Quicksand?

Australian Broadcasting Corp - 9 March 2010

The Accompanying Video is here.

ABC - Australian Broadcasting sent one of its reporters (Eric Campbell) to the UAE to examine Dubai and the UAE after the global financial crisis. And to ask -  can Dubai recover? Will it be able to win back the hopes, dreams and investments from the rest of the world?

His report was broadcast today.

I do not think there is anything new in the report. It is 24 minutes of mud slinging without really looking for any positive news from the Emirate. Rather different from Rupert Murdoch's speech delivered in Abu Dhabi earlier today.

Even I am a bit tired of the Dubai mud slinging. Yes the excesses were egregious. But they were the minority. There were and still are an awful lot of people who have come here simply to work hard. they are not in the nightclubs; they shop in Carrefour and not Gucci; they drive their kids to school; they run sports clubs; work in charities; send money home. The list is endless. But these people are not the news story that ABC and others have been seeking out.

It may just be that Dubai and Abu Dhabi remain the cities that many in the Arab World aspire to come to and that many countries aspire to emulate.

Emirates riding on economic recovery

9 March 2010

Dubai government-owned airline Emirates said on Tuesday it planned to recruit 2,000 cabin crew in 2010 as it expands its fleet and routes.

The Arab world's largest airline has hired around 660 cabin crew and more than 60 pilots since March 2009, a statement said. The airline's total cabin crew stands at 11,000.

"More aircraft and flights mean more staff," the carrier said. "It is expected that a further 2,000 cabin crew will be hired this year."

The company has grown its fleet of planes from 131 to 145, since March 2009, including eight Airbus A380s superjumbos.

Middle Eastern airlines saw the highest growth rate of 11.2 percent in air passenger traffic globally for 2009 as carriers snapped up long-haul connecting traffic, international air traffic body IATA said on Jan. 27.

Emirates, the largest customer for the Airbus A380 superjumbo, said in February funding its aircraft purchases was not an issue and that it would post solid results for 2009

The airline, which has $55 billion worth of orders with Airbus and Boeing <BA.N>, expects to take delivery of 11 aircraft in 2010 as it presses ahead with expansion into Europe.

One of Dubai's prize assets, Emirates in December raised $1.13 billion from Citibank <C.N>, backed by a guarantee from the European Export Credit Agencies, and a second loan from Doric Asset to finance six aircraft.

The Murdoch in Abu Dhabi

Rupert Murdoch gave the opening address today to the inaugural Abu Dhabi Media Summit, The highlights (in bold italics) are mine.

“Each time I visit this part of the world, I experience your fabled hospitality. Making guests feel at home is a long and honored tradition in your culture – and you have happily shown that the best traditions are fully compatible with a modern skyline. Nowhere is this wisdom more clear than in your plans for Abu Dhabi 2030 – a capital city for the 21st century.

I have looked at your plan, and it is visionary. Your new capital district will be built on four guiding principles – cultural heritage, economic development, social cohesion, and the natural environment. You will have state-of-the-art transportation. Architecture that draws from the past while pointing to the future. Great new universities, medical research facilities, museums and the like. And a sense of community that will make this city not just a showcase for visitors – but a home for your people.

You have set a high bar for your ambitions. Today I hope to use this conference on the media to share my thoughts about the contributions that a thriving creative sector might make – to your society, to your economy, and to your future.

In this I am mindful of the Arab proverb: “if a wind blows, ride it.” As I speak, there is a powerful wind blowing through this region. This wind is the creative energies of your people, who are aching to make their own mark on the world around them. Without this creative spirit, the museums, universities, and other fabulous buildings you have planned will be empty shells. But ride this wind and you will raise from these desert sands something extraordinary: a capital of creativity that is modern … that is global … and that is fully Arab.

These days our homes and offices are cluttered with the latest electronic devices. It is easy to be dazzled by this new technology. But the bright and shiny wonders that technology gives us can be like the desert sun – they can blind us to what is real and valuable. Amid the digital dazzle, we risk missing the magic: the creative content that brings these devices to life.

That is the point I wish to discuss with you today. What is a Kindle or an e-reader worth without books or newspapers or magazines to read on them? What is a cell phone without the access to e-mail, the photos of your children or your favorite websites? What is the most advanced high-definition TV without the dramas and comedies and news and sport to watch on it?

The answer is this: Without creative content, these electronic devices are merely expensive playthings.

Your citizens know this, because they are among the earth’s most sophisticated consumers. They watch films from all parts of the world. And they own all the best and latest gadgets.

That is a good thing. Your citizens should be free to take full advantage of human creativity wherever they find it. But they also deserve the opportunity to add their own creative contributions to our vast and growing media world.

Left alone, these creative talents remain constrained by arbitrary boundaries. To make this talent bloom, you need businesses willing to invest in creativity, to nurture talent, and to build audiences that will buy and enjoy the fruits of this enterprise. That takes the right incentives. By unlocking the creativity of your people, you can diversify your economy … provide millions of jobs for a rising generation … and give the Arab people a global voice and influence commensurate with your importance.
A few months ago, I spoke in Beijing about the critical importance of having good copyright laws that protect the value people create. Today I wish to speak more broadly about values, competition, and incentives.

In particular, I wish to emphasize the incentives that will help money flow to those who invest in creativity … the need for global competition to help make local media companies strong … and the reminder that a creative sector flourishes best in societies where governments intervene with a light hand. With these incentives in place, you will build a creative sector worthy of the great capital you have planned.

Let me start with content. Right now the world does not think of the Middle East when it thinks of creative content. Even your own citizens often look elsewhere for a film or television show or news site. As a result, many of your own citizens prefer Hollywood movies or American television shows to local production.

You can change this. Recently I had dinner with the trade minister from another Muslim country, Indonesia. We started talking about the economic value of a creative sector. She told me that the creative sector now accounts for more than 5.4 million jobs and 6% of the Indonesian economy – and is the country’s fifth largest source of exports. She also told me her government set a target that would nearly double the contribution to GDP by 2025. Think of the millions of stimulating new jobs that would mean for the Indonesian people.

Now think what a growing creative sector would mean here. A recent Arab Human Development Report suggests that this region must create 50 million new jobs in the next ten years. A thriving creative industry would contribute many of these jobs – most of them environmentally friendly, well paying, and contributing to a better quality of life for all.

The good news is that the geographic borders that once limited your potential are today largely irrelevant. Let me give you an example that you might know about. It’s a film called My Name Is Khan … it is the story of a Muslim boy in San Francisco after the September 11 attacks … and it made its international debut in this city last month.

In all its aspects, this film speaks to the cross-border soul of the creative industry. The film is a joint venture between an Indian company and an American company. It is a story told from the point of view of a Muslim. It was financed in part from Abu Dhabi. It features Indian stars who are popular in this region. It is attracting huge audiences here in the Middle East … in India … in the U.K. … in the United States. The popularity of My Name Is Khan reminds us that no nation has a monopoly on creative content. If you tell a good story, people will respond.

Let me give you an example from the business end. One of our company’s biggest films right now is Avatar. It’s playing all over the world. It’s already grossed two and a half billion dollars and is on its way to three billion. Those of you who have seen it – if you have not, ask your children – know that Avatar has revolutionized 3-D and film animation. What many of you may not know is that a good part of this remarkable film was produced in New Zealand.

That’s right. Each night, when the lights went out at the production studios in Los Angeles, their collaborators in Wellington were starting up a new day – using their computers to generate the film’s jungle environment. If a visual-effects company in a faraway island like New Zealand can find its niche in the most technologically advanced film of our time, you can be sure that the Arab people are fully capable of making their own contributions to this fast-growing global industry.

So what do you need to encourage your creative sector? Obviously you need money. High-quality content is expensive. The simple fact is that if you want quality content, you need to encourage a marketplace where money flows to those who invest in and create that content.

Take television. Right now television is still a young market in this part of the world. The potential, however, is huge. If you want higher-quality television, you need a transparent market that helps ensure that people receive a fair price for the value they create.

A more transparent advertising market means having effective tools to measure who and what people are watching. Advertisers and creators need metrics that tell them who they are reaching and how effective their message is – or else they are simply throwing money in the dark.

A more transparent advertising market will also encourage media buyers and sellers to compete for business. By contrast, opaque markets tend to be unfairly dominated by one or two players. This can be a cozy arrangement for those players. But a nation pays a very high price for this cozy arrangement – because it takes away the financial engine needed to drive investment in local content.

Advertising is only one part of this financial engine. In many parts of the world, we are finding that the best way to finance quality content is by having a balance of advertising and subscription revenue. So a thriving creative sector also needs to be open to new business models that allow companies to know their customers better. The stronger the relationship between media companies and their customers, the more they will cater to local tastes – and invest in the technology that makes for a better experience. That’s exactly what we are doing with our Sky pay-television businesses in the U.K., Italy, and now Germany and India.

Some people will say that you cannot build a creative sector here. I do not believe that for a moment. The beauty of creativity is that the raw materials are all in the human mind. With the right economic incentives, you will find creative Arab enterprises rising higher and faster than your most modern buildings.

Another critical ingredient for a vibrant creative sector is global competition. Our company operates in almost every media market in the world. Everywhere I have been, one thing is clear: the local companies that are in the best position to challenge us are those whose home markets are open to foreign competition.

Sometimes nations seek to promote their own creative industries by limiting foreign participation and protecting local producers. And sometimes these restrictions and protections do keep us from entering such a market – or limit us to a tiny share.

Unfortunately, when that happens you are also making your market smaller and less competitive. Japan is a good example of a modern nation with a protected – and limited – creative sector. As a result, Japanese citizens pay higher prices for more limited fare. The Japanese economy has fewer jobs for its workers. And Japanese culture is denied the global voice that a nation which boasts the world’s second largest economy ought to have.

In short, creative protectionism is as destructive as other types of protectionism. It is expensive … it is unfair … and it guarantees that local companies coddled by protection will never be strong enough to compete outside their own borders.

By contrast, if you open your creative market up to competition, your companies can challenge the biggest players. I have seen it done. Most of you probably think of News Corporation as an American company, because we are now based in New York. But we did not start out this way.

We started in a provincial Australian city called Adelaide. When I brought our company to America, we were still a small Australian firm. We had a few media properties in Britain – and a single newspaper in San Antonio, Texas.

We succeeded because the open American economy let us compete on our talents. So we grew. And as we grew, we expanded our reach and influence to other parts of the world – and created thousands of jobs. Today News Corporation has 64,000 people working for us across the globe – and many thousands more working for us indirectly.

I have every confidence that Arab companies can do the same – and more. I also believe that Abu Dhabi can lead the way. In two decades, your plans will transform this desert city into a gleaming capital of the future. By welcoming foreign competition, you will call your people to their best – and cultivate a world-class industry on par with the finance and oil giants that now dominate this region.

Finally, I’d like to say a word about freedom and regulation. This city is the capital of one of the Middle East’s most cosmopolitan societies. Your people have one of the highest GDP’s per capita in the world. And every day you continue to grow – in size, in sophistication, in wealth, and in the attention of the global press.

With this increased global attention comes the occasional inconvenient or unwelcome story. Again, I speak from some personal experience. Throughout my life, I have endured my share of blistering newspaper attacks … unflattering television coverage … and books that grossly distort my views or my businesses or both.

I have learned that this kind of coverage is a fact of life in a modern media society. I have learned too that it is the price one pays for success.

For a nation, the stakes are even higher. In face of an inconvenient story, it can be tempting to resort to censorship or civil or criminal laws to try to bury it. This is not only a problem here: In France a criminal defamation law remains in place. In the long run, this is counterproductive. Markets that distort their media end up promoting the very panic and distrust that they had hoped to control.

Certainly each nation and culture has the right to insist that the people they allow into their countries to do business respect their national values and traditions. This is best administered, however, with a gentle touch. Human creativity flourishes in freedom. By making the decision for greater openness, you will signal the importance you have assigned to creativity in your plans for the future – and declare your confidence in your people.

Now, I’m sure there is no shortage of experts who fly in here and give you nice words. It’s very easy to chatter on about talent and creativity. For our company, this is more than talk. We’ve been here for some time. And we are expanding our presence at a moment when others are paring back.

Our presence here cuts across many different forms of media. We’ve had reporters for the Times of London and the Australian and the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires for decades. We opened up a branch of HarperCollins. We’ve also been broadcasting some of our Fox International Channels.

More recently, we took another step by investing in a local media company that also is the world’s largest producer of Arab music. The company is called Rotana. To be frank, Rotana does not really need our financing. We are partnering with Rotana for something more ambitious: To tap into Arab talent and ultimately produce original Arab content for markets both here and abroad.

Yesterday we further extended our presence by announcing a strategic partnership between Fox International Channels and Abu Dhabi’s twofour54. First, we will move some of our satellite channels from Hong Kong to here. Second, we will establish a production office here for one of our documentary filmmaking companies. And third, we will headquarter the Middle Eastern operations for our global online advertising network business in Abu Dhabi as well.

I mention these partnerships only to emphasize that my words are backed up by my investments. With these new partnerships, we are sending a message. When we look to the future, News Corporation is betting on the creative potential of the more than 335 million people who make up the Arab world.

Ladies and gentlemen, you know your history better than I do. You know of your contributions to global knowledge and wealth. The West rediscovered Aristotle through Arab translations and Arab commentaries. We owe much of our mathematics, science, and medicine to discoveries by your scholars. Europe traded with Asia via routes pioneered and developed by Muslim merchants. And the leading economies of our world would grind to a halt without your oil.

While oil is undeniably vital to our world, the untapped creativity in this region represents a resource infinitely more precious. In this bright new century, the most advanced societies will be those that are most creative. Creativity is a resource that excites the imagination … expands jobs and opportunity … and improves our quality of life. It is clean, and it is high-value. Most of all, because it is rooted in the human mind, creativity is the one economic resource that is truly inexhaustible.

Your people are eager, talented, and young. They have aspirations in common with their peers in other parts of the world – yet they hold fast to the traditions that make them unique. Give them a society that rewards creativity. When you do, you will breathe life into your blueprints – and build a future worthy of your grand boulevards and glistening skyscrapers.

Thank you for listening."

Road misery in Dubai

9 March 2010

The Gulf New is all excited today announcing that motorists will have free flow of traffic in all directions on the First Interchange at Shaikh Zayed Road once it is completed later this year.

This junction has been work in progress for over three years. And has been a complete misery. It is particularly bad it you have to leave Business Bay onto Sheikh Zayeed Rd and then u - turn for Abu Dhabi or even down to the Mall of the Emirates and beyond.

Construction on the three-tier interchange on the First Interchange commonly known as Defence Roundabout is due for completion by the end of this year at the cost of around Dh618 million.

Italian company Salini Constructions was given the contract for the project in 2006 and the construction work started in the last quarter of that year.

The project aims at easing traffic flow from Shaikh Zayed Road to Burj Khalifa, Business Bay and the Dubai Mall areas through free flow flyover for motorists driving in the direction of Abu Dhabi, and to the district of Dubai Financial Market.

The project includes the construction of a tunnel to link the service road behind Mazaya Centre with the service road behind Shangri-La Hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road. The total length of bridges and ramps, which will be part of the intersection, would be more than 3km while the tunnel would be 850 metres.

According to an RTA spokesperson, the project was originally scheduled for completion in March 2009, but it was rescheduled to meet the changing needs in the area. Or plans kept changing or there was not enough money. Or it simply got delayed along with everything else. But it will now have taken four years to complete one road junction as it is now expected to open by the end of this year.

Thailand update - the watermelon army!

9 March 2010 (updated)

Matichon: This may explain the UK reference below. Chalerm says that a source telephoned to tell him that a war room has been setup in London to destroy Thaksin, but it is not the government. They have 3 plans:

1. There will be an incident at Ratchawithi in order to suppress the protestors.

2. Get people to wear red shirts to run across the Pinklao bridge to Siriraj Hospital

3. Get 7 fake red-shirts teams of 20 to shoot at mosques to create confusion around the world.

At all 3 places, the events will be videoed.

In response, Supachai, the Bhum Jai Thai spokesman stated that if Chalerm was referring to war room in London, he was saying this to discredit Newin. Supachai also stated that Newin was in London and had authorized him to file charges against Chalerm as Thai society will believe Chalerm was referring to Newin.

(Newin is widely assumed to have bankrolled the Blue Shirts in Pattaya last year).

The Nation: The red-shirt movement, in its last ditch effort to topple Abhisit Vejjajiva's government and its back-up forces, are mobilising a huge protest march from four regions to paralyse the capital on Friday. With Maoist tactics of the "forest surrounding the town", protesters from the provinces will move from their home towns to the capital by farm and pickup trucks, plus buses to put pressure on the government.

Nattawut Saikua, another key DAAD member, said low-rank military officers from the lower class and grass-roots would work to help the red shirts topple the aristocrat-backed government.

"We call it the watermelon army - meaning they wear a green uniform but have a red heart inside. They will come out to help us," he said.

The red-shirts hope to deliver a knock-out punch to the government by Sunday, a source close to the group's inner circle said but declined to go into details. Hardcore members of the group aim to create chaos in Bangkok with violence and perhaps explosions in many locations, the source said.

They would use the farm trucks to block traffic and mass outside military bases and state offices to force them to stop functioning.

The red shirts did not rule out the possibility of copying the yellow-shirt group's tactics, including seizing government offices as well as Suvarnabhumi Airport, the source said.

The bottom line was to stir a chaotic situation until the government loses control, he said.

The Nation (again !): Authorities in Bangkok began bracing yesterday for possible grenade attacks in many areas of the city during a rally by the red shirts, a source said.
 

Police expected the rally to last three to seven days, with the tendency of "worse violence than before", the spokesman said.

In a related development, rumours of a severe riot were spread among university students yesterday.

An Assumption University student said they got messages via forwarded emails and mobile phone SMS telling them to stock up on food and to withdraw money from banks.

(Note that if the Nation's so called sources are correct no one should be visiting Bangkok from the 12th.)

The Nation: The prime minister said the street protests would start this Friday, not on Sunday as had been announced by the red shirt leaders, according to the source.

"People called and told me a lot of military fatigues were bought at the Chatuchak Market and bullets at gun shops in the Phahurat area were sold out. Water pipes were also bought to make guns," Abhisit was quoted as saying.

"Intelligence shows that there are no exact plans for this upcoming rally. And there's no unity. There's even an idea to harm some fellow red-shirt leaders to create an incident. The government insists on enforcing the law and avoiding use of force," the prime minister told the top bureaucrats.

He said that the government would enforce three laws to keep order during the protest period: a law for the prevention and relief of public disasters, the Internal Security Act, and the emergency decree. "I hope we don't need to impose martial law," he added.

The Nation: The People's Alliance for Democracy on Tuesday issued a statement accusing ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his army of red shirts of trying to incite insurrection. "The upcoming mass rally, mobilised by Thaksin, the red-shirt leaders and the Pheu Thai Party, is a direct violation of Article 68 of the Constitution because the protests are designed to grab power via non-constitutional means," the PAD said in its statement.

Thaksin and the red shirts are not just trying to overthrow the government but judging by their preparations, aim at grabbing power and changing the political system, according to the statement. The PAD warned about mayhem due to street fight between the residents and the red shirts.

The red shirts plan to cause a paralysis to Bangkok traffic and have also targetted to attack key government installations located in the capital. This will likely cause huge inconveniences and tempers might flare up to trigger riots.

The PAD called on the government to strictly enforce the law in order to thwart violence. It urged members of the public not to fall prey to the propaganda war. It also said law-abiding citizens should cooperate with the authorities in safeguarding peace.

The yellow shirts pledged to suspend their activities which might inflame the situation.

It looks like The Nation wrote the statement for the PAD!

Bangkok Post: The tourism industry has lost more than a billion baht in bookings because of cancellations ahead of this weekend's anti-government rally, Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA)chairman Aphichart Sangka-aree said on Tuesday.

Bangkok Post: Fahngam Kham-asoke, a 63-years-old woman, has on Tuesday afternoon started walking from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to call on all parties to refrain from using violent means to end political conflicts, reports said.

She said she will keep on walking until she reaches the capital city to call for peaceful settling over political disputes. She wishes Chiang Mai to be set as a violence-free area.

She received moral support from people along the way she passed by.

The Nation - again !: Pheu Thai MP Chalerm Yoobamrung on Tuesday claimed that a political group set up its command centre in London to stir up trouble coinciding with the red-shirt rally. "Targets for disturbance include Siriraj Hospital, Rajvithi Hospital and Islamic mosques located in Bangkok," he said.

Chalerm did not give the details of the group nor its plans but said the planned disturbances would be blamed on the red shirts.


Venice watercoloured

8 March 2010

EK to Dakar from 1 September

8 March 2010

Emirates Airline on Monday unveiled plans to launch direct services to Senegal – its 106th international destination.

Dakar is the airline’s third new African destination in less than 12 months, after Durban and Luanda joined the network in late 2009 and follows new route announcements to Tokyo, Amsterdam, Prague and Madrid, also launching in 2010.

Starting September 1, Emirates will fly non-stop to Dakar five times a week on every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

EK797 will depart Dubai at 09:55 and touch down at Dakar's Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport at 16:00 the same day. The return flight departs Dakar at 17:40, arriving in Dubai at 07:15 the following morning.

The service will be operated by an Airbus A340-300 aircraft, offering a three-class configuration of 12 First Class, 42 Business and 213 Economy Class seats.

The announcement of the Senegal service comes as economic activity between the two nations continues to grow.

Dubai’s non-oil trade with Senegal has increased significantly in recent years – from $61.9m per year in 2005 to $130.2m per year in 2008 – an average annual growth of 28 percent.

DP World was recently awarded the concession to develop and operate the existing container terminal at Dakar and invest in a new container terminal at the city’s Port du Futur, while the Jebel Ali Free Zone is developing a special economic free zone connected to Senegal’s new Blaise Diagne Airport, which is currently under construction.

Thailand watch

8 March 2010

The Nation: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva decides to cancel his trip to Australia as red shirts plan to hold a mass rally this weekend. No, I'm not going," the prime minister said when asked whether he would go to Australia scheduled between March 13 and 17.

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The Nation: His Majesty the King will be giving a briefing by the prime minister on Monday on current affairs amid concern of a possible outbreak of violence at the upcoming red shirts' mass rally.

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The Nation - editorial: The Pheu Thai Party now plans to submit a no-confidence motion on March 16 to further weaken the government. We have heard that Newin Chidchob of the Bhumjai Thai party and Banharn Silapa-Archa of the Chat Thai Pattana Party might jump ship to bring down the government at that most critical moment. The Pheu Thai, Bhum Jai Thai and Chat Thai Pattana have agreed to tentatively form the next government. This new alliance appears to have agreed on support for Maj-General Sanan Khachonprasat as the new prime minister.

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Bangkok Post:  The security monitoring committee has agreed that the Internal Security Act (ISA) should be enforced in Bangkok from March 11 to 23.

What does the ISA mean - it means that the head of the army is in charge - and not the PM or his Cabinet: The following powers are among those which the Army Commander-in-Chief, in his capacity as the Director of ISOC, is able to exercise: (source- Thai Visa)

1. Take command of "state agencies" – which, undefined and unlimited, may in effect mean the full civil service apparatus [Article 24];

2. Impose restrictions on freedom of movement, assembly and information [Articles 25(2), 25(3) and 25(6)];

3. Order "the use of military force" in accordance with Martial law [Article 25(8)];

4. Arrest and detain a person, on the basis of a court warrant, for seven days initially, with extensions of up to 30 days in total [Article 26(1)];

5.” Suppress” groups, individual and organizations perceived by him as posing a threat to national security [Article 26(2)];

6. Compel any person to issue statements; appear in person or hand in "any documents or evidence" [Article 26(3)];

7. Search individuals, vehicles and buildings [Articles 26(4)] – while this section states that such searches must be carried out according to the Criminal Procedure Code, under the terms of which court authorisation is usually necessary, there is no clear statement in this Act that a court warrant is required;

8. Enter and search homes [Article 26(5)] – the terms of this section are contradictory and appear to suggest that such searches generally do not require a court warrant;

9. Seize or freeze assets, document or other evidence [Article 26(6)]

10. Order the "training at a special location" of suspects, in lieu of pressing charges against them, for up to six months (Article 31) – such training apparently requires the "consent" of the suspect, but with the threat of criminal procedures as alternative, the voluntariness of consent to such "training" is doubtful. In the absence of freely given consent, such training is therefore likely to amount to arbitrary detention.

Unless otherwise stated, none of the above provisions requires court authorisation for the powers to be exercised.

Generally speaking, Thailand’s ISA gives the Director of ISOC almost limitless powers in respect to Freedom of movement, assembly, arbitrary detention, the right to fair trial procedures, and the right to privacy.

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AFP: Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the (ISA) law would be enforced across Bangkok and in some districts of nearby provinces from March 11 to 23, "for the safety of the people from unexpected incidents".

The decision came following a meeting with security agencies on Monday morning, after intelligence reports indicated threats of violence from protesters, Suthep said.

Senior Reds insist they will protest peacefully, but Suthep said the maximum level of security forces would be deployed as the government was not confident protest leaders could control the movement, which contains several factions.

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The Red Shirt view: A MESSAGE TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF BANGKOK AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES

On Friday the 12th of March, a campaign aimed at ending the age of the Thai military dictatorship and restoring freedom, democracy and justice to our beautiful nation will begin. At this very moment, hundreds of thousands of people from all across our country not already in Bangkok are preparing to make their way to the capital, in defiance of a regime that has proven its willingness to commit violence and strip away the human rights of those who speak against it.

These people have peace in their hearts, but change also. Some wear red shirts, and some do not. Some of them march in support of a democratically elected leader who, for good or evil, was brought down by design of the military, not the will of the people. And yet others come too, some of whom used to wear yellow, who marched against what they perceived to be an authoritarian regime but have since witnessed far worse injustices.

These people are united by a few key beliefs. The belief in our constitutional monarchy. The belief in the power of non-violent change. The belief in double-standards-free justice. And the belief that, as Thai citizens, they deserve to have their voices heard and their concerns addressed. These people are united under the banner of the United front for Democracy against Dictatorship, or the UDD. And they are not to be feared- because if you believe in these things, then you are one of them as well.

This campaign will be the largest ever seen in Thai history. It is aimed at forcing the Abhisit regime (and the shadow government that supports it) to recognise what they are doing to our country and respond by dissolving parliament and calling for free and fair, internationally monitored elections- nothing more, nothing less. You might be forgiven for your scepticism that a non-violent campaign could achieve what we are seeking, but I would ask you to consider how the Indian nation was born. It was thanks to a peaceful struggle led by a man called Mahatma Gandhi, and was successful in liberating the Indian nation from the rule of the British Empire.

We are convinced that for the coming struggle we need no guns, bullets or blades, but only solidarity and sincerity in our hearts. We have learned from the mistakes of the past, and will allow no repeat of them. We will stand together, we will remain vigilant against troublemakers, and we will take care to ensure that no foreigner is harmed or intimidated. We will stare defiantly down the barrels of the guns of the soldiers who remain loyal to the men who wish us to remain silent and submissive, and we will embrace with open arms those who wish to put down their weapons and join us. We will make the Abhisit government make a final choice between democracy and dictatorship.

The junta knows that it will not survive a fair election, and it fears our demands, and wants you to fear us too. It wants you to ignore us, prevent us, or worse- stand by as we are arrested or cut down for exercising our democratic rights. But you should not. Because beneath every red shirt is a Thai citizen, and within their chests beats a heart that, like every other Thai, wants prosperity, wants freedom, wants respect and wants to see Thailand become the nation its citizens deserve.

On the 12th of March, the peaceful struggle for Thailand’s future will begin. The UDD calls for every person in Bangkok who has realised what our nation is in danger of becoming to welcome us as friends, to come onto the street and to join us in our call for change in Thailand.

Thailand watch

7 March 2010

With the red shirt rally only 5 days away it is time to start a daily record of some of the more outrageous claims being made by all sides of Thailand's political mess.

The trouble is it is hard to believe anything that is said by either the government news agenceis of spokesmen or by the red shirts and their prime sponsor, Thaksin

In the end we will see what happens in 5 days. In the meantime the good folks of Bangkok are going to be assaulted with propaganda from all sides.

The following are all potentially fiction published as fact:

MCOT: Two suspects in the Bangkok Bank grenade attack confessed to the Thai authorities Sunday, admitting their link to a member of the Red Shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protest movement.

Ekkachai Moolket and Sawai Yangsanteer, the former a nephew of the latter, confessed to police that they were involved in the grenade attack at the Bangkok Bank Silom branch last weekend.

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The Nation: Abhisit denied reports that the Interior Ministry would mobilize blue-shirt people to confront the red-shirt people. He said the Interior Ministry would only deploy its volunteers to help police keep orderThe Nation:

(Which means that Blue Shirts are on standby....)

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The Nation: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday that recent intelligence reports pointed to the possibility of sabotage taking place on March 14....He admitted that the government's Security Related Situation Monitoring Committee had received information indicating that possible acts of sabotage aimed at creating chaos in the country.

He did not supply further details about the nature of the possible sabotage or who might be behind such a plot.

(But we all know who he means!)

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The Nation: The Department of Special Investigation will probe the suspicious Bt1 billion wired from the Middle East to a number of Thai offices, DSI chief Tharit Pendit said Saturday. The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) found that the sum had been transferred over the past six months, he said.

A special task force looked into the recipients and found that many of them were located in commercial buildings or row houses, which seemed too small to justify the amount of money wired.

However, the authorities were unable to establish whether the financial activity was illegal.

(The timing says everything - at least I know I did not send it !)

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TNA: An investigation into massive losses of weapons and explosives stolen from an arms depot of a military camp in the southern province of Phatthalung is underway, according to Panitan Wattanayagorn, acting government spokesman.

The incident was reported to police and concerned officials last Thursday, said Dr Panitan, adding that investigators were checking whether the stolen weapons and explosives were secretly transported within the insurgency-affected southern provinces or to Bangkok where anti-government protesters from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) plan to hold a mass demonstration next Sunday aimed at ousting the government.

UDD activists nationwide will begin moving to Bangkok March 12 and will gather at Sanam Luang in the morning of March 14.

Asked whether the Fourth Army Region which is responsible for security in the South should be held accountable for the loss of the materiel, Dr Panitan said the probe is focusing on whether it was an inside job.

(Have to love the way that the loss of fire arms in the troubled south is immediately linked to the red shirt protestors in Bangkok simply by innuendo. No evidence at all to support the claim!)

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Bangkok Post: The government whipped up the scare factor again, placing thousands of security forces on the streets and highways in at least half the country.

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Source: Bangkok Pundit: Abhisit’s own spokesman, Thepthai Senpong claimed “Thaksin [Shinawatra] has given red-shirt leaders Bt50 million. He said the leadership had first asked for Bt100 million, but was only given half the sum to organise the rally and was now seeking an additional Bt20 million.”

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rascott.com tagboard: Thaksin said on Friday night that a man who was treated for heart disease under his government's universal healthcare programme had offered to carry out a suicide bombing. However, he turned down the offer because he did not want to endanger anyone's life.

I cannot find a source for this and it is not on Thaksin's twitter feed.
 

Dubai PR firm blows hot air

7 March 2010

Readers can only hope that the head of Asda'a Burson Marsteller in Dubai does not believe his own press. This really should be written in a comic not published in serious newspapers.

But founder and CEO of Asda’a Burson-Marsteller public relations firm Sunil John said on Sunday that public relations firms have done more to encourage political and corporate transparency in the UAE than any other form of media,

“What is not really understood here is that the role of PR companies is not just about being a barrier and making stories go away – we have very quietly but very effectively played a role with the government sector, with family companies, with listed companies, to make them understand the need to communicate openly... I think that is a role that is least appreciated. I think we play a much bigger role (in transparency) than even the media,” he said.

If he really thinks he has been playing that role then clearly no one is listening. His clients include Emaar and Etisalat. It was Emaar that last month issued a statement "denying" there was a leak in the Dubai Mall aquarium. It is Emaar that a month on has still failed to explain why the viewing gallery on the Burj Khalifa was and remains closed.

John said the UAE’s media had become markedly more open over the last decade, but added it “still operates within a censorship environment.”

“I think the fact that in the UAE the media can operate in pretty much a free environment… I mean you can criticise probably any company listed on the stockmarket. You can write pretty much about non-delivery on certain things. Nobody is stopping you doing that. The fact that that happens in an environment of self-censorship, that you don’t cross the line on certain things, is a mark of the openness and wisdom of the rulers of this country,” he said.

Isn't that the line taken by journalists in all censored states? China, Iran, Burma, even Thailand. We can write what we like - within the limits of our own editorial self censorship.

Not all journalists would agree with John’s assessment of the role of PR firms in the development the UAE’s culture of transparency. Asked about censorship in 2008, Gulf News Editor-in-Chief Abdul Hamid Ahmad said: "Every company now, even the government, they hire these PR companies. And they control the news. The PR companies control the news, they control the information. So the struggle is there. We hope one day these PR companies will do their role in a different way, not to control the information."

The trouble with the PR companies is that their idea of controlling the news is simply to say nothing. And the media here is then powerless to dig deeper into any new story.

This was slow news day in Dubai which is probably why this story got published in the first place; but it needs to be shot down for the hot air that it is.
 

In Thailand it's not 'Rule of Law' but 'Law of Rule'

6 March 2010 - Bangkok Post

Interesting guest column in the Bangkok Post - which is taking a slightly more moderate line than the vitriolic Nation.

"In light of the recent verdict on Thaksin Shinawatra's assets, I think I will for the moment leave that topic to professional political pundits, and focus instead on injustices in society, which are in my view the cause of many of the ghastly symptoms apparent in this deeply divided country we call home.

Moreover, I believe that if some of these injustices persist then whatever verdict or fate awaits Thaksin in the various following cases against him, our society will never find its way back towards the path of reconciliation.

Here are some of the injustices in Thai society that I can think of which warrant our undivided attention.

- In my opinion, Thailand would be a dry and barren land without our women, not just because I'm lucky enough to be married to a beautiful and loving one but because I steadfastly believe the most important institution in Thailand is not Parliament, the Courts or the Military, but it is the Family, and the most vital part of that Family is the role our mothers play.

Therefore, it is rather deplorable and a colossal injustice when I see so few women in Parliament, Cabinet and the justice system, or especially when drafting the highest law of the land where quotas seem to be freely given to the business elite, crusty academics and blabbering bureaucrats; but somehow women, more specifically mothers, seem to always be under-represented in such important matters of state.

So find me a capable Thai female to run for prime minister and I state for the record, I'm all for "one man, one vote", but given the chance this man is going to vote for a woman!

- Thai farmers have also had the short end of the stick for far too long. Farmers are the vast majority of this country but seem to be overlooked by politicians until election time looms.

In Thailand, farming is not just a profession but a way of life. Unfortunately, in order for them to sustain this already subsistence level of living, farmers in my view are subject to so much risk with the promise of such meagre gain.

Entire harvests can be wiped out by disease or drought, subjecting their families to enormous financial and social duress. But even in a successful harvest, the upside is nothing to write home about.

Thailand has a huge comparative advantage against our neighbouring countries when it comes to farming, because we are able grow some of most valuable and flavourful farm produce on earth.

With all due respect to Indonesians (I know I'm going to be heckled here), but have you tried the mangos from Indonesia? They come in the size of a football and usually taste like one too!

So let us embrace our farmers and show them that they are as precious to us as the fruits that they grow, and demand that every government should undertake to redress this risk-versus-reward imbalance and tilt the scales away from the middlemen, who are usually rolling in it, and towards the millions of small farms that are constantly being rolled over.

- Ironically, the most abominable source of injustice in our society comes from the very people we pay to protect us, namely the Army. We may have the illusion of civilian rule but in reality the most influential and powerful seat in Thailand is not occupied by the Prime Minister but by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

PM Abhisit Vejjajiva constantly reminds us that everyone has to play by the rules. But when the rules - in this case the 1997 charter affectionately called "The People's Constitution" - can be torn up in broad daylight by the 2006 coup d'etat and rewritten to suit the purposes of the military junta, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out why the "Rule of Law" has ceased to exist and in its place is Thailand's own special brand of "Law of Rule".

The "Law of Rule" makes it very clear that in this Kingdom the military has absolute power and is above the law because it appoints its own generals to positions of strategic importance, allocates its own overblown budget for military spending and answers to nobody.

I am in agreement with the prime minister when he constantly asks every citizen wearing a red or yellow shirt to adhere to "The Rule of Law". But in this case it is the law itself that is perceived by many Thais to be unjust, because there seems to be one set of rules for the general public and an entirely different set of rules for the Army.

Glaringly obvious double standards when it comes to the law and its implementation has me wondering why Mr Abhisit unrelentingly refers to the "Rule of Law" with the conviction and faith of an orthodox Jew praying on the Temple Mount.

The GT200 scandal is a clear example of how the Army can blatantly ignore the concerns of a nation and defy the will of a prime minister.

In my view, the 76-billion-baht question is why Mr Abhisit is forcing the "Rule of Law" down our throats when real and meaningful justice is actually very easy to swallow and can be perceived and embraced in the hearts and minds of the public.

I'm afraid justice will never be perceived in Thaksin's 76-billion-baht case because it was tainted by the degenerate deliverance of the Army and its construction of a shoddy toll-free expressway to justice, called the Assets Scrutiny Committee.

To be honest, I disagreed and abhorred many things the Thaksin administration was involved with, but getting rid of an unlawful person - however gruesome that individual might be - by using unlawful means is simply not just and should be condemned in a nation of laws.So therein lies the problem: where does society go from here? What rules and whose laws do we obey?

Even if Thaksin is one day caught and thrown in Thailand's darkest and most decadent dungeons, our journey back to being a nation of laws is a long and winding road, because regrettably in Thailand some of those that we have entrusted to protect and enforce the "Rule of Law" seem to think that they need not observe the "Rule of Law.""

Songkran Grachangnetara is an entrepreneur. He graduated from The London School of Economics and Columbia University.

Divided loyalties

5 March 2010 - The Economist

"In Thailand politics has long been about compromise rather than conviction. Political parties run on expediency, not ideology, which makes it possible to cobble together all manner of oddball coalitions. But in recent years pragmatism has given way to more rigid loyalties. Rival camps rally their base with fiery talk of an all-out struggle for the nation’s soul, all the while tugging relentlessly at its seams.

Might compromise yet make a comeback? Some scented a whiff of detente on February 26th, when the Supreme Court ruled on the family fortune of the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. But that still seems wishful thinking. The nine judges found Mr Thaksin guilty of abusing his powers while in office to favour Shin Corp, his family-owned telecoms group, which was sold in January 2006 to Temasek, a Singaporean sovereign-wealth fund. The court decided to seize $1.4 billion of the $2.3 billion in proceeds from that sale, which had been frozen after the army deposed Mr Thaksin in September 2006.

In theory that leaves a tidy sum for Mr Thaksin to live it up in self-exile in Dubai. The remaining $900m represents the value of the family’s stake in Shin Corp before Mr Thaksin became prime minister in 2001. But that money is unlikely to be returned soon, if at all. A large tax bill has to be paid. The court’s verdict exposes Mr Thaksin and his family to a range of civil and criminal charges. Prosecutors may go after members of his cabinet and officials accused of helping Shin Corp. The government can also try to claw back lost revenue from Shin Corp, and particularly its lucrative mobile-phone unit, AIS.

Mr Thaksin lost no time in attacking the verdict and urging his red-shirt supporters to seek justice. Political life is “really tough”, he moaned. A mass rally in Bangkok is planned on March 14th, with the aim of unseating the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, and forcing fresh elections. Red-shirt leaders claim that 1m people will converge on the capital, by road and river, to join a “people’s war against the elite” over several days. The actual crowds are likely to be more modest, admit rally organisers, but the incendiary rhetoric is menacing, as are the drumbeats from the army as it prepares for a possible repeat of last April, when troops battled red-shirted protesters for control of Bangkok.

That bout of anarchy went down poorly with Bangkokians, including the so-called silent majority. This is the group that Mr Abhisit probably had in mind when he urged Thais to pay close attention to the Supreme Court’s fine-grained verdict, which took more than six hours to read aloud. By exhibiting to this group Mr Thaksin’s corruption and greed, the government hopes to discredit his legacy and hurt his proxies in a future election. It has also indulged in fear-mongering over disruptive red-shirt rallies. A spate of mysterious after-hours grenade attacks on banks and government buildings has stoked a sense of unease over what lies ahead.

Unsurprisingly, the court ruling failed to change the minds of many reds, who believe that the legal system is rigged. But this movement has long outgrown its casus belli, Mr Thaksin’s downfall. It now sees injustice behind every door. Alarmingly for those still hoping for a quietly stitched-up compromise, it is infused with revolutionary bile. In recent months it has snapped at the heels of advisers to King Bhumibol Adulyadej and framed its fight as a long-overdue reckoning for Thailand’s elite. “Our time is coming…and their power is weakening more and more,” says Somyos Prueksakasemsuk, a leftist red leader.

Last September King Bhumibol was admitted to hospital with a lung infection and other ailments. A day after the court ruling, he briefly left for a palace function. He has begun to resume some duties from hospital, but a royal succession looms as the unspoken backdrop to Thailand’s crisis. Any compromise that pacifies Mr Thaksin needs the blessing of the revered monarch. None seems forthcoming. Instead, says a palace source, the Supreme Court verdict sent its own clear message: “Here’s some money, now go away.”"

The Last Four Minutes of Air France Flight 447
By Gerald Traufetter from Der Spiegel on 25 February 2010.

Warning - this is a long article. And it is inevitably speculative as the flight data recorders have never been recovered. But there does appear to be a consensus that the pitot tubes failed and the airspeed display was unavailable - remember this was in a storm at night.

What we know for sure:

The flight lost airspeed data. Losing airspeed data should only be a major inconvenience which severely increases flight crew workload. But it should not compromise flight safety, unless something else goes terribly wrong.

There was a very telling note from a contributor to Airways magazine this month writing about transatlantic crossings on a A330. And he noted almost as an aside that when things go wrong on an Airbus they do go wrong quickly.

The other speculation on AF447 is that the captain was resting and it was the less experienced crew members that were flying the airplane.

From Der Speigel : "The crash of Air France flight 447 from Rio to Paris last year is one of the most mysterious accidents in the history of aviation. After months of investigation, a clear picture has emerged of what went wrong. The reconstruction of the horrific final four minutes reveal continuing safety problems in civil aviation.

One tiny technical failure heralded the impending disaster. But the measurement error was so inconspicuous that the pilots in the cockpit of the Airbus A330 probably hardly noticed it.

Air France flight 447 had been in the air for three hours and 40 minutes since taking off from Rio de Janeiro on the evening of May 31, 2009. Strong turbulence had been shaking the plane for half an hour, and all but the hardiest frequent flyers were awake.

Suddenly the gauge indicating the external temperature rose by several degrees, even though the plane was flying at an altitude of 11 kilometers (36,000 feet) and it hadn't got any warmer outside. The false reading was caused by thick ice crystals forming on the sensor on the outside of the plane. These crystals had the effect of insulating the detector. It now appears that this is when things started going disastrously wrong.

Flying through thunderclouds over the Atlantic, more and more ice was hurled at the aircraft. In the process, it knocked out other, far more important, sensors: the pencil-shaped airspeed gauges known as pitot tubes.

One alarm after another lit up the cockpit monitors. One after another, the autopilot, the automatic engine control system, and the flight computers shut themselves off. "It was like the plane was having a stroke," says Gérard Arnoux, the head of the French pilots union SPAF.

The final minutes of flight AF 447 had begun. Four minutes after the airspeed indicator failed, the plane plunged into the ocean, killing all 228 people on board.

Few airline crashes in recent years have subsequently unnerved passengers to quite the same extent. "How was it possible that an Airbus from such an apparently safe airline could simply disappear?" they wondered.

Passengers on the Rio-Paris route are still uneasy as they board their plane. After the accident, the flight number was changed to AF 445. Many frequent flyers have since opted for daytime flights across the Atlantic because pilots can recognize storm fronts more easily during the day.

Another large-scale search for the stricken plane's "black box" flight recorders is due to begin in the coming weeks. Once again some 2,000 square kilometers (800 square miles) of mountainous ocean floor will be swept, some of it by a submarine from from the northern German city of Kiel. "We shouldn't speculate about the causes of the accident until the search has been completed," says Jean-Paul Troadec, the director of the French air crash investigation agency BEA.

Other experts are less guarded in their comments. "We know pretty well why the accident happened," says union boss Arnoux.

'An Accident Like This Could Happen Again'

Over the course of several months of investigation, experts have gathered evidence that allows them to reconstruct with relative accuracy what happened on board during those last four minutes. It has also brought to light a safety flaw that affects all jet airplanes currently in service. "An accident like this could happen again at any time," Arnoux predicts.

Experts reconstructed dozens of incidents involving Airbus planes to try to piece together the puzzle of this particular disaster. Plane wreckage and body parts give crucial clues as to what brought the plane down. Crash investigators also conducted detailed analyses of the 24 automatic fault messages that the aircraft sent to Air France headquarters by satellite in the run-up to the accident. One particular message -- the very last one transmitted before impact -- could solve the mystery surrounding flight AF 447.

A half moon lit up the Atlantic Ocean on the night of May 31, offering reasonably favorable conditions for a flight through the dangerous intertropical convergence zone. That's where violent thunderstorms rage and columns of thick clouds bar the way like an aerial obstacle course. In addition to the on-board radar, the moon helps pilots identify dangerous cloud formations and take appropriate measures.

On the night of the tragedy, other planes diverted their flight paths and took a detour around the danger zone.

Why then did flight AF 447 head straight into the deadly storm system? Is it possible that the tragedy began even before the plane took off?

Galeão Airport, Rio de Janeiro, 6pm local time: Preparation for takeoff

Captain Marc Dubois, 58, goes through the flight plan of AF 447: He enters a starting weight of 232.757 tons into the on-board computer, 243 kilograms less than the maximum permissible weight for the A330. As well as the passengers' luggage, the ground crews load 10 tons of freight into the cargo bay. Dubois has more than 70 tons of kerosene pumped into the fuel tanks. That sounds a lot more than it actually is, because the plane consumes up to 100 kilograms of kerosene every minute. The fuel reserves don't give much leeway.

It's only by means of a trick that the captain can even reach Paris without going under the legally required minimum reserves of kerosene that must still be in the plane's tanks upon arrival in the French capital. A loophole allows him to enter Bordeaux -- which lies several hundred kilometers closer than Paris -- as the fictitious destination for his fuel calculations.

"Major deviation would therefore no longer have been possible anymore," says Gerhard Hüttig, an Airbus pilot and professor at the Berlin Technical University's Aerospace Institute. If worse came to worst, the pilot would have to stop and refuel in Bordeaux, or maybe even in Lisbon. "But pilots are very reluctant to do something like that," Hüttig adds. After all, it makes the flight more expensive, causes delays and is frowned upon by airline bosses.

After takeoff, Dubois quickly takes the plane up to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet (10.6 kilometers), an altitude known as "flight level 350." According to his kerosene calculations, he has to climb far further, to above 11 kilometers, where the thin air reduces his fuel consumption.

It's not known whether he actually reached this altitude. Three hours after leaving Rio, Captain Dubois contacted Brazilian air traffic control for the last time. "Flight level 350," he reported. It was to be his last communication with the outside world.

Minute One: The Sensors Fail

It's hard to imagine a more precarious situation, even for pilots with nerves of steel: Flying through a violent thunderstorm that shakes the entire plane as the master warning lamp starts blinking on the instrument panel in front of you. An earsplitting alarm rings out, and a whole series of error messages suddenly flash up on the flight motor.

The crew immediately recognized that the three airspeed indicators all gave different readings. "A situation like that goes well a hundred times and badly once," says Arnoux, who flies an Airbus A320 himself.

The responsible pilot now had very little time to choose the correct flight angle and the correct engine thrust. This is the only way he could be certain to keep flying on a stable course and maintain steady airflow across the wings if he didn't know the plane's actual speed. The co-pilot must therefore look up the two safe values in a table in the relevant handbook -- at least that's the theory.

"In practice, the plane is shaken about so badly that you have difficulty finding the right page in the handbook, let alone being able to decipher what it says," says Arnoux. "In situations like that, mistakes are impossible to rule out."

Danger of Icing Up

Aerospace experts have long known how dangerous it can be if the airspeed indicators fail because the pitot tubes ice up. In 1998, for example, a Lufthansa Airbus circling over Frankfurt Airport lost its airspeed indicator, and a potential tragedy was only averted when the ice melted as the plane descended. At the time, German air accident investigators at the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) in Braunschweig demanded that the specifications of the pitot tubes be changed to enable "unrestricted flight in severely icy conditions."

As early as 2005, the French aerospace company Thales, which manufactures the pitot tubes used on flight AF 447, set up a project group called Adeline to search for new technical solutions to the problem. According to a Thales document, loss of the airspeed indicators "could cause aircraft crashes, especially in cases in which the sensors ice up."

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus was well aware of the shortcomings of the Thales pitot tubes. An internal list kept by the airline manufacturer shows there were nine incidents involving them between May and October 2008 alone.

More than two months before the Air France crash, the issue had been raised at a meeting between Airbus and the European Aviation Safety Agency. However, the EASA decided against banning the particularly error-prone pitot tubes made by Thales.

In fact, the problem with the airspeed indicators lies far deeper. To this day, the relevant licensing bodies still only test pitot tubes down to temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) and an altitude of about 9,000 meters (30,000 feet). These completely antiquated specifications date back to 1947 -- before the introduction of jet planes.

What's more, most of the incidents of recent years, including that involving the ill-fated flight AF 447, occurred at altitudes above 10,000 meters (33,000 feet).

Minute Two: Loss of Control

Did the pilots on flight AF 447 know about the airspeed indicator failures experienced by colleagues on nine other aircraft belonging to their own airline? Air France had indeed distributed a note about this to all its pilots, albeit as part of several hundred pages of information that pilots find in their inbox every week. One thing is certain: The pilots on flight AF 447 had never trained in a flight simulator for a high-altitude breakdown of the airspeed indicator.

The situation in the cockpit was made even more difficult by the fact that the flight computer of the A330 put itself into a kind of emergency program. The plane's digital brain usually supervises all activity by its pilots -- at least, as long as its sensors provide reliable data. Without a speed reading, the computer more or -less throws in the towel, which doesn't make things easier for the pilots.

"The controls suddenly feel completely different to the pilot," says flight expert Hüttig. The sheer complexity of the Airbus' systems makes it difficult to control in critical phases of the flight. It would be easier for pilots if they could simply switch the computer off in critical situations, as is possible on Boeing planes.

Pitot tubes sometimes also fail on Boeing aircraft. When SPIEGEL contacted the American Federal Aviation Administration, the body which oversees civilian flight in the US, the FAA confirmed that there had been eight such incidents on a Boeing 777, three on a 767, and one each on a 757 and a Jumbo. Boeing is currently conducting a study on the safety effects of "high-altitude pitot icing on all models in its product line," says FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette. The FAA did not, however, identify "any safety issues arising" during these incidents.

Could it therefore be that the flight computer, which is hard to manage in emergencies, actually contributed to the loss of control by the Airbus pilots? Air-safety experts Hüttig and Arnoux are demanding an immediate investigation into how the Airbus system reacts to a failure of its airspeed sensors.

Unexpected Reaction

In early March, the BFU in Germany is due to publish the findings of its investigation into the near-crash of a Lufthansa A320 two years ago at Fuhlsbüttel Airport in Hamburg, a report that will undoubtedly prove uncomfortable reading for Airbus. In that incident, an unexpected reaction by the flight computer caused the jet's left wing to scrape along the runway while landing. The BFU is due to issue 12 safety recommendations, some of which concern Airbus' computer programs.

So far, it's unclear who was controlling the Air France plane in its final minutes. Was it the experienced flight captain, Dubois, or one of his two first officers? Typically, a captain retreats to his cabin to rest a while after takeoff. Indeed, there's corroborative evidence to suggest that the captain was not sitting in the cockpit at the time of the crash: His body was recovered from the Atlantic, whereas those of his two copilots sank to the bottom of the ocean still attached to their seats. This would suggest that Dubois was not wearing a seatbelt.

In contrast to many other airlines, it is standard practice at Air France for the less experienced of the two copilots to take the captain's seat when the latter is not there. The experienced copilot remains in his seat on the right-hand side of the cockpit. Under normal circumstances, that is not a problem, but in emergencies it can increase the likelihood of a crash.

As a consequence, it was probably the plane's third pilot, Pierre-Cédric Bonin, a dashing amateur yachtsman, who steered the aircraft to its doom. Bonin's wife was also on board, while their two children were at home with their grandfather.

Minute Three: Freefall

Not long after the airspeed indicator failed, the plane went out of control and stalled. Presumably the airflow over the wings failed to provide lift. Arnoux, from the pilots' union, estimates that the plane fell toward the sea at about 42 meters per second (95 mph) -- almost the same speed as a freefalling parachutist.

Arnoux's version of events is based in part on the timing of a transmitted error message about the equalization of pressure between the cabin and the outside of the plane, which usually happens at 2,000 meters (7,000 feet) above sea level. Had the airplane nosedived, this alarm would have been triggered earlier. "It takes almost exactly four minutes to freefall from cruising altitude to sea level," Arnoux says.

According to this scenario, the pilots would have been forced to watch helplessly as their plane lost its lift. That theory is supported by the fact that the airplane remained intact to the very end. Given all the turbulence, it is therefore possible that the passengers remained oblivious to what was happening. After all, the oxygen masks that have been recovered had not dropped down from the ceiling because of a loss of pressure. What's more, the stewardesses weren't sitting on their emergency seats, and the lifejackets remained untouched. "There is no evidence whatsoever that the passengers in the cabin had been prepared for an emergency landing," says BEA boss Jean-Paul Troadec.

Two seemingly insignificant lines from the warning reports transmitted by the aircraft show how desperately the pilots fought to keep control. They read "F/CTL PRIM 1 FAULT" and "F/CTL SEC 1 FAULT".

This somewhat cryptic shorthand suggest the pilots tried desperately to restart the flight computer. "It's like trying to turn your car engine off and then on again while driving along the motorway at night at 180 kilometers an hour (110mph)," says Arnoux.

The attempt to resuscitate the on-board computer proved unsuccessful. For the last 600 meters (2,000 feet) before impact, the pilots' efforts would have been accompanied by the chilling calls of an automated male voice: "Terrain! Terrain! Pull up! Pull up!"

Minute Four: Impact

More than 200 tons of metal, plastic, kerosene and human bodies smashed into the sea. The sheer force of the impact is described in the forensic report, which lists in graphic detail how lungs were torn apart and bones were shredded end to end. Some of the passengers were sliced in half by their seatbelt.

Much of the debris that has been recovered is no larger than a square meter (10 square feet). The shear-lines run at a conspicuous angle. This shows that the plane did not plunge vertically into the sea, but rather hit the water like a flat hand, with the nose of the aircraft pointing upwards at a five-degree angle. Of particular interest is the large tailfin that was recovered from the ocean by the Brazilian navy. This was ripped from its anchoring and catapulted forwards. From this, it can be deduced that the A330 was brought to a halt with a force more than 36 times that of normal gravity: 36g.

Although Airbus continues to play down the significance of the pitot tubes in the crash of its A330, the company's engineers have since developed new technologies that will detect the breakdown of airspeed sensors even before takeoff. Airbus registered a patent for this technology in the US on Dec. 3, 2009. In the words of the patent application, errors in speed measurements "can have catastrophic consequences."

For several years now, Airbus has offered its customers a special safety program - called "Buss" -- at a cost of €300,000 per aircraft. If the airspeed indicator fails, this software shows pilots the angle at which they must point the plane.

Up to now, Air France has chosen not to invest in this optional extra for its fleet."

BKK rail link delayed again

5 March 2010

Somehow this will also have to be blamed on Thaksin. As the The State Railway of Thailand again delayed the opening of its Airport Rail Link after it found the developer Siemens would be unable to finish the railway on time. Can the German connection be blamed?

No one seems to want to ask a Siemens spokesperson to comment on the delay.

SRT governor Yutthana Thapcharoen yesterday said his agency had planned to start commercial services between inner Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi airport next month, but Siemens was not ready to hand over the system.

The opening would be put off for at least a few more months. Indefinately !

Mr Yutthana said Siemens had not installed all 70 surveillance cameras required along the railway. Radio communications do not cover the link's tunnel at the airport and the power supply for the railway was not yet stable. The installation of the cameras should be finished next week, and Siemens would then turn its attention to the radio communications and put in place a back-up power supply.

"The power supply is a big problem," Mr Yuthana said. "It must pass tests. Trains will stop if the service starts and encounters a blackout."

Given the trains run off overhead electric cables this would seem to be stating the obvious.

He said there were also other smaller problems. He had ordered staff to report any problems so he could alert the SRT board, which would then find ways to solve them, or more likely to blame someone else for them.

Mr Yuthana said it would take three more months to test the 28km, 26 billion baht system after Siemens handed it over to the SRT. The agency will seek compensation from the German company for the delays, Mr Yutthana said, while busily clutching at straws.

As transparent as a foggy day

5 March 2010

The ratings agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) says that Dubai World officials prevented the ratings agency from a proper assessment of conditions at the holding company.

The regional head of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has criticised the handling of the Dubai World debt restructuring, claiming that “there was no transparency whatsoever” in dealings with his ratings agency.

“We were trying to speak with everyone [Dubai World officials] from high to low – at the low level they were just as surprised as we were,” Jan Willem Plantagie, S&P’s managing director and regional manager Middle East told Arabian Business.

“At the high level, we couldn’t reach people. Some people wouldn’t comment – and it’s on that basis that you have to make your assessments.”

The executive also admitted that S&P could have changed its assumptions on the level of government support to Dubai World prior to the latter’s debt announcement in November.

“With the benefit of hindsight many things could have been viewed differently, including assumptions on government support,” Plantagie said.

“Having said that, clear statements from the top never gave rise to the suspicion that support would not be forthcoming.”

But Plantagie also claimed that the agency had constantly highlighted the potential problems linked to Dubai World property subsidiary Nakheel.

“We actually published a credit FAQ in October last year highlighting what would happen if this [government support] was not coming forward,” the S&P boss stated.

“So while at the time we assumed this support would be forthcoming, and that was based on comments of the highest officials here in Dubai, we had outlined scenarios about how to proceed if support was not there.”

“When you talk about general processes here in Dubai with Dubai World, yes, there is no transparency whatsoever,” Plantagie commented.

Dubai World declined to comment.

Back on 25 January Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group announced that it had dropped S&P as its rating agency due to S&P's  lack of understanding of the Dubai Holding's business, its operations and relationship with the Government of Dubai.

Dubai Holdings said that it had been engaging with S&P and sharing adequate information frequently and in a transparent manner, yet S&P had nevertheless issued inaccurate statements coupled with factual errors that are misleading.

Dubai Holdings assured the investor community that it would continue to work closely with other rating agencies and directly with investors in full transparency. Which must be why when you look at teh company web site the  last annual report the Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group 2007 annual report.

Markets move based upon information and rumour. In Dubai's case there is no information. In the financial industry "no news is bad news!" Dubai's state directed companies do need to understand how to respond to the media and related agencies if Dubai is to salvage international investor confidence and its reputation.

Space Twitterer

3 March 2010

Tweeting from space is something that few of us will ever get to do. And there is something rather remarkable about being able to send an instant note or picture to thouasands of people from orbit some 200 miles above the Earth,

Soichi Noguchi is a Japanese astronaut on the International Space station.

And he is the first astronaut to take twitter and youtube into space and let us all share in what he sees.

His twitter account is here.

The ISS web site is here. Soichi-san is one of five astonauts on board the space station.

He has posted some fabulous pictures from all around the world. Worth a look!

Is Dubai attracting illegal trade?

3 March 2010 - Al-Jazeera

"Dubai, with its glamour and glitz, is often described as Las Vegas without the gambling.

But the Middle East's answer to "sin city" has a sinister side rarely found in Nevada.

Afghan drug runners, Russian mafia and Somali pirates are just a few of the shady groups believed to be contributing to a reputation that most in Dubai prefer to ignore.

An assassination, suspected to be the work of the Mossad Israeli spy agency, may be what is making news at the moment but one does not have to dig deep to unearth many more examples of Dubai's secret seedy underbelly.

Although occurrence of petty crime is negligible and it is much safer to walk around at night than many cities of similar size, Dubai is gaining a reputation as a place to exterminate one's enemies - and get away with it.

The murder in January of top Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was not the first time Dubai was chosen as the venue for assassination.

In March 2009, a former Chechen rebel-turned-Russian-war-hero was killed at another luxurious Dubai address.

Sulim Yamadayev was shot in the back of the head with a gold-plated gun in the basement of the Jumeirah Beach Residences where he lived with his wife and six children.

At the time, Dubai's Police Chief Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said his city would not become a venue for "Chechen dirty payback" and demanded that Russia "control these killers from Chechnya".

Two men are currently facing trial for aiding and abetting the assassination but Yamadayev's killers are still free.

The Kremlin refuses to extradite seven Russian citizens - one of whom is a member of the Russian Parliament - wanted for questioning in the case. It is a scenario likely to be faced again if the 26 suspects in the al-Mabhouh murder are ever found, ensuring that Dubai's reputation for liquidations remains intact.

"There is an image problem definitely and I think its part of what I would call celebratory tax," says Habib al-Mulla, one of the United Arab Emirates top lawyers well-versed in Dubai's criminal history, and a former government spokesperson.

"When you become a superstar it's obvious that you will have critics," he adds in reference to the harsh treatment his home city receives from many corners of the media, especially in British tabloids where truth apparently does not get in the way of some good old-fashioned "Dubai bashing."

In 2001, US media cited Washington reports that much of the money spent to finance the September 11 attacks had transited from Pakistan via Dubai.

The following year, the UAE passed a restrictive anti-money laundering law which would impose prison sentences and hefty fines.

Nevertheless, reports surfaced in 2008 that Somali pirates had laundered ransom money for seized ships in the Gulf of Aden through Dubai.

UAE authorities are often tight-lipped about such cases, which does little to aid their cause.

The UAE Central Bank vehemently denies that Dubai is a haven for money laundering.

Despite months of requests to film or interview anyone associated with its anti-money laundering unit, the UAE has never granted Al Jazeera access.

But al-Mulla believes that Dubai's decision to make public, comprehensive surveillance footage of the 26 European and Australian passport holders in the Mabhouh investigation may be a step in the right direction.

"The action Dubai police have taken is a very clear example that Dubai is becoming mature, they are learning how to deal with these issues," he said.

"The fact that they have revealed and exposed all the facts before the international media is a strong and great achievement and will lift the level of security here because people will think twice before they commit a crime in Dubai anymore."

But it's not just assassinations and money laundering affecting Dubai's reputation.

Afghanistan's opium kings, Somalia's pirates and Iranian and Indian mafia are all believed to use Dubai as a key staging post for their illicit activities.

In a report on Afghanistan's opium trade, a senior UN official in Kabul said "the favourite hidey-hole for money was Dubai."

The report, which was commissioned by the US Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations, also states that UAE authorities have intercepted couriers arriving at Dubai airport from Afghanistan with "millions of dollars in suitcases".

The general policy in Dubai, however, has been that "couriers are simply required to declare the cash and allowed to move on."

Titled Afghanistan's narco war: Breaking the link between drug traffickers and insurgents, the report goes on to say the US offered help in training inspectors at Dubai airport to "spot suspicious couriers but the effort was blocked by the UAE Central Bank".

Christopher Davidson, a policy expert on Gulf monarchies and the author of four books on the UAE, says Dubai's historical role as the Middle East's free port opens it up to a raft of shady dealings.

"With scarce natural resources and no hinterland, Dubai has survived as being the most open and attractive place to do business," Davidson said.

"And that means all kinds of business, from the smuggling of goods into India in the 1950s to full blown Mafia activity and money-laundering today."

According to Davidson, the Dubai World debt debacle and plunging real estate prices will bring its traditional role as a free port back to the fore.

"Despite recent protests about passport security, the emirate will continue to be the easiest place in the region to clean dirty laundry," he said."

Tea, coffee or my uniform

3 March 2010

Since its humiliating bankruptcy in January, Japan Airlines has faced mass layoffs, customer fury and national shame, but its worst nightmare may yet lie ahead: a potentially thriving black market for the uniforms worn by its air stewardesses.

With 1,300 stewardesses' jobs going by the end of March, JAL is taking steps to discourage employees from looking to boost their income by selling off their uniforms. The message has gone out that the airline will prosecute in cases of theft.

For decades, the crisp, no-nonsense outfits have appealed to male Japanese tastes. New Japan Airlines (JAL) uniforms have long been in demand in the local sex industry for customers keen on role-playing fantasies, while rare specimens that have actually been worn are hugely sought after by fetishists and are worth their weight in gold.

Countless shops will sell a very credible imitation for a few thousand yen, but the real thing can fetch a fortune. Historically, says Yu Teramoto, the owner of a specialist costumier in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, real JAL outfits have been virtually impossible for buyers to lay their hands on. However, the post-bankruptcy prospect of huge layoffs at JAL - especially among uniform-wearing air-crew - raises the prospect that former staff will attempt to sell their outfits for a profit.

JAL has long been aware of the uniform's mysterious power and has been at great pains to ensure that none of the real ones ever get on to the black market. Efforts have included putting a serial number into each item of clothing, and keeping meticulous records of the exact whereabouts of garments all around the world.

The risk of a new flood of uniforms on to the black market has raised the stakes for the airlines. All Nippon Airways (ANA) - which has the same problem - has begun sewing computer chips into its stewardess uniforms so that errant skirts, jackets and hats can be tracked from space. JAL is understood to be installing a similar system.

A spokesperson for JAL described a series of measures that meant that it was "virtually impossible for an individual to hold on to their uniform after they have left their job". He admitted that a uniform of the sort worn by staff in the business-class lounge had been stolen a few years ago and had appeared on an internet auction site. JAL paid pounds 1,500 for the uniform to keep it off the market.

Mr Teramoto told The Times, however, that there had always been a few that escaped the JAL dragnet and which had found their way into specialist shops. In a notorious incident five years ago, twelve ANA uniforms were stolen during an advertising shoot. Eight were returned after a nationwide amnesty but four are still at large. Mr Teramoto claims to know of one uniform from that famous haul that sold for pounds 11,000.

Now no self respecting uniform fetishist would want an Emirates uniform; and they may find it difficult to get a Japan Air or ANA uniform. So choose another favorite. Korean Air or Air Asia?

 

Am I on Emirates?

2 March 2010

Dubai’s Emirates Airline recently suffered an embarrassing glitch concerning its in-flight entertainment system. According to a report by Bloomberg, a film playing on flights last month had the logo of Emirates’ rival, the Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad, playing intermittently in the background.

A spokesperson from the airline clarified this was due to a mere “technical error.” A bit like the same error that caused the Dubai aquarium to crack or the Burj Khalifa elevators to stop working.

“Emirates can confirm that a technical error occurred with security markings on one film,” a company spokeswoman told Bloomberg. “This error occurred during film encoding by a third-party supplier in the US and as a result has also affected a number of other airlines.”

But the timing is interesting! After all the rumors circulating about how Abu Dhabi is taking over Emirates, and all the denying by the airline’s officials, the timing of this “error” certainly seems unfortunate.

And considering the high levels of media monitoring in the UAE to ensure that films are edited and sanitized for the Emirates audience, it does seem surprising that the entertainment shown on the airline was not scrutinized more thoroughly.

As Bloomberg noted at the end of their article: “Oil-rich Abu Dhabi has provided Dubai companies with $20bn to help them weather the financial crisis. Emirates has raised more than $1.13 billion to fund new planes.”

flydubai expands GCC network

2 March 2010

flydubai, Dubai’s first low-cost airline, is expanding its GCC network to include Kuwait City and Muscat.

Flights to Muscat will begin on March 28 and services to Kuwait will commence on March 30.

Both services will operates twice a day. This takes flydubai’s network to 13 destinations.

The airline's existing 11 destinations are: Beirut, Amman, Damascus and Aleppo, Alexandria, Djibouti, Doha, Khartoum, Baku, Bahrain and Kathmandu.

The ceiling of press freedom in UAE is falling

2 March 2010 - The Gulf News - Abdullah Rasheed, Abu Dhabi Editor

It is rare for the local UAE newspapers to be self critical or critical of the overall direction of the UAE so when there is such an article it is worth noting. How does the media develop in the UAE and take on a more responsible and critical role. The answer lies in dialogue, progressive argument and gradual creeping of editorial boldness. This article is the first step on a long road. But there is a long way to go and without a bold media then there remains little need for government agencies and corporates to adopt sound media policies and sensible media relations.
 

"At long last, the Federal National Council (FNC) will finally hold a session [today] to discuss the media, having postponed four consecutive sessions for no apparent reason.

Despite the significance of the media especially with regard to the status of journalism, their plight is not given the attention it deserves. Press freedom is deteriorating and freedom of expression is in increasing danger.

Journalists are no longer doing their duty, meaning that the press is no longer monitoring the performance of government. The issues that face media professionals are numerous and cannot be resolved in one session, or in a confrontation between the FNC and the National Media Council (NMC) the body tasked with defending the media in the UAE.

Of course, the issue of Emiratising the media in general and newspapers in particular should be discussed. But the media is faced with two major challenges. The first is the unregulated media openness, represented by the huge flow of information in the foreign media. The second is the inability of the national media to compete due to the restrictions imposed on them.

This situation has led to the lack of a national methodology in management and co-ordination as well as in making use of information. There is also an inconsistency between the status of the UAE as a modern state as a result of economic development, the construction boom and social change and the clear failure of the media to cope with this progress and create a clear national identity that is capable of challenging the foreign media. The question raised on several occasions is: Do our local media enjoy a minimum degree of freedom? However, not many people have the courage to answer it and acknowledge that the ceiling of press freedom is low. Our newspapers are hardly given the freedom to tackle most issues and bring to light social, political, economic and even sports stories.

There isn't enough protection provided to journalists and self-censorship is practised by our newspapers to avoid angering official bodies and to please the government. Some newspapers even indulge in hypocrisy to please officials and the bodies they represent, and there is also full subordination to advertisers. Between all these issues, the main causes, such as freedom and Emiratisation of the media, were lost.

Take up the challenge

The FNC is requested to raise its voice in defence of press freedom and the rights of Emirati journalists, and to hold an honest and clear dialogue with official bodies responsible for the media to set things straight. It is no secret that one of the main obstacles facing the media and journalists is the total inability of the FNC to protect journalists from the mistreatment they face. Mismanagement and confusion abound in most media outlets, as a result of the lack of experience of the people running them, from editors to editors-in-chief. Some newspapers are run by people who care only about their own interests, at the expense of the public interest. As a result, most local newspapers have become unattractive employers for national journalists, whether young or experienced. Only about 10 per cent of jour nalists working in the country are Emiratis. A few years ago, the figure at some newspapers was over 40 per cent. This sharp decline in the numbe r of Emirati journalists means there has been an exodus from local newspapers.

Another point is that many veteran journalists have retired early. While most countries take pride in their veteran journalists, our media outlets pension them off when they are at the height of their powers. It is well known that the value of a journalist increases as he gets older. But here, this does not seem to be the case.

Adding to their woes, journalists battle to get even the simplest information due to the non-co-operation of most official bodies which is another issue that the NMC did nothing about. On this issue, the NMC has taken the side of the government bodies, as if it is totally unconcerned with media affairs. No official is ready to respond to a journalist, and no spokesperson provides information for any ministry or government body. The title of official spokesperson means nothing, because the spokesperson thinks he is a high-ranking official and that journalists are inferior to him, and accordingly declines to co-operate with them. As a result, most local newspapers have become carbon copies of one another, dependent on the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

Standards have declined such that newspapers carry a little news, advertisements and a few shallow words. They have also lost their role as a watchdog. The NMC and editors of newspapers ignore the fact that today's reader has changed and does not look for official statements in newspapers, because he can turn to internet news sites and forums for the information he wants. However, the most critical issue is that the government has become much more aggressive with the media and its people. The list of banned subjects is growing, and there are more instructions not to publish certain stories. Furthermore, editors-in-chief are used to applying pressure on journalists, which has turned some of these editors into representatives of the government, practising vicious censorship of their own newspapers.

As a result, the ceiling of press freedom has become lower than ever, while newspaper standards have declined due to the disappearance of articles that reveal violations and show the facts as they are. Simply put, newspapers satisfy only the advertisers. Where is the role of the NMC in protecting journalists, obliging official bodies to provide information and promoting the Emiratisation of the media? How is it possible that the Media College in the UAE is more than three decades old, but the editors-in-chief, managing editors and deputy editors of most newspapers are still non-Emiratis? We wonder."

The Games that changed a nation

1 March 2010 - The National

"It's all so big," said Manfred Oettl Reyes, a 16-year-old boy among men during these Olympic Games, "and I'm so small." He was an alpine skier from Peru, a fragment of the whole. Say it again, out loud. It's all so big, and I'm so small.

And that, in a way, sums up the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was an elephantine endeavour, a great work, a wonder. And it is not easy to wrestle with what it meant, precisely, to Vancouver, to Canada, to the world. If you lived through it, you felt something. You felt something new.

But then, not everyone lived through it. The money, the accounting -- that will be added up later. Accountants will make the numbers dance on the head of a pin, but we'll know the fiscal price.

But the real costs are counted, the ledger must begin with Nodar Kumaritashvili, the 21-year-old luger from Georgia who died before the Opening Ceremony, hurtling down a dangerous track at Whistler faster than he could manage. No matter the successes of these Olympics, his death is inseparable from this, and ever should be.

"It will be part of the Games," said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge. "Just like what happened in Munich is part of the Games. What happened in Atlanta is part of the Games."

These Games, however, continued to blossom, and they encompassed more than only an athlete dying young. It was, in the fullness of it, a Games of contradictions.

It was a Winter Olympics that could have taken place, in large part, in short sleeves. It was a Games where some of us flagellated ourselves for trying to be the best, and then we were, in a way.

And it was a moment where Canadians seemed to transform themselves. The flags worn as capes, the maple leaf face paint, the red and white riot of good feelings -- it felt, in this country, like something new.

"What's happened, for me, is all of these things together have caused a different kind of patriotism to break out here, and it's beautiful to look at, and that as a whole for me is the prize," said Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong. "There has been a euphoria here, and a change. Something has happened, and it's not just in Vancouver, it's all over the country.

"I think the country has taken a different position around these Games. They have not been spectators, they have lived every moment with us. And I think that is something that we can be proud of. I'm not sure how you describe that in a banner headline, but I'd like to think that this has been a great human occasion for the country."

Some called it a new Canadian patriotism, and perhaps that was part of it. These Games were certainly embraced on a staggering scale, from the flood of happy humanity in Vancouver's streets, to the crowds that lined up for hours to experience anything that had to do with the Olympics, to the millions of people across this country huddled around their televisions like they were prehistoric fires.

At its core, it was about our athletes. They started slowly, crashed out, and then closed with a roar, and Canada finished with more gold medals than any Winter Olympics nation in history. Sure, the USSR won 13 in Innsbruck in 1976, when there were just 37 golds awarded, as opposed to 86 here. But it's still a victory, an achievement.

And so these Games were about triumph. These Games were about Alex Bilodeau, winning and sharing gold with his brother Frederic, who has cerebral palsy; they were about Maëlle Ricker, who won gold four years after being airlifted off the course in a coma; they were about Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the most perfect love story that Canadians have ever seen; they were about Marianne St-Gelais nearly breaking with joy as she watched the love of her life, Charles Hamelin, strike gold. They were about stuff that brought tears to your eyes.

But these Games were also about the heartbreak of Paralympian Brian McKeever, who skied his way here blind, triumphed over himself, and then never got to compete, and wrote of it, "Olympic dream over. Don't think I've ever been so sad."

They were about how Brian Burke laid his hand on the chest of his dead son Brendan for the two-hour flight home from Indiana, buried his boy, and then came to the Olympics and tried to cry a little less each day.

And these Games was about Joannie Rochette skating three days after her mother, Thérèse, dropped dead of a heart attack. How could anybody skate after that?

And yet somehow Joannie went out there and she held everything inside her and she skated the best damned short program of her whole damned life, so strong, so in the moment. And the second it was over her face crumpled, and it was such raw and crippling grief that when the cameras zoomed in, you almost wanted to look away, because it was too much.

But you couldn't. Because there was nothing more beautiful than what she did. That was, in just under three minutes, the fullness of humanity.

And that is what this Olympic Games, as much as any Olympic Games, was about; the human spirit being ignited, the human spirit enduring, and sometimes, the human spirit being snuffed out, far too soon. Rochette said, "I guess I inspired a lot of people, but ... "

But she'd trade it all to get her mom back. And she can't. In life, in sports, some things are irrevocable. Every victory, every defeat, every tragedy, every wonder, everything -- it is all done, and there is no going back, for the athletes or the country. These Olympics may have changed us as Canadians, but maybe it just reminded us who we are.

Patriotism is not about licensed apparel; one is a cause, and the other a symptom, and I feel like saying this was a new patriotism is too simple. We have always been proud of this grand experiment, proud to be Canadian, proud of who exactly we were. I feel like this was not just a flowering of the Canadian heart, but a revelation of it. It had always been there, beating away. We just decided to let the world see it. And we let ourselves see it, too.

"This," incoming Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut said, "was nation-building at its best."

In accepting the flag for the Closing Ceremony, Rochette said of the Canadian Olympic team that it was "la plus belle famille que je peut avoir." She could have been speaking for this nation, these past two weeks. We are too often separate, a nation of two solitudes, or more than two.

But it felt good to be joined together, like this. The tapestry of Canada is vast, but these Games fused our country's small people into something bigger, something grander, something more. We were small, but we were made so big. Rochette, before she carried our flag Sunday night, said, "I've been carried by so many Canadians, so it's an honour for me to carry them into that stadium."

That is what this was. It was us.

Chiang Mai's Charm

1 March 2010

Chiang Mai is an unlikely second city for a nation the size of Thailand. In many ways it serves as a reminder of just how dominant Bangkok is to Thailand's economy, industry and politics.

Chiang Mai is quiet compared to the nation's capital. And their is a charm and a welcome that do not exist in Bangkok. Chiang Mai is still traditionally Thai. Bangkok has so many of the excesses and frustrations of any other Asian capital city.

There are only a handful of international flights - Korean comes twice a week and there are flights from Laos and Taiwan. But the majority of flights are from Bangkok. The airport remains very quiet and very provincial; Phuket is certainly a busier airport now.

Yes Chiang Mai has become busier. There are traffic jams; there is summer pollution when the heat and fumes get stuck over the city. But in February the days are warm and the evenings are cool.

There are few better ways to spend the evening than to eat a good meal by the river; have a few drinks and listen to decent cover bands playing western or thai music. Then after dinner walk back through the night market; which will start to close up shop by midnight.

You can stay at big international hotels. The Intercontinental hotel recently opened in the night market. D2 is a trendier offshoot of its Dusit parent. We stayed at the equally central Yaang Come Village where the rooms are in traditional lanna houses around a central pool. The staff are thoroughly friendly and efficient. The mosquitoes can be a pest anywhere in the city so use repellant.

We went to the temple at Doi Suthep. We went to the Zoo. That was a surprise. It is a huge space and you are best to take the zoo bus to get around. How many zoos have a 7-11 convenience store inside the zoo ! It is very green, set in trees and hills. Yes we saw Lin Ping - Chiang Mai's most famous resident - the baby panda is over 8 months old now. There is also a temple within the grounds.  

We walked around the old town. It was warm. And maybe we tried to walk too much. But it was interesting to explore within the old moated city. And there is always somewhere to stop for iced coffee or food.

We got up early on the last morning to see the monks out gathering their food from the city's residents. There is also an early morning market. No one will starve. And again everyone was smiling and welcoming.

And we took some pictures. Go to Chaiya Studio in the night market. We were all dressed up in old style Thai clothing; we were made up as well. And standing in an old style setting for the portraits our photographer took some 100 pictures. And while he was taking the pictures he was singing old style Thai songs wired with a microphone and with backing music playing. He loves his work and it was a show!

For Baht 2000, we have a cd of all the pictures, 6 12x10 inch pictures, a calendar and 15 postcard sized shots. Good fun.

While I was living in Thailand I should have spent more time traveling to Chiang Mai. It is a thoroughly enjoyable and rather timeless escape from the capiatl.

Global Village accident

28 February 2010

The Gulf News is reporting that one person was killed and 15 people were injured after a partial collapse of the Indian pavilion at the Global Village on Saturday.

Police said the person killed was a woman, but they could not yet identify her nationality.

The area was cordoned off after the incident, which authorities said was due to extremely heavy rains that lashed Dubai and other emirates.

The rain on Saturday also caused traffic delays in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah due to low visibility and clustered waters on the roads.