There have been some interesting observations made recently by the cross section afforded through Chat..
One which appears to be universal, is a sense that something's not quite right with the world, on a vaguely spiritual level. People from India, China, Holland, Britain, the United States, have all mentioned a general malaise.. a sense of discontent which transcends individual economic situations..
A gloom settling in, perhaps we, all of us, are bombarded with the problems of the world. When the man on the street must assimilate all the senseless death and injustice of the entire world, issues the likes of Local Council's tardiness in repairing the potholes can become the focus of personal crusades..
Molehills made mountains, to sublimate the inherent knowledge that when dealing with the bigger picture, we are simply passengers on a train out of control.

Zimbabwe.
Now, where might our collective social concience be..? Africa, since the rapid desertion or removal of Colonial Governments, has seen it's successes, but is not anywhere near what it could be..
Now make no mistake, it's not a declaration of Manifest Destiny to say most African independant nations are utter failures.. political shambles.. It's merely a statement of fact..
Robert Mugabe perhaps personifies the worst in a long list..Idi Amin.. Mohammar Khadafy..
It's a continent which has eagerly thrown off the rule of Europe, but which, for the most part, has discarded all social concience and returned to basic tribalism..
Terrorism, intimidation, fear, and no Law per se, only those enforced by those Impi loyal to the current Chieftain, leaves Africans, on the whole, at deaths door.
Again, it begs the question.. What truely motivates the collective Western concience?

Again, one can only laugh.
The Irish people voted on their country's position on the Lisbon Treaty, saying overwhelmingly 'no' to a document they saw as a thinly disguised EU Constitution.. Their concerns revolved around the abrogation of legal and financial control to Brussels..
Legal issues such as the right to abortion.. economic issues concerning subsidies and the access of migratory workers to permanent residents..
However.. in spite of this Irish 'no' vote, and similar results in France and the Netherlands back in 2005, and the absolute condition being in place that requires 100% agreement among EU member States.. Disregarding these refusals, Brussels wants the Irish to have another 6 weeks, to possibly change their minds..
Unbelievable. It's not that the eventual necessity will be an economically and judicially coherent European conglomerate, for it certainly will be.
But it's the kack-handed manner in which they conduct their diplomacy..

There may well be some talk of 'stagflation' bandied about over the next few weeks or so..
Be not decieved. It's going to be a cold winter around the world.. with energy and food prices on an unstoppable rise..
The phrase 'blame the weather' springs to mind. And trite though it may well be, that will become more and more apparent to each and every consumer on this planet.
Grain and corn reaching unprecidented highs on the Commodities market.. The American midWest underwater..
And the downstream spiral is plain to see..
Add to that universally higher prices for fuel..
One has to actually feel a sense of pity for whomever takes over the American Presidency and the new British Prime Minister..
It's difficult to make any explanation of the necessity of personal money management to societies who have become used to having the option of the never-never..
Even more difficult to keep all the balls in the air..
The upcoming electoral platforms will be exceedingly interesting, to say the very least..
It may take constant translation to separate the verbal wheat from the chaff..

"My wife says I'm bonkers, but I must make a stand"..
So announced Shadow Home Secretary David Davis as he resigned his Seat today, to protest what he calls 'the erosion of civil liberties' following the passing of the Terrorist Detention Bill..
Now some are saying this is a brave gesture.. to put his membership in the Commons on the line to underscore his dismay as the government takes just a bit more away from the British man-on-the-street..
Others say it's a publicity stunt.. one designed to demonstrate that at least those in his constituency stood behind his stance against the 42 day detention plan..
However, Labour has already announced they will not stand a candidate in this by-election.. the LibDems have done the same.. and it would appear that David will return to his Seat unopposed..
Takes the edge off the gesture, really..

And yet another sign George is losing power and influence, with the Supreme Court's decision that those detained at Gitmo, have the right to challenge their detention in Civil Courts.. The decision was close.. five for, four against.. But it's left George in yet another bind..
This could cause a legal quagmire, with one of those detainees, alleged to be a ringleader within al Q'aeda, in a military court..
What rights will these foreign citizens have, in an American Court? What will happen to Gitmo itself, and to those being held there.. where will they be transferred to?
Will some detainees find themselves close to immediate release, simply because of the manner in which they've been held..?
Another of the issues which will ultimately be left to the next Administration to resolve..

And let's stay with Zimbabwe.. examine what we allow..
Tendai Biti, the Secretary General of the Movement for Democratic Change,the MDC. returned from a trip to South Africa to be arrested immediately, and will be charged with Treason.. He's facing the death penalty, for his vehement criticism of Robert Mugabe's regime
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces President Robert Mugabe in a 27 June run-off poll, was arrested twice again today..
There are obvious signs the military, under the control of Mugabe, will play a major part in the upcoming sham of a run-off election..
But, it would be interfering with the internal matters of a Sovereign Nation for the West to intervene.
We never would accept that..

Two more items to ponder..
The first to be filed for future reference.. That the UK has completed it's satellite system.. SkyNet.. designed to improve military communications, to make communications between the three branches of the military to co-ordinate and integrate their Intelligence..
Kind us makes us the westernmost point in the Geopolitical map, of the group collectively as 'The West'..

And.. It seems the Saudi's are going to actually spend some of the Foreign Reserves of currency, as King Abdulla unveiled a plan which will see six major developments built over the next 15 years.. the largest to be built just north of Jeddah, to be named 'King Abdullah Economic City'..
Seems the Saudis are starting to plan for the future.. with revenues at a ridiculous $1billionUS a day, it would seem the issues of education, social welfare, diversification of the country's economic base, a population boom.. with 40% of Saudis under the age of 15, it has been decided they should be trained, educated, at standards acceptable to worldwide standards..
It's amazing what distance Saudi Arabia has come since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.. and what they can now afford to do with the money their various markets have provided..
One would wager highly that Gordon would trade his soul, for the contents of the Saudi Treasury..
George as well, for that matter..

It seems that a £billion is what it takes to keep Gordon from falling even flatter on his face..
Such is the amount that will be heading to Northern Ireland to bolster their Assembly's coffers, and it was the support.. and only of the 9 Members of the Democratic Unionists that carried his Bill to extend the length of time a suspect charged under the Terrorism Act to 42 days without charge and without appearing before a Magistrate.
And while, truth be told, there appeared to be public support for the Bill, those in the Legal, Judicial, and Law Enforcement Agencies were unanimous in their opposition to it.. quoting Civil Rights that date back to the Magna Carta..
One must smile. Those who commit terrorist acts have indeed frightened us, to the point we are willing to abrogate those Rights and Freedoms which defined this country.
Shame.
It begs the question: how many, controlling so much, can be brought to ignominious
breaches of Civil Liberties, by so few..
It is a dangerous indication of what we will allow in the future, to 'guarrantee' the safety of our comfortable lives. It demonstrates that rather than commit ourselves to eradicating the source of this global unrest, we would sooner retract further into a protective shell, and that is certainly not the mindset our society was built upon..
Not to wander too far off point.. but one could easily discern the motivation which drove us pell mell into Iraq.. while an even more insidious dictator is killing his own citizens in Zimbabwe. There would be little profit for us to commit to removing Mugabe, whereas the establishment of another foothold in the Middle East was of paramount importance. But this demonstrates the methodology, the reasoning, behind the Wests stand as the 'policemen of the world'.
It will be interesting to see what the new regemes in London and Washington will do with the legacy they're going to be left..
Whatever it is.. we will, and count on this, be told to 'be afwaid..be werry afwaid..'
And the problem is, we will have good reason to heed this advice, because we are, of necessity, going to be looking at a future far less comfortable, far more restricted, and far intimidating, than that which we enjoy today.
Imagine oil stabalising at about $150 a barrel.. a loaf of bread costing £2.25.. the average wage buying less and less, while the equity one had thought to have accumulated for old age, steadily reducing in value until in some cases, retirees find themselves in negative equity positions..
And it's a process that absolutely nothing is going to stop.. until we've gone through the worst of it. Hopefully during that timespan, we'll have had the sense to elect a government or two, dedicated to changing the economic dependencies we've developed over the past century or so..

An incredible testament to the importance of the picture as a whole, these past months..
Western governments literally throwing pennies to the crowd.. both the US and Britain floundering in an economic spiral..
The individual, once secure in the illusion of an adequate income face-to-face with the reality of debt.. the panic which becomes an underlying fact of life ..dictating
an almost surreal view of how their lifestyles are going to change..
Much the same as that faced by any government.. pick one..
And therein the problem. This is not an Okie Migration during the Depression and the dust bowl which prompted it.. This is pandemic..
We have an American election looming over us, with the Party everyone wants out of power, demonstrating the the entire electorate they they are, united, with a plan in hand for a single term with McCain at the helm.. which would deal with the gaffes and doubtful decisions which have put the country in dire straights.. Four more years, to effect the measures needed to bring the country back on line.
Yup.
But then, we have the absurdity of the first African American candidate fighting it out with the first female candidate for the Democratic nomination..
If memory serves, it was quite a while ago that it was proposed here, that perhaps it would be an Obama/Clinton ticket for the Democrats..
Then again..after this race, which it would appear will be won by Barak Obama, it might well be neither will want to be that close to the other.
But, if the American voter is looking for stability.. for an experienced, older hand on the helm.. McCain's going to take the final ballot..
Will the Republicans, working on what will admittedly be a four year plan, and aided by the essential conservatism of the American voter when the choice is either a black man or a woman, manage one more swing of the bat?
Or will the disillusionment factor, which cannot be ignored, usher in a new era in American politics?

Oil. One can only say, outrageous but expected.
Gold. Ibid.
Foreclosures. Ibid.
House prices falling like stones, and the drying-up of credit. Ibid.

To end for the now, this upcoming vote on the extension to the length of time police can detain a suspect under the terms and conditions of the Terrorism Act, is of great importance to Gordon. There stands a good chance 50 or more of his own Party will vote their conscience, and that Gordon's Bill will be defeated.
But while this demonstrates what would appear to be minor murmurings throughout the back benches, that Gordon's performance has taken Labour to new lows and a new face might improve their chances.. it's no more than a tempest in a teapot.
Again, this Bill is important to Gordon, but it's not a Vote of Non-Confidence.
It's defeat would only underline the recent swing towards David and his Tories.
Crewe and Nantwitch! Unthinkable!

Interesting times..
Much more to comment upon..
Soon.