REFLECTION - Half the Year - Gone!

Today is July 1st and that means six months of this year have already passed. That is half the year - GONE!

It's been quite a year thus far. On the personal front I've become more proactive and committed to my writing, of which this blog has been an important part. My career seems somewhat blah and even stale on the one hand, and yet numerous new potential avenues seem to have opened as well for me. All good.

For me, it has also been important because:

• Due to my blog I have started reading and coming across so many other blogs - it's terrific to know there are so many progressive and downright pissed off people out there! WE NEED MORE!
• I finally started watching stations like Russia Today and Al Jazeera a lot more - all for the better.
• I re-read Naomi Klein's "No Logo" & "The Shock Doctrine" and was even more impressed second (third, fourth, fifth, sixth...) time around - what an amazing woman.
• I have Andrew Jennings and his brilliant book "Foul!" to thank for exposing FIFA for the putrid, corrupt organization it is - and verifying why I've always disliked Herr Blatter so much.
• I stumbled upon a genius rabble rouser and ex-Wall Street stockbroker on Russia Today by the name of Max Keiser - he and his guests have opened my eyes and mind to so many issues about finance, markets and all the scandals thereof - HAIL MAX! MAX FOR PRESIDENT!
• I now have such a better understanding of finance, global markets and the current financial crisis when compared to even six months ago - again, thanks Max!
• If sustainability is really about the economic, the social and the ecological, then I am a better informed and more savvy person and professional these days...

On the international scene it has been something else. A run through of some of the main events of this year to date:

• The Haiti earthquake - what an awful tragedy.
• The sinking of the Sea Shepherds' vessel The Ady Gil by bastard Japanese whalers.
• The Icelandic financial crisis and referendum on how to pay back the UK & Netherlands.
• The continuing global financial crisis - it just aint getting better yet.
• The ever-growing machinations of financial terrorists, especially the likes of the infamous Goldman Sachs.
• Did I mention financial terrorism?
• The near-bankruptcy of Greece and all the social unrest in the streets of Athens, the IMF loan, etc.
• The looming sovereign debt crises in countries like Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, the UK, Romania, and a host of others.
• The euro under attack - and revealing (yet again) how fractured the EU really is.
• Obama a bigger and bigger disappointment (more to others than to me, let it be said - always knew he'd disappoint).
• China not exactly 'saving the world' with its economy - *delicious snicker*
• The ongoing fiascos that are the Iraq and Afghanistan 'wars'.
• The Israeli attack of the aid ship to Gaza - Israel at it yet again - a rogue state to the hilt.
• The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - an epic environmental disaster.
• The BP oil spill - talk about bad press & a PR disaster for a huge corporation - goooooooood
• The whaling vote in Agadir, Morocco - not a total victory for those of us in the anti-whaling lobby, but a stalemate is better than losing to Japan, Iceland and Norway - shame on them.
• The ongoing international impasse over climate change - what a SHAME.
• The 2010 World Cup - well done so far, South Africa, even if you did introduce the world to that horror, the vuvuzela!
• Iran, North Korea vs South Korea, Niger on the brink, the Polish government wiped out, Kyrgyzstan imploding, Belgium fracturing, that coalition in the UK, China's endless mining disasters, the G20 farce in Toronto, the Russian 'spy' scandal...it goes on and on and on...

I can only hope the rest of the year gets better on the international scene...

Here's taking a long, deeeeeeep breath...