Cheer!

Weirdly enough, I sit in Amsterdam watching a chearleading competition on the tele. I thought this was an American phenomena - you know, sports and stuff. Sonnet and I went to Cal vs. Washington at Memorial in '94 (her first football game) and she was fascinated by the the skin: "perky," Sonnet said. But these gals work hard - jumping and skipping, tossing and tumbling. You go, girls. This has been a busy week from London to Paris to Zurich and now tonight. Yes, I am on the money trail and we have had good meetings so far I think. The weather has been perfect - top of the summer so far reminding me why I live in Europe. In the background is Iran's protest over the thrown election 12 June. Today, for instance, saw 100s of thousands in Tehran despite government's effort to block media including internet and twitter. Yea, right. So far limited violence but we all remember the slaughter of Tiananmen Square twenty years ago. Iran's yuf, born too late for the Iran-Iraq war, want freedom and sex and drugs and rock and roll. They also want a meaningful place at the civilised, global table and reform. By contrast, the "Great Generation" (as Friedman puts it) are those who fought the war and conservative. They support the existing Islamic order who came to power at the expense of the Shah and us, held hostage and rightfully villified for medelling in that country's affairs. They want power in and beyond Persia and respect, which nuclear weapons provide. But the world has changed since the Islamic Revolution and Ahmadinejad a freak: "Israel is a rotten, dried tree that will be annihilated in one storm." Scary stuff following his stollen election. We watch and wait. Why can't we all just love each other like the chearleaders?

Photo from the www somewhere.