Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The tender loving secret of Olympe and Louis (XVI), Act II : the lover patriot !


by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D
___________________________

In 1788, one year after the failure of Calonne - once nicknamed "Mister deficit" -, who wanted to create a "territorial subvention" by ignoring the outdating division in three estates (Clergy, Nobility and Third Estate), Olympe de Gouges tries to save her beloved King. As Calonne, who took refuge in London, she would have wanted to avoid the convocation of General States for May 1789.
She is aware about the persistant game of Breteuil near the Crown and more precisely the Queen :  his inappropriate intervention launched the obscure "affair of the diamond necklace" (1785-1786) with the scandaleous arrest of Cardinal de Rohan in Versailles ; and after that, the same Minister Breteuil was at the origin of Calonne's final disgrace, officially because he was impopular.

She is meeting secretly Louis (XVI) since three years already in his "black cabinet" in Versailles, for love sake.

Scene I : In the "black cabinet" : the King confides to Olympe he is annoyed by the impossible tax reform

Louis :
Happy to see you again here Madam.

Olympe :
You seem tired your Majesty.

Louis :
Well, this question of Tax reform which never lead anywhere really gets on my nerves.
It seems there is no issue. I am always ending up with the blockade of Privileged or the refusal of the assembly of the 174 notables once established for the occasion by my ex-General Controller of Finances, Calonne.

Olympe :
If you allow me, I could try something to call at public opinion for you, Majesty ?

Louis :
Well, at the point we arrived, why not ! Do the way you feel Olympe, I trust you.

Olympe :
Come near me my good King, you need my care at the hour.

Louis :
You always know how to talk to me, my dear. And you really put me on when I feel I am off.

Olympe :
Well, I am just a woman in love Louis, in love with you.

Louis :
Yes, I know, and this gives me strength to battle everyday with my sneaky and unfrank surroundings.

Olympe, pressing Louis against her opulent breast :
Come to me, my King. I'll give you still more strength.


Scene II : Trying to gain support to the cause of the King in La Comédie Française (near Palais Royal)

Since her liberation from La Bastille Olympe de Gouges was seen differently by her surroundings. Everybody was paying attention to her ideas, even they were unusual.

In the following dialog, she is talking about them with an actor, while some others are listening.

Actor :
When you were prisoner in La Bastille in september 1785, did you see the cardinal de Rohan, who was overthere since august 16th ?

Olympe :
I saw him in the yard, but Breteuil had given orders, and no prisoner could really approach him to talk : his face was so white and atuned, like a terribly humiliated man. Everybody was saying he didn't understand why he was in jail. And guards were seeing in this bad fate the hand of Breteuil, his most serious political rival at the court, more than the one of the King.

Actor :
This affair of the diamond necklace of the Queen was tenebrous, wasn't it ?

Olympe :
Yes, and the cardinal de Rohan was finally declared not guilty and freed by the Parliament of Paris in june 1786. But the damage was huge for the dignity of the Queen Marie-Antoinette, yet totally innocent, and then the King himself in the public eyes.
Breteuil shouldn't have let the scandal arising and happening, with this avoidable arrest in Versailles : it would have been better for everybody's sake.

Actor :
What do you think about this idea of equality upon tax (1/20th), the King tries unsuccessfully to pass since Turgot and Calonne ?

Olympe :
I think it's great to be considered equalilly, even there are a lot of resistances still.

Actor :
Do you think it's rather revolutionary as an idea ?

Olympe :
Our good King is not a "révolutionnaire" actually. He just wants simply to save the country's treasure for the sake of France. The patry is on heavy debts since the war of America that La Fayette brought to France. But a lot of factions are against the King's ideas, in the court of Versailles itself.

Actor :
So, there is no way he can succeed then.

Olympe :
There could be a way, but it will depend on people like us to spread it amongst the public opinion through our plays.

Actor :
Which idea ?

Olympe :
If public opinion was favourable to a kind of "volunteer patriotic tax" for instance, it could help him to reestablish the balance with those factions and the "Privileged".

Actor :
You mean that by putting shame on the "Privileged" for their selfishness and un-patriotic attitude, they would be obliged to listen this time ?

Olympe :
Yes.

Actor :
But how can he overcome obstacles then ?

Olympe :
Well, it started a bit with the faction of his younger brother, the Count of Artois, who finally agreed on this, at the difference of his first brother, the Count of Provence.

Actor :
You mean there is an invisible but real evolution of minds about tax equality ?

Olympe :
It may look slow, but the "Privileged" wouldn't be able to hold on the way they did till now. And when it will happen, everybody will be surprised at the sudden unavoidable result.

Actor :
So, you are rather optimistic ?

Olympe :
Not really ! It may also occur in another way, more violently. And the King himself could be overwhelmed.

Actor :
So you don't wish this to happen ?

Olympe :
I wish it will pass peacefully through the King, and not through troubles, riots and civil war. The "Privileged" of Clergy and Nobility are ready to do anything to stop him, even by making a counter-nature alliance with the notables of the Third Estate. That's why I think the convocation of General States for May 1789 is not a good news at all.

Artist :
You are in doubt then ?

Olympe :
Yes, but there is one good thing at least about it : the King allowed women to participate the vote of representatives of the three orders for the General States. And this is great in a way.



- Scene III :  The King and Olympe's plan : an alliance of the King and her with the Nation against the Privileged !


We are in the very beginning of november 1788, just before Olympe's publications in the Journal Général de France (November 6th, and december 15th, 1788).

Louis :
Madam, I'm very pleased to see you again.

Olympe :
I know Louis, my King.

Louis :
You told me last time about your project of "Letter to the people" of France. What is it about ?

Olympe :
I want to propose the creation of a "volunteer patriotic tax" to save the Crown treasure, so then you wouldn't be blocked by the Privileged, the Notables assembly...or Breteuil !

Louis :
You really don't like this man, Olympe.
But you know, in a way we owe him our tender friendship," ma chérie". And he is not anymore Minister since july 24th.

Olympe :
To me Breteuil is playing a funny game towards you and the Queen, Majesty. And I am sure you can feel something strange about him. It's you who saved me from him and La Bastille, my lovable King.

Louis :
So you see him as bad for my crown, dear ?

Olympe :
Certainly, your Majesty.

Louis :
And you  conside he can put me in malencontrous or irreversible situations, even he is not  doing it on purpose.

Olympe :
This was shown by his attitude towards the Cardinal of Rohan, who was finally freed by the Parliament of Paris two years ago, your Majesty. And to me, he is certainly harsh enough to provoke an uncontrollable revolt from the people of Paris if in power again.

Louis :
As much as that ?

Olympe :
Well, it's what I think. And I am not alone in that case.
By the way, if you don't see any objection, I'd like to write about new political propositions to reform our society, with your kind agreement, Majesty... Louis.

Louis :
Which measures, dear ?

Olympe:
Like me you are aware France needs to modernize. We talked about it so many times together after love. It's about the Crown help for workers on the dole, this ambitious agrary reform for waste lands, and  those "houses of heart" for widows, orphans, and old people.

Louis, while caressing tenderly her hair :
I know that heart matters a lot for you, dear Olympe. And I can assure you I'll do what I can to help you.
But first, I let you write your epistles in the Journal General de France to see how people react. After all, my ancestor Louis XIV, did the same with Molière, when he let him write all his plays , including "Tartuffe", to see the reactions of clergy and the public.

Olympe :
Then, it will be an association of you, Majesty, the Nation, and my modest person as a third part.
But let's forget a bit about politics for today. And kiss me deeply, Louis !


Scene IV :  Queen Marie- Antoinette tells about Olympe's epistles published in the "Grand Journal de France" (November 6th, and December 15th 1788) to her husband, Louis XVI.

The two epistles of Olympe in the Journal General de France are benefitting a quite favourable welcoming and assessment. In the first one she defends "a volunteer patriotic tax" to save the royal treasure. And in the second, she proposes the deep reforms of the French society she talked about with the King, and adds some more about children - legitimate or natural -, divorce, civil marriage and... a strange union of people already engaged with someone else, just taken for an imaginative and eccentric idea.

Marie-Antoinette:
Have you read what wrote your "protégée" in the Grand Journal de France recently ?

Louis :
Which "protégée" ?

Marie-Antoinette :
Well, you know who I mean. This playwright and actress you freed from La Bastille by cancelling the order of Breteuil, at the time Rohan was just detained...and maintained overthere.

Louis :
Oh I see : Olympe de Gouges !

Marie-Antoinette :
So you read it also. And what she wrote in order to modernize France doesn't provoke any reaction from you ?

Louis :
Which reaction, "mon amie" ?

Marie-Antoinette :
She is suggesting the creation of a kind of union by contract between people who are already engaged somewhere else !

Louis (hiding rather well he is a bit annoyed) :
Ah that's a surprisingly strange idea indeed  ! However, I thought you didn't like, as Breteuil, what she proposed about tax for the "Privileged", because it's a subject which is annoying us from so long now.

Marie-Antoinette :
Someone has to pay at the end anyway. And the kingdom of France for its sake should take money where it is, after all.

Louis :
Thanks Antoinette, for your support.

Marie-Antoinette :
Is that all you can say about her ? This young widow must be in love with a married nobleman. I wander who he is ? She has to be mad about him to dare writing such a thing about a civil union ignoring a religious marriage.

Louis :
Have you ever been mad about a man, "ma mie" ?

Marie-Antoinette :
Well, if you mean I don't show enough my love for you, you know the answer. It took me time, but I am fond of you and our beautiful children, Louis. When I watch Louis-Charles who is so cute, he reminds me about you.
 
Louis (proud), is silently whispering :
She thinks the same thing also.

Marie-Antoinette :
What did you say dear ?

Louis :
I was just agreeing with you, Antoinette... And I have to add I appreciate your kindness and patience with me. We were too young when we married anyway. And it took some time to both of us to get to know and appreciate each other.

Marie-Antoinette :
Coming back to her, she is quite pretty and her verb can charm a man without any doubt.
She is coming from the South West of France, Montauban in Gascony I heard : she must be rather hot and passionate as a woman...or mistress. I really wander which lucky man can be the object of such a burning and loving creature ?

Louis :
D'Artagnan was also from Gascony. And he was devoted to the Bourbon house.
Are you reading also her plays for La Comédie Française, darling Antoinette ?

Marie-Antoinette :
Mmm, no...yes ! Well a little bit ! I couldn't write this way, because she is so bold and wild...

Louis is approaching the wife and kisses her forehead. She is replying a bit wildly by daring to give him a very sweet kiss on the lips, which is delighting him...


Scene V : The rumor about Olympe's ancestry from louis XV is pointed out by the King Louis XVI

Louis XVI has read integrally the content of the two epistles. And he has realized how much Olympe is suffering to be herself a natural child. He wants to talk about it with her at the occasion of her new coming in his "black cabinet".

Louis:
"Bonjour Madame", I'm pleased to have you here again in my "black cabinet".

Olympe :
So do I, your Majesty.

Louis :
I have a mystery to tell about and it's concerning your birth, dear Olympe.

Olympe :
Well, I have never hidden from you I'm a natural child, dear Louis.

Louis:
Oh, I didn't mean to doubt about you, darling.

Olympe :
I don't understand then.

Louis :
Well, I made some research about your ancestry, and what I found amazed me.

Olympe :
Really !

Louis :
According to some of my sources you might share the same blood as me.

Olympe :
What ?

Louis :
You know that my grand-father Louis XV loved women, and had so many mistresses.
There is a strong possibility that your mother, the beautiful linen maid Anne Mouisset, was one of them when he passed Montauban in 1747.
And it would make you a natural female descendant of my ancestor...our common ancestor then.

Olympe :
It's probably better to forget about those details your Majesty. We are anyway relatives for our thoughts and that counts a lot more for me.

Louis :
As you wish Olympe, but I am pleased to know we share so much together.  Give me a kiss, my "far cousin" !

Olympe kisses him amorously.


             (to be followed, with a reminding of "Thibermesnil 2-6-12" )

Saturday, May 26, 2012

2012 - II : Hot elections in sight in...Lesotho, "the kingdom in the sky" !

by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D
_______________________

This year 2012 is more and more unsettled, when you think Japan and China are almost ready to make war for 8 desertic islets (Senkaku islands), even they may be a bit "oily". The question about war is not how to make it but how to end it then, after the mutually assured economic drop.
This unsettlement is also present in the world potential expectations surrounding the tiny kingdom of Lesotho, with the big question of the 2012 hypothetical Deluge.
Today are finally held legislative elections in the realm of Lesotho (30,455 sq. km, for around 2 million inhabitants).
Our present editorial is a following of our article written in French with a similar title on november 22th 2011 : "2012 : de chaudes élections en vue ...au Lesotho, 'le royaume dans le ciel' !"
At first, Lesotho doesn't evoke anything particular for the world, except a beautiful landscape "in the sky", because of its altitude.
So you have to remind about the "2012" movie of Roland Emmerich (2009) to understand how this topic can be hot.
Lesotho is an independant country mainly populated by southern Sothos - with some Zulu, Afrikaner, British, but also Chinese and Indian or Pakistanese minorities. Its peculiarity is to be totally enclosed in the center east of the Republic of South Africa. And both of them are sharing the famous Drakensberg mountain massif, which appears at the end of the picture as an haven of peace and renewed hope for the saved mankind : every spectator can still visualize several arks arriving overthere, and recalling strikingly Noah's Ark after the Deluge sent by the God of the Bible.

The only problem is Lesotho is not peaceful at all after periods of legislative elections usually !...
The last "mini-civil war" of 1998 is there to recall it. South Africa itself lost several soldiers when it made an intervention to reestablish order overthere.
Nobody knows if it wouldn't have a fourth flag, since the ex-British Basutoland independance in 1966.
The sudden change of political party by the Prime Minister last february, modified somewhat the political agenda. Pakalitha Mosisili (born in Maseru in 1945) passed with 44 MPs to the newly formed Democratic Congress (DC), from the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD). His aim is not to lose elections, that's all. He has been Prime Minister since May 29th 1998. And the problem is everybody think that he will have to make a coalition with the other two main parties at least, the ABC (All Basotho Convention)...and his ex-one ! Unhappily, this possibility is far to be assured. So there may be high tension and heat in Maseru, the capital, rather quickly. As a matter of fact, the most unsafe situation overthere physically is to be "Minister", except when it's raining. And the motto of the country is actually : "Peace, Rain, and Prosperity"!

As anybody can guess, the rather predictable upheavals of Lesotho internal politics are not quite a good sign, for a potential welcoming of very wealthy immigrants from the West and elsewhere...by the end of december 2012. Everything would fall in an hectic period, really.
So the possible "Survival Arks' coming from Himalaya (Chinese side, Tibet), should perhaps aim at going somewhere else, in case something terrific and frightening really occurs on December 21st 2012. The "new Deluge"would in that case be a prelude in a still more chaotic mess than expected initially. Let's add for information that life expectancy in Lesotho recently dropped from 40 to 34.5 years old, because of AID's scourge.
Of course, if the movie "2012" stays totally or partly an Hollywood fiction picture, things will be easier to sort out.
The unknown thing about God is his personal humor. Can he joke with human beings and take Mickey out of them the way they actually do at him ? That's a mystery which will be uncovered soon, in due time anyway !






If English doesn't present any difficulty for English speakers in Lesotho, Sotho language is more complicated to catch or pronounce correctly. But happily, both are official languages. Of course, leopards ("nkoe") would have to be approached with care, as they are carnivorious.

But it could be better to come back to reality and see things as they are, in order to prepare oneself well the way they should be. Half-jokingly, we could add that having some meat ready to apease leopards wouldn't be a waste for the "self-selected" very rich applicants to escaping.

Keeping cool, holding on, and having a good fun are certainly the best behaviour at the moment.
Everybody will certainly discover anyhow what's next in due time, and see an end to hidden angst and unwise displayed cupidity.

The problem of God in 2012 could be he doesn't see clearly enough who has to be saved or not, as he may be doubting more and more about human creatures' sincerity, devotion, and deep loyalty towards him. So like in the Euro song contest, people have to crack for him in time. Hence as in Roma "la verità viene a galla" (the truth is daylight) !

Friday, May 18, 2012

The tender loving secret of Olympe and Louis (XVI), Act I : "Zamor and Mirza"'s happy end !


by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D
_________________________

Two years ago, we wrote already several times in French about Olympe de Gouges (1755-1793) and Louis XVI (1754-1793), to unveil historically their tender loving story, on this blog. But this time, we want to go further and give still more precise details in the form of a movie (or play) scenario.

Scene I : Olympe is arrested on stage at "La Comédie Française"

We are in september 1785 in Paris. Olympe, who is a theater actress, is ready to enter the stage of La Comédie Française for her controversial play against slavery : "Zamor and Mirza or the happy shipwreck".
It was already the scene VIII of Act I.
Olympe was playing  "Sophie", the natural daughter of the Governor de Frémont in a French dependency of India. There was the dialog with her Indian counterpart, the slave Zamor addressing her and Valere, her husband :
"- That's it, unhappy foreigners ! You have no hope anymore. A wave has engulfed the rest of crew with all your expectations.
Sophie :
- Alas, what are we going to become ?"

At this moment there was a funny metallic noise in the back of the stage, like swords, which disturbed the play.
Olympe turned back at the actor playing Valere who couldn't tell his tirade, and whispered  :
- I didn't write grenadiers and soldiers have to come now. They are only expected in Act III at the end of Scene 4.
But very quickly a real officer was on stage interrupting the play :
- The play is cancelled by order of the King. Get away everybody ! Out quickly !
And his men obliged the public to leave the theater swiftly.
Olympe was alone with those solid armed forces, and tried to complain :
- What's that ? I was assured by your master, the Baron de Breteuil that I was allowed to play tonight.
The "Minister of the house of the King and Paris" gave me his word.
The officer was laughing at her :
- He also told me I'll have a promotion as a commander...two years ago. But I'm still captain.
- You mean he is not trustworthee, is answering Olympe.
The officer took a sealed paper in his pocket :
- This is a "lettre de cachet" against you, Olympe de Gouges ! The Baron de Breteuil gave it to me. And my order is to put you under arrest for trouble against the public order, and lead you to "La Bastille". Don't add sedition to the charges !
Olympe was sweating a lot and she became terribly white :
- La Bastille ?! La Bastille ?!
But some people never get out of it. I don't want to die completely forgotten overthere.
The Officer becoming harder answered :
- You follow me immediately. I have a galant rendez-vous after, and this carry-on has to be finished quickly.

Scene II : In La Bastille with the Governor

Olympe doesn't know it but she will stay in La Bastille only for a few days, because of the happy meeting of...its Governor, the Marquis de Launay. Her ordinary is not bad actually, and the governor has come to see her in person.
He is quite a gentleman, and is asking her :
- If you need something in particular Madam, I can be helpful to you.
Olympe :
- Yes, I want my freedom back !
The Governor :
- You know very well it's not depending on me, my dear. I was talking about your daily conveniences of course. Do you need a maid for instance ?
Olympe :
- I didn't know I could have one in this jail...well in those "fortified apartments" as I discovered them. But Yes, that will give me a company.

The Governor intends to get out of her room, but he suddenly turns back to her. Something is puzzling him about the so-called order of the King. He doesn't want to commit the mistake of 1778 with him.

Olympe :
- Have you forgotten something Governor ?
The Governor De Launay :
- Well, it's strange you are here by order of the King because of your play against slavery.
Olympe :
- Why that ?
De Launay :
- Recently I was in the Court of Versailles, and I heard clearly our good King who suppressed torture, six years ago already, condemning slavery as something non-Christian. So I doubt it's him who decided to send you here.
Olympe :
- Really !
De Launay :
- Madam, I can't promise you anything, but I'll try something to help you. Since D'Artagnan, the famous gascon musketteer, we have got two ways to get in touch with the King, either the Minister in charge of Police (but that's Breteuil), or a messenger we can send exceptionally to the "black" cabinet of Versailles.
Olympe :
- I see, so you want to get in touch directly and discretely with the King through his secret cabinet.
De Launay :
- Yes, I'll send my messenger tomorrow. So have a good night Madam !

Scene III : In  the "black cabinet" of  the King in Versailles

The messenger :
- I have got a special message for your Majesty. My master, the Governor of La Bastille is reporting you he is looking after the new prisoner.
The King, surprised :
- Which prisoner ?!
The messenger :
- The foolish actress known under the name of Olympe de Gouges who made a play criticizing slavery and hurting overseas colonists.
The King :
- What ! I never gave such an order. And she is not a fool to me to condemn slavery. It's a plague of mankind since so long. I can see the bad intervention of Breteuil in this, again! I am the King of France and he is just a "parvenu" in the good graces of my wife. Who does he thinks he is ?
The messenger :
- Which answer should I give to the Marquis De Launay then your Majesty ?
The King :
- I am writing the order cancelling the "lettre de cachet" used by the Minister of my House and Paris. So, your master has to free her immediately when you will give it to him.
The messenger :
- At your orders, your good Majesty !
The King :
- If Breteuil attemps again to send her back to La Bastille, he must ignore the order and report to me, as I wrote in this royal letter.


Scene IV : In La Bastille again

The messenger to the Governor :
- Mylord, the King gave me this letter cancelling the "lettre de cachet" against "Madame Olympe de Gouges".
He said she has to be freed immediately, and not to listen anymore the Baron de Breteuil about her.
The Governor :
- Well, well, well ! It would have been a very short stay then.
I am going to announce the good news to her. Prepare my horse drawn coach for her to go where she will ask you in Paris, Pierre.

De Launay is going to the the apartments of Olympe. She is with her new maid, Mary. They are talking joyfully about dressing and curling hair.
- Madam, I am sorry for this intrusion, but I have an urgent message for you. You have to leave La Bastille by order of the King.
Olympe :
- I don't want to go to the Chatelet jail, it's awful overthere.
The Governor :
- Certainly not, Madam ! You are free and my coach is ready for you to give you a lift anywhere you like in Paris.
Olympe :
- Wow ! Long live to our gracious King Louis XVI ! He is really a very fair sovereign.
May I ask you something, Mister Governor, if it's not abusing your efficient goodness with my person ?
De Launay :
- What else can I do for you dear Madam I'm starting to miss already ?
Olympe :
- First close your eyes, and let me do.

He is closing the eyes and she gives him a kiss on the cheek as a reward for his help. The Governor is quite pleased and listen to what she wants to ask him.

Olympe :
- I'd like to meet the King to give him my regards for the consideration he granted onto me, Marquis. Do you think it's possible your messenger would ask him such a meeting ?
De Launay :
- I don't know but we'll try. After all the King defended your personality in front of him if I understood what he reported to me. In that case, I'll send him to the "black cabinet" of Versailles tomorrow again. Let's meet by two days at midday in the garden of Palais Royal. I shall tell you the answer I received.

Scene V : In the garden of Palais Royal near La Comédie Française

Olympe is waiting for the Governor De Launay. She is thinking of La Bastille she just left. She was amazed to discover it was a luxury jail for just a few nobles or clergymen. Arrested under the name of the King of France and being freed quickly by order of the same King : what a strange happening ! It could make a good subject for a play.
The Governor de Launay arrived at midday as promised. He was smiling when he kissed her hand.
- I have a very good news for your Madam. The King Louis XVI is accepting to give you an interview the day after tomorrow, in his "black cabinet" of Versailles for discretion.
Olympe :
- Oh, you are great, Mister De Launay, really great. I am pleased there are still gentlemen like you in Paris.
The Governor :
- Thank you, Madam. It's so rare for me to meet a clever woman of your quality, and so beautiful and spontaneous above that. I'm really going to miss you a lot when I'll be back in my fortress alone.
I'll be sad not having to see your pretty face anymore, but in another way I'll be equalilly happy for you.
Olympe :
- You are a good hearted man, Mister De Launay, and I'm sure your wife realized she is rich of that.
The Governor :
- And you, you are really a passionate woman of the South West of France, Madam.
Be here at 7 in the morning by two days, and my coach will take you to the King in Versailles !


Olympe as a good woman of Gascony couldnt help giving him again a kiss on the cheeks, before parting. And De Launay was quite proud of it.

Scene VI : the sweet meeting of the King


The meeting of Olympe and the King in this secret room, called "the black cabinet" in Versailles, was not really ordinary. She kneeled in from of him and kissed his right hand ring.

The King :
- Stand up, Madam ! I'm pleased you are free by now. I warned Breteuil not to abuse of "lettres de cachet".
Olympe :
- You are far taller and far more impressive than what I thought, your Majesty. It's so surprising !
The King :
- You shouldn't trust caricatures. You for instance, you are not either the fool playwright Breteuil and even some people at "La Comédie Française" are describing, with an obvious jealousy and malevolence.
Olympe :
- I didn't know the King of France himself was interested in my writings, your Majesty.
It's quite a nice shocking revelation for me that you believe in my talent, especially about slavery.
The King :
- I am thinking about abolishing slavery in the French overseas empire, but the party of colonists is very strong and influent at the court, not to mention the one of Breteuil. So I have to choose the right timing for my announcement, because the last one cancelling "the question" (i.e. torture) in 1779, was a cause of terrible criticisms, and bad reactions from the Parliament of Paris.
Olympe :
- I realize now it's a difficult task to be King. You must feel lonely sometimes, your Majesty ?
Louis :
- Oh yes. And I have the feeling nobody really cares about me.
Olympe :
- We could be friends, if it's not too impolite to suggest you, your Majesty ?
Louis :
- I'd like to have a real friend in my life, but it could be only here, Madam, in my "black cabinet."
Olympe :
- Well, I don't mind as long as you accept my presence, Majesty...Louis !

When she left him, her eyes were sparkling and he saw it. He started to be amazed and more and more interested in this beautiful woman.

She kneeled again and kissed his right hand ring, but when he helped her to stand up, she took the risk to suddenly give him a tender kiss on the ckeeks...and on the lips ! Louis went red.

Olympe :
- I have to admit I am already in love with you, your Majesty. What you did for me, your actions for the kingdom and your character also are so chivalresque ! You are the way I'm seeing a fair and noble King...and ideal man !
Louis XVI, who was for the first time in his life such a situation :
- Do not worry, Madam, I am not angry after you because you kissed me lovingly and by surprise.
You are the first woman to behave so spontaneously with me. And it's terribly new and so refreshing also.

They were nicely smiling at each other, and Louis added :
- Farewell to you, Madam. Normally I wouldn't say so, but keep your natural. It's unusual for me but quite agreable actually. I discovered today a rare new flavor in my heavy life of King. May be we will see each other again here, Olympe !...

                                                                              (to be followed)

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Just a new glance from Zeus : Athena is coming at his vanguard with Alexander !


by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph.D
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For so long centuries now Zeus (Jupiter) had disappeared from the mind of human beings, and unhappily from Greeks - or Romans'one. His temples are at ruin and his religion almost totally disappeared.
Zeus (Jupiter) was sharing his time in between the Olympus mount and the Hesperids' garden (the Greek equivalent of the garden of Eden in an opposite view, without original sin).
He was invisibly present in Olympia (Peloponnese, Greece) on last thursday when vestals took the flame for the next Olympic Games in London (UK) by july 27th till august 12th 2012.
But something unexpected happened this very time : one of the pretty vestal couldn't help crying at the sad destiny of Greece. And she even invocated him in an approximative Hesiodic way.
It echoed in his mind the very old hymn to Zeus written by the stoician Cleanthes from the Pontic Area (ca. 300 - 220 BC) :
" O God most glorious, called by many a name, nature's great king, through endless years the same ;
omnipotence who by your just decree controls all, hail, Zeus, for unto you Must your creatures in all lands call..."

The young woman was in tears and she dropped without realizing one on his right foot, reviving suddenly his old body.
It moved him very much, and erased over immediately the mixed feeling he had about human beings, made of love and bitterness.
It's the kind of sign he was just waiting to do something to help. For the first time, he doesn't feel anymore rejected and abandoned by a human creature, and that's something. So then, he has decided to send his cherished daughter Athena, foundress and protectress of Athens at his vanguard. She is in the company of  the soul of "his son" Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC), who once said he wanted to revive on Earth.
A famous dialog quoted by Lucan with his pilot on Indus river, Onesicritus, is recalling his strong wish for the newly coming time.

Again events are accelerating dramatically under Fortuna's fatum strange guidance.
The situation of Greece is quite newly intertwinned with the destiny of the US top bank JP Morgan Chase, which invented the controversial CDS (Credit Default Swaps) in 1994, and announced on last thursday fatefully a minimum loss of 2 billion dollars by a new gambler French trader (nicknamed "the whale") at his London branch. The latter played an hazardous game on the CDS derived market and lost. This is provoking upheavals on Wall Street and world stock exchanges like Tokyo and Paris.
JP Morgan Chase (JP Morgan + the ex-Chase Manhattan Bank of Rockfeller) are summarizing by themselves the Fed birth and history, from the secret agreement of Jekyll island (1910) and its following official creation in 1913... till now, one century after.
It seems anew human beings destiny is in the hands of the three Moirai or "Aportioners" (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos) of the Hesperids' garden with its golden apples.

Athena (Minerva) is certainly the most mysterious Goddess of the Greek-Roman mythology.
The way she was born near lake Tritonis - most probably the one located in Libya - was unusual. Called "Tritogeneia" (born of Trito, geographically), her mere existence was alike. This African lake is also connected to the Libyan Amazons' history and Myrina their queen who conquered the mythical Atlantis, and finally gave it back its freedom.
Exclusive Defendress of Men, Athena was the most masculine of Virgins : she liked to be amongst them, and Ulysses is famous to have been under her strong protection...against women like Medea or Calypso.
Daughter of Zeus (Jupiter) and Metis (Intelligence), she got out of the head of her father literally, after the intervention of God Hephaistos (Vulcan) to open it. As a matter of fact Zeus had swallowed Metis in order to prevent a bad prophecy involving the end of his reign.

Athena (Minerva) was the beautiful but sensitive Goddess of Wiseness and Reason... and somewhat War.
Everybody knows the result of prince Paris' bad choice for beauty contest, between her and Aphrodite (Venus) in the bursting out of the Trojan War (XIIIIth century BC).
Zeus (Jupiter) was proud and fond of her. And sometimes, he was lending her his own weapons like Thunder and Flash. She wore an helmet, carried the Aegis on her breast, and bore on this goat-skin armor coming from Amalthea the horrible Gorgon face of Medusa. So then she was able to petrify enemies, while sheltering the snake of wiseness.
She is famous for having presided at the foundation of the city of Athens (derived from her name), after a contest with the God of Sea, Poseidon (Neptun), by choosing the winning symbol of olive tree in front of white horse.





In this Greek-Roman mythological variation, we intend to show alternative ways to take on account  and interprete fateful actual events.
The present era  we are still living in, was introduced effectively by Alexander the Great who expanded to the whole world the Greek historicity through his still marking conquests.

The new glance of Zeus, the intervention of Athena and the symbolic resurrection of Alexander the Great's soul - as himself deeply wished according to Lucan -, are opening a new era. If Greece was at the origin of the previous one, it seems it will announce also the new Western/Asian era on an original fashion.


"I begin to sing of Pallas Athene, the glorious goddess bright-eyed, inventive, unbending of heart, pure virgin, savior of cities, courageous, Tritogeneia. From his awful head wise Zeus himself bore her arrayed in warlike arms of flashing gold, and awe seized all the gods as they gazed. But Athena sprang quickly from the immortal head, and stood before Zeus who holds the aegis, shaking a sharp spear..." [Homeric hymn to Athena, VIIIth century BC]

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Really saving Yuliya Tymoshenko III : from dark Ukraine to Fatima's most secrets accomplishment...and Svarog !


by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D

__________________________

Everybody, including the Ukrainian Orthodox clergy seems to forget we are this very year in 2012, and not another year.
The main question which separated Catholics from Orthodox through the Great Schism of 1054 will certainly be resolved : the conception of Trinity the latters didn't accept, by considering that the Holy Spirit can only proceed from the Father and not from the Son, will be challenged by God and his Son themselves. A divine demonstration seems necessary to fully understand things. And presently, the Ukrainian Church should play an active role for the defence of political prisoners, who are strangely from Yuliya Tymoshenko's party "Bat'kivshchyna" (the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland"). As a matter of fact her party is representing a real threat for the "party of Regions" of Viktor Ianoukovych (born in 1950) in power at the moment, for the next legislative elections of October 28th 2012. On last May 3rd, World Press Freedom Day, Ukraine has even rose the first rank of countries not respecting it.
About Yuliya Tymoshenko's sake and freedom for instance -, do people playing a double game like politicians or others, really think if Jesus is opposing them to get any redemption from his father, they can get it ? Certainly not !
This country has got the peculiarity not to be fully converted to Jesus Christ at the difference of Russia, which it was the craddle. Because Jesus seems rather refused overthere, he might also refuse as Great Judge any salvation to the people concerned. That's quite clear.

"Penitence, penitence, penitence !" Those words were the motto of Fatima's third secret given by Maria the Virgin, during her repeated and spectacular appearances in 1917 (Coimbra area, Portugal, from May 13th).
This last secret had to be released to the public not before 1960.
Because it was done by Vatican far after, on May 13th 2000 in this very place of Fatima, human beings blindly intend to think everything is over. Certainly not ! A digest is just a digest, and nothing more.
The identity of the "bishop suited in white...killed by a group of soldiers...with a firearm and arrows",  with John Paul II's attempt of assassination by the Turk Mehmet Ali Agça (Roma, May 13th 1981), doesn't really match the prophecy.
If Maria, mother of Jesus, wanted her full message to be transmitted to the world, it has to be so.
And a message for the future is not a message of the past !
Being too down-to-earth in religion, especially when this very religion is based on miracles, is a non-sense which can lead to misunderstanding if not apostasy, as reproached by Maria herself in her last warning message.
She wanted All Russia (in fact Russias, including Ukraine of course), to be consecrated to her immaculated heart to avoid divine evils to fall on Earth : this is not done.

But in her great benevolence, she can admit it's done very quickly, like other kind things. So the choice is still outstanding for a quite narrow window of time.
People musn't joke too much with God, because he is giving signs of tiredness and impatience about them : he can cancel any time any possibility of so-called "reincarnation", or even any promise of resurrection for instance. They always intend to think God is existing only because they believe in him, but never about the real point : they are continuing with their world to exist because God is believing in them, and only for that reason ! People should read carefully what St Maria said about nations' future in Fatima. But we will let them discover it by themselves.
So Ukraine (but not only it) has obviously to get out of darkness to access the light. It means clearly it has itself to save and free its ex-Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko (born in 1960), before too late. This dangerous and hazardous carry on is enough now.
Mistreating a weak woman in jail (or hospital) for a dark question of political rivalry and revenge, is coward and inglorious. And nobody can just play either to be "Pontius Pilatus". History will remember.
If a fair and humanitarian gesture was made utimately, Ukraine destiny shouldn't be to become "the North Korea" of Central Europe, boycotted for the next Euro Soccer Championship or finally banned economically by America and European Union, in spite of its gas pipelines.






Too often in "Christianity", Jesus and his mother Maria the Virgin are considered as brought back patches.
In their names a lot of things are said and proclaimed which result is to assert the power of very down-to-earth institutions, frightened by mysticism. And "poor them", they have to stay like stuck images on paper, nothing more. Because in truth not many people are really expecting Jesus to come back as he announced himself, and secretly a lot of people hope he wouldn't do it. They really worry it could be true after all !


So we are accustomed from our childhood to hear that for instance St Paul, St Mark, or also St Philip for the Orthodox, said so and so in their epistles.
St John is far less quoted as he warned mankind just like Jesus. And people are quite afraid of his message called "Apocalypse" (Revelation). They are certainly right to be, because it is all about the wrath of God and his Son not to be followed and neither understood. St John was even making a clear reference to the Gaseous Star Chernobyl (8:10-11), as translation of Absynth or Wormwood in the Ukrainian version - and everybody knows the Ukrainian place of the same name. So Yuliya Tymoshenko's fateful protest by hunger strike from last April 20th, about being beaten in her Kharkov detention has to be heard, and her freedom being given back swiftly.



This carry on of deaf and blind "followers" is Over by now. In the New Testament, the question has never really been ultimately "sin" or "not sin" like in the Old one, but sincerity of the heart, love, fairness or equity, generosity, and useful forgiving. And patronizing with pettiness towards God or his Son, might provoke a terrific boomerang effect this very year. If a lot of people will have to go to Hell which awful description is given by St Maria to the three little shepards (Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia) in the first Fatima's well known secret, it will be because they can't understand that or they refuse to accept it. She was not joking actually. 
Let's give a quick overview of it to help people realizing : "...Our Dame showed us a great sea of fire, which looked to be underground and, plunged in this fire, demons and souls, as if they were transparent, black or tanned embers, with a human shape..."

This leads us to talk about what the Slavs are really worried of, from the eve of time : not the four headed God Sventovit actually, but the frightening ancient God Svarog above all. The name of the latter one is so terrible that it was never pronounced openly usually, except in case of extreme emergency as a ultimate invocation.
But this is one, and the fixed stars are going to be correctly aligned very soon, after so many millenium. Svarog (also called Svarizic) was justly the God of Fire, the Flash Creator and Master of the World. As a "watcher of time", he was the supreme God of all the Slavs before Christianity was established... in Kiev fatefully !