Incredible. Police in Peru have arrested 2 men and a woman for trade in human fat. Yes, human fat. Kick that. These Peruvians killed tens of people for their body grease. Slick business.
It’s an out-of-space horror movie. The trio said they were killing people – the fatter the better I guess - to sell fat to the European cosmetic industry. Wow. It’s even more out of space. Beyond Mars. The next universe. If true, I seriously wonder what the hell the cosmetic industry is using body fat for. Slimming pills based on human fat? Massage oil from pressed human grease. Uh.
Apparently the Peruvian cops are still on the hunt for several Italian associates of the fat-collectors.
Apparently the cops discoverd a so called lab where victims were killed, decapitated and their legs and arms cut off, before their organs were taken out. Then the remaining body was being melted. Horror house deluxe.
What was left over was buried or thrown in a local river. Mad, madder, maddest. The cops now are looking in all the missing people cases from the region. Maybe they were all victims of the fat suckers.
Investigators have strong doubts the culprits’ story about European cosmatic industry buyers is for real. The question remains why the hell were these poeple doing this evil business. It’s sickening beyond reality.
Human behavior remains a mystery. Too often a scary mystery. Dirty, bloody, scary, mysterious.
And sometimes human bevahior is also brutal, unfair, unbalanced. Inhuman in fact. The Israeli government has announced they want to built another 900 new settelment homes in East Jersualem. Path to peace? Or aggressive policy of expansion? It feels like a stiff middle finger to the outside world. Talking peace to Obama and Hillary and European diplomats, but out there on the ground doing the exact opposite. It’s pretty disgusting.
It often seems that the Israelis pursue aggressive policies. They attack and then whne the world demands a halt to their attacks they see that as the world demandinga concession from them. So they use aggression (in different forms) to force concessions from the Palestinians. They don’t reach out a hand. They firts slap and then demand the other side gives them something before the slapping stops. It’s high time the world stands up to such negative policies and refuse to play game on their terms. Stop aggression first before any concessions can come to the table. Otherwise it is very much an unfair, unbalanced approach. And that is not a right path to peace and stability. That is not a path for a better future for all – Palestinians and Israelis. It’s warfare, nothing more, nothing less. And warfare cannot be seen as negotiations. It’s a destructive act.
Human behavior, especially in the Middle East, is too ften an emotional, unrealistic reaction to dead-end actions as hope is fading and gung-ho politics gain the upperhand. Path to nowhere.
From nowhere to somewhere else. If the somewhere else might eventually to a wall or a dark hole is certianly possible.
The small, rich, Alpen-nation of Switzerland has just re-conformed its status as the home of dark conservatism. Through a referendum the country has bannend the construction of minarets. More than 57% of voters supported the ban.
The referendum was called by Switzerland’s largest party, the SVP, as they see minarets as a sign of Islamisation of the snowwy white ski-resorts. And a majority pf the Swiss people seem to agree with that view and thus don’t want any minarets no more. They have only 4 so far across the whole country and thats eemed to be enough for the conservative Swiss to start fearing an Sialm tidal wave. All back to the bunker tod efend the nation against the advancing hordes of Muslims.
It wont give them favours in the Muslim world, but that’s their choice. But on the other hand the well-known Swiss banking world happily accepts the bank accounts from Muslims and finance some dark channels of payments and bribes for some of the Muslim’s world dictators and hardline, anti-democractic rulers. Speaking of double talk. Hypocrisy in the snow.
Human behavior. As always confusing, dark and lacking standards.
Throw out. Just heard Skarhead’s “Drugs, music & sex” album. Skarhead is a project-band from Lord Ezec from Crown of Thornz fame, and also known as Danny Diablo when wearing the rap hat. Their new release after years of being on hold was highly anticipated, but I don’t think it delivered to the hype. It has some good tracks, but sadly also some very poor tracks that are very repetitive and very déjà-vu. But still plenty of respect for Ezec’s efforts in the underground music industry. The guy seems to have massive energy.
C-Ya
collateral – November 2009 is reaching its final hours
2014 Exit
So Afghanistan’s weak president announces that he wants full security control over his nation in 5 years. Meaning, the US and NATO forces have now an exit deadline for end 2014. Wow!
I wonder if that is optimistic, realistic or day dreaming. Clearly Karzai came to power in a very shaky fashion after a collapsed democratic process. And meanwhile, without any doubt, the bearded Taliban are just sitting in their mountain caves awaiting the harsh winter to pass by. They are not defeated nor retreated nor on the run. They are re-planning, re-organising, re-arming for a spring offensive. April in Kabul looks like an uncertain future.
Not too far from there lies Iraq. Land of death and destruction. Land of hope. Land of pitfalls. Land of rotten politics. There was a dream and a plan to have elections in January. That just got shot down as the election plan didn’t pass the parliamentary process. Shot down. Back to the drawing board.
Tough times in the region! And also the Palestinian elections in January will be a shaky affair. Do the Palestinians have any hope left?
Human behaviour will face a crucial test.
From instability and a very uncertain future to religious insanity.
Islamists in 5-star chaos Somalia have stoned to death a 20-year old women accused of adultery,.... although she was divorced. Welcome to the 21st century! Some people just seem to wanna go back to the stone age. In the name of religion. More like in the name of ultimate stupidity and bestiality.
The stoning took place in front of a crowd of about 200 people. Fellow nutters. Bloodlust freaks. And check the unbalanced line of thought in their prehistoric thinking. The woman gets brutally killed. The man she slept with gets 100 lashes. The lashes as such are without any doubt pretty brutal and beyond humanity too, but compared with being stoned to death it’s even more surreal.
The world should catch those bastards and castrate them. Maybe Tarantino’s blockbuster Nazi hunters, The Inglorious Bastards, should be sent after them.
So Obama went to Asia. Talk, talk, talk. Asia is certainly the future. If you look at population and economic growth of India and China, then you know what’s coming. It’s take-over time! There seems to be some optimism for some (little) breakthrough at the global warming talks in Denmark next month. World leaders will gather to face reality. Many of them will refuse to accept reality because it clashes with their election programs. The majority of people on planet earth will accept the reality of global warming when it is too late. It’s sad. The data is there. The vast majority of scientists sing the same song. Just some wackos here and there are day dreaming after intake of alcohol and heroin. It’s real and happening. The world is warming up because of human development and the warming up will have pretty shitty effects. Pretty devastating for some, like farmers in Africa or islands like the Kiribati group. But unfortunately for many people, especially in the Western world (and even in India and China) the global warming warning is far from their daily work-junkfood-TV-sleep rhythm. And thus it’s not easy for politicians to take decisive measures that will to a degree hurt day to day live for the unknown citizen. Because that citizen won’t understand why these actions are taking and will have a limited scope and thus reject that politician. And thus many politicians can’t handle that pressure. Good leaders lead, but weak leaders capitulate. And there are just too few strong, good leaders. So I fear that the Denmark summit is a nice try but nothing more.
I hope I am wrong.
Human behaviour is a joke and based on little knowledge and too many emotions. Change, even little baby-step-change, is just too much to handle for the vast majority of earth’s citizens. Till catastrophy comes to town. Wait and see.
Throw out. It’s out. The self-titled, debut album by supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. A new project/ban consisting of Dave Ghrol of Foo Fighters and Nirvana stardom, Josh Home of Queens Of The Stone Age, and 63-year old John Paul Jones of the legendary Led Zeppelin. What a mix of talent! I heard 3 tracks of the album so far and it sounds to me like the Led Zeppelin of the 21st century.
C-Ya
collateral – November 2009 is just cruising along
I wonder if that is optimistic, realistic or day dreaming. Clearly Karzai came to power in a very shaky fashion after a collapsed democratic process. And meanwhile, without any doubt, the bearded Taliban are just sitting in their mountain caves awaiting the harsh winter to pass by. They are not defeated nor retreated nor on the run. They are re-planning, re-organising, re-arming for a spring offensive. April in Kabul looks like an uncertain future.
Not too far from there lies Iraq. Land of death and destruction. Land of hope. Land of pitfalls. Land of rotten politics. There was a dream and a plan to have elections in January. That just got shot down as the election plan didn’t pass the parliamentary process. Shot down. Back to the drawing board.
Tough times in the region! And also the Palestinian elections in January will be a shaky affair. Do the Palestinians have any hope left?
Human behaviour will face a crucial test.
From instability and a very uncertain future to religious insanity.
Islamists in 5-star chaos Somalia have stoned to death a 20-year old women accused of adultery,.... although she was divorced. Welcome to the 21st century! Some people just seem to wanna go back to the stone age. In the name of religion. More like in the name of ultimate stupidity and bestiality.
The stoning took place in front of a crowd of about 200 people. Fellow nutters. Bloodlust freaks. And check the unbalanced line of thought in their prehistoric thinking. The woman gets brutally killed. The man she slept with gets 100 lashes. The lashes as such are without any doubt pretty brutal and beyond humanity too, but compared with being stoned to death it’s even more surreal.
The world should catch those bastards and castrate them. Maybe Tarantino’s blockbuster Nazi hunters, The Inglorious Bastards, should be sent after them.
So Obama went to Asia. Talk, talk, talk. Asia is certainly the future. If you look at population and economic growth of India and China, then you know what’s coming. It’s take-over time! There seems to be some optimism for some (little) breakthrough at the global warming talks in Denmark next month. World leaders will gather to face reality. Many of them will refuse to accept reality because it clashes with their election programs. The majority of people on planet earth will accept the reality of global warming when it is too late. It’s sad. The data is there. The vast majority of scientists sing the same song. Just some wackos here and there are day dreaming after intake of alcohol and heroin. It’s real and happening. The world is warming up because of human development and the warming up will have pretty shitty effects. Pretty devastating for some, like farmers in Africa or islands like the Kiribati group. But unfortunately for many people, especially in the Western world (and even in India and China) the global warming warning is far from their daily work-junkfood-TV-sleep rhythm. And thus it’s not easy for politicians to take decisive measures that will to a degree hurt day to day live for the unknown citizen. Because that citizen won’t understand why these actions are taking and will have a limited scope and thus reject that politician. And thus many politicians can’t handle that pressure. Good leaders lead, but weak leaders capitulate. And there are just too few strong, good leaders. So I fear that the Denmark summit is a nice try but nothing more.
I hope I am wrong.
Human behaviour is a joke and based on little knowledge and too many emotions. Change, even little baby-step-change, is just too much to handle for the vast majority of earth’s citizens. Till catastrophy comes to town. Wait and see.
Throw out. It’s out. The self-titled, debut album by supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. A new project/ban consisting of Dave Ghrol of Foo Fighters and Nirvana stardom, Josh Home of Queens Of The Stone Age, and 63-year old John Paul Jones of the legendary Led Zeppelin. What a mix of talent! I heard 3 tracks of the album so far and it sounds to me like the Led Zeppelin of the 21st century.
C-Ya
collateral – November 2009 is just cruising along
Down in Louisiana
Down in Louisiana some seem to compete with the narrow-minded Taliban from the caves of Afghanistan. Competition in stupidity.
An American judge down in Tangipahoa Parish in the state of Louisiana refused to marry an interracial couple because he said their kids would have a bleak future in the US as they wouldn’t be accepted by whites nor blacks.
In case you wonder, yes this is 2009.
On top of that then the judge says he is not a racist but that he “just doesn’t believe in mixing races”. Am sure he doesn’t mix brain cells too because he doesn’t have any! Have they checked his KKK membership? The interracial couple is thinking of complaining at the Justice Department. And so they should.
Human behaviour remains underdeveloped. Stuck in its narrow, dark tunnel. Everything you know is maybe a lie.
Remaining in the madness zone, with stupidity on top.
An armed robber in South Africa kept 12 people hostage in a house and threatened to shoot them one by one. Another violent crime situation in a nation that lives on the edge every minute of every day.
But instead of going on a mad killing spree, the robber shot his own penis off! That’s vengeance for you. Immediate justice there and then. Stupidity of the next level. The mad criminal wanted to take the stolen gun out of his pants and hit the trigger by accident. And his penis was no more. Blown to pieces and into history.
From crazy to crazier.
What’s this shooting madness at the US military barracks in Texas? An army-psychiatrist had issues of being send to Iraq (or was it Afghanistan?) and starts emptying his weapon on his colleagues, killing a whole bunch. Mad. A psychiatrist in need of treatment. Over the edge. Passed the line. Insanity setting in. A killing spree. And now the terror topic pops up because he was Muslim and had issues with the war(s). Is this for real or a cheap way out of this mess? The terror label is a very easy tool to avoid deeper thoughts and more rational look into the soul and social environment of this madman. A madman in uniform. What pushed him over the edge to pull the trigger over and over again? But if indeed there is a real, true terror link then it’s scary because then the attacks are clearly coming from within and with ease. Then this can happen anywhere anytime inside the US. And that is very scary. Then nobody is safe, not even in US military compounds within the US of A. That’s seriously a threatening situation. That’s deep. That will raise the tensions even more and put people even further on the edge of fear. And more stereotyping too. Not good. Not good.
Human behaviour has very dark zones.
Flashes from the world of news from around the globe that are just sticking (for a little while).
After 5 months are so Lebanon has finally a new government. Right away one wonders how long it will last. And the Taliban in Afghanistan have shown captured US ammunition. And festivities for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the evil Berlin Wall are happening in the German capital these days. People power! And South Africa’s recent police informal guidelines to shoot-to-kill have just had its second deadly accident. Some weeks ago it was an innocent, young woman behind the wheel of her car. Now it’s a 3 year old boy. It’s the wild wild west. Killing armed criminals is one thing. Having trigger-happy and poorly trained cops on the streets is another thing.
Human behaviour needs plenty of tender loving care. And some vitamins. And a some deep healing.
Throw out. There has always been some common ground, especially in New York, between underground punkrock and rap. Sounds of the boroughs. Danny Diablo, aka Lord Ezec (born Danny Singer) has just released another rap album. He made underground fame when he started Crown of Thornz (with reputed guitarist Mike Dijan) and then with his Skarhead project (which is about to have a new release too). I just had a quick listen to Diablo’s new “International Hardcore Superstar” album and, as with his other rap releases, I am not really digging it much (despite being a big fan of his non-rap work). And then there is the debut, rap album from Freddy Cricien under the name ‘Freddy Madball’. Freddy is well-known as the brother of Agnostic Front singer Roger Miret and the voice of hard hitters Madball. He is now also venturing into the rap world with his debut release “Catholic Guilt”.
C-Ya
collateral – November 2009 sails on
An American judge down in Tangipahoa Parish in the state of Louisiana refused to marry an interracial couple because he said their kids would have a bleak future in the US as they wouldn’t be accepted by whites nor blacks.
In case you wonder, yes this is 2009.
On top of that then the judge says he is not a racist but that he “just doesn’t believe in mixing races”. Am sure he doesn’t mix brain cells too because he doesn’t have any! Have they checked his KKK membership? The interracial couple is thinking of complaining at the Justice Department. And so they should.
Human behaviour remains underdeveloped. Stuck in its narrow, dark tunnel. Everything you know is maybe a lie.
Remaining in the madness zone, with stupidity on top.
An armed robber in South Africa kept 12 people hostage in a house and threatened to shoot them one by one. Another violent crime situation in a nation that lives on the edge every minute of every day.
But instead of going on a mad killing spree, the robber shot his own penis off! That’s vengeance for you. Immediate justice there and then. Stupidity of the next level. The mad criminal wanted to take the stolen gun out of his pants and hit the trigger by accident. And his penis was no more. Blown to pieces and into history.
From crazy to crazier.
What’s this shooting madness at the US military barracks in Texas? An army-psychiatrist had issues of being send to Iraq (or was it Afghanistan?) and starts emptying his weapon on his colleagues, killing a whole bunch. Mad. A psychiatrist in need of treatment. Over the edge. Passed the line. Insanity setting in. A killing spree. And now the terror topic pops up because he was Muslim and had issues with the war(s). Is this for real or a cheap way out of this mess? The terror label is a very easy tool to avoid deeper thoughts and more rational look into the soul and social environment of this madman. A madman in uniform. What pushed him over the edge to pull the trigger over and over again? But if indeed there is a real, true terror link then it’s scary because then the attacks are clearly coming from within and with ease. Then this can happen anywhere anytime inside the US. And that is very scary. Then nobody is safe, not even in US military compounds within the US of A. That’s seriously a threatening situation. That’s deep. That will raise the tensions even more and put people even further on the edge of fear. And more stereotyping too. Not good. Not good.
Human behaviour has very dark zones.
Flashes from the world of news from around the globe that are just sticking (for a little while).
After 5 months are so Lebanon has finally a new government. Right away one wonders how long it will last. And the Taliban in Afghanistan have shown captured US ammunition. And festivities for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the evil Berlin Wall are happening in the German capital these days. People power! And South Africa’s recent police informal guidelines to shoot-to-kill have just had its second deadly accident. Some weeks ago it was an innocent, young woman behind the wheel of her car. Now it’s a 3 year old boy. It’s the wild wild west. Killing armed criminals is one thing. Having trigger-happy and poorly trained cops on the streets is another thing.
Human behaviour needs plenty of tender loving care. And some vitamins. And a some deep healing.
Throw out. There has always been some common ground, especially in New York, between underground punkrock and rap. Sounds of the boroughs. Danny Diablo, aka Lord Ezec (born Danny Singer) has just released another rap album. He made underground fame when he started Crown of Thornz (with reputed guitarist Mike Dijan) and then with his Skarhead project (which is about to have a new release too). I just had a quick listen to Diablo’s new “International Hardcore Superstar” album and, as with his other rap releases, I am not really digging it much (despite being a big fan of his non-rap work). And then there is the debut, rap album from Freddy Cricien under the name ‘Freddy Madball’. Freddy is well-known as the brother of Agnostic Front singer Roger Miret and the voice of hard hitters Madball. He is now also venturing into the rap world with his debut release “Catholic Guilt”.
C-Ya
collateral – November 2009 sails on
What a mess! - the sequel
Breaking news. Breaking news.
At once it's all going fast in Afghanistan. It took them ages to count the results of the 1st round (which took place last August), but the last 3 days have been a rollercoaster of self-destructing democracy.
Opponent Abdullah Abdullah warned about fraud in a 2nd round, run-off between him and sitting president Karzai. The next day (yesterday) he pulls out of the race leaving the democratic process in limbo with a 2nd round set for November 7th but with only 1 candidate remaining - Karzai. And then today the 2nd round is cancelled and Karzai sworn in.
What a mess! Clearly not from the handbook of traditional, solid democracy.
What legitimacy will Karzai have now? What representative power? Karzai is weaker than ever and the US and its Allies have egg on their faces. Sticky stuff. The future looks pretty rocky for Afghanistan.
Why not let the 2nd round happen anyway? Even with only 1 candidate. The independent election commission said it was better to scrap the 2nd round to save money and for security reasons. What crappy reasons! The US and its Allies have invested billions of money into Afghanistan (troop deployments, economic development,...), so what would an extra round of democracy cost in reference to what has been spent already? Since when has the democratic process a pricetag? And fears of security? So is that a confirmation that the ruling powers, be it the Afghan forces or be it NATO, cannot guarantee the safety of a next round of voting?
Or is the truth something else? What if the democratic process would run its course and there would be a 2nd round. Indeed with only Karzai on the ballot paper. What if the turnout would be just a few percentages? That would totally undermine Karzai's legitimacy. What if the voters turn up but a majority spoils their ballot - which is their democratic right. And thus that you might then end up with Karazi getting less than 50% of the voters that came to the voting stations. How embarrassing would that be? That would totally be democracy in limbo.
So were Kabul and Washington DC and London and Berlin afraid that the 2nd round might be full of those ugly surprises and thus better to kill it off here and now?
One thing is for sure, democracy is not the winner at all here. It has crashed and is dented, critically wounded, maimed. More than ever Karzai will look like a puppet of NATO. The ghosts of Vietnam are roaming the mountains....
Human behavior in Afghanistan has inflected bloody wounds on itself. Self mutilation.
At once it's all going fast in Afghanistan. It took them ages to count the results of the 1st round (which took place last August), but the last 3 days have been a rollercoaster of self-destructing democracy.
Opponent Abdullah Abdullah warned about fraud in a 2nd round, run-off between him and sitting president Karzai. The next day (yesterday) he pulls out of the race leaving the democratic process in limbo with a 2nd round set for November 7th but with only 1 candidate remaining - Karzai. And then today the 2nd round is cancelled and Karzai sworn in.
What a mess! Clearly not from the handbook of traditional, solid democracy.
What legitimacy will Karzai have now? What representative power? Karzai is weaker than ever and the US and its Allies have egg on their faces. Sticky stuff. The future looks pretty rocky for Afghanistan.
Why not let the 2nd round happen anyway? Even with only 1 candidate. The independent election commission said it was better to scrap the 2nd round to save money and for security reasons. What crappy reasons! The US and its Allies have invested billions of money into Afghanistan (troop deployments, economic development,...), so what would an extra round of democracy cost in reference to what has been spent already? Since when has the democratic process a pricetag? And fears of security? So is that a confirmation that the ruling powers, be it the Afghan forces or be it NATO, cannot guarantee the safety of a next round of voting?
Or is the truth something else? What if the democratic process would run its course and there would be a 2nd round. Indeed with only Karzai on the ballot paper. What if the turnout would be just a few percentages? That would totally undermine Karzai's legitimacy. What if the voters turn up but a majority spoils their ballot - which is their democratic right. And thus that you might then end up with Karazi getting less than 50% of the voters that came to the voting stations. How embarrassing would that be? That would totally be democracy in limbo.
So were Kabul and Washington DC and London and Berlin afraid that the 2nd round might be full of those ugly surprises and thus better to kill it off here and now?
One thing is for sure, democracy is not the winner at all here. It has crashed and is dented, critically wounded, maimed. More than ever Karzai will look like a puppet of NATO. The ghosts of Vietnam are roaming the mountains....
Human behavior in Afghanistan has inflected bloody wounds on itself. Self mutilation.
What a mess!
What a mess! The 2nd round of the crucial Afghan elections is in turmoil. Total confusion. Democracy at a crossroad. Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah announced that he was withdrawing from the 2-men race because he doesn’t believe it can be a free and fair election.
Obama and his allies must be pulling out their hair. Their democratic process in rocky Afghanistan has crashed. The Taliban must be laughing. What now with the US plan-under-consideration for extra troops as a so called final push? What now with all the extra, allied troops that were sent to Afghanistan to create a peaceful environment for the elections? Remember that the 1st round already took place in August. But as it was torpedoed from within with massive fraud a 2nd, decisive round had to be organised. It was set for November 7th and would be a race between sitting president Karzai and his opponent Abdullah.
Now it’s a 1-man race. And everybody is very confused on how to proceed. This is unchartered waters and Afghanistan’s constitution is mum on what to do next. This is beyond expectations. Beyond planning. Afghanistan sinks deeper into despair and hopelessness. It seems the 2nd round will happen as planned but a 1-man race elections just doesn’t look right. Doesn’t look solid. Doesn’t feel real democracy in the making. Lacks serious legitimacy. What happens when the only candidate left, Karzai, gets less than 50% of the vote if the majority of the voters spoil their ballot in protest against the process? That would be really putting the country in political disarray.
It’s bad for the whole region too. And don’t forget as Afghanistan’s democratic process slips and tumbles, Iraq is getting ready for elections next January. That’s just around the corner. It’s very déjà-vu. A messy Afghanistan with the Taliban preparing for a spring offensive, and Iraq holding its breath to see how bloody its election process will be. It’s all sad and shaky.
From a rocky road to justice.
It’s the way it should be. Politician or not. President or not. Justice for all. And all equal before justice.
A noble principle that too often is abandoned around the world. But France might show the light. A magistrate has ordered former French President Jacques Chirac to stand trial on corruption charges. No hiding behind status or popularity. No hiding behind fat cat lawyers, immunity clauses or the fact that the past is the past.
The charges go back to when Chirac was mayor of Paris. That was before he got elected as President of the Republic back in 1995. He served two presidential terms, and retired in 2007. Retired but still very popular it seems amongst the people of France. The charges are related to 21 fake contracts. It is alleged that tons of money was used to provide bogus jobs to family and associates. You know,... spread the wealth amongst relatives and allies while you control the tiller. It’s a classic example of building a political empire through tax payers money. Disgusting. Sickening. Rotten.
Of course in full respect of an independent judicial system, all are innocent till proven guilty. At least Chirac will face the music. And that’s the way it should be in a democratic society built on the rule of law. Too many times rulers built their own mountains of wealth on the back of their citizens and never face justice for it as their civil societies are too weak. There are plenty of dictators in Africa for instance whom have sucked their country dry and opened hundreds of private bank accounts abroad to stash up personal wealth. And they know they hardly risk facing justice because they have never intended to build up an independent judicial system and a democratic society. It’s a big cancer of world politics. Power corrupts and ultimate power ultimately corrupts.
Chirac, as anybody in his fancy shoes would do, proclaims innocence. The future will tell. As long as justice is done, guilty or innocent, everything is on the right track.
What is absolutely not on the right track is the political situation in Zimbabwe. Personal fiefdom of President Mugabe. In power since 1980 and keeps hanging on. By all means necessary.
Elections have been rigged. Opponents tortured and killed. Judges have been threatened and replaced by allies. The economy is in ruin. Starvation a reality. Every day Zimbabweans keep fleeing hell into misery in neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.
Since last year the region forced a so called Unity Government onto Mad Bob. He accepted under pressure and with the hope that the gesture would open the cash flow from international donors. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minister. But the real power remained with Bob. His cronies kept control of the army and the central bank.
At the end of last month the UN wanted to send in a special envoy to look at growing cases of political violence and torture across Zimbabwe. The envoy got the invite from Morgan. But Bob didn’t like the visit and refused him entrance as he landed in the capital Harare. In a proof who really controls the decaying nation, Mugabe’s army stopped the convoy sent by Morgan to pick up the UN envoy to get to the airport. It’s as simple as that. Crude politics of power.
The Unity Government has been close to collapse for some weeks now. It’s a government written on cheap paper with dissolvable ink. It has never really worked and Mugabe never wanted it to work. It was doomed to fail as the dictator kept the tools of brutal power totally under his control. Sad story as once again it is the average Zimbabwean that starves and goes hopeless. The dictator himself for sure has plenty of cash stashed away in secret accounts abroad. Meanwhile death roams the country.
Human behaviour when given power is sick. It’s often madly brutal too.
Throw out. Mark Lind has just released a new solo album it seems. “Homeward bound”. I reasonably liked his previous 2 efforts. Not outstanding, but listenable. Has a certain old style Springsteen touch to it. So looking forward to hear his new tunes. Apparently the new album has some guest vocals by his brother Rob from Blood For Blood and Ramallah fame.
C-Ya
collateral – as November 2009 kicks in
Obama and his allies must be pulling out their hair. Their democratic process in rocky Afghanistan has crashed. The Taliban must be laughing. What now with the US plan-under-consideration for extra troops as a so called final push? What now with all the extra, allied troops that were sent to Afghanistan to create a peaceful environment for the elections? Remember that the 1st round already took place in August. But as it was torpedoed from within with massive fraud a 2nd, decisive round had to be organised. It was set for November 7th and would be a race between sitting president Karzai and his opponent Abdullah.
Now it’s a 1-man race. And everybody is very confused on how to proceed. This is unchartered waters and Afghanistan’s constitution is mum on what to do next. This is beyond expectations. Beyond planning. Afghanistan sinks deeper into despair and hopelessness. It seems the 2nd round will happen as planned but a 1-man race elections just doesn’t look right. Doesn’t look solid. Doesn’t feel real democracy in the making. Lacks serious legitimacy. What happens when the only candidate left, Karzai, gets less than 50% of the vote if the majority of the voters spoil their ballot in protest against the process? That would be really putting the country in political disarray.
It’s bad for the whole region too. And don’t forget as Afghanistan’s democratic process slips and tumbles, Iraq is getting ready for elections next January. That’s just around the corner. It’s very déjà-vu. A messy Afghanistan with the Taliban preparing for a spring offensive, and Iraq holding its breath to see how bloody its election process will be. It’s all sad and shaky.
From a rocky road to justice.
It’s the way it should be. Politician or not. President or not. Justice for all. And all equal before justice.
A noble principle that too often is abandoned around the world. But France might show the light. A magistrate has ordered former French President Jacques Chirac to stand trial on corruption charges. No hiding behind status or popularity. No hiding behind fat cat lawyers, immunity clauses or the fact that the past is the past.
The charges go back to when Chirac was mayor of Paris. That was before he got elected as President of the Republic back in 1995. He served two presidential terms, and retired in 2007. Retired but still very popular it seems amongst the people of France. The charges are related to 21 fake contracts. It is alleged that tons of money was used to provide bogus jobs to family and associates. You know,... spread the wealth amongst relatives and allies while you control the tiller. It’s a classic example of building a political empire through tax payers money. Disgusting. Sickening. Rotten.
Of course in full respect of an independent judicial system, all are innocent till proven guilty. At least Chirac will face the music. And that’s the way it should be in a democratic society built on the rule of law. Too many times rulers built their own mountains of wealth on the back of their citizens and never face justice for it as their civil societies are too weak. There are plenty of dictators in Africa for instance whom have sucked their country dry and opened hundreds of private bank accounts abroad to stash up personal wealth. And they know they hardly risk facing justice because they have never intended to build up an independent judicial system and a democratic society. It’s a big cancer of world politics. Power corrupts and ultimate power ultimately corrupts.
Chirac, as anybody in his fancy shoes would do, proclaims innocence. The future will tell. As long as justice is done, guilty or innocent, everything is on the right track.
What is absolutely not on the right track is the political situation in Zimbabwe. Personal fiefdom of President Mugabe. In power since 1980 and keeps hanging on. By all means necessary.
Elections have been rigged. Opponents tortured and killed. Judges have been threatened and replaced by allies. The economy is in ruin. Starvation a reality. Every day Zimbabweans keep fleeing hell into misery in neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.
Since last year the region forced a so called Unity Government onto Mad Bob. He accepted under pressure and with the hope that the gesture would open the cash flow from international donors. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minister. But the real power remained with Bob. His cronies kept control of the army and the central bank.
At the end of last month the UN wanted to send in a special envoy to look at growing cases of political violence and torture across Zimbabwe. The envoy got the invite from Morgan. But Bob didn’t like the visit and refused him entrance as he landed in the capital Harare. In a proof who really controls the decaying nation, Mugabe’s army stopped the convoy sent by Morgan to pick up the UN envoy to get to the airport. It’s as simple as that. Crude politics of power.
The Unity Government has been close to collapse for some weeks now. It’s a government written on cheap paper with dissolvable ink. It has never really worked and Mugabe never wanted it to work. It was doomed to fail as the dictator kept the tools of brutal power totally under his control. Sad story as once again it is the average Zimbabwean that starves and goes hopeless. The dictator himself for sure has plenty of cash stashed away in secret accounts abroad. Meanwhile death roams the country.
Human behaviour when given power is sick. It’s often madly brutal too.
Throw out. Mark Lind has just released a new solo album it seems. “Homeward bound”. I reasonably liked his previous 2 efforts. Not outstanding, but listenable. Has a certain old style Springsteen touch to it. So looking forward to hear his new tunes. Apparently the new album has some guest vocals by his brother Rob from Blood For Blood and Ramallah fame.
C-Ya
collateral – as November 2009 kicks in
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