What a fracas. The dust has hardly settled from the joyous New Year celebrations — feasting, hugging, singing, kissing and wishing each other a Happy New Year. How sincere, how strong was our wish. Here we are only 60 some days later and the world is anything but happy. Today seems worse than yesterday or the day before, or the day before that. We look up, we look down; we look right, we look left and find nothing but “Double, double, toil and trouble”. Fear, hatred, suffering, confusion and insecurity abound on every continent on the planet. Is there a haven where one can find love, life, happiness and peace? Whatever happened to the promises included in the United Nations Charter of 1945? This mammoth organisation was established to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind. They pledged to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights. They claimed responsibility for keeping the peace among nations, large or small and restoring the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of man and woman. Amid its myriad principles, the UN Charter pledged justice and respect for sovereign equality of all its members. All members shall settle their disputes by peaceful means and freedom was guaranteed for all without distinction of sex, language or religion. Were they sober when they wrote, revised, approved and ratified such an idealistic thesis that would guarantee peace for future generations? They vowed that no longer would man suffer under the yolk of his fellowman and days later a state for the Jews was established on land that belonged to the people of Palestine, leaving them homeless and destitute. Were they ever serious or was it an emotional document inspired by the devastation of 100 million deaths of two world wars in four decades. The latter appears to be the motive for the UN has done little to justify its charter or its existence. That was 70 years ago. Are they getting old or blind to see what is happening now? All over the Middle East turmoil and turbulence prevail. What is left of Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen but destruction and despair? Inside fights in Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran are violent and deadly, therefore why is the UN not rushing to their aid? Would we have fared any worse if the UN had not existed at all? Would there be Bosnia or Rwanda? Why do 250,000 die daily while incompetent UN members sit and watch, getting bigger and fatter at the cost of $8 billion annually. Who is gaining from their failure? On 15 March 2019 UNESCO — established in Paris in 1946 with the aim of bringing nations together through education — suddenly woke up from a deep sleep, aroused by the sorry state of our world, and decided to hold what they call a “festival” called Paris Talks to discuss “a brighter future for our humanity”. Are they not 70 years late? The theme of the upcoming Paris Talks is “Innovative Solutions for a Future Conflict”. Sounds familiar. They promise to “highlight the importance of prevention of conflicts; to discuss specific challenges and facing efforts and identify priority areas that need innovative solutions in a better future”. It is a one-day conference with visionaries, policy-makers, scholars, diplomats, etc, gathered to discuss conflict prevention on a local and international level”. New big ideas? Tickets are still available if you wish to attend. Perhaps you should avoid Paris. Weekend violent clashes against the Macron government by the gilets jaunes or yellow vests, a group of almost 300,000 protesters that ravage and pillage at will, is rather discouraging. This is Paris, the City of Light. This is France, the Mother of Democracy, and this is the sad condition that now exists. Across the channel an ideological war rages over whether to Brexit or not to Brexit — a shorthand saying of whether Britain should exit the European Union. They shall decide by the end of March. Other European problems overshadow these two countries. Italy, Greece, Hungary and Germay are reeling from the influx of 11/2 million migrants. Maybe the Americas are faring better. At least five million Venezuelans have fled the oppressive communist rule of their homeland and where were they to go? Columbia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras or the US shattered by the flood of migrants crossing their borders? And when did we last hear of two nuclear states, India and Pakistan. fighting over a strip of land called Kashmir This conflict continues. Russia is not quiet. Putin has threatened the US with a new weapon that could reach Washington DC, that is, if DC threatens first. While negotiations fail between Trump and Kim Jung-un, China is not to be ignored. It rules the South China Seas, terrifying its neighbours and unsuccessfully hides the fact that it holds tens of thousands of Muslims in concentration camps. Like “Littlechap” we too feel the urge to cry “Stop the World, I Want to get off”. Littlechap is character in a 1960s British hit musical, which ran on Broadway, London's West End, that enjoyed a revival in the 1990s, and adapted for television and the screen. Among its hit songs are “Gonna Build a Mountain” and “What kind of fool am I”. We may well be just fools, or maybe we can build that high mountain and reach the sky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “After all, tomorrow is another day” Margaret Mitchel (1900-1949
