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A time for Reflection
Author: TriSec    Date: 12/27/2008 11:54:30

2008 is drawing to a close.

It's surely been a pivotal year for these United States, but we're not the only place of note on this blue marble. Let's take a look at a couple of places that have reason to look in the rear-view mirror with sorrow. Unlike us, however....these places tend not to have much hope for the future, where we here in the USA are a bit spoiled in that regard.


December 27 marks the one-year anniversary of the assasination of Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan). Our erstwhile ally in the 'warron terra' is going to find things different after January 20th, methinks.


Tens of thousands of Pakistanis have gathered at the mausoleum of former PM Benazir Bhutto to mark the first anniversary of her assassination.

Ceremonies in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, southern Pakistan, are expected to include prayers, poetry and speeches.

Mrs Bhutto was killed in a suicide bomb and gun attack in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, after an election rally.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says he expects an independent inquiry into her death to be set up soon.

The memorial service coincides with a sharp increase in tensions between India and Pakistan, over the alleged role of Pakistani militants in the Mumbai attacks.



Heavy security

Local police officials in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh told news agencies that about 150,000 people had travelled to the site.

However, crowds thronged into the mausoleum and massed around Mrs Bhutto's graveside to touch her tomb.

People from all over Pakistan have travelled by train, bus, car and even on foot to the Bhutto family mausoleum.

"She gave her life for the people of this country, so we can walk a few miles to pay homage to her dignity," Sher Mohammad, who walked hundreds of kilometres to the mausoleum, told the Associated Press news agency.

Mourners kissed Mrs Bhutto's grave and laid flowers at the mausoleum, where official ceremonies were delayed because the site was shrouded in winter mist and fog for much of Saturday morning.

Mrs Bhutto's widower, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, is expected to speak at the ceremony.

Earlier Mr Zardari had praised his late wife, describing her as a woman of honour.

"In the tradition of a true Bhutto, she faced certain death rather than abandon her principles.

"The tyrants and the killers have killed her but they shall never be able to kill her ideas, which drove and inspired a generation to lofty aims," he said.

Thousands of police officers have been deployed in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, amid fears that Mr Zardari could also be targeted during his visit to the mausoleum.

Multiple crises

Pakistanis are still dealing with the political consequences of Mrs Bhutto death, says BBC Pakistan correspondent, Barbara Plett.

Her Pakistan People's Party went on to win February's elections, bolstered by a sympathy vote. Mr Zardari later became Pakistan's president, after General Pervez Musharraf was forced to resign.

But party members and other Pakistanis still keenly feel the loss of Ms Bhutto, an experienced politician of international stature, especially as Pakistan faces yet another crisis, our correspondent says.

As well as an Islamist insurgency and a sharp economic downturn, relations with arch-rival India are tense at present in the aftermath of November's deadly attacks by militants in Mumbai.

Pakistan has redeployed some troops from the north-west to strengthen its border defences, while India has advised its citizens against travelling to Pakistan.



In nearby Indonesia, many are remembering the fourth anniversary of the tsunami (yesterday).


MEULABOH, Indonesia (AFP) — Bereaved families across Asia wept and prayed on Friday as they marked four years since a huge tsunami devastated the shores of the Indian Ocean in one of the worst ever natural disasters.

Thousands gathered in fields, on beaches and by mass graves to commemorate the disaster that killed around 220,000 people when walls of water smashed into coastal communities, where many people are still homeless.

In Indonesia's Aceh province, the heaviest-hit region with at least 168,000 people killed, crowds massed in the shattered remains of a military base in the coastal town of Meulaboh for a sombre Islamic prayer ceremony.

"We are here to remember the martyrs who were killed in the tsunami and to give us momentum to rebuild a better Aceh," local government head Ramli Mansur told the crowd.

"The four-year anniversary of the tsunami holds deep meaning, because right here we witnessed the first place the waters of the tsunami came into Aceh," he said.

Sariani, a tearful 20-year-old street vendor, recalled the moment the waves hit, trapping her and her family in their house from which only she and her husband and daughter managed to escape.

"I came here to remember my beloved mother, my son and my brothers and sisters who were killed in the tsunami," she said.

Around 50 tsunami survivors, left homeless after the disaster, chanted and waved placards after the ceremony, demanding housing and accusing authorities of failing to look after victims.

Prayers were held in mosques throughout the staunchly Islamic province, including tearful ceremonies at mass graves in the tsunami-devastated capital of Banda Aceh and along the province's coastline, local media said.

Indonesia also marked the anniversary with tsunami drills at the northern end of the sprawling island of Sulawesi and on Java island, local media reported.

In Sri Lanka, the country that suffered the second highest death toll from the tsunami, the government asked people to observe two minutes of silence in memory of the victims.

Religious services were held across the island's coastline for the estimated 31,000 people who perished there in the disaster.

Officials said the government's new disaster management authority had by Friday commissioned 25 out of 50 tsunami early warning towers planned after the disaster.

In India special prayers and memorial services were held in coastal villages in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where an estimated 6,500 people perished in the tsunami.

Women cried and beat their chests during memorial services for the dead in fishing villages that were devastated by giant waves.

Many survivors said they had not been provided permanent houses, while some complained about the quality of construction.

"We have not yet got our promised tsunami houses," said Ku Bharathi, president of the South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association.

"I can't understand why government officials give false interviews to newspapers claiming that 7,300 houses have been built."


Of course, for some places they don't need to look back; misery is all around them. I've been posting the ocassional story from Zimbabwe here, but for the most part what has been happening there has been completely ignored by the West.


Acute malnutrition among children in parts of Zimbabwe has increased by nearly two-thirds compared with last year, aid agency Save the Children warns.

Zimbabwe is already experiencing a cholera outbreak, which has killed nearly 1,000 people, and now a new report warns chronic child malnutrition is worsening in the African country.

The Save the Children report says that in one district more than 30 per cent of children below the age of five are underweight. That is 10 per cent more than last year.

Save the Children says the rise in malnutrition shows international donors are not giving enough aid to Zimbabwe.

The agency has appealed to them to increase food supplies, saying Zimbabweans should not suffer because of a political crisis which was out of their control.

"Food aid for Zimbabwe goes through the World Food Programme and agencies like Save the Children, straight to the people who desperately need it," Lynn Walker, programs director for Save the Children in Zimbabwe, said in a statement.

"There is no excuse for failing to provide this food.

"The innocent people of Zimbabwe should not be made to suffer for a political situation that is out of their control."



Of course, we here in America tend to look back at this time of year, and like I said at the beginning, it's certainly been a titanic year in politics, economic news, and many other things. Just about every media outlet in America does a retrospective of sorts this week, so I'll leave you with ours. Of course, it's slightly biased towards Boston...

I'm at the store today....I'll be back around after sunset!

:peace:

 

18 comments (Latest Comment: 12/28/2008 06:09:20 by Mondobubba)
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Comment by trojanrabbit on 12/27/2008 15:28:49
Our visitors (my nephew and his friend from MS) have completed part of their journey here - they in the middle of a 2 hour stayover in Atlanta. They're thinking of what they want to do when they get here - some sort of sightseeing in Boston today, too bad the cloud cover makes going to the top of the Prudential a lost cause. I wonder if they realize that by the time they land around 3PM, it will be pretty close to sunset here.



The place is a mess, though less than before, but my nephew knows his aunt & uncle. . The cats are not happy that "their" room has been cleaned and set up for its intended purpose - guests.

Comment by livingonli on 12/27/2008 16:10:15
Good morning folks.



I think I have a bit of a crush on Isha Sesay on CNN International.

Comment by BobR on 12/27/2008 16:33:17
Quote by trojanrabbit:

Our visitors (my nephew and his friend from MS) have completed part of their journey here - they in the middle of a 2 hour stayover in Atlanta. ...




*waves towards airport*

Comment by livingonli on 12/27/2008 16:52:13
BTW, today is Scoopster's Birthday.



Happy Birthday Scoop.

Comment by Mondobubba on 12/27/2008 17:21:46






I'll be sure to mention that to everybody I know, just to be annoying.

Comment by velveeta jones on 12/27/2008 17:56:04
Hello all!



And Happy Birthday Scoopster! Or, if you've already begun celebrating:



Ket ne wush yu a nery huppy God is coming day and nany more to don't ne paraimoind! But is as was and what is more important, universally, a bug that can carry its own weight or a molecule that is one part of a whole being?



:D

Comment by Mondobubba on 12/27/2008 19:15:53
Comment by livingonli on 12/27/2008 20:10:28
Time to go head off to the salt mine. Southern State Pkwy. has another traffic jam even on the weekends.

Comment by TriSec on 12/27/2008 20:52:36
Afternoon, comrades!



I Survived Return Saturday!



:thud: <-- OK, maybe not.





Comment by Mondobubba on 12/28/2008 00:23:36
Quote by TriSec:

Afternoon, comrades!



I Survived Return Saturday!



:thud: <-- OK, maybe not.









Still have all your fingers? What about your arms and legs? Broken jaw? Internal bleeding?

Comment by TriSec on 12/28/2008 02:07:26
*snort*



I had a customer ask if I could get a jacket off a mannequin, as it was the one she WANTED, dammit!



It was 20 feet off the ground over the escalator bay, we would have needed a scaffold for that. I refused the request.





Comment by Mondobubba on 12/28/2008 02:44:56
Quote by TriSec:

*snort*



I had a customer ask if I could get a jacket off a mannequin, as it was the one she WANTED, dammit!



It was 20 feet off the ground over the escalator bay, we would have needed a scaffold for that. I refused the request.









Where is it you've been working anyhoo Herr TriSec?

Comment by TriSec on 12/28/2008 03:21:42
Why, only the most New England of stores...



'tis for Mr. Leon Leonwood Bean's fine emporium. We have a local branch here in Burlington, MA....about 15 miles away.





Comment by Mondobubba on 12/28/2008 03:54:32
Quote by TriSec:

Why, only the most New England of stores...



'tis for Mr. Leon Leonwood Bean's fine emporium. We have a local branch here in Burlington, MA....about 15 miles away.









:metal: Most excellent! The uber prep outerwear/casual clothing emporium!

Comment by trojanrabbit on 12/28/2008 05:24:20
They never close....



at least the one in Freeport, ME

Comment by livingonli on 12/28/2008 05:36:02
And I get home in time to catch the tail end of HNIC in HD. Calgary is crushing Ottawa right now.

Comment by Mondobubba on 12/28/2008 06:09:20
Quote by trojanrabbit:

They never close....



at least the one in Freeport, ME






Yep, been there kinda late. They actually have a good reason for being open all the time.