Wednesday, January 23, 2008

News Flash






BANESHWOR: A much anticipated strike against spiking petroleum prices fizzled today after just a few moments as protesters ran out of fuel to light incendiary devices and old tires.

It seems that none of the protesters in the crowd could afford enough petroleum to keep the whole mess ablaze.

It was reported that much confusion and, eventually, silence ensued as the mob pondered what to do next.

Deep thought continued until, at last, the protesters settled on an old favorite and began again; STOP THE KING'S REGRESSION AND RESTORE PARLIAMENT IMMEDIATELY, was the new chant as the happy, renewed scrum made its way through the streets.

-=blogdai

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Dumb, Dangerous and Determined

Who's the bigger fool? Prachanda and his strict adherence to a failed ideology or we Nepalis who allow him all the room and permission he needs to take over the country?

Prachanda sees CA elections as an impending Maoist "final victory" and is training his cadres, for whatever misguided reason, for the elections. blogdai's guess, and this is what we've been saying since 2003, is that the only reason Maoists even CARE about a CA election is because they feel they can influence the result in remote areas and gain a majority by coercion.

I also don't understand why no one has really picked-up on blogdai's almost constant assertions that the Maoists never intended to work with a democratic government. They only use Koirala and his moronic apes as a learning device for a probable Communist takeover. Prachanda is playing out the old axiom of "keep your friends close, your enemies closer" to a tee.

So evident is this that the biggest election saboteur of all, Sher Bahadur Deuba, now says that if a good and credible election is not held, Nepal is in for a world of hurt under Maoist/Communist leadership. blogdai agrees, although Deuba is largely responsible for the lack of elections and needs to be slapped silly and put out of government immediately.

In a perfect world, blogdai would have Prachanda and the Maoists destroyed: violently and permanently. However, in the UN world of which Nepal is a part and people like Ian Martin have influence, appeasement and accommodation rule the day. So, under such a scenario, the only way to save Nepal from certain, repressive, Communist rule would be:

SEND INTERNATIONAL MONITORS INTO NEPAL FOR CONSTITUENCY ELECTIONS IMMEDIATELY. GIVE THEM POWER TO NULLIFY ANY VOTING RESULTS THAT APPEAR COERCED. BAN MAOIST PRESENCE AND INFLUENCE FROM ALL POLLING STATIONS.

You hear that Ian the Meek? Do something useful for once and save a country, will you?


-=blogdai

Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Summit of Class


Sad day here at the offices of blogdai.

Sir Edmund Hillary, first to ascend Everest with His lifelong friend Tenzing Norgay, died today.

I think it was his time.

The last I saw of Sir Ed, he was in Kathmandu making an appearance at the Marshyangdi Hotel. He looked frail and moved slow; but his love for Nepal and the Sherpa people was always evident.
He was class. He was a pioneer. Yes, perhaps the whole "Everest experience" was becoming too cheepened for him--he spent his last years lamenting the commercialization of the ascent, the ridiculous tricks and stunts performed from its summit, and the increasing disregard for the environment and people of the Khumbu by money-engorged adventure tourists bent on nothing more than having the best story to tell at the first cocktail party they find on their return home.

Imagine what the ascent must have been like in his time. Good, credible experts were dead certain that the human body would "explode" at altitudes above 20,000 feet. Mallory had mysteriously failed from the North. There was no sophisticated gear and only an unreliable, primitive oxygen delivery system that, we understand, Sir Ed shunned until it was absolutely necessary. Standing on top, in typical Kiwi modesty and understatement, he looked at Norgay and calmly said: "It looks like we've knocked the bastard off." (Or thereabouts)

Contrast that with today where we have, what amounts to, spoiled brats with latte's and internet connections all the way from Gorak Shep to base camp. Don't get blogdai wrong here, you can still die on Everest and it's a very dangerous mountain sure, but it's power is diminished when you have a stud Sherpa hauling your ass up the Hillary Step on the back of a short rope.

I understand from the climbing community that Everest ascents are becoming a bit of a Tiffany joke. Throw enough money at the expedition and you get your summit. blogdai has no respect for such disrespect of culture and nature. Idiots with money and their Gore-Tex boldly going where every rich man has now gone before.

blogdai friend, two time summiteer of Everest, and a Kiwi, Jamie McGuinness shares Sir Ed's anguish over what has become a cheap carnival on Everest. In the space of one year, Jamie supervised an Indian girl as far as possible up Everest so she wouldn't lose face in her petty little village; and photographed the French touching down, illegally, via hellicopter, on Everest's summit.

Forget these idiots, and I'm sorry for dwelling so long on them. Let's look at the positive. Let's celebrate the life of a real explorer and a real human. Sir Ed never once waivered from his commitment and support of Nepal.

Hillary schools are a beacon of efficiency and offer one of the highest standards of mass education in Nepal. The Sherpa people--most people in the Khumbu--are among the most prosperous in Nepal due to the efforts of Sir Ed's Himalayan Trust. Whenever you are in Kathmandu, give a visit to their offices in Dilli Bazaar. Stop in, say hi to Ang Rita Sherpa, if he's there, and leave a donation. The money will not be wasted. If you can't do that, look up or mail a donation, on Sir Ed's behalf to:

Himalayan Trust
P.O. Box 224
Kathmandu, Nepal





Rest in peace Edmond Hillary. You were and are one of a kind.




-=blogdai




Saturday, January 05, 2008

Blogdai's 3rd Anniversary

Well we've made it through yet another year. Funny, but if you see, scan and analyze events in Nepal as much as blogdai, you would know that events begin to show a pattern of repetitive predictability. Some of the most predictable are:

--Girija or someone in government promising some event will happen "soon" or "in a few days," which blogdai always interperets to mean: "no way in hell will this ever be accomplished."

--Some screaming little boy YCL cadre will kill or beat up some politico out in the field and Prachanda will assure everyone that "they will be disciplined." blogdai interperets this to mean: "As long as they beat people up, we will be taken seriously, so no change in that regard, thanks for the publicity."

--"High Level" or "All Party" meetings will either end without addressing one single issue or not be held in the first place.

--Prachanda will threaten to "return to the streets" if government doesn't act on some Maoist friendly issue. When they finally do act, Prachanda throws obstacles in the way.

--If anything is ever agreed upon in any "meeting" it inevitably takes the form of either Royal ridicule and censure; or the enactment of reams of meaningless clauses designed simply to insure the future stalemates that perpetuate this government's culture of ineptitude.

--Hours will be spent haggling over Nepal's status as a Republic without anyone being able to adequately define the concept.

SO, ol' blogdai is feeling wistfully wishful on this our 3rd anniversay. I wish we had a clean canvass on which a new political landscape might be conceived. To this end, blogdai's fancy drifts towards a simplification, and end to this mess.

Let's all make big wishes and blow out the candles on blogdai's cake: candles that have been burning for far too long:


Candle #1: Ian Martin: Gave relevance to a rabble of a Maoist movement simply by recognizing them as a legitimate group. As the voice of the UN in Nepal, this boosted Prachanda's stature exponentially. Clinging to his hopeless cantonment policy. (Are there any Maoists still living in these?) Complete lack of knowledge and preparation showed during his ridiculous attempt to "count" Maoists and their weapons. You can't do anything on such a wide national level given Nepal's geography, Ian. Much less count on "good faith" from a bunch of murderous disparate gangs. Amazingly pathetic round of begging to keep his job in Nepal last month. Ian visited Girija, Makhune, even Prachanda in an attempt to plead for more time for his UNMIN. He got it, but his time is about up here on blogdai. So, Ian, we officially BLOW YOU OUT........


Candle #2: Girija Prassad Koirala. We've said it all here about the obfuscating old man. What occurs now to blogdai is the tragic loss of Nepal's potential in the world during the last 10 years under Girija. He chooses to be an imperious rock and obstacle to change. Think of the innovation, progress and growth that more than probably would have blessed Nepal had virtually anyone else been at the helm of government. He's as autocratic as any dictator. He won't hold elections, he won't tolerate dissent and he only appoints family members and cronies to political positions. No use giving him a crown, he'd just sell it off to the highest bidder in India like he has with everything else he's touched. Well now, you old reprobate fossil, we here at blogdai officially BLOW YOU OUT.....


Candle #3: Prachanda, head of Nepal's Maoist rabble. Has never once offered either a compromising position or the hope that he would want anything less than absolute communist domination of Nepal since he joined the interim government. Always threatens and always speaks in moronic hyperbole. Relations improving with the U.S. he says? What were you smoking, Fierce One? Said ambassador Nancy Powell. He's a fool and a thug and his time has passed. So, Dumb One, you are now officially BLOWN OUT.....


Ah, that felt good. blogdai, ever the optimist, still clings to the notion that wishes do come true.



-=blogdai