‘07/’08

We are shortly to let slip the surly bonds of a year that has included...

... a lessening of strife in Iraq following ‘the surge’, occasioning a degree of hope (optimism on the part of the original protagonists & their supporters) that the worst is past, leaving it to 2008 & beyond to put stability to the test with the removal of American forces from Baghdad...

...the continuing presence of 31,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, shoring up the precarious Kabul-bound premiership of President Hamid Karzai, while half of the country remains under Taliban control & Taliban-inspired suicide bombings increase...

...the last-minute destabilisation of the already teetering political structures within Pakistan by the murder of presidential candidate Benazir Bhutto...

...a tentative drawing of breath as Iran appeared to curtail its nuclear programme...

...the horrors of Darfur continuing unchecked, witnessed helplessly, as ever, by an impotent UN...

...the continuing activity of al-Qaeda in confident defiance of the pledges made to extinguish it by the most powerful nation in the world...

...the ‘Saffron Revolution’ in Burma ruthlessly & comprehensively extinguished by one of the world’s most uncompromisingly totalitarian regimes while international protest is effectively neutralised by China’s tacit support of Burma’s rulers...

...Russia demonstrates its incapacity to accommodate democracy by yielding to the intensifying personality cult of Vladimir Putin & the familiar shadow of the Russian Bear falling across Europe once again...

...the consolidation of gathering evidence that climate change is a reality with ramifications so terrifying & a tipping point so close that to ignore the threat would be to condemn the planet to massive & irrevocable damage - & the inability of the major powers to manage anything more than the vaguest of targets & the loosest of deadlines...

During 2008 humankind must perform once again its most enduring & characteristic feat, the triumph of hope over experience. Everything on the spectrum from survival to renewal depends upon the tenacious irrationality of the race.

...

And now, as fodder for those all-important seasonal resolutions, the results of the Acme Self-Analysis Test. It breaks down thus:

OVER 60 POINTS: Others see you as someone they should "handle with care". You're seen as vain, self-centred, and who is extremely dominant.  Others may admire you, wishing they could be more like you, but don't always trust you, hesitating to become too deeply involved with you.

51 TO 60 POINTS: Others see you as an exciting, highly volatile, rather impulsive personality; a natural leader, who's quick to make decisions, though not always the right ones.  They see you as bold and adventuresome, someone who will try anything once; someone who takes chances and enjoys an adventure.  They enjoy being in your company because of the excitement you radiate.

41 TO 50 POINTS: Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the centre of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head.  They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

31 TO 40 POINTS: Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful and practical.  They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest.  Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return.  Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever broken.

21 TO 30 POINTS: Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy.  They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder.  It'd really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment, expecting you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then, usually decide against it.  They think this reaction is caused partly by your careful nature.

UNDER 21 POINTS: People think you are shy, nervous, and indecisive, someone who needs looking after, who always wants someone else to make the decisions and who doesn't want to get involved with anyone or anything.  They see you as a worrier who always sees problems that don't exist.  Some people think you're boring.  Only those who know you well know that you aren't.

...

Very best wishes to all for a happy, peaceful & fulfilling 2008.