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POPSThe "just war" that was illegal and immoral Over the last few days I've been watching, on Sky News, reports on the British inquiry into British involvement in the Iraqi-American War. What I've heard and seen so far has confirmed my impression at the time, back in 2002-2003 -- that there was no real reason for the war other than that the leaders of Britain and the US wanted one. It was George Bush's second, and Tony Blair's third, since he was also one of the foremost proponents of the Nato war against Yugoslavia in 1999 (see earlier post). The inquiry evidence is all couched in careful diplomatic terms, presenting the evidence. But for evaluation of the issues at stake, this piece from The Telegraph, of all places, tells it like it is.
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POPSNato's shame It is not without reason that some people have nicknamed Nato the North Atlantic Terrorist Organisation. While it has talked much about the "war on terror", ten years ago it teamed up with, and acted as the air force of a terrorist organisation, the Kosovo Liberation Army, whose atrocities have been systematically covered up.
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POPSIn memoriam: Helen Suzman For nearly 15 years, from 1961 to 1974, Helen Suzman was a lone voice in parliament for freedom, democracy, justice and human rights. And the tributes on her death show how much even those who disagreed with her politically appreciated her stand.
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POPSBarack Obama's grandfather tortured by British It's interesting how things turn around. "He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree" During the Mau Mau emergency in Kenya most of the Orthodox clergy in Kenya were held in concentration camps by the British, and most of the Orthodox churches were closed.
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POPSPatriarch for life The ailing Patriarch of Serbia, Pavle, asked leave of the Synod of Bishops to retire but so far the bishops have showed no sign of acceding to his request. Perhaps they realise that it will be very difficult to find anyone to take his place.
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POPSZimbabwe: on the edge of the abyss Thabo Mbeki is back in Zimbabwe, trying to patch up the power-sharing agreement that he helped to patch together just before he resigned as president of South Africa.
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POPSCollective village offers new hope to Russian orphans In our mission congregation at Klipfontein View one woman has been trained in caring for abandoned children, of whom there are plenty in the vicinity, and it would be good to have something like Kitezh village... unfortunately there isn't enough money to set it up.
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POPSBuilding society eats building society I don't know much about financial institutions in Britain, but I found it encouraging that they still apparently have building societies. In South Africa all the major building societies demutualised about 20 years ago, suckering their members with stories of "windfalls", which they have since lost many times over in the bank charges levied by the commercial banks that replaced the building societies. Am I right in surmising that Northern Rock, which recently had a big bail out at the expense of the taxpayers, was also one of these demutualised ex-building societies? And what are these Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac that have had similar bail-outs in the US? The first sounds like an escort agency rather than a financial institution. I realise that "image" is deceptive, but who in their right mind would lend to or borrow from an institution with a name like that?
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POPSAmericans whinge about proposed Internet bandwidth cap For the first time ever, it seems American ISPs are thinking of implementing bandwidth caps to curtail Internet usage, and many are up in arms about it. But Comcast's mooted 250 Gig cap seems infinitely generous compared with Telkom's 3 Gig monthly maximum, and anything else one has to pay extra for.
0
POPSCaucasian Realpolitik The recent Caucasian conflict shows that among the great powers, Realpolitik still trumps principles and morality.
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POPSDid the devil make him do it? The parents of a schoolby charged with kipping a fellow pupil said that he was "into satanism", as did some newspaper headlines. The trouble is, these allegations are tossed about, but never followed up. There were similar reports a few months ago in the Eastern Cape, but we have heard no more.
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POPSInterreligious dialogue When the goddess Bhagavati calls on the virgin Mary, is it interreligious dialogue at a higher level? Or is it inculturation, or syncretism?
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POPSChurches suffering from "spiritual Alzheimers" Is it just the interesting expression that makes me want to blog about this? It's certainly not the first time the phrase "spiritual Alzheimer's" has been used, but it remains a vivid expression nonetheless.
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POPSReckless rhetoric or freedom of speech? South Africa has a democratic constitution that protects freedom of speech. In saying things like this is Bishop Tutu trying to place an unconstitutional limitation on freedom of speech?
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POPSBrits suffer from metal theft For a long time South Africans have suffered from metal theives. A few months ago we were without electricity for two days, not because of Eskom load shedding, but because of cable theft. Twenty years ago the aluminium railings were nicked from a railway bridge down the road, over four separate nights, and no one heard a thing. Cell phones have mitigated the inconvenience of telephone cable theft, but it can still disrupt Internet access. And many have been late for work because of the theft of railway signal cables. Now, it seems, the Brits are suffering from the same problem. Will it rile up even the phlegmatic Brits so much that they'll start burning railway carriages and stations when the trains are late?
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POPSUnemployment and xenophobia A clear and concise account of the root causes of the recent outbreaks of xenophobic violence in many parts of the country. Hat-tip to Dion Forster.
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POPSOh well, so much for peace If anyone thought the next US President might offer change you can believe in, they were obviously sucked in by a lot of empty rhetoric.
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POPSThe "third force" behind xenophobic violence? Could the ugly face of capitalism be behind the violence against foreigners that we have seen over the last couple of months? There have been taxi wars in the past, now it seems to have spread to other businesses.
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POPSNine milliion South Africans want to emigrate According to a recent survey, some nine million South Africans want to emigrate. And 2430000 believe they have the funds and qualifications to do it. Something tells me that this survey is deeply flawed.
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