The Voice Box

The War Rumbles On It is four years since The US and the so-called coalition forces entered Iraq, on the their Operation Freedom campaign. The drama is still being played out, orchestrated by the US president and his team. Tony Blair has departed, leaving the newcomer, Mr. Brown, to resolve the dire predicament in which the British army now finds itself in Basra. Meanwhile in Baghdad there is a new surge. Well I say a new surge, because that is the way it is being described in the US. An additional number of troops which will somehow, rather miraculously turn things around. And it must be working, if you listen to the voices of the Republicans. And yet we know, nothing can be further from the truth. For the Iraqis who remain, life in the country has become a treadmill. The killings , the intimidation, the circular motions of ethnic strife, not mention ethnic cleansing; the truth is there is no end to their suffering. Yet their voices are never heard above the din and carnage which has

Mr. Brown Goes to Washington After a month of the being the new Prime Minister of the UK, Mr Brown is off to Washington to hold talks with President Bush. The meeting is not unexpected. After having such a cosy relationship with Tony Blair, it will come as no surprise that both political leaders will make a great effort to at least pretend all is well. Therefore, a lot is expected from Mr. Brown on his first official visit as Prime Minister of the UK. So far on this side of the Atlantic, the media have offered conflicting opinions of the kind of stance that Gordon Brown will take when he meets George Bush. Some are quite confident the that he will reaffirm and cement the UK special relationship with America. Others are not so sure. Many believe that the time has come for some plain talking with Mr. Bush, and emphasised that Gordon is in a good position to offer it. British troops are still in Basra, and the public is hoping they will be brought home soon. But the big question is will t

Tony Blair is Leaving After months, or even years, of hearing about the departure of Tony Blair as Prime Minister of the UK, the event is finally going to take place. Mr. Blair has now named his date, and by the end of the month we will have a new Prime Minister. this manoeuvre may be difficult for outsiders to understand. But it has to be noted that in this country, the selection of the new prime minister will be done by the Labour members, elected to the Houses of Parliament. The role of the masses is to sit back and enjoy the process, whether they approve or not. Why is he leaving? It is simply to fulfil the agreeement he made with Gordon Brown years ago the share the leadership role, bizarre as it may sound. Rumour has it, at the launching of the new style Labour Party, they made that pledge. Of course, some others will offer a very different explanation. This is the view that he has run out of ideas, and has become so unpopular in the country, and in his party; the time has come f

THE NEW PRESIDENT OF FRANCE It was interesting watching the final round of the French elections. Once the other ten candidates were eliminated, and the battle became a straightforward 'right vs left' contest. I knew Madame Royal would have a very difficult time. Looking at Monsieur Sarkozy, it was quite obvoius that he had done all his homework. He had already eliminated all oppositon inside his party, so there were no side shows to take his audience away from the main stage. The stagemanaging of his every move, even including the contrived spontaniety of his supporters, impressesd the locales who were not accustomed to this sychronised presentation. Obviously there were times when he went too far, as the episode when he mounted a horse to demonstrate maybe his 'wild west prowess'. Madame Royal was not so lucky. As a candidate for the Socialists Party, she suffered from all the backstabbing that we have come to expect from the left in France. Even in the final round the

The French Elections With almost a week to go to the French elections, there is still a lot of undecided voters. Two days ago, I returned from a long weekend in Paris. While there, I saw very few live election rallies. Maybe I was always in the wrong place. There was quite a lot said on televison, and the newspapers were full of articles. But I was quite amazed that that the general public seemed to carry own with their domestic existence, with little overt reaction to the election. I visited quite a few parks, and all the locals seemed to be enjoying was the very good weather. Now that the current French President, Monsieur Chirac, is finally making the best of his last days at the palace, it is time to decide where we stand on the present candidates, hoping to be the next President of France. Altogether, there are twelve candidates vying for the office of president. Of the twelve, only four stana real chance of becoming president, according to the polls. Until recently, most people w

Mr. Bush Visits South America George Bush is continuing his well orchestrated visit to South America. He started out in Brazil where he was met by thousands of demonstrators who were determined to let him know how they felt about him. He and the Brazilian President, after talks, signed a commitment to work together to produce more ethanol, the current fashion in biofuel. The American president moved on to Uruguay, and Colombia where he received a mixed reception. He will later visit Guatemala and Mexico. Many see his visit here as propaganda in the form of convincing the South Americans of how much the US really cares, not just about individual countries, but for the entire region as well. But with Senor Chavez of Venezuela spreading his anti-imperial message in order to counter the presence of Bush, there is a general consensus that the the visit will be watched and noted by all, but that the impact will be minimal, or a lot less than the White House expects. Probably the most importa

The Saguaro National Park I have always had a lifelong ambition of visiting the Saguaro National Park. And after years of procastination, I decided the time had come to make the trip. Less than two weeks ago, on February 8, I started on this venture, which would no doubt involve a lot of flying across the Atlantic. From London Gatwick it was a ten hour flight to Dallas Fort Worth. Then I had to hang around the airport for four long hours waiting for my connection to Tucson. Eventually at 6.35 pm we were on our way. After three hours I had arrived, and was heading for the Red Roof Hotel where I was staying. My initial response was that Tucson was very flat, and indeed, well laid out. But because of jetlag, that first night I was in a bit of daze, and I headed straight to bed, very early. Early the next morning I ventured on a quick tour of the city, and decided to leave the saguaro visit to the weekend. As I had sensed, the city was very widely laid out, a striking contrast to the mount