Around the World in 108 Days....

As usual I'm late to the party in finally getting around to playing this 2014 gem.

A slightly cyberpunk twist on the familiar story sees you play as Passepartout in an effort to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days or less. After aborting an initial Russia route I have just completed my first game. From the title of the post you can probably guess that Fogg lost his wager this time round.

The main delays in my journey were an arrest in Vladivostok, a sad lack of funds that left Passepartout and Fogg sleeping rough for two nights in Hong Kong and two diversions when ships/aircraft decided to head off in the wrong direction (I eventually countered the first by masterminding a mutiny among the sailors).

High points were escaping from the Sultan's haram dressed as a dancing girl, meeting James Montgomery in his countervailing journey around the world and breezing up the African coast flush with trade cash while being informed about the activities of the anti-slaver West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy.

In short this is a masterpiece. I suspect I bypassed at least half of the available cities and left mysteries behind in a number that I did visit (what the hell were all those opticians and gun-makers in Dubrovnik on about?). The tone is pitch perfect throughout allowing you to develop a real character for Passepartout and enjoy the ride even if victory seems unlikely.

Perceptions of African ivory poaching

So I've seen a couple of newspaper articles recently arguing that poaching is on the rise in Africa with a disastrous impact on conservation efforts. Only a couple of months ago there was the case in Zimbabwe where elephants were targeted with poisoned watering holes and now Kenya are proposing to introduce micro-chipping to safeguard rhino's horns.

Hopefully this initiative will be successful and will help stop selfish individuals and businesses from slaughtering the beasts that benefit African economies far more effectively when preserved and kept in national parks.
 
I do find it a bit myopic though that every article about this trend focusses on the use of ivory in Chinese traditional medicine as the cause of poaching. Of course it is true that this is a cause of poaching and should not be allowed to threaten the existence of endangered species. However we don't feel a similar need to discuss the big game hunting Victorians or the chaos sparked by bungled decolonisation in every article about ivory poaching. A superficial analysis of poaching as the fault of the Chinese ignores the historical factors that have caused environmental catastrophes across Africa and the globe and leads to a misleading 'not our problem' attitude towards these issues in the West.

British troops to intervene in Mali

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21240676

Interesting - Cameron may be posturing over his independence from our European partners but apparently he is still willing to pragmatically assist their foreign engagements.

Whether or not this will be a short intervention or not depends largely on the reaction of the Tuareg rebels. They have now been expelled from all of the main Mali cities but have not put up much of a fight and seem to have withdrawn intact with weapons, vehicles and supplies. The future of Mali depends on their commitment and whether or not they see the international intervention as an invitation to guerilla war.

Hollande's aggressive condemnation of Mali rebellion

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/11/france-intervene-mali-conflict

So predictably it is France that answers the calls of Mali's current rulers for assistance against the rebels who have seized the North of the country. France has a long history of intervention in Francophone nations and former colonies. Further the Islamic platform of the rebels and their background in the Libyan conflict have alarmed international observers and led to a low-level, condemnatory media buzz around potential damage to the historic city of Timbuktu.

However, these statements are illustrative in showing Hollande's foreign policy priorities and how his government will interact with the non-European world. His support for withdrawal from Afghanistan is shown to be tactical rather than ideological. By contemplating intervention in Mali, Hollande shows that his left-wing government is not committed to a more peaceful foreign stance than his predecessor but was merely keen to cut unpopular and unwillingly adopted positions in support of American wars.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts on the war in Mali and whether Hollande follows through on his statements of support for the government of this embattled state.

[Edit] - Now that was quick. Hollande has confirmed that French troops are already in the country and are supporting the Mali army. No mention of how many or what they are up to yet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20991719

Natural Nuclear Reactors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/07/13/natures-nuclear-reactors-the-2-billion-year-old-natural-fission-reactors-in-gabon-western-africa/

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2011/pdf/1097.pdf

This is absolutely amazing! Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that such a process could occur naturally!

However, it does make me somewhat glad to be living in an extraordinarily stable and temperate region of the Earth where landslides, floods, volcanos and earthquakes are largely something that happens to other people.

Keeping it this way is just one of the many reasons to oppose the Tories' scheme for large scale and government-backed fracking in the UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/8999677/Fracking-company-blamed-for-earthquakes-comes-to-the-Home-Counties.html

Sudan through Chinese eyes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19656106

So apparently the BBC are now going to Chinese state television for their sources on Sudan business developments. I'm not sure whether to be worried or impressed that they are trusting enough to eavesdrop on authoritarian regimes for accurate information.

Liberia sentence

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17864387

 "Victim Jusu Jarkar said: "This is a happy day. I have not been able to do many things because my arms were cut off, but today I am happy.""

 What a monster. I hope that this is the first of many convictions of dictators and heads of state who abuse their own people.

Were-Lion performs community service

"I remember a case which occurred in Chiromo soon after we commenced the administration of the Protectorate. A series of murders and mutilations took place in the vicinity of the native village. At last they were traced to an old man who, it was found, concealed himself in long grass near the route to the riverside, and when solitary passers-by came near him he would leap at them unawares and stab them. He then mutilated their bodies.

He was caught almost red-handed and abundant evidence was given as to his being the author of every one of these crimes: but the old man himself talked freely about the matter and admitted to having committed the murders. He could not help it (he said) as he had a strong feeling at times that he was changed into a lion and was impelled, as a lion, to kill or mutilate.

[Johnston then noted that]: As according to our view of the law he was not a sane person he was sentenced to be detained 'dur-ing the chief's pleasure' and this 'were-lion' has been most usefully employed for years in perfect contentment keeping the roads of Chiromo in good repair."

H. H. Johnston's, British Central Africa (London, 1897)

This brilliantly morbid account of the treatment of a convicted Were-lion is taken from Megan Vaughan's article on the Zomba asylum in Nyasaland. It shows one of the many inconsistencies in colonial psychiatry. Vaughan notes that had his crime been to claim that he owned 15 bicycles or was the King of England then he would have been quickly incarcerated in an asylum. Natives taking on European discourse was seen as unsettling by Europeans who were always a bit wary of educated indigenes.

However, since his murderous rampage fitted in with traditional European images of African madness it was seen as less threatening. The 'self-proclaimed' Were-lion was merely put to work on the same highways where he had previously murdered and mutilated people!