Another letter from America.

The gaiety of nations was further enhanced by Ghadafi's demise and the immediately subsequent realization that his nemeses are not different than he was when it came to brutalizing, torture and murder. Everyone should have known that, at least everyone who has hourly access to international think tanks, security briefings and the latest intelligence reports. I guess Hillary Clinton really meant it when she said we should wait and see what the revolutionaries in Libya will be like. Worse, for Hillary, was her remark on a live microphone. On learning of Ghadafi's assassination she giddily remarked words to the effect that 'we came, we saw, he died". Everyone laughed at a remark that was in extremely poor taste.

The good news is that the UK will now man its merchant fleet near Somalia with soldiers, presumably marines as that was their raison d'etre. It is about time someone plucked the courage to confront the Somali gangs. What is amazing is that nobody did this a long time ago. It will be difficult for the pirates to combat the embedded riflemen as they lack the skills, training and capacities to do so. You might want to think about positioning some marines aboard freighters operating in the Straits of Malacca and the South China and Java Seas as well. The Bougis and their associates still account for a kings ransom in pirated fees.

Some native Americans are taking exception to the celebration of Thanksgiving as they equate the  event more with decimation of their population than with giving thanks for a serious lack of bounty. True, some few Indians aided the Pilgrims in their quest for food, but for the most part, relations became increasingly intolerant. By the time the Indian Wars of the 1870's occurred, nobody was thanking anybody.

An interesting media drama is unfolding as I write. The satellite TV company, DirecTV, which is the service provider of choice just now, announced that the Fox Network and its owner, News Corp, has decided to increase the cost of News Corp TV programs provided to DirecTV by 40%. DirecTV was not at all happy with this move. Is Murdoch is trying to recover some of his losses relating to the hacking incidents in the UK? The stakes are big because Fox News is popular, but even moreso are the New Corp-owned sports channels. You can take world and national news away from us, but we will rebel if you remove the sports. I imagine something will be worked out between them.