Oh, another Airbus crashes into the ocean! This time it was flying between Yemen and the Comoros Islands. Scary. The Airbus brand is getting a serious knock.
I write this as I am about to take an Airbus in a few hours, so your brain picks up these issues slightly faster and edgier than normal. Statistically flying is still the safest transport method, but two Airbus crashes in one month is a serious dent into these stats.
The Comoros are an interesting place. Stuck there between Madagascar and Mozambique, and near idyllic locations like the Seychelles and Reunion. The Comoros have three three main islands. Two of them form the Comoros Republic and the third one is (still) part of France. The independent Comoros parts have an amazing history of coups. Yes indeed, guys with guns hired to topple a sitting government and install their paymaster(s). I think the Comoros have had the most coups and coup attempts on this planet. That’s a hell of a record to have. It’s a gun-for-hire test range.
From air crashes and coups to final breath is a pretty small step. So Michael Jackson is dead. The exact, physical reason for his heart stopping to beat and Wacko Jacko knocking on heaven’s door is still somewhat unclear. Seems he was seriously lost into a labyrinth of prescription drugs. A cocktail of death.
Fan or no fan (and I am in the second category), he had clearly a massive impact on the popular music industry. But he certainly had a serious wacko lifestyle which without doubt was not good for his three kids. Grown up without a mother, in the surreal world of Neverland and with a father who absolutely does not look nor act as any other father in this planet. It cannot be psychologically straight forward. And on top of that they did not go to school, where your social interaction molds you. Sad story. Very sad and I’m sure much more too come in the Wacko saga. After North Korea and Iran, it’s a perfect story for the media.
But anyway I was thinking about Jacko because yesterday I was cruising the TV channels and at once there is his (abusive) father in front of too many microphones outside Jacko’s LA home. So you think he’s gonna announce funeral details, prayer sessions, concerts to honour his son,... maybe a word or two about the kids,.... but NO, he announces a new record label!?! That’s double wacko. So your son is premature dead and the father’s priority is some public relations for a new record label. Is that sick or sick? I mean Los Angeles is a place with often its own set of strange human behaviour and too often very detached from reality,... but this was out of space. This was moon walking! I wonder who was on drugs!
To a lighter note quickly before insanity trickles in. The Belgian government has looked at the weather forecast for the European summer and has noted that a hot summer is predicted. And thus they started to fear that hot summer + overcrowded prisons = riots. And thus the original approach to decide and announce the premature release of inmates to reduce the overcrowding and thus the chance of prison trouble. Get that! Temperature now decides your freedom. Not good behaviour or out on bail, or out with community duty,... no, a simple heat wave in the summer months sets you free. So in fact, global warming equals freedom for criminals. I wonder what Al Gore has to say about that! Remember that human behaviour that is too often impossible to grasp. Here it pops up again.
Anyway. Time to go and catch my Airbus.
Throw out. No Wacko cd in my car or ipod. Tuning into Sarah Bettens' latest effort, “Never say goodbye”. Fine acoustic tunes. She is a Belgian but living in the US of A. Great lady with a special voice and great lyrics.
collateral – last day of June ‘09
Tuesday's journey
Random thoughts from radio bulletins, TV reports and newspaper articles crisscrossing my mind. A world’s journey on a Tuesday.
Iran is still on the edge. Nervous. But the state’s oppression machinery is clamping down fast and furious. Army, police and pro-government militia on the streets breaking up protests. People killed. People wounded. People arrested. Democracy under threat. And free speech curbed. State TV is just a joke. To no surprise in such undemocratic autocracy. It’s always used as a tool of repression and distortion. And further attempts to keep internet and telephone lines down to avoid the truth reaching the outside world. Governments that react in such a way feel cornered. Cornered as the truth hits too hard. Reality is unacceptable and thus violent counter reaction. Like a wounded animal in a corner.
It could have been a good test case for democracy in the Middle East, but it turned out sad and sour. Bloody. The red, blood stains on the squares of Tehran will remain forever despite whatever attempts by the governing clique to erase reality. To delete events. To rewrite history. To manipulate the process. To undermine free choice. To destroy hope. To imprison dissent. To silence critics. To kill.
Some details of the vote-gone-wrong are emerging here and there. Slowly and against the odds. It seems that in some 57 districts the voters’ turnout was more than 100%. That is obviously impossible and thus the stench of vote rigging rises. The rot of manipulation comes to the surface.
It is important to note that the protesters do not want to overthrow the Iranian system. This is not an anti-Iran uprising. The Iranian revolution that threw out the dictatorship of the Shah some 30 years ago is not under threat. These protesters want a free and fair vote. They refuse to accept stolen elections. They refuse to accept the iron fist reaction by the ruling forces. They reject manipulation, oppression and the use of violence to silence dissent. They want to save Iran from a path that murders democracy and takes the country back to dictatorship. This time not by an emperor-style ruler like the Shah, but by a clique of so called untouchables. It is sadly often that history has shown us that a fight against dictatorship, like the Iranian revolution against the American-backed Shah, installs another type of undemocratic rule. Human behaviour is too often a sad affair.
From the killing fields of Iran to the green fields of sports. The USA has reached the semi finals of the soccer Confederations Cup in South Africa. This Championship of Champions is held the year before the big world cup soccer show in 2010. And it’s the first time on African soil. Historic. But yes the USA, who honestly has no strong soccer culture, has reached the last 4. Against all odds. Against all expectations. Against all beds. The USA will now play European Champions Spain in a few days. The other semi final is between host South Africa and samba boys Brazil. It’s full soccer fever in South Africa these days. A great feast.
And the feast is expected to be bigger, louder, and madder next year when the full soccer world cup circus comes to town. When the most important soccer event comes to Africa for the first time since the earth was created. And Obama has received an invite from the world soccer body FIFA and from the South African government to attend the opening game of this world cup next year in Johannesburg. That would make the event even more mad and on top of the world.
Obama hits African soil for the first time as US President in a few days when he touches down in Ghana on Africa’s west coast. To my surprise his first African stop is not Kenya – his half homeland. Anyway, a black US President coming to Africa will always be full of hysteria. He carries with him the image of hope. A spin from his election campaign. And if there is something that the African continent needs then it’s his message of hope. Reality is too often too dark to accept, so lights of hope are needed to make it through the day. I am not in the mood to take this feeling of hope by its collar and bring it down to reality because the politics of Africa are a very complex affair. Used and abused. Battle ground of the cold war. Colonised by the West and now, less openly, by China. Democracy still a very fragile embryo. Too many dictators. Too much pain. Too much corruption. Too much wars. Too much of so much. Hope here and there for sure but hope too often washed away by tidal waves of oppression, starvation, mismanagement, and corporate ruthlessness. Hope is Africa’s air. Pain its daily bread.
East wards now. I picked up that soon Indonesia will hold elections. And too many people forget, or just don’t know probably, that Indonesia; which also has an Obama-link; is the largest Muslim nation on planet earth. Indeed! I guess most people would automatically guess that the largest Muslim nation must be somewhere in the Arab world or North Africa. No, it’s in Asia. Interesting fact.
Events in Iran have clearly taken the madhouse North Korea of the news bulletins. Silence. What’s happening with their missile tests, nuke plans and international headaches on how to react? Same silence on Darfur. The world probably has given up on the desert slaughter. There are no simple answers to that crisis because it is not as simple and one-linear as portrait by too many to the outside world. But the suffering continues. And now that Sudan’s President has an international arrest warrant hanging above his head, it makes the crisis more tense and unpredictable. And as always the people suffer while politicians play chess games. Vultures look on.
And at least some good news from Africa too. Some really good news. A Rwandan politician has just been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide. Justice done! Finally! At least trials like this one shows that justice catches up with those perpetrators. Those butchers. Those madmen. Those bloodthirsty, paranoiac, ethno-nationalists that thought they could get away with the largest genocide of Africa. About 800.000 people killed in 100 days. That is a statistic that leaves you ice cold. Total madness. And he Rwandan genocide came at the same time as the first free elections in South Africa that threw away the madness of apartheid. In the same month of the same year from hope to horror just 3 or 4 hours flying time away from each other. From reaching a dream to descending into purgatory. From smiles to cries. From hope to despair. From a rainbow nation to a blood soaked soil. From humanity to brutality. From freedom to death. From a new dawn to a downwards spiral of hate. From “Yes We Can” to “No We Can’t”. From Nelson Mandela dropping his vote in the ballot box for the first time to the machete hacking of the limbs of a baby. Humans can be animals. Or lesser than animals. Human evolution or human devolution. Human behaviour is a strange thing.
Throw out. Tuned in to U2’s latest album “No line on the horizon”. Don’t know but got the feeling that the Irish rockers could have done better. But I guess sales will still be sky high. But then again quantitative figures are not equal to great taste, because otherwise junk food joints like McD or KFC would serve the best food around. Right?
C-Ya
collateral – nearing June’s end, 2009
Iran is still on the edge. Nervous. But the state’s oppression machinery is clamping down fast and furious. Army, police and pro-government militia on the streets breaking up protests. People killed. People wounded. People arrested. Democracy under threat. And free speech curbed. State TV is just a joke. To no surprise in such undemocratic autocracy. It’s always used as a tool of repression and distortion. And further attempts to keep internet and telephone lines down to avoid the truth reaching the outside world. Governments that react in such a way feel cornered. Cornered as the truth hits too hard. Reality is unacceptable and thus violent counter reaction. Like a wounded animal in a corner.
It could have been a good test case for democracy in the Middle East, but it turned out sad and sour. Bloody. The red, blood stains on the squares of Tehran will remain forever despite whatever attempts by the governing clique to erase reality. To delete events. To rewrite history. To manipulate the process. To undermine free choice. To destroy hope. To imprison dissent. To silence critics. To kill.
Some details of the vote-gone-wrong are emerging here and there. Slowly and against the odds. It seems that in some 57 districts the voters’ turnout was more than 100%. That is obviously impossible and thus the stench of vote rigging rises. The rot of manipulation comes to the surface.
It is important to note that the protesters do not want to overthrow the Iranian system. This is not an anti-Iran uprising. The Iranian revolution that threw out the dictatorship of the Shah some 30 years ago is not under threat. These protesters want a free and fair vote. They refuse to accept stolen elections. They refuse to accept the iron fist reaction by the ruling forces. They reject manipulation, oppression and the use of violence to silence dissent. They want to save Iran from a path that murders democracy and takes the country back to dictatorship. This time not by an emperor-style ruler like the Shah, but by a clique of so called untouchables. It is sadly often that history has shown us that a fight against dictatorship, like the Iranian revolution against the American-backed Shah, installs another type of undemocratic rule. Human behaviour is too often a sad affair.
From the killing fields of Iran to the green fields of sports. The USA has reached the semi finals of the soccer Confederations Cup in South Africa. This Championship of Champions is held the year before the big world cup soccer show in 2010. And it’s the first time on African soil. Historic. But yes the USA, who honestly has no strong soccer culture, has reached the last 4. Against all odds. Against all expectations. Against all beds. The USA will now play European Champions Spain in a few days. The other semi final is between host South Africa and samba boys Brazil. It’s full soccer fever in South Africa these days. A great feast.
And the feast is expected to be bigger, louder, and madder next year when the full soccer world cup circus comes to town. When the most important soccer event comes to Africa for the first time since the earth was created. And Obama has received an invite from the world soccer body FIFA and from the South African government to attend the opening game of this world cup next year in Johannesburg. That would make the event even more mad and on top of the world.
Obama hits African soil for the first time as US President in a few days when he touches down in Ghana on Africa’s west coast. To my surprise his first African stop is not Kenya – his half homeland. Anyway, a black US President coming to Africa will always be full of hysteria. He carries with him the image of hope. A spin from his election campaign. And if there is something that the African continent needs then it’s his message of hope. Reality is too often too dark to accept, so lights of hope are needed to make it through the day. I am not in the mood to take this feeling of hope by its collar and bring it down to reality because the politics of Africa are a very complex affair. Used and abused. Battle ground of the cold war. Colonised by the West and now, less openly, by China. Democracy still a very fragile embryo. Too many dictators. Too much pain. Too much corruption. Too much wars. Too much of so much. Hope here and there for sure but hope too often washed away by tidal waves of oppression, starvation, mismanagement, and corporate ruthlessness. Hope is Africa’s air. Pain its daily bread.
East wards now. I picked up that soon Indonesia will hold elections. And too many people forget, or just don’t know probably, that Indonesia; which also has an Obama-link; is the largest Muslim nation on planet earth. Indeed! I guess most people would automatically guess that the largest Muslim nation must be somewhere in the Arab world or North Africa. No, it’s in Asia. Interesting fact.
Events in Iran have clearly taken the madhouse North Korea of the news bulletins. Silence. What’s happening with their missile tests, nuke plans and international headaches on how to react? Same silence on Darfur. The world probably has given up on the desert slaughter. There are no simple answers to that crisis because it is not as simple and one-linear as portrait by too many to the outside world. But the suffering continues. And now that Sudan’s President has an international arrest warrant hanging above his head, it makes the crisis more tense and unpredictable. And as always the people suffer while politicians play chess games. Vultures look on.
And at least some good news from Africa too. Some really good news. A Rwandan politician has just been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide. Justice done! Finally! At least trials like this one shows that justice catches up with those perpetrators. Those butchers. Those madmen. Those bloodthirsty, paranoiac, ethno-nationalists that thought they could get away with the largest genocide of Africa. About 800.000 people killed in 100 days. That is a statistic that leaves you ice cold. Total madness. And he Rwandan genocide came at the same time as the first free elections in South Africa that threw away the madness of apartheid. In the same month of the same year from hope to horror just 3 or 4 hours flying time away from each other. From reaching a dream to descending into purgatory. From smiles to cries. From hope to despair. From a rainbow nation to a blood soaked soil. From humanity to brutality. From freedom to death. From a new dawn to a downwards spiral of hate. From “Yes We Can” to “No We Can’t”. From Nelson Mandela dropping his vote in the ballot box for the first time to the machete hacking of the limbs of a baby. Humans can be animals. Or lesser than animals. Human evolution or human devolution. Human behaviour is a strange thing.
Throw out. Tuned in to U2’s latest album “No line on the horizon”. Don’t know but got the feeling that the Irish rockers could have done better. But I guess sales will still be sky high. But then again quantitative figures are not equal to great taste, because otherwise junk food joints like McD or KFC would serve the best food around. Right?
C-Ya
collateral – nearing June’s end, 2009
Voices from the streets of Tehran
Oh oh oh. The stalemate in Iran continues. And the promise of the conservative Guardian Council to recount disputed votes will only apply to certain districts, not to all the cast ballots. So it is very unclear what impact a partial recount could have.
Meanwhile the streets are divided. Pro-government forces have arranged large demonstrations in support of current president Ahmedinijad. According to the results as they stand now he does not have to vacate his office. The anti-Semitic hardliner with a nuclear dream will continue to haunt world politics it seems. But the opposition still feel that these elections were not free, fair, correct and honest. And thus they do not accept the results and thus they also go to the streets to let their disapproval know. So it’s a deadlock. Kind of deadlock. Situations like this either explode fast or turn into a bloody revolution. Or they fizzle out and the world moves on to the next crisis somewhere.
And the signs of a corned regime are all there to see. National TV labels the opposition supporters as hooligans. Foreign media are not allowed to cover the opposition demonstrations and the press passes of the international media have expired or have been revoked. When you start limiting media movements and media coverage then you have something to hide. Then the rot stinks. Then your claim to be a democracy is slaughtered on the altar of autocracy. It’s red lights flashing!
But the global village is very difficult to tame. People can still tune in to international radio services in Persi (the language there) by the likes of VOA or the BBC. You can’t isolate yourself of the outside voices. You can’t fully control the minds of the people anymore. The global village technology crosses boundaries of oppression, repression and media muzzling. Critical voices can no longer be kept outside the door as they come through the air.
And the internet has opened new waves of protest channels. The web can be limited to a degree but too often, if not always, government attempts to limit access to the web fail as the new generation of IT-savvy, political minded youngsters are always one step ahead of the cyber cops. And the Iranian youth seem to use Twitter to its full potential in releasing to the world images of the crackdown and eyewitness accounts of repression. Social network systems like twitter are a virus spreading fast and uncontrollable. In this case a positive virus as it allows the media and people outside Iran to know and see what is happening on the streets. Tehran can lock official journalists, local and international ones, in their offices and restrict their movements by restrictive passes and expiring accreditations. But the voices from the street cannot be silenced. Those so called citizen journalists cannot be tamed, nor found so easily. It’s amazing and as I said before in this case of a regime trying to hide the truth, a formidable tool to break the barriers of oppression and let freedom of speech reign.
But the success and impact of Twitter raises serious concerns at the same time. And I just feel we are not too far of from an international hype or hysteria based on Twitter messages crisscrossing the world but not always based on any truth or facts. It’s so easy to spread rumours about a swine-flu like virus or an attack or a hijacking or an earthquake or an advancing rebel movement and to cause a major chain reaction. All based on rumours, not on facts. And I am worried how such a social network tool can be used by terrorists or people with bad intentions. They can cause mass hysteria. Stampedes. Riots. Vigilantism. Suicide. Racism. Violence. It’s dangerous. It can turn into a whirlwind of madness. All just based on rumours and innuendo.
Just imagine. A group of people has evil intentions. And they tweet simultaneously to their ‘network friends’ that they have heard and seen cops running to a subway station because of a bomb threat. And it’s rush hour in a large metropolis. Just imagine the possible chain reaction. A very scary thought.
On a lighter note. Lighter but still pretty serious. It has a ridiculous, insulting touch to it in fact.
British Airways, the Queen’s national carrier, is in deep financial trouble. And BA’s not-loss-for-words manager emails his staff, thousands of them, that it would be great if they could work 1 month for free so that BA can have some financial breathing space. Not joking here! The manager of a super large company asks his staff to work for free for 1 month. For zero. Just like that. Going to work as normal but just out of the goodness of your heart without any financial compensation for your sweat. Ridiculous. Such a manager should be fired there and then.
And to make it more painful he proudly announces that he will work next month for free. But his salary is US$97.000 per month. Yes indeed! With that money on an annual basis I also could survive easily without 1 month’s pay and then loudly and proudly announce that I am helping to save the company. Maybe a 50% pay cut will help more! Human behaviour has reached new heights of stupidity.
Throw out (besides BA’s manager). Been listening to Olde York from New York. Newish band playing hard-edged punkrock from the late 80s when the NY underground scene (aka the hardcore scene) was exploding loudly and proudly. If you are into this, check out their “Empire State” debut album and you will be having flashbacks.
C-Ya
collateral – 2nd half June 2009
Meanwhile the streets are divided. Pro-government forces have arranged large demonstrations in support of current president Ahmedinijad. According to the results as they stand now he does not have to vacate his office. The anti-Semitic hardliner with a nuclear dream will continue to haunt world politics it seems. But the opposition still feel that these elections were not free, fair, correct and honest. And thus they do not accept the results and thus they also go to the streets to let their disapproval know. So it’s a deadlock. Kind of deadlock. Situations like this either explode fast or turn into a bloody revolution. Or they fizzle out and the world moves on to the next crisis somewhere.
And the signs of a corned regime are all there to see. National TV labels the opposition supporters as hooligans. Foreign media are not allowed to cover the opposition demonstrations and the press passes of the international media have expired or have been revoked. When you start limiting media movements and media coverage then you have something to hide. Then the rot stinks. Then your claim to be a democracy is slaughtered on the altar of autocracy. It’s red lights flashing!
But the global village is very difficult to tame. People can still tune in to international radio services in Persi (the language there) by the likes of VOA or the BBC. You can’t isolate yourself of the outside voices. You can’t fully control the minds of the people anymore. The global village technology crosses boundaries of oppression, repression and media muzzling. Critical voices can no longer be kept outside the door as they come through the air.
And the internet has opened new waves of protest channels. The web can be limited to a degree but too often, if not always, government attempts to limit access to the web fail as the new generation of IT-savvy, political minded youngsters are always one step ahead of the cyber cops. And the Iranian youth seem to use Twitter to its full potential in releasing to the world images of the crackdown and eyewitness accounts of repression. Social network systems like twitter are a virus spreading fast and uncontrollable. In this case a positive virus as it allows the media and people outside Iran to know and see what is happening on the streets. Tehran can lock official journalists, local and international ones, in their offices and restrict their movements by restrictive passes and expiring accreditations. But the voices from the street cannot be silenced. Those so called citizen journalists cannot be tamed, nor found so easily. It’s amazing and as I said before in this case of a regime trying to hide the truth, a formidable tool to break the barriers of oppression and let freedom of speech reign.
But the success and impact of Twitter raises serious concerns at the same time. And I just feel we are not too far of from an international hype or hysteria based on Twitter messages crisscrossing the world but not always based on any truth or facts. It’s so easy to spread rumours about a swine-flu like virus or an attack or a hijacking or an earthquake or an advancing rebel movement and to cause a major chain reaction. All based on rumours, not on facts. And I am worried how such a social network tool can be used by terrorists or people with bad intentions. They can cause mass hysteria. Stampedes. Riots. Vigilantism. Suicide. Racism. Violence. It’s dangerous. It can turn into a whirlwind of madness. All just based on rumours and innuendo.
Just imagine. A group of people has evil intentions. And they tweet simultaneously to their ‘network friends’ that they have heard and seen cops running to a subway station because of a bomb threat. And it’s rush hour in a large metropolis. Just imagine the possible chain reaction. A very scary thought.
On a lighter note. Lighter but still pretty serious. It has a ridiculous, insulting touch to it in fact.
British Airways, the Queen’s national carrier, is in deep financial trouble. And BA’s not-loss-for-words manager emails his staff, thousands of them, that it would be great if they could work 1 month for free so that BA can have some financial breathing space. Not joking here! The manager of a super large company asks his staff to work for free for 1 month. For zero. Just like that. Going to work as normal but just out of the goodness of your heart without any financial compensation for your sweat. Ridiculous. Such a manager should be fired there and then.
And to make it more painful he proudly announces that he will work next month for free. But his salary is US$97.000 per month. Yes indeed! With that money on an annual basis I also could survive easily without 1 month’s pay and then loudly and proudly announce that I am helping to save the company. Maybe a 50% pay cut will help more! Human behaviour has reached new heights of stupidity.
Throw out (besides BA’s manager). Been listening to Olde York from New York. Newish band playing hard-edged punkrock from the late 80s when the NY underground scene (aka the hardcore scene) was exploding loudly and proudly. If you are into this, check out their “Empire State” debut album and you will be having flashbacks.
C-Ya
collateral – 2nd half June 2009
Blood on the streets
Blood stained streets of Iran. The election didn’t go too well. Cries of manipulation and dishonesty have brought street protests. The victory and thus re-election of hard-line president Ahmedinejad is an unwelcome thought for the region and many parts of the world. A hardliner with a nuclear dream and a desire to wipe Israel of the world’s map is a worrying thought.
But there is a spark of hope as the so called Guardian Council of Iran said it will partly recount the disputed elections. And this 12-member, conservative Council is powerful. It has religious leaders and legal minds. But it has heard the voices of the street and now announced to be open to a recount. Meanwhile several Iranians have lost their lives during the growing protests. Death on the altar of democracy. Martyrs for a fairer, open society. And as in many countries in the world in the past, the spark of protest was lit at the university where the youth rebels and rejects the conservative status-quo.
The West, the US and the region are watching developments closely. A destabilised Iran is an explosive powder keg. It’s a tough one. But democracy needs to be free, fair, transparent and honest because otherwise the outcome remains under a cloud of doubt and thus the seeds of rejection, rebellion, civil war and militarisation of the democratic process are planted. And that is a bloody path.
Not too far from the events in Iran the newly elected Israeli president, also a hardliner, decided to try to follow in Obama’s footsteps and held a speech about his new policy and vision towards the occupied Palestinian territories. Obama made a great gesture and reached out during his recent speech in Egypt. Israel had to follow with something. It had to come up with an answer. A gesture. A public relations offensive. And yes there was some reaching out but the conditions to the handshake make the gesture very shaky, and thus on life-support from the start. Israel would accept a Palestinian state but not with its own army, police and airspace. That sounds very much like a prison camp to me. A State means freedom and your own policies and organisational structures. Israel’s reaching out had a smell of supremacy. Of arrogance. Unequal. Unfair. Reaching out not to shake hands and reach a common purpose but a reaching out to control. You can’t make peace under these conditions. The fact that Hamas doesn’t recognises Israel is of course a major stumbling block and unacceptable. But you can’t say on the one hand that you want a Palestinian State but right away condition it and downgrade it to a colony. That just creates more anger and fuels the fires of hatred instead of the filling the seats around the negotiating table. Sad.
Human behaviour is always an interesting element to watch. Too often followed by disappointment. New York’s hardcore band Sick Of It All (what’s in a name) had this great line in one of the tracks of their last album. “Never underestimate stupidity of man”. It’s true. Humans have this amazing ability to think they are king of the planet and the so called clever ones that came out of the animal kingdom, while proving every day that it’s just a bunch of failed brain cells. Or something resembling brain cells. Maybe just a jelly mass. What happened at the birth of human kind to make us so stupid and bent on self destruction? Filled with hate, arrogance, narrow-mindedness, short-sightedness. We have corrupted our own souls and minds. We have let us down. Darwin’s survival of the fittest is not based on brains. Just power and power hunger that makes humans turn nasty and dumb. Very dumb. Our own evolution has this amazing dilemma that we progress every day to make life better through improved discoveries in health, to improved access to schools, to improved knowledge about urbanisation and the environment. But at the same time, in a more personal and powerful parallel world, we do not act upon our greater knowledge. It’s like our knowledge and emotions can’t cope with each other and the emotional side wins nearly all the time. Especially our short-term emotions. Those that want instant gratification with a twist of revenge.
Stopping here because it is drifting me towards sadness. And thus after that spark of hope that Iran’s conservative governing body announced it is willing to recount certain districts. That is really good news and positive democratic behaviour.
Before I forget, what made me think of human behaviour was that earlier today I saw a teacher and the young guy at the wheel learning to drive, both without wearing their seatbelts. Stupidity of man.
Anyway.
Throw out. Listening to a leaked version of Kickback’s new album “Never surrender”. Hard-hitting metalcore from France with in your face lyrics about this fake world we live in.
C-Ya
collateral – passed the half way mark of June 2009
But there is a spark of hope as the so called Guardian Council of Iran said it will partly recount the disputed elections. And this 12-member, conservative Council is powerful. It has religious leaders and legal minds. But it has heard the voices of the street and now announced to be open to a recount. Meanwhile several Iranians have lost their lives during the growing protests. Death on the altar of democracy. Martyrs for a fairer, open society. And as in many countries in the world in the past, the spark of protest was lit at the university where the youth rebels and rejects the conservative status-quo.
The West, the US and the region are watching developments closely. A destabilised Iran is an explosive powder keg. It’s a tough one. But democracy needs to be free, fair, transparent and honest because otherwise the outcome remains under a cloud of doubt and thus the seeds of rejection, rebellion, civil war and militarisation of the democratic process are planted. And that is a bloody path.
Not too far from the events in Iran the newly elected Israeli president, also a hardliner, decided to try to follow in Obama’s footsteps and held a speech about his new policy and vision towards the occupied Palestinian territories. Obama made a great gesture and reached out during his recent speech in Egypt. Israel had to follow with something. It had to come up with an answer. A gesture. A public relations offensive. And yes there was some reaching out but the conditions to the handshake make the gesture very shaky, and thus on life-support from the start. Israel would accept a Palestinian state but not with its own army, police and airspace. That sounds very much like a prison camp to me. A State means freedom and your own policies and organisational structures. Israel’s reaching out had a smell of supremacy. Of arrogance. Unequal. Unfair. Reaching out not to shake hands and reach a common purpose but a reaching out to control. You can’t make peace under these conditions. The fact that Hamas doesn’t recognises Israel is of course a major stumbling block and unacceptable. But you can’t say on the one hand that you want a Palestinian State but right away condition it and downgrade it to a colony. That just creates more anger and fuels the fires of hatred instead of the filling the seats around the negotiating table. Sad.
Human behaviour is always an interesting element to watch. Too often followed by disappointment. New York’s hardcore band Sick Of It All (what’s in a name) had this great line in one of the tracks of their last album. “Never underestimate stupidity of man”. It’s true. Humans have this amazing ability to think they are king of the planet and the so called clever ones that came out of the animal kingdom, while proving every day that it’s just a bunch of failed brain cells. Or something resembling brain cells. Maybe just a jelly mass. What happened at the birth of human kind to make us so stupid and bent on self destruction? Filled with hate, arrogance, narrow-mindedness, short-sightedness. We have corrupted our own souls and minds. We have let us down. Darwin’s survival of the fittest is not based on brains. Just power and power hunger that makes humans turn nasty and dumb. Very dumb. Our own evolution has this amazing dilemma that we progress every day to make life better through improved discoveries in health, to improved access to schools, to improved knowledge about urbanisation and the environment. But at the same time, in a more personal and powerful parallel world, we do not act upon our greater knowledge. It’s like our knowledge and emotions can’t cope with each other and the emotional side wins nearly all the time. Especially our short-term emotions. Those that want instant gratification with a twist of revenge.
Stopping here because it is drifting me towards sadness. And thus after that spark of hope that Iran’s conservative governing body announced it is willing to recount certain districts. That is really good news and positive democratic behaviour.
Before I forget, what made me think of human behaviour was that earlier today I saw a teacher and the young guy at the wheel learning to drive, both without wearing their seatbelts. Stupidity of man.
Anyway.
Throw out. Listening to a leaked version of Kickback’s new album “Never surrender”. Hard-hitting metalcore from France with in your face lyrics about this fake world we live in.
C-Ya
collateral – passed the half way mark of June 2009
X-it
Elections. The right for people to select their representatives in a free and fair manner. It’s the ultimate building block of any democratic civilisation. It’s a holy grail. It’s sacred. But it’s also delicate and needs to be well-managed and cared for. Needs to be nurtured. Democracy is more than just the act of putting an X next to your selected representative (person or party) every 4 years or so. Democracy is a day to day business with threats lurking within and from the outside.
People fight, get imprisoned and die for the ideal of a free vote. People
get banned, tortured, silenced for the dream of 1-man- 1-vote. For many in the US or in Western Europe democracy has lost its historic and sociological weight because it has been present in the voters’ lives from birth. But even in those societies not too long ago women could not vote. So the battle for democracy isn’t a victory gained that long ago. It is in fact a very recent achievement if we look at history from a century long perspective.
And yes democracy has its set of rules that vary from country to country. Two-party models like in the US or till not too long ago also in the UK. And ‘more representative’ models like in Western European countries like Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands,... But the basics are the same. An individual votes free of intimidation or fear or threats. A fair vote where political parties involved are equal before the law and constitution, and with equal access to media. And certainly the fact, set in stone, that every man’s and every woman’s vote is equal.
Democracy is very much alive and kicking these days with polls across Europe and in Lebanon. The vote in ‘Babylon’ has been watched closely by its neighbours, the US and Europe. Lebanon has gone through turmoil recently. Turmoil in fact that still goes back to its civil war some decades ago. There has been war, strife, political assassinations with suspected involvement of neighbour Syria. There have been Israeli invasions. There have been UN boots on the ground. There has been political stalemate. There have been Hezbollah rockets fired into Israel. So last weekend’s poll was certainly edgy and full of expectations, fears, hopes, threats. Lebanon seems on the fault line of moderate Arab states and the more conservative, hard-line neighbours like Iran and Syria. A fault line that defines the region but also Lebanese society within.
Official results indicate that the coalition under so called pro-Western politician Saad Hariri has won a majority in parliament. Saad’s father was killed by a car bomb not too long ago. A political killing that seemed to be orchestrated in Syria. Hezbollah, locally known as the Resistance, but by others labelled as terrorists, got more than a third of the seats in parliament. But the elections seems to have gone reasonably smooth and thus in the end democracy has won.
Washington had issued threats against an eventual Hezbollah election victory. But democracy also means accepting the result whatever it is. If the people have casted their ballots in a free and fair manner then the whole world needs to accept and respect the outcome. And that counts also for the US. Even if the winner might not be the preferred one. Even if the winner has blood on its hands. Threats don’t help democracy. It creates a promotion of selective democracy and selective democracy is not true democracy but fake dictatorship under the veil of democracy. And that can never be accepted.
Same some years ago when Hamas won the elections in Palestine against its rival Fatah. The international monitors declared the vote reasonably free and fair but the West rejected the outcome as they did not want to deal with Hamas. It undercuts the Western promotion and export of democratic values and principles. Hamas then was the democratically elected winner by the Palestinian people and thus had the right to form a government. Everybody has to respect that. What certainly the West had the right to do was to refuse to set up financial aid programs with Hamas till they would recognise the state of Israel. That for sure is a rightful step as the fact that Hamas did not and does not accept the right of existence of Israel totally undermines their status in the world of civilisations based on international law. But the will of the Palestinian people to elect Hamas in fair elections needed to be respected fully and simply. Even more amazing is that soon after those elections neutral, international research showed that the Palestinians didn’t vote for Hamas because of its hard line stance against Israel, but mainly because of the corrupt abuse of funds within the then governing Fatah party. It was day to day bread and butter issues that drove a majority of Palestinians towards Hamas, not so much geopolitical games.
Meanwhile people across Europe have voted for the European Parliament. The integration of Europe has been and still is a complex and difficult path. It has its supporters and its enemies. It has its obvious benefits but too often feels like a far-away, labyrinth of administration and policy making. For too many Europeans, the European Union is too distant and too big to grasp. Too few really understand how it defines their day to day life. By a set of trade rules, or cross-border immigration laws, or the real impact of having one common currency. It’s complex and thus not to be captured in a sexy, 20 seconds soundbite in the evening news and thus rejected. And for many national politicians it is the easiest scapegoat to avoid real explanations and revelations. So to no surprise the turnout for the European poll was low and many Euro-sceptic parties gained seats. It’s just the train of history moving on to the next station. Or the non-stop journey of the pendulum.
From politics to arms sales is a very simple step. The Swedish peace institute SIPRI announced that global military spending rose by 4% last year, despite the economic meltdown that hit us all in September last year. Business of death is doing just fine – recession or not.
In fact if you look at the sales since 1999, then the business has gone up with a whopping 45%. Last year some 1464 billion US dollars where spent on weapons. Just take a deep breath and read that figure again. Nearly one and half billion US dollars spent on bullets, bombs, fighter jets, submarines,... Death sells. Fear sells. It’s mind blowing. Overkill delirium. Don’t even start thinking what countries can do with such an amount of cash because you might get suicidal tendencies.
And on top of that, keep in mind that the cold war is over! The mad rush to more and more and more and more weapons under cowboy-in-the-White House Ronald Reagan and the Soviets is history. But clearly death and destruction is still a booming business. Very healthy. It doesn’t need bail outs.
Interestingly, as per the study of these Swedes, the US remains the biggest arms spender. Some 607 bn US$ last year, but China and Russia – despite its economic woes – are catching up quickly. So the race is on (again). And the more the race catches speed, the more the arms salesmen are travelling around the globe with a smile. The grim reaper is travelling first class undoubtedly.
American company Boeing is the world’s top arms producer, with British BAE coming second. Over the last 7 years the value of the world’s 100 top arms makers has increased by more than a third. Kick that. That’s what they call a real hot investment return.
Throw out. Was just listening to “Come all you madmen” by US punkrockers The Briggs. Great album with fine lyrics and the right atmosphere. Track 5; ‘Charge into the sun’; goes like this ”Let the truth unfold. We are waiting for an answer.” Damn right!!!
C-Ya
collateral – first half of june 2009
People fight, get imprisoned and die for the ideal of a free vote. People
get banned, tortured, silenced for the dream of 1-man- 1-vote. For many in the US or in Western Europe democracy has lost its historic and sociological weight because it has been present in the voters’ lives from birth. But even in those societies not too long ago women could not vote. So the battle for democracy isn’t a victory gained that long ago. It is in fact a very recent achievement if we look at history from a century long perspective.
And yes democracy has its set of rules that vary from country to country. Two-party models like in the US or till not too long ago also in the UK. And ‘more representative’ models like in Western European countries like Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands,... But the basics are the same. An individual votes free of intimidation or fear or threats. A fair vote where political parties involved are equal before the law and constitution, and with equal access to media. And certainly the fact, set in stone, that every man’s and every woman’s vote is equal.
Democracy is very much alive and kicking these days with polls across Europe and in Lebanon. The vote in ‘Babylon’ has been watched closely by its neighbours, the US and Europe. Lebanon has gone through turmoil recently. Turmoil in fact that still goes back to its civil war some decades ago. There has been war, strife, political assassinations with suspected involvement of neighbour Syria. There have been Israeli invasions. There have been UN boots on the ground. There has been political stalemate. There have been Hezbollah rockets fired into Israel. So last weekend’s poll was certainly edgy and full of expectations, fears, hopes, threats. Lebanon seems on the fault line of moderate Arab states and the more conservative, hard-line neighbours like Iran and Syria. A fault line that defines the region but also Lebanese society within.
Official results indicate that the coalition under so called pro-Western politician Saad Hariri has won a majority in parliament. Saad’s father was killed by a car bomb not too long ago. A political killing that seemed to be orchestrated in Syria. Hezbollah, locally known as the Resistance, but by others labelled as terrorists, got more than a third of the seats in parliament. But the elections seems to have gone reasonably smooth and thus in the end democracy has won.
Washington had issued threats against an eventual Hezbollah election victory. But democracy also means accepting the result whatever it is. If the people have casted their ballots in a free and fair manner then the whole world needs to accept and respect the outcome. And that counts also for the US. Even if the winner might not be the preferred one. Even if the winner has blood on its hands. Threats don’t help democracy. It creates a promotion of selective democracy and selective democracy is not true democracy but fake dictatorship under the veil of democracy. And that can never be accepted.
Same some years ago when Hamas won the elections in Palestine against its rival Fatah. The international monitors declared the vote reasonably free and fair but the West rejected the outcome as they did not want to deal with Hamas. It undercuts the Western promotion and export of democratic values and principles. Hamas then was the democratically elected winner by the Palestinian people and thus had the right to form a government. Everybody has to respect that. What certainly the West had the right to do was to refuse to set up financial aid programs with Hamas till they would recognise the state of Israel. That for sure is a rightful step as the fact that Hamas did not and does not accept the right of existence of Israel totally undermines their status in the world of civilisations based on international law. But the will of the Palestinian people to elect Hamas in fair elections needed to be respected fully and simply. Even more amazing is that soon after those elections neutral, international research showed that the Palestinians didn’t vote for Hamas because of its hard line stance against Israel, but mainly because of the corrupt abuse of funds within the then governing Fatah party. It was day to day bread and butter issues that drove a majority of Palestinians towards Hamas, not so much geopolitical games.
Meanwhile people across Europe have voted for the European Parliament. The integration of Europe has been and still is a complex and difficult path. It has its supporters and its enemies. It has its obvious benefits but too often feels like a far-away, labyrinth of administration and policy making. For too many Europeans, the European Union is too distant and too big to grasp. Too few really understand how it defines their day to day life. By a set of trade rules, or cross-border immigration laws, or the real impact of having one common currency. It’s complex and thus not to be captured in a sexy, 20 seconds soundbite in the evening news and thus rejected. And for many national politicians it is the easiest scapegoat to avoid real explanations and revelations. So to no surprise the turnout for the European poll was low and many Euro-sceptic parties gained seats. It’s just the train of history moving on to the next station. Or the non-stop journey of the pendulum.
From politics to arms sales is a very simple step. The Swedish peace institute SIPRI announced that global military spending rose by 4% last year, despite the economic meltdown that hit us all in September last year. Business of death is doing just fine – recession or not.
In fact if you look at the sales since 1999, then the business has gone up with a whopping 45%. Last year some 1464 billion US dollars where spent on weapons. Just take a deep breath and read that figure again. Nearly one and half billion US dollars spent on bullets, bombs, fighter jets, submarines,... Death sells. Fear sells. It’s mind blowing. Overkill delirium. Don’t even start thinking what countries can do with such an amount of cash because you might get suicidal tendencies.
And on top of that, keep in mind that the cold war is over! The mad rush to more and more and more and more weapons under cowboy-in-the-White House Ronald Reagan and the Soviets is history. But clearly death and destruction is still a booming business. Very healthy. It doesn’t need bail outs.
Interestingly, as per the study of these Swedes, the US remains the biggest arms spender. Some 607 bn US$ last year, but China and Russia – despite its economic woes – are catching up quickly. So the race is on (again). And the more the race catches speed, the more the arms salesmen are travelling around the globe with a smile. The grim reaper is travelling first class undoubtedly.
American company Boeing is the world’s top arms producer, with British BAE coming second. Over the last 7 years the value of the world’s 100 top arms makers has increased by more than a third. Kick that. That’s what they call a real hot investment return.
Throw out. Was just listening to “Come all you madmen” by US punkrockers The Briggs. Great album with fine lyrics and the right atmosphere. Track 5; ‘Charge into the sun’; goes like this ”Let the truth unfold. We are waiting for an answer.” Damn right!!!
C-Ya
collateral – first half of june 2009
May they rest in peace
Wow, what a way to start the week. An Air France plane goes missing over the Atlantic. Like in a movie about the Bermuda triangle. The sad thing is, this is for real. And 24 hours later still the plane – or what’s left of it – has not been found. And thus more than 200 people feared dead. Just like that. For no reason. Civilisation might make daily technological improvements and advances and discoveries, but still we don’t control everything everywhere. I just can’t think how it must be when you are waiting at the airport, in this case Paris, for your loved one or best friend, or daughter or parent and you wait and wait. Plane is announced as delayed. Then more delay. Then rumours. Then an airline official comes with brief news that the flight is missing. It’s just incomprehensive. And in our modern society it is even more incomprehensive if we can’t see the event, the tragedy on TV. It makes it so much harder to grasp that something dramatic has happened but there is no clear information, no eye-witness accounts, no sound recordings, no photos, no TV images. This is reality that isn’t real.
And then the same day in a court in New York the giant of the American dream General Motors files for bankruptcy protection. Yes it’s the end of the dream that the US motor industry was on top of the world. The end of a legacy. The end. But let’s be honest too. It’s also the in your face realisation that GM’s management sucked. They were riding for many years on arrogance and grandiose schemes that were far out of touch with reality. They were so out of date in models, production, management planning, and on a road ahead built on delirium. They could not grasp that the grand lady of the almighty American car industry was just out of touch with economic and environmental realities. Some years ago they launched the ugly, over-sized Hummer in a period where every other automaker on this planet was looking to develop and promote fuel-efficient cars. GM was just doped up. Bigger is better. Bigger wasn’t better. Bigger was the road to ruin. And who will suffer once again. The blue collar worker across the US, but also in Belgium, the UK, Germany, Poland, Spain to even South Africa. And in many cases when a plant closes or is seriously sized down whole communities collapse. It’s the domino effect. While the GM board members just probably slip away enjoying their early, fat pensions and buy-out bonuses. It’s sick and sad.
It’s another blow to Obama’s debut. He is just facing one serious challenge after the other. Mind blowing. Luckily he seems to have a clear cut approach to most of them and plenty of guts and energy.
Oh and following up from the last days and slightly forgotten because of the Air France tragedy, it’s been reported that North Korea seems to be preparing for another missile test. This time maybe with a bigger warhead on it. Very scary. I would not like to live in South Korea right now. Wondering also why China isn’t more on the forefront of tackling this threat. They are the world-power-in-the-making. They are already the regional kings. They are neighbours to the Korean mad man. They have a responsibility to the world. But they seem to go quietly about it. Maybe, surely, it’s time to seriously speak up. Condemn. Keep a hand reached out, but be firm. Tough diplomatic action is required by all now! This North Korean nuke games will haunt us for a long time to come I fear.
Moving on from a mysterious tragedy and an edgy world to personal space and time. It’s sacred. And peer pressure invades both too often. Or at least tries to invade. Stand-offs.
Some people in your social environment sometimes disappear from the radar. That’s honestly fine. It’s a personal choice, and life’s journey has its T-junctions. But it’s strange, to say the least, that after more than a year for instance these missing people return to blame their forgotten friends for not attending a specific social event. Peer pressure with a sour taste. Peer pressure with an edge of unfairness. Peer pressure with memory loss.
Let me say it simple and straight out. What give you the right to come and push other people around about their time and their social plans? Where have you been all this time? This is the polite version of my question.
This holier-than-thou attitude sucks. Unacceptable. Misplaced. Nobody should tell me how to use my time and my space as they don’t know the conditions of my personal and professional life. These are the real pressures of life, not some social peers!
I got my life scars. I don’t need peer pressure from youngsters. Don’t need it from anybody in fact. Peer pressure is never positive. I see and feel my life scars every day. I’ve been down. I’ve been high on expectations and hope. I’ve been foolish. I’ve judged too soon. I’ve judged correctly. I’ve balanced things out. I’ve put things in perspective. I’ve been drunk, in fights, in arguments, slammed the door, got injured, survived an emergency-landing with a British army chopper in Bosnia, talked my way out of a mad African mob, got friends killed for doing their job, have been arrested by army and police in Africa, survived Somalia (twice). I have seen and smelled dead people (civilians, rebels, soldiers, cops), seen destruction and hate, seen helping hands and survivors-against-all-odds. I have witnessed the destruction of floods. I’ve seen hunger and despair. I had my personal traumas and childhood struggles. I’ve been financially at ease sometimes, while other times had money worries. I crashed my car (twice) and fell of a bike,... so leave this peer pressure aside because I don’t need it, don’t want it, don’t desire it, and it certainly don’t stimulate me or makes me smile. It sucks!
Throw out. Listened to US punkers Anti-Flag’s new album “The People Or The Gun”. There is a line in one of their songs that goes something like this. “I’ve seen the bail outs for the rich, where is the bail out for the poor”. It ain’t as simple as that but it put certain things in perspective. Food for thought.
C-Ya
collateral – early June 2009
And then the same day in a court in New York the giant of the American dream General Motors files for bankruptcy protection. Yes it’s the end of the dream that the US motor industry was on top of the world. The end of a legacy. The end. But let’s be honest too. It’s also the in your face realisation that GM’s management sucked. They were riding for many years on arrogance and grandiose schemes that were far out of touch with reality. They were so out of date in models, production, management planning, and on a road ahead built on delirium. They could not grasp that the grand lady of the almighty American car industry was just out of touch with economic and environmental realities. Some years ago they launched the ugly, over-sized Hummer in a period where every other automaker on this planet was looking to develop and promote fuel-efficient cars. GM was just doped up. Bigger is better. Bigger wasn’t better. Bigger was the road to ruin. And who will suffer once again. The blue collar worker across the US, but also in Belgium, the UK, Germany, Poland, Spain to even South Africa. And in many cases when a plant closes or is seriously sized down whole communities collapse. It’s the domino effect. While the GM board members just probably slip away enjoying their early, fat pensions and buy-out bonuses. It’s sick and sad.
It’s another blow to Obama’s debut. He is just facing one serious challenge after the other. Mind blowing. Luckily he seems to have a clear cut approach to most of them and plenty of guts and energy.
Oh and following up from the last days and slightly forgotten because of the Air France tragedy, it’s been reported that North Korea seems to be preparing for another missile test. This time maybe with a bigger warhead on it. Very scary. I would not like to live in South Korea right now. Wondering also why China isn’t more on the forefront of tackling this threat. They are the world-power-in-the-making. They are already the regional kings. They are neighbours to the Korean mad man. They have a responsibility to the world. But they seem to go quietly about it. Maybe, surely, it’s time to seriously speak up. Condemn. Keep a hand reached out, but be firm. Tough diplomatic action is required by all now! This North Korean nuke games will haunt us for a long time to come I fear.
Moving on from a mysterious tragedy and an edgy world to personal space and time. It’s sacred. And peer pressure invades both too often. Or at least tries to invade. Stand-offs.
Some people in your social environment sometimes disappear from the radar. That’s honestly fine. It’s a personal choice, and life’s journey has its T-junctions. But it’s strange, to say the least, that after more than a year for instance these missing people return to blame their forgotten friends for not attending a specific social event. Peer pressure with a sour taste. Peer pressure with an edge of unfairness. Peer pressure with memory loss.
Let me say it simple and straight out. What give you the right to come and push other people around about their time and their social plans? Where have you been all this time? This is the polite version of my question.
This holier-than-thou attitude sucks. Unacceptable. Misplaced. Nobody should tell me how to use my time and my space as they don’t know the conditions of my personal and professional life. These are the real pressures of life, not some social peers!
I got my life scars. I don’t need peer pressure from youngsters. Don’t need it from anybody in fact. Peer pressure is never positive. I see and feel my life scars every day. I’ve been down. I’ve been high on expectations and hope. I’ve been foolish. I’ve judged too soon. I’ve judged correctly. I’ve balanced things out. I’ve put things in perspective. I’ve been drunk, in fights, in arguments, slammed the door, got injured, survived an emergency-landing with a British army chopper in Bosnia, talked my way out of a mad African mob, got friends killed for doing their job, have been arrested by army and police in Africa, survived Somalia (twice). I have seen and smelled dead people (civilians, rebels, soldiers, cops), seen destruction and hate, seen helping hands and survivors-against-all-odds. I have witnessed the destruction of floods. I’ve seen hunger and despair. I had my personal traumas and childhood struggles. I’ve been financially at ease sometimes, while other times had money worries. I crashed my car (twice) and fell of a bike,... so leave this peer pressure aside because I don’t need it, don’t want it, don’t desire it, and it certainly don’t stimulate me or makes me smile. It sucks!
Throw out. Listened to US punkers Anti-Flag’s new album “The People Or The Gun”. There is a line in one of their songs that goes something like this. “I’ve seen the bail outs for the rich, where is the bail out for the poor”. It ain’t as simple as that but it put certain things in perspective. Food for thought.
C-Ya
collateral – early June 2009
Narrow-minded nuke freaks
The worrying behaviour of a neurotic dictator has been hitting front pages and news bulletins over the last weeks. I’m talking about North Korea. That island (not geographically) of despair, mental isolation, hard-line communism, starvation and nuclear chess games.
So North Korea’s old and frail leader Kim-something has done an underground nuke test the size of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki blasts, followed by several missile tests. It has brought the world on the edge as there are no direct, practical and political steps that can be taken here and now to stop the military gung-ho madness. It reflects the world’s serious limitations towards such rough states, with at the helm a leader that mentally doesn’t operate in the real world but rather in a theoretical bi-polar vision of us vs them that is a reflection of the cold world from the 50s and 60s. A nation stuck in the narrow-minded ism of theoretical, old-style politics.
It’s serious. In a post-Reagan and post-Soviet time the world had stepped back from a money- wasting nuclear arms race. And rightly so. But North Korea, and Iran (although both are totally different type of states), are still walking the path of overkill-deterrent.
The timing of such nuke tests is always suspicious. Is North Korea testing the incoming Obama administration? Or, as is often the case, there are growing internal rifts? In a closed, non-democratic, un-free society like North Korea it is hard to measure dissent as those openly asking questions from within the country are likely spending the rest of their lives in jail or in “educational camps”. Rotting and starving away. And North Korea’s leader Kim-something is not around forever. The cult around him might create an impression of eternity, but even dictators can’t stop the hand of time. Also for them the grim reaper will have the final say. So maybe within the clique of those around him there are people jostling for new positions in a post-Kim-something North Korea. And that makes leaders nervous and in times of internal rifts it’s always the easiest way to go and focus back on the external enemy and show some “courage” by playing some nuke games.
It has raised stress levels across the region and the world, even in neighbouring China. The military on highest alert in South Korea. Extra US spy planes to the region. Emergency meetings in Japan. It’s all very edgy. Also because the world is pretty limited in dealing with a rough nation like North Korea that lives in a different state of mind than the rest of the globe.
But it was this cold world narrow-mindedness that has created the Korean split in the 50s. Despite French, US and UN troops the country got artificially divided. It was the creation of the northern madness.
And as in Iran, those nuke programs always go hand in hand with missile testing because if you have a bomb but can’t deliver it then that nuke power is useless. Remember, that’s why the US – straight after world war 2 – sucked in some Nazi missile experts, to develop the US nuclear deterrent capability. Because as you might remember the US atomic bombs over Japan in 1945 where dropped from planes and thus operationally much more risky than putting them on a rocket thousands of kilometres away.
In the North Korean, and Iranian, context it is certainly also necessary to stress that the world’s democracies have been working hard to come up with and establish a so called non-nuclear proliferation treaty. An attempt to stop nuclear material and knowledge to flow freely over the world. It’s a sad to admit that it was the West that started the nuke race and now trying to stop it. Anyway this non-proliferation treaty is a more than welcome piece of paper, but – and here are already big gaps in the credibility of it – democracies like Israel, India and Pakistan refuse to sign this anti-nuke treaty. That of course shoots big holes in any anti-nuke rhetoric by let’s say Washington or London. It makes it ten times more difficult to come knocking on Iran’s door and say “Hey mate, stop this nuke program”, when the US’ buddy Israel is refusing to sign up to it. Certainly no sane mind can support an Iranian leader that openly dreams of the destruction of the state of Israel. The state of Israel has totally the right to exist,.... although it’s treatment of Palestinians is totally unacceptable, racist and inhumane.
So you now have to deal with North Korea but you don’t have too much options or tools to choose from and your credibility – because of Israel, India and Pakistan - has big holes in it. A tough one to crack!
North Korea is a disgraceful dictatorship that lets its people starve to death to avoid having to open up borders. Iran is more complicated. It liberated itself from a US-backed dictator in the 70s but as a counter-swing ended up with a religious conservative state. And also the difference with North Korea is that at least Iran has elections. New ones coming up any day now. And from previous polls they are reasonably free and fair as such. I stress the “as such” part. It’s not like in China where the ruling party gets 95% or so. In Iran there is some kind of contest. Not totally free between all types of political parties like we see for instance in Europe, but there are opposing parties at least. And yes we must admit her and now too that there are still severe restrictions within Iranian society, like full media freedom for instance. But interesting elections to watch and see if the hardliners gain or lose, and what the rural-urban divide will be too.
Here’s a thought. Why doesn’t Israel announce they will sign up to the non-proliferation treaty and accept UN nuke inspectors, if Iran does the same too. That would be a fantastic positive step and also would put North Korea’s madness and isolated behaviour even more in a corner. But Israel has a hawkish government now and Iran is in election fever. And thus the timing isn’t ripe for bold moves that narrow-minded hardliners on both sides will spin as weakness. Maybe in a few months.... Hope is a drug.
Throw out. Listening to "Remain in memory" from punkrockers Good Riddance. Their final gig on cd. Great stuff!
C-Ya
collateral - the dawn of June 2009
So North Korea’s old and frail leader Kim-something has done an underground nuke test the size of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki blasts, followed by several missile tests. It has brought the world on the edge as there are no direct, practical and political steps that can be taken here and now to stop the military gung-ho madness. It reflects the world’s serious limitations towards such rough states, with at the helm a leader that mentally doesn’t operate in the real world but rather in a theoretical bi-polar vision of us vs them that is a reflection of the cold world from the 50s and 60s. A nation stuck in the narrow-minded ism of theoretical, old-style politics.
It’s serious. In a post-Reagan and post-Soviet time the world had stepped back from a money- wasting nuclear arms race. And rightly so. But North Korea, and Iran (although both are totally different type of states), are still walking the path of overkill-deterrent.
The timing of such nuke tests is always suspicious. Is North Korea testing the incoming Obama administration? Or, as is often the case, there are growing internal rifts? In a closed, non-democratic, un-free society like North Korea it is hard to measure dissent as those openly asking questions from within the country are likely spending the rest of their lives in jail or in “educational camps”. Rotting and starving away. And North Korea’s leader Kim-something is not around forever. The cult around him might create an impression of eternity, but even dictators can’t stop the hand of time. Also for them the grim reaper will have the final say. So maybe within the clique of those around him there are people jostling for new positions in a post-Kim-something North Korea. And that makes leaders nervous and in times of internal rifts it’s always the easiest way to go and focus back on the external enemy and show some “courage” by playing some nuke games.
It has raised stress levels across the region and the world, even in neighbouring China. The military on highest alert in South Korea. Extra US spy planes to the region. Emergency meetings in Japan. It’s all very edgy. Also because the world is pretty limited in dealing with a rough nation like North Korea that lives in a different state of mind than the rest of the globe.
But it was this cold world narrow-mindedness that has created the Korean split in the 50s. Despite French, US and UN troops the country got artificially divided. It was the creation of the northern madness.
And as in Iran, those nuke programs always go hand in hand with missile testing because if you have a bomb but can’t deliver it then that nuke power is useless. Remember, that’s why the US – straight after world war 2 – sucked in some Nazi missile experts, to develop the US nuclear deterrent capability. Because as you might remember the US atomic bombs over Japan in 1945 where dropped from planes and thus operationally much more risky than putting them on a rocket thousands of kilometres away.
In the North Korean, and Iranian, context it is certainly also necessary to stress that the world’s democracies have been working hard to come up with and establish a so called non-nuclear proliferation treaty. An attempt to stop nuclear material and knowledge to flow freely over the world. It’s a sad to admit that it was the West that started the nuke race and now trying to stop it. Anyway this non-proliferation treaty is a more than welcome piece of paper, but – and here are already big gaps in the credibility of it – democracies like Israel, India and Pakistan refuse to sign this anti-nuke treaty. That of course shoots big holes in any anti-nuke rhetoric by let’s say Washington or London. It makes it ten times more difficult to come knocking on Iran’s door and say “Hey mate, stop this nuke program”, when the US’ buddy Israel is refusing to sign up to it. Certainly no sane mind can support an Iranian leader that openly dreams of the destruction of the state of Israel. The state of Israel has totally the right to exist,.... although it’s treatment of Palestinians is totally unacceptable, racist and inhumane.
So you now have to deal with North Korea but you don’t have too much options or tools to choose from and your credibility – because of Israel, India and Pakistan - has big holes in it. A tough one to crack!
North Korea is a disgraceful dictatorship that lets its people starve to death to avoid having to open up borders. Iran is more complicated. It liberated itself from a US-backed dictator in the 70s but as a counter-swing ended up with a religious conservative state. And also the difference with North Korea is that at least Iran has elections. New ones coming up any day now. And from previous polls they are reasonably free and fair as such. I stress the “as such” part. It’s not like in China where the ruling party gets 95% or so. In Iran there is some kind of contest. Not totally free between all types of political parties like we see for instance in Europe, but there are opposing parties at least. And yes we must admit her and now too that there are still severe restrictions within Iranian society, like full media freedom for instance. But interesting elections to watch and see if the hardliners gain or lose, and what the rural-urban divide will be too.
Here’s a thought. Why doesn’t Israel announce they will sign up to the non-proliferation treaty and accept UN nuke inspectors, if Iran does the same too. That would be a fantastic positive step and also would put North Korea’s madness and isolated behaviour even more in a corner. But Israel has a hawkish government now and Iran is in election fever. And thus the timing isn’t ripe for bold moves that narrow-minded hardliners on both sides will spin as weakness. Maybe in a few months.... Hope is a drug.
Throw out. Listening to "Remain in memory" from punkrockers Good Riddance. Their final gig on cd. Great stuff!
C-Ya
collateral - the dawn of June 2009
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