China and Laos

This morning, the BBC news featured a commentary from one of their correspondents reporting from the Laos/China border.  One the Chinese side of the border are massive plantations of rubber trees.  These trees do not satisfy the needs of China.  So, apropos previous blog posts, the Chinese government has been in conversation with Laotian officials. The latter have agreed to supply the Chinese with land to expand their rubber tree plantings.  The Laotian government seconded the lands of Laotian villages along the border where farmers owned the land and grew rice. One villager pointed out that the plantations are so vast it will take a million people to work on them.....there are not enough Laotians, he pointed out, so it will have to be Chinese workers.......

The Chinese Behaviour Pattern Continues

They have poisoned their wells with unsafe mining practices.  They have ruined villages and wreaked environmental havoc with dam building.   They have continued farming and food production with unsafe practices that sicken and kill their own people.   And, not content to rob developing countries of their resources, the Chinese are now in need of other sources of food.  The have buttered up the regimes of such popular leaders as Lula da Silva of Brazil, getting their foot in the door.   And now Brazilians are starting to feel a little uneasy and queasy about the land grab that has ensued as the Chinese are "investing" in small farmers and getting them to grow soybeans.  See this story from today's NYT.
To read about their incursions into Africa and the regrets of various African nations, search this blog under 'China".

Blood Brothers: Putin & Mugabe

Joe Nocera's opinion piece in today's NYT had a great sub-heading: "What Putin & Pals want, Putin & Pals get".  This observation is in regard to the trial, and today's conviction, of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and Platon L. Lebedev. 

Also in today's NYT is a review of Peter Godwin's new book The Fear : Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe.  Peter Godwin is a journalist who has two previous memoirs on his life in Zimbabwe:  A White Boy in Africa and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun...both excellent.  This newest book is another indictment of Mugabe.  He really has to go.

South Korean author's first book translated into English

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

More on South Africa and Libya

Ah, confirmation that the revolutionary brotherhood between Che Zuma and Che Gaddafi is rent asunder by truth in actions.

South Africa Assails Libya Over Death of Photographer

www.nytimes.com

South Africa on Friday accused Libyan leaders of spreading “misinformation” about the fate of a South African photojournalist by saying he was alive when they knew him to be dead.

Calcified Mugabe

Robert Mugabe insists that his age is no deterrent to seeking re-election and continued despotic rule in Zimbabwe. Citing his excellent health in the face of claims to the contrary, he says that doctors have told him they are amazed and his good bone structure: perhaps he misinterpreted their diagnosis. He has ruled with such an iron fist that his bones, and brain, must have calcified by now, rendering him incapable of anything but rigid thinking.

Another killing in Libya: South African photographer

The South African official view of Libya:
History of Relations
Unofficial relations between South Africa and the Great People's Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya are of long standing and go back to the days of the struggle against apartheid. The first South African formal accreditation was established on 19 November 1996, when the South African Ambassador to Tunisia presented his credentials to the Secretary of the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Co-operation (Foreign Minister). Relations between South Africa and Libya are solid and have been highlighted by high profile visits to Libya by both former President Mandela and President Mbeki. South Africa made a significant contribution to negotiations for the release of the two Libyan suspects in the so called "Lockerbie issue".

Maybe the official position will be reassessed and recalibrated affter the coldblooded killing of photographer Anton Hammerl.  See this article in the Mail & Guardian.
 

He will become known as 'Bashar the Butcher'

Accolades for Emma Donoghue

Room by Emma Donoghue

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I dreaded starting this book as it sounded just so traumatic and creepy.  But, it was a page turner, beautifully written, and well worth putting aside feelings of horror and dismay at the subject matter.

Crackdown in Syria

Just a year ago, my husband, son, his girlfriend, and I ate falafel sandwiches near this square in Damascus


.

 The above video is from this article from the Los Angeles Times.

You can also find more videos from Syria at this link.

The Pain and Horrors Begat by Apartheid

I listened and sobbed.  People are remarkable.

Listen to this show on KUOW:
Forgiving my daughter's killer
Ginn Fourie’s daughter was killed in an attack by the African People’s Liberation Army (APLA) in Cape Town in 1993. After nearly a decade of agonising grief, Ginn eventually met the man who masterminded the shooting, former APLA commander, Letlape Mphahlele. In their own words, they explain how they’ve forgiven each other over the past.
Link - Lyndie Fourie Foundation
Link - The Forgiveness Project

In fact, this whole show on 10 May on KOUW Presents is excellent.

As the sands shift........

Saudi Arabia is taking preemptive action amidst change and unrest in the Middle East.  Unsure of its future relationship with the US, it is looking to diversify its supply chain by reaching out to.....China!  See/hear this story from NPR.  Ah,  opportunistic China.

Iran Demands Syria Free Dorothy Parvaz....

Now this is an interesting development

Iran has been strangely silent throughout the unrest in Syria.  D. Parvaz was born in Iran.....

D. Parvaz is Missing in Syria

Former Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter is missing.  She landed in Damascus last Friday, 29 April, and has not been heard from since.  There is a Facebook page dedicated to information on her.  A former colleague, Joe Copeland has written a story in the online newspaper, Crosscut.  Call the Syrian Embassy in Washington, DC, tweet, and email: (202) 232-6316 ext. 139 or send an email to as1@syrembassy.net. A Twitter campaign uses the hashtag #FreeDorothy. 

 

The beginning of the end has begun in Syria

May the people of Syria prevail.
More bloodshed in Dara'a
Crackdown and sanctions
Witness describes crackdown
Iran's hypocrisy and silence

The Horrors & Terror of being a Woman in Pakistan

Pakistan high court frees five accused of retaliation rape

"In a ruling seen as a setback for women's rights in Pakistan, the country's Supreme Court on Thursday freed five men accused of gang-raping a woman on the orders of a village council."

By Alex Rodriguez

Los Angeles Times

KHALID TANVEER / AP

Mukhtar Mai said she feared the men she accused will seek vengeance against her and her family.

Related

 For the full article, click on the linked headline above.

What more can be said about this abomination......

Hyperbolic reviews cause subsequent deflation

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I enjoyed this book very much, but was disappointed only based on the hype it had received in the literary press. Some of the images are haunting and will stick with me and I thought the idea of the Deathless Man was an interesting device.

Ronald Singer: In Memoriam, Five Years On

How timely and appropriate.  There was an interesting article in The New York Times on Friday 15 April, titled "Phonetic Clues Hint Language is Africa-Born".  A biologist from New Zealand has used the model of DNA analysis that has shown the likely spread of humans out of Africa to the rest of the world to look at the origin and dispersal of language in much the same way.  What would have pleased my father, Ronald Singer, about this is the showcasing of  Southern Africa, a region he researched and felt strongly about:  that the most important information about early humans would be found here.  Details of his research can be found in this Memoriam written by Paul Dechow.  Ronald Singer's last work, on Peers Cave in Fish Hoek, South Africa,  is currently being edited by Jay T Stock and Curtis Marean.

A glimmer of good news from Lesotho

One dedicated person can make a difference.  With some help, she can blaze a trail of good news!  An article in Sunday's New York Times profiles Dr.Grace Phiri, a pediatrician committed to saving children in Lesotho from HIV/AIDS.  She now has help from several physicians from USA, who, with grant money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, do good work.

Spring, again

                                                      A new flower in springtime
                                                      The Mason bees arrive
                                                      A gentle nudge, a reminder
                                                      Ah, Ariel, a soughing, a sigh.