HABEMUS PLANUM

Trump gets a plane. This lavish gift is a reminder of the creeping redistribution of wealth in today's world. His America becomes the resort for zombie parvenus.

The president is envious of the glitter, and he tries unconvicingly to emulate. He only copies. His Mar-a-Lago faux rococo is invading the White House which might end up looking more like a decor than Jefferson's magnum opus.

Problems are piling up and the tricks that are the trademark of this Maga clique only delay, distract or hide. Even the second clown-in-chief, Elon Musk, starts to look distraught. Let's not dwell on the women in this administration who look like they're auditioning for The Housewives of Washington DC.

Let's imagine Tocqueville returning to America in search of a follow-up to his Democracy in America. He would be devastated by the war that is being waged against all the principles he experienced earlier. The rule of law is gone, the separation of powers is no longer and most commands are in the hands of a group of corrupt amateurs. The president follows the script of the mad man who is institutionalizing unpredictability. This erratic pattern stands against any form of enlightened leadership.

The West copes, the world observes and the United States loses its compass. Europeans look trapped in a series of contradictory impulses from an American administration that lost its balance. This change affects both the heart of the matter and the external expression thereof. The Trump style looks more like a provincial beauty parlor out of Dynasty than a cool projection of reliable power and taste.

Currently Trump is being flattered to such an extent that he acts euphoric. His Middle East tour is his Prozac. He pretends not to have permanent enemies, without blushing....

At the end of the day, the world will eventually tire of the successive repetitive shocks. America gets lost in the Maga mist but it will eventually get tired of the "antics". The world at large keeps its cool for now. Europe has the most to loose and cannot count any longer on a partnership wherein the Maga antipathy versus everything European gets a free ride. Hillary Clinton warned against the "deplorables". Now they take over the pilot's seat. A bumpy ride lies ahead. Europeans had better fasten their seatbelts until the day the turbulence will have self-exhausted.

100 days Trump

Certain numbers stand out: Napoleon's 100 days after Elba, President Kennedy's 1000 days. Now we suffer 100 days of President Trump's orchestrated madness, some Season in Hell (without Arthur Rimbaud, sadly).

It is an undeniable fact that questions abound and that answers are non-existent or unconvincing. If the reality we undergo is also destabilising the mind, we should not forget that all this is bluff,  yoyo policies that lack a coherent strategy. The "apostles" around the mad king have neither credibility nor a moral/ intellectual compass. In between playing golf and looking at Fox News there is no "there" there.

Asians are regrouping, sub-Sahara Africa is left to its own devices, the Middle East follows the President's hotel trail, Russia and China have a hard time hiding their mépris, Canada, Mexico and Australia are increasing their distance. The EU has no other choice than trying to monitor the contradictions in its own midst, the the Hungarian joker, the Polish hard liner, the Danish Hamlet, the Bonapartist Macron and the sly Meloni. 

The cards on the table open a window of opportunities for Trump, who can create havoc with no effort. Nevertheless he must pay attention to slipping poll numbers or a growing frustration in Washington's elites, who are becoming impatient under the dureness of this other Marvel creature.

As long as in the second term Trump can avoid confrontation in his ranks he is relatively safe. He certainly doesn't want to risk the  problems created during his first term by the few establisment personalities in his administration. This time he deliberately chose to be surrounded by a claque of willing amateurs, chosen for servility rather than talent.

Soon we could witness a Strindberg scenario wherein he will be eaten raw by some of his partners who will anesthesize him through flattery and hotel licenses. By the way he has only the certified logistical support of  Steve Witkoff, his hotel concierge-in-chief.

FRIET MUSEUM IN BRUSSEL

De musea situatie in Brussel is tragisch. De verantwoordelijken zouden stage moeten lopen in o.m. Amsterdam.

Na de chocolade en  het bier wordt nu het friet epos in de verf gezet. De grote markt en omgeving zijn nu al totaal verloedert; stel U voor dat hetzelfde zou worden overwogen in Palais Royal of Place des Vosges in Parijs ?!

Misschien is de volgende stap een "vuilnis museum" of een façadisme beleving ?

Een andere troef in de kroon van "pauvre B(ruxelles)"?

THE BREZHNEV DOCTRINE IS BACK, A LA TRUMP

The doctrine of limited sovereignty after the Prague Spring became the cornerstone of the Soviet Union's foreign policy. Within Moscow's political realm the member states of the Warshaw Pact only received the smallest amount of autonomy, as long as the "socialist" priorities were not endangered.

Now Trump follows the same path, suggesting a conditional,  survival kit for Ukraine: reduced, humiliated, and servile. Mutatis mutandis ,the same goes for other unpleasant aspects of this salesman's dealings with the world. Never has such a vulgar, unprincipled, tasteless person presided over the destiny of what was not long ago the envy of all . 

Former generations saw America as a model, far from perfect, but ruled by the better intentions. Nowadays, one ends up seeing trough the "magic" of a smartphone a grotesque America ruled by amateurs on the payroll of a mean-spirited, awful president. 

Putin will get his prey and his way. Trump will oblige because he is clueless regarding history, taste or anything out of the sphere of self-agrandisement. He is the frog in a La Fontaine tale or the sociopath in a B movie.

Europeans had better stick together and avoid entering stormy weather. Others should follow the Chinese example and not play into the supplicant scenario that Trump likes to impose. Too bad that so many Americans fell for an idol of clay. The Democrats have no Moses in their rank.

Reality will finally bite. It is a multi-headed monster with a flair for hybrid warfare on all fronts: geo-political, economical and cultural. The former Bandung group will come together again, Taiwan will follow the Ukraine model, the EU will have a hard time shedding the image of a mild parish congregation, while the right/Maga forces will roar until they die for lack of oxygen.

In the short term Trump will try to steal Pope Francis'burial. Nothing can stop this Golem until some stroke gets the better of him. Until then, better run for shelter.

LE PAPE FRANCOIS

Après un dernier tour de la place St Pierre, le pape s'en est allé comme il a vécu, avec grace et discrétion.

L'homme n'avait d'autres défauts que de ne pas en avoir. Mème ses humeurs étaient éphémères. Ses qualités demeurent.

Point n'est besoin d'être croyant pour se sentir un peu plus seul peut-être depuis ce 21 Avril 2025.

Ses dernières paroles ont été adressées à "toutes" les victimes du drame dont nous sommes tous les témoins à Gaza. Il a de mème condamné l'antisemitisme croissant dans le monde. Que l'on s'en souvienne. 

BRUSSELS FINALLY IN THE (BAD) NEWS

The accidental city where i.a. Nato and the EU found refuge finally made it in the international media.

The accumulating garbage in the streets breaks records. The prolonged absence of one of the many mayors (Molenbeek) shows again how bankrupt the governance of these little dominions which divide the capital, is.  Too many incompetent principalities create their own corruption. It is all too sordid for words. The urbanism remains in chaos, the new metro line is a costly joke, the homeless become a human dignity scandal. Elementary taste is being taken hostage by the returning façadisme.

Yes there remains an overflow of chocolate and mediocre, or better restaurants. Kanal will be the new contemporary arts centre, but under the current agonizing political structure, it already risks becoming a joke, while existing musems stay partially off limits because of a shortage of guardians...and funds.

While the insecurity is becoming a deadly curse, the causes thereoff remain unanswered: South and North rail stations and their environment, neglect everywhere, homeless scandalously ignored, strikes mutiplying, concrete roadblocks spreading shamelessly...a journey into a nightmare of broken tunnels. There is no money and the banks end up ignoring the pleas. Like Judas Iscariot Brussels might further betray almost anything for thirty pieces of silver. This is Easter after all. 

The Philippe Geluck's Le Chat Museum is still in the make....it should have been stillborn instead ...besides there exists a strip museum.

There are voices in the Engagés, N-VA , Groen and MR that give some ray of hope but short-term minds still prevail. The Parti Socialiste has become just another costly Belgian strikers lobby.

Other capitals are not shy from rolling out the welcome mat for the growing number of disappointed residents and institutions. 

Brussels beware !

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WALL STREET OR TRENCH

The mood worlwide is in a downward mode. Given the multiplicator of political, economic and strategic indicators, the doomsday scenario might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. There remains nevertheless a sort of no-man's land in between fact and consequence.

Certain observers are too quick to ignore the distance which still separates the shaken world order from an apocalypse foretold. The turmoil will certainly continue for a while. Hybrid warfare, trade brinkmanship, social unrest might be on tomorrow's menu.

Nevertheless all the talk about war and fatal scenarios is irresponsible. The Trump factor is taken very seriously, rightly so, but this American president is actually mostly unconsequential in the range of events that he helped to bring about. He doesn't own the chaos. He only appropriates it.

Too many are obsessed with too little. Trump is the sum of all aberrations, a culture vulgarian, decorating the Oval office in hardcore parvenu style. He preoccupies and sickly facinates because he cannot distinguish cause and effect. The same goes for his entourage that lacks any form of historical mediation. The Europeans dispise him (with meagre exceptions), the Russian (there is only one) and the Chinese (same) play the long game, leaving him to his Svengali illusions until he tires.

The economy was never a playground for amateurs.The financial crisis in the early 21st century could be managed by the adults in the room, while politicians were shown the exit. After a while the same will happen and the arsonist who tried to put the world on fire will be shown the exit.

There will always be individuals who mistrust the collective fate and who believe in unilateral warfare and protectionism. They are equally parochial in the realm of the economy and finance as they cannot grasp the complex interconnections of global policy. They distrust central bankers, the liberal forward thinkers and the globalists. Being unsavy, narrowminded, they fall for the noise and ignore the warning whisper. They cannot find Jackson Hole on their smallish roadmap.

The wake-up call will be coming. Dump measures die an infamous death. Trump will be even more often in Mar-a-Lago than now, sulking.  The Republicans will have no other opportunity than to recall the few wise men and women that are currently in the wilderness. The central bankers and the guardians of the collective fate will come to the rescue, again. Jamie Dimon is waiting.....