If only rain was all we had to worry about...

Not being able to get online for so long must be one of my biggest bugbear at the moment, although if I tried I am sure I would find a lot more to have a go at, such as the Great British Bank Holiday weather, rain, rain and yet more rain. I can say though that it is good for the garden, or more importantly my allotment plot, which should by now be sprouting in every direction, mainly upwards I hope. Taking of sprouts, I have some of those to plant out this week too, should it stop raining.

I guess with what is happening in China at the moment and the ongoing risk of floods from rainfall and bursting damns following the earthquake then I do not have too much to moan about, at least they have opened up their doors a little unlike the humanitarian crisis that is being exasperated by the Burmese military junta who continue to mess with the lives of their own people.

The UK have lost yet another soldier in Afghanistan and the Americans, on their remembrance day of yesterday, have some 4,000+ more to mourn since the war in Iraq.

And to any ‘peace keeper’ employed throughout the world and abusing children in their care right now – may your knob burn like fire before weeping with gangrene and dropping off in your hand when you next go to the toilet.

The battle for Afghanistan and political change

Paddy Ashdown, the highly thought of, and much in demand Liberal democratic and Peer, has warned the Nato-led alliance is “getting pretty close” to losing control of Afghanistan. He warns that the political battle is probably more important than the military, and that coming from a ex-Royal Marines Officer who saw active military service in Borneo and the Persian Gulf.

If the west had finished the job that set out to do in Afghanistan and set-up a democratized government that could then have been held up as an example to all of us and not just the Middle East we would never have needed to invade Iraq, thus reducing Bush/Blair’s wish for a democratic change in Iraq. Doing the job properly with the correct amount of resource and focus would have meant an end to the Taliban, which would have been welcomed by the majority of Afghanis, the extremists training grounds would also have been reduced and their hiding places effectively restricted. In addition to this would have been the reduction in the drugs emanating from that region, or at least their control to the benefit of everyone, Afghan farmer and western teenager alike.

The longer we in the west pour more military into the region the more reason the Taliban will have for recruiting and that is good for no one.
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The world, and not just America, is ripe for ‘political change’, let us hope that it also begins for Zimbabwe.

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Half an hour after posting the above I found this article related to Barack Obama, it is interesting to note that there is more than one way to look at a Goddess. It is also poignant given the statement I made above regarding 'political change'.

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Mr Ahern, the Irish Taoiseach, has announced his resignation in May from office; this comes on top of allegations relating to corruption. Whatever the outcome of any future investigations for me his legacy will always be the part he played in helping to obtain Peace in Northern Ireland.

What's good for the goose...

I had my say on the BBC website today regarding the ongoing saga of whether Prince Harry should serve with the British army in Afghanistan, unfortunately due to restrictions on word count I had to abbreviate my posting to less than this that follows:

Harry should be left to serve in Afghanistan, unless he puts his colleagues in any more danger than the poor souls already are.
He signed up to serve in the British army and I can imagine that is exactly what he wants to do.
Regardless of what my opinion on sending troops to Afghanistan and Iraq may be I believe it is deplorable how news sites that are obviously short of news worthy stories can make so much out of Harry doing his job.
I had to endure 15 minutes of continual news coverage of the story on the BBC news last night before reaching for the off button and now it has been dominating their website all day. I have resisted adding to the fervor until now and feel it necessary to knock the BBC and other news outlets, including the original leaked source, for making so much of the tour of duty of one soldier when we have so many others out there who are equally precious to their loved ones at home.
Bring them all home soon, or at least work in conjunction with the UN more when we deploy our men overseas.

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I am hoping that there will be no such restrictions on the Amazon site when I eventually come to review a book I am currently reading. However, if there are restrictions I can always take a leaf out of the book and using the style and language of the author I could simply write ‘Crap’.
I will continue reading to the end because I cannot begin a book and then not finish it whatever I think of it.