Yeay, I'm past my half-century landmark. It is an achievement for me, seeing how I always seem to give up at importune moments. Nevertheless, I'm encouraged by some if the comments posted and some of the quips made to me personally by some friends about my musings. I am quite surprised to see some of the comments, pleasantly surprised, I might add.
Been a while since I covered some news. In fact, a lot has happened around me but I just chose to ignore them for the time being. Let's see, Indonesia suffered another quake which left more than 6000 dead, thousands more injured and roughly 200,000 homeless. Timor Leste is going through a national crisis. The nascent state having had to appeal for foreign troops to quell what now amounts to a civil war. All because the government sacked half the army. The PAP won the Elections, though not with as strong a mandate as they would like, though they would not publicly acknowledge it. James Gomez got a slap on the wrist for his antics. Iran still in defiance over US demands to scale down nuclear enrichment.
Phew! That a long list right there. Let's break it down shall we?
Still licking her wounds from the Boxing Day tsunami where the reconstructions efforts are still on-going, another earthquake struck Indonesia. Only this time there is no tsunami and it struck Java instead of Sumatra. Fact is, Mount Merapi has been spewing hot ash and threatening the villagers with an eruption soon. Geologists in the area were just waiting for the eruption which never happened to happen. As such many people in Yogyakarta and it's surrounding areas were unprepared for the devastation that was to follow.
I have been to Yogyakarta back in 2002. It was so beautiful. Took a halfday drive from Jakarta to Yogya, as it's affectionately known. Such beautiful countryside and such a laidback and historically rich place. Visited Borobudur and the palace or in Yogyakarta who are now the provincial governors of the special region. The royal family has been in power even before the Dutch set foot on the island. So sad to have such destruction wreck such a beautiful city.
Well, the nascent state of Timor Leste, fresh from it's tumultuous struggle for independence woke one find day to find almost half it's army deserting and promptly sack them. This plunged the world's newest nation into a state of total chaos and anarchy. Gangs of youth now rule the streets with their own brand of law enforcement. Enter Aussie troops acting a peacekeepers. While the violence has subsided somewhat, the question that needs to be asked is how was it that this was allowed to happen? To think that Timor's Foreign Minister is a candidate for the UN Secretary General post to replace Kofi Annan when his term expires. Makes me wonder how you expect to be able to keep a lid of rogue nations when you can't keep a lid of street gangs ruining your own neighbourhood.
I'm not even going to talk about the past Elections, because there is nothing worth talking about, It's still the same old song and dance and, besides, I wouldn't want to risk having my wrists slapped for speaking my mind. Let's talk about Big Brother, Uncle Sam. Still struggling to control Iraq after 3 years, they have now focused their attentions of Iran and North Korean nuclear programs, accusing them of enriching uranium for nuclear weapons. Well, North Korea are fairly confident that the US will not be launching any invasion in the near future as the are already bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran, being so close, can't be too confident yet.
In any case, I reiterate my belief that the US has outstayed its welcome and usefulness in the region. In spite of all this, Bush has been saying, with his poker face, about how Iraq has been a success and how Afghanistan is on the way to be a free country again, I doubt having a virtual puppet state in the region qualifies as a free nation. Back home, they argue that no one has the right to force his ideologies on others, yet they are doing it to the Afghans and Iraqis. If that's not double-standards, I don't know what is.
For now this armchair politician will take a break. Saying too much too soon makes me thirsty.
No comments:
Post a Comment