In 2000, for a brief moment, the EU got it right

A neat PDF version of this article, complete with literature list and useful references and links, can be downloaded HERE.

The deplorable story of the Lisbon Strategy

or

How the European Union squandered the one chance it had to come to par with the USA, China and Japan in technology

In casual conversation in Europe today, it is popular to talk about the unicorns and the incredible capital gains of early investors in Apple and Alibaba. However, these are stories of other cultures, other continents, made possible by different attitudes to risk than are found in Europe. In The Netherlands, even in Europe, such stories do not exist. 

The Dutch golden age (1575 – 1672) owed its success to entrepreneurs and financiers who were not afraid to take risks and explore the new. I refer to the brilliant book of the historian Simon Schama called The Embarrassment of Riches and an article about the wealth of the Dutch nation, although there are also references to it in Samuel Pepys diary. From the 18^th century onwards, the Dutch culture edged inexorably toward risk avoidance. Even in modern times where technology develops at supersonic speeds, cherry picking in venture capital firms is done much on the basis of 'proven business' and 'minimizing risk', and this is seen as 'sound investment strategy'. But this 'sound' investment strategy is as perilous as it gets, for the end result of the self-indulgent way of investment policies is that Europe is lagging hopelessly behind in bringing its technological and scientific prowess to market, or, in the vernacular of European politics, Europe is missing out on 'valorisation'.  

The creation of technologically advanced behemoths is

Lost culture from Brazil kept alive in Barçelona

YOUTUBE CLICK HERE
Life needs art that's alive.
In Barçelona, bass player and arranger Joan Chamorro runs a music school for young highly gifted musicians. Andrea Motis has been his prime talent, on stage since she was five.

Here she is singing (CLICK) about happiness in a song by Antonio Carlos ("Tom") Jobim and Vinícius de Moráes, both of The Girl from Ipanema fame.

The beautiful lyrics of A Felicidad go like this: (this is Brazilian Portuguese, TRANSLATION BELOW by Charles VanderHoog)

Tristeza não tem fim (Sadness knows no end)
Felicidade sim (But happiness does)

A felicidade é como a gota (Happiness is like a drop)
De orvalho numa pétala de flor (of dew on a flower petal)
Brilha tranquila (quietly glittering)
Depois de leve oscila (after a light tremor)

Predicting Donald Trump, predictive eBook now out!

Get your copy to free yourself from the influence of Donald Trump

The eBook Predicting Donald Trump, Understanding a Stable Genius lets you predict and understand the news cycles with regard to Donald Tump. Get it (e.g. Buy Here or your regular eBook store) and regain your calm.

American lawyers in the background have been delaying the publication of this book for six weeks.
Although of late Donald Trump is walking an erratic self-destructive path, his words and actions can be predicted with surprising accuracy. This book contains an in-depth explanation of the predictive factors.

The book Predicting Donald Trump, Understanding a Stable Genius is a non-political, cold-blooded analysis of the person who dominates our daily news cycles.

How Boris and Dominic will win the war in spite of losing all battles

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 12

It is quite remarkable what is happening in the UK. A small elite, that sought to reduce taxes for itself, played in 2016 on the English cultural idiosyncratic idea that the English are superior human beings. They did this by claiming they were governed from Brussels (untrue) and that the English taxpayer had to furnish up 350 million pounds a week to Brussels (untrue) that could better be spent on the NHS (true but the money will be spent by reducing taxes for the elite and therefore also untrue).
Their problem is  that after almost three years, many in the UK have come to the understanding they have been lied to, and so there will not be a majority for Brexit any more. This is what causes the total deadlock.
The elite has won the first round

New book reveals extraterrestrial reality: When an Alien Speaks to You

A popular report on unusual interviews with a being of extraterrestrial origin whose remarkable views and philosophical insights about Earth, other planets, space travel, space warfare, civilisation, and other lives gave insights and new-found laws about life and living. Includes descriptions of two instruments never heard of before.

Is there something new, i.e. not on the web already?

All of it was new stuff. None of his answers and stories can be found on the web except one. After all was said and done, an unexpected metamessage seemed to emerge that would change our lives for the better if taken up and applied. 

How do they solve problems?  See Goodie #1.

Aspects of the elusive concept of greatness

We know greatness when we see it but find it difficult to define for ourselves. Some people are born with a talent for greatness, others manage to develop it. 

Many presidents of nations and large corporations try to establish a legacy that will make them be remembered as "a great leader". Most of them fail miserably in that particular goal because they have not understood what greatness is and if you do not know what it is, you won't know how to attain to it either.

Louise Brooks and the most imitated hairstyle of modern times

After the Great War (1914-1919) everything changed. All of a sudden, people liberated themselves from the conventions of the pre-war period that had put everybody in a straightjacket of rules and do's and don'ts which had even emprisoned politicians and kings and queens into ways of thinking that were impossible to keep up, yet were considered the only right way. It led to WW I and the fall of the German Empire, the Austrian Empire, the Russian Empire, and, eventually, the British Empire. Before the war, fashion was like politics. Thick with mores, centuries old dress habits, unwieldy, unbefitting and not fitting the times of fast travel and industrialisation that were making the new world. One of the things that came forward from centuries of habits was the immensely complex hairdo's for women. There was only one effort to do something about it, and that started in an

Brexit is an English affair, this blog vindicated by Bloomberg

Brexit is an English affair

Brexiting. A series on being English. #11

Today, Friday, April 12th, 2019, unexpectedly the assertions of this blog about England and Brexit were vindicated by Bloomberg no less, the most reliable source in the world.
Here it is: Click on the Bloomberg article

Brexit Exposes Painful Disconnect Between England and Britain

I have been attacked by English pseudo-pundits saying that the majority of the Britons voted for Leave at the Brexit referendum of June 23, 2016 (17.4 versus 16 million; a tie, really, but still a majority). Although technically true, it was the overpowering number of the old-fashioned English, living in England and longing for the glory days

Hard Brexit inescapable

Hard Brexit inescapable

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 10

Having written brazenly about Brexit, it is imperative that I put my neck out and predict what will happen. So far, all my predictions on Brexit based on cultural idiosyncrasies of the English (not the British) have proven to be quite accurate.

My prediction is that there will be a delay for three months that will be extended for perhaps another six months. After that, there will most probably be a hard Brexit, i.e. a no-deal Brexit.

In the meantime, there will be a general election that will solve nothing.
The Brexiteers will remain against another referendum, having won with a tiny minority that could easily turn the other way around now that people have started to understand better what Brexit really means. If the Brexiteers prevail by not having another referendum, a hard Brexit, i.e. without a deal with the EU, is unavoidable, even after 9 months of delay.
Below follow 8 reasons why Brexit will play out like this.

On the competition of nations

On the competition of nations  

When civilian leadership lives high morals, it provides military leadership with paths to victory.

When civilian leadership lacks high morals, it tends to be selfish and tends to interfere with military leadership. This leads to weakness and, ultimately, to self-destruction regardless of its military strength.
Greed is the lowest of motives. Greed degrades leadership.

A society with high morals uses its inner strength to obtain economic and political power.
A society with low morals uses its military strength to obtain economic and political power.

No society can obtain strength on economics alone. Social cohesion must be achieved by non-economic means.

From a presentation by dr Charles van der Hoog, Philosopher of Culture, February 27, 2012.

The sources for human manipulation through propaganda and advertising

The sources for human manipulation through propaganda and advertising

(This is one of the texts American party strategists did not want you to read.)

The campaigning of Donald Trump of 2015 until this day is an excellent example of how and why manipulation of people works. What is said here could be said for the Brexit campaign and any campaign including the famous Mitterrand campaign of 1981, La Force Tranquille, but Trump is more visible.

How come Trump could win?
The personality of Donald Trump is explained in the eBook Predicting Donald Trump, Understanding a Stable Genius. It is mandatory reading for anyone that is affected by Trump or has to deal with him, which is almost everybody in the West, these days.
Persuasion know-how for mass communication campaigns (propaganda, public relations, advertising) is a different subject altogether that stands on its own but it is obvious that one needs a certain type of personal identity that is immediately recognisable for a persuasive propaganda campaign to work.
Look at the picture with the airplanes. (You can click it for more detail.) On top, we see an airplane in the background with the text "United States of America". Apparently, this is Airforce One, the private jet of the President of the USA. In the front, we see a crowd listening to, ostensibly, the President of the USA. Note the size of the president in the picture in relation to the airplane, his location and his posture.
Below that we see Donald Trump, posing as a presidential candidate. His airplane is half the size of Airforce One but because he is standing close to it, it looks bigger than Airforce One on the picture. And he is also clearly visible whereas the president was a bit difficult to find.
The next thing to note is the posture. The president, Obama, is using the posture of a lecturer, or a father who reprimands his children. This is good for his image with readers of The New Yorker and other intellectuals but is not going down well, on a subconscious level, with people who are in attendance. They look bored.
Now look at the posture of Donald Trump.  His arms are wide, all-inclusive. It is the well-known universal pose of a father who is inviting his children to come to him for a hug or protection. This

Clash of civilisations leaves politicians confused

Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless you also read the two others. But of these, the only trustworthy one is the last (the book of their art).John Ruskin

A civilisation encompasses different cultures but all these cultures use the same basic ideas and technologies. With modern unifying technologies and hypercommunication all civilizatons on this planet tend to converge. In the end, only differences in cultures will be left.
But for the time being we can distinguish the following civilizations:
The Western Civilisation,
The Eastern Civilisation,
The Arabian or Islamitic Civilisation,
The Mid-African Civilisation which is actually a collection of different civilisations but these are too hard to distinguish for Western people so we leave it at that;
A few of prehistoric civilisations that are still alive and can be found in remote areas like the Amazon rainforest and the polar regions in the north.

From this simplified definition we can develop a better understanding of what is going on with immigration and why it bothers the populations of Western Europe so much even though they have had no problems with immigrations in the last five centuries.