America's "Special Relationship" With Us - part ten

Boston is not the easiest of cities to navigate. Particularly without a map. Several key roads were closed due to construction works, and the person at whose house we were supposedly staying, didn’t seem to know any other routes. Mind you, he did only move there twenty years ago.

Still, after driving around for an hour and a half, we eventually stumbled upon M’s not-so-humble home. It resembled a huge Victorian townhouse in both architecture and condition. It was big and cold inside, but the outside temperature was minus sixteen, so we were grateful for the relative warmth.
The bedrooms were situated at the top of the house, and were warm and comfortable (as heat rises – thank physics for that). We fell asleep almost instantly, to awake the following morning to face another fiercely frosty day.

Not allowing the cold to freeze our spirits, we barricaded our bodies with layers of clothing and set out to explore the city. I have to say that of all the places I’ve been in America (including Ohio, Florida, San Francisco, LA, New York and Michigan), Boston is my favourite. The reasons for this are difficult to articulate.
There’s something about the atmosphere, the vibe; it’s just not quite so, well, American. I guess it’s the cosmopolitan nature of the place that appeals. Apparently – and we were told this on several occasions – Bostonians have a reputation for being rather unfriendly and aloof. We saw no evidence of this.

From the moment we were welcomed into our host’s abode, we felt right at home basking in his hospitality. We did have to endure his grandiloquence though. And, boy, could he talk.

Ten Years Later: Women are Dying and the World is Still Watching

Do you remember April 1994? Rwanda was in the grip of Genocide. The Tutsis and some moderate Hutus were being killed - no, not just killed; they were hacked to death with machetes or clubs studded with nails; burned alive; thrown and buried alive or dead in pit latrines or mass graves. A million people were slaughtered in a hundred days of genocidal frenzy. Women, who weren't murdered, were forced to watch their families being killed, and were then systematically raped and kept as sex slaves, or sexually mutilated as a strategic weapon of war.
What did the world do? You got it; zip; zilch; nada; not a damn thing.

The London-based Survivors' Fund SURF have launched a campaign for reduced-cost AIDS drugs for Rwandan genocide survivors. Thousands of survivors are now dying of AIDS ten years later. The gang-rape during the massacres left 70% of Rwandan widows HIV positive.

Blair states that if Rwandan genocide was to be repeated then western nations would have an obligation to intervene, but what is being done NOW to help those who are still dying as a result of the genocide?
You got it.

The official channel for American aid USAID particularly mentions prisoners convicted or suspected of participating in the genocide as a target group for HIV testing and counselling. Even the leaders of the genocide who are facing justice at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania, routinely receive antiretroviral treatment. The British government has pledged £200 000 over two years to treat genocide witnesses with AIDS but has not offered treatment to the wider population of rape victims.

If you want to help then please sign the petition on the SURF website.

America's "Special Relationship" With Us - part nine

It became clear once we’d set off that Mr Moustache had either hallucinated his seated companions, or was simply a big fat hairy pants-on-fire. Oh yes, make no mistake, we were “flying the friendly skies”.

We continued to make friends like this once we’d arrived at our destination. It was about midnight when we loaded up the rental car and embarked on our journey to Boston. Hmm, driving on the right – now that’s a novel idea. Within 5 minutes of being on the road we had managed to procure the interest of the local law enforcement officers. They pulled us over and, just like in the movies, waddled across to our car for “licence and registration sir”.
My husband dutifully produced his driving licence and informed the officer of the rental car status. The constable stated that he’d pulled us over because we’d passed too close to his stationery vehicle and proceeded to swerve in the road. It was complete crap.

Anyway, he scanned the UK licence back in his car and came out again to mumble a couple more questions about how long we were in the country, and where we were going, and then wished us a safe trip. And once again, we were off.

Shock Horror! Bush reneges on Doha

Just look at what this lovable rogue is up to now. I'm not even surprised anymore. Simply disgusted. The Bush administration have been accused of trying to escape the 2001 Doha agreement which promised £8 billion to be spent on cheap AIDS drugs for developing countries.
Apparently he finds there is a quality issue with the cheaper generic AIDS combination pills that have been developed.

Sharonann Lynch of the charity Health Gap said the US government is trying to ensure that the money from the US AIDS relief plan goes to brandname manufacturers. "These objections make no sense. The generic drugs are bioequivalent compounds, and the WHO pre-qualification process uses staff from Canadian and European regulatory bodies that the US recognises."

The cheapest generic combination pills cost about £77 per person per year (under a price agreement negotiated with manufacturers by former US president Clinton.) The same combination from brandname companies costs about £310 per person per year.

In his state of the union address in January 2003, President Bush announced a $15bn programme that was styled the ‘presidential emergency plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR). Did he fool anyone outside America? Is it any wonder that America is the focus of the rest of the world's hatred?

Bush tells the American public "They hate our freedoms".
We do. We hate the mercenary freedom that America uses to depredate the world, so that the fat cats in America get fatter, and the rest of the world can go hang.

British Universities Ban Freedom of Speech

This is simply insane. Liverpool and Birmingham Universities have passed motions banning criticism of Israel by speakers on campus. Yet I'm sure they would vow to uphold Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that "everyone has the right to education".

Israel is denying that basic right to many young Palestinians under occupation, and now we are not allowed criticise them for it? The Israeli army have, in one year, killed 216 students, injured 2,014 and arrested 164. Gaza students registered with West Bank Universities have not been allowed to attend classes. The only passable road to Birzeit University has been routinely closed to Palestinians by an Israeli checkpoint.

Surely every person with a conscience can see that this is, quite simply, wrong. But don't you dare say that out loud on campus. At least not in Liverpool or Birmingham. More evidence that the UK is fast becoming a police state.