Chelsea on Chavness
Chelsea's Russian owner, the billionaire, Roman Abramovich has fired legendary coach Felipe Scolari, for the Blues' run of poor form. Chelsea are on their third coach in three years. Mourinho, The Special One, was sacked in 07; Avram Grant was shown the door in 08; and now Big Phil has been given his walking papers! There is just no pleasing RA. It is said that he flew in from Russia specifically to fire FS.
There is winning mentality, but this is utter madness. It is RA's classlessness showing through. I should not be bothered, since it is Chelsea, and I do tend to revel in their periods of unrest, but I have a soft spot for FS since he engineered Brazil's spectacular World Cup 02 success and Portugal's trip to the 04 Euro finals. In addition, he has always been protective of my dear disaster C. Ronaldo, who has expressed sadness over the turn of events at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues have now apppointed Guus Hiddink (who steered South Korea to the semifinals of the 02 WC, [at the expense of Spain which were undone by sickeningly inept referees/linesmen/fourth official]; present coach of Team Russia) as their new main man. If I were GH (and why would I want to be?), I would be wary, indeed.
Enough of Chelsea. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth, this team.
I only wanted to meet my 31 December deadline so I posted Fangirl on the Footballer Year That Was- Part I posthaste and rather without thought. To be fair, the topic tends to blank out all rational thought. (And Fangirl doesn't even have many).
I wanted to do a proper Part II, but my muse has declined to oblige. Said muse is keeping an eye on this Dearest Darlingest Convalescent and is not set to return until April, when ward is ready to take to the pitch again.
In some alphabet, I am certain that "V" means "Cynch"
It's Show (and Tell) Time
Annsley with Barca ball, Cynch with Fab4 jersey; Miko with RvP11 kit
Here is why we are fans of these talents
Because they play as fabulously as they look.
January 19, 2009
By George Friedman
www.stratfor.com
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in on Tuesday as president of the United States. Candidate Obama said much about what he would do as president; now we will see what President Obama actually does. The most important issue Obama will face will be the economy, something he did not anticipate through most of his campaign. The first hundred days of his presidency thus will revolve around getting a stimulus package passed. But Obama also is now in the great game of global competition — and in that game, presidents rarely get to set the agenda.
The major challenge he faces is not Gaza; the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is not one any U.S. president intervenes in unless he wants to experience pain. As we have explained, that is an intractable conflict to which there is no real solution. Certainly, Obama will fight being drawn into mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during his first hundred days in office. He undoubtedly will send the obligatory Middle East envoy, who will spend time with all the parties, make suitable speeches and extract meaningless concessions from all sides. This envoy will establish some sort of process to which everyone will cynically commit, knowing it will go nowhere. Such a mission is not involvement — it is the alternative to involvement, and the reason presidents appoint Middle East envoys. Obama can avoid the Gaza crisis, and he will do so.
Obama’s Two Unavoidable Crises
The two crises that cannot be avoided are Afghanistan and Russia. First, the situation in Afghanistan is tenuous for a number of reasons, and it is not a crisis that Obama can avoid decisions on. Obama has said publicly that he will decrease his commitments in Iraq and increase them in Afghanistan. He thus will have more troops fighting in Afghanistan. The second crisis emerged from a decision by Russia to cut off natural gas to Ukraine, and the resulting decline in natural gas deliveries to Europe. This one obviously does not affect the United States directly, but even after flows are restored, it affects the Europeans greatly. Obama therefo re comes into office with three interlocking issues: Afghanistan, Russia and Europe. In one sense, this is a single issue — and it is not one that will wait.