Oil for food scandal
As I see it Anan will not willingly resign. There is just so much to hide. The US will have to orchestrate his removel probably against some strong opposition from the French and Russians. As the scandal unfolds it makes clear why certain countries and the UN high ups opposed the war in Iraq. The pieces are falling into place. It shows the UN as a corrupt and inefficient organization. It however begs the question what can we replace the UN with?

Demise of Yasser Arafat
So far only John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia, has the courage to say what needs to be said about Arafat. As quoted in the Herald Sun, a daily newspaper distrubuted in Melbourne, he is reported to have said:

"I think history will judge him very harshly for not having seized the opportunity in the year 2000 to embrace the offer that was very courageously made by the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, which involved the Israelis agreeing to about 90 per cent of what the Palestinians had wanted," Mr Howard said on Melbourne radio.

"I think if Arafat had grabbed hold of that opportunity in the dying days of the (US) Clinton administration then the path of things in the Middle East may have been smoother."

Mr Howard said he also found it hard to believe Arafat could not have done more to restrain the activities of terrorist organisations.

This is much better than the hypocritical outpourings from world leaders who lack the courage to speak their minds.

Michael Moore's protege
This is the title to an article in the Herald Sun, a daily news paper published in Melbourne Australia. The writer is Andrew Bolt who has several interesting commentaries in his archives. I urge you to read the article

The US Presidential Elections
The Elections demonstrated the resilence of democracy. It showwed how divergent opinions can resolve their positions at the ballot box. How the will of the majority will ultimately prevail and how it is important to caoture the mind and spirit of the voters. Spouting facts as one side sees it is not enough. You have to understand what the feelings, thoughts and ideas of the voters are. What the media or the pundits declare as important may not be the ideas driving the majority. It is indeed a lesson to those people living under autocratic regimes. It underscores why the mullahs and the terrorists fear the sprouting of democratic ideas. How then will they be able to impose their own brand of thinking except at the point of the gun.