Rooster one day............

...............feather duster the next.




The fall from grace must be painful. A number of icons have been falling over recently The conviction of Rolf Harris in London and now the arrest and charging of Nicholas Sarkozy for corruption,  in France are the incidents that spring to mind.
History is full of it! As long as we remain frail, a common human affliction and in spite of outward appearances , the tumbles will continue...ad infinitum.

Democracy on trial

Guilty until proven definitely guilty 

On 18th March 2014 the then Justice Head Adly Mansour declared he would  "spare no effort" in his attempts to secure Australian, Peter Greste's and his Al Jazeera colleagues release. Since then after a few fruitless trips to court where ,caged like animals, they awaited the judge's pleasure or displeasure , the journalists are still in limbo. The new Egyptian President , el- Sisi, despite calls from the Australian Prime Minister, has declared he will not interfere with the  Egyptian judiciary. (He obviously has a finely developed sense of irony . If it ain't working, don't fix it!) The ramifications of the Arab Spring are far reaching and Qatar's support of the Muslim Brotherhood, is not in the journos favour. The process is a farce and conditions outside the court and within the country are reported to be even worse than when under Mubarak. 

"Kiss my Asp"

Can or Can't or Won't?

Don't bank on it..

A transparent bank statement

There's something rotten in the state of the Commonwealth (Bank). Many investors who are out of pocket by not inconsiderable amounts of dosh are feeling the pain years after the GFC aftermath swallowed their savings, Commissions paid to so-called financial advisers encouraged the mob mentality that multiplied out of control and led to impossible promises and forecasts for investors.Greed and fear go hand in hand.
What is fairly obvious is the inherent inertia that is in-built in large corporations be they financial, construction or whatever. It would be nice but totally unrealistic to hope for complete transparency.

FIFA 2014

ORANJE........................Phew!

               Netherlands 2 Mexico 1

The too hard basket

Panda Baby

It would seem that in the West , we are fascinated by Chinese demand for what we can supply in the way of raw materials and energy. It helps our economy and our wealth.
China however has long term goals in mind as it tries too ensure that its insatiable appetite for energy and raw materials are met for the foreseeable future.
In her relations with the West, China has been maintaining and keeping up appearances. Low key, that is. So it's all tickety-boo as far as we are concerned. Loverly.

Our attention sadly is focused only on what we see and what interest us.

In South Easy Asia however, it;s a different story. There are a huge number of disputed areas which are causing some alarm among those countries confronting China over territorial and maritime disputed areas. China is beginning to flex its muscle more and more and reacting more aggressively in its response to disputed areas.

According to Wikipedia these are some of the following the following disputes involving China inter alia:-

1. Maritime boundary along the Vietnamese coast between Vietnam, China, and Taiwan
2. Maritime boundary in the waters north of the Natuna Islands between Indonesia, China, and Taiwan 
3. Maritime boundary north of Borneo between Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei
4. Islands in the southern reaches of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands between Vietnam, Malaysia, The Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan, and China
5. Maritime boundary off the coast of Palawan and Luzon between the Philippines, China, and Taiwan
6. Islands in the northern reaches of the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands between Vietnam, China, and Taiwan
7. Maritime boundary in the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan, including islands.
8. The nine-dash line area claimed by China which covers most of the South China sea and overlaps Exclusive Economic Zone claims of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Western defence experts are also becoming increasingly aware of China's growing maritime prowess. 

One of the troubles in becoming dependent on Chinese trade and wealth is that eventually we might be faced with a situation where we will be worse off in any argument with the rising power of the economic Mandarins. 

Hope we have the stomach for it when the time comes.