The Eastern Front! Copacabana & Carneval No Más?

Got my head in the clouds today, so I thought I'd share two absolutely ridiculous stories with you.

First, it seems some ''soccer fans" decided to re-live the inglorious past, roughly half an hour due east of here:

Around 100 German and Polish hooligans staged a mass brawl in a wood on the German side of the border on Sunday afternoon, police said on Monday.

A 100-strong German police team stopped and searched 45 Germans who had travelled in 15 cars and a busload of 53 Poles after receiving information about the planned fight near the village of Briesen, 60 kms east of Berlin.

I don't know if this sorry excuse for battle was staged by folks with a master plan - kinda unlikely, judging by the participants - and there was no actual game scheduled in Briesen. It's also not all that clear from the wire report just who was fighting who. Maybe it was the BMW owners vs. the Tyskie drinkers. And as far as I can tell, this is not related to Swedish dreams of revenge for the long-forgotten defeat at Fehrbellin, which is also nearby (the link is kinda wacko, but it's legit.) Guess there'll be an outbreak of moral panic all over the nightly news bulletins. Spinning it like cotton candy, some kind of football armageddon next summer will be forecast by the punditocracy.

These Briesen locals were NOT involved in the skirmish, and deplore all forms of violence. But they do enjoy a good boar on the spit.
(c) Gemeinde Briesen-Mark

Let me tell ya, it won't happen. These foolios will have zero impact on the World Cup in Germany. But to paraphrase a famous Prussian, my semi-namesake Carl von Clausewitz: soccer is politics is war by other means. And as such, poetic justice will be served near Fehrbellin next summer. Hopefully on July 9th.

Swedish virtuoso footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic meting out some justice during the game vs. Italy at the European Championships last summer. He scored with this bizarre acrobatic move! More of the same promises to be on offer near Fehrbellin next summer at the World Championships.

Back tomorrow with something more or less serious. How about "The 'Secret' Prisons that weren't there," "Saddam and Nuremberg," or "Guest workers are planning to stay"?

jo

Oh yeah, the second story and speaking of moral panic: Rio de Janeiro's governor Rosinha Garotinho seems to have adopted the misguided ''it's the supply ( not the demand) , stupid" approach:

A new law is restricting the sale of postcards showing scantily clad women, a campaign aimed at reducing exploitation and sex tourism that has drawn mixed reactions in Brazil's tourist capital.
The law, signed last week by Rio state Gov. Rosinha Garotinho, says postcards cannot show bikini-clad women in photo montages or outside natural beach settings.
Many vendors already have pulled postcards off the racks, but few think the law will have much impact on Rio's image.
Or on sales. Luiz Alberto, who runs a newsstand near Copacabana beach, said postcards of Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer are much bigger sellers.

Never worked, never will. Next smokescreen? The Carnival will be cancelled...As if Rio didn't have other pressing issues, and there weren't far more constructive ways to deal with the actual problem they claim to be tackling. Some politicians wonder why the people don't take them seriously...