Whats The Issue

Burundi is Burning again and it would seem that the megalomaniac ruling President Pierre Nkurunziza insisted on standing as the leader of his political party for what will be his third term in office. As this is totally against the country's constitution, assuming they have one, the people have come out in protest against his move to grab power again. The bloodshed from previous elections was not enough to quench the earth's thirst for his people's blood.

Baltimore is also burning. The rioting, looting and chaotic mayhem that broke out after the funeral of Freddie Gray, is the worst that America has seen in decades and is frightening to watch. I understand the frustration of the people over police brutality and violence but it is completely beyond me to justify criminality on this level. The police should gently ask the rioters to put their bricks, rocks and sub machine guns down and quietly get into the police van waiting to take them to the holding cells so they can face trial for the blatant theft, looting and destruction of private property. This would be very effectual and help calm the situation down a whole lot. Oh, and they are going to ban the chokehold as well, that will also help.

Boko Haram continue their disgusting rein of terror, filling rivers with corpses and leaving as many as twenty mass graves in the wake of their departure from one of the towns they were ousted from.

Staying in Nigeria, Goodluck Johnathan's leadership recently saw fit to withdraw the country's political envoys to South Africa, citing the xenophobia as their reason. This does not bode well for our government and Nigeria is such a far far far away place. I'm sure they will be back soon after having travelled home, seen the kids and the wife and enjoyed some banter about how to quash Boko Haram and then they will be on the next plane back to Pretoria.

I can tell that the Xenophobia is not something every South African supports. Overwhelming condemnation for xenophobia is everywhere and if Goodluck and his ilk had any savvy they would not throw fuel on the fire. Then there is the crowd of locals who want the Israeli Ambasador expelled in ten days because he refused Blade Nzimande a viza to visit Palestine. I didn't know that in our new democracy we can demand the eviction of Embassy personnel.

Further away than even Nigeria, and the Victory Day Celebrations in Moscow are being planned with enthusiasm. The threat of sanctions from the Ukraine are being treated as an idle threat filled with smoke and one that will only hurt both parties as well as the world economy and achieve absolutely nothing else. The Russians won't lose any sleep if Obama does not attend the celebrations on May the 9th. Maybe it is because there is a ban on selfie sticks on the day and they won't be able to tag themselves so there is no sense in going to the party.