Author Archives: Doug Merrill

About Doug Merrill

Freelance journalist based in Tbilisi, following stints in Atlanta, Budapest, Munich, Warsaw and Washington. Worked for a German think tank, discovered it was incompatible with repaying US student loans. Spent two years in financial markets. Bicycled from Vilnius to Tallinn. Climbed highest mountains in two Alpine countries (the easy ones, though). American center-left, with strong yellow dog tendencies. Arrived in the Caucasus two weeks before its latest war.

Rotten Potato

Posted on by

As if the time in power for Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party had not provided enough comedy, a backbencher has been quoted saying something so far out of the potato patch that even the party’s leadership has condemned it. Not only did Artur Gorski claim that Al Qaeda was rubbing its hands with glee at Obama’s election, he added that “The black messiah of the new left has crushed the Republican candidate John McCain, and America will soon pay a high price for this quirk of democracy.” Not content with those sage remarks, he said “Obama is an approaching catastrophe. This marks the end of white man’s civilisation.”

According to Reuters, “Foreign Ministry spokesman Jacek Paszkowski said normally he would not comment on remarks of MPs, but added: ‘In this case we feel obliged to express our disapproval of MP Gorski’s address.'”

Barack O’Bama

Posted on by

Apparently a great-great-great grandfather of his came from Ireland, and at least one visitor reports that this is all the rage right now.

From the chorus: “O’Leary, O’Reilly, O’Hare and O’Hara/There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama.” The verses are pretty funny, too.

Oh My.

Posted on by

As the BBC puts it

The new leader of the party previously headed by Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider has admitted the two men had a “special relationship”.

Stefan Petzner told Austrian radio that Mr Haider, whom he met five years ago, was “the man of my life”. …

Mr Petzner has described feeling a magnetic attraction to Mr Haider.

“We had a special relationship that went far beyond friendship,” Mr Petzner said in an emotional interview on Austrian national radio.

“Joerg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life,” he added.

More in German, from the Swiss side of the border.

Petzner is 27 and had been named head of the party and its parliamentary group after the death of Haider, who was 53. After the broadcast, he remains head of the party, but Josef Bucher, 43, now leads the parliamentary faction.

Orange to Blue?

Posted on by

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has officially dissolved the parliament, and new elections are set for December 7. He made no secret of why he thought the coalition broke up:

The democratic coalition – I am convinced, deeply convinced – was destroyed with only one thing – personal ambition. The personal ambition of one individual which was propelled by the thirst for power, and by a preference for personal interests over those of the country.

The coalition’s understanding and the coalition’s agreements are destroyed; the economic reform is not implemented; the fulfillment of electoral promises has grown into a total social populism, which has caused the largest inflation in Europe and the lowering of social standards of living, as reflected in the salary, pension, and many other social programs.

This really looks like the end of the Orange coalition. In the end, there could be only one. Now the question is whether all three parties will continue in rough parity, or whether one Orange party will decisively displace the other, or go into coalition with the Blues (Party of Regions, Yanukovych).

It’s up to the voters now, but it’s still sad to see so much time and opportunity squandered.

A Moment of Blatant Self-Regard

Posted on by

Five years, one month and one day ago, A Fistful of Euros went live with its first posts.

Thanks to David, for getting the ball rolling and keeping it rolling; thanks to Tobias for keeping the back end running and the front end looking good; thanks to all of the writers; thanks to the commenters, for keeping us on our toes; thanks to the advertisers for keeping this little venture self-financing; thanks to the politicians and other public types for giving us such rich material to work with; and thanks to the readers, hope that you keep coming back for more.