China is taking over Africa

Well... not particular unexpected China is now increasing its presences in Africa. Chinese investors are flocking to the continent and already we can see how high some African leaders value their new trade partners (The South African government upholds its tradition).

I think that African leaders are relieved to have money/investors coming in, without any questions asked. For the African people it might be a different story, especially if the African countries are about to adopt China’s strategy of ruthless capitalism.

Zapiro

Jeremy Nell

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Carl Bildts tystnad skrämmer

Jag har vid tidigare tillfälle ”analyserat” Sveriges utrikesminister Carl Bildts engagemang för Afrika och dess länder (länk). Genom att räkna antalet träffar för vissa specifika sökord på Bildts blogg ”Alla dessa dagar” så får man en någorlunda bra bild av hur utrikesministern tycks nerprioritera den afrikanska kontinenten till förmån för andra länder/regioner/konflikter.

Det är möjligt att UD/Bildt tillämpar en omfattande tyst diplomati gentemot afrikanska konflikter. Detta verkar särskilt uppenbart i fallet med fängslade Dawit Isaak i Eriteria, där Bildt vägrar svara på frågor som berör det fallet. För Sveriges del så är denna tystand inget annat än en stor skam. Tyst diplomati är detsamma som ett tyst godkännande.

”Det är inte ett fåtals brutalitet som skrämmer mig utan den stora massans tystand”

Martin Luther King

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The South African government upholds its tradition

South African governments from the past (especially between the years 1948-1994) loved to act in the best interest of their own kind. Stuff like morality and justice was given very little room. At present the current South African government, with president Motlanthe and ANC president Zuma in charge, is trying it foremost to uphold the tradition of this filthy mentality.

By giving into Chinese demands of not inviting Nobel Prize winner Dalai Lama to a peace summit in South Africa, the South African government is clearly showing its standpoint. A standpoint that says “oppression based on ethnicity is justified, as long it doesn’t affect me or my loved ones”. Hence, we can not expect South Africa to stand up against injustice in the world, unless that “injustice” is criticism against Mugabe, corruption charges against Zuma, challenging the ANC, and so on...

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Lets gag the Pope!

Pope Benedictus XVI said during his Africa tour that condoms are not the right mean of fighting AIDS/HIV. Although he is partly correct (see my previous posts here below) in his statement I wish he would shut up and stop interfere in matters that he clearly has no experience of.

HIV/AIDS medical research is a waste of money
Thabo Mbeki should have won the Nobel prize in medicine

Zapiro

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Det är inte girigheten som stör mig

Det har stormat rätt rejält kring SEB chefernas löner de senaste dagarna. Man har ju på ett närmast bedrägligt sätt döpt om sina bonusar till ”löneökningar”. Därmed har toppcheferna sett till att deras inkomst fortsatt att öka, trots den världsomspännande finanskrisen. Många upprörs över girigheten hos Falkengren & C:o, men jag irriterar mig främst över den dumheten som tycks existera bland bankens toppar.

Jag har svårt att förstå hur man kan arbeta inom bank- och finanssektorn och samtidigt visa prov på en sådan total oförståelse för hur allmänheten/samhället reagerar på de ovannämnda löneökningarna? Saknar man total verklighetsförankring när man tror att ingen skulle reagerar på att man döper om bonus till någonting annat? Det är kanske inte så förvånande att SEB drabbats så hårt av finanskrisen. Banken tycks sakna förmågan att förutse samhällets (både på lokal och global nivå) reaktioner och beteende.

Många av SEBs kunder muttrar nu om att byta bank. Det låter som ett utmärkt förslag, men jag hoppas att varje bankbyte sker med eftertanke. Överger man SEB så är det ett bra sätt att straffa dess ledning. Dock så måste man också se till att ens sparpengar mm hamnar hos förvaltare som verkligen har koll på läget, och som förstår sig på dynamiken och strukturerna i samhället (främst med avseende på konsumtionsmönster, köpbeteenden och dylikt). Jag har tyvärr inga råd att ge i detta fall, men kanske någon kan tipsa om en bra och jordnära bank?

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Uganda - more then just bad news

I noticed that two of Sweden’s biggest newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet, reported today on two events that involved Uganda. One was about a shopping mall collapsing in the capital, leaving at least five people dead. The other article was about the Ugandan terrorists LRA (Lord’s Resistence Army) that are leaving a trace of humanitarian disasters wherever they decide to pillage. This unusually large amount of reports from this part of the world might be seen as depressing reading for some. Therefore I want to do some very brief advertise for the nature and wildlife of the country in order to balance the bad press. (Let me also just point out that the LRA does not operate anywhere close to Uganda’s (eco) tourist destinations).

In Uganda, which is just half the size of Sweden, you can find some of the following:

• Lake Victoria does not only hold many fish species, but also contain a true Darwian demon (I’m not kidding).
• The country houses some 330 species of land living mammals, which is approximately twice as many as can be found in the whole of Europe.
• The number of birds species found in Uganda is over 1 000 (approximately 700 species for the whole of Europe).
  

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Video clip of the world’s most endangered mammals

The WWF have released a video clip of the Javan Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus). The aim is to raise awareness for this critically endangered mammal, of which there only some 60 individuals left in the world. Maybe the WFF will have more success with this species then we have had with the Baiji or Yangtze river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), which is virtually exterminated by the Chinese development.

I have in previous post (though in Swedish) asked if there is any sense in trying to save these kind animals, the extremely endangered ones. Why not allocate the money to other, more likely to be successful, nature conservation projects? Let the rhino go extinct, and let it thus serve as reminder of a very dark chapter in the history of our civilization.





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It's your day - a woman's day

Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon, We are shakin' the tree
Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon, We are shakin' the tree

Waiting your time, dreaming of a better life
Waiting your time, so much more than just a wife
You don't have to do what your mother has done, she has done
This is your life, this new life has begun
It's your day - a woman's day
It's your day - a woman's day

Turning the tide, you are on the incoming wave
Turning the tide, you know you are nobody's slave
Find your brothers and sisters
Who can hear all the truth in what you say
They can support you when you're on your way
It's your day - a woman's day
It's your day - a woman's day

Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon, We are shakin' the tree...

Changing your ways, changing those surrounding you
Changing your ways, more than any man can do
Open your heart, show him the anger and pain, so you heal
Maybe he's looking for his womanly side, make him feel

You had to be so strong
And you do nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all
We're gonna to break it down
We have to shake it down, shake it all around

Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon, We are shakin' the tree...



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Mugabe tries to assassin Tsvangirai

The Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was today involved in car accident, which apparently claimed the life of his wife Susan. Although details of the accident are still unclear, there should be no doubt that this was an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister, orchestrated by president Mugabe. This latest stunt by the country’s (former) despot should not surprise anyone. A man that have approved ethnical cleansing, assaulted and killed political opponents, and starved his own people to death, is more then likely to arrange a “car accident” in order to reach his goal; being removed from power only by God...

Mugabe starts arresting

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The upside of high rape rates

The Doctors Without Borders reveal in their report that South Africa has the same level of rapes as war-thorn countries such as Congo, Colombia and Liberia. In one of the worst “informal settlement” (townships) a woman is raped every 26th second. This has lead to the bizarre situation of societies where raped women are the norm. Although rape-rates of these proportions are nothing to be happy about, they might bring some relief for the exposed women.

I have observed that a big part of the trauma, in association with rape, is shame. A shame that society puts on the woman, as if she was to blame for what had happened. In many cultures (note: including the “civilized” parts of the world) a rape women is regarded as unclean. She can become and outcast, abandon or chased away by her partner and/or family. Her suffering is thus several magnitudes larger that what it “should” be.

I can only speculate, but I wonder if not a raped woman doesn’t benefit from living in a rape-infested society as the above- mentioned township. If rape is becoming a natural part of life, then maybe the stigmatizing burden of having been sexual abused is easier to carry. Women that only have to carry the scarce from the actual assault, and not its aftermath, might have a less painful way back to a normal life (although I do ask myself if life can be regarded as “normal” in a country with murder and rape rates similar to areas of intensive and several armed conflicts).

Zapiro

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I do not acknowledge the ICC

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued today an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He has been accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. I welcome the attempts of brining a person like al-Bashir into justice. However, I don’t acknowledge the court, at least not until its authority is able to encompass all war criminal in the world, not only some African leaders in forgotten countries.

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Censored by creationist or evolutionists?

Nine Inch Nails epic "Closer" comes in two versions, one unedit and one edit. Watch them both and pay special attention to the section at 0.50 – 1.20. Who do you think is most happy about the censorship in the edit version, the creationists or the evolutionists?

Unedit version


Edit version


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