Tour de France 2011. C'est compliqué. But today gave some visibility over the complicated Schleck-Contador battle.

C'est compliqué! It's complicated! This is an expression used and abused by one of the French commentators of the Tour on TV 5. That's why I prefer Versus. It is less complicated.

It's complicated in this case means anything: it's difficult, unknown, unforeseen, cold, slippery, fast, slow, warm, steep, left turn, right turn, break away, win the jersey, lose it, the Château on the river, Clenbuterol, the Church steeple of Issy-les-Moulineaux ,substance abuse, fall, get up, and actually complicated. I never knew it was so complicated.

Today, I had an uncomplicated day watching the 8th stage arriving at Super Besse. The last climb was giving me the first hint for some believable predictions: indeed, Schleck placed a banderillo on Contador. All things happened in a plausible sequence. Contador by now has to go on the offensive every time that the circumstances, such as terrain, demand it. He has to try again and again to inflict damage and seconds on Schleck. Here are the bad news for Contador as of today: there isn't just one Schleck to beat, but two, he has lost precious time which forces him into the offensive, his style of dancing on his pedals, which usually is the hallmark of a great climber, was far less elegant than usual and he was straining. Most importantly, he couldn't get rid of the two Schlecks. Believe it, this was a brutal test of everyone's limits. Short but brutal. In one word: compliqué.

Andy Schleck seemed calm, concentrated and uncomplicated. He didn't seem operating at the outer edges of his possibilities. Bjarne Riis, Contador's new and Schleck's former director must have noticed. It is getting compliqué. Tonight Contador has to wonder how complicated this has become.

New US Ambassador to Luxembourg: From "Call me Madam" to "Call me Monsieur".

President Obama has announced the nomination of Robert A. Mandell as the US Ambassador to Luxembourg. He is the Chief Executive Officer of a real estate and two mall development companies in Central Florida. Please see here what the Huffington Post has found out:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/obama-donor-robert-mandel_n_887061.html

There you have it. Just like his predecessor Cynthia Stroum, Robert Mandell has been a donor and fund raiser for President Obama's election campaign. That was the easiest part. Ask Cynthia Stroum. After just one year at her post, she got quite an earful from "The General Inspector". That name sounds scary. Though Luxembourg loved her, she had to go. She says, she has been wrongfully accused. I know that Luxembourgers have considered the various accounts of wrongdoing she was tagged with as peccadilloes. But that's us: we live on large footprints and do more in generalities, not the focused particularizations on concrete matters of a meticulous audit. So our Embassies don't need Inspector Generals. Luxembourg developed its own dynamic self regulation processes. But again, back to Cynthia Stroum: we called her Madam, in remembrance of Irving Berlin's musical "Call Me Madam!" I always thought there should be a sequel. What about "Call Me Monsieur"? Which reminds me of John Wayne. Not that he played in "Call Me Madam". But he played in "Comancheros", where he tried a thousand times to call his co-star Whitman "Monsieur". It took me a while to get that he meant to say "Monsieur" when he said "Monn-Dzioor". So it is a tongue breaker. We'll have to advise if that title is adequate for a sequel. In the meantime, we can give plenty of advice to Monsieur, based on Irving Berlin's musical, Pearl Mesta's and Cynthia Stroum's adventures in foreign lands and my own deep, deep insights into diplomacy.

There will be hearings first. We would love to contribute to your mandatory initial statement and say, that Luxembourg is of such an importance that it goes way beyond its size, it is everywhere in the front peloton: founding member of the UN, NATO and the European Union. You might want to kick in BeNeLux, the OECD, and the promising Schleck brothers in the Tour de France. We are the richest country on Earth and all the other planets, with trillions of dollars lying around. Therefore we also promised to take one prisoner from Gitmo. Yep, trillions. So someone has to come over and see when we are going to make good on the Gitmo promise. You did doctor the video with our SOS from that day, didn't you? You can also say that we are not a tax haven and don't qualify for Barney Frank's planned judicial haven benchmarks. We are very hard working people, to keep things the way they are, even after you find out what we are doing. It is politically very correct to mention the Luxembourg-American Cultural Society, based in Belgium, Wisconsin. Belgium!? And also the Luxembourg-American Chamber of Commerce, based in New York. I'll see you there!

Benefiting from Pearl Mesta's and Cynthia Stroum's experience, I would say, double check where Luxembourg is. Pearl Mesta got lost in the Belgian Province of Luxembourg upon her arrival. Those Belgians feed on our excellent reputation.

The Embassy in Luxembourg might look empty. I understand that most of the staff applied for positions in Afghanistan to escape hardship in Luxembourg. I would definitely keep the queen size mattress. It was bought by a democrat and the country can't really accept king size mattresses. Those restrictions are based on its limited territory of 999 square miles. You might have to man the Embassy's outside surveillance cameras yourself as everybody left. Be aware that some guys in Luxembourg have criticized those as an intrusion of their privacy! They will show up making faces to the camera. I would for sure investigate where the equivalent of $2,400 of wine went, that Cynthia Stroum left there. The wine still should be there, because I know for a fact that Cynthia Stroum didn't drink it. She had 3 glasses in 30 years. Go ask her!

Don't expect to meet the Prime Minister of Luxembourg. He is home, but exclusively in Europe. He is berating the Greek and other PIIGS because he is Monsieur too, but Monsieur Euro only. He would have liked to become Monsieur Europe, but he got outfoxed by Monsieur Van Rompuy. You won't meet him either, because he is Belgian. Van isn't his first name, but that is an aristocratic prefix you could buy from broke aristocrats some time ago. The sale is no longer available.

Don't expect to meet our SOS either. He is also our Vice Prime Minister. I call him Jang, but in America you would spell that Zhang. No, he doesn't live in Chinatown. We haven't any yet. Jang will be in Zimbabwe, Tonga, Vanuatu, Congo and basically every place where a guy can decide to vote for Luxembourg as a future member of the UN Security Council. Keep your veto handy, here we are coming. Except for Israel though, I don't believe you'll have bad behavior. And on key strategies, such as pulling back from Afghanistan, I assume we'll follow closely the US lead, and withdraw 3 soldiers in July 2012, and the remaining 4 a week later.

I know, Monsieur, that as a real estate professional, your choice of Luxembourg hasn't been left to chance. You chose location, location, location. It is a very nice place to be. Getting bored? Rome, Paris, Berlin, London etc. all are just one hour away. But don't try beating boredom by moonlighting, building malls in Luxembourg. The building permit will take 7 years to get, then you have to fight a lawsuit from those against, another 7 years, and then you have to go to the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, because justice delayed is Justice denied. You could however build just across the border in Belgium, next to Ikea. Those guys had no patience and gave up prematurely on Luxembourg, after only a handful of years trying to get a permit. Now, on the three days where the sun shines, people can watch Ikea's growing shadow totally enveloping Luxembourg before sunset. It's the Ikea eclipse.

And Monsieur, before closing my eyes after all these eye-openers, may I wish you the best of luck and success in your new career.

Tour de France 2011: What is Contador doing there and why he could beat Schleck (Andy that is).

No secret here, I want to make clear that my preference is to see Andy Schleck win this year's Tour de France. He might have actually won last year's. The jury is still open indeed to have Contador's victory in 2010 annulled. A ridiculous delaying postpones a final decision on Contador's fate until after this year's Tour, in August. This is sheer dishonest maneuvering. And from my point of view Contador cannot get back into my esteem, despite his considerable talent: his unfair exploitation of Andy Schleck's chain incident in 2010 has exposed a contorted character. He is not a gentleman as we should all expect from a great champion.

This said, Contador might be again this year's winner, as I have feared all along. Therefore I refrained from commenting on this blog, as I watched the discrepancies between Contador's and Schleck's preparation for the Tour. I hoped by now Schleck would mentally dominate Contador, but Contador was able to plant some banderillos. Never mind the more than 1 minute time he lost in the first two stages. He is in super form and Schleck is not. I hope I'm wrong, but my fears over the last months might alas unfold under our eyes.

Those fears are that the launch of the Leopard Team was a big show, almost a patriotic event, that confirmed the status of a primadonna, who doesn't even have to rehearse and everything will fall together. The Team hired more primadonnas, and I wondered who was going to fetch the water. All first violins, but no orchestra. I have come to believe though that actually the orchestra works better than I thought, so far.

Winning however will be one man's feat. There will be days of reckoning where one man has to get to the top of the podium all by himself.

What makes the winner? I would paraphrase Albert Einstein in saying that it is 20% talent and 80% of hard work. Though Contador and Andy Schleck have different morphologies, both have physical features that make them perfect engines and complements to their mechanical machines. That's a given.

The 80% of hard work cover many aspects: physical and mental training, discipline, diet, perfecting style and machine. I don't know for sure, but I believe and rumor has it, that Contador has been the more zealous student this year. But I still cheer for the guy next to the heater in the back of the class room.

There is an overarching unquantifiable element to success: though Schleck gave the wrong answer in the mur de Mûr, and got that banderillo from Contador, and a precious reminder of all the above, he has been lucky. Napoleon asked when presented with a candidate for Maréchal de France: "Is the man lucky?" An impressive question to base a mission critical decision on it! Andy Schleck has been lucky so far.

I just changed my mind: Scleck wins, but which one? Because Contador has been unlucky and doesn't stop falling off his bike, a former Schleck specialty.

The phantom giant of Luxembourg | Oliver Marc Hartwich | Commentary | Business Spectator

That's happenning when someone let's the djinn escape the tiny bottle.

The phantom giant of Luxembourg Oliver Marc Hartwich Commentary Business Spectator

Foreign fill-ups keep Luxembourg's economic motor running

I'm sure some Luxembourg zealous political players fall for this. Deutsche Welle surfing on Luxembourg's gas tsunami:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15153409,00.html

The mayor of Wasserbillig Gust Stefanetti is complaining about his 11 gas stations and the traffic it generates, it says here. I'm sure he doesn't want to finance his Centre Culturel, Sports Center and other must haves.

Luxembourg should only raise the taxes it has to raise to balance a budget. Not to abide by foolish wishes of European bureaucrats or neighbors. The total amount of gas tanked in the world will not change by a drop, because Luxembourg raises taxes on it. The same cars still will drive the same mileage.

If Luxembourg had no tax on gas, I would say "tax haven". As there is one, just tell the neighbors to lower theirs if they want to compete!

As for the claim in the title, there is indeed a real tax haven that keeps the economic motor running, including the one of the border towns in Germany, France and Belgium, where 150,000 find employment in Luxembourg. But that's not at some gas station. Those only help the 150,000 people to commute internationally at a fair price, if they have the brains to shop for gas where they make a living.

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, first donor to the FEMIP Trust Fund (1,2 M€)

We are the first, the fastest, the most generous, the mostest.

http://www.iewy.com/29016-grand-duchy-of-luxembourg-first-donor-to-the-femip-trust-fund-12-me.html

For sure a good program. But did we have to borrow to make this donation?

Luxembourg has modified continental weather.

I told you so. Luxembourg controls climate. I got witnesses. Please see here:

http://www.newsi.es/luxembourg-world%E2%80%99s-richest-safest-cultural-hotspot/887153/

And it is amazing that with all that power to control the climate, it usually rains so often. Hence the name of Grand Douchy which comes from the Luxembourgish "ee Grand" or "Angry man" and the French "douche" which means shower as in Toilette and Douche.