Gaza Crisis

I have been closely following the situation in Palestine since the end of the ceasefire on Boxing Day.

The force used by Israel has, in my opinion been completely disproportionate to the threat. They have killed over 600 innocent and defenceless Palestinian civilians, compared to the 9 Israelis killed. The bombing of UN-run schools sheltering refugees, and of other civilian targets including Mosques in unacceptable.

Today, the Red Cross (Red Crescent in Palestine) have accused Israel of failing to fulfil its obligation to help wounded civilians in Gaza. Pierre Wettach - head of the ICRC in Israel & Palestine claimed Israel's military "must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded - neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded." According to the BBC "One medical team found 12 bodies in a shelled house, and alongside them four very young children, too weak to stand, waiting by their dead mothers."

Someone I know is out in Gaza helping medics deal with the situation. Yesterday, one of the medics she had been working with was shot by an Israeli sniper and is now in hospital. Her blog can be found here.

I really hope the Franco-Egyptian Ceasefire Proposal can be accepted quickly and we can get back to finding the solution for everlasting peace in the region, which Israel and Hamas seem so intent on evading.

Belguim: The Split

Yesterday Belgium reached its 120th day being ungoverned. It is unclear (to me) what is to happen... a coalition reaching an agreement governing Belgium or some other solution would seem most likely.

What I like the idea of is the possible split. Just to have a country so close to us called Wallonia, where people speak Walloon (+French).
This would reshape Europe: the four Europhile low countries (Netherlands, Flanders, Wallonia, Luxembourg) squashed in between the big three of Germany, France and the UK.

And then what about Brussels? This predominantly French speaking city is the capital of Europe located within Flanders. With current EU border travel getting easier and easier by the year, this should not cause a problem for the city whoever were to control it but there are issues.
If you follow the Geographical logic, the Flemish (a dialect of dutch) Flanders would take control of the French Belgian capital, but surely Wallonia would loose out on the Belgium split if they were no longer the country in the focus of EU attention.
Alternatively, going by language, Brussels could stay united with the French speaking Wallonia, but a three kilometer stretch of Flanders would cut the capital off from it's country.
Then option three - I like this option ;) or maybe that's just me! - Belgium is split into three. Wallonia in the south, Flanders in the north, and the self governing capital of Europe, Brussels in the centre. The question that immediately springs to my mind is would each three of these states be able to hold their own in the big wide world? The answer is they wouldn't have to because this could actually strengthen their bonds with the rest of the EU in the creation of a Capital of Europe in the middle. The United States of Europe doesn't seem too far off.

However, at the moment we must remember that Belgium is still just one nation - despite what the Belgian news channel RTBF told their citizens last december!
(You can get the gist if you listen to the French and read the Dutch at the same time).


(Notice it reads "Ceci est une fiction" at the bottom several times throughout the report, but many people including some of the international ambassadors in Brussels, missed this.)

How to Spell Properly

If you happen to be an American who is a member of the Favorite Mustache Organization, then this post is for you! Firstly you must rename yourselves the Favourite Moustache Organisation, otherwise you will never realise the mistakes you are making! And I will spend the rest of my life sniggering at your unfavourable behaviour; you will never be my neighbour; and I will centre myself around people who eat yoghurt, measure in metres, have ships in harbours and analyse chequered molluscs for likeable, unshakeable catalogues. So get with the programme!

Here is a list of 75 words spelt PROPERLY:
moustache
mum
snigger
speciality
titbit
colour
flavour
honour
behaviour
armour
harbour
neighbour
labour
labourious
favourite
savoury
fibre
sabre
centre
spectre
manoeuvre
metre
organise
recognise
realise
colonisation
organisation
analyse
catalyse
paralyse
prise open
analogue
catalogue
dialogue
monologue
caesium
diarrhoea
oesophagus
encyclopaedia
foetus
aeroplane
modelling
quarrelled
traveller
counsellor
fuelling
dialled
woollen
tranquillise
jewellery
ageing
likeable
liveable
rateable
saleable
sizeable
unshakeable
programme
axe
chequered
cosy
draught
grey
liquorice
mollusc
mould
pyjamas
plough
sceptic
storey
sulphur
tyre
vice
yoghurt
spelt

Now, if I find "Organize, Favorite, Likable or Center" used ever again then I cannot be blamed for my actions! Don't say I didn't warn you!

1 in 10 think Tory's have had it!

An ICM poll for the guardian in december found that 12% of people asked thought that the Conservatives may never be returned to power.

The question asked was "When do you think the Conservatives maybe returned to power?"
The majority suggested it would be in one of the next two elections, but 12% of the sample of 1006 (thats 121 people!)
Perhaps it was because they surveyed lots of left wing "tory-haters", or perhaps it was because favour is still moving against the Conservatives?

Next election: 37%
Not until two elections time: 30%
Not until 3 elections time or later: 7%
Will never return to power: 12%
Don't know 15%

You can see this pole and other polls from December 06 Here. Including the voting intentions poll, which shows the conservatives with a majority (40% to Labour's 32%.) So it looks like the world is going crazy... or just the country... or just the Tories... no, they were always crazy... no, I'm just joking!

Side-note:
Accorting to politicalbetting.com, Hilary Clinton is odds on to be the 2008 president of the USA (and obviously she is odds on to be the Democrat Candidate, and the Democrats are odds on to win...) However betters seem to have lost hold of their hats, and the odds for a female president are lower than for a non-female president. Either the betters believe Hilary Clinton to be a man, or they are betting like idiots.... I shall leave my reader(s) to contemplate the intelligence of the American population...

North Korea - 1 nuclear weapon?

It's believed that North Korea tested its Nuclear Weapons last week - which could turn them into a powerful country in the worldwide community. Looks like we'd better all jump inside our Fall Out shelters and say goodbye to the world we know doesn't it? Well first you have to look at the facts and guesses about other countries worldwide.

Recognised nuclear powers (who have signed Non-Proliferation Treaty):
Russia 8'232
USA have 7'068
China 402
France 348
UK 185
Iran (unsure)

Countries outside NPT suspected of weapons:
Israel +-200?
Pakistan +-40?
India +-35?
North Korea +-1?

And a bucket-full of other countries are capable of creating nuclear weapons using existing nuclear reactors (Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Dem. Rep. of Congo, South Africa, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Australia).

So we might not need to question the fact that North Korea has tested Nuclear weapons this month (according to US intelligence - i didn't know there was any) but when you look at the stats, is it hard to see that other countries world wide seem to pose a bigger threat?

If the US are behaving as they usually do, then they probably have all of their "battleships" sitting in some bay in South Korea, so if North Korea fire their Nuclear Weapon (singular) on the very important Alaska, then they won't exist for more than two seconds, before the other coutries in the world with nuclear weapons (USA, Russia, UK, France, Israel, China and India) respond. Iran is the only dangerous country, but only appears dangerous due to forceful American opinion.

So, in the wake of WW3, I shouldn't worry too much... the only real threat is George Bush.