WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING

Where to start, and this is only what readily comes to mind at the end of this week :


Bulgaria, I am told by a Bulgarian,, has recently had two earthquakes not far from the capital, Sofia. they were about 5.6 and 4.5 on the Richter scale;


Bulgaria, a bus with Israeli holidaymakers is sabotaged by a bomber, people are dead and severely injured.


Syria; what is looking more and more like civil war, continues to wage, killing and maiming many innocent people in its train. 

Afghanistan is still unsettled and people are hurt and people die.


Aurora, Colorado, USA. A Gunman fires a gun at people in a cinema at a late night film show.  Twelve people are said to be dead.

A father and his three children are found dead in a wood in Southern England. No one else is being sought for the deaths.

An Avalanche on Mont Blanc took the lives of nine people last week, fourteen others were injured at the time  Another two deaths are reported this week on the France-Italy Border of the mountain.


The recession continues to make headlines in particular, how it affects European nations and what it means in terms of austerity here at home in the U.K. The Chinese and American economies come in for  some scrutiny too.


A  Metropolitan policeman caught on video assaulting a newspaper seller on his way home, (who was not in, and had not been in the midst of a demonstration nearby) who collapsed and died close to the site of the assault,  is found not guilty of killing the man. Information indicating  nine previous complaints about the police officer's  behaviour, was not offered to the Court by the employing police authority.


The security of the Olympic games venues in Britain has been creating headlines because the contracted out services could not be achieved by the company, G4S, holding the contract.  The Armed Services and Police will fill the breach.  In Scotland, the police will take the lead role in providing security at the Football venues.

Trains In The Central Belt of Scotland are derailed through the affects of excessive rain. Passengers and staff are okay.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of recent news, it is, however, a lot to absorb.

WEIRD WESTERN EXPECTATIONS FOR AFGHANISTAN'S ELECTIONS

• Who honestly and truly expected there to be a free and fair [ and democratic] vote in Afghanistan? 

• On what levels of expectation were these weird Western ideas developed and set?  

• Surely those who are there in official roles were never that naive?
  

Sure, there has been an election campaign with  two main contenders.  That's a start; quite a big one I would say.  It has got to be better than a bloody coup together with all those various insurgents vying to take power in their inimitable ways.

It's a bit like a blog space.  I can hear the current players saying, this my site, I blasted well do what I like and in my way.  If you don't like it, you know what you can do.......etc,etc, etc. However, one contender has already got the bigger stage and all the trappings that go with it.  He is intent on holding onto it. If he is doing it by peaceful means, that is, stuffing ballot boxes in his favour, or at least getting others to do so on his behalf, in my book that is preferable in the present environment of Afghanistan, than stirring up any additional malicious and dirty warring behaviours.  There are others already there, who will stir up fear soon enough.

No doubt, Dr Abdullah will hold his counsel just now, with the encouragement of the senior Western advisers. We hear of fiery meetings in back rooms to broker some globally acceptable game playing like a second round of voting. There are high stakes here, walking on egg shells would be firmer.
I am not in favour of much of what I hear and see, but I do not live in the country; I have not had, as a woman, the misfortune by accident of birth to be there.  Compromises, however unpalatable are going to have to be sought to develop a manageable 'peace'.