A warm welcome to world's newest republic: Nepal.
Let this be a lesson to all the remaining monarchs in the world - one day your time will come too. You can either go like King Gyanendra or like Tsar Nicholas II. It's your choice.
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Champione Champione
Congratulations to Man United on their double: champions of England and champions of Europe.
Technically it may not be great as the treble of 1999 but there is something very satisfying about beating Chelski at the final hurdle, twice. Perhaps Abramovich will now realise that you can't buy everything, leave Britain and go back to where he and his cronies belong - the Siberian wastelands.
Technically it may not be great as the treble of 1999 but there is something very satisfying about beating Chelski at the final hurdle, twice. Perhaps Abramovich will now realise that you can't buy everything, leave Britain and go back to where he and his cronies belong - the Siberian wastelands.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
All That is Necessary for the Triumph of Evil...
...is that good men do nothing.
Boy are there many good men doing nothing!
It is now over two weeks since Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Burma. Since then the death toll has increased exponentially. The day after the cyclone the death toll was only 350. If only. The latest official death toll is about 80,000. The real death toll may exceed one million. We will probably never know the exact figure.
The military junta that has ruled Burma for the last for last 46 years has done everything possible to prevent international aid from reaching the beleaguered victims. The world has been shocked by the Generals' callous reaction. Why? This is one of the most brutal, authoritarian regimes in the world. Indeed the regime has probably killed more people during its long reign of terror than Cyclone Nargis has. Why is the world surprised when bad people do bad things?
The "international community's" reaction has been even worse. It pledges aid, convenes meetings/summits and condemns the military junta's reaction but it fails to actually do anything. Only a fraction of the aid needed has reached the victims. What the Burmese people need is action, not words.
It is the Burmese people's double misfortune that another natural disaster should happen within a few days of Cyclone Nargis: the Sichuan earthquake. The aftermath of the two natural disasters could not be different. Whilst the Burmese military junta's aid effort has been sporadic and poorly organised, the Chinese have mobilised hundreds of thousands of well trained, well equipped soldiers. The Sichuan death toll (currently 40,000) may be high but there is no doubt it would have been much higher had the Chinese not reacted so magnificently.
The world's media has descended on Sichuan, relaying personal tragedies to every corner of the globe. All the latest forms of communications have been utilised: the internet is full of the personal stories from Sichuan. Meanwhile Cyclone Nargis is merely a ten second afterthought on the TV news.
Not only has the Sichuan earthquake stolen the media limelight from Cyclone Nargis, it has probably had a negative impact on the private donations given to the aid effort. In the UK DEC raised nearly £400 million from private donations after the Asian Tsunami. So far it has only raised £8 million for the Cyclone Nargis relief effort.
And the elephant in the room is the fact that the Burmese military junta only survives as a result of the patronage of China.
God alone knows how many people have died unnecessarily as the "international community" procrastinates. God alone knows the unnecessary pain, suffering, anguish and hardship that over two million Burmese have had to endure.
How high the death toll has reach before the "international community" intervenes?
Boy are there many good men doing nothing!
It is now over two weeks since Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Burma. Since then the death toll has increased exponentially. The day after the cyclone the death toll was only 350. If only. The latest official death toll is about 80,000. The real death toll may exceed one million. We will probably never know the exact figure.
The military junta that has ruled Burma for the last for last 46 years has done everything possible to prevent international aid from reaching the beleaguered victims. The world has been shocked by the Generals' callous reaction. Why? This is one of the most brutal, authoritarian regimes in the world. Indeed the regime has probably killed more people during its long reign of terror than Cyclone Nargis has. Why is the world surprised when bad people do bad things?
The "international community's" reaction has been even worse. It pledges aid, convenes meetings/summits and condemns the military junta's reaction but it fails to actually do anything. Only a fraction of the aid needed has reached the victims. What the Burmese people need is action, not words.
It is the Burmese people's double misfortune that another natural disaster should happen within a few days of Cyclone Nargis: the Sichuan earthquake. The aftermath of the two natural disasters could not be different. Whilst the Burmese military junta's aid effort has been sporadic and poorly organised, the Chinese have mobilised hundreds of thousands of well trained, well equipped soldiers. The Sichuan death toll (currently 40,000) may be high but there is no doubt it would have been much higher had the Chinese not reacted so magnificently.
The world's media has descended on Sichuan, relaying personal tragedies to every corner of the globe. All the latest forms of communications have been utilised: the internet is full of the personal stories from Sichuan. Meanwhile Cyclone Nargis is merely a ten second afterthought on the TV news.
Not only has the Sichuan earthquake stolen the media limelight from Cyclone Nargis, it has probably had a negative impact on the private donations given to the aid effort. In the UK DEC raised nearly £400 million from private donations after the Asian Tsunami. So far it has only raised £8 million for the Cyclone Nargis relief effort.
And the elephant in the room is the fact that the Burmese military junta only survives as a result of the patronage of China.
God alone knows how many people have died unnecessarily as the "international community" procrastinates. God alone knows the unnecessary pain, suffering, anguish and hardship that over two million Burmese have had to endure.
How high the death toll has reach before the "international community" intervenes?
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
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