Mother Nature rages while a ‘father’s’ wrath carries on unabated

The world is in turmoil and Mother Nature is certainly raging. Hot on the heels of the earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand, which followed one in Haiti and in Chili and the floods and fires in Australia, the latest 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan has shocked the world, including the Japanese themselves who normally take earth tremors in their stride.

But the quake on Friday was not the usual quivering and vibration the Japanese usually ignore as they go about their business. The quake that hit the north east coast followed by the tsunami took over all the news channels.

One was reminded of the New York 11/9/2001 images we saw on our TV scenes, in that they looked more like a clip from a disaster Hollywood movie than real life.
Thankfully, the Japanese build structures that withstand earthquakes and the toll would be much higher had the skyscrapers we saw trembling collapsed.

However, nothing could have been done to stop the gigantic size of the wave and speed of the waters that shattered everything in its wake. The current fear is the damage done to the nuclear plants by the quake and a state of emergency has been declared.

While we get alarmist news from broadcasters with talk of a potential ‘meltdown’, experts play the risk down, while stressing that Japan is the most technologically advanced country to cope with such a situation.

The Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 10 centimetres.

It was inevitable, considering the scale of the devastation by the tsunami and disruption to the Japanese infrastructure by the quake, not to mention the videos, that that news would overshadow the situation in the Middle East, particularly Libya.

The no fly zone is still being bandied about while the EU is still "examining all necessary options" to protect civilians. It is, however, complicated, while we see Libyan protestors asking for a no fly zone, there are also signs, as recognised by the US, that NATO intervention would not be welcome. And the UK SAS bungle did not help.

The Arab League was due to hold an emergency meeting in Cairo yesterday, where Gadaffi’s representative was barred from attending, to discuss supporting the imposition of a no-fly zone. I hope a decision will have been reached by the time you read this. A no fly zone called for by the Arab League is what might alleviate the plight of those being brutalised in Libya.

Meanwhile journalists are being further harassed, in China as well, where human rights are also ignored by Western leaders. But back to Libya, On Friday, CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson and his crew were detained and terrorised in Tajura, east of Tripoli by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi. “For a few moments today, for us personally, Libya’s lies and deceit were swept aside and the real deal was brutally exposed.

“We are free to go anywhere, any time, talk to who we want, when we want. That's what Moammar Gadaffi’s son told me, that's what Libya told the UN. We already knew it was all lies – look at any number of our colleagues, arrested, detained, in some cases, beaten – but today it came home to us personally”, he reported.

I must admit I was getting a bit concerned when I read that a Gaddafi representative had arrived and met with our Prime Minister on Wednesday, especially since we were not being told exactly what had been discussed, or any outcome.

But after Lawrence Gonzi met European Commission José Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Thursday night we heard, “We told the Libyans straight and plain that, at this stage, there is no mediation to be done. The Libyan authorities have to listen to the wishes of its people,” adding that he thought that the end of the Gaddafi regime was inevitable.

While it seems that everyone (well almost everyone) now hates Gadaffi (about time), other ‘benign’ dictators in the Middle East are not getting the same coverage. It is not just the cash, however, that is sparing the rulers in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia from overt negative press although protesters are being fired on.

Showing the money certainly helps.
Foreign secretary William Hague (am I the only one to find his voice irksome) had a £1,115 stay in a hotel in Bahrain paid for by the al-Khalifa regime in January, according to the UK’s Private Eye and he is undoubtedly not the only western politician to have benefited from such ‘perks’.

France saw the recent firing of its foreign minister for accepting such perks from the Tunisian regime before the uprising and there is a lot more one can report with a little digging, especially with regard to trade agreements.

The US and other Western leaders also amuse me when they heap praise on the Middle East royal families. They had also made similar remarks and spoken about their close ties with Mubarak (before it was clear he was finished) and gave importance to his role in “security” but not democracy, as though the two are not linked, as they should have learnt by now.

Political parties are banned in Bahrain and protestors where fired on when they took to the streets. Yet, Foreign Office minister Lord Howell, was quoted as saying that Bahrain “was one of the Gulf states that are making most progress on democratic and parliamentary reform”.

However, it has to be said it is not only the chequebook that holds sway for the Middle East royals. They are more sophisticated than the Gadaffis and it is obvious that a western education has not done much for Saif. While playing with the rest of the world’s rich boys he failed to pick up an essential ingredient to their survival – knowing when to shut up.