North Korea is bound in the
past, but fiercely needs to accommodate the future
Their leader, Kim Jong-un, is
a miserable and erratic man, who wishes to maintain his iron type grip on his
nation of suffering people
No one there is happy, as
austerity on every level is normal practice
The people are not allowed to
think for themselves
They have to hold the party
line – otherwise extreme measures of punishment will ensue
There was a start by Kim
Jong-un to bring about reforms in 2012
Then the country’s
agriculture was partially switched to a better household-based model
North Korean farmers had
worked for fixed rations for decades
Since 2013 farmers received
30% of their total harvest, now in 2015 that figure is expected to double to
60%
The new system has made
farmers work harder and they have taken on greater responsibility
The results now are quite
remarkable. With 2013-2014 they have enjoyed bumper harvests
Even when North Korea had a
drought in the spring of 2014 it did not negatively impact on the recovery of
North Korean agriculture
The next steps were for some
twenty-odd special economic zones to be created
This would allow for foreign
investors to develop a market economy under the close eye of North Korean
officials
This procedure was widely
discussed and commonly known
The managers were promised
the right to buy raw materials and sell the finished products freely at market
value
These managers were given the
right to pay wages to their staff that they considered fit to benefit
These state-appointed
managers would acquire a level of freedom similar to private entrepreneurs in
regular market economies
This new management system
was to start right across the country in 2015
This would be with nearly all
industrial enterprises switching to the new model, but it did not happen!
Chinese nationals, who are
allowed into the country and where information is able to seep out, all say the
same thing
Reforms are not being
implemented and another stop has been imposed
Foreign investors find the
rules set by the North Korean Government are always changing and they continue
to feel frustrated and alarmed
One observer to this process
makes an example that the North Korean economy resembles a car climbing a steep
slope at a good speed
Only now does it find the
engine has been switched off and the car has begun to slide back again!
The farmers however still
receive their share of their produce and some factories are working to the new
system
This gives North Koreans
reasons for hope that sooner or later reforms once again will resume
If North Korea rejects
reforms totally it will slide back into a state of stagnation
This will create problems for
their neighbours, mainly China who will be bound to carry North Korea should it
collapse!
Kim Jong-un’s mind is very
fragile and what seemed like a good idea yesterday could all be dismissed as
foolish today
The North Korean people live
constantly on a knife-edge and are totally at the whim of their leader
Until a more stable
environment becomes established, the very highs and lows of their present leader
are to be expected
Not forgetting that he is
still a very young man!
New Orleans marks the 10th
anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which hit early in the morning on 29th
August 2005
Hurricane Katrina was one of
the most deadly storms in the US history
Nearly 2,000 people were
killed and one million displaced
The hurricane devastated New
Orleans, the largest city in the state of Louisiana
Although many neighbourhoods
bounced back after the hurricane, it is the Lower 9th which still shows signs
of neglect
Many homes still remain
abandoned and it is mostly the poor, black neighbourhoods that lack grocery
stores, drug stores and banks
Only a fraction of the former
residents have returned and there seems little will to rebuild what was once a
vibrant community
A black New Orleans’ Mayor,
Ray Nagin, was convicted of accepting bribes, fraud and money laundering
Ray Nagin’s crimes spanned
over both his terms in office
Nagin was mayor from
2002-2010 including the time when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city
A jury convicted the 57 year
old Democrat on twenty federal criminal counts
He was charged with accepting
thousands of dollars in payoffs to secure the city
These contracts were from
businessman to rebuild the city before and after Katrina
During the Katrina disaster
George W Bush’s aides tried over the first five days to convince President Bush
just how bad things were
Bush failed to do anything
about it
It was at that time when Bush
had basically checked out
It was revealed that Bush’s real
decision point with regards to Katrina was whether to pay attention to it or
not and he decided not!
Had he paid attention he
might actually have done something
There might have been some
difficult decision points to deal with, but he never got that far
Bush just decided not to pay
attention to Katrina and he went on vacation instead
The actions of Bush at that
time helped to blight his time in office
It will serve as a reminder
to all future Presidents. You cannot mess with your electorate in times of
crisis and get away with it
In spite of all this it was
the good will of many people in New Orleans, together with entrepreneurs, who
rushed to help rebuild this city
New Orleans is now witnessing
an inflow of artists and professionals
They are interested in
rebuilding this city after Hurricane Katrina destroyed a part of it
New Orleans is now ranked as
one of North America’s biggest “brain magnets”, a trend experts say will change
its future
We wish all the people of New
Orleans a steady and progressive future and hope in time their pain will start
to heal
The appalling and disgraceful
verdict by a Kangaroo judicial system in Egypt finds Al-Jazeera journalists up
to three years in prison
There is no evidence to find
Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste guilty of any crime
The trumped up charges shows
a very frightened Egyptian judicial system, which made up charges against these
journalists
These charges refer to
terrorist involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood of which there is no evidence
to substantiate these claims
This is not a lawful
instruction by Egyptian court rulings
It is a political pressure by
manipulated design to force the courts to bend to their rules
The facts are that there is
no evidence proving that these journalists fabricated the news in any way
This nonexistence of evidence
or allegations cannot justify that these three journalists are continued to be
detained
A report issued by a
technical committee was assigned by the court in Egypt
It contradicted the
accusations made by the Public Prosecutor as utterly false
As there is no shred of
evidence which has been submitted to support these false charges, it makes a
mockery of Egyptian court rulings
Right now Egypt’s judiciary
are not independent and lawful, but are under the command of their political
system
It is the Egyptian Government
who wants to control the story that their press gives out
Egypt is against Qatar, who
they believe are in sympathy with Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood
So they attack Al-Jazeera’s
journalists to get their point across
If you only have the
Government’s angle on a story you have no story at all
This is what Egypt wants and
so it will allow their own fears to keep any rightful stories from getting out
This is an impossibility, as
the truth will always find a way of reaching the outside world, no matter how
hard Egypt tries to suppress it!
Egypt’s play on this will
have long-term ramifications around the world, as they will be further
ostracised for their disgraceful behaviour
The world will continue to
condemn these actions against innocent journalists
Like Peter Greste, Mohamed
Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed until they are released and no fear prevails
The world’s Governments will
continue to pressurize Egypt, as freedom of speech is widely sought after and
is needed in all societies
Badgers are not to blame for
most of the cases of tuberculosis in cattle, a university study has found out
Culling these animals will
have little impact on the spread of the disease in livestock
This is what researchers from
Cambridge and Warwick Universities have found
Over the past fifteen years,
researchers studying the spread of bovine TB, have found the most likely cause
It was by bringing infected
cows to the farm
It has been found that 10% of
farms were acting as “super-spreaders”, because they move their cattle around
frequently
It has been concluded that
the only way to halt this disease was to cull the entire herd and all the
diseased animals
This would be on a scale not
seen since the foot and mouth outbreak
It would mean twenty times
more animals being killed than are actually slaughtered each year
Then the best way to halt the
disease is through widespread testing and vaccination programmes and the
culling of infected herds
Professor Matthew Keeling
states “We have only three controls which
have the power to reverse the current increase in cases”
“More frequent or more accurate testing, vaccination of cattle and
culling all the cattle on infected farms”
Researchers have used data
from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency
They also studied Government
figures that showed the transition between farms and within a single farm
The results indicated 84% of
the outbreaks were caused by movement of infected cattle from infected fields
Also by the failure of tests
to detect the diseased cattle
Environmental factors,
including contact with badgers, did cause some infections
This however did not explain
the rapid spread of the disease
It has been found that it is
most likely that cattle movements and the local environment are driving the
front of this epidemic
Imperfect cattle skin tests
contribute to the spread by delaying the time until infected herds are detected
There is also a delay in
incorrectly identifying herds being clear of the infection before they are
moved
It has been found that only a
small number of farms spread the infection and they cause the majority of new
cases
It is this small number of
farms that send their cattle to other farms without properly testing them first
Eventually the farmers and
the Government will see sense and finally sort this matter out before
widespread damage is done
The culling of badgers, in
the light of farmers not taking full responsibility for their herds, is not the
answer
Let’s hope common sense
prevails…
Yemen is facing a major
humanitarian crisis
Four years of unrest has left
children in urgent need for food, water and medical supplies
The situation is worsening by
the fierce fighting and heavy air strikes
Currently there are 1.8
million children, who are at risk of becoming malnourished due to food
shortages across the country
Since March UNICEF and their
partners have worked hard to ensure that 1,250 tonnes of lifesaving supplies
have been delivered to Yemen
As the crisis deepens, so
their suffering also deepens
UNICEF is on the ground in
Yemen working around the clock to protect these children
Until a political system is
found and an end to military action, this country like Syria will be destroyed
Solutions can only come about
with all the various factions in the country coming to the table and talking
No sections can afford to be
left out any longer if peace is to be established
When will common sense
prevail?
Military action will only end
up in a stalemate situation with no one willing to accept defeat
The attitude of the British
Government is to prioritise power and stability over justice and human dignity
in Gaza
The British public do not
want a Government to represent them who blatantly deny human rights
This they do for the
Palestinians while they sidle up to Israel
The British Government by
their actions continue to perpetuate the long-lasting injustice in this area
They help to prolong the
suffering of this entire population
They continue to do it
without shame or conscience!
The British Government has
blatant double standards
They are supporting regimes
where there are clear indications of international crimes being committed
It also supports other
regimes it wishes to criticise for the same reason
The Palestinian population
residing in Gaza continue to suffer one year later
They are unable to
reconstruct their homes, their water and power plants, their hospitals and
their lives
This population’s physical survival
is threatened every day due to massive shortages of their basic services and
infrastructure
This population’s calorie
intake has been limited by the Israeli authorities to a minimum which is barely
enough to avoid malnutrition
The UN has already considered
that Gaza would not be habitable by 2020
That is something the
Israelis will delight in
It will allow for a slow
lingering death of which the Governments of the world chose to do nothing about
it!
There is no conscience and
therefore no will to change anything
Justice is never seen to be
done in Gaza while Israel’s henchmen control that part of the world
In addition they appear to
control the other Governments around the world
All have blood on their hands
and are guilty of betraying their fellow human beings
All will be judged according
to Spiritual Law of which there is no escape!
The situation in China with
its slowing growth will not affect the rest of the world
China has enough reserve
financially to combat any requirements that their banking systems will need
The Chinese Stock Market has
fallen, but again this is only a temporary problem and it will stabilise once
again
It has made its share of the
global economy a problem
Market shares seem to panic
when a possible shortfall of shares in their stock market is given
The US and other economies
will be able to rally around and stability will occur
However there are many
underlying problems with the global economies
Debt is the greatest
destructive force for all of them
The US is financially
bankrupt, but is trying to ease out of its debt by bringing in other investors
to shore it up
The dollar at this time is
holding, but it does live on a knife edge
Any loss of confidence in the
markets will automatically bring about panic and a possible recession is
envisaged
Until global markets start to
put their own houses in order then fluctuations in other markets such as
China’s will affect them
Governments around the world
need to look at their own fiscal policies
They should bring about an
end to rash money speculation and leave gambling on the markets alone
Monetary safeguards need to
be put in place so that banks are not so vulnerable in rash speculations
Investment banking needs to
become separate from personal banking and this is already happening
Overseas investment must be
taken seriously
Lines of credit should always
be safeguarded in those countries which are shaky with their finances
The western markets, although
not out of the woods yet financially, will need to tighten their belts &
start to safeguard their positions
A drying up of relief to help
various countries in the world is now happening
The richer countries can no
longer afford to prop up failing states
Sometimes it is better to let
countries fall to find their own level
Those Governments will need
to pick up the pieces. Otherwise they
are not fit to govern anymore
No longer can financially
unfit countries expect bailouts and unconditional help financially
They cannot continue to sit
on their hands and do nothing
Greece here fits very much
into this category
China will be able to rally
back and they will be in a position to level off, allowing global markets to
resettle once more
That does not mean it lets
other Governments off the hook
All need to be vigilant to
keep their own economies going in the right and proper way!
It is high time that Moscow
now started to approach a different strategy for Syria
Moscow has reiterated that it
is not committed to keeping President Bashar al-Assad in power
So it has been stated by
Syria’s main opposition group after talks in Moscow
Syria’s National Coalition
President, Khaled Khoja, said the Russian leadership isn’t clinging to Bashar
al-Assad
It is focussing on the need
to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity
They are clinging to the
Syrian state, its territorial integrity and the preservation of its
institutions
Moscow will get more involved
in the Syrian transition and will push to help mediate in the conflict
Moscow is continuing to say
that they will support the legitimate elected President of Syria, whoever that
may be
So far Moscow has been a key
backer of Bashar al-Assad throughout this conflict
It has dragged on for over
four years, leaving 250,000 dead and four million refugees
Mr Khoja has reaffirmed that
Bashar al-Assad and his top lieutenants could never be a part of the
transitional Government
Khaled Khoja is continuing
his consultations with Moscow, which are proving more fruitful as time goes on
Vladimir Putin has launched
Russia’s new mediation effort, especially with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman
There have been extensive
talks about Syria in Qatar
They took place between US
Secretary of State John Kerry, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov &
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir
All are willing to come to
the table for constructive and decisive talks and to bring about a structure for
the rebuilding of Syria
This flurry of serious
efforts, which are underway to reach a mediated end to the conflict, is so
necessary for the future of Syria
There are already pockets of
ceasefire between warring sides, which will allow for talks to continue
A broader spectrum of talks,
designed to save what is left of Syria so that it can be rebuilt, are in
progress
This leaves the other major
stumbling block of IS, which is also being discussed jointly
No longer can world powers
choose to sit idly by
All must come in united to
defend the common foe of IS from destroying everything
The green light is now on in
all these discussions and, as the will is there, a solution will be found and
set up
The light at the end of the
tunnel is already there!
Congregational churches with
scores, hundreds or thousands of members…
…can never be a mechanism by
which we can have full communication with the living Jesus
Jesus’ role is to lead us
back to ‘God’ and the Kingdom of Heaven
The reason for this is
because the way is mystical and hidden from our earthly senses
Our journey, always on a one
to one with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is not compatible in a crowd
Events during the service of
the church are made for the congregation to focus on
They are a distraction as to
what is important for the individual
Therefore the congregation
focuses without and not within, which is the all-important factor here
Jesus stated in the Bible
(Matthew 6:6), “But thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door…
“…pray to thy Father, which is in secret; and thy Father, which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly”
This way of being in a quiet
at one place with Jesus & ‘God’ is more serviceable in fulfilling our
awakening desire to communicate with him
When a person is in a church
with masses of people, all the distractions are centred on the without
If that is right for the
individual, so be it!
When that individual is ready
to undergo an awakening experience, it will always be in secret
It will be with the ‘still,
small Voice of ‘God’ speaking to you from his within to yours
This communication will not
be dependent on a person’s regular or occasional attendance in a mass gathering
of souls for organised worship
The Damascus awakening event
will happen when the Holy Spirit will take the individual away into a secret
place
There that person is able to
open up his heart and mind to the mystical experiences and revelations awaiting
him
It is only done when the
individual is on his/her own and in that private place that they can shut the
door on all others
In that private place alone,
he can open the door to his inner being and the living Jesus will respond to
his invitation
He will enter into loving,
spiritual, joyous, uplifting and enlightening fellowship
It will then be realised that
Jesus is a one to one person
That communication/experience
can then be shared with those of like-minded readiness for such a sharing
Those that have themselves
encountered such experiences and therefore understand their worth
Meanwhile those mass
gatherings in traditional church services will only ever experience without
They will miss out on the
important spiritual experience
Jesus will be there in the
midst of the congregation, loving and blessing them and administering to the
sick and fainting spirits of men
But their focus will be too
distracted by the choreography of the ritual
They will be unable to
communicate with Jesus’ living presence
Only those, who are ready
spiritually and are able to shut off from the distraction of the ritual, will
be able to receive
Otherwise they will miss out
on the blessings & enlightenment & the sharing of his mystical
awareness that Jesus’ living presence brings
‘God’ and Jesus speak to us
individually, because we are all individual and unique
None of us needs a priest to
deliver to us what Jesus says, as it will always be collectively and not
individually
This individuality is always
important and above all it is always relevant
That is why one to one
communication in the quiet private place becomes so necessary for our personal
lives
It brings us that personal
guidance to our own private lives
There was extraordinary
courage shown by three Americans and a British man
They overpowered a Moroccan
gunman on a train in France with 554 passengers on board
The heroes were two US
service men and their friend, a US college student
They were alerted when they
heard a shot being fired and heard breaking glass
Then Spencer Stone, an Air
Force member and Alek Skarlatos brought down the gunman
Spencer got to the gunman
first, followed by Alek and Anthony Sadler and then the British man, Chris
Norman, followed
They overpowered the gunman,
who was armed with an automatic AK-47 rifle, a handgun and a cutter knife
Spencer held the man in a
chokehold until he went unconscious and then checked the guns
The AK-47 was faulty and
fortunately the gunman did not know how to fix it
The handgun had no magazine
in it
The gunman did not know how
to load it properly, so he only got one shot off it
In the tussle to restrain the
gunman, Spencer was cut to the back of his neck and his thumb was nearly cut
off
In spite of his injuries,
once the gunman was finally under control, Spencer went to attend to the
injured passenger
He had taken the bullet and
was losing a lot of blood
During the scuffle the train passengers,
reacting on adrenaline, helped to restrain the gunman
Alek Skarlatos checked the
other carriages of the train to make sure there was not another gunman
British man, Chris Norman,
praised US Spencer Stone’s bravery in helping an injured passenger in spite of
being badly hurt himself
Mr Stone remains in hospital
at this time
The Moroccan man was known to
the Belgium authorities, who had been informed by Spain that he was a security
risk
It took the spontaneous
actions of three brave and courageous men to overpower a gunman who with his
weapons could have done untold damage
Europe and the world are on
high alert from these damaged souls who go out to Syria
They learn their craft to
create havoc on peaceful nations
All are cowards who are willing
to create carnage against the defenceless
But they are not brave enough
against those who are trained to fight back!
These people will never win
and will pay heavily for their crimes
There is no valour in doing
what they are doing and their lives will have no purpose as time and again they
will be stopped
Through standing together,
the will of the people will always overcome
Personal injury will never
deter them in doing what is right!
Labour leadership frontrunner
Jeremy Corbyn is to issue a public apology over the Iraq War if he becomes
leader next month
It would be on behalf of the
party and this is a move that Tony Blair has repeatedly resisted doing
Corbyn said he would
apologise to the British people for the “deception” in the run up to the 2003
invasion
He will also apologise to the
Iraqi people for their subsequent suffering
Such an apology would be
important symbolically, particularly in a party where Iraq remains a sore point
Corbyn has made this vow,
which suggests in future UK’s military interventions would become rarer
Corbyn stated, “We will never again unnecessarily put our
troops under fire and our country’s standing in the world at risk”
Corbyn continues to say, “Labour will never make the same mistakes
again and will never flout the United Nations and International Law”
Jeremy Corbyn himself voted
against going to war with Iraq
Corbyn’s planned apology
attempts to pre-empt the findings of the long-delayed Chilcot Inquiry into the
Iraq War
“The endless delay on the Chilcot Inquiry is wrong”
“We do not have to wait for Chilcot to know mistakes were made and
we need to make amends,” Corbyn said
When Yvette Cooper was asked
what the Labour Government did wrong, she replied, “Iraq”
Yvette Cooper is one of the
front runners for the Labour leadership election
Tony Blair has refused to
apologise, so also have Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband not apologised
The former advisor to
President George W Bush, Karl Rove refused to apologise when pressed in April
by a US Veteran of Iraq
Corbyn states, “The Iraq War was wrong in principle,” he
said, “a mistake of horrendous
proportions, the price of which is still being paid”
“A lot of Labour voters marched in their millions to protest
against the war, we turned our backs on them and many withheld their votes”
“They felt disillusioned and unmotivated”
Whatever anybody thinks of
Jeremy Corbyn and whether his remarks are politically motivated or not…
…he is doing what is right in
apologising to the British and the Iraqi people
This is for the mistakes of
the egotistical Prime Minister Tony Blair, who should have been shot down in
flames
He should have been removed
from office for his lies and deception. He needs be indicted for war crimes
Blair’s time will come
A person cannot continue to
go through life in this manner and still think he can get away with it
The South African Government
has put on hold the release of Oscar Pistorius from his prison sentence
Oscar Pistorius was due to be
released this Friday 21st August after serving ten months behind
bars
He was convicted of culpable
homicide for the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp
South Africa’s Justice
Minister, Michael Masutha, has referred the matter back to the parole review
board
This shows a legal confusion
and doubts over the release date
A lawyer, who attended the
trial, praised the minister’s intervention saying, “The minister was acting prudently, acting responsibly”
“He did what he was entitled to do”
Masutha had received a
petition from the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa
They are expressing
opposition to the release of Pistorius during the country’s Women’s Month
Masutha stated that he had
been approached by the women’s rights organisation, which requested that he
review the decision
A statement from the
Department of Justice and Correctional Services cited a law stating that a
person sentenced to imprisonment…
…must serve at least
one-sixth of his/her sentence before being considered for correction
supervision
The decision to release
Pistorius on the 21st August 2015 was made prematurely on 5th June 2015
The offender was not eligible
to be considered at all
One-sixth of a five year
sentence is ten months, at the time the decision was made Pistorius had only
served six months of his sentence
The Women’s League of the
governing African National Congress welcomed the ruling
The ANC Women’s League
remains convinced that Judge Masipa handed down an erroneous judgement & an
extremely lenient sentence to Pistorius
This has sent out a bad
message in cases involving gender-based violence
This is especially in
instances where women die at the hands of their partners
It is the Women’s League that
wishes that Pistorius remains in custody until November when the Supreme Court
Appeal will hear the appeal
The appeal will be brought on
by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) against the judgement of the
sentence handed out to Pistorius
Statistics in South Africa
have shown that their society is under continuous attack from criminals and
murderers
Incarceration for ten months
for taking a life is simply not enough!
Oscar Pistorius, it would
seem, has got away with the brutal killing of his girlfriend, largely from his
infamy and his money
Oscar Pistorius was able to
buy the best legal minds available
The trial exposed his
character as one who thought he could flaunt the law, because he was famous
He thought he could get away
with it, because of who he was and the trial proved he had bouts of reckless
behaviour
As with all people who go
over the top, life catches up with them in time
Then they realise they are
not as great as they let themselves believe
Pistorius was reportedly so
worried that he would be poisoned in prison that he lived on canned sardines
and baked beans
Pistorius was the VIP
prisoner, as was fellow inmate Boswell Mhlongo, who was at the maximum security
Kgosi Mampuru II in Pretoria State
Mhlongo said everything was
free for Pistorius. He could do whatever he wanted
Mhlongo added that Pistorius
had his own gym on his own and his cell was given curtains
Everything was specially
prepared for him, because he has money and because he is Oscar Pistorius
As always it is one rule for
one and one rule for another
It seems that Pistorius
really can get away with murder or can he?
Sebastian Coe has been
elected President of the International Association of Athletics Federations
(IAAF)
He beat Ukraine’s Sergey
Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in a ballot of the governing body’s 50th Congress
There has been a systematic
failing of the IAAF in its duty to address doping despite allegations that
blood doping was rife in athletics
Coe has aggressively defended
the IAAF’s record on doping over the last three weeks
He has said that the
organisation has led the way on ‘out of competition testing’ and the
laboratories who deal with them
He had also introduced blood
passports in 2009 to help weed out the cheats
Coe is confident that under
his leadership the sport would be able to move forwards by setting up its own anti-doping
agency
This is something that should
have been established decades ago!
The US men’s 4x100 relay team
on Wednesday was ordered to return its London 2012 silver medals
This was because Tyson Gay,
who was part of the medal winning quartet, was suspended for a doping offence
The US team included Justin
Gatlin, an Olympic gold medallist, who served a four year ban in 2006 for
doping
There is evidence that 99% of
Russian athletes are guilty of doping
This has been investigated by
German journalists for a TV documentary
The documentary also states
that the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) is covering
up the abuse
This is being looked into and
an investigation on these claims is already ongoing
It has been stated by Russian
athletes themselves that the majority of Russian athletes representing their
country used banned substances
A 25 year old Russian athlete
claimed that anything an athlete wants they can get
A Russian currently serving a
10 year doping ban, which is due to end in 2023, has already been handed a two
year suspension in 2011
Liliya Shobukhova, who won
the London Marathon in 2010…
…admits paying the Russian
Athletics Federation £350,000 to cover up a positive doping test
She is currently serving a
two year ban
It has been stated that
leading Russian athletic officials supplied banned substances in exchange for
5% of the athlete’s earnings
The Russian officials have
also colluded with doping control officers to hush up or falsify tests
This information has been
passed on to be investigated by the independent body, which works within the
IAAF
Russia hosted the Winter
Olympics in Sochi earlier this year and finished top of the medal table
Russia has currently 67 of
their athletes serving sanctions for doping offences according to the latest
IAAF report
There has now been a call to
boycott the World Athletics Championship in Russia because of their links to
doping
There have been calls for
offenders to be banned for life in a bid to clamp down on drug-related offences
Usain Bolt, the 100m and 200m
world record holder, called for Tyson Gay to be given a life ban from the sport
With a life ban it is the
only way that these dopers will not be allowed to reoffend
It also sends out a very
strong and clear message that cheats are no longer able to take part in such a
privileged sport
The message must be loud and
clear if Athletics is to start becoming a clean sport
It makes a mockery of all
those who have worked diligently to achieve their medals in a clean and concise
way
The Athletic industry owes it
to all those clean athletes, who courageously work towards excellence in their
chosen field of expertise
Learn to find the light and
inner peace, which is always within us!
There is nothing worth having
in this world without peace
With peace in your heart and
your soul, you are rich beyond your imagination
The power of positive
thinking has been proven by science
It has been proven that the
mind is powerful in ways not always known to man
It is still a mystery that we
are unravelling
Medically trained experts
cannot deny the power of thought, which will determine how your life becomes
We can all create a personal
hell in our minds, where it becomes so dark we can’t even crawl out of it
Even if we are in a palace or
on a paradise island, we can still put ourselves into dark places with our
thoughts
If we do not have peace in
our minds, we have nothing!
If we want to be happy, we
first need to be able to live in harmony with ourselves, before we can be happy
with anything or anyone else
We are all our own strength
and have our own power, which we can choose to build up or trample all over it
No matter what happens in
one’s life, even if we have hit rock bottom which all super-successful people
have, we can begin again right now!
You first need to be in
harmony and peace with yourself before serving the world
Cover yourself with love
whenever you breathe and not tension and stress
Know we are all worth it, as
insecurities can no longer have a part of our lives. Now we become the positive
mind
We must all come out of the
darkness of insecurities and start to believe that we are mightier and stronger
than we actually realise
Our paths always lead us to
enlightenment and knowledge. Our futures are great because we believe them to
be so and so they shall be!
Research and development for
new medicines is costly and time consuming.
It is almost always profit driven
When disease affects the
poor, this market is neglected and this means no new medicines
Kala azar is a neglected
tropical disease
It is the world’s second
largest parasite killer after Malaria, killing 40,000 people every year
Yet there have been no new
drugs developed for decades to combat this disease
The Drugs of Neglected
Diseases Initiative (DNDi) and four pharmaceutical firms have announced the
start of a ground-breaking initiative
This is to accelerate and cut
costs at the early stage of drug discovery for Kala azar
Kala azar and Chagas are two
of the world’s most neglected diseases
For the first time DNDi are
now searching millions of unique medical compounds to hunt for new treatments
of these neglected diseases
The innovation of the DNDi
model will avoid the huge costs, which are involved in the developing of new
drugs
By rallying the
pharmaceutical companies around the world to share together their vast
resources, it has already proved to be successful
Now there is a portfolio of
fifteen new drugs, which will help in the fight to combat this disease
It is the big pharmaceuticals,
which are being mobilised in an unprecedented global initiative to find &
fast track a cure for Kala azar
Kala azar is caused by a
parasite that is infected by female sand-flies, and then bites humans
The parasite attacks the
immune system and is fatal if not treated
There are between 200,000 to
400,000 new cases every year
About 90% of which are in
India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil
Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
alone have treated over 100,000 people with Kala azar since 1988
With this new vital
initiative something positive is coming out of it, which for decades has been
neglected
When there is care and
compassion over material gains, a way is always found
Through this help the
suffering can finally be eliminated
In the case of spirituality,
the Church of today is lukewarm. Their spirituality is miserable, wretched,
poor and blind
This has happened because the
Church has become institutionalised and the purpose of an institution is to
perpetuate itself
This is where the original
objectives of its leaders have become lost in a mire of rules &
regulations, petty politics & power struggles
So now they merely perpetuate
the institution rather than being motivated by the fire of spirituality
This is the desire of Jesus
for the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
This is never mentioned in
today’s institutionalised churches
This is because issues such
as the ordination of women and homosexuality have become the important concerns
The Church has become
side-tracked in detail, instead of focussing on the Principles of Life as laid
down by Jesus
It is the Principles of Life,
which keep souls on Earth on their right path that is the path of spiritual
progress
The same has happened to
other institutions of today
Government, education, the
National Health Service and the social services have all lost their way
These institutions and
regulations get in the way and cloud their original vision
The statement by Jesus to the
Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath is true
Because man must abide by the
rules of these institutions, then common-sense and compassion has no place
anymore
Compassion is one of the
greatest gifts of the Spirit in humanity
We must all look out for
individual cases and situations to decide on their individual merit
Otherwise we are creating a
compassionless society, at least in terms of these institutions that hold
dominion over much of our lives
Compassion at the individual
personal level is still there and can never be extinguished
This is because each of us is
love and compassion cannot be separated from love
If more compassion was
brought into institutions, this would be a giant step towards instilling the
Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Imagine a scenario in which
there are two Jesuses travelling around Judea, Samaria and Galilee teaching and
healing
The first Jesus, working with
compassion, goes around the multitudes and heals them of every sickness and
disease
After a long day, his
disciples want Jesus to send the others away, so that they can eat and rest
Jesus says, “No, I will feed them”
With love and compassion,
Jesus transforms the picnic of two loaves and five fishes and feeds the five
thousand souls
The second Jesus moves among
the multitudes healing as many as come forward
Hours go by and it is getting
late
Jesus is eager to conclude
this tiresome business and tells the people they must now go home
He has finished for the day
and since there is only so much one can do in a day!
The first is the Kingdom of
Heaven on Earth scenario
The second is more of how it
is with society today that we are creating in our institutionalised world
We fail to see the
opportunities that Jesus gives us in our daily lives, because we haven’t the
time, compassion, desire or the will
So many claim to be Jesus’
followers by going to church every week, but not applying the desires of Jesus’
teachings in their daily lives
Many people are in need of
reassurance, encouragement, a friendly smile, a caring word even just to be
noticed!
The institutionalised
churches have lost their way & as a result their flocks, due to their own
purpose to promote the Church at all costs!
For all those brave British
soldiers, who survived the horrors of Japan’s WWII camps, we salute you
50,000 servicemen experienced
one of the worst episodes in British military history & many will be
leading Saturday’s V-J Day commemorations
The POW will attend a service
at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and they will lay wreaths at the Cenotaph
in Whitehall
Never before have such large
numbers in Briton’s Armed Forces been subjected to such extremes of geography
and disease and…
…man’s inhumanity to man as
were the prisoners of the Japanese in WWII
A quarter died in captivity,
the rest returned home, sick and damaged
For three and a half years
they had faced unrelenting lethal conditions
They were given less than a
cup of filthy rice to live on a day, which caused malnutrition
This led to loss of vision
and excruciating nerve pain
Diseases of Malaria and
Dysentery were rife leading to men living as walking skeletons
Prisoners who got scratched
by bamboo from working in the jungle had ulcerated legs, some over a foot long
where bone was exposed
Beatings and torture were
given out by brutal sadistic Japanese captors
One, Lt Bill Drower an
interpreter in the camp, dared to challenge his captors
As a result he was severely
beaten and kept in solitary confinement for the final eighty days of the war
When he was rescued he was
close to death from malnutrition and Blackwater Fever, a rare and dangerous
form of Malaria
The majority of the POW
worked as slave labourers to keep the Japan’s heavy industry going
They worked on the docks,
airfields, in coalmines, shipbuilding yards and in the steel & copper works
It was the extraordinary
spirit of the POW that the Japanese captors could not break
Strong bonds, which were
critical for survival, were formed by fellow prisoners
This proved to be a lifeline
for all that still survive today
Those men were like brothers
to each other fending for each other’s needs, otherwise many more would have
died
Doctors, denied tools or
medicine, needed the expertise of others
Medical instruments for
examining dysentery were made from old tin cans and surgical forceps made from
pairs of scissors
Because of the traumas
suffered by the prisoners, they found they couldn’t talk about it. They just
clambered up, so they didn’t mention it
An organisation called The
London Far East Prisoner of War Social Club held its first social night in 1948
The club helped to organise
annual reunions and continue bonds of friendship
Many of the soldiers suffered
intermittent bouts of chronic diarrhoea and fever – the consequences of Malaria
and Dysentery
In 1950 the POW demanded
compensation to be paid to them by the Japanese
The claim was not about
money, but about informing the rest of the world what the Far East POW had been
through
That was their humiliation,
the semi-starvation, the cruelty and enforced labour and many other atrocities
As a result each and every
Far East POW or next of kin of those who died received £1,500 in today’s money
Forty years later in 2000,
The Far East POW won another campaign
This was for surviving
Britons held captive, or their widows, would receive a one off payment of
£10,000 each
Today’s service in St
Martin-in-the-Fields in London is for all those who did not survive. May peace
be with them!
A criminal investigation has
begun after Russian-born supermodel Natalia Vodianova described how a café
owner had “kicked out” her sister
He kicked her sister out
because of her autistic disability
Vodianova grew up in poverty
in the industrial city of Nizhny Novgorod, where her disabled sister and mother
still live
Natalia Vodianova wrote on
Facebook how her sister, Oksana 27 years old, has cerebral palsy and autism
She was ordered to leave the
café with her carer
The café owner claimed that
Oksana was frightening the customers, as she was banging her head against the
wall
The Russian Investigative
Committee opened up a criminal case into violation of human dignity with the
threat of violence
This carries a maximum jail
sentence of five years. The café owner has been charged
The café owner’s outburst was
to say to Oksana and her carer, “Get out
of here”
“You are scaring all our customers, go get treated and treat your
child, then you can go out in public”
This case has highlighted in
this country, where the rights of people with disabilities to equal treatment,
is not being recognised
Vodianova is a long-time
advocate for the rights of disabled people and launched the Naked Heart
Foundation in 2004
It is to support the special
needs of the underprivileged children in Russia
Her charity Naked Heart
Foundation has set up 150 disabled friendly playgrounds
There are now more than fifty
support centres around Russia for the families raising children with special
needs
Natalia Vodianova has also
served as an Ambassador in last year’s winter Paralympic Games in the Russian
resort of Sochi
The incident around Oksana is
not an isolated case. This is a reality for families raising children with
special needs
Russia has 13 million people
with disabilities, about 9% of the population and they are still behind the
times
The Russian disabled are not
allowed into expensive establishments or on planes and they are refused all
sorts of services
In supermarkets the deaf and
blind are not allowed in and there is no assistance from staff for them with
their shopping
Shops are not equipped with
Braille signs and their personnel and shop assistants are not trained to help
Russian policy towards
disabled people is to hide them away in warehouses, special boarding schools
and nursing homes
There they are provided with
the minimum to exist
Thirty percent of children
with disabilities live in State orphanages
Here the staff beat them, use
physical restraints to tie them to the furniture and give them powerful
sedation
Two cases were taken to court
concerning the refusal to a disabled person in a wheel chair and the other was
a blind person
In both of these cases they
were not allowed on a plane unaccompanied
The organisation taking these
cases to court won in both cases. The result being that discrimination
legislation was amended
It is only through the Winter
Olympics in 2014 that there has been an improvement for the disabled
This was because of the work
done by Natalie Vodianova, who was a Paralympic Ambassador there
If it wasn’t for Oksana being
the sister of a top supermodel, no one would have known about this incident
The stigma against people
with disabilities can only be defeated once there is a cultural shift. May that come soon!
The Chilcot Inquiry into the
findings of the 2003 Iraq War still has continued to delay its publication
Letters, sent by John Chilcot
warning that they might be criticised in their report, have continued to stall
publication
Those especially criticised
are Tony Blair, Jack Straw and a host of other Labour politicians, who have
still to reply to these criticisms
Army families, who have
waited to hear the outcome, have seen their patience failing and want a
deadline for replies put into action
If this is not done by the
end of this year, their lawyers will take it to the High Court
The lawyers have stated that
John Chilcot has acted unlawfully by refusing to set a deadline for publication
The five member panel began
work on the Inquiry into Iraq War in 2009. It finished in 2011 and has cost the
tax payer £10m
This delay has caused the
families of soldiers, immense grief, pain and suffering
The Chilcot report will show
a devastating indictment of the Blair Government and large sections of the
Whitehall establishment
Information in thirty secret
letters, notes and conversations between Blair and Bush will reveal devastating
facts
Details clearly show that
Blair privately promised Bush he would go to war against Saddam Hussein without
telling MPs and British voters
Blair & Bush are said to
have signed in blood an agreement to oust Saddam Hussein in secret talks in
Texas one year before the war started
The dispute over the
publishing of this confidential communication between the two leaders is the
main reason for the delay in publishing
Tony Blair and George W Bush
are now scared of what will come out
Blair exaggerated the
capacity of Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) where
no evidence was found
Tony Blair lied to Parliament
and the British people
Blair ignored advice from his
own Attorney General, who said the war was illegal
Lord Goldsmith, who was the
Attorney General, consistently warned Blair that the attack on Iraq would be
illegal
However the Cabinet was not
told of this advice
Blair failed to consult
Cabinet Ministers and falsely accused French President Jacques Chirac of trying
to sabotage a UN vote on the war
Tony Blair’s arrogance on
having this war at all costs put him in direct conflict with his then Foreign
Secretary, Robin Cook
Cook stood up to Blair saying
the war was wrong and not ethical. He was subsequently replaced
Downing Street Chief of Staff
also stated there was no evidence of an imminent threat from Iraq
Jonathan Powell further
stated that Iraq didn’t have WMDs
The intelligence was all
wrong, the Government was wrong and intelligence was not hard evidence – that
was the point!
There is a need for the truth
to finally come out
This is not only for the
families, who have lost loved ones in this war, but for the British public at
large
Tony Blair and George W
Bush’s arrogance must finally catch up with them
They should be brought up for
war crimes against the innocent, who are still suffering today!
Over the last two weeks there
has been an anti-Government protest in Iraq over corruption in their Government
This has resulted in
electricity cuts and salty tap water
Prime Minister Al-Abadi has
been feeling the pressure from protestors that have served to bring
embarrassment to the Government
It has been the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant, who have boasted that they are delivering electricity
to the Iraqi city of Mosul
At present Iraqis are
suffering 50⁰C heat and there is no electricity for
their air conditioning
Haider al-Abadi has called
for an establishment to be set up to combat corruption, which starts at the top
of Government
It remains to be seen whether
Prime Minister Al-Abadi can tackle such an insurmountable challenge
Reforming this political
system, which is based on rewarding Iraqi politicians due to their ethnic
backgrounds, will not be easy
For Al-Abadi to tackle
corruption and to ensure a stable Government, he would need to accept a whole
different way of governing
A way must be found to bring
in all the different sectarian factions together, so that they are in charge of
civil service departments
There needs to be an
efficient transparency of governing
Because Al-Abadi has no
political clout, he has further left the door wide open for IS to overhaul the
Iraqi state
It’s Iraq’s corruption right
at the top going all the way down to the military that has led to Iraq’s
failure to deliver essential services
Corruption throughout their
politicians, who seek only to satisfy their own sense of greed, has led to
these protests
The Iraqi people will be
heard and more outbursts will occur
Corruption all over the
Middle East causes despair, anger, frustration & is the main destructive
force over anything good being achieved
Even after the Iraq War,
nothing really has changed in this department
The lack of right governing
and continued frustration has led to the rise of IS
Without combatting corruption
and bringing in discipline to the military and services, nothing will change
The Islamic State continues
to flourish
IS tries to obtain legitimacy
amongst Iraqis by ending corruptive policies by delivering services
It is the Iraqis themselves,
who have complained against corruption in their Government, hence the recent
street protests
These will continue to grow
and become more violent!
The first anniversary of the
senseless killing of Michael Brown by white policeman Darren Wilson has
occurred in Ferguson
Brown’s motionless body, left
lying on the pavement for four and a half hours, shows extraordinary lack of
human dignity for a dead body
Michael Brown’s body was
looked on by his loved ones and by bystanders, whose disbelief was written all
over their faces
It is this situation that has
been embedded in the minds of millions and highlighted the inhumane
indifference to black lives
This killing has highlighted
the racialized police brutality, which has been going on for decades
On 9th August 2014 there was
the birth of a movement, which openly challenges this indifference to brutality
The movement confronts the
police and institutions on Ferguson’s streets
The “Black Lives Matter”
movement demands not only justice, but the liberation of structured racism
This structured racism in
institutions has endorsed the violent policing, which is rooted in America’s
slavery
These enforcers of the law in
largely black areas are overwhelmingly white
There is strong evidence that
enforcement of the law in both Ferguson and Baltimore is often violent and at
times fatal
The Black Lives Matter
movement has now emerged and is no longer content with justice and fair
prosecutions, which do not exist
They are now going further
and striking at the very heart of the problems
They are demanding the
dismantling of white supremacy and the erosion of institutionalised racism
They also demand an end to
community policing programmes that links blackness to criminality
This movement is growing throughout
all of America & community members are joining local activists who echo the
mantra “Black Lives Matter”
A new generation of Americans
are now galvanised across the racial, social and geographic lines
They are all shouting,
tweeting and texting “Black Lives Matter!”
What is being exposed is the
disproportionate incarceration and brutality of people, who are black or brown,
shot down by police
Of the black men and women
killed by police, 45% were unarmed
It is the structured racism
within the police departments that is the real culprit here
It is hardly surprising that
non-black communities of colour are now campaigning
They are demanding an end to
anti-black racism in police departments
One year on from the birth of
this movement in Ferguson, it is perpetually expanding
The influence that “Black
Lives Matter” is evolving
Its statement will go right
to the heart of the matter, which is the Oval Office and cannot be overlooked
Life has to change in order
for peace and sanity to become possible in America
Pakistan’s state of Punjab
have called for a federal inquiry into the largest ever child abuse scandal in
South Asia’s history
Nearly 300 children have been
involved after the discovery of about 400 video recordings of these children
who were forced to have sex
At this time seven people
have been arrested by police over these cases that have shocked the nation of
180 million people
Most of the children were
under fourteen years and there was a child that was only six years old who was
also abused
There was a film that showed
a fourteen year old boy molesting a ten year old school girl
Videos of assaults were
filmed and thousands of copies were made and sold in the Kasur district
One victim claimed he was
injected in his spine with a drug before he was assaulted
It is the scale of the
scandal which has emerged that is so shocking
The parents of the victims
clashed with police about their failure to prosecute the men involved in the
scandal
There have been demonstrators
who were protesting against the police’s failure to arrest members of the gang
They were suspected of raping
hundreds of children, then filming them and blackmailing their parents
A local gang began filming
these sexual exploits with children in 2006 and this has continued up to last
year
Pakistan had experienced a
similar tragedy in the late 1990’s
Then a hundred children were
sexually abused and murdered in Lahore by a serial killer
At that time a gang of
twenty-five men were involved in the crime
There is no doubt that
Pakistan has failed its children
The people have no faith in
their court system as the judiciary has prevented arrests of these abusers
The world will watch and wait
to see how the Government deals with these atrocities
They will forever be a stain
on this country until justice for the innocent is dealt with
Pakistan, you should be
ashamed of yourselves
These victims need to see
justice given and anything short of this is a further failure by the Pakistani
Government to act!
President Obama’s speech on 6th
August marks a historic turning point in US relationships with Israel
It was made at the American
University in Washington DC and this setting was chosen deliberately for this
debate
John Kennedy dealt with a
similar call on a deal regarding nuclear discussions with Iran more than a half
century ago
The dispute over Iran has
opened up a chasm separating the strategic events adopted by the US from those
of Israel
They show no sign narrowing
Obama has declared that
Israel is alone and isolated in its official opposition to the American-Iranian
rapprochement
President Obama has stated
that this is the strongest non-proliferation agreement ever negotiated
Because it’s such a strong
deal, every nation in the world has commented on it publicly & given their
support, except the Israeli Government
Netanyahu is directing an
overcharged campaign inciting Congress to oppose the President and scuttle the
agreement with Iran
Netanyahu is doing this at a
time when the deal has been unanimously endorsed in the United Nations Security
Council
In June of 1967, when Egypt
was defeated in the six day war, the US supplied Israel with F-4 phantoms
They were the most advanced
aircrafts in the western arsenal
In return for America’s
commitment to maintain Israel’s superiority over any regional threat…
…Israel had to promise to
keep its nuclear bombs, now more than 200, ready “in the basement”
Israel’s nuclear bombs have
remained there for decades
Netanyahu continues to
maintain his aggressive campaign to permanently limit sanctions and to
ostracise Iran
Netanyahu cannot continue to
prevent Iran’s nuclear programme, while still establishing his own nuclear
regional security
Obama’s support to the
Iranian deal has affected Tehran’s nuclear doctrine for the better. It also
affects Israel’s nuclear outcome
As the deal with Iran
continues, so international challenges to Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal
and capability comes into effect
There will be calls for a
nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East, which will be expected with
greater inference than ever before
Many will quite rightly say
it is time to take Israel’s bombs “out of
the basement”
President Obama and his US
leadership with his promotion to diplomacy over armed conflict is a deal which
will improve Israel’s security
Barack Obama may now be
tempted to apply this same strategy to Israel’s long stalemated conflict with
Palestine
These problems with America
and Israel are only just beginning
We have already predicted
some time ago that Israel will continue to be isolated and ostracised
This is already happening and
will continue unabated until reason prevails
The more Israel battles
against doing what is right, the more its people will suffer because of the
intransigence of their Government
The ongoing financial crisis
in Russia is the result of International sanctions
These were imposed on Russia
following their annexation of the Crimea and their military intervention in the
Ukraine
President Putin’s hard-line
attitude and bullying tactics are causing suffering to all the Russia people
Vladimir Putin has no care
for them as he continues to rule them with an iron fist
This crisis has affected the
Russian economy, consumers and companies as well as the regional financial
markets
They also affect Putin’s
ambitions regarding the European Economic Union
The EU has banned any trade
in arms and the US prohibited transactions with Russia’s United Shipbuilding
Corporation
This is classified as a
defence company
The EU and the US have also
banned their technologies to Russia’s very deep water, Artic and shale oil
drilling
The EU, which does far more
trade with Russia, will review this again in three months’ time
Russia has called the new
sanctions destructive and short-sighted
The Ukraine hosts the design
on military transport planes. The economic freeze has blocked plans to deliver
the new heavy transport plane
Russia has stopped producing
its own transport plane and has closed down a space rocket programme
Project 22350 frigates did
not arrive, because Ukraine did not deliver the turbines for them
Russia has a large arms trade
with France
These included the purchasing
of two Mistral warships together with thermal imagery devices and electronics
for its Su-30 fighter jets
This order has been cancelled
Replacing many foreign
sourced components is a sheer impossibility, as 90% of defence industry’s
electronics are produced in the West
Russia was already near a
recession before the Crimea Crisis and now Russia ranks low in the World
Economic Forum’s rankings
It already has low road
qualities, problems with technological adaptation and a burden of Government
regulation
Russia’s weak economy cannot
withstand the challenges of low oil prices and International sanctions
The price of oil hit Russia
hard when oil fell from $100 per barrel to $60 per barrel in December 2014
Russia depends on oil and gas
production for half of its Government’s revenue
The ongoing financial crisis
in Russia is the result of the falling rouble, which began in the second half
of 2014
This caused investors to sell
off Russian assets, which further led to the decline of the rouble
To get rid of the failing
rouble Russians have been exchanging roubles for US dollars or euros
Prices of goods, including
beef and fish, rose to 40-50%, as Putin has banned western imports
Even the state owned gas
company Gazprom has lost 86% of its net income because of the rouble
devaluation
This financial crisis in
Russia has affected other global financial markets
The US Ford Motor Company has
experienced a 40% decline in sales
Germany’s Volkswagen has had
a 20% decline in sales to Russia
BP has lost 17% of market
shares and a joint French company dealing in shale exploration with Russia has
been shelved
Adidas has closed down their
stores in Russia and McDonalds also lost twelve stores there
Many of Israel’s one million
Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union have business ties with Russia and are
affected by this crisis
This goes to show you in this
global world of ours that we are all either directly or indirectly involved
with one another
No country is isolated or
self-sufficient and it affects us when a dictator goes rogue for reasons of
selfish pomposity and aggrandisement
He has not earned it, but
feels it is his right to have over and above the suffering of his own people
It is then that the world
will continue to stand against him
The International communities
can withstand these sanctions
But how long before the
Russian people stand up and do something about it?
The Suez Canal II is hoped to
propel Sisi to be a legendary status, as it did with President Nasser
The canal also sealed
Nasser’s reputation when he nationalised the canal, triggering the 1956 Suez
Crisis
The Suez Canal was also
important to Anwar Sadat
He was known as the architect
of the “crossing of the canal” during the 1973 war with Israel
In fact the Suez Canal has
been an important nationalist symbol since its construction
Suez Canal II is not a new
canal, but a 72 km parallel channel to extend the existing one
There were further expansions
to it in 1955 and 1980
So the Suez Canal is not an
engineering feat that it has been portrayed to be
The original waterway was 164
km long
It completely revolutionised shipping
from Asia to Europe giving all vessels a massive 7,000 km shortcut
The original canal was
conceived by the French and this new canal was designed by the Egyptians
The Suez Canal II was
completed in one year and ahead of time
It is financed through
Egyptian investment certificates sold to its citizens
The Suez Canal II should not
bankrupt this highly indebted nation
Unless that is, payments for
the canal are not forthcoming with enough vessels to supply its income
It is hoped that the expanded
capacity should increase Egypt’s revenue from $5.5bn to $13.5bn
At this time the canal is
operating at under capacity and this is not getting any better
Instead of the Suez Canal II,
with its many billions, being sunk into dredging the desert sands for its
evolution…
…the money should have been
spent in shoring up the Nile Delta, which is already under threat by rising sea
levels and sinking sediments
Many experts have been
warning about these impending dangers for decades
Egypt has taken almost no
action to save its breadbasket and the homes to nearly half of its population
This is already a sinking
ship that needs to be navigated to a safe port before it is too late
That takes wise constructive
thinking and where ego has no part to play in the lives of all Egyptian people
They are the priority over
having Sisi’s name on Suez Canal II
“It always seems impossible
until it’s done”. The words of a man who made the impossible
come true – Nelson Mandela
These words have inspired
Federica Mogherini. She is the European Union’s chief diplomat
On 14th July seven
countries around a table in Vienna under the steer of the European Union…
…finally reached a deal on
Iran’s nuclear programme
A new chapter had been
opened!
The talks were based on
mutual respect and clarity
The whole of the Middle East
is in turmoil
Sectarianism is on the rise
and there needs to be a restart to the political processes to end wars
We need to get all regional
powers back to the negotiating table to stop the carnage
Cooperation between Iran, its
neighbours and the whole international community…
…could open unprecedented
possibilities for peace in the region, starting with Syria, Yemen and Iraq
Mogherini has strong points
and should not be underestimated. She works hard and is a team player
She has great composure and
conducts herself well and is an excellent mediator. She gets the job done
Helga Schmid has worked in
various positions with the German Government
Amongst her many offices that
she has held, she was head of the political staff of the Federal Foreign Office
in Berlin
She is currently deputy
secretary-general of the EU’s External Action Service and senior advisor to
Angela Merkel
Schmid has immense technical
knowledge, which gives her a direct advantage over many others
Schmid has been deeply
involved in nuclear negotiations with Iran since 2003
Schmid has stated that the
international community cannot easily tolerate failure of the nuclear
negotiations with Tehran
She has been described as a
formidable diplomat, highly skilled and experienced
Schmid is even referred to as
the ‘power in the shadow’, a linchpin in the negotiations and the ring leader
In the end it was Schmid who
led negotiations of the agreement and its five annexes
Also at the table for the
Americans was Wendy Sherman
She is her country’s first
female undersecretary of political affairs and a veteran of nuclear
negotiations
Sherman played an important
role in the agreement that the Clinton administration reached with North Korea
in 2000
This was the agreement on its
nuclear weapons program, which President George W Bush later reneged on
Sherman has served on the
Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and
Terrorism
She has the number three
position in the State Department
Sherman is sometime called a
‘door opener’ for leading successful negotiations
These women have stated that
men veered off course & went on historical tangents or started to get
tangled into debates about who gave more
It is these women that have
walked them back to the present
It has not been lost on the
Iranians that in these negotiations with P5+1 they were dealing with three
powerful women
These three women are at the
centre of the most important global political issue of the moment
This is the standoff with
Iran over its nuclear programme and its success in following it through!
When more women come to the
negotiating table then there will be less conflict in this world and common
sense will finally prevail!
Seventy years ago, Hiroshima
was turned into a burning inferno as Americans dropped an atomic bomb on this
Japanese city
A young man, Keijiro
Matsushima, was just 16 years old when he witnessed the attack, which claimed
100,000 lives in one day
On 6th August 1945
it was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky, Matsushima had returned to school
It was about 8.15am. His
class had just started when he looked out of the window to see two American
B-29 bombers
He thought more American
planes were doing their routine work
When he looked back at his
books, the bomb exploded. There was a very strong flash and a wave of heat
The whole world turned orange
and he was thrown into an oven for a moment
At the hypocentre, some 2km
from his school, the temperature on the ground reached 3,000⁰C
The flash was followed by a
loud boom. He covered his ears and eyes.
He jumped under his desk
All became pitch black and
then a deadly silence
Matsushima kept asking for
his mother to help him and for Buddha to help him. This was the first time he
had prayed to Buddha
Keijiro Matsushima was a
fortunate survivor. He only suffered cuts from glass splinters
When he went outside he was
shocked to witness the devastation caused by only two planes
Many people were badly burned
with their skin peeling from their heads and bodies
Their clothes were burned and
some were almost naked
He thought Hiroshima is dying
People were crawling towards
the river to cool their burns, many died on the river banks
The Red Cross hospital was
also damaged. Within the 2km of the hypocentre most buildings were burnt and
destroyed
Matsushima’s mother had
evacuated the city earlier in the year after the death of her husband
Matsushima left Hiroshima on
foot and managed to get a rescue train, where he finally reached his mother
She had seen the mushroom
cloud of smoke above the city and had assumed her son had been killed
Just three days after
Hiroshima was hit, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
Japan surrendered seven days
later on the 15th August 1945
By the end of the year
140,000 deaths in Hiroshima were attributed to the bomb
This included people killed
in the explosion and those killed by the radiation and injuries
Up to 80,000 people were
killed in Nagasaki and also by the radioactive fallout
Today Hiroshima is a modern
city completely rebuilt with a population of one million
The Atomic Dome Building,
which is used as an exhibition today, withstood the blast due to its concrete
structure
The bomb exploded almost
directly over it
Despite the sufferings, the
attack caused Matsushima to feel no bitterness towards the Americans
He says, “People go crazy in wars, wanting to kill the enemy”
“Now we have to co-operate to abolish all nukes”
Palm oil is seen by
economists and environmentalists as either the oil to slow global warming or in
fact as a major climate killer
The pros of palm oil are that
it generates ten times the amount of energy than it consumes
Palm oil helps reduce poverty
since it generates returns of over $3,000 per hectare vs $100 on conventional
agriculture, so farmers love it
Palm oil is believed to have
a high antioxidant of red palm oil, which makes it a natural weapon against
cancer
Palm oil is excellent for
cooking, as it does not lose valuable nutrients when it is heated up
Palm oil can be used as a
source of biofuels and biodiesel used in power plants and other renewable
energy purposes around the world
The palm oil fruit is rich in
vitamins, antioxidants and other phytonutrients
Because palm oil is in such
demand these days, rainforests the size of five football fields disappear every
minute
Rain forests are being eroded
to make way for palm oil plantations
83% of the world’s palm oil
is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia
In 15 years’ time 98% of the
world’s rainforests will have disappeared due to intensive deforestation
When forests are cleared for
palm oil, large amounts of carbon dioxide is released making Indonesia the
third largest emitter of CO2
Can the world afford to
sacrifice some of these rainforests to reduce poverty and possibly prevent
cancer?
Orangutans that live in these
forests, especially around Borneo are becoming an endangered species
The impact of the cultivation
of the palm oil plantations on Orangutans is devastating
It has virtually wiped out
their entire habitat
The Orangutans can still be
saved, so long as palm oil plantations are controlled
Demand for the oil is
expected to rise by 50% in the next decade
World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF) estimates that Borneo has already lost 30% of its forests in the last
four decades
Palm oil growers, traders and
conservationist need to come together to discuss matters
Common sense must prevail to
address all the important issues
There needs to be certified
producers, no land grabs, no chemical pesticides and no harming of the
Orangutans
No more can virgin forests be
cut down to make palm oil
Environmentally the
destruction is far too great
There needs to be careful monitoring
to save the environment and wild life as well as air pollution and global
warming issues
Control and balance requires
all parties to come together, so that production is allowed to carry on without
bringing detriment to others
Moderation in all things
breeds results and everyone is happy
It has to be so for the
Greater Good
Australia’s first female
Indigenous MP has said the country cannot recognise Aboriginal people in the
Constitution
Not until its racist past is
acknowledged
Senator Nova Peris has
announced that Government policy was hindering Australia’s Indigenous people to
take control of their lives
The Indigenous Australians
are not even mentioned in the Constitution
The Government is now
consulting with the Indigenous leaders on how it could possibly refer to them
in the document
Nova Peris has said that past
wounds need to be healed before a decision like that was made
You can only go forwards when
you acknowledge the truth about Aboriginal people and at this time the country
has a problem with it
Every time the Aboriginal
people come out to tell their story, their voices are not heard
The Government simply does
not want to deal with them
Aboriginal people were taken
away from their families
This was so that the
Government could assimilate Indigenous children by placing them with white
families
This integration did not work
in Canada, where it was practiced with the First Nation Canadian population
And it did not work with
Aboriginals
Indigenous people should be
hailed as somebody
Not as savages who should be
tamed to the white man’s will and indoctrination
These people have standards
and pride in themselves – it is their country after all
They should be respected with
all their culture and they should be brought to the table to discuss their
history
That history is the time
before the white man landed
Prime Minister Tony Abbott
has pledged to hold a referendum in 2017
It is to see if the
Aboriginal people and the Torres Strait Islanders are recognised as the first
Australians
What an insult by the white
man on these people!
We are in the 21st century
after all and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were the first to
occupy Australia
It is time the Australian
Government woke up and started to respect these people, their cultures,
language and heritage
This also means their lands
and waters
Or do they want to be known
for their removal of them, as was the case with America and the First Nation
North American Indians?
We all have a right to live
on this planet
It simply does not mean
because you are not white you are somehow subservient to those whose skin is
white
How narrow-minded is that?
Australia needs to make
amends for all the hardships imposed on these Aboriginal people
They must stop pushing their
heads in the sand and ignoring them
Australians cannot make out
that they are holier than thou
In fact they continue to
ignore the very people whose land it was first
The white Australian man
should start to learn from their Indigenous people how to conserve water and
where to find it in times of drought
They need to learn about land
conservation and what the land can offer them in other ways
It is arrogant to assume that
the white man knows everything
In fact they are rather
backward where matters of the land are concerned
We all must learn to live and
work together for the betterment of the country as a whole
We need to pull together all
our skills and if not then we are arrogant and deserve all that eventually will
come to us
Racism has no part to play in
a democratic elected Government and a so called civilised society
Perhaps many Australians
haven’t evolved as civilised yet – after all many arrived as convicts?
This could only happen in
America, armadillos are fighting back without even knowing about it!
A man from Texas has been
wounded after a bullet he fired at an armadillo ricocheted and hit him in the
head
The shooting took place in
east Texas, when the shooter fired three bullets at an armadillo
One of those bullets
ricocheted and hit him in the jaw
The man is being treated for
minor injury. The armadillo was nowhere to be found
This is not the first time in
recent months that an armadillo deflected bullets, which ended up wounding a
human being
A man in Georgia, USA,
injured his mother-in-law when a bullet he fired ricocheted off the armadillo
The bullet went from the
armadillo through a fence and then through the backdoor of his mother-in-law’s
mobile home
Then it went through the
recliner chair that she was sitting in and into her back
One just couldn’t believe the
stupidity of the incident if it didn’t happen with guns in America
This is the result of too
many guns in the wrong hands
Of course Americans have a
right to fire weapons when they feel threatened
The armadillos of course have
no say in the matter!
A vaccine against the deadly
Ebola virus has led to 100% protection and could transform the way Ebola is
tackled
Previously there were no
proven drugs or vaccines against this killer virus
With co-operation throughout
the world, the search for a vaccine against this deadly virus has been found
The World Health Organisation
(WHO) has found the results remarkable
The trial centred on the
VSV-EBOV vaccine, first started by the Public Health Agency of Canada
Then it was developed by
Merck, the pharmaceutical company
The way the vaccine has been
combined was by taking a fragment of the Ebola virus with another safer virus
This trains the immune system
to beat Ebola
This unique clinical trial
took place in Guinea, when a new patient was discovered
His friends, neighbours and
family were vaccinated to create a protective ring of immunity
One hundred patients were
identified in this trial and then close contacts were either vaccinated
immediately or three weeks later
For those who were vaccinated
immediately, there were no subsequent cases of Ebola
But for those who were
vaccinated later, there were sixteen cases
While the fight against Ebola
continues, there is good news that global efforts to stop this outbreak are
producing results
In Liberia, the Ebola
outbreak has officially ended after the last 42 days (twice as long as the
incubation period of Ebola infections)
There were no new cases since
the last person contracted the disease
In Guinea and Sierra Leone, there
has been a drop in cases, holding steady over the last three weeks
This has been a major and
significant achievement by all those battling against this deadly disease
The world owes a debt of
gratitude to all those professional people who have dedicated their lives into
combating this disease
They have brought outstanding
relief to those who have it!
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