Without being cynical: but it is rather a question of ‘when’ not ‘if’ high ranking politicians get killed. Musharraf several times escaped bombs and shooters. Benazir Bhutto was not so lucky this time - although she had survived another attack just after her recent return to Pakistan.

Pakistan, India and Afghanistan - and many Middle Eastern countries are still very violent societies. As long as people are willing to kill and die for settling political scores there will be no ‘civil society’ nor ‘rule of law’.

It’s all such a shame.

This is an interview in October after the attack on her shortly after her return.

BBC News: China in Africa: Developing ties 

An excellent BBC article about China’s efforts in Africa. Highly recommended when you want to know why the US and Europe are loosing ground to the Chinese long term strategy.

After 11 years of conservative rule Australia makes a jump to the left (details here). Labor promised to sign the Kyoto treaty, get the troops out of Iraq (but hopefully still support the war in Afghanistan) and rolling bad some labor laws which favored the bosses.

I hope for all my Oz friends that the new government REALLY does something about the environment - even when it will decades until nature will react to any human efforts. Australia suffers tremendously from one heat wave after another, the wildlife and the great reefs are greatly endangered and have already taken a lot of damage.

But this election also influences the world stage: George Bush has now lost most of his Coalition of the Willing. Spain went left, Italy went left, Australia went left. Germany’s Frau Merkel is not very willing either nor is Britain’s Gordon Brown. Only France’s Sarkozy seems pretty excited about following America into a new war.

I swear to enrich the capitalists and suppress the masses for the greater good of the party and maybe China.

The great red nation has transformed itself in the total opposite of socialism: workers are suppressed while capitalist robber barons and the party enrich themselves.

I wonder how long they can keep the strings together? Especially when poverty and social differences become harsher and harsher?

Since the introduction of the Euro the Dollar has lost almost a quarter of it’s value. George Bush’s terrible trade politics and the war based on mostly foreign credit is responsible for the weakness.

Now China - who has huge reserves and has bought many US government bonds - is sounding the alarm. After all: the US are China’s biggest customer. But a weak dollar means less income and profit for the Chinese economy. And  China hardly is interested to follow the fall of the Dollar - especially since petrol is still paid in Dollars.

Several times now China has warned the US Government to bolster the weak Dollar - but America has reacted with an ignorant sneer so far.

If China would retreat from the Dollar it would have enormous consequences for the US. But this would be a home made fiasco.

BBC News: article, international reactions and images

President Pervez Musharraf has stepped on the brakes and clamped down on the country. Pakistan has seen a lot of political turmoil in it’s short history - today’s situation is nothing new.

Will we see a peaceful solution? Hardly. Will we see more bombs and violence from militants and fundamentalists? Certainly. Some countries are on a hard and long road to Democracy. Let’s hope that the Islamists don’t take over the country, it’s nuclear weapons and huge military.

Have you seen this men? He is suspected to work on weapons of mass destruction. Maybe like his Pakistani counterparts he used his international connection and fame to build a network of atomic evil. Can we really control a sixty year old technology from not spreading?

“The American Christian fundamentalists are nothing like the Taliban.”

The Taliban used football fields to execute people. They enforced stoning and other cruel laws of the Sharia. They suppressed women, they disliked music, drugs and movies - all that fun stuff. A terrible regime of orthodox believers. Agreed the Taliban were terrible.

American Christian fundamentalists so far haven’t killed anyone - their actions are within the law of the land. Physical violence isn’t anywhere near the Talibans bloody actions. So the American fundamentalists are ‘better’ then their afghan counterparts?

Measuring a society or group just by their usage of physical violence is a bad and not very precise tool.

The basic concept of fundamentalism is that their version of ‘reality’ is the only truth that is acceptable. Anything else can (maybe) tolerated, but never accepted.

Visit www.americanfundamentalists.com to view the image in a larger size - and learn some other stuff as well.

But acceptance of plurality is the most important cornerstone of our modern democracies. This very acceptance is shown in the rule of law that everyone is the ’same’: we all have the same rights, the same obligations - although we are different individuals and by no means the same.

Religions fundamentalists and modern states both have laws and rules, which more or less make sense. But the very difference is who made the law: either they are eternal, because they were made by some God or they are in constant development, because they are made by man and still adapted, expanded and changed.

This also shows a very basic psychological element of the fundamentalist: with a rule set given by your eternal Overlord you have a ‘perfect’ and static system to live by. Not much surprise there. Very different to a pluralists society that continuously changes itself. Although your life might be difficult at times you at least know with a fundamentalist mindset what is right or wrong.

We are right! We are right! We are right!

Here we encounter another problem with fundamentalists: anything that is ‘wrong’ according to his/her believe basic system has to be changed. These people are on a holy mission. Now this is very contrary to ‘in the name of the people’ when you want to change society ‘in the name of the Lord’.

In a Democracy you need the consent of the majority, you need to agree. In a fundamentalist system there is nothing to agree on, no need for debate or even change. Anything that comes from the Lord is not open for discussion. This is especially explosive when a Priest or any other Leader ‘claims’ to speak the Lord’s words. How do you ask God if that person is really his Prophet? You can challenge any law, policeman and politician in court, but again there is no discussion with the word of God.

Lets come back to our American Christian fundamentalists. They are much smarter then the Taliban. They won’t use physical violence to change society - they simply change the laws so society has to adapt. Instead of accepting plurality they use lobbyism, votes and money to enforce only their fundamentalist views.

This is one of the greatest weaknesses of Democracy, that it’s very openness to change and populism allows it’s own destruction. Once again it is important to mention the Hitler lesson (Newsflash: Orangeguru says Christians are Nazis). He was voted into power and slowly abolished democratic laws one by one with popular consent until there was only ‘ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer’ (one people, one country, one Führer).

How the erosion of American pluralist consent is progressing can best be documented by the fierce fight about ‘intelligent design’ and abortion. Slowly the fundamentalists ideas are introduced and cemented into popular opinion as the only truth in small steps. I especially admire the propaganda and rhetoric’s to actually use pluralism to enforce fundamentalism: hey, why don’t you teach ‘intelligent design’ - it’s just another form of science?!

Abortion is wrong / terrible for other reasons - not because your God said so.

But the war on abortion speaks even louder: here pressure groups have been working for decades to enforce their mostly religious point of view onto American society. On PBS.org is an excellent documentation ‘The last abortion Clinic’ that show you how fundamentalist lobbyism can work wonders against pluralism.

So, is there such a thing as an American Taliban? Yes, there is! The methods might be different, but their attitude is very much the same. Most of all over the recent years we can see the ‘just anger’ and aggression against anything liberal and pluralistic getting fiercer and fiercer.

And it’s that religious righteousness I am most afraid of.

BBC News: China rules out West’s democracy
BBC News: How China is ruled (excellent background information)

Currently one of the most important political meetings takes place in Peking: the Communist Party’s 17th congress. Here China’s future is discussed and decided by over 2000 delegates from all corners of the red empire. The goal is to build a ‘Building Harmonious Society‘ - whatever that means.

At the moment the workers state is a workers nightmare: no union protection, hardly any enforced labor laws, rampant capitalism, no working health insurance or pension systems. All blown away by the capitalist revolution of the last 30 years.

Nice national harmonious firewall comrade.

President Hu made the usual nice speech - but basically all stays the same: the communist party has a total stranglehold on power, the military enforces their rule, the new oligarchs bring in the money and China plays nice with all countries who own any kind of resources for the future.

And yes, dissenting voice and any form of opposition is still brutally suppressed. Escpecially for the Olympic Games - any form of protest would disturb the fairy tale the Chinese leaders live in.

More? Propaganda 1 and Propaganda 2

The Dalai Lama actually met Mao to discuss Tibet and politics. But the great chairman was not even kind to his own people - how could he resist the temptation of an easy land grab like Tibet. The great ideas of the Chinese leaders killed millions of people in China and elsewhere. Mao - together with Stalin and Hitler is one of the greatest mass murderers of the 20th century.

BBC News: Burma’s saffron army

Haven’t we seen this too many times before?! Peaceful demonstrations, then the ruling powers intervene. Bloodshed and chaos follows, but sooner or later the people win.

But then what? A new government is formed and often fails.

It is very hard to recreate a working state apparatus after years of abuse and corruption. Power structures, ministries and other important parts of a working state are not built over night. Good government and experienced bureaucrats don’t grow on trees - and you need them to run the show!

The reason why so many corrupt governments stay in place for so long is by killing all other able politicians and power elites. So people are unable to organize a revolt or renew the state from within.

Let’s hope Burma can makes this as easy and peaceful as possible.

BBC News: Burma junta faces monks’ challenge

Hopefully this will start a peaceful transition in Burma. One of this little corners on our planet that have been suppressed by nasty politics and ignored by western media.

On a side note: peaceful (street) protest is still a strong political weapon and can change dreadful conditions. Maybe the Muslim World should take a hint from Gandhi and these Buddhist Monks? And lazy blogger like me should also take to the streets once in a while …

BBC News: China tightens grip ahead of congress

I am always amused when I read in Americans or British blogs that their respective countries turn into police states. Anyone ben to China lately?

I would recommend to these blogger to talk to any Chinese , former east Germans, Iranians, Russians or Saudi Arabians to really get some first hand experience about heavy policing and locking up citizens for basic democratic right en mass.

America and Britain focus their ‘War on Terror’ mostly on bloody foreigners, nobody really cares about. The religious police in Iran and Saudi Arabia still lock up young woman for being dressed the wrong way or driving a CAR alone. Russian prisons are still overcrowded and China executes criminals as usual.

China is so afraid of loosing face that they lockup and sometimes torture anyone who might disagree with the official line. Especially ahead of the Olympic games being a critic in China is VERY dangerous.

Yes, China has turned exactly into the opposite of what communism originally proposed: a country democratically run by the people for the people.

Brother Comrade where have all the trees gone?

China has chopped down 80% of it’s trees. No surprise they have gigantic sandstorms and extreme pollution. Trees would save the people - even without hugging them.