Chinese Virus (a.k.a. The Kung Flu) statistics for week number 41 (287 days) as at 28th. May 2021 (plus political comment and our personal news) since 21/08/20.

Hola a todos nuestros amigos y familiares,

Esperamos como siempre que todo el mundo este en rosa - 

CHINESE VIRUS STATISTICS and related comment - 

** An amusing treatise on how to deal with vaccine and mask fanatics - it is the responsibility of those concerned about contracting any potentially deadly virus to take the pro-active measures needed to safeguard their own health, just as everybody who walks on the sidewalk has a responsibility not to bolt into traffic without looking both ways. I am confident in my own common-sense mitigation efforts, as long as you are in yours.

** While evidence now suggests that this was a man-made virus - with even Dr. Anthony Fauci admitting it likely emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, possibly as a means to wage biological warfare in order to interfere with the global economy and the 2020 US election - I am a firm adherent to the principles of natural selection and Darwinist de-populationism.

Without the presence of pandemics and other cataclysmic events to thin out the herd, the human race will soon face a food crisis and water shortage due to overpopulation. Frankly, your efforts to alter your DNA in order to unnaturally extend your lifespan are creepy, selfish and irresponsible. In the event that a future famine requires society to resort to wide-spread cannibalism and necrophagy, they should be free from having to live off genetically modified meat.

Also, I don't like needles. 

** On the Ingraham Angle on 24/05 we have just watched a segment of Dr. Atlas who talks about parents enrolling their 6 MONTH OLD children in a Pfizer EXPERIMENTAL TRIAL. Dr. Atlas asked quite rightly where were the medical ethics of the doctors who signed the consent forms for such a trial. And the parents should be indicted on charges of child abuse and possibly murder, or at least grievous bodily harm.  

And we now read that the LIAR, FAUCI, is now saying that it will be necessary to have "booster" shots for the anti Covid vaccine every 3 or 6 months!! If the vaccine's efficacy can only be guaranteed for such a limited time, why on earth bother having it in the first place? Especially considering that NOTHING is known about the long-term effects and natural immunity destruction, which would just be exacerbated by "booster" shots every few months. And what about the logistics? It's sufficiently difficult to rollout one vaccine, even in a country like the USA, so how would it go with 3 or 6 monthly "boosters"? It's mind-blowing and is just another attempt by big Pharma to boost their already obscene profits.  

The State of Florida has already passed a law banning "vaccine passports" and will in absolute defiance of any "vaccine passport" mandate that the Federal Government may try to introduce, enforce that ban. This will have an unpredictable effect on the cruise industry which has used Miami as a cruising hub for decades. Imagine someone boarding a cruise liner in Miami (minus "passport") and then arriving in NZ. No doubt they'd be denied entry. "Vaccine passport" rules across the world would be bizarre and ruinously unenforceable. 

The Chinese Virus was the evil culmination of a plan to take over the world which had been hatched at least 30 years before. Infiltration of educational institutions with political and historical propaganda was also just part of the plan. Then there was a fly in the ointment in their well-greased plan. In 2016 Donad J. Trump was elected against all current political wisdom as President of the United States and then in 2020, he would have been re-elected again in a landslide had it not been for the detailed Democrat plan to steal the election by the implementation of the biggest and most egregious fraud in the history of the world - never mind the USA. They thought they had succeeded in their nefarious aims, but there is now a hugely underestimated groundswell of public opinion and anger as it becomes more and more obvious just what the plan to destroy the USA amounts to. The forensic electoral audit in Maricopa County, Arizona is proceeding apace, despite all the legal roadblocks one could imagine being thrown up by the desperate Dims to stop it. Why - what are they hiding?    

And now in closing, we have just heard the most hilarious suggested scenario we have heard in years - AIRLINES COULD WELL REFUSE TO CARRY PASSENGERS WHO HAVE BEEN VACCINATED DUE TO THE RISK OF BLOOD CLOTS!!!!!!!!!! Go figure. So now you will have to carry a certificate proving you have not been vaccinated???????????????????

MUNDO - World

Population - 7,867,226,599 - (7,865,668,907) - up 1,557,692 or 0.02%

Active cases - 14,596,876 - (15,828,045) - down 1,231,169 or 7.8%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,855 - (2,012) - down 157 or 7.8%

Slightly lesser rate of reduction than last week, but still heading in the right direction

ARGENTINA

Population - 45,569,700 - (45,561,776) - up 7,924 or 0.017%

Active cases - 367,606 - (339,261) - up 28,345 or 8.4%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - up 8,067 - (7,446) - up 621 or 8.3%

Weekly rate of increase reduced by more than half, but still going the wrong way

AUSTRALIA

Population - 25,766,447 - (25,760,790) - up 5,657 or 0.022%

Active cases - 127 - (137) - down 10 or 7.3%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 5 - (5) - no change

Surprising low numbers given that they've panicked and locked down the state of Victoria again! 

We've just heard about an Australian nurse who has nursed for 35 years. She has left the profession and de-registered herself because she said she could no longer stand the enforced culture of silence in the medical establishment concerning the Kung Flu "vaccination". She had administered vaccinations for many things in the past, but after reading about these "vaccinations", she could not bring herself to be complicit in administering them. So, she has gone and is now speaking out. She said that the real side effects of the "vaccines" won't be seen for at least 12 months and it's amazing just how people can be cowed into submission by instilling fear of one thing and then covering up matters that people should really be fearful of. This is just another indication that there is plenty to be hushed up 

BOLIVIA  

Population - 11,816,388 - (11,813,342) - up 3,046 or 0.026%

Active cases - 59,162 - (51,574) - up 7,588 or 14.7%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 5,007 - (4,366) - up 641 or 14.7%

A further increase on last week's rate of increase. Seems most of S America is in the same boat.

BRAZIL

Population - 213,922,560 - (213,893,706) - up 28,854 or 0.014%

Active cases - 1,099,117 - (1,068,205) - up 30,912 or 2.9%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 5,138 - (4,994) - up 144 or 2.9%

Weekly rate of increase down a bit so maybe the tide is turning - again?

CHILE
Population - 19,264,176 - (19,261,041) - up 3,135 or 0.016%

Active cases - 41,353 - (38,716) - 2,637 or 6.8%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,147 - (2,010) - up 137 or 6.8%

Weekly rate of increase more than double last week.

COLOMBIA
Population - 51,371,659 - (51,361,292) - up 10,367 or 0.020%

Active cases - 131,110 - (114,746) - up 16,364 or 14.3%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,552 - (2,234) - up 318 or 14.2%

Last week's big improvement drastically turned around. Up and down like the proverbial!!

COSTA RICA
Population - 5,136,059 - (5,135,171) - up 888 or 0.17%

Active cases - 68,076 - (66,229) - up 1,847 or 2.8%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 13,255 - (12,897) - up 358 or 2.8%

A much reduced rate of weekly increase from last week, but still the highest rate per 1 million of population of all the countries we monitor. 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Population - 10,945,968 - (10,943,887) - up 2,081 or 0.019%

Active cases - 45,915 - (42,1!0) - up 3,805 or 9.0%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 4,195 - (3,848) - up 347 or 9.0%

Rate of increase slightly less than last week - let's hope that trend continues.

ECUADOR
Population - 17,884,153 - (17,879,026) - up 5,127 or 0.029%

Active cases - 35,547 - (40,734) - down 5,187 or 12.7%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,988 - (2,278) - down 290 or 12.7%

Double last week's rate of decrease. Good to see.

GERMANY
Population - 84,025,898 - (84,020,788) - up 5,110 or 0.006%

Active cases - 123,580 - (176,265) - down 52,685 or 29.9%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,471 - (2,097) - down 626 or 29.9%

A very satisfactory rate of weekly decrease. Let's hope it continues.

JAPAN
Population - 126,126,216 - (126,133,589) - down 7,373 or 0.006%

Active cases - 61,441 - (70,505) - down 9,064 or 12.9%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 487 - (559) - down 72 or 12.9%

Double last week's rate of decrease - good to see.

MALAYSIA

Population - 32,739,471 - (32,731,540) - up 7,931 or 0.024%

Active cases - 72,823 - (52,106) - up 20,717 or 39.8%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,224 - (1,592) - up 632 or 39.7%

Not good. A continuing and increasing rate of increase from last week.

MEXICO

Population - 130,153,617 - (130,127,725) - up 25,892 or 0.020%

Active cases - 261,555 - (259,873) - up 1,682 or 0.65%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,010 - (1,997) - up 13 or 0.65%

Weekly rate of increase rising slightly.

NEW ZEALAND
Population - 5,002,100 - (5,002,100) - no change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Active cases - 21 - (23) - down 2 or 8.70%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 4 - (5) - down 1 or 20.0%

Travel bubble with Victoria suspended.................

PANAMA
Population - 4,375,882 - (4,374,582) - up 1,300 or 0.03%

Active cases - 6,058 - (5,821) - up 237 or 4.1%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,384 - (1,331) - up 53 or 4.0%

At least the weekly rate of increase has substantially reduced...........

PARAGUAY
Population - 7,211,467 - (7,209,782) - up 1,685 or 0.023%

Active cases - 52,770 - (47,715) - up 5,055 or 10.6%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 7,318 - (6,618) - up 700 or 10.6%

A substantial increase in the weekly rate over last week 

PERU
Population - 33,385,362 - (33,376,576) - up 8,786 or .026%

Active cases - 152,573 - (122,422) - up 30,151 or 24.6%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 4,570 - (3,668) - up 902 or 24.6%

Rate of weekly increase is down by almost half so hopefully this is the beginning of a downward trend?

 
PHILIPPINES
Population - 110,894,418 - (110,866,521) - up 27,897 or .025%

Active cases - 53,770 - (55,531) - down 1,761 or 3.2%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 485 - (501) - down 16 or 3.2%

Low figures to begin with and a reduction in active cases as well - very encouraging

TAIWAN
Population - 23,855,722 - (23,854,900) - up 822 or 0.004%

Active cases - 6,104 - (1,991) - up 4,113 or 206.6%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 256 - (84) - up 172 or 204.8%

Still low figures, but a worrying surge 

THAILAND
Population - 69,958,191 - (69,954,851) - up 3,540 or .005%

Active cases - 46,150 - (42,827) - up 3,323 or 7.8%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 660 - (612) - up 48 or 7.8%

Weekly rate of increase reduced by almost 4 times so that is certainly encouraging

UNITED KINGDOM

Population - 68,207,899 - (68,201,093) - up 6,806 or .01%

Active cases - 35,347 - (41,632) - down 6,285 or 15.1%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 518 - (610) - down 92 or 15.1%

Rate of decrease down by half but no doubt just a result of the huge improvement over recent weeks. Still, with the vaccinations.............? How's the 'flu going?

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Population - 332,754,370 - (332,717,317) - up 37,053 or .011%

Active cases - 5,690,075 - (5,871,914) - down 181,839 or 3.1%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 17,100 - (17,648) - down 548 or 3.1%

Rate of weekly decrease reduced by half. What is going on with all these vaccinations??? And how's the 'flu going?

URUGUAY
Population - 3,484,602 - (3,484,143) - up 459 or .013%

Active cases - 36,997 - (30,973) - up 6,024 or 19.5%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 10,617 - (8,889) - up 1,728 or 19.4%

Another increase in the weekly rate. There seems no end to it...........

SELECTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION as at May 28th. with comparisons 7 days earlier. For subsequent weeks we will still use May 21st. 2021 as the comparison base, because financial comparisons have more relevance, with a growing time frame between the original base and the current date - 

S & P 500 - US - 4204 - (4151) - up 53 or 1.28%

FTSE - UK - 7023 - (7018) - up 5 or 0.07%

NZX50 - NZ - 12182 - (12460) - down 278 or 2.23%

COLCAP - Bolsa de Valores de Colombia - 1207 - (1244) - down 37 or 2.97%

NZD/USD - .7264  - (.7174) - up 0.009 or 1.3%

NZD/COP - 2695 - (2686) - up 9 or 0.33%

NZD/EURO - .5958  - (.5892) - up .0066 or 1.12%

NZD/CHF - .6537 - (.6441) - up .0096 or 1.49%

NZD/JPY - 79.80 - (78.17) - up 1,63 or 2.09%

NZD/CNY - 4.63 - (4.62) - up .01 or 0.22%

USD/NZD - 1.38 - (1.39) - down .01 or 0.72%

USD/COP - 3710 - (3744) - down 34 or 0.91%

USD/EURO - .8201 - (.8211) - down .001 or 0.12%

USD/CNY - 6.37 - (6.43) - down .06 or 0.93%

USD/JPY - 109.86  - (108.95) - up 0.91 or 0.84%

USD/CHF - .8999 - (.8978) - up .0021 or 0.23%

GOLD - (USD/troy ounce) - 1910 - (1,881) - up 29 or 1.5%

OIL WTI - (USD/barrel) - 66.83 - (63.88) - up 2.95 or 4.6%

COMMENT AND NEWS - 

AUSTRALIA

Melbourne is in lockdown with a minimal number of cases. Similar to NZ inasmuch as they slavishly follow border closures and lockdowns at God knows what cost, to maintain an ultimately unrealistic level of cases.

COLOMBIA 

Following are this week's headlines from the English language www.colombiareports.com. You need to go to the desktop version of the site to read most of these:

May 23rd. White supremacy in Colombia Part 4: Racist Cali's "genocide risk"

May 24th. Colombia's peace commissioner resigns in the middle of protest talks

May 24th. Colombia's government collapse: officials turn on Duque

May 24th. Colombia accused of mass killing anti-government protesters

May 25th. Colombia's judicial branch shuts down to join anti-government protests

May 25th. Ivan Duque: Colombia's least popular president in polling history

May 26th. Debate on no confidence motion against Colombia's defence minister ends in chaos

May 26th. Colombia turns on media amid barrage of lies and propaganda

May 27th. Colombia's Congress supports defence minister over mass killings

We're getting on with our 3 year visa renewals; now they suddenly want details of our investments here, even though we are applying under the Colombian Pensionada scheme. So it's taking time to dig out all that stuff and then scanning documents galore and emailing them to our lawyer. 

Politically things remain the same with more protests this week and the complete breakdown of negotiations between the government and the protestors. The government sends negotiators to meetings, but then withdraw their authority to negotiate, so that is simply bad faith and will only cement the left's influence further. They're a bunch of incompetent fools. 

NEW ZEALAND

Once again Muriel Newman and Leighton Smith are both essential reading/listening. They seem to be the only people speaking out against the revisionist education syllabus, and the divisive racist agenda being surreptitiously pushed through by the duplicitous toothy grin. Then there's the getting into bed with China via the B&R I and the effective withdrawal from the Five Eyes Agreement of which NZ has been a member since 1956.

NZ needs to energetically pursue other trade agreements; not sure how far the UK one has progressed, but NZ might find that now there is less acceptance from the UK in view of the Five Eyes betrayal. Already UK farmers are mounting a determined opposition to Australian beef, so NZ may find that it is on the outer - and deservedly so.

We haven't seen it yet, but there is a 60 Minutes Australia exposee of NZ vis-a-vis Australia and both countries' developing relationship with China. Australia to be fair, does have some more clout with China as the latter is desperate for all the iron ore and coal it can get, but Australia is definitely taking the more principled stand and NZ is prepared to sell its soul to the devil for the sake of 30% of its export trade - much of which can probably be taken up in the new NZ/UK trade agreement. 

China, or more particularly the CCP, is a vicious unprincipled power, determined to take over the world and in the process destroy everything we have always held dear, and which our ANZAC heroes fought and in many cases died for. 

Ardern and Co are finally showing their true colours  - exactly the same as the crooks in the US - which is to change the world forever into some sort of Socialist utopia. The problem is that such a place does not exist and is a dangerous and deceptive notion that is being played out among all the woke and apathetic populations who have become soft and ignorant of even recent history. People MUST wake up, shed their wokeness and kick these traitorous political saboteurs out of office before it is too late and everything you think you own is taken from you - probably simply by means of outrageously high taxation.    

UNITED KINGDOM

The UK is still experiencing much the same problem as the US as regards illegal immigration. Now that summer is approaching, the dinghy traffic across the Channel is picking up and it is expected that it will well exceed the already horrendous numbers achieved last year. And the illegals are being housed in 4 star hotels mainly in the north. 

Sometimes we feel we are living in a madhouse. It seems that wherever one looks these days seriously bad things are happening. 

And the socialist EU is still trying to muscle in on UK sovereign affairs, particularly where the N Ireland Protocol is concerned. It is encouraging to see Boris standing firm. The EU's problem is that they cannot understand that the UK is now a separate sovereign state, which they still think they can control. We recommend watching Jeff Taylor on Youtube (usually no more than 5 minute segments) for updates on this situation which is now bordering on the farcical.  

UNITED STATES

** From Judicial Watch - May 24th. In an apparent effort to avoid public scrutiny, the Biden administration is transporting plane loads of illegal immigrant minors in the middle of the night then bussing them to cities in the southeast. Even members of Congress representing the impacted districts are being kept in the dark about the covert operations and the Dept. of Defence (DOD) is contracting big tour buses to move the migrants to nearby states once they land, presumably from the southern border region. The alarming details are featured in a well-sourced news report broadcast by a Tennessee media outlet this week.

The segment - and accompanying article - features videos of planes arriving at a Chattanooga private jet terminal called Wilson Air Centre. Adolescents who appear to be in their early teens are seen deboarding the planes carrying matching bags then boarding large tour buses parked on the runway.

One of the planes landed around 1.30 am on a Friday and another late Saturday night. A third arrived at the Chattanooga facility on a Friday afternoon and a fourth early Wednesday morning. The illegal alien teens are, officially coined Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) by the government, are seen boarding large buses owned by Coast-to-Coast Tours of East Point, Georgia. The company said that this was the first time the company had been asked to pick up migrant children in Chattanooga. Two of the buses left Chattanooga for Miami, Florida and Dallas, Texas.

Some of the migrants get re-united with family members and others go to taxpayer funded group homes. The operation began in Dallas, but had been moved to small airports to avoid detection. 

Unfortunately the American public cannot obtain details about the arrangement. The Tennessee media outlet was given the runaround and various members of Congress are quoted saying they have no information about the operations. A DOD spokesman says that the flights were facilitated by the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) who never returned the news outlet's call seeking information on the secret operations. 

HHS is responsible for UAC and currently has a record 22,264 in its care. The agency provides the illegal immigrant minors with an array of services, including education, mental and medical healthcare, legal counsel, and a variety of recreational activities. The overwhelming majority of the migrants - 72% - are not children but rather young adults or adolescents 15 to 17 years old. 68% are male, which has tremendously boosted gang recruitment in the country. 

Federal authorities have for years confirmed that the nation's most violent street gangs - including the Mara Salvatrucha (M.S. - 13) - recruit new members at U.S.shelters housing UAC.  

** Portland, Oregon schoolchildren are being trained to be revolutionaries. We've seen a video of a young female teacher exhorting her students to get out on the streets and to believe that America is racist and unjust. As Laura Ingraham said, these "teachers" should be sacked and never be allowed to teach again.  

** We have the disgusting traitorous VP, Kamala Harris, having been appointed by the cognitive fool, Biden, to be in charge of the illegal immigration crisis on the southern border. In spite of horrendous numbers of aliens entering illegally, which are entirely beyond the capacity of border security personnel to deal with, all she will do is spout off nonsense about looking for the "root cause" behind people wishing to leave their countries and come to the US. The reason is obvious, and has been for years - abject and endemic poverty mainly caused by outrageous corruption and theft in those countries. This is something the US cannot stop; instead they MUST stop the illegals from entering and return to Trump's policy of allowing asylum applications BEFORE any entry into the US is allowed. Harris will probably just send millions of dollars to these corrupt regimes in order to improve the lot of their citizens, but all that will happen then, is that the money will be funneled to bank accounts in the Cayman Islands or Luxembourg - or wherever. 

There are still too many people who think that the present US Government is just a collection of witless left-wing fools and that the nightmare will all be over in 2022 when the Republicans re-take both Houses and then in 2024 when Trump is back in the White House. But these people currently in power are NOT fools; they are determined and deadset on imposing their extremist Marxist ideals and in the process their aim is to destroy the United States of America and New Zealand and other similar countries. Unless election integrity can be strengthened, there will NOT be a 2022. People need to wake up to this fact and protest and become as active as they can be. Even though we are not Americans, our contribution is this blog - we hope that in some small way it can be influential.

There is plenty throughout this blog to be very concerned about and we just hope that free people can rise up and defeat the Socialist governments of the US and NZ, but also those other governments who are determined to impose draconian controls upon all of us - most of which has arisen from the misguided efforts to control the Kung Flu. And these controlling efforts are to a very large extent concentrated in left-wing jurisdictions. By contrast, just see how right/centrist jurisdictions have totally outstripped their Socialist counterparts in public health, economic progress and individual freedom.   

We hope that the past week has been satisfactory and even excellent for you..............................

With lotsaluv from us in the City of Eternal Spring...............

Jim and Jean

Chinese Virus (a.k.a. The Kung Flu) statistics for week number 40 (280 days) as at 21st. May 2021 (plus political comment and our personal news) since 21/08/20.

Hola a todos nuestros amigos y familiares,

All in the pink, we are sure.

We apologise for last week's further comments on the "vaccinations" after stating in week no. 38 that there would be no more comments on the subject! However, in our defence, we simply have to say that new and relevant information comes to hand all the time, and so we must reserve the right to amend or add to our previously expressed views. We always retain an open mind - as we also expect others to do. And the veracity of these figures, taking into account the always shifting political landscape, probably needs taking with a grain of salt. We wonder how the ordinary 'flu figures are going now that the Kung Flu seems to be declining??

We'll briefly refer to an interview by Mark Levin on Fox News tonight of a former NY Times science writer, Nicholas Wade, on the subject of the true origin of the Chinese Virus. Reference is made to Dr. Anthony Fauci who was up to his scrawny neck in funding of "gain of function" research at the Wuhan Laboratory for establishing how to make Coronaviruses worse, ostensibly for the purpose of finding more sophisticated methods of combating these viruses. This type of research should be banned by international treaty. Fauci denied in a flat-out lie under oath in the US Senate that he had had anything to do with any funding. This was disingenuous at best as he caused the funding to be made available to Wuhan through an intermediary. It is appalling that US government agencies could be used for anything remotely like this type of research and it proves once again that DR. ANTHONY FAUCI IS A FLAT-OUT LIAR AND SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN TRUSTED FROM THE OUTSET. He flip-flopped on mask wearing and has been demonstrably wrong on just about every time that he has opened his mouth.

This further undermines all the so-called official narratives on the Chinese Virus and further justifies anyone, including us, refusing these experimental vaccines. Now they are implying that boosters will probably be needed every 6 months as the main shots will be severely limited as regards the time that they remain effective. On top of that there is all the uncertainty surrounding medium and long-term side-effects. The goal-posts shift all the time and now there are further implications of shaming (failing to do civic duty!!) and refusal of basic services such as air travel if one was to remain unvaccinated. Various states in the US are introducing legislation to ban vaccination passports and to make any coercion on the basis of any vaccination illegal. The Dims want the control of course because that's their life-blood, but freedom will triumph in the end. Watch this space!!

MUNDO - World

Population - 7,865,668,907 - (7,864,111,215) - up 1,557,692 or 0.02%

Active cases - 15,828,045 - (17,719,172) - down 1,891,127 or 10.7%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,012 - (2,253) - down 241 or 10.7%

More than double last week's rate of reduction. Wonder how the flu infections are going?!!

ARGENTINA

Population - 45,561,776 - (45,553,852) - up 7,924 or 0.02%

Active cases - 339,261 - (281,414) - up 57,847 or 20.6%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 7,446 - (6,178) - up 1,268 or 20.5%

The rate of increase appears to be gaining ground. Last week 4.0% - this week as above. Not good.

AUSTRALIA

Population - 25,760,790 - (25,755,133) - up 5,657 or 0.02%

Active cases - 137 - (186) - down 49 or 26.3%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 5 - (7) - down 2 or 28.6%

A continuing decline, but only with draconian restrictions on travel. Australians are NOT permitted to leave their country on pain of massive fines. The only exception is the "travel bubble" between there and NZ.

BOLIVIA

Population - 11,813,342 - (11,810,296) - up 3,046 or 0.03%

Active cases - 51,574 - (45,842) - up 5,732 or 12.5%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 4,366 - (3,882) - up 484 or 12.5%

A doubling of last week's rate of increase - very concerning.

BRAZIL

Population - 213,893,706 - (213,864,852) - up 28,854 or 0.01%

Active cases - 1,068,205 - (1,026,902) - up 41,303 or 4.0%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 4,994 - (4,802) - up 192 or 4.0%

An almost doubling of last week's increase. Also concerning.

CHILE

Population - 19,261,041 - (19,257,906) - up 3,135 or 0.02%

Active cases - 38,716 - (37,473) - up 1,243 or 3.3%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,010 - (1,946) - up 64 or 3.3%

A continuation of last week's increase.

COLOMBIA

Population - 51,361,292 - (51,350,926) - up 10,366 or 0.02%

Active cases - 114,746 - (113,463) - up 1,283 or 1.1%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,234 - (2,210) - up 24 or 1.1%

A significant improvement on last week's increases of 11.8%. Maybe the corner is being turned?!!

COSTA RICA

Population - 5,135,171 - (5,134,282) - up 889 or 0.02%

Active cases - 66,229 - (57,307) - up 8,922 or 15.6%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 12,897 - (11,162) - up 1,735 or 15.5%

A slightly lower, but insignificant rate of increase than last week. However, the overall infection level is well above any other S American or Central American country that we monitor.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Population - 10,943,887 - (10,941,808) - up 2,079 or 0.02%

Active cases - 42,110 - (38,134) - up 3,976 or 10.4%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 3,848 - (3,485) - up 363 or 10.4%

Let's hope that there is the start of a reduction soon. These figures are getting on the high side. 

ECUADOR

Population - 17,879,026 - (17,873,899) - up 5,127 or 0.03%

Active cases - 40,734 - (43,643) - down 2,909 or 6.7%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2.278 - (2,432) - down 154 or 6.3%

Down again by more or less the same rate as last week. Keep the good work going.

GERMANY

Population - 84,020,788

Active cases - 176,265

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,097

No comparative figures from last week as we are including Germany for the first time for our friends, Josie and Reinhard in Werneck, near Wurzburg in northern Bavaria - with whom we spent 2 wonderful weeks in 2018 after the trauma of Turkey.

JAPAN

Population - 126,133,589 - (126,140,961) - down 7,372 or 0.006%

Active cases - 70,505 - (74,846) - down 4,341 or 5.8%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 559 - (593) - down 34 or 5.7%

Hopefully, after last week this will be the beginning of a continuing reduction in infections.

MALAYSIA

Population - 32,731,540 - (32,723,609) - up 7,931 or 0.02%

Active cases - 52,106 - (41,471) - up 10,635 or 25.6%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,592 - (1,267) - up 325 or 25.7%

The weekly rate of increase has risen substantially. Let's hope this can be reversed soon.

MEXICO

Population - 130,127,725 - (130,101,834) - up 25,891 or 0.02%

Active cases - 259,873 - (259,731) - up 142 or 0.06%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,997 - (1,996) - up 1 or 0.05%

A change of trajectory, but only by a miniscule amount. We hope to see a resumption of the downward trend.

NEW ZEALAND - 

Population - 5,002,100 - (5,002,100) - at this rate Godszone will fall off the bottom of the world!! No further comment!

Active cases - 23 - (18) - up 5 or 27.8%  

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 5 - (4) - up 1 or 25.0%

At this rate NZ will be a commercial basket case - even more than it already is!!!

PANAMA

Population - 4,374,582 - (4,373,282) - up 1,300 or 0.03%

Active cases - 5,821 - (4,809) - up 1,012 or 21.0%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,331 - (1,100) - up 231 or 21.0%

Same rate of increase as last week. Panama was doing so well; what has happened?

PARAGUAY

Population - 7,209,782 - (7,208,106) - up 1,676 or 0.02%

Active cases - 47,715 - (45,670) - up 2,045 or 4.5%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 6,618 - (6,336) - up 282 or 4.5%

A repeat of last week. We hope there is a turnaround soon.

PERU

Population - 33,376,576 - (33,367,789) - up 8,787 or 0.03%

Active cases - 122,422 - (87,335) - up 35,087 or 40.2%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 3,668 - (2,617) - up 1,051 or 40.2%

Another horrendous increase, but less than last week's 79%. Hopefully there may be a downturn soon.

PHILIPPINES

Population - 110,866,521

Active cases - 55,531

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 501

Modest figures compared to some others. No comparisons until next week.

TAIWAN

Population - 23,854,900 - (23,854,078) - up 822 or 0.004%

Active cases - 1,991 - (171) - 1,820 or 1,064.3%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 84 - (7) - up 77 or 1,100.0%

A massive increase - unbelievable. Probably the CCP seeding new strains of the virus direct from the Wuhan laboratory during their many incursions into Taiwanese airspace. Maybe they've decided that an outright invasion would be too much trouble and would damage their international relations ahead of the February Winter Olympics, so they'll try outright murder instead. Wouldn't put anything past those murderous bastards.

THAILAND

Population - 69,954,851 - (69,951,611) - up 3,240 or 0.005%

Active cases - 42,827 - (33,186) - 9,641 or 29.1%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 612 - (474) - up 138 or 29.1%

Rate of increase more than double that of last week. Let's hope this gets reversed soon. Rate of increase in population well below global average  - except NZ where nothing happens at all!!

UNITED KINGDOM

Population - 68,201,093 - (68,194,286) - up 6,807 or 0.01%

Active cases - 41,632 - (58,987) - down 17,355 or 29.4%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 610 - (865) - down 255 or 29.5%

The rate of decrease is great, but is so great over recent weeks that we could almost suspect that earlier active case numbers have been overstated just to keep the population in a controlled state of fear, no doubt with many ordinary flu cases recorded as the Kung Flu! Of course we can't prove that, but with the almost elimination of ordinary flu in recent times, we think the evidence is compelling. The same comments also apply to the United States and no doubt other countries as well.

We have also heard the news that the BBC has apologised to the Royal Family in the aftermath of the revelation that the Martin Bashir interview of Princess Diana in 1995 was arranged only after forged papers had been given to Diana's brother by Bashir of the BBC; these were forged bank statements which were used to imply to Earl Spencer that royal courtiers were being paid by security services for information on Diana. The statements also gave the impression that associates/employees of the Royal Family were selling stories to newspapers. 

This "deceived and induced" Earl Spencer and Diana to agree to proceed with the infamous interview where Diana correctly stated - "there were three people in this marriage - it was a bit crowded". This of course provided the final rift with the adulterous Charles who had been conducting an affair with that awful woman, Camilla before, during and after his marriage to Diana. In turn this led to her friendship and affair with Dodi Al-Fayeed and we all know what happened then. 

It has been said, and we agree, that if it had not been for the outrageous and egregious fraud perpetrated by the BBC, then in all likelihood Princess Diana would still be alive. Whether she and Charles would have remained married is a moot point, but this action by the BBC actually constituted an attack on the future King and Queen of Great Britain at the time. As such it amounted to a seditious attack on the British Crown. As an institution, the BBC is finished. This grieves us as it must many people. It has had an illustrious history which began in 1922 as a private company in those days. That was 99 years ago and then a few years later it operated until the present day under a Royal Charter. From broadcasting secret coded messages to various resistance groups during World War II to nurturing famous broadcasting and comedy acts. From the Goon Show, to The Archers, to The Navy Lark, - all these and many more we remember with great fondness from back in the days before TV in NZ -  pre 1960 from faint memory! And of course from the TV era - Michael Parkinson, Dame Edna Everidge and many more including more sitcoms than we can remember - at least without giving away our own antiquity!! 

One final comment on this sad and unhappy affair (pun intended) - Charles has shown himself to be deficient in character and therefore unsuited to be King, or indeed head of the Church of England. He should never ascend the throne. In our view, if he did, this would spell the end of the British monarchy. And all of this has contributed in no small way to Prince Harry's bad choice of wife and subsequent actions which have been injurious to the institution of the monarchy. His various actions have been ill-advised to say the least, but we believe the lingering bitterness which he must surely feel have contributed in no small way to his tragic situation. 

Now, here are a few comments from English people (after our own heart!) on one of Alex Belfield's commentaries on Youtube:

"Let's face it most of us have just been getting on with life regardless for months."

"A teacher asked his students to share what their dads do for a living.

Little Johnny said 'my Dad's a stripper at a gay bar'. After class the teacher pulled him aside and said, 'is your dad really a stripper at a gay bar?' 'No he's a reporter for the BBC, but I was too ashamed to say that'."

"I've carried on exactly the same from day one, met all my children and grandchildren. If people can not see the propaganda they're going to drag us all into a totalitarian life. And of course now we are going to blame the unvaccinated for the spread."

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Population - 332,717,317 - (332,680,263) - up 37,054 or 0.01%

Active cases - 5,871,914 - (6,363,131) - down 491,214 or 7.7%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 17,648 - (19,127) - down 1,479 or 7.7%

Surprising that the rate of reduction isn't higher with all the vaccinations. No doubt there's an increase in influenza!!

URUGUAY

Population - 3,484,372 - (3,484,143) - up 229 or 0.007%

Active cases - 30,973 - (27,216) - up 3,757 or 13.8%

Active cases per 1 million of total population - 8,889 - (7,811) - up 1,078 or 13.8%

Heading up further than last week. Very disappointing, especially as we want to go there to look around sometime. At this rate we could be waiting a while!!

UNITED STATES - we don't propose to say too much under this heading - things are becoming so bad thanks to the Biden crooks that we don't know where to start, and most we have said already!! But here goes -

* the southern border - there are still tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors living in squalid and unsafe conditions. In the last 3 months of the Trump administration there were a total of 47 illegal immigrants released into the US; in the first 3 months of Sleepy Joe,

there were 61,000. These crooks aren't fools; it's ALL being done deliberately as part of an overall strategy to destroy the United States. 

* Critical Race Theory which basically is teaching that white races carry guilt for being white and that the US is systemically racist is slowly being pushed back. Many states now have passed legislation to ban CRT from being taught in schools. History revision a la the Macron speech circulated yesterday is also being argued against. In particular the 1619 nonsense which teaches that this date marks the start of the USA. This is historical nonsense - the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in 1775 before the original Betsy Ross states won the war of independence against Great Britain. In 1619 there was a ship which had sailed from the Caribbean to Jamestown with a cargo of slaves. But they were not treated as slaves; they were given the status of "indentured servants" - possibly not much difference in practice, but nevertheless an important distinction which gives the lie to all this dangerous wokish nonsense being disgracefully promoted by the woke left.

*Biden has repeatedly plagiarised others' speeches/quotes etc. The latest is an address to a class of graduates of the US Coastguard. He shamelessly plagiarised an address that Ronald Reagan had given in identical circumstances. The only problem was that he completely screwed up the "joke" that he copied from Reagan, and then when no-one laughed, he said "C'mon man, you're a dull class". That last bit would have gone down like a lead balloon. The guy is a congenitally pathetic nonentity - and he's President of the United States. We heard the other day that the US Military still have not passed over the nuclear codes, nor will they give them to any other member of the administration. At least that's re-assuring.

*In the blue state of Oregon there are a number of eastern counties that have voted overwhelmingly to secede and become part of Idaho - a neighbouring red state. It may all be in vain though; it will require a vote agreeing to the move in the Oregon State Senate and then another confirming vote in the US House of Representatives. Neither seem likely! But it's an encouraging sign of the depth of feeling growing all the time against the illegitimate government of the Biden crooks. 

* Then there is the on-going issue of racist accusations being leveled by the left to encourage racist riots and unrest generally. The Dims still have the Washington Capitol tied up tighter than the proverbial with razor wire etc to maintain the false narrative that Trump supporters are massing to take over government. And the Speaker, Pelosi, who needs all her orifices stitched up, is still insisting on masks on the floor of the House - failing which Members are fined $500 for a first non-compliant offence and $2,500 for any further offence thereafter. These fines are taken directly from Members' salaries, so there is no possibility of refusing to pay! However, there is now a groundswell movement to challenge all this legally because according to House rules, there is no provision for any such action. But since when have the Dims ever concerned themselves about rules?

* Then we've had the horrifying spectacle of Hammas in Gaza raining at least 2,000 missiles on to Israel - with the sole aim of killing Jews - targeting hospitals and schools. The weakness of the Biden crooks have given tacit encouragement to Hammas, but belatedly Biden has been quoted as saying that Israel is entitled to defend itself. Israel does not need permission from the likes of Biden to take whatever sovereign action it deems necessary; indeed the Israeli PM has said that whatever action it took to defend itself would pale into insignificance if Hammas ever tried anything like that again. And, as Hammas is funded and supplied with military weapons by Iran, there is a distinct possibility that Israel could launch a surgical nuclear strike against Iranian military assets which would neutralise them for many years to come. Iran has always professed annihilation of Israel, so one cannot be surprised if this is an eventual outcome. The weakness of the Biden crooks just makes this scenario more likely than ever.

* Another foreign policy disaster is Biden giving the green light to Russia and Germany to complete the Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia, down the Baltic Sea to Germany. So, he'll cancel a vital pipeline in the US putting at least 11,000 skilled workers out of work and ruining Trump's achievement of energy self-sufficiency, but directly causing a German dependency on Russian gas and enriching the Russians meantime, and giving them significant leverage over Western Europe. Is this the Hunter Biden connection coming home to roost? 

* The US should threaten to totally withdraw from NATO as a result and also withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords, which are just another leftist attack on western economies which must bear the ridiculous cost of all this, whereas China, one of the most polluting nations on the planet, is not required to bear any cost or climate obligation at all. They are building coal-fired power stations flat out and powering them with Australian coal. This is just another blatant attack on "Western" economies.

* The forensic audit in Maricopa County, Arizona is due to start again this week after a forced delay due to the obstructionist tactics of the Electoral Board. It will be fascinating to see what is unearthed because there has to be something significant, due to the extreme efforts, still being pursued by teams of lawyers to frustrate the process. Then the floodgates will open. There is great excitement on various Youtube sites regarding the likelihood of finding substantial electoral fraud. Even President Trump is now weighing in and openly talking about other states who would conduct their own audits. He said quite openly - how can a fraudulent administration govern? The next few weeks/months are going to be fascinating and public opinion at long last is beginning to swing behind the truth, instead of just calling it another conspiracy theory. 

COLOMBIA - 

Following are this week's concerning headlines from the English language www.colombiareports.com: (you need to go to the Desktop version of the website to view these latest articles)

May 15th. Teenage suicide sparks deadly uprising in southwest Colombia

May 16th. Colombia's anti-government protests swell to historic proportions

May 19th. Colombia sinks healthcare reform amid pressure from anti-government protests

May 20th. Colombia's national security adviser claims opposition "instigates violence"

May 21st. What credit rating? Colombia's police are raping women 

May 22nd. Victims from Colombia's warzones granted extra seats in Congress

May 22nd. Colombia's television news: 16 minutes of apocalyptical horror 

Latest polling has the extreme leftist presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro in an unassailable lead over his nearest rival, Sergio Fajardo. A result in next year's presidential election which reflected this polling, definitely has the potential to be disastrous for Colombia. But, as we've warned previously, it would be the direct result of a backlash against the present extreme right-wing and corrupt government. We can only hope that the centrist candidate, Sergio Fajardo can either prevail or form an alliance with Petro, but at the moment he is well behind in the polls. Still, 12 months is a long time in politics.

Just had a visit (18/05) from EPS Sura in our apartment at 0700 for a Diabetes check-up. The readings are - fasting 162mg/dl and yesterday non-fasting at 1100 it was 147mg/dl. We think that is good but he said fasting should be 125. Don't know why, and no-one has ever explained it, that fasting should be higher than non-fasting after a plate of fresh Colombian fruit!!  Our machine says that high is actually 255-345, so we still think it's not a bad result.The suspicion is that they just want to sell more Metformin. After all the Big Pharma sins of the past, incl. the present vaccination propaganda, we wouldn't trust Big Pharma as far as we could kick them, but of course one must be sensible and tread a cautious centre path that suits yours truly. Only the patient really knows how they feel.

We have been watching with interest the building of an apartment building one block away from us. It has now risen into view (about 15 floors). They have 2 small combustion-engined cranes within the building which hoist loads of mortar and bricks to various floors below, where they are required. Brown brick is the overall dominant material used in construction hereabouts and it gets a bit boring. However, newer buildings do seem to be relieving the incessant brick with alternating finishes. Our building is like that; there is painted plastered brick interspersed with the brick. Of course the main frames of the building are reinforced concrete poured on-site - no pre-stressed beams here.

We are starting to get serious again about selling here and moving "up the hill", albeit to some different property than we looked at before. We want something at ground level where we can walk outside onto a patio or small garden. There are many town-house type developments or terrace house developments (many with swimming pools and/or tennis courts) all in gated communities with 24/7 security, which is a prudent necessity here. The idea of a stand-alone Finca in the country is appealing but the lack of security and also distance to medical facilities, not to mention the work associated with owning land are all at our advanced ages not a good idea. We've both owned land in different places at different times in NZ. But we can achieve our aims with one of the types of property mentioned. 

Colombia is generally reasonably safe, even with driving some distances. As long as one stays reasonably on the straight and narrow and the same applies to buying property. It will be good to get away from the big city where we live, but we do enjoy it around here. It is equivalent to "Parnhell" in Auckland!! Very leafy, lots of restaurants and importantly, walkable. So, we will miss all that, but we will not be missing the traffic and very occasionally some pollution as Medellin is situated in the Aburra Valley which does retain any pollution between 1,000 foot hills on each side. The Rio Medellin runs through the valley from south to north with fast-flowing streams coming down through the city to join the main river. And more trees and parks than we have ever seen in a city anywhere. So, it's all very pleasant, but we will enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. Problem is that everywhere that looks like country is being rapidly developed and in a few years will probably become citified. Bit like around here; there are some lovely individual Fincas still here and there but they are between apartment buildings now and very shaded. The owners are probably just sitting on them because the footprints they occupy are becoming very valuable indeed.

On that note our 1100 sq. ft. apartment with a balcony, 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, basement carpark and storage room is we hope worth about the equivalent of NZD 227,000 at present rates of exchange. The equivalent property in Auckland would be worth probably NZ 2 million or more? So, real estate - even a gated 20 acre estate in the hills - is very reasonable by comparison. And the countryside is beautiful, although around here some of it is very steep. Very like NZ in many ways, but it has a tropical appearance with vegetation etc. But lots of ferns, just like the NZ bush. When looking at a lot of the vegetation, you could swear that you were in NZ. But being anywhere between 5 and 8 thousand feet in altitude the climate is cool and spring-like. Some houses, even only 1,000 feet above Medellin, have fire-places. A few weeks ago we visited some American friends who have just bought a Finca in a gated community on a few acres and it was cool during the day. They had a fire burning in the grate. At night it would be duvet weather, and all still at the same latitude (6 degrees north) as Langkawi Is., Malaysia! Auckland is 36 degrees south and Miami is roughly 27 degrees north.

But we definitely prefer some coolness rather than the relentless, sticky tropical heat that we had for 4-5 years on the boat in SE Asia. The other thing here which we like overall is the low humidity. Usually less than 80% and sometimes as low as 60%. However, because it is cool in the evenings in particular, one doesn't necessarily feel thirsty, so it is easy to become dehydrated. But at night we don't need heating or air-conditioning and we have our balcony sliding doors open all the time - however, "up the hill" it may be a little different and we may need a bit of heat at times.   

AUSTRALIA - There have been threats from the CCP to launch missile attacks on Australia. And all little old Godszone can do is accuse Australia and its allies (presumably this still includes the US?) of deliberately fomenting aggression and aggressive rhetoric towards the CCP!! This is the most disgusting and traitorous narrative that we have heard in a long time. The CCP are the aggressors here - no-one else. It's a wonder that Canberra still talks to the woke idiots in Wellington. 

NEW ZEALAND -  

The following should be required reading for All New Zealanders - this is what is happening to your country - 

This is an article which appeared in the Sunday Telegraph in the U.K. on the 9th. May - courtesy of our friend, Neil:

"ARDERN ISN'T AS LOVELY AS SHE'D HAVE YOU BELIEVE

From the moment she entered office in 2017, the international coverage of Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, has been nothing short of slavering. Ardern is a female political leader at a time when sections of the press still talk about this as if women politicians are unicorns. A year later she added to that advantage by giving birth while in office, which was reported on as though giving birth while holding down a job is unheard of. Coverage has continued in the same vein ever since, helped by the fact that her more important public statements are delivered with lashings of forced empathy.

But those of us who are allergic to such bogus forms of communication and who judge people by their actions rather than their capabilities at emoting are noticing that, increasingly, Ardern's behaviour stinks.

Last month her oh-so-progressive government made an unprecedented step. It refused to join a Five Eyes statement which was critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Five Eyes intelligence sharing network (the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) is the world's most successful and important intelligence sharing partnership.

In being a member of it, New Zealand is at an extraordinary advantage - an advantage that far outweighs the miniscule resources it actually puts into intelligence or other defence capabilities.

But the refusal was not an oversight by the Ardern government. Rather, it was part of a disgraceful and pro totalitarian political turn. Ardern's foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, said that New Zealand now has a preference for moving on from the Five Eyes alliance and looking for new "multilateral opportunities". Except no such better opportunities exist for such a small and isolated power. What is going on is that sweet, lovely Jacinda Ardern and her government are in the process of seeking as much Chinese investment as possible to boost their economy, and doing everything that the CCP wants to ensure that the investment roars in.

It is a cynical and immoral policy because Ardern knows that Chinese investment always comes with strings attached. Australia welcomed it in the 2000's, only to spend the past decade trying to disentangle itself from the boa constrictor that is the CCP when it moves into any foreign market.

Earlier this week she gave a speech in which she tried to claw back some of her moral capital by insisting that she had raised questions about the CCP's human rights record in private. And she said that she really was worried about how to "reconcile" New Zealand and Chinese Communist Party attitudes towards human rights.

Well, here's a tip. It can't be done. You're either in favour of forced labour camps, neo-colonialism and forced abortions on women who are nine months pregnant, or you're not. Ardern perhaps hopes that we'll glide over these awkward facts. And the international press might well. On Wednesday, the New Zealand Prime Minister announced with wonderful timing that she and her partner have set a "summer wedding" date. So, yay, Sweet Ardern is back. Pity she sold her country."    

Another required reading text is Muriel Newman's latest weekly newsletter. In it she spells out just what will happen with coastal properties (ports and marinas included) and the consequences of a racially divided and governed NZ - even more divided than it has been.

People might feel safe locked up in their little bubble at the bottom of the world, but it is an illusion and will all become like fool's gold increasingly trapped in the ever growing socialist and racist web. 

Be aware NZ, if you value the country you have known.

Cheers y cordial saludos de la cuidad de primavera eterna.

Jim and Jean

  

Fwd: Eloquently put - and of course NZ media said nothing of Macron's speech....

The following is an article written by Henry Ergas who is an economist and who writes for The Australian newspaper. It refers to a recent speech by French President Emmanuel Macron speaking to an audience of secondary school students on the 200th. anniversary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was sent to us by our friend, and someone who Jim worked alongside 45 years ago, John Bassili, who still lives in Auckland. We enjoyed a very pleasant evening and dinner with him and his wife, Maureen and another former work colleague, Graham Pearce and his wife, Carol during our 2019 visit to NZ.

We trust that you will find the article uplifting and encouraging in these woke and authoritarian times. 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Bassili <jajbassili@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 22 May 2021 at 21:36
Subject: Eloquently put - and of course NZ media said nothing of Macron's speech....
To: Jim & Jean Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>, Graham & Carol Prarce <graham@tennisauckland.co.nz>

HENRY ERGAS: National curriculum - We should grasp history whole, free of today's dogma

 

"To concede nothing to those who would erase the past because it does not suit their image of the present."

That was the purpose of the speech France's President, Emmanuel Macron, delivered last week to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte.

 

At barely four pages, the speech is short, balanced and measured. But coming after a sustained onslaught on Napoleon's legacy by the French equivalent of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is perhaps the finest rebuttal of the current attacks on historical truth delivered by a Western leader.

Macron's goal, as he addressed an audience of secondary school students amid the

architectural grandeur of the Institut de France, was not to gloss over the complexities of a historical figure he evocatively described as "both eagle and ogre". On the contrary, as well as explaining Napoleon's soaring achievements, the President highlighted the appalling errors the "Little Corporal" had made, and their tragic cost in human life.

 

What stood out, however, was not the details of that carefully crafted assessment; it was the object lesson on the importance of truth in history. "You are not responsible for France's past," Macron told the students, "nor are you its guardians."

"It comes to you as an inheritance, without a testament attached," he went on to say, using a phrase every French student would recognise as a quotation from the poet and resistance hero, Rene Char. "You may choose to love it; and so too you may choose to criticise it."

"But first of all" — and here he paused for emphasis — "you must learn it": which means

"facing it directly and as a whole", imbued "with a love of knowledge" and "resisting the

temptation to judge yesterday by today". That is the foremost duty "a free people" owes its ancestors who secured the freedoms it enjoys — but it is also a free people's greatest privilege, because it is only by "understanding its past" that it can freely "forge its future". And just as those who shred their map are condemned to lose their way, so those who abandon historical truth are condemned to forsake their liberty.

 

Whether Macron's young audience grasped the significance of his words no one can say. But they would surely resonate in China, where — under regulations extended just a few weeks ago to Hong Kong — any mention in a classroom of the horrors of the Great Leap Forward or of the Cultural Revolution is severely punished. Nor would their meaning be lost on students in Turkey, as the Erdogan regime's ongoing "reform" of the history curriculum slowly but surely removes all references to the secular, modernising principles of Kemal Ataturk, while portraying the country's difficulties as the result of an incessant struggle against "infidels" and "crusaders".

And the relevance of Macron's speech would have been readily apparent in Russia, too, where schools have, since 2016, been forced by the aptly named "Ministry of Enlightenment" to adopt a "uniform" history curriculum based on "the one true history" — a history that downplays the crimes of the KGB and promotes Vladimir Putin's territorial expansionism.

 

It would, however, be a mistake to view the message Macron so clearly articulated as bearing solely or even mainly on those brutally repressive regimes. After all, authoritarianism has never been a friend of the truth; it is certainly not on its soil that the battle over truthfulness in the teaching of history will be won or lost. Rather, it is in democracy's very heartlands — and what is at stake there is not merely this or that aspect of the past but the Western tradition of historical analysis.

That tradition was distinguished from the outset by its emphasis on disinterested, unvarnished accuracy. Indeed, the word "history" comes to us from the Greek word for "an investigation" (historie), which in turn evolved out of the roots for "to have seen" (idien) and "to be a witness" (histor).

 

It was therefore not in giving an account of the past that the three great founders of the Western historical tradition — Hecataeus of Miletus, Herodotus and Thucydides — effected an intellectual revolution; that had been done before. Rather, as Arnaldo Momigliano, the leading scholar of the study of history in the classical world, showed many years ago, the revolution lay in the unprecedented stress they placed on ensuring their accounts were as thoroughly evidenced as they were fair-minded.

 

Additionally, and every bit as importantly, they insisted on the distinction between history and rhetoric: only the imaginative language of poetry could convey the deeds of the gods, but the deeds of men were a matter of fact that demanded the language of plain speaking.

It is that tradition which some aspects of the proposed national curriculum jettison. The issue is partly one of balance: the development of Australian society, for example, cannot be sensibly explained without giving considerable weight to the impact of Christianity.

 

But it is also because the draft, in confusing the teaching of history with the quest for its vision of social justice, at times entirely disregards factual accuracy. It is, to take just one instance, foolish to claim that Indigenous Australians have "worked scientifically for millennia" — a statement that robs the scientific method, which only emerged in the 17th century, both of its substance and of its immense historical significance. Hunter-gatherers certainly proved extremely adaptable; but it is nonsense to conflate the gradual accretion of customary knowledge with the structured testing of competing hypotheses.

 

To mandate the teaching of such absurdities would plunge schoolchildren into a world of Orwellian newspeak where they would learn to prefer soothing, politically motivated, ignorance to uncomfortable, potentially contentious, insight. And as well as robbing tomorrow's decision-makers of their right to truthfully understand their country's history, it would make them less capable of deciding responsibly about its future.

 

We are, no doubt, scarcely alone in facing those perils; but in a country that seems to live in an eternal present, enveloped by a misty sentimentalism that all too readily accepts the distortion and denigration of its past, the worst tendencies of the age can work with devastating speed and effectiveness. That is why Macron's message is of such overwhelming importance. And that is also why we too should listen again to the Little Corporal. "The only real conquest," Napoleon once said, "the only conquest one can never regret, is victory over ignorance." He did not always live up to that precept. But, with the preachers of historical untruth gathering strength, we should.

(Reproduced with permission)

Henry Ergas AO is an economist. is an economist who has worked at the OECD, Australian Trade Practices Commission as well as at a number of economic consulting firms. He writes for The Australian.

 

 

Cheers

Johnny