Happy New Year to everyone, eight days late but what is the rush? I never bothered to go out and celebrate the end of 2008 and ushering the new year of the Ox. I just let the clock ticked past twelve midnight and missed the fireworks, what the hell, it happens every year anyway. For me, 2008 is the year to forget that i ever lived through it. So many bad things happened to me of epic proportion that i welcome some mental lapse if possible, amnesia they call it.
So what is new for this year 2009? Despite my wish for a better world, the year started off on a bad note. The Middle East is burning again courtesy of the Israel regime to oust Hamas. This episode is like a re-run of old movies which never ends. Until and unless somebody who are influential like the US, Britain, France and Russia are serious and honest in looking for permanent solutions start acting to solve the issue, we are not going to see much changes on CNN or BBC coverages and headlines for the rest of 2009 and even next couple of years. OIC cannot do much more than issuing rhetoric statements, and the world just can go to the streets at most to protest the invasion by Israel.
Meanwhile the outgoing Mr Bush supported Israel's action saying they are justified in retaliation to Hamas rockets. For Mr Bush Israel citizens have the right to live in peace at all cost but not the Palestinians. They have suffered for years from Israeli war machine and the blockade that has denied them every basic human needs from free movement to supply of food and medicine, and also economic activities. What are the Arab countries doing to support the Palestinians other than condemning the invasion? Nothing! Why? Because their governments also rely on the US for support. The irony is that the US wants to be the middle man to solve the issue despite their bias towards Israel! Go figure!
Economy wise, 2009 does not look too promising also for the whole world. The US is still trying to figure out how to get out of the mess it creates due to greed. Two over million people in the US are out of jobs and more are to be retrenched. Mr Obama is starting to get a headache even before assuming the Office, courtesy of Mr Bush bad handling of the economy and over spending on his war machine in Iraq and Afghanistan. The rest of the world including Malaysia starts to feel the fever when the US falls sick. We can stop dreaming about salary increase, hefty bonus and other allowance as companies start to go into contigency plans just to survive the next few years.
Personally, looks like there will be less holiday or fishing trips for me, less movie outing, less Kentucky Fried Chicken dinners, postponement of a new car purchase, less shopping (although my wife may not agree!), more home cook meals and sitting on the sofa staring at the idiot box!
People say history will always repeat itself and those who do not learn from history are the worst fools you can find on this planet. I have been through 1987, 1997 recessions, so what is new?
