BP, Greece and Siemens

I read through the US press and Obama's consistent efforts to hold BP accountable for the spill disaster and I cant help recalling the case of Siemens who seems to practice government official bribing as a standard business practice. These guys gave out something like 10 million Euros as bribes to Greek officials for the fat Olympic Games contracts. Their guy in Greece is on the run for some years, while local politicians have started confessing (no other option really) their many “small” gifts.

Of course in the case of Greece it was easy play for Siemens to push forward with their unethical policies. Greek politics have completely invalidated the law of big numbers, by succeeding to bring together, and for a 30 year period, a statistically improbable amount of human incompetence and corruption. The bill has now started showing up; alas, to ordinary people and not to the political bastards who ruined the country.

So there' s an issue with multinationals. A very subtle one however. Extremist policies are not the solution. I think Obama is touching upon the issue discreetly but decisively. Maybe a bit soft here a bit tough there. I read articles in NYT asking for a more tough attitude. I also browse through WSJ. Lets say that a more tough position is utterly not possible, given the way a great lot of people in the US think about Obama, skin color included. However, in any case, a true, a genuine, a non extreme and rational confrontation, questioning the godly wisdom of multinationals is truly unfolding. And Obama is the engineer of it.

Realistically, I only hope that in some years from now a good majority in the US will consciously resist having AIG bailed out by the US government, as a reward for its reckless short sighted policies just to allow it to come back in life and to business as usual, if not an even more arrogant one. That will be Obama' s utter success

In Greece, on the contrary, despite the abundance of pseudo-socialists and demonstrations, often- as recently- penetrated by criminals and murderers, nobody, literally, considered publicly protesting Siemens ugly policies. In a country where you have everyday protests for any nonsense that can cross human mind, it only comes as natural for Siemens to carry out massive bribing, following its General Assembly decisions.

The "Left" here is happy in its virtual world. Busy with all sorts of ridiculous issues, existing only in its crazy and degraded mind; like the defense of the University asylum, rooted in some weird belief for an imminent attack by Mars who will come to oppress and limit our freedoms.

With no time to voice anything against Siemens. No surprise of course for the "Left". But sad that the whole of the society seems comfortable with this zero reaction, surpassed in apathy only perhaps by Siemens itself.