It’s been wrenching to see the recent turmoil and tragedy in some of the places that I’ve travelled in in the past year. As you’ll remember I was in Egypt at the time of the cartoon controversy but as a westerner was still treated very well. So its devastating to read of the bombs in Dahab, a relatively small Sinai resort town killing 23 people and injuring many more. 2 months ago I visited Dahab for a week diving. My idyllic memories are now stained with blood. The resort village just doesn’t look like a target like nearby Sharm, it’s too small, quiet and friendly. For me this isn’t a bombing a million miles away, something you just shake your head at and move on with life, it’s much more real. Travelling sure adds perspective.
(more…)

Thanks for the barrage of emails I received from friends and family concerned about my whereabouts following the tragic bombings in London last Thursday. Fortunately neither I nor any friends I know in London were directly affected or injured, though of course it’s difficult not to worry for the worst in the immediate aftermath. Of course all our thoughts are with those who have lost someone.

For those back in NZ I can say that its like the papers are reporting - London is moving and people are getting on with life. I was among many who were back on the tubes the next day. The hunt is now on to track those responsible…

Dismayed, I watched the results of the US elections roll in from my small crypt in Hanoi. ‘The American people have spoken’ George Bush proclaimed in his victory speech, after winning the crucial state of Ohio and winning the popular vote by a huge 3.5 million vote margin. Many around the world, not least in the Arab world, will see the result as an endorsement by the American people of the administration’s foreign policy from its last four years in office.

‘Values’, a CNN exit poll revealed, was the surprise issue which swung the election to Bush in the heartland states and smaller communities. Bush’s right-wing Christain fundamentalism appealed to puritanical voters on issues such as gay marriage and Stem Cell research. That these lightweight issues swung a US election in todays world climate is a scary thing. Yes Bush has values, immovable ones, but they are anything other than what I would describe as Christian. Measure a mans values by his actions, not his rhetoric.

Noam Chomsky, in his book ‘Hegemony or Survival’ posits there remain two world powers - The US, and world public opinion. I think that this is contestable - never before has an administration showed such contempt for public opinion, the UN, its traditional allies (NZ included), and the Geneva Convention. And frankly swaths of Americans couldn’t care less about what the rest of us think – excluding of course every American traveller I have met who has stepped out of his or her own backyard and taken a look at the world.

As the most powerful nation in the world, America should practice its altruism and work to strengthen international democratic institutions such as the UN, rather than weakening and undermining them through unilateral action and constant vetos. No country will accept any other as the worlds policeman.

Mr Bush, look at the conditions that breed and incite terrorism – don’t sell the line these people are ‘jealous of our freedoms’. Mr Bush, we all want Democracy, but it’s an oxymoron to think Democracy can be won at the point of a gun - at least any Democracy that I would want to live under. World peace, Mr Bush, will only come through unity, not divisiveness.

If I could have been granted a vote in the US elections my choice too would’ve been driven by moral values - human values - respect and compassion, applying to ourselves what we demand of others.