Shots fired

So musician, producer and presidential hopeful Wyclef Jean apparently faked his shooting incident the day before Haiti’s election.

Cheap. Ridiculous. Low. He better stays in the music industry and use his dirty tricks there then go into the politics of the devastated nation.

Haiti has a very dirty, corrupt, chaotic politic cemetery. Wyclef better doesn’t step into the fold of Haitian politics if he has a sick attitude like that. The island of broken dreams urgently needs some really hands-on, focused, honest leadership. Will it get it? Who knows.... If history is a merry-go-round-and-round.... then it won’t unfortunately.

Human behaviour too often just plainly sucks.

From sucking to kissing is just a small step for humankind. And from Haiti to Florida ain’t too far to on the scale of planet earth.

It seems there won’t be a Romeo and Juliet romance between Helen and Dwight. 92 Year old Helen still has libido to satisfy and seems not to take ‘no’ for an answer. She fancies her 53 year old neighbour Dwight. But Dwight doesn’t seem to put the neighbourly affection in the same category.

So Helen demanded a kiss from Dwight. Dwight refused. Helen was furious and went back home. She took her semi automatic pistol and fired 4 shots towards Dwight. She missed.

Her libido might still be alive and kicking, but her shooting skills have gone downhill. Luckily for Dwight. That refers to the target-missing of course.

Instead of a kiss, Helen will now face justice.

Love is in the air,.... as do 4 bullets flying past.

From fake shooting and broken hearts, to some more serious desperation and killings.

The anger keeps spreading across the Middle East. And it all started with a pissed off vegetable seller in Tunisia! After Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen it now reached Syria. Another dictatorship.

The ‘special advisor’ to the president (the son of the previous dictator) had to rush to organise a press conference to tell the Syrians and the world that the protestors have some important issues that needs to be tackled. For Syrian arrogance, that is a very serious climb down. And on top of that the lady special advisor told the nation and the world that the president would study the possibility of lifting the state of emergency that has been in place since.... the early 1960s. Crazy.

The last statement might be a sweetener to reduce the heat and pressure on the streets. A promise without a clear end in sight. Damascus is not a regime that easily changes tactics, despite protests and several people killed by trigger happy security forces.

Same sweetener in Yemen. The sitting president-dictator promised to step down at the end of the year. Not enough!!!! It takes much more than one individual gesture to install freedom and democracy and justice. And on top of that the army isn’t speaking conciliatory language. It’s old-style hardline crap. Tunnel vision.

So there is no end in sight for the frustrations of the people of the Middle East boiling over. Who’s next? Jordan? Algiers? Morocco?

Meanwhile, to the surprise of many observers, the UN came reasonably quick to a resolution (a week ago) to start military action over Libya. A no-fly zone and protect civilians “by all means necessary”. And straight away the air raids started. First ones to hit were French jets bombing Gadaffi tanks shelling rebel town Benghazi. Then followed the first night of onslaught onto Gadaffi’s air defences and air systems. A display of Tomahawks and air superiority. The skies of Libya had flashbacks of Baghdad.

And as always, the politics were the first ones to stumble. Already the day after the UN resolution was voted the Arab League raised concerns about the bombings. And this despite Lebanon – the Arab League’s representative on the UN Security Council - having voted in favour of the resolution. Same with South Africa. They voted in favour of the resolution at the UN, but soon after president Zuma criticised the bombings. It’s BS. Honestly, don’t these politicians not know what installing a no-fly zone contains and what the term “by all means necessary” means? There are clear examples of no-fly zone enforcement in the recent past: Bosnia, Iraq. So get real!

It’s political posturing for domestic use. And in the case of Zuma, he needs to say something tough against the West,.... without mentioning that Gadaffi likely financed his election campaign and that last November Zuma’s government sold sniper rifles to Libya. Sniper rifles that are now being used in the town of Misarata to kill demonstrators from rooftops.

The hard reality of cold politics.

Human behaviour is too often misty. And political behaviour is misty and murky.

Meanwhile madman Gadaffi is still sitting solidly in power. Some talk of possible asylum destinations, but for now that seems not necessary (yet). But if a one way ticket might be needed, the options seem Zimbabwe or Venezuela. A flee to fellow madmen. Brothers amongst brothers. The crazy killers seek the company of lonely madmen. Insanity needs insane company.

And, as in the past, the world’s versatile and diverse opinion is always a merry go round and round. If the UN didn’t act on Libya people would have cried foul and blame the world’s body for inaction while the slaughter goes on. And if, as now, the UN acts then people cry foul that it’s a crusade, a re-colonisation, a quest for oil. It’s never good enough. Never right. Never wrong. It’s always a catch 22.

Human behaviour is just a flowing ocean. Up and down.

Meanwhile soon-to-be-world power China is still struggling with basic freedoms. The commies are again in conflict with Google for blocking certain access and certain search terms. Freedom is just not an option it seems for the Chinese ruling elite. Openness and free thinking is not an option as the communist narrow-minded fools want to keep their people indoctrinated and controlled. Like cattle in a pen. Outrageous.

Meanwhile across the sea, disaster struck Japan is still struggling to come back from the edge. Its nuke nightmare still not under control with nuke pollution now reaching the water and food chain. It’s a nation facing an enormous uphill battle. The currency under stress. The economy under stress. The people under stress and in pain of what nature has done to them. Thousands still missing and certainly presumed dead. Whole towns blown of the face of the earth. How a nightmare became reality on that Friday in March. It looked like a normal day, but the earth’s crusts decided otherwise. May they find the inner strength to start from scratch and start building again. For a better future without forgetting the grim reaper from the past.

Throw out. It’s an unstoppable train. An express. Boston’s celtic punkrockers Dropkick Murphys have done it again. The lads released another album – “Going out in style” – and it’s again full of fine tunes. And on top of that a nice guest appearance of The Boss Bruce Springsteen on the remake of the old-timer “Peg O’ My Heart”. Bruce also did a live guest appearance at one of the Murphys’ St Patricks Day gigs in Boston some days ago.

C -Ya

collateral – March 2011