Fidel

Too much booze can harm your health. Too much too fast can harm you beyond repair.

In remote northern Mozambique (the whole nation is remote) five men died during a drinking contest which was part of promoting a new brandy. Instant death. The ridiculous contest was to test who could empty five bottles of brandy the fastest. Drink fast die, die now.

An investigating was launched as there are suspicions that the new brandy might have been poisoned – unintentionally – during the making process.

Humanity is a risky affair.

Down in some part of Flemish speaking Belgium a teacher decided to segregate his Belgian pupils from his students from immigrant origin. The small West European nation has a high number of immigrants with North African roots. The regional authorities reacted in a flash and the teacher got suspended. No apartheid style tactics in Flanders!

Humanity needs better history lessons.

So the elections in Afghanistan passed without too much disturbing events it seems. 19 Deaths can sadly be considered a local success amidst the ongoing killing fields. The caveman of the Taliban had promised an avalanche of death and destruction, but that seemed mainly to have been warnings in the wind. The cavemen don’t like democracy. They want to stick to threats and terror campaigns. They don’t like equality between men and women. They don’t like modern economy, be it Reagonomics or state controlled, They don’t like TV nor cinema. They don’t like education for girls. They don’t like freedom of speech. They don’t like freedom of religion. They don’t like social justice. They don’t like the rule of law. They don’t like rock ‘n’ roll.

The Taliban are the club of ultimate anti-everything. They’ don’t want progress of any kind. Not economically, not socially, not morally, not humanly. They just like their caves!

Humanity is sometimes stuck in dark ages and dark thinking. Darkness is the antipode of light, and light is life.

So some Tea Party freaks got elected here and there across the USA in some fill-the-vacant-seat polls. Interesting and sad. The US nor the world needs the narrow minded numbness of Sarah Palin and her one-brain-cell extremists. Are they the cavemen and -women of the USA? The one-line politicians with an extreme populist approach and lack of sense of reality. The salespeople of pipedreams? But these tactics sadly work in economic hard times. History is the proof of that in many nations across Europe and even spilled over into the former Soviet Union parts. Of course many people like them. It’s like a MacDonalds burger. You got a craving and little cash. So you get a bite from a drive-through and it feels alright there and then. It’s bad for your health and you’re probably hungry again in 2 hours or so, but hey it does the trick for now and doesn’t cost too much (well it’s little money for crap).

Time will tell.

Humanity is responsible for its own demise. Be it just a kick in the teeth or the amputation of an arm.

South Africa’s ruling party ANC wants to nationalise the mines. The southern tip of the old continent is full of gold, iron, platinum,... Nationalisation hasn’t worked anywhere over the last 50 years but the ANC thinks it can beat history. Some even wanna go a step further and nationalise the banks too. They don’t seem to read the news. Leftwing hero Fidel Castro himself even said a few weeks ago that the Cuban economic model didn’t work. And his brother who runs the show now on the island has started a vast campaign of liberalisation. If even Fidel has given up on the idea that the state needs to run everything, then clearly it hasn’t worked. The commie model is dead and in many nations buried for a long time. And the corpse is absolutely not revivable. You maybe can mummify it in some places, but dead is dead. Life’s breath is gone.

So why does the ANC think they can resuscitate the model is a mystery to most. Sadly it feels like a simplistic, populist slogan at a time in history where the frustrations amongst all South Africans are growing as the gap between rich and poor has grown since democracy brought the ANC to power in 1994. Massive poverty is a very hard reality in South Africa despite the ongoing promises by the ANC and in the face of massive self-enrichment by the party’s elite. So the nationalisation slogan seems just an exercise to keep the focus away from the rot. Sad.

Humanity is sometimes adrift.

Bosnia is going to the polls very soon. With war ghosts roaming the minds. Russia’s PM Vladimir Putin said he is probably gonna try another presidential stint. Tough guy Putin did two presidential terms, then stepped aside for his puppet as the constitutional only allows two terms. But power is just too addictive, so Putin is gonna go for it at the next presidential ballot. Mr KGB will soon be back in the Kremlin. Nigeria is going to the polls next year. That’s another tough one. Sadly, the campaign in Africa’s most populated country will likely be bloody. Political emotions turning violent. South Sudan is voting for independence from the north next January. A new African nation is expected to be born. The presidential butcher in Khartoum will feel betrayed. Belgium and Holland still don’t have a government despite having send their people to the polling stations months ago. Iran is still working on its nuke program. Madness has no limits.

Humanity needs a cure to survive its own insanity.

Throw out. Californian punkrockers Bad Religion are still alive and kicking after 30years in the scene and on the stage. Their new album “The dissent of man” is being released any day now and they still sound great (got it already!). Like a solid diesel engine, they just keep going. Full speed ahead and no turning back. No surrender and no defeat.

C -Ya

collateral – September 2010 is doing its final twists and turns