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Do you get the impression the whole world is waiting? It’s as though the planet itself is holding its breath, hoping against hope that the end of the Bush era, coupled with the rise of Obama, may restore a measure of sanity and reconciliation to this grief-torn world.

There’s not been much happening at Sparrow Chat lately. You’ve probably noticed. It’s difficult to write in a void. And that’s what we’re in right now – a vacuum. Oh, sure, there’s still plenty for the political blogs to rant about; politicians everywhere can be relied on to supply a continuous outpouring of gaffs, corrupt practices, and general back-biting.

Take the US Republican Party for instance: a perfect example of grown men and women behaving like a pack of mangy curs, recently rounded up and caged pending euthanasia. Barking and snarling at their Democrat captors does them no good whatever so they turn on each other, ripping apart individual ideals while less vicious members are content to lap up spilled blood.

Across the pond in Britain, a lacklustre prime minister grimly grips power by his bitten-down fingernails as the uncloaking of a vast network of political corruption threatens his existence, and provides entertainment for the masses, happy to take their minds off the ever present economic debacle.

It all makes fodder for the media, yet has little effect on the progress of so-called civilization.

Meanwhile, the world waits, holding its breath and pretending nothing is untoward. Barack Obama rushes about the globe, mending fences that can be repaired, hoping those that can’t won’t topple over, at least not for a while yet.

It’s all in the hands of the Capitalists, you see. Progress, that is. At the end of the day, whether civilization as we know it survives, or not, is dependent on the back-room machinations of those who hold the purse strings of power.

If it’s profitable for the human race to survive, it will. If not, then……well, it’s time for a sharp intake of breath.

To put it bluntly, our only hope is that the ‘global warming’ skeptics turn out to be right; that it is, after all, nothing more than a vast scientific conspiracy aimed at topping up the research coffers.

Most who believe that, however, are also convinced the World Trade Centers were destroyed following hordes of demolition experts invading the property without anyone’s knowledge, and setting explosive charges timed to coincide with CNN broadcasting some obsolete footage pirated from “Towering Inferno”.

Still, who knows? In a world as totally crazy as this one, it’s possible they might be right.

Filed under: It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world

The Chinese communist government is refusing to allow any commemoration of the protests that took place twenty years ago, beginning on April 15th 1989 following the death of a pro-democracy worker, Hu Yaobang,^[1] and lasting until tanks finally cleared Tiananmen Square during the days of June 4th and 5th, 1989.

A heavy police presence on the streets of Beijing and an internet blockade of social networking sites like Twitter and FaceBook, will ensure there is no memorial gathering to remember the hundreds, possibly thousands, killed during this obscene period in China’s history.

The Chinese government is keen to erase its peoples’ collective memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre by whatever means it can muster.

While we still have the freedom to do so, it behooves bloggers and journalists in the West to ensure that they fail.

^{[1] “Hu Yaobang” Wikipedia}

Filed under: Political oppression

It’s at times like these that politicians are truly at their most amusing. Internationally, they love to squabble among themselves, hold heated debates within the safety of the United Nations, and appear to us lowly masses as important and all-powerful beings.

Suddenly, along comes a scruffy, half-beat, little nation like North Korea. It sticks its index finger skywards – roughly in the direction of Washington DC – and politicians everywhere huff and puff like old foxes attempting to blow Kim Jong-il’s house down.

The whole world knows they’re wasting their time.

Since North Korea tested another nuclear device this week, the corridors of the UN have been buzzing with little men (and a few little women) all scurrying about like frightened rabbits seeking the shelter of their burrows and not being able to find the right hole.

They’d like us to believe they’re in control. They’d have us think Kim Jong-il’s shaking in his boots at the prospect of imminent punishment, for daring to play with the oversized chemistry set his western masters had barred him ever from touching again.

The truth, as always with politicians, is somewhat different.

North Korea is pretty much impregnable. Any land invasion would result in huge western casualties, inflicted by the communist state’s million strong military ready and willing to commit mass suicide for ‘Dear Leader’. Aerial assault is unacceptable, even to the United States, due to the massive civilian casualties that would result.

So the politicians huff and puff, pretend they’re all-powerful, and hope Kim Jong-il will conveniently die before the world realizes just how efficiently he’s making them look utterly stupid.

Susan Rice, America’s Ambassador to the United Nation, told CBS that North Korea will “pay a price for their action.”

[These were ]……clearly provocative and destabilizing actions which threaten international peace and security. North Korea needs to understand that its actions have consequences. The pressure will increase on North Korea, economically and otherwise, and North Korea will realize that its actions have only left it further isolated and further debilitated.”^[1]

In response, to demonstrate how scared he was, Kim Jong-il fired two short-range missiles.

Up yours, Ambassador Rice.

The long-term problem doesn’t rest with North Korea, but with the West in general, and the US in particular. While Congress and the American media constantly blame Pyongyang for the failure of diplomatic talks, America’s high-handed, arrogant, attitude towards North Korea is undoubtedly a major part of the problem.

Kim Jong-il is a little guy with a big ego and he doesn’t like being pushed around and made to feel second-rate. It may be fine for the US to treat European politicians that way, after all, they rely on the US for their defense umbrella, but Pyongyang expects a level playing field in talks with the rest of the world, but doesn’t get it.

Until it does, international politicians will continue to have days where they rush around the UN pretending to look very fierce, while desperately seeking out a suitable rabbit hole.

^{[1] “North Korea ‘will pay’ over tests” BBC, May 26th, 2009}

Filed under: Posturing Pyongyang