Boris + The Rest of Humanity

After the euphoria over the London Mayoral, it now seems appropriate to turn our attention abroad where, believe it or not, the world has continued to revolve...

Perhaps once the papers can overcome their excitement / intrigue with the election of Boris Johnson, a man to whom a number of 'gaffes' and potentially racist and xenophobic remarks can be attributed to (see here), how is the rest of the world dealing with it I hear you cry?

Iraq is still in chaos, apparently more "militants" have been killed in Sadr city today. I have always wondered at how one differentiates between militants and civilians when conducting air raids from tens of thousands of feet up in the air? I suspect there to be some civilian deaths within that figure, but as US General Tommy Franks said, "We don't do body counts," hence I don't expect any questions to be asked. Where are the humanists when you need them?

When placed in addition to the recent revelations by General Sanchez, whom in his book writes "hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty." Would it be cynical to dream that any competent commentators of analysts would pick up on this 'minor' statement? Well they brushed of Nobel prize economist Joseph Stiglitz estimation of the cost of war falling between $1-2 trillion dollars (yes - a twelve zeroed sum) and his accusation of Bush misleading the public, so one can not be too hopeful that anyone would pick up on the comments of a three star General (discharged for the Abu Ghraib crimes).

I don't mean to continue the theme of 'anti-Americanism' but that Al-Jazeera cameraman did finally make it back home, after almost seven years of detention. Notice detention is used as opposed to incarceration. No trial was conducted, no evidence was brought forward and he must now rebuild his life without any help - as if he could have expected any - he was after all only bringing a new media perspective of the consequences of a NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

Finally, before I hit the sack, the small issue of a people without a land, for a land - well I don't thinks its empty any more or indeed ever was. A severe water shortage in addition to fuel plus a lack of humanitarian assistance makes one wonder at the civility of those imposing the blockade on Gaza. Did the Gazans bring this on themselves? A poignant question one can not disregard. They do however deserve the basic human right to security, shelter and food one would retort. Continued rocket fire into Israel, I believe is not a conducive long term strategy. But to be fair, diplomacy and democracy does not seem to offer any vantage points either (remember Oslo and the 2006 elections?).

Olmert being questioned by the police on corruption charges does not bode well, it was only recently that Katsav pleaded guilty to sexual harassment charges and Sharon's son, Omri, was indicted on corruption charges.

The result, one may enquire perhaps? Endemic injustice as well as a disproportionate and misdirected foreign and national policy. I'll leave you to decide which nation I'm talking about...

"Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruption" : Jonathen Swift