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The news recently has been interesting in a number of ways. On the one hand we had George W Bush yesterday telling a closed audience of military personnel and their families, that it was “……..not just the enemy they were fighting in Iraq – but Evil……..”; on the other, Nancy Pelosi was exhibiting a degree of maturity lacking in George W Bush, by engaging “the enemy” in political diplomacy and thus demonstrating that “Evil” was in fact as human as you or I, or for that matter, President al-Assad of Syria.

Never has their been quite such a clear cut illustration of the two faces of America today. George Bush represents the somewhat close-minded, God-fearing, “small town” Americans who, oddly enough, have sacrificed more of their sons and fathers to Bush’s wars – about a fifth of the dead, according to a recent report from the BBC’s James Coomarasamy.

Small town America still believes in “Good” and “Evil”, and views its country as the Light that will eventually overcome Darkness, thus transforming the world into a better and more peaceful place. They close their eyes to the methodology of their president, just as any heavily indoctrinated sect member is blind to the shortcomings of a charismatic leader.

Nancy Pelosi has aptly proved to George Bush that three days of diplomacy can achieve more than five years of war. Talking has to be better than fighting, but to those lacking the necessary skills in verbal communication, fighting usually appears the only alternative, especially so when someone else’s kids are taking and giving the punches. The White House response to Pelosi’s antics surely proves the point. George Bush is only capable of one reaction to any crisis, and that is to bully and threaten. Sadly for him, the historical “Lord Jesus” he professes to worship took a somewhat different view. No wonder the American president is looking more and more bemused by the minute.

If ever there was an advocate for the sane, intellectual face of America, it is surely Nancy Pelosi. US politics are illogical to outsiders, seeming to rely more heavily on vast sums of hard cash rather than common-sense, but given that Pelosi is presently third in line for the presidency, anyone displaying a modicum of sanity and common-sense – whether American or not – must surely be asking why it is Hilary Clinton the Democrats are presently favoring for the White House in 2008?

While George W Bush teeters under a deluge of rationality in the US, across the Atlantic Tony Blair desperately, though unsuccessfully, attempts to wipe Iranian egg from his face after the surprise announcement from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the fifteen British sailors held for thirteen days were to be released. To suggest that the Iranian president, or perhaps Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had played a royal flush to Tony Blair’s puny pair of deuces, would be an understatement. While various Western commentators have huffed and puffed in vain attempts to make the Iranian move seem nefarious, the plain fact is that for over a week Iranian TV has displayed pictures of well-fed, contented, smiling British sailors while those same commentators have been accusing the Iranians of “coercing” confessions from the poor British unfortunates.

It’s painfully obvious for all to see that “coercion” belongs in Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib, rather than Tehran – at least in this instance. The British government went to great lengths to convince everyone the Iranians were dead wrong, and the Royal Navy was in Iraqi, rather than Iranian, waters. Later, it was revealed -though not by the politicians – that there is no definitive line between the two nations and, quite likely, the boats had strayed into Iranian territorial waters. Certainly, the lads (and lass) of HMS Cornwall appeared happy to agree with the Iranian view, on worldwide television.

There is an epidemic of lying on both sides of the Atlantic. Politicians, whose words we may once have accepted without question, have now proved over and over again that they are untrustworthy. Lying to the electorate who bestowed them with power illustrates vividly the contempt in which they hold the people. Consequently, the people have lost faith in them.

It is long past time for Tony Blair and George W Bush to face the consequences of their appalling decisions and be sidelined in favor of less self-centered and egoistical characters. In Britain, the choice appears somewhat limited.In America, the best choice – by far – is not even in the running.

Filed under: Political ineptitude

My apologies for the dearth of posts lately, and my tardiness responding to comments. The approaching trip to Wales mentioned in an earlier post has consumed my time, due to the technological tangle of communications equipment and services needing to be unraveled, in order to maintain a reasonable level of contact with my wife who will remain behind in the States.

Admittedly, one cellphone might suffice, were it not that certain areas of Wales are left bare of network coverage by some providers, plus I want to use my laptop for emails and general surfing while away.

Roaming charges make the cost prohibitive, and have resulted in the purchase of a new quad-band cellphone, additional “non-roaming” sim cards, and the rental of a multi-network data card for the computer.

With hindsight, it may have been less expensive to have simply paid the roaming charges.

OK, I know some geek is about to point out that had I just purchased such-and-such for $2.50 it would have managed all my needs for under tuppence an hour, but phone technology has never been my forte. I hark from an era when you stuck your finger in a hole, spun the dial half a dozen times and held a heavy, bakelite receiver to your ear. The concept of doing more than answering or receiving calls on a telephone is still foreign to my senses. After all, it’s only of late I’ve mastered engaging with the internet on a computer, which at least was designed for the purpose. Now I have to learn how to do it on a piece of plastic smaller than my hand, with a screen requiring a magnifying glass to read.

It’s all too much. Sometimes I just long for those heady childhood days with two old bean cans and a long length of string.

Life was so much simpler, then.

Filed under: Time saving technologies

The case of the fifteen sailors detained by Iran for allegedly straying into Iranian territorial waters is shaming both America and the UK. The belligerence presently being spouted by both nation’s leaders can do nothing but rack up tensions and prevent any hope of an early release for those concerned.

Tony Blair and George Bush have each expressed disgust that the British sailors were “paraded on Iranian television”, a somewhat hypocritical stance given the many Middle Eastern prisoners held and tortured in secret CIA prisons, the debacle of Abu Ghraib, and the oft televised “detainees” held for five years without trial at Guantanamo Bay detention center. We are all too familiar with their bright orange jumpsuits thanks to CNN, NBC, ABC, and a host of other networks, including the BBC.

Both Blair and Bush are responsible for crimes against humanity, so their theatrical, self-righteous, posturing can hardly be taken seriously by their own countrymen – although there will always be those with a misplaced sense of nationalism, ready to jump on any militarist bandwagon – let alone the Iranians.

Why are some Iranians protesting on the streets of Tehran, demanding the trial – and in some cases, execution – of the British sailors? They are simply Iranian equivalents of the Americans and British who scream for Iranian blood over this issue. In all cases, a vocal minority hyped up by the media of all three countries.

Today, in Britain, Terry Waite – himself held hostage in Lebanon for five years – offered to travel to Iran and negotiate for the release of the British detainees. He insisted he would not go as an envoy of the British government, but as a private individual to negotiate in a humane and non-confrontational manner.

No nation can ever be more mature than the leader it elects. Tony Blair and George Bush display the wisdom of delinquent second-graders trying to retrieve their ball, taken from them by an overdeveloped kindergarten kid.

Perhaps one day, our nations may be wise enough to elect leaders with the maturity and wisdom of Terry Waite.

Filed under: Kiddies playing politics