The newspaper today has a Reuters' article about the President of The Gambia in West Africa voicing concern about pirates ramming boats just off Europe and being responsible for the deaths of many illegal immigrants to Europe. I heard a BBC report earlier this week and the gruesome details albeit on radio left a graphic picture in my head that I just cannot shake: A Palestinian man recounted that a (pirate's) boat rammed their boat carrying illegal immigrants to Europe (at U$4000 per person), in the ensuing confusion, he and his brother clung to a piece of wood and between them tried to save a baby when died of hypothermia; he further stated that he saw a desperate survivor clinging to the (pirate's) boat and the men leaning over and hacking the hands off the body! Such appalling inhumanity but in the next breath the Palestinian said he wanted to go to Sweden where he had family and find a job. Gaza is pretty much totaled. How many people can Europe hold, even with the best intentions? And what about the swelling numbers of their unemployed--- currently seeding better educated and tech savvy disgruntled young people who feel no empathy and strong cultural ties with their country of birth/residence ?
I replied back to the President of The Gambia... what was he doing to keep his people safely in his country? Small bands of elites in Africa mimicking their counterparts in the developed world are leading to increasingly desperate peoples. Sierre Leone has just instituted quarantine measures without seemingly giving thought to how people would get basic supplies to live, including food-- even if people started a kitchen garden, it would be at least a few months before they can reap anything-- which led to the problem in the first place-- the possible zoonotic transmission of the Ebola virus from a different species into humans-- eating bushmeat. Sadly this can be repeated in Latin America and pretty much elsewhere.
29/9/14 Yep: http://blogs.cfr.org/patrick/2014/09/10/ebola-reveals-gaps-in-global-epidemic-response/ 'Though far from over, the crisis has demonstrated how ill-equipped the multilateral system is to cope with global public health emergencies, particularly in the world’s weak and failing states. In an increasingly globalized world, it is illusory and hazardous to imagine that fragile states can cope with such emergencies on their own, cordoned off from the rest of the world.'
I replied back to the President of The Gambia... what was he doing to keep his people safely in his country? Small bands of elites in Africa mimicking their counterparts in the developed world are leading to increasingly desperate peoples. Sierre Leone has just instituted quarantine measures without seemingly giving thought to how people would get basic supplies to live, including food-- even if people started a kitchen garden, it would be at least a few months before they can reap anything-- which led to the problem in the first place-- the possible zoonotic transmission of the Ebola virus from a different species into humans-- eating bushmeat. Sadly this can be repeated in Latin America and pretty much elsewhere.
29/9/14 Yep: http://blogs.cfr.org/patrick/2014/09/10/ebola-reveals-gaps-in-global-epidemic-response/ 'Though far from over, the crisis has demonstrated how ill-equipped the multilateral system is to cope with global public health emergencies, particularly in the world’s weak and failing states. In an increasingly globalized world, it is illusory and hazardous to imagine that fragile states can cope with such emergencies on their own, cordoned off from the rest of the world.'
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