IN THE EYE OF BEHOLDER……….

South Africa due to its geo-politics is an unequal state…at least it is the land of the last respectable standing man Mr. Mandela.

The legendary Mandela presence has bestowed on South Africa an enigma, a legend of perseverance and resistance. I personally count him as one of the greatest men that has ever lived on earth…..his presence convince me that the human history can be turned around and be reinvented at any point of time with enough will and dedication.

In the recent years South Africa has embarked on capital marketing campaign, it also portrayed itself as the defender of the destitute Africa and the leader of its states. This campaign has started in the late nineties of last century and still continuing …..It increased the number of tourist and also impacted positively on the trade to African countries.

I recently visited that country for a holiday, it is my second visit since my last visit of 1999, I stayed about a month and I have noted great differences during my discussions with some friends that I cherish….

I also noted that the solid ANC has become human, and started admitting its internal illnesses and the media was able to capture vehemently what is happening in the secret alleys of the ANC. I have also noted a vigorous official media campaign against Mr. Zuma which shows that the state media was used in favor of one campaigner to the disadvantage of the other….what amazed me is that the results of the ANC election contradicted the state media propaganda…..it shows that there is another routes for campaigning in South Africa and I had to bow in respect for the abilities of such underground network that can coordinate such directions. I have not seen it anywhere, that a state media is smearing a person with all sorts of accusations yet the people still select him….it is obvious that the network that once supported Mandela to power is working efficiently in isolation of the official state media and press…..

Of course as a visitor I am not in a position to judge whether Mr. Zuma is at fault or not, that is something to be decided by courts, but my fear is, can the state judiciary system be influenced by the position of the current president of the country like that of the state media? If this happens then South Africa has became African and somehow got infected with the same African diseases that most of the African countries are enduring, especially, when the state recourses are used in favor of one campaigner against the other.

Mr. Zuma might not be popular in the west due to his communist back ground, also I recall when the current president went to a G8 meeting reporting on how democracy is secured after he has fired his deputy or his deputy asked to be fired on the tail of corruption allegations…As an internal matter what does the G8 has to do with such report, and why did Mr. Country President did not report that the lack of access to justice as a major issue and that the alarming level of crime across South Africa, in both urban and rural areas, is an example of lack of protection of their human and civil rights. More so he denied such claims when presented during a NEPAD meeting. Does he deny it like the fact he denies that HIV can be a cause of death.

Some of my friends said that he is a president in denial, and that his administration in the past few months has suffered a lot of blows from a Health Minister scandal to corruptions allegations against his favored police commissioner…..

Anyhow, if the corruption allegations are increasing, it shows South Africa has really blended to its mother Africa, resulting in increased electric power cuts and high cost of living.

If South Africa need to get back on track, it is necessary to admit to the current problems, abide by its constitution and start self-cleansing process like the one headed by Mr. Tito in the mid Nineties.

I believe South Africa soul and spirit can resurrect, as long it house people like Mandela. I believe that if a president has failed in one aspect or several aspects it does not diminish him to admit it and pave the way for other vigorous leadership that can assist in correction. Mandela, when he decided to step down for the current country president, he showed disdain to power and he has proved to be beyond power, he is a legend.

I hope that the current president of South Africa has enough wisdom and vision for that young promising country, and disinfect it from the prevailing disease in Africa called “Power-neurosis”

The wondering mind of,

Ned

Has USA lost it….

During the past six months the Bush administration seemed to have gone slow and recognized that the world is too big to rule. This discovery came at the tail of a dwindling dollar price, high cost of energy and slowing down of US economy.

The last visit of Bush to the Middle East appeared also as the last call of a sinking president, trying to set arm-deals for his post-tenure….the funny thing, it coincided with a visit with the French president to the same area…. apparently there is a competition of rival salesmen, trying to sell the same goods within the same neighborhood, using the same concept, of a mutual virtual enemy, as means of convincing and induction of sales….

Both Salespersons have no credibility in that area, for instant Egypt seemed distancing itself from the actions of Bush and his administration, as the later is trying to strive contention between Egypt and Jordan through the US Aide….

The Bush administration lost it s creditability along with that of USA in the whole world. USA is no more seen as the utopia of the world, but rather the suppressor of its own people before those of apostate states…..the resistance in Iraq shall ultimately force US forces to cocoon in basis outside major cities, with the help of some weak Iraqi government, that shall behave worse than Saddam, using the “Awakening” or the Sahwa troops. These military basis shall be a focused target of several freedom fighters and the situation will prolong, leading ultimately to the full withdrawal of the American troops in some ten years or less…..the same situation happened with the British troops in Suez Canal during the period of 1940 to 1954 when the British withdraw from Egypt and it marked the obscuration of the British empire.

What amazes me is Arabs never read or learn. During the oil crisis in the mid seventies H. Kissinger vowed to make Arabs embezzle all their petro-gains through inflated arms deals and inflated urban development….and it happened, once again the history is repeating itself and Arabs are still doing the same mistake…instead of using such gains in research and development, creating a giant industrial areas, investing in their human capital and creating an independent internal national security program or least of all invest in Africa like Chine of USA is currently doing, they still use that capital for buying Yachts and military toys that they shall never use and cannot use, due to the lack of trust between rulers and their armies, as well as low human military capacity.

What also triggered my wondering mind is the recent attacks on Gaza, especially during the Bush visit to that area. Is the purpose to frighten those gulf buyers and project military terror in their minds, to ensure they invest more in military purchases, to reinforce the idea of a virtual enemy, and create a terror scenario by analogy of what can happen to them from Iran if they are not buying such arms….I am not sure but it may be working…

Coming to back to Iran and the imaginary enemy that has been always of existence, yet never attached the Arabs, except in defense against Iraq during the first gulf war. The recent incident early this month of the huge US carrier threatened by an Iranian boat, was quite stunning. Again why such incident happened only some days before Bush visit to the Middle East, is the purpose to conform that Iran is trying to dominate the Gulf Sea and that it is a threat….again to confirm to Arabs that Iran is a threat….

Recently I was astonished when the Egyptian government tried to get itself involved in such crisis and act as an agent by proxy for the US in vowed to protect the Gulf….I think the coming days may show more features of such initiative. I believe that Egypt has no existence in the gulf, neither economically or politically. Egyptians can claim that they are enforcing the Arabs League’s military truce but in reality they may be diverting their military forces to act like missionaries by proxy for US army who is completely tired, depressed and lost it.

The wondering mind of,

Ned