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| The Road to the Horizon |
| Short stories about life as a humanitarian aid worker, about expeditions and sailing, travelling to remote places, about war, ambushes and sceneries. But mostly about enjoying the road more than reaching the destination. |
| Language: English |
| RSS Feeds for this Blog |
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Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 403 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 2723860 |
| Visitors Out: 5727 |
| Total Visitors Out: 9228 |
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| Rumble: When you think of Venice: Gondola's and water |
| 2008-05-05 16:56:52 |
Ok, unraveling of the secret: we were in Venice last weekend. ;-)Matt, one of the readers of The Road, commented a while ago that my blog was listed in the "travel" category of one of the blog directories while it seems more like a political blog.I agree that lately I have been posting more news flashes (often with a bit of political cynism, I admit). But in essence, this blog is neither one or the other... I write about things that happen around me. Sometimes I am in a critical mood, sometimes I am involved in my daily (aid) work environment, and sometimes I am travelling. So the contents of the posts change as my life changes. ;-) The next few posts will be about travelling. Promise!So.. Venice... OK.. Here is a question for you. When hear "Venice", what...
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| News: UN troops smuggled gold, ivory and 'armed Congo rebels' |
| 2008-05-04 16:49:44 |
An 18-month BBC investigation for Panorama has found evidence that:- Pakistani peacekeepers in the eastern town of Mongbwalu were involved in the illegal trade in gold with the FNI militia (described by Human Rights Watch as "some of the most murderous individuals that operate in eastern Congo"), providing them with weapons to guard the perimeter of the mines.- The Indians traded gold, bought drugs from the militias and flew a UN helicopter into the Virunga National Park, where they exchanged ammunition for ivory.A UN investigation concluded that one officer had been responsible for dealing in gold - allowing traders to use UN aircraft to fly into the town, putting them up at the UN base and taking them around the town. But the UN decided that "in the absenc...
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| Rumble: Guess some more... |
| 2008-05-04 15:32:59 |
Okay... Here is one more hint where we went for the long weekend... (more pictures to come this week)
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| News: UN calls impact of biofuel on food crisis "criminal" |
| 2008-04-29 16:55:25 |
Jean Ziegler, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, said the United States and the European Union have taken a "criminal path" by contributing to an explosive rise in global food prices by using food crops to produce biofuels.Ziegler stated that last year the United States used a third of its corn crop to create biofuels, while the European Union is planning to have 10 percent of its petrol supplied by biofuels. He called for a five-year moratorium on the production of biofuels.Ziegler also said that speculation on international markets is behind 30 percent of the increase in food prices. (Full)US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted that setting aside farmland to produce biofuels like ethanol...
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| Picture of the day: Drawing from Darfur. |
| 2008-04-28 14:43:56 |
This picture was drawn by a young Chadian boy in a camp for displaced persons in Eastern Chad. His drawing describes the attack on his village by Janjaweed militias from Sudan. On the top left hand corner of the drawing is written ‘ataque village’ (French for ‘attack of the village’). The attackers, wearing military uniforms and on camels are shooting civilians with machine guns and burning their houses. Bullets are coming from all over. Next to each civilian that is shot is the word ‘Morts’ which is the plural of ‘dead’ in French.More posts on The Road about DarfurPicture courtesy wagingpeace.info
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| News: The Pentagon's dirty media war. |
| 2008-04-28 01:42:02 |
Journalists were (and still are) embedded in the US military forces in Iraq. But it was also the other way round: the Pentagon proves to be far more embedded in the US media than the public was to know.How one thing lead to another: In spring 2006, several retired US generals started to speak up against the -then- US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq war, calling for his resignation. In a desperate counteroffensive, the Pentagon called in the support of its "media embedded army" of military retirees hired by the US media as "analysts". This was done in such a flagrant way ignoring any sense for honesty and decency, that a number of the so-called analysts spoke up and opened up an even bigger can ...
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| News: The Global Food Crisis Map |
| 2008-04-27 15:28:05 |
Der Spiegel published a good overview of the current food crisis, depicting the raising food prices, and the countries limiting food exports, and where all of this sparked unrest. (click on the picture for a higher resolution)There are however some "food unrest" locations which were forgotten: Morocco, Philippines, Bangladesh, Jordan, Mexico... Paints an even worse picture.More articles on the Road about the global food crisis.Picture courtesy Der Spiegel.
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| News: Like a Perfect Storm, the Global Food Crisis Now Heads For Canada, US. |
| 2008-04-27 15:26:27 |
Since several months, I have been reporting on the food crisis sparking hunger and riots in different parts of the globe.Like in a perfect storm, different factors contributed to a disaster scenario: increased fuel prices, an artificial push for biofuel crops, adverse weather phenomena, changing food habits, increased demand and financial speculation on the futures markets (see this summary)As expected, the storm first hit the poorest countries, where food constitutes easily 40% of a family's budget. But now the bad weather has reached closer to home: the US and Canada.While the first news articles only started to appear one or...
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| Picture of the day: Bio-Spill |
| 2008-04-27 12:45:05 |
A big stain of palm oil invades the shore of Taganga beach in Colombia after 10 tons of oil was spilled from the production plant of Terlica. Residents complained seeing about the dead fish but the spokesperson of Terlica said the oil is biodegradable and won't harm the environment.More Pictures of the Day on the Road.Picture courtesy AFP
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| News: The World According to Monsanto: The Horror of Commercial GM Crops. |
| 2008-04-27 04:14:11 |
Reading through all the news about the global food crisis, I lacked one thing: the solution to this problem or even the slightest hint to one.In many discussion fora and through comments on social bookmarking sites, it was often suggested that genetically modified (GM) crops, said to yield a higher production, and to be more pest-resistant, could mean the solution to world hunger.I started to search around for more info on genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GEO), and came across several posts referring to a video called "The World According to Monsanto" by a French independent filmmaker, Marie-Monique Robin.The movie researches the credibility of (or rather lack thereof) US based Monsanto, one of the biggest chemical comp...
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| Picture of the day: Pakistan food queues |
| 2008-04-26 11:10:24 |
People queueing for food at the entrance of a shop near Islamabad. The cost of food and fuel increased significantly in Pakistan, forcing more and more people to turn to public aid.Check for more "Pictures of the Day" and other posts about the global food crisis on The Road.Picture courtesy AP/Morenatti, Source: Le Figaro
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| News: Louis Vuitton Sues Darfur Fundraiser |
| 2008-04-26 07:46:33 |
The Paris based fashion house Louis Vuitton has filed charges against Nadia Plesner, a Dutch 26 year old student artist for selling posters and t-shirts of a Darfur victim, holding a designer bag inspired by a Louis Vuitton design. All of the profits were going to charity.Nadia said: “I started this campaign because of the distorted way the media prioritizes between big and small world news. How can Paris Hilton make more front covers than the genocide in Darfur? So, I “pimped” a victim, to see if it worked. And it did!”Louis Vuitton now demands $7,500 (5,000 Euro) for each day she continues to sell Simple Life products, $7,500 for each day their letter is published on the web...
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| News: When Green Goes Commercial: Bio-Corn Fuels Gulf of Mexico's "Dead Zone" |
| 2008-04-26 06:00:41 |
"Dead zones" are areas in the world's oceans where marine life can not be supported due to depleted oxygen levels. Fish can flee potential suffocation by migrating to other areas, but they are often quickly rendered unconscious and die. Even if they survive studies show a decrease in size of reproductive organs causing low egg counts and lack of spawning. Slow moving bottom-dwelling creatures like clams, lobsters and oysters are unable to escape. All colonial animals are extinguished. (More)In other words: a "dead zone" is a vicious circle turning an ocean into a desert, incapable of supporting any marine life.The most notorious dead zone is a 22,126 square kilometer (8,543 square mile) region in the Gulf of Mexico, the size of the State of New Jersey. The...
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| News: When Green Goes Commercial: The Waste of Biofuel Production |
| 2008-04-26 05:55:45 |
Biofuel is all about blue skies and clean water, a world with less pollution. An ideal like so many, which turns foul when the commercial world gets hold of it. Once the chase for profit comes primary, even the cleanest biofuel turns out to be a culprit to nature.When the Black Warrior River in Alabama got covered with an oily, fetid substance, the source of the pollution was traced to the Alabama Biodiesel Corporation plant, the state's biodiesel plant, a refinery turning soybean oil into earth-friendly fuel. The spills, resembling Italian salad dressing, were 450 times higher than permit levels allow and are similar to others that have come from biofuel plants in the Midwest.According to the National Biodiesel Board, a trade group, biodiesel is nonto...
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| Picture of the day: World Malaria Day |
| 2008-04-25 17:54:45 |
Indian flood victims suffering from malaria lie on hospital beds in Alindra (India) after the 2004 floods. Malaria kills 1 million people every year.Today is World Malaria Day. (Full)Picture courtesy Amit Dave/Reuters
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| News: Zimbabwe's Mugabe not letting go without a fight? |
| 2008-04-24 14:22:11 |
Zimbabwe's president Mugaba, demanded a recount of the recent voting, in the hope the apparent victory of the opposition could be overturned."Just in case", three days after the Zimbabwean elections, the paperwork for a shipment of Chinese weapons aboard the vessel "An Yue Jiang", was finalised in Beijing. The ship docked in Durban, South Africa a few days ago.The RSA High Court ruled the cargo could be offloaded in the Durban port, but it could not pass over South Africa roads to get to Zimbabwe. Durban's dockworkers however said they would not handle the cargo, fearing the arms would be used by the Zimbabwean government against its own people.In the mean time, the An Yue Jiang left Durban, and is now enroute to Luanda, Angola. (Full)Update April 24th: The shipment on the "An Yue Jiang" c...
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| News: High fuel price makes planes fly slower |
| 2008-04-23 17:33:30 |
Despite a hike in fuel prices, Brussels Airlines decided not to increase its fuel tax, but rather to slow its Avro planes by about 10km/h (from Mach 0.7 to Mach 0.69) on European routes. This would cut its annual fuel bill by 1 million euros ($1.6m), adding an average minute or two to flight times. (Ed: Flying to Rome, that does not matter, as minimum waiting time for luggage at Fiumicino airport is one hour anyway...)Other measures taken are to use lighter seat covers (saving 50 kg per flight), and to monitor the amount of water taken onboard to flush the toilet. They are also considering taking out all of the ashtrays, which are unused anyway. (Full article in English or in Dutch)More posts on the Road about Brussels Airlines, flying and Belgium.Picture courtesy ringwayreports.co.uk
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| News: After "War on Terror" and "War for Oil" comes "War for Food"? |
| 2008-04-23 17:13:23 |
In the past months, I have been posting regularly about the global food crisis:- Oil, Biofuel, World Hunger and Crimes Against Humanity.- The Global Food Crisis: A Perfect Storm- The Food Crisis: A Global OverviewThose of you who have been following this blog for a while know I work for a humanitarian agency, so automatically my view of news articles is biased: scanning news bulletins I am rather sensitive to possible lurking crisis, be it armed conflicts, natural disasters or plain economic issues that could cause humanitarian problems. Plus of course, this is our job, this is what we do for a living: trying to spot, mitigate and react to humanitarian crisis in the making or unfolding.On top of this, working for a food aid ag...
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| News: The world in pictures: Food Riots |
| 2008-04-23 17:12:02 |
In case you think the raising food prices are not really a problem... Here are the pictures from just the last few weeks:Food riots in HaitiFood protests in MexicoFood riots in IndiaFood riots in ArgentinaFood riots in EgyptFood riots in MozambiqueFood riots in BangladeshPictures courtesy AFP, Reuters, Daniel Garcia (AFP-Getty Images), Al Jazeera, BBC.
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| Picture of the day: Old uses New facilities |
| 2008-04-23 15:40:41 |
This weekend, Rome celebrated the anniversary of its legendary foundation. The step back in history did not extend to the toilet facilities used by the parading Roman soldiers.. ;-)Picture courtesy AP/BBC. Thanks to "E" (not that one, but the other "E") for the link!
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| News: Russia - Elections rigged. Zimbabwe - Elections to be rigged. |
| 2008-04-22 16:38:28 |
From Russia with fraud.Ahead of last month's presidential election in Russia there was widespread suspicion the poll was fixed in advance. Last week, physicist and computer expert Sergei Shpilkin posted his analysis of the official results, showing some strange anamolies: a disproportionate number of polling stations returned round numbers - numbers ending in a zero or a five - for both voter turnout and Medvedev's percentage share.His conclusion: local election officials had been told in advance what percentages to "deliver" for Medvedev, Putin's handpicked successor, and for how many people needed to "vote". (Full)Zimbabwe's Mugabe follows the 2000 Florida example:"Recount until we get what we want!"Zimbabwe’s election officials, at the government’s ...
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| Rumble: Help! I am Paypal-ing! Help! |
| 2008-04-22 16:13:06 |
Last Saturday I had a problem with my Paypal account. Someone had sent me money, but Paypal did not allow me to accept the transfer for one reason or the other.Here is the factual exchange of Emails so far, in which I blanked the sensitive data.April 19. Message from [name client] via the Paypal websiteSubject: personal account: did not reach receiving limit, yet paypal tells me it doesI recently received a payment of £###, and when 'accepting' this payment, Paypal states I have reached my monthly limit of $1000, which is not correct. Please check -Thank you.April 20: Email from Paypal to [name client]Dear [name client],Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns. I am happy to assist you further.Mr. [name client], I have reviewed your ...
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| Picture of the day: Escaping Zimbabwe |
| 2008-04-21 18:18:14 |
A Zimbabwean woman with her child on her back crawls under the razor wire marking the border with South Africa.One thousand people are fleeing Zimbabe per day in search of food and safety. Source: Human Wave Flees Violence in Zimbabwe (New York Times)Picture courtesy Themba Hadebe/Associated Press
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| Rumble: Living in Italy - Part 3: Coffee |
| 2008-04-21 01:47:56 |
It would be hard to think of Italy without coffee. "Caffè" (with the accent on the last part and with the 'è' pronounced as in the English "head") is part of the national heritage, much like the Colosseum or Pisa's tower.Italy is home to a range of coffee drinks which took the rest of the world by storm. Without Italy, Starbucks or Second Cup probably would not exist.Without coffee, Italy would grind to a halt. A day can not start without coffee, and a good meal often ends with it. Many companies have their own inhouse coffee bar including waiters and all. So just to make sure you understand: The Italians do take their "Caffè" seriously.History:The coffee culture arrived from the Middle East via Istanbul to Venice, in th...
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| Rumble: Breaking news - Winter is over! |
| 2008-04-21 01:39:38 |
Fregene-Italy (Breaking News): Winter is over!It is 10 am and I am sitting in shorts, T-shirt and sandals in the sun on the terrace of the coffee shop below my apartment. The sun stings and the sky is as blue as a sky can get. This is the moment many of us have been waiting for, after the moody weather we had in Italy in the past months. Gone are the memories of rain, wind and dark loaded clouds.And by coincidence (there are no coincidences in life), our favourite spot in Fregene, Singita on Miracle Beach, is opening after their winter break. What more proof does one need to have that winter is over!Picture courtesy Matteo Cocco
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| Rumble: Songs for me - Leaving on a Jet Plane |
| 2008-04-20 09:12:46 |
All my bags are packedI’m ready to goI’m standing here outside your doorI hate to wake you up to say goodbyeBut the dawn is breakingIt’s early morningThe taxi’s waitingHe’s blowing his hornAlready I’m so lonesomeI could die…So kiss me and smile for meTell me that you’ll wait for meHold me like you’ll never let me gocause I’m leaving on a jet planeDon’t know when I’ll be back againOh babe, I hate to go.On several occasions, I have told you music plays an important part of my life. Music picks me up when down, makes me float when on a high, calms me down when enerved and inspires me when too deflated for any inspiration. Music pumps me up when low on energy, soothes me when sad.Many individual memories are linked to music. Hearing ...
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| Rumble: Living in Italy - Part 2: Italian Breakfast |
| 2008-04-20 05:04:31 |
What is a typical Italian breakfast? People pass by a coffee shop on the road to work, and get a coffee and a cornetto (croissant). Not necessarily the healthiest of breakfasts, but it surely tastes good.More posts on the Road about Living in Italy.
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| News: Italian court: "Women can lie to hide an affair.." |
| 2008-04-19 12:37:24 |
Italy's highest appeal court ruled that married women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honour.The court gave its landmark ruling after hearing the case of a 48-year-old woman, convicted of giving a false testimony to the police by denying she had lent her mobile phone to her lover.The appeal court did not agree that she had broken the law. It said bending the truth was justified to conceal extra-marital relationships. (Full)More post about Italy on the Road to the Horizon.Picture courtesy VinMag.com
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| Rumble: Lunch at the beach |
| 2008-04-19 11:49:29 |
This is the view from the restaurant, where we had lunch yesterday. It lays right at the rocky beach in Brindisi, built at the end of the airport runway, next to the yacht harbour, and facing the sea. It stands by itself, just in the middle of nowhere... No frails, only sober tables and plastic chairs in a square room, with an overall Balkan's feel to it.
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| News: US school book: "Global warming will avoid high heating bills"... |
| 2008-04-19 06:52:02 |
Friends of the Earth is calling via an email campaign on one of the US largest textbook publishers to correct a school book containing a discussion of global warming "so biased and misleading it would humble a tobacco industry PR man.""American Government", 11th edition is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and approved for use in high school Advanced Placement courses in the United States. On page 559, the textbook's authors write that "it is a foolish politician who today opposes environmentalism. And that creates a problem, because not all environmental issues are equally deserving of support. Take the case of global warming. (..) On the one hand, a warmer globe will cause sea...
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| News: Sudan - From the 1994 famine to five years of Darfur. What is the solution? |
| 2008-04-19 06:07:49 |
This photo by Kevin Carter won the “Pulitzer Prize” in 1994 and became a symbol of the Sudan famine at the time. The picture depicts stricken girl crawling towards an United Nations camp, located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat her.This picture shocked the whole world. No one -including the photographer- knows what happened to the child.Here is the story behind the picture: In 1993 Carter headed north of the border with [his colleague] Silva to photograph the rebel movement in famine-stricken Sudan. To make the trip, Carter had taken a leave from the Weekly Mail and borrowed money for the air fare. Immediately after their plane ) touched down in the village of Ayod, Carter began snapping photos of famine ...
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| Rumble: Just a building.... |
| 2008-04-18 07:52:17 |
I am back in Brindisi for a few days. Stayed an extra day as I can think much clearer while not sitting in a crowded office in our Rome headquarters, allows me to take a distance and re-evaluate some of the stuff we work on...Despite the fact it is still pretty cold for the time of the year (and certainly at 7:30 in the morning), I had my morning coffee and cornetto outside, on a terrace. I was looking at the building in the picture.Nothing extraordinary. Just a building, out of the thousands in Brindisi, probably millions similar ones in Italy. Just a window, of just a house, in just a street, of just a town. And yet, that image, at that moment, grabbed me. I know, when that happens to me, it means something.. It is a sign on the road of life. I sat bac...
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| News: Darfur peacekeepers: UN-armed or unarmed? |
| 2008-04-18 05:41:56 |
On April 9th, gunmen have attacked a UNAMID (UN African Mission in Darfur) police patrol, two kilometres (one mile) from the Zam Zam camp for internally displaced persons.The officers were ordered out of their vehicles and the four gunmen stole their personal belongings and official identity cards. One officer was repeatedly hit in the neck by the back of an AK-47 when he hesitated in obeying instructions to get back into the vehicle."UNAMID police do not carry weapons and Wednesday's patrol was operating without protection", according to Noureddine Mezni, the UN African Mission spokesman. He added that "this was for confidence-building purposes and for easier contact with the civilians they aim to protect". (Full)More posts on The Road, about Darfur and Sudan.Picture courtesy Reuters
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| News: Five WFP drivers killed in Sudan |
| 2008-04-18 05:40:26 |
Five truck drivers delivering food for the U.N. World Food Program have been attacked and killed in Sudan over the past three weeks.Four of the five were killed in southern Sudan and one was killed in the western Darfur region.In the latest attack, two WFP-contracted drivers were shot dead in southern Sudan on Monday after returning from delivering food supplies.Previously, three other WFP workers were killed in Sudan late March. (Full)More posts on The Road, about Darfur and Sudan.Update April 18 2008: "Attacks force U.N. to cut Darfur food relief": In the past three and a half months, 60 WFP-contracted food aid trucks have been hijacked in Darfur only. 39 trucks are still misssing and 29 drivers still unaccounted for.Picture courtesy WFP
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| News: Global Warming: Global Scam or not? |
| 2008-04-17 13:56:37 |
Before you read this post, a disclaimer: I firmly believe we are grossly raping the environment and make only minimal progress to protect and respect the earth as the soil for our children. Punto. (as they say in Italian: Full stop!).Last year, "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal," concluded a report by 600 scientists from governments, academia, green groups and businesses in 40 countries. Worse, there was now at least a 90 percent likelihood that the release of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels is causing longer droughts, more flood-causing downpours and worse heat waves, way up from earlier studies.For the first time, "Global Warming" was no longer the "Inconvenient Truth". It became "The Mainstream Truth".And forgive me...
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| News: Berlusconi - Part III. |
| 2008-04-17 12:39:52 |
Last weekend, I wrote about Italian politics, as the first part of the series "Living in Italy", predicting ex-premier and current-billionaire politician Berlusconi would win. And he did.Berlusconi's block takes 47% of the vote, compared with 38% for Mr Veltroni's centre-left, in both the Senate and the lower Chamber of Deputies. That translates into a 101-seat lead in the Chamber, and a 38-seat advantage in the Senate. (Full)This means two things:One- the political spectrum has shifted solidly to the right.Secondly- last weekend's balloting wiped out the small parties. This might have been good as it eliminated the need for the governing party to make a fragile coalitions with several small parties. The latter haunted Italy's infamously unstable politics for 60 years as they had the power...
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| Rumble: Working from home |
| 2008-04-16 16:50:43 |
I was working from home yesterday… Too crowded in the office. And it was such a nice day.. Worked from a table, facing the windows.And with a view like this, what could go wrong? No wonder I got much more work done than when I work from the office. The setting in which I work, defines my productivity.
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| Rumble: Stop the Clash of Civilizations. |
| 2008-04-15 05:02:37 |
The video is made by Avaaz.org, a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today. The aim of Avaaz.org is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decisions.Because the public opinion is the most powerful tool.Thanks to "E" for the link.
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