bin laden

2011-MMXI: Bin Laden to Bieber

2011 A Year in Review

It’s hard to write about the past twelve months without emotions and nostalgia creeping in. It is hard to give all equal weight and coverage.

This year three men died who collectively are responsible for 1000’s of deaths, Osama Bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi and Kim Jong il. To many this year may be seen as a year of liberation but for those on the ground it is seen as the beginning of instability and corruption.

The Arab Spring showed the world the strength of human will power and also the advances in media. From Tunisia to Saudia Arabia, ordinary people stood up for what they felt was just and right. The wave of camera fones, tweets, facebook and youtube clips showed a wider world audience the struggle and desires of oppressed masses who felt there was more to life than being held back.

The phone hacking scandal Britain sent shockwaves that have led further distrust and hatred for a Media that focused more on Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor than it did on the Brazilian mudslides, Mexican gun war, the nobel peace prize and the Chilean uprising combined.

Japan’s disaster and the Eurozone meltdown have deservedly shown those of us in the past twelve months the frailty of our existence and the dangers that exist from both ourselves and mother nature. The London riots, Wall Street protest and the Norwegian massacre showed  discontent in the western world as much as the Arab world and displays global discontent and upset at those in power and at social and economic restrictions.

Middleton, Leveson, Strauss-Kahn, Bauchmann and Bieber are all names that are now known to many while OMG, Sexting and Mankini joined the English Language.

The world’s population hit 7 billion while many wonderful and talented people passed away among them  Steve Jobs, Joe Frazier, Amy Winehouse, Dr Kervorkian, Liz Taylor, Christopher Hitchens, Clarence Clemons, Bubba Smith, Gary Speed, Peter Falk, Betty Ford, Vaclav Havel and Socrates.

This year like all was full of trials and tribulations, successes and disasters, births and deaths. When those who look back  at the annals of history and view 2011 they will see a year when so many of the world’s nations and it’s people said enough is enough and stood up for what they felt was just, right and equal. From Bin Laden to Bieber , MMXI is a year when a lot happened and a lot more is yet to come. Bring on 2012, End of the World or not life moves on and so must we.

Review of the year on Forge Radio with British Journalist Marcus Liddell and I.

http://i.mixcloud.com/CwnlQ

Hide and Seek.

Bin Laden

So Osama’s dead, 

Along with Michael Jackson, Elvis, Kurt Cobain and Tupac there is a slight shadow cast on the true location of the man or the actual happening of his death at all.
With the swiftness of his removal and the randomness of the entire spectacle as well as the leaked nonsense both on twitter and youtube as well as the humor inspired by Sohaib Athar with his online coverage of the raid comparing US helicopters to flies during his need for sleep have all aided critics and skeptics in jumping on the tale.

The custom of burying a body within 24hours and at sea is a valid excuse, one can take the angle that if his body had been preserved and buried in a tomb, it would be raided or possibly become a pilgrimage location for modern Islamic extremist worshipers. The swiftness of the removal of Osama reduces dragged out back lash from extremists. 

The positives in Osama’s removal, are as follows, the US wanted out of Afghanistan as Obama promised this in his campaign and he needed to fulfill it, Pakistan was getting irritated by US presence in its country and wanted rid of them and also Obama needed a big story with the elections looming in twelve months. 

The skeptics view is that the picture of his bloodied face is fake, probably true.
The lack of video messages from Bin Laden since 2007 and indistinct and random audio tapes being released could mean the man has in fact been dead for some period of time and to prove he is still alive he most release another tape.

To think the man could be alive is plausible, as to whether he is caving in Pakiston or chilling in a Mansion is probably not true. The reality being that Mr Bin Laden’s death was faked and he is a CIA bunker right now being interrogated is very likely. He is of too much use to the US government to just be killed off, after 10 years of searching its highly unlike the troops were under orders to kill at sight and the lies coming through that his wife was killed while to many sources is still alive means loopholes are beginning to appear. 

We are meant to believe he is dead, but Bin Laden surely isn’t making coffee in Starbucks or driving a taxi in London, the man whose sheer intellectual brilliance used incorrectly shook the world is a valuable asset to any government and its important to keep your friends close but your enemies closer.