Heroes & Terrorists

What a complicated world you humans have created for yourselves. I have no doubt at all that Al Shabab consider themselves heroes of whatever misguided cause they follow for planning and carrying out their attack on the Westgate Shopping mall in Nairobi. I'm sure they think it was courageous to spray innocent men, women and children with bullets and to toss the occasional hand grenade about indiscriminately. If they had decided to attack the mall a month earlier, my staff, my female staff's mum and several others in their safari group may well have been caught up in the slaughter.

The trouble is that the old saying - "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" still holds true and recent history holds plenty of examples of "terrorists" who have gained respectability and power through the ballot box. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness brought to you by the nice people of Sinn Fein and the even nicer Irish Republican Army for example. Menachem Begin, the sixth Prime Minister of Isreal was also regarding as a terrorist. Then there's East Timor's first President - Xanana Gusmao. He was probably Indonesia's most wanted "terrorist" for years. Hells Bells! Even Nelson Mandela was (and still is by many white South Africans) regarded as a terrorist.

All of the above mentioned "terrorists" had one thing in common though. They were fighting against real or perceived persecution of the majority by the powerful minority. Not that that excuses the murder of innocents. (Isn't that right Mr McGuinness?) However, loose organisations like Al Shabab and Boko Haram in Nigeria cannot even claim that small legitimacy. Now this latter group has murdered dozens of students as they slept in their dormitory at the Yobe College of Agriculture. If anything, shooting sleeping people is even more courageous than shooting wide awake women and children in a shopping mall. What twisted logic persuades these idiots to believe that this is furthering their cause? (Loosely translated Boko Haram means "Western Education is Forbidden".)

At the start of this raving, rambling, rodent diatribe I opined that you humans have created a complicated world, but you might think that it is quite simple. It is wrong to murder innocent people in pursuit of a cause that has nothing to do with those whom you are murdering. You would of course be correct. However, you humans (including my staff) who live in the "civilised West" continue to vote for governments who perpetuate feelings of frustration, resentment and worse amongst the young, foolish and gullible who live under corrupt, despotic regimes propped up by rich Western nations because they need oil or some strategic advantage. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bahrain, Fiji, Kuwait, Nigeria, and even Turkey to a certain extent. Meanwhile we give the cold shoulder to places like Iran and Cuba who are certainly no worse than any of the above mentioned.  Let's face it, it's no wonder the USA and her allies were convinced that Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons stashed all over Iraq because they had been supplying him with them for years. So, what's the answer? That really is simple. At your next general election vote for your local Guinea Pig Party candidate. We may not know much about politics, but when's the last time you heard of a guinea pig causing innocent deaths? (Unless you count that time in Peru when one of the locals fed roasted guinea pigs that had been left too long in the sun to a wedding party.)

Now, then. Let me introduce you to Boris. Many of you will know him as one of my new neighbours along with his little nephew Baci. Boris has quite a strong German accent due to the fact that he mostly ate sauerkraut at his last home. He say's he wants to contribute to my blog, so to be friendly I thought I'd give him a chance. I hope you can understand what he's saying. (Apologies to my German readers)

BORIS' BIT
Guten tag everybody. First ich vould like to sank Herr Billy for givink me ze opportunity to put in meine zwei cents vorth at ze end of his blog. Ich am avare that ich haben grosse shoes to fill if meine footnote ist to become anyvhere near as popular as der late, great Badger's. Still ich must try, und so it ist meine grosse pleasure to remind Herr Billy zat meine own beloved Germany has been selling dodgy chemicals to zat Scheiße-kopf Bashar Al Assad for years. Auf wiedersehen.