All the news that fits?

26 March 2007

Tamil terrorists have attacked Colombo’s airport. What does this mean for tourism to the island once called ‘Serendip’? Over the past decade and more, virtually regardless of how vicious the Sri Lankan civil war has turned, tourists, particularly Europeans, Brits and Germans mainly, have continued to visit the island, staying away from Tamil Eelam territories but otherwise seemingly oblivious to the deadly war that has continued in the rebel areas, lying there on the white sand, sipping tropical things with those tiny paper umbrellas or, more sophisticated, little straws. The cease fire is honoured only in the breach.

And, meanwhile, in Iraq, four more American soldiers were killed today by a roadside bomb, one of the infamous IEDs. The number of innocent Iraqis who have been killed over the past 24 hours beggars the imagination. We have committed a crime in that country. The answer is not withdrawal -- at least not now. The only honourable way forward is a troop surge, a serious one. John McCain is the only candidate who has taken a morally defensible stance on the issue. Obama and Clinton are hypocrites who are led by the polls, they do not have the guts to lead themselves. By inclination I am a democrat, a left-wing one, but in this case I am with McCain. I may end up entirely in his camp, particularly if his environmental policies are anywhere near as courageous as his stance on Iraq.

Fifteen British sailors and marines, one a woman, are in Iranian custody. British diplomats and politicians are all scurrying around wringing their hands and demanding that the ‘hostages’ be released. ‘Hostages’ is what they are. The Iranians are throwing sand into diplomatic eyes, trying to mask their nuclear activities. Ahmedinejad got his visa to visit the UN in New York but some of his travelling party were denied permission or didn’t get cleared in time. Somehow it all seems connected.

There’s been another earthquake in Japan, only 1 dead at last count. Earthquake design really does help. At least, as far as I can tell, this disaster is not related to climate change.

God knows what disasters have befallen Africa over the past 24 hours. The absence of coverage in the media only means that the outrages have not been of sufficient magnitude to merit any substantial attention. You see, crimes against humanity in Africa must be much larger and bloodier than those on other continents to be worthy of attention. Even now, on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the British Empire, black people are still not equal to whites. I don’t even know if it’s race or economic value, maybe a combination of the two, but genocide, starvation, disease and even simple war in Africa generally don’t get the attention that their equivalents do in the West. These horrors must be an order of magnitude worse than anything Europe can serve up before we hear much about it here on planet Indifferent.

And out here in rural Worcestershire the sun is rising and you can hear the sheep vocalising, their morning bleats telling us they’ve started another day of feasting in the rich, green fields. It always amazes me how we lead out our lives in parallel, each one pursuing atomistic objectives, only intersecting with others at random points. Weird world, no? Terry Wogan is droning in the background. I prefer Radio 4 most of the time but I don’t think I could stand John Humphrys trying to start a fight with anyone this morning.

And so it goes …