Ideology

My favourite communist once told me "If you're not a liberal when you're in your 20s you haven't got a heart; if you're not a capitalist by the time you're 40 you haven't got a brain"

I have it arse about face. I went from being to the right of Attila the Hun to capitalism to socialism. Blame it on my Calvinistic upbringing.

Now? I'm older and wiser now.

Anarchism! Everything else sucks.

Christmas rant

Spousoid and I registered for this anonymous Christmas prezzie thing. You register online, and you get sent the name and brief profile of someone you need to send a prezzie to. In return someone else sends you one.

Now it gets interesting. Take two packages to post office. "Sorry Sir, American new rules say no packages more than 400g. More 400 grammes, you have send by Courier"

Back in the car, and off to the courier company.

At the courier company, a very pleasant Egyptian gentleman helps out..
"America? We have to phone Customs. Very sorry Sir, I think America not like us anymore.Too many rules"

What is in packet?
- A tshirt
Where was it made?
- I don't know! I bought it in the souk in Kuwaiti street
Sorry Sir, American customs rules..
- Well it was probably made by child slave labour in North Korea
Sir?
- Tell them China
Ok sir. Sir, they want to know what is it made of?
- Tell them 100% cotton.
Sir, the stitching?
- Do I look like a textile engineer? Tell them nylon.
Sir the beads on the shirt, what are they made of?
- plastic
Sir, if it was not made in UAE, do you have certificate of origin?
- No
Ok Sir, maybe problem, but we will try.
What else is in packet?
- cushion cover
Sir, for cushion cover I have to phone customs...
Sir, what is stuffing made of?
- It is a cushion cover, not a cushion - no stuffing
Sir, what is the material?
- do you really need to know?
Sir, if I dont write, they will not accept package for America.

This process gets repeated - until I get to the spices.
Sir, no spices allowed. Sir sorry Sir, but I think America very angry. They want not even Americans to send parcels home.

So I've taken my parcels back home. Rudolph the fucking reindeer isn't visiting fucking America this year.

Djibouti

 

I was in Djibouti last week. Before I left, all I knew about Djibouti involved desert, sand, and the French Foreign Legion. Their infamous 13th Demi-Brigade was here. And of course the desperates - those who have so little they try to escape to Yemen. Imagine just how bad it must be if Yemen is the promised land.

Now I know a bit more. The rulers of Dubai have built a Kempinski on the beach to protect you from the harshness of reality. But it doesn't work cos the hotel is full of troops. The Kempinski troops were from Spain and Japan and Germany. And America. Not the Foreign Legion of course. They actually like living out in the desert.

There's a new container harbour - also built by the men from Dubai. And a brand new road to Ethiopia.

The architecture in the old town square is Arabian Nights meets French Colonial. They're worn and old and faded - but shit you could fix one up and turn it into a stunning boutique hotel. Or a bordello.

But it won't work. No one goes there unless they have to. Except the Foreign Legion of course. They actually like living out in the desert.

An Arab Spring

The Arab Spring is more of an Arab Winter my Lebanese friend Alexis is fond of saying. I think she's right. I've heard three reasons for the civil war in Libya - freedom is a very low third on the list.

I'm convinced Nato and the US had more oil security in mind than freedom of the people when they helped the revolution from the air..their enthusiam of commodity poor Syria is distinctly lacking. America seems to have a history of propping up strongmen, only to get egg on their faces later - Seso Seko, Saddam, Mubarak, Muammar. The same politicians who made the deal with Muammar now sprout forth their everlasting support for the battle for democrasy. Denmark and rotten comes to mind.

Whether the new regimes will follow suit remains to be seen. The guys who rode the battlewagons to Sirte, the protestors in Tahrir Square - that's not what they fought for. I'm not sure they want democracy either - or at least not the American version of it.

We live in interesting times.