Cuba

Palacio de Valle in Cienfuegos

I've been home from Cuba for a couple of days, long enough for impressions to solidify.

It's a country unlike any other I've ever visited. I was expecting similarities between Vietnam and Cuba, given that they are both societies dealing with the withdrawal of support from Soviet Russia when the wall fell.

Indeed there are similarities, but the differences are more consequential than the similarities.

Music is everywhere

Both are nominally Communist states, but the way they operate is very different.

In Vietnam, I saw entrepreneurship. I didn't see that in Cuba. In Vietnam I saw energetic competition. I saw none of that in Cuba. Both exhibit strong nationalistic values, but the Cubans are more laid back about it than the Vietnamese.

The differences consolidate for me the belief that the mantle of Marxism rests more gently on Vietnam than it does on Cuba, and that independence was the critical issue for Vietnam, but for Cuba, the issue was revolution.

Che Guevara's house

Indeed, both are fiercely independent nations, but what the respective pasts they separated themselves from is different. The Vietnamese were weary of decades of invading armies, whereas Cuba was subject to a different kind of invasion - essentially economic.

Unfortunately for Cuba, the control of the state over enterprise has stifled many opportunities, especially around tourism. The Vietnamese on the other hand have exploited tourism.

There has not been the equivalent of Doi Moi in Cuba. The locals rate the pope's visit in 2015 as the most significant recent event that began to open the country to economic progress. They talk about back channel approaches to the US administration.

Many believe these alleged approaches from the Vatican set up Obama's visit in 2016.

They will tell you that for a short while after Obama's visit, there were changes, but now the status quo has returned.

Trump has his Florida base to think about.

Whatever. Cuba is a fascinating travel destination. It is safe, comparatively cheap, and the blend of architecture, music, food and history is irresistible.

Then there are the cars - but that's another story.

 

The Wall

Visiting the Vietnam Veteran’s wall in Washington DC has been on my bucket list ever since it was built.

The concept was a master stroke of simplicity.

It was built in remembrance of the 58000 plus US service personnel who lost their lives during the war. What more fitting way to honour them than to simply write their names in stone. The fact that there were so many creates the scale of the memorial.

For me, it was the scale that was impactful. It’s simply staggering, and frankly overwhelming.

Any veteran not moved by this tribute is made of stone. I encountered a three tour marine who had been stationed in Phuoc Tuy, so we had a small something in common.

He said, through tears, as we parted - “What a waste!”

I had to agree with him.

Because Vietnam was such a divisive conflict, any memorial needed to be quarantined from the division. The stark simplicity of a list of names does this so well.

9/11 Revisited

Most of us can remember where we were and what we were doing on September 11th 2001.

I’m no exception, and recall watching the television coverage until the early hours of the morning. To visit the site of the event which shaped the beginning of the twenty first century was impactful.

The museum that has been built to commemorate the event is an amazing example of the cooperation of many agencies, and its presentation and interpretation of the 9/11 story is mind boggling.

It also serves as a memorial to the 2977 people who were killed and the more than 6000 who were injured.

It’s also a remarkable piece of engineering. The new One World Trade Centre that replaced the twin towers is a spectacular example of contemporary architecture.

I was surprised to run into an Australian working as a volunteer. His accent gave him away.

Last of the Jumbos

This dear reader, is the fifteen year old 747-400 which got us to the big Apple. Excuse the pole in the middle. It was the best I could do.  Registration is VH-OEF.

 It is difficult to photograph an aircraft when you’re sitting in it.

Our plane was one of the four (I think) 747s remaining in Qantas colours. They are being phased out in favour of 787 Dreamliners, but frankly, I was OK with the big bird. Our plane was roomy, refurbished, and comfortable. Surprisingly, it also wasn’t full, and we had empty seats in our row.

It also had state of the art in-flight entertainment which occasionally reset itself. Mostly it was great, with heaps of late run movies.

This is a bad pic of the range of entertainment options.

Qantas tucker is OK. This is lunch (Cuban beef) with mashed potato.

And this was breakfast. Long distance air travel is probably the closest human experience to that of a battery hen....

Brisbane International Musings

This, gentle reader, is not our aircraft.

Our aircraft is a 747. This is an Airbus A330 which is parked on the Qantas flight line where our plane should be.

Our plane is westbound somewhere over the Pacific, running two plus hours late.

Let’s hope the hotel in the big Apple has 24 hour check in. We will be getting there somewhere around 3am tomorrow.

Or is that today?

The time zones do my head in.

This is a great terminal, and the Qantas staff very helpful.

The face scanner threw a  hissy fit when I rocked up. I know I’m ugly, but this was ridiculous.

 I had to front a real human being who compared my passport photo with me.

It was me.

Apparently the technology has problems with beard colour. It doesn’t like grey. If I had known that, I would have dyed it in the interests of efficiency.

Now it’s hurry up and wait. Reminds me of the army.......

Deadly Dave

Pic courtesy Australian

Senator David Leyonhjelm is making a prize goose of himself (again).

This is nothing new, of course. He does this with monotonous regularity. Usually the issue relates to firearm regulation. He advocates deregulation, which has proved so successful across the Pacific.

Leyonhjelm is a contrarian, only because that behaviour gets him noticed. He is largely irrelevant in terms of political clout, which is fair enough, given that his election was largely accidental, and partly a result of the carelessness of many of those who voted for him. They were confused by the term “Liberal”.

If he had any integrity, he would substitute “Libertarian” for “Liberal” in the title of his party of one.

Thinking about it, perhaps “Glibertarian” would be a more accurate label. His depth of understanding of the concept is shallow to say the least.

The incidents in play involve some pretty childish behaviour. He had a verbal stoush with a female colleague which degenerated into his referring to her sexual activity. That is not on - whether it happens on the floor of the senate or your local workplace.

Later, he doubled down by reporting “rumours” about her behaviour on the echo chamber called Outsiders.

A producer got the chop for that, whilst the Senator and his two sidekicks got off scot free.

Since then, the female senator has begun to consider her legal options, a number of parliamentarians (of both genders and both sides of the chamber) have strongly suggested he apologise, and Qantas who airs the show on its in-flight entertainment, has been criticised for doing so.

Leyonhjelm has a problem.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke......

Nobel?

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The media's had a field day with the Trump/Kim Jong Un meeting.

It had everything. Thousands of photo ops, endless opportunities to compare bizarre hairstyles, and a plethora of symbolic images.

Trouble is, it's a little difficult to measure any productive outcome beyond lots of statements from both sides.

In reality, Trump's administration has apparently made one significant concession, viz the cancellation of routine joint military exercises.

The North Koreans have allowed the repatriation of remains of US service personnel lost in the Korean war.

The US concession seems to have been made without reference to either Japan or South Korea.

 Let's do a quick and dirty analysis of the sequence of events leading up to the Trump/Kim Jong-un meeting. Note the activity of Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un, rather than anyone on the US side. Any time Trump's people got involved (Bolton & Pence), with the exception of Pompeo, the whole thing became precarious.
  

Here is the sequence of events leading up to Trump/Kim Jong-Un (KJU) meeting –

Jan 1st – KJU calls for better relations but shows off nuclear button on his desk.
Jan 3 – Trump tweets that he has bigger button.
Jan 9 – North & South Korea agree to a joint team competing in the Winter games.
Mar 5 – KJU says he is willing to discuss the future of his nuclear arsenal. Chung Eui-Jong (South Korea’s Director of National Security) visits Pyongyang.
Mar 8 – South Korean envoy visits US and delivers an invitation from KJU to meet with Trump.
Mar 27 – KJU visits Beijing.
Apr 18 – Pompeo meets KJU.
Apr 21 – KJU announces suspension of nuclear & ICBM tests.
Apr 27 – First North/South Korean summit between KJU and Moon Jae-In (MJI).
May 7 – KJU makes 2nd visit to Beijing.
May 9 – Pompeo meets KJU 2nd time.
May 10 – Announcement of Trump/KJU meeting.
May 16 – NK threatens to pull out over Bolton’s “Libya model” remarks.
May 22 – Moon Jae-In meets Trump
May23/25 – North Korea dismantles old nuclear sites.
May 24 – NK calls Pence “political dummy”. Trump announces withdrawal from talks.
May 26 – KJU and MJI meet again.
Jun 1 – Meeting announced for June 12.
Jun 12 – Meeting. 

Concessions –
NK – Releases remains of soldiers
USA – Cancels joint military operations (without consulting South Korea and Japan).

It seems that if any one individual is to be lauded for setting up the meeting it should be South Korea's Moon Jae-in.
MJI for a Nobel?
.