Second, below you can find the Gravitas‘ short news documentary (out of India).
According to Gravitas, China seems to have obstructed access to raw data of waste water as well as blood samples prior to December, 2019 (citing internal laws or appearing to perhaps having destroying the needed evidence?). One must add that the WHO investigators were provided with “analyzed data” only, instead of “raw data”. Furthermore, China still has the nerve to blame the USA. As Ms. Sharma concluded, “the worst part of all this is that the world is putting up with it.”
Although it is likely not China’s problem that this coronavirus started in this country (it could have happened anywhere else…), the behaviour of the Chinese authorities, at the start of the pandemic and now, is problematic to all of us worldwide.
So, please China, can you learn to be more considerate and genuinely collaborative? It would be a good fresh start on the day following this lunar (New) Year [Happy New Year, by the way!]. After all, it is the year of the Ox, if Bambi understands well. Can you please be like the Ox, that is honest and reliable, whilst being determined“? Thank you.
What a moving AND inspiring interview with Ms. Sarah Copeland… Ouf. Thank you Ms. Melissa Fleming, the United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, for your “Awake at Night” interview.
From the UN website, we can read the following:
This week’s guest is Sarah Copland. Sarah first joined the UN as part of the Young Professionals Programme in Political Affairs. In 2015, along with husband Craig, Sarah moved to NYC for her first UN post with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in the Policy and Best Practices Service. They were in NYC for 4 years, where Isaac was born. The family then moved to Beirut for Sarah’s work on women’s rights and gender equality in the ESCWA Centre for Women.
On August 4th 2020, as Sarah was working and simultaneously preparing for the arrival of her second child, Ethan, she and her family were tragically caught in the vast explosion that caused devastation across Beirut. Isaac, Sarah’s first born son, was killed. Trying to understand her grief, Sarah started writing a blog, and in the process, her words have resonated with others experiencing loss.
“Writing helps me organize my thoughts because it’s, it’s a mess up here. There’s just so much going on in my head and it helps others relate to me, I think which in turn helps me because I found in these past few months, I’ve shut down a lot. And it’s through writing that I’m able to connect again. Because once if people can read how I feel, then that sort of opens up a door to be able to connect and talk.”
Here is the interview, both as a podcast (S3-Episode 16: Isaac) and a full transcript:
To Ms. Sarah Copeland, to her spouse Mr. Craig, and their beautiful family (Isaac in heaven and baby Ethan born in October, 2021), Bambi sends her heart… Thank you Ms. Copeland for sharing your story and for all what you did to Beirut and the Arab world (women’s rights/gender equality). Bambi is TERRIBLY sorry for your loss (your adorable Isaac is Beirut’s and our world’s loss too…).
To conclude this post, this Beirut man-made tragedy is still unaccountable, six months after the tragedy. Doesn’t Isaac deserve justice?! As a reminder, a female engineer is still jailed (scapegoat?) whilst all the Lebanese politicians, up to the high levels (President’s office) who knew about the ammonium nitrate for years are enjoying their freedom. The underlying tragedy of Lebanon is that its justice system is both corrupt and politicized. Of course, no other country is immune to this, including us here… and including UN tribunals (i.e., the disappointing verdict about the assassination of former PM Mr. Hariri). Anyhow, Lebanon is sadly a world leader now with regard to systemic corruption. Perhaps related to this, it is also sadly at the end of the bottom list when it comes to quality of life ranking (Bambi thanks Paul for sharing, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-rankings). Of note, perhaps Bambi’s eyes missed it, but Venezuela does not appear to be among the list of countries in the link above. Regardless, we know how bad its situation is from its 2020 reported inflation of 3000 percent (https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/02/12/21/venezuela-reports-2020-inflation-of-3000-percent). The question is which country is worse when it comes to hyperinflation, Venezuela or Lebanon? Perhaps it is still Venezuela’s economic model fiasco (yes, extreme socialism can kill entrepreneurship, destroying economies)? However, Venezuelans of Lebanese origins who escaped to Beirut are unsure of the answer, still wondering which is worse than which (https://www.ft.com/content/a7137fa5-0ff4-4248-8814-deb0b5a9e4dd)… One thing is sure: Lebanon seems to be doomed when it comes to intellectual and military sovereignty on its own land (Iran’s hegemony regionally and its related Hezbollah’s influence internally).
Why are we turning the beautiful, democratic, Lebanon into Syria or Iran?
Indeed, a member of the so-called “Free Patriotic
Party” (what is free about it? And what is patriotic?) is calling for the
priest who recited a prayer for the dead for Mr. Slim to apologize. Can you imagine?
He is even trying to turn the story into an insult to Christian rituals. How stupid and low can you go in life, Bambi wonders… without having ever heard of the name of this Lebanese politician in her life before?
Another Muslim (Shia) clergyman was paralyzed by fear to the point of apologizing for having participated in the beautiful, multifaith, funeral prayer of Mr. Lokman Slim.
He claimed he did not know to which house he was
heading to say a prayer for the dead and whose body he was praying over. He
said he was surprised by the cameras (of journalists).
He repeated his loyalty (to Hezbollah), asking people
to stop talking about the story. “God forgive those who are talking about me.
I made a mistake”
Isn’t it sad to see a spiritual man apologizing for
praying on the dead body of another human being (who happened to be from his
own community on top of that)?
Where is Lebanon heading? Are the masters of these people
trustworthy when it comes to nuclear deals, Mr. Biden et al.?
A CBC article, by Mr. Alexandra Panetta, entitled “Trudeau’s criticism of Trump cited at U.S. impeachment trial” informs us of the following:
“What we witnessed was an assault on democracy by violent rioters, incited by the current president and other politicians,” Trudeau said last month during an address outside of his residence at Rideau Cottage“:
Mmm, Mr. Trudeau is an expert of American internal politics now? His criticism is cited at US impeachment trial, which takes place long after/even if Mr. Trump finished his mandate. By the way, why doesn’t this US impeachment trial have a stronger (internal) expert than our own Mr. Justin Trudeau :)?
To conclude this post, it would be nice if Mr. Trudeau re-focuses his attention strictly on being our Prime Minister, especially during this pandemic crisis. Canadians need all his energy to secure more vaccines to protect them… and to deal with all the Covid-19 economic challenges. Thank you!
It would have been even more beautifully meaningful
had it not been contradicted by the following news: Mr. Biden withdrew his predecessor’s
rule on schools’ disclosure of ties to China (https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=131811).
Bambi does not understand the internal politics of our neighbour, but he seems to have proceeded with this decision without consulting Congress. He must have his reasons to be in a rush… Perhaps he does not see the potential danger of ideologies infiltrating his own country, along with true science and artistic exchanges.
Another possibility may be that it is a sign that the USA cannot be the winner of the Chinese-American battle (… of ideas, at least). Could it be?
Although Bambi may be wrong, she finds this both odd and worrisome. Indeed, she knows from a second life elsewhere that wars begin with ideas/ideologies… and the rest can become even uglier.
Ms. Loujain Al-Hathlout, a women’s rights activist has been released from jail after three years (as per France 24, Naharnet, and international media):
Since this post is about Saudi Arabia, Bambi wonders how Mr. Biden et al. call the latest Huthi attack on Saudi airport? Or the term terrorist does not apply to allies (ie., Iran and their proxy organizations in the Middle East)?
Many Canadian MPs have asked for the relocation of the 2022 Winter Olympics to denounce how China mistreats its Uighur Muslim minority. An open letter has even circulated. The latter has been signed by Mr. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Bloc Québécois), Mr. Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Liberal Party), Ms. Kelly Block (Conservative Party), Ms. Jenny Kwan (NDP), and Ms. Elizabeth May (Green Party). Thank you.
Below, you can see the virtual press conference on this topic by Ms. Annamie Paul, Leader of the Green Party of Canada. To conclude this post on a friendly note, Bambi has always associated the name of Ms. Annamie with the French word “une amie” (a friend) to remember it. Today, the latter has shown that she is a friend to humanity.
Bambi fell in love with Mr. Berberyan’s moving song in which he expresses his love for his motherland, Lebanon. She is sharing it with you in a video where you can see the beauty of his tiny officially bankrupt yet always beautiful Mediterranean country.
Thanks to Mr. Anthony Rahayel for posting Mr. Berberyan’s song. Mind you, the last time Bambi watched Mr. Rahayel’s posts, they were highly disturbing videos streamed live immediately following the Beirut port surrealistic explosions of August 4th, 2020.
Even if the latter tragedy remains unaccountable (imagine!), and despite Lebanon’s other complex challenges, today’s post is about patriotic love, beauty, good memories, peace, and hope for brighter days for Lebanon!
To conclude this post on a lighter note, those who know Bambi closely may think that this man is related to her… Mmm, perhaps he would minus the last two letters of his family name :).
