As the United States gets ready for the Super Bowl in about 18 hours, much of the sports coverage on the Monday evening news will be about a game that the rest of the world neither fully understands or really ever follows. But such is the cultural cringe about all things American.
And I have to concur with his observations. Though my impressions of the place was not made after three minutes of landing there, I did meet some of the most hospitable and friendliest people, within three minutes of landing.
In light of News Corporation’s bid to take over BSkyB, Adam Curtis writes an interesting piece on Rupert Murdoch. Using BBC archives, which profiles the rise of Murdoch from his attempts take over of the News of the World in the 1960s to his support of Tony Blair in 1997.
Photo: What journalist Woodrow Wyatt, a one time ally, thinks of Murdoch.
“our partnership with Australia is one of our greatest assets in world affairs already. But my visit is also the product of a decisive change in the foreign policy of the United Kingdom.”
It seems that the Brits have finally found a use for us Australians. Seeing that we are strategically placed between India, China, and the US, they are using the old vestiges of Empire (the Commonwealth of Nations) to re-kindle that ‘special relationship’.
I came across two well-written articles of interest in the latest issues of The New Yorker and GQ.
The first, The Toppling from The New Yorker is about how the world’s media inflated a minor moment, the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad’s Firdos Square, in a long war, the invasion of Iraq. Peter Maass, writes an exhaustive account of the events which lead to the toppling of the statue.
He writes that, “rather than encouraging reporters to find the news, editors urged them to report what was on TV.”
In a podcast with ProPublica, Peter Maass speaks about his experiences in Baghdad during the toppling of the statue.
Steve LeVine posted an interested piece on his blog titled How I learned to stop worrying and love the Saudis. He cites a piece from Jon Stewart is both comic and disturbing! It seems that every US president since Richard Nixon to Barrack Obama have used variations of the mantra “get rid of foreign oil.”
Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in October, exporting 2,345 thousand barrels per day to the United States. The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Mexico with 1,345 thousand barrels per day.
Canada’s exports to the US total $37 billion and account for 16% of trade between the countries. Mexico’s exports total over $22 billion in 2009. The the third main supplier is currently Saudi Arabia, with 20% of its total oil exports to the US. I say currently as the honour of being third fluctuates between Nigeria, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
In any case the, with the rhetoric used by the US presidents one would think that Saudi Arabia supplied all of the United States energy needs. This is just not true.
Last year, I asked “what do we want to do with the 364 days left in 2010?” The essential message was to make the most of each day.
The City of Sydney has a good theme for the New Year’s Eve fireworks and for 2011: Make Your Mark. I shall adopt that as my theme for this year. 2011 will be about making my mark. Here is a time lapse video of the fireworks on Sydney Harbour.
Happy New Year. How will you ‘make your mark’ in 2011?
It was exactly a year ago that this weblog and website (BlogSite) was launched on Human Rights Day in The Hague with a ‘reception‘ held in Amsterdam. It was been an amazing year recording and writing my ideas, observations and views on global affairs and the human condition. Today, a year later, I am in Sydney. I will be hosting drinks at one of my Clubs to mark this milestone of leaving a small mark on the digital work. I will be with a few friends. We will toast to many more years of the ‘antipodean perspectives on politics, ideas and ponderings on the human condition.’
As the United States gets ready for the Super Bowl in about 18 hours, much of the sports coverage on the Monday evening news will be about a game that the rest of the world neither fully understands or really ever follows. But such is the cultural cringe about all things American.
