Comments by aiburov

The parallels are beginning to look worrying:

"Labor party, which has been in a steady decline in recent years, finally disappeared from the political scene with both its provincial election candidates defeated."

August 19 1954, South Africa.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=INJVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=F8QDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3...

This reminds me of the classic Russian ad for Bank Imperial,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ZYboptz4Y

Ivan the Terrible: Darkness is upon us! The boyars are looters of the treasury of the Russian land! They no longer wish to be defenders of Christendom! They gave Russia to be devoured to Lithuania, to the Germans! Everyone thinks only of their own enrichment, forgetting about the Fatherland! Therefore, obeying the great sorrow which fills my heart, I once more return to the reigns of the state, and I shall rule as an Autocrat!
Guy in the crowd: But, on what conditions?
Ivan: You’ll find out later…
Narrator: Ivan the Terrible, World History, Bank Imperial.

(Translation from "the history corner" website.)

May be - just may be - South Africa will emerge victorious from its current instabilities, and show Africa the way to normality (like UK showed Europe in the nineteenth century, and Japan showed Asia in the twentieth). Here's hoping.

Re: "Thats why text message is the way to go."

Unfortunately text messages are somewhat prone to misinterpretation, especially when people try to convey complex thoughts or emotions in the mobile phone (cu 2nite) slang. Perhaps texting is the future, but I hope that textese will soon be history.

On another note, I look forward to your comment on Johannesburg's new rapid bus network (launched today).

There are two distinct issues here. Daniel Dagan ("Barack Obama in my hometown") puts it rather well,

"I CERTAINLY AGREE with Obama on the need to freeze the construction of settlements in the West Bank. But I am not entirely sure that the presence of a few hundred fanatics in the so-called outposts is the reason for the nuclear ambitions displayed by Iran. Nor am I really convinced that the IDF operation designed to stop the rocket attacks from Gaza really accounts for the constant violations of human rights in much of the Muslim world, for the continuous tragedy in Darfur, for the most recent uprooting of two million people from their homes in Pakistan and much more."

"Animal experimentation has taught humanity a great deal and saved countless lives. It needs to continue, even if that means animals sometimes suffer."

May be it's true. But may be it's the modern equivalent of:

"Slavery has helped humanity a great deal. It needs to continue, even if that means slaves sometimes suffer."