Monk business

Chinese lame attempts to control the appointment of the15th Dalai Lama -- and therefore Tibet -- are bizarre. The current Lama, the 14th, is 72 and afraid of the outcome of the quest for the next office-holder as chinese officials have implied that they may manipulate the process and appoint its own Dalai Lama.
Historically the living Buddhas are selected among young boys considered to be the reincarnation of the deceased office-holder. But the current Lama has said that his successor might be born outside China as long as Tibet is not free. In addition to that, he even suggested that his successor could be chosen while he is still alive, by himself, by senior monks or by a referendum.
This delicious scoop was first published by The Economist, which by the way has an office in Beijing. It is a pitty that only a few serious newspapers invest in foreign correspondents. Otherwise we would have to conform with material generated by the state-run news agency Xinhua. Ooops! Isn't exactly that what some so-called serious newspapers do? Interesting...

Classy style

I think it was very classy of French President Nicholas Sarkozy to remain tight-lipped about his divorce from wife Cecilia. During an interview with the 60 Minutes he became very upset when the reporter asked about his marriage and as a result he walked away from the interview.

I believe that he, as a politician, never meant to make his private affairs public like actors or public figures that splash their relationships on the cover of gossip magazines do. On the contrary, he suffered in a very private and dignifying way.

May I also say that his divorce doesn't impede him from doing his job. It is not like as if he had a disease that could incapable him from making political decisions. And he doesn't have drunking problems that could embarasse the nation. He is simply getting divorced. So let him lead the country, for Christ's sake!

After death

In rural China families demand that husbands and wives should always be buried together. I said always.

The fact that some men die before finding their soulmates isn't obstacle enough to deter the traditionalism of these conservative families. After all, these hard working young men (most of them fatal victims in coal mining accidents) deserve to enjoy the pleasures of marriage, even when they are no longer among the living.

So these families see no problem in ordering "corpse brides" to be buried with their beloved and unmarried relatives. These corpses are robbed from their graves and then transfered to the groom's place.

But supply and demand can sometimes be malign.

As more and more young men died in coal mining accidents, corpse bride prices skyrocketed. Such incentives prompted not only grave robbing, but also murders in order to meet demand. That, my friend, is the real freakonomics.

Needless to say

I love this expression: needless to say. Almost seems like it was translated with bad English. "Needless to say, the parachuting-in of Mr. Martinon has ruffled feathers". This passage was extracted from a story about Nicholas Sarkozy's rude manners in picking one of his protégés to suceed him as mayor of the rich and encrusted city of Neuilly-sur-Seine. He chose Mr. Martinon over the natural successor and favourite of his party's members: Arnaud Teullé. I can almost see the feathers floating in the air.