27 December 2002

Once Over, Lightly

It is five in the morning here on Arlington Boulevard, but it is ten hundred hours in London, and the world has already been hard at work. I stumble out of bed and note that Venus is hanging in the east and the Moon is at half. I hit the button on the computer as the coffee brews. Somebody with the screen name of “KMV22” sent me an e-mail this morning telling me that although I had failed to win the PowerBall lottery jackpot of $312 million they were willing to help me refinance my debts. I suspect “KMV22” probably also has excellent sources for penis enlargement, Viagra and Human Growth Hormones, the primary engines of the new cyber economy. I’d like to send all the spam back to “KMV22” but the link doesn’t work. Damn.

I work through the spam in my e-mail queue and the gentle babble of the BBC World Service envelopes me. Vicky Barker is off today. I like Vicky. Her chipper voice gives tens of thousands of listeners around the globe a pleasant entree to the most unsettling news. Her alternate reader, Emlio San Pedro, also seems to be off this holiday week. I like his voice. It is rich and vibrant and when he hits a Spanish word he has that hint of a trill in the pronunciation of his “R’s” that clearly says he is (at least) bilingual. So there, English-speaking world.

This morning there is a new voice at the microphone. Mr. Dan Damon carried me to the top of the hour as I finished deleting the e-mail. He has a pleasant, well modulated voice of mellow tone and a very correct English accent. The regional diversity of the voices is one of the best features of the World Service, distinct but brought together bythe Queens diction. It is most appropriate. The news comes from all the continents. From the UK, The Sun of London is reporting the discontent of a prisoner confined for life. Mr. Dugan is upset that the authorities failed to invest his prison wages for him, and that he has lost interest. He wants thousands of pounds in damages. Thank God Her Majesty’s government has provided law libraries to the shut-ins.

From the Western Hemisphere comes an update on the continuing crisis in Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez remains beleaguered and oil workers are still on strike. I’d like to hear Emilio read that story. There would be a lot of trilled “R’s.”

From Southeast Asia is the report that an Indonesian Army Lt. Col. has been indicted for crimes against humanity in East Timor. He is the first one to be so indicted. Many officers have walked due to insufficiency of evidence. In this case, the officer was accused of complicity in two attacks on civilians, one on a home and one on a church. Fifteen people died in the attacks. The judges say he was guilty by association, but wasn’t personally responsible. Since he was responsible for the situation, but mitigated the consequences, the tribunal gave him five years instead of the maximum ten. The colonel remains free on his personal recognizance.

North Asia provides the word that North Korea continues its nuclear pout. The Russian press in the Slavic Asian bastion of Vladivostok is telling us that the situation is ridiculous; the US is threatening military action against Iraq, where no weapons have been found, and placating the Koreans who are reported to actually HAVE them. The alert staff at the AOL NewsDesk tell me that “Since preemptive military action to disable the plant and other North Korean nuclear installations could not likely be conducted without igniting a catastrophic war on the Korean Peninsula, the United States and its allies must find a peaceful way to persuade Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.” So maybe that is the difference. I like the Russians. The post-Communist age has given them plenty of opportunity to employ their leftover Slavic irony.

The radio bounces from Korea to Vlad and to the Middle East, and at the top of the hour the World Service turns over the watch to NPR. There are more Lieutenant Colonels in the news this morning. In Djibouti, American Lt. Col. Campbell is subject of a feature from National Public Radio. He took command of Camp Lemoinier in Djibouti right around the time of the attack on the Paradise Hotel in Mombassa. Marine Chief Warrant Officer Terry Walker, is mentioned, though he does not speak and they don’t tell me what he is up to, though all the Services are represented. I am surprised that they are idenitified by name. The new policy had been to withhold the last names of personnel overseas to deny terrorists key elements of information. There is a certain American assertiveness to the report, like it was before the debacle in Somalia.

Major General Sadler is the over-all commander for this Joint Task Force, seated on the command ship LaSalle offshore. He talks about eliminating the disease of terrorism in a thin Midwestern voice. There are 900 US troops on the ground. The chaplain at the camp talks about dealing with religious diversity and the implication for receiving casualties who might be Christian, Muslim and Buddhist. Even Mormon, he says. A Djiboutian woman says she has no opinion about the US presence, but she is hoping for more local jobs, and an improvement in the local economy. The US reportedly plans a hearts-and-minds strategy to help the people of the Horn of Africa. It hasn’t quite begun, but it is defintely on the list of things to do.

The most important election since independence is happening in Kenya. The public will have the first real choice since President Moi took power 24 corrupt years ago. Public safety, the economy and the rule of law have eroded in this lovely land. We could hear reporting tomorrow on the beginning of something truly wonderful there tomorrow. The beginning of the first real postcolonial government, committed to service and the elimination of corruption. I am pulling for the Kenyans.

Good morning, world. The dawn is glowing out there. Prepared by the World Service, I think I will plunge into it.

Copyright 2002 Vic Socotra