Israel - a superpower?

 

You know who is the real superpower of the world right now? Israel, of course. No one dares to touch it. It keeps on making attacks on Gaza like nobody's world. The United Nations, NATO, or the European Union, you name it Israel just ignores it. Russia and China are also cautiously calm. Those who are touching it, like Lebanon or Iran, for that matter, are just making token touches. Nothing as  devastating as the Israel's attacks on Gaza. All nations are afraid to touch israel, afraid of one thing or another. Only they know the best. But afraid.

When the 9/11 devastation of 2001 happened in the USA, then President George Bush made the battle cry of  "Us against the world" Now when on October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel and killed more than 1200 Israelis,  Israel took the same "Us against the world" stance. Netanyahu is said to have ranted as such.  May be, this could be the reason why nations are distancing themselves. Even the USA is afraid of antagonizing Israel. This can be seen when Israel is not following the advice or request of Joe Biden on the matter of civilians being continuously killed by its attacks on Gaza.

Israel is a small nation of just 22,775 sq.km, but a superpower! Acts like one, anyway.

The humble King of Malaysia

 

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah. This is the full official name of the present Yang di-Pertuan Agong, or, the King of Malaysia,  If you add in to his name, all the titles accorded  to him by various state rulers and other dignitaries, that will take a few more lines! Phew! Here is a  person with so much weight and power. Yet His Majesty is so humble, simple, and kind! So much down to earth that he will drop by a roadside-stall to eat his favourite meal, much to the worry and panic of the body guards and the entourage that accompany him! Ha ha!

Tengku Abdullah, as His Majesty is fondly and respectfully called by the media and the people alike, truly loves and cares for his subjects. This can be seen by one of his gestures of asking reporters and journalists waiting outside his Palace, on certain errands or events, whether they have eaten, and then arranging food for them.

Now, mostly, if not all, VVIPs will follow a strict protocol on official functions, and everyone expects it. No, not His Majesty, the King. I watched on TV, with gaped mouth, when at the end of the Merdeka (Independence Day) national parade, when His Majesty was ushered to his car by the dignitaries  and body guards, His Majesty sidestepped the car and ignoring protocol went to the people in the stands to shake hands with them. Oh, the people were so overjoyed! Many of them rushed to have selfies with him, and His Majesty freely obliged! Maybe he, being a former president of the Football Association of Malaysia, and mixing with players and fans alike, has given him a chance to feel people's yearnings.

Sadly, His Majesty's tenure of the five years is coming to an end. He wiil be going back to his state of Pahang to be it's ruler once again. But not to worry, another ruler of uprightness and integrity,  and with a heart towards the welfare of his subjects  - the Sultan of Johor, Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, will be taking over the role of the new Yang di-Pertuan Agong on January 31, 2024. "Daulat Tuanku! Daulat Tuanku!" (Long live Your Majesty!) 

The Great Post Office Shame

 

Hello mankind! Please put your trust and faith in humans rather than machines. Machines are always fallible, and when they do, all hell breaks loose! Human beings suffer. That's what happened in the UK. In their post offices.

An accounting software named Horizon of Fujitsu Company of Japan, which the UK post offices were using , bungled, showing shortage of money in the accounts of the post offices. This had been happening since 1999! It is said that faults to the software were noticed at an early stage, but no real importance was paid to them, and the problems seemed to have not been corrected. Instead, the powers that be  professed that they had full confidence in the machines and implied  that humans were in the wrong! Consequently, almost 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses in charge of their post offices' financial accounts were put in unwarranted trauma and misery. They were prosecuted. Criminal cases were brought against them, and many were sent to prisons. Poor souls, that meant they were found guilty of crimes they did not commit. Nice justice!  They lost their jobs, their pride, their honour. Their lives  changed for the worse. Some even died, they say! Oh my God! It was only in late 2020 that the Horizon software system error was discovered. So late! What a shame! Unbelievable! In an 'advanced' country like the UK!

The government is now finding  ways of adequately compensating  all those unjustifiably  punished persons. Fujitsu apologized and said it would contribute financially to compensate the ill-fated sufferers. Money? Money is merely a materialistic consolation. It can only make a little amend.. I hope ways of returning their lost dignity were found.

The UK media is terming the above mess  as 'The Great Post Office Scandal' I disagree. It is not a scandal. It is a great human miscalculation, wrong assumption and ignorance. I call it 'The Great Post Office Bungle'! Or, people have been put into unjustified agony, and so, 'The Great Post Office Ignominy', if you may.

The good, the bad and the ugly - dog meat in South Korea

 

In this new year of 2024, there is some ' the good, the bad and the ugly' news for animal lovers and international organisations  for preventing cruelty to animals, in South Korea, or for that matter, the whole world. The good news is that on January 9, 2024, the South Korean government passed a law banning the eating and selling of dog meat in its nation. The bad news is it is only to start from 2027. The ugly news is that until then, all those dogs being reared for their meat in farms or elsewhere  will still be allowed to be killed and served as meal for the Koreans. 

Disappointing indeed. Man's best friend becoming man's best delicacy!