First overseas trip in the COVID era.. I wouldn't say "post-COVID era" as we are still very much living in it. It's nice to have life somewhat back to normal. SSA Christchuch is what we need, to reconnect with others, after two truely quite horrid years.
Just like you can get a sense of what the driver is like by the car they drive.. you get a glimpse of what the attitudes of the nation is by their uniform in Olympics or, in this case, the Commonwealth Games.
Paying homage to the working-class heritage of the host city, the designer said "We wanted to create clothing that would have a life after the games, and a uniform that expresses something about hte athletes as individuals.."
How confident, how fitting, especially in these economically challenging times.
You also can't help to notice there are no "COVID-free" zone setup for these games.. well, it's probably not entirely fair to compare the Beijing games earlier this year with the Commmonwealth Games give how quickly things change these dys. But let's not forget China is probably among the handful of places left where you need to quarantine on arrival... still.
What is leadership? What are the qualities of a leader? These are not mere interview quesitons, but relevant in our everyday life. Compare this from Macron:
“We are side by side today with Chancellor Scholz. One hundred years ago, we were at war and allies helped France win. France committed a historic mistake. It lost the peace because it wanted to humiliate Germany. The question of humiliation I always placed in a context to come, not the current context,”
to this from Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, the current deputy head of the Kremlin Security Council:
“Again they promised EU membership and old howitzers, slammed down some vodka and, like 100 years ago, took the train home,” he tweeted. “And that’s all good. It’s just that this doesn’t bring Ukraine any closer to peace. And the clock is ticking. … ”
Seriously.. who is more inspiring?
Democracies vs autocracies. The biggest showdown of the 21st century will be the contest of which form of government the people's heart desires. Would you want to live in Saudi Arabia? One of the biggest problems of autocracies is the corruption that comes with absolute power – not that you don't have corruption in democracies - it might just be a different form, look no further than the Philippines. Four months of war rage on in Ukraine – and this story is really rather sad.
Beneath the surface, the drop in the primary votes for the two major parties suggests there might be a seismic shift coming: the rise of the Independents and the demise of the major parties. I am yet to get my head around how the "preference" affects the outcome of elections but am just glad we probably do live in one of the democracies with the best electoral systems in the world.
The honeymoon period with the new government starts in earnest.
Secretary Albright - she was the first Secretary of State I remembered by name as I was growing up. Her passing is once again a reminder we all die one day, Putin will too! In Western ciricles, she was a defender of the Free World - to the Iraqis, may be not quite, this piece on Aljazeera - not my "go to" media source I might add, is interesting seeing it from the perspective of someone who lived through the sanctions.
We must remember that there are often, if not always, two sides to a story. We ignore this fact to our peril.
This is just unthinkable. In my 40 odd years of existence, I would never imagine a headline like this. We are not in the 1920s, any respectable global powers - a permanent member of the UN Security Council for goodness's sake, wage a war on a country of 44 million?
The world really hasn't been quite right since early 2020... is Putin getting demented? He is 69 now.. Mao Zedong started "The Great Leap Forward" when he was 65.. Xi Jingping is now 68..
So, finally. A sense of normality. How long would this last? Hopefully for a quite a while, no, hopefully for ever! No more lockdowns, no more. This is the year to start living normally! Borders will open, with minimal fuss - mark my words.
Exactly 2 weeks till the end of 2021.... I have a very good feeling about 2022. It again, really can't be worse than 2021 for the majority, if not all of us.
