Worrying Fact

The majority age group in Africa is now 15 years old with the median age of just 19 .... 

Graphics - The Visual Capitalist.

 ....while the median age in the UK is 40.7 years, and the USA 38.1 years, and the median age of the EU's population is 44.4 years!

Just think about that for a moment, and realise that world overpopulation hasn't slowed down, and that an ageing USA, Europe and Western Europe will be, or are under some threat of losing their identities as their birthrates decline. More than half the worlds population growth in the next 30 years will happen in just eight countries - the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania, and they will all probably retain high birth rates on to the end of this century and beyond. 

Mrs Ghandi in India, had realised that one of the prime drivers of India's problems of poverty was the unrestricted population growth, but her efforts to slow it down failed. In fact India's population growth will soon, or possibly has, overtaken China, as the country with the biggest population in the world with its 1.4bn people. Ethiopia, despite its occasional famines, has never made any effort to slow its population growth .... similarly Egypt, whose population in 1945 was 19.1 million and is now 103 million, a fivefold increase in 80 years. 

While 61 countries will see declines in their populations by at least 1% by around 2050, by November 2023, the planet was still home to 8.2 billion people (UN predict it will reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion by 2100), and the UN believes rising to a peak around the 2080's or 2090's, at about 10.4bn, though this disputed by some demographers who believe that peak could happen even sooner.

 

We could see the populations of the poorer countries simply marching into those with declining populations. Something for our children and grandchildren to worry about.

The Complicity Of Silence

Another week of tolerance in the lands of the pure ......

Incitement To Murder Nothing New .....

.... and yet more Christians are in fear of their lives from the Muslim mobs.

Arsenic and Old Time Religion

Apparently Pakistan has recorded some of the worlds highest levels of Arsenic in their groundwater supplies.

Arsenic Poisoning Pakistan .... Explains A Lot.

This is the main water source for up to 60 million of its citizens who live in the Indus valley (out of about 150 million people around the world who rely on groundwater which is contaminated with arsenic).

Seven Stans - Cockpit Of Terrorism

And now the world prepares to go to hell in a set of basket cases ...... as the largely failed US led NATO mission leaves Afghanistan at the end of the year, the Jihadist forces are already setting up bases inside Afghanistan in order to attack one or all of the seven 'stans'. Afghanistan, Krgyzstan, Kazakhstan,Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. Most of them are weak, economically poor, and already embroiled at a high level in the corruption brought about by the drug monies flowing out of Afghanistan.

There is no avoiding the fact that the US never really understood the region, and far from leaving it a better place, has by its mighty presence, largely destabilised the whole socio economic arena of the region to such an extent, that its possible that as well as Afghanistan; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan could also become destabilised over the coming decade, with at least two of these becoming Jihadist / Taliban strongholds.

The Seven 'Stans' The New Cockpit Of Terrorism?

The most vulnerable countries are Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, which share over 1,200 miles (1,900km) of borders with northern Afghanistan .... with Tajikistan in particular already propped up by 6,000 Russian troops. In the Badakhshan province on Afghanistan's north-west border, up to 500 Taliban militants have already ousted the Afghan forces from several districts in the province, and are now trying to take control of Iskashim, a key district and town, that also lies along the Afghan border. It is only separated from Tajikistan by the narrow Panj river which freezes over in winter, making forays into Tajikistan much easier.

So far from eradicating the problems of a terrorist state in Afghanistan, the West has merely spread the troubles over a wider area, and like the cork on a Djinn bottle, it can no longer be put back after being pulled. The fact that the 'stans' cannot agree on a common plan to protect their region after 2014 just makes the likelihood of a failure by one or more of them all the more likely ... a domino effect if you will, only this time its not the Communists, but an infinitely more frightening enemy.

Small Nations, Small Triumphs

You know what they say ....... 'the smaller the nation the bigger the flag'.

Largest Human Flag - A Pakistani Triumph

So in that spirit I had to laugh when Pakistani men turned out in their thousands ... well 24,000 actually, in order to create the worlds largest living human national flag.

 

Growth And Decay

According to the International Monetary Fund, Asia and the Sub Continent are the growth engines of the new world economy. However even there, some are performing better than others. For instance Pakistan's economy grew last year by 2.4% last year according to the IMF. These are figures that the moribund economies of the UK and other European countries would do anything for.

But, and there's always a 'butt' (hah ha!) in Pakistan, the required rate to keep unemployment from rising is at least 7% pa. As it is, 2.4% is actually one of the lowest in the region with the other 'players' India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh all performing far better.

2011 Real GDP growth (projected):

• China: 9.5%
• India: 7.8%
• Sri Lanka: 7.0%
• Bangladesh: 6.3%
• Pakistan: 2.4%*

Source: IMF World Economic Outlook
*Actual growth taken from Pakistan Economic Survey

Even with this growth rate, Pakistan's political and economic problems continue, with its structural problems just increasing - for instance in a country of 180 million, less than 1% of people pay income tax. Out of even that low benchmark, billions of rupees of the government tax revenue never even make it into the treasury coffers because of waste and corruption. Industrial production and exports are hampered by crippling bureaucracy, bribery, and energy shortages, often leading to violent protests.

Pakistanis - Up To Their Necks In It - As Usual

If anything the state sector is hampered even more by these and other issues, and the flagship public sector enterprises such as Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Railways, are all failing due to chronic mismanagement and blatant inefficiencies .... cronyism in job distribution is rife.

When you add in the political chaos with disputes between the civilian government and the armed forces, the continual rise of the Taliban (aided by the military intelligence ISI), and rapid and uncontrolled population growth, and it appears that even the signs of economic growth, just can't hide the whiff of continued political and social decay.

Hell Has Another Resident ..... Osama Bin Laden Dead

This morning came the news that Osama Bin Laden, leader and mentor of the Al Qaeda terrorist ideology was killed by US Special forces yesterday .....

No doubt Islamists the world over will be mourning 'another martyr', and in Mosques 'sermons' will praise him, which just shows how sick Islamists are .... he was a mass murderer who preached an ideology that stated that 'civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of Jihad'.

Nobel Prize, Ignoble Politics

China's behaviour over the award of the Noble Peace prize to Liu Xiaobo one of their own citizens, but one who is in prison for protesting for human rights, has been nothing less than shameful

..... but the behaviour of some of their 'friends' around the world has been equally disgraceful.

 

Pakistan Cricket Under The Microscope (again)

Pakistan is a corrupt country, and its cricketers are products of that society, so the allegations that once again their players have been involved in activities that bring the probity of the game into serious doubt, don't really raise eyebrows.

They are now accused of betting scams, on such things as 'no balls' (I can't even begin to explain this to non cricket countries .... but its not terribly important, usually), and is not actually match fixing. The accusation is that Pakistani players were secretly paid to deliberately bowl the 'no-balls,' so gambling syndicates could spread bet on the number of them and make money.

Ball Tampering Examination

The reason why the Pakistani cricket team are here in the first case, is because no other country wants to tour there to play cricket, for fear of being attacked.  And on a previous tour of England, the Pakistanis were accused of tampering with the ball ..... a row which almost split world cricket..... it wasn't the first time these allegations had been made either.

The Pakistani cricket team are poison to the world game, but such is the fear of 'losing the subcontinent's' money in a split, that I won't be surprised if they bury this event, and after some bans (which will be overturned a few months later), business as usual will resume.

Update 2022: England finally resumed touring Pakistan in 2022 .... a break of 17 years.

'Joke Quote Of The Week'

The first in a possible new feature "Joke Quote Of The Week" ......

Joke Quote Of The Week

will start with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Pakistan Supports Taliban To Kill British Troops

As this blog has discussed before, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is actually working to undermine the democratic Pakistani regime in its fight with the Taliban, by secretly funding and supporting the Afghanistan version of that Islamist organisation, in its attacks on Western soldiers. This support for the Taliban started under General Zia Ul Haq (the General who Islamicized the Pakistanis constitution to its eternal harm), in the 1980's and has been going on ever since.

It's supporting attacks on the US and UK (its nominal allies), in the paranoiac belief that this counters some imagined Indian influence in Afghanistan (they are not actually able to articulate circumstances in which Hindu India has any sway over the Islamic madmen of the Taliban, but hey why take that risk, and anyway killing 'infidel' soldiers via the proxies of the Taliban is OK, because the West is too stupid to do anything about this).

This ISI inspired paranoia over India's 'influence' is so prevalent in Pakistani military and 'Intelligence' circles, that they will not release the required number of troops to actually defeat the Taliban inside Pakistan .... which just further serves the aims of the Islamist's inside and outside Pakistan.

Once again this ISI support has been publicised, but nothing will be done to stop Pakistan (and our so called Middle Eastern allies), from funding the Taliban, in its attacks on Western troops.

Can anyone explain why we support a regime that actively murders our soldiers, or what we ever hope to achieve in Afghanistan, when Muslim states are actively ensuring that we will fail, and that Afghanistan will immediately revert back to a failed despotic state after we leave?

Illegal Immigrants Work For New Labour

Question: Why did New Labour allow illegal immigration to run out of control?

The answer could be because for PC ideological reasons they wanted to destroy the concept of a 'white' (therefore wrong) Britain.

Possibly it's a quick way too buy votes with visa's, even when those votes are still living in Pakistan? This report shows that widespread fraud is being undertaken in the Asian community, with proxy votes being openly abused in Pakistan, to be used in the UK elections. Comment from the Government on this scandal? None, but then they have known of this type of fraud for years.

Or maybe it was because they make such cheap servants and helpers? Once again Hazel Blears appears on our radars when she is found to have an illegal immigrant on her election team .... Nigerian national Rhoda Sulaimon was due for deportation after the general election, having overstayed her visa.

It appears that the 'wimmin of the left' have a problem obeying the employment laws of this country, but to be fair envelope stuffers is probably not directly under Ms Blears control. The same may not be said in every case, such as the employment of an illegal immigrant by Baroness Scotland.

Balochistan Insurgency Wants Independence

Pakistan faces many threats but not just from the Taliban or Al-Queda. Its disparate parts, that were force welded together by Jinnah, have been unravelling ever since. Maybe the largest threat is from the Balochistan insurgency which has been running for decades (since Pakistan was formed) and there are various groups (the Baloch National Front, Balochistan Republican Party and Balochistan Liberation Army) who are fighting the Pakistan army.

For those of you who are not familiar with Balochistan (and I expect that this is most of you and me) here's a map .... as you can see its about half of the country but only 5% of the population.

Why is this important?

Well should Balochistan really press for independence, then Pakistan as a political entity is finished and a power vacuum could lead to general wars across a region which includes Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Shia's and Sunni's, Taliban, Al-Queda, Drug Runners, and Warlords, as well as nuclear weapons ....... that's why its important!

15 Minutes Of Fame - TV Idiocy

Sticking to the Muslim world and their conspiracy theories (by moving from East Pakistan aka Bangladesh, to Pakistan) ....

Conspiracies Are Everywhere ...........

....where a lot of debate is being generated by the media and bloggers demonising the elected government, trying to convince their audiences of global conspiracies against Pakistan, led by the arch enemies, India and the United States, or insisting that the recent spate of suicide bombers around the country is being orchestrated by 'foreigners' (aka the CIA, MI6 or Mossad), rather than local militants.

Nothing odd about this in itself, as the whole Islamic world believes all of this crap (and indeed many other non Muslim conspiracy groups vie for attention world wide), but sadly for a country that is falling apart, nonsense such as this detracts from the dire problems that are actually fuelling the Taliban's support inside that country - the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, massive crime issues, and the complete lack of investment in health and education, or even the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province (which could break Pakistan apart).

So, why this blindness? Well it appears that the problem lies in the sheer number of media outlets in Pakistan. All apparently competing for a large, but often illiterate audience, by adopting 'shock jock' tactics, of ever wilder claims ......... a sad indication of the possible future of TV when anyone can make a programme (just look at 'reality TV' to see the Western route to the same destination).

Minorities Persecuted in Sub Continent

This Blog keeps an interest in the ongoing persecution of the diminishing Christian populations of the Middle East and Asia because the UK press show such little interest in these genocides. The UK is particularly supine when it comes to protecting the last pockets of a Christian world that is fast disappearing.

So once again we highlight a news story from Pakistan, where its tiny Christian minority, are under attack again, by radical Muslims, and across the border in India, a US congressional body has put India on a list of countries which have failed to protect its religious minorities adequately.

In particular, the report highlights the anti-Christian attacks in Orissa in 2008 ..... an event that this blog publicised at the time.