Medical Mystery Hour.

Although I wasn't feeling great on Wednesday by last Thursday (10/9/15) I'd developed that sort of fuzzy-headed dizziness that normally marks the start of a cold. By Saturday (12/9/15) it had broken which is normally the point where other symptoms such as a sore throat, cough, runny nose etc start to emerge.

However I moved straight to the sort of lethargy that normally follows a cold or other sort of viral infection. So basically I seem to have had a cold without actually having a cold.

This is like the fourth or fifth time this has happened to me this year so I'm starting to think that it might be psychosomatic. Although to the uninitiated they're not much to look at a lot of work goes into my posts on the ADP negotiating text. Without a break I went from that into the migrant crisis which certainly saw me generate a lot of words.

Despite being tired I was planning to spend that Thursday getting a haircut, running errands and cleaning the bathroom before writing a post explaining how US President Obama's support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) with the associated murders of police officers and highly suspect criminal cases such as the Freddie Grey case were undermining confidence in the US signing up to an international climate change deal. However my body sort of went; "No, no. You'll be sitting quietly being outwitted by daytime TV."

I must say that I'm tempted to take more time off though. In explaining how the collapse in Obama's political capital threatens a global climate change deal I was going to point to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's oft stated position that if the US fails to sign up to the agreement Australia will refuse to sign up. Whilst I was busy being ill Abbott has been replaced by Malcolm Turnbull as Australia's Prime Minister. Although the change was brought about by a general unease about Abbott in a range of policy areas Turnbull has in the past indicated that he is more open to action on climate change.

Obviously though I can't recommend that anybody signs up to a climate change deal that isn't good enough. From the way that Obama has found it easy to disregard core principles of justice, equity and governance for political gain in the BLM campaign it's clear that I'm going to have to do a lot of the work to make any climate change deal functional. After all the main outcome of the September ADP meeting is that the October ADP meeting will open with the unveiling of an entirely new negotiating text. I'm only about halfway through the existing one.

Before I embark on that though I should probably tidy up yesterday's murder at the Delta University in Mississippi, US as it relates to the current war on Yemen.

Last Tuesday (8/9/15) a British Airways jet caught fire in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. This was a reference to the way that the US has assisted Saudi Arabia in building up Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) by conducting drone strikes. I likened this to a CIA practice from the Cold War in which South American rebels backed by the US "School of the Americas" program would assassinate local, mayors, regional governors, police chiefs etc to create a vacuum. People loyal to the rebel's cause would then fill the vacuum bringing the targeted area into the rebel's sphere of influence.

In response to this criticism the US quickly acted to assure Saudi Arabia that it was still fully committed to the Yemen program by conducting fresh drone strikes against AQAP on Thursday (10/9/15).

Yesterday's murder at Delta University seemed to be the US seeking international reassurance over it's continued support for the Yemen program. The murder occurred in "Bolivar County" which was named in honour of Simon Bolivar who was essentially the original South American revolutionary. After leading a war of independence that expelled Spanish colonial rule Bolivar went on to establish the South American nations of Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia which is named after him.

A big part of Bolivar's political ideology was the role of the strong President (El Presidente) who leads from the front and is closely involved in all areas of government policy which is still seen across many South American nations. Although I've never been a student of history I doubt Bolivar would have made much of Obama's weak leadership. 

Although concerns have been dramatically raised the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) position on Yemen remains unchanged - support 'peace talks' that provide diplomatic cover for Saudi Arabia to overthrow the Yemeni government. On Sunday (13/9/15) Yemen's former President refused to participate in those talks unless the Yemenis re-install him as President as a pre-condition.

The UNSC could respond to this by remembering it's own charter and recognising Yemen's current government. That of course would mean that Saudi Arabia's war to overthrow the Yemeni government in order to impose Hadi as their puppet would have to be treated as the illegal war of aggression that it is.

In fact people who believe in such things could view Friday's (11/9/15) crane collapse in Mecca, Saudi Arabia as a sign from God that it's time for Saudi Arabia's bin Laden backed construction plans for the Muslim world to come crashing down.

15:20 on 15/9/15 (UK date).