Shock-a-roonie

Hamas winning power in the Palestinian elections is one of those turning points in history that is so huge, few are able to predict what will happen next. Personally, I think this has the opportunity to refresh the peace process – but maybe I’m being optimistic. It all depends on how Hamas decides to play it.

My question is not so much ‘What happens next?’, but ‘How did this happen?’ Apparently, I’m the only one who’s interested in this – Google searches on Why/how did Hamas win turned up no exact phrases, and no useful standard search results. World leaders are busy renouncing Hamas and telling them to shun ‘terrorism’ and embrace Israel with peace and love, seemingly neglecting to consider and analyse how it could be that Hamas has pulled off such a stunning victory – from nowhere.

There are several other issues, too. For a start, it seems that the West (including Israel) is all for democracy when it gives them what they want – i.e. puppet governments that will pander to their every demand, and play their agenda for them. But when democracy turns up a result they don’t like, suddenly they’re not so quick to point out that this is the will of the Palestinian people, and so the Israelis must deal with it. Instead, they moan and complain. Again, this leads on to the question ‘Why did the Palestinians elect Hamas?’

I could go on and on, but briefly, here are my other thoughts.

1. There’s no reason Hamas should abandon all its weapons. The only difference between the military wings of Hamas and Israel is now also gone – before one was merely an organisation of the people, the other and organisation of a state. Other than that, they both kill civilians by targeting civilian areas.
2. Both Israel and Hamas have indicated recently that they may talk to each other in the future… which in itself was unheard of just a few weeks ago. This is how progress begins.
3. One of the primary reasons, in my view, that Hamas was elected was that the Palestinians were sick of Fatah, corruption, and the neverending road to nowhere. They’ve put their faith in Hamas, and its now up to Hamas to prove that the faith has been well-placed. Schemes to help communities are one thing – running a government is quite another.
4. I do have more, but this post is long enough. So I’ll spare you.

Expensive paper. Oh, and we're doomed.

Living in a highly modern, technologically advanced country like Britain is great because we can use technology to make ourselves more efficient, and stuff.

Yet somehow it costs the British taxpayer £60 per page for the printing costs associated with Early Day Motions (see a guide to EDMs here) tabled by our MPs in the Houses of Parliament. £60 per page? Mental!

In other news... a wee thought about this globalisation malarkey. To sum up my previous arguments, basically the West is doomed because of the sheer numbers of engineers China and India are churning out year upon year. Eventually, they're going to kick our collective asses - so now would be a good time to learn Mandarin.

Hold on a minute, say the other side. India and China aren't so much producing engineers as spewing them out; in other words, they've got the quantity, but they ain't got the quality. And when they ain't got the quality, it takes superior Western engineers to come in and sort the mess out when they screw up. And that makes any cost savings pointless, and so the West is saved.

Let me finish, say I. They might not be the world’s greatest engineers just now. But give them 10 years (I’m feeling generous, I reckon it’s more like 5). The point isn’t simply that they’re churning out more engineers, but also that they’re getting better and smarter faster than we are. And that’s a bad thing. Because not only are they getting smarter, but in general we’re getting dumber. And we’re graduating fewer engineers every year, not more.

So like I said – we’re screwed. Welcome to the future.

Politics Fatigue

Back to uni today - the final countdown. It's weird to think that I'll finally be graduating this year. And getting married. And starting a job. Jeez.

I've been wanting to post some political stuff for the last few days (ala yesterday), but I just don't have the same motivation as when I first started this blog. Partially I think it’s because the blog ‘honeymoon period’ is over – all the juicy topics I wanted to write about have basically been covered (and my opinions/thoughts aren’t developed enough to cover them again), but also I think it’s down to politics fatigue.

It’s like everything in the world is changing, yet it’s the same thing happening every time. Blair and Bush are bad, the terrorists must be stopped, but we must understand why the terrorists do what they do, but they kill innocent people. Two opposing sides, constant debate, little progress. I’m sick and tired of it.

Of course, the situation’s going to get far, far worse before it gets any better. I firmly believe that we haven’t yet seen the tip of the iceberg. There are so many things going on right now that eventually it’ll have to all rise to a crushing crescendo at some point in the future. That will be a truly horrible time.

The many things going on right now include (in no specific order), killing of innocents by terrorists, killing of innocents by governments (i.e. state-sponsored terrorism), unilaterally initiated war, increasing friction between Muslim communities and the Western societies in which they live, hate mongers bent on increasing this hatred, erosion of civil liberties, depletion of fossil fuels, growing international mistrust between East and West, the economic rise of Eastern nations…

…I could go on and on, but I’m guessing most people will have stopped reading by now. I know I would have.

America

America is an incredible country, and Americans are justifiably proud of it. In little over 2 centuries, their country has risen to be the most powerful and economically successful nation on Earth. There is little that goes on in the world without their country’s agreement and involvement; they are world leaders in science and technology; and they have a free and democratic society that is protected by the US constitution. It is a truly great nation that has achieved a great deal in a very short space of time.

Of course, there’s a lot that can be said against America, too – a heck of a lot. But I think sometimes America’s detractors (myself included) can lose sight of just what it is they’re up against in terms of the American psyche. Given the stuff I rambled on about in the opening paragraph, I think it’s easy to understand why Americans are so in-your-face patriotic about their country – it is, in their eyes, a land of opportunity, freedom and greatness. And they want to protect it at all costs.

The problem is that all those great achievements have come at a huge cost. If you ignore all the bad things America has done to get to where it is today, then it’s easy to admire the world’s greatest superpower. But when you think about the brutal regimes across the globe that have received American support, the blatant disregard for Earth's environment, the internal race and class struggles, the hypocrisy in their policies, you come to a different conclusion.

And that is why I find it to be a great nation ruled by a truly repugnant government. A government, sadly enough, elected to power by its citizens. Now, what does that say about Americans?

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the hall...

Two hours ago, I was sitting in my room quite happily chillaxing before going to bed. Then I heard my Dad shouting me from the hall and walked out to see our combi boiler gushing water all over the utility room and out in to the hall. Lovely.

So after we managed to get the water off, we spent the next hour and a half trying to soak up as much of the water as we could. The water was a lovely muddy colour, and smelt just wonderful. We've got a heating technican coming out first thing tomorrow to take a look at the boiler.

I'm now very tired, very peeved, and feeling very, very dirty. And with no water in the house, there's nowt I can do about it.

G'night.

(Ps. It could have been worse... my friend Robin had a similar experience a while ago. She thought it was a robber taking a shower; my mum thought the gushing sound of water was me taking a shower and my Dad thought it was me washing dishes. It wasn't.)

Where do I begin....

... asking how this picture ever came about?

There's just so much wrong here!

Darmstadt, we have a problem...

For anyone who thought to themselves, "There's no way Atif could ever work in Mission Control - he's too stupid", turns out you were right.

I discovered that whilst I absolutely have the right skillset (a combination of IT & space engineering knowledge that is hard to come by) I would've been competing against not only other graduates from across the UK, but against the very best phD's and chartered engineers from across the whole of Europe. Not only that, but you are subjected to a very rigorous, challenging panel interview by ESOC staff that is designed to challenge and determine how you think under pressure. If at any point they don't think you'd be able to handle the job, they'll stop the interview right there and ask you to leave. According to my contact, it's "brutal". Quite clearly, I'm not superhuman enough to drop my current job offer and risk going through such a tough process. Ce la vie.

On another note, the government continues to flap about like a headless chicken over the fact that our country is facilitating US torture flights by allowing them to land and refuel at our airports. How can they expect us to believe that there's nothing going on when (a) There's overwhelming evidence to the contrary and (b) They have proven themselves to be a bunch of liars on several occasions.

Exams are done

So I’m finished exams now and my life can resume some sort of normalcy; i.e. it’s no longer disruptive to my schedule to have to do such things as talk to my family, eat and wash my clothes. Having my life back is complete awesomeness.

I’m very excited about a new opportunity that has come my way. After my final exam on Monday, Spaceflight Mechanics, I got home to find an email from my lecturer. Basically, there are some opportunities to join the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). Gotta love the acronyms! The opportunity to work at ESA doesn’t normally come about until you have at least a few years’ experience in industry, which is why I’m so excited.

Basically, the FDD is responsible for planning the required orbital manoeuvres of satellites Europe has sent up in to space, such as keeping them pointing in the right direction, moving them around the Earth to point at different targets and ensuring mission goals are met. It’s a phenomenal opportunity, and given my background in both space engineering and IT, I hope I’ve got a good chance of getting the gig. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed - even though it would need me to move to Germany (ah well, we can’t have it all!).

In other news, I managed to completely lose my glasses (duh), was offered a summer job by a previous employer (yay), and am currently enjoying West Wing series 7, now that its finally started up again. Oh, and I bought some socks today (at last).

Rather than boring you with more of the mundanity that is my life, I’ll probably be back to boring you with my usual futile ranting and raving tomorrow.

Normal service is resumed...

So I’m finished exams now and my life can resume some sort of normalcy; i.e. it’s no longer disruptive to my schedule to have to do such things as talk to my family, eat and wash my clothes. Having my life back is complete awesomeness.

I’m very excited about a new opportunity that has come my way. After my final exam on Monday, Spaceflight Mechanics, I got home to find an email from my lecturer. Basically, there are some opportunities to join the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). Gotta love the acronyms! The opportunity to work at ESA doesn’t normally come about until you have at least a few years’ experience in industry, which is why I’m so excited.

Basically, the FDD is responsible for planning the required orbital manoeuvres of satellites Europe has sent up in to space, such as keeping them pointing in the right direction, moving them around the Earth to point at different targets and ensuring mission goals are met. It’s a phenomenal opportunity, and given my background in both space engineering and IT, I hope I’ve got a good chance of getting the gig. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed - even though it would need me to move to Germany (ah well, we can’t have it all!).

In other news, I managed to completely lose my glasses (duh), was offered a summer job by a previous employer (yay), and am currently enjoying West Wing series 7 and Shameless series 3 (ohh la la). Oh, and I bought some socks today (at last).

Rather than boring you with the mundanity that is my life, I’ll probably be back to boring you with my usual futile ranting and raving tomorrow.

Wierd

I've been finding myself spending ages reading blog posts by people who are delighted that 345 people died on Hajj this year in a stampede. It makes me feel wierd - not angry or upset, just kind of unsettled. The sheer hate, disregard, scorn and contempt in which these people hold Islam and Muslims is, well, frightening.

I don't know why I read so many of them. It's a bit like why we look at car crashes, I suppose. There's so much wrong in the world today that it's hard to see how it can ever get better.

Big things

Well I've been harping on for a while now about having some sort of 'interesting news' to deliver soon.

I wanted to hold off until I’d had the chance to tell most people personally. Now that that’s pretty much done, I’m very pleased to be able to say that… I’m engaged! The desperately unlucky girl is Munaza, and she’s the daughter of a good friend of my Mum’s. Please remember her in your prayers! The wedding will probably be around Autumn this year.

Secondly, and only slightly less significantly, I’m more than likely going to be accepting a job with Accenture, based out of the Edinburgh office. I’m very fortunate to have been offered a job that’s so close to home, and am due to start around August 2007, giving me a year off after I graduate.

So, the rest of my life is being mapped out in front of me. Scary stuff. Meanwhile, the exams drag on… roll on Monday!

Eid Mubarak!

Today (Tuesday) is the first day of Eid al-Adha, the three-day Islamic festival marking the end of the Hajj pilgrimage and commemorating the huge sacrifice Prophet Abraham was prepared to make for God.

I only discovered that today was going to be Eid at about 10.30pm on Monday night, such has been the ridiculous extent to which I'm entirely caught up in my studying. I literally had no idea that today was to be the biggest festival in the Islamic Calendar! How sad am I?

To make matters worse, tomorrow after the Eid prayer at the mosque, my whole family is going over to my Auntie’s for a slap up meal and much happiness. Me? I'm heading straight for the library to study.

And I've got my usual exam-time cold.

Life just isn't fair.

Faffinating!

Just a quick post to say a couple of things...

1) Hopefully I'll have some interesting news to deliver in a few days...

2) For anyone out there who's ever wondered what it's like to go on Hajj and what it's all about, BBC NewsOnline (yes, I'm a bit of a fanboy!) have a reporter/pilgrim there who'll be keeping a diary throughout the pilgrimage. It's a fantastic way of giving an inside view in to this remarkable annual event. This year, over 3 million people have converged on Mecca for 10 days of spirituality, solidarity and brother/sisterhood building. It's quite moving to think about the sheer scale, diversity and humility of the whole thing.

Controversial

I’m going to go out on a limb here and put all my cards on the table. Well, most of them; I’ll save some of them for another time.

I was driving home from the supermarket tonight, listening to a documentary on the radio alleging that the Bush administration regularly interferes with scientific research on global warming. And then it hit me (OK, so loads of people saw this coming a hell of a lot sooner than I did). America is inexorably and inescapably on it’s way down. The balance of power is shifting as we speak. It’s not about to happen – it IS happening.

9/11 was a wake up call that wasn’t heeded, and 7/7 was perpetrated because we were being hit with more of the same. The US & UK governments would have you believe these acts were carried out because terrorists hate people and hate ‘our way of life and our freedoms’. That’s crap. Those evil people did those terrible things because of what the US & UK governments are doing to their people – supporting corrupt regimes, pillaging their natural resources and, most of all, killing their innocent brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers with bombs, tanks and guns . The bo’Islamic fundamentalists’ had had enough. Of course, in Islam killing thousands of innocent people is not the correct way of sending any sort of message, and under no circumstances can murder of any innocents be justified – whether perpetrated by an individual, a ‘terrorist network’ or by the state.

The reason I say America is inevitably and unavoidably on the way down is that there is a growing tide of resentment towards the American government (and the people who elected them). To non-Americans, the US doesn’t stand for peace, democracy and freedom and more. It stands for bombing, killing, exploiting, torturing, and looking after number one. This isn’t just evident in the wars they have started, but in the US’s attitude towards global climate change, global trade tariffs, the UN, and the dictatorial regimes they prop up in countries where they need the oil.

And now, with competition from global powers like those emerging in the Far East, and with the growing contempt in which America is held, and with the ever-increasing number of scandals hitting modern day White House administrations, it is blatantly obvious that America is no longer as strong as she once was. She’s still top of the pile, but there is an uncontrollable chain of interwoven events that has started rolling. And I for one will be cheering when she finally falls from her scandal-ridden, blood soaked perch.

Advance warning

It's getting in to exam time for me, so my posting may well become somewhat erratic over the coming weeks. I'll try to post something every few days or so, and then will be back to normal(ish) by mid-late January.

I have a couple of very big decisions about my future which must be made within the next month, on top of uni commitments (exams and Masters project). January is going to be a very, very busy time for me.

I'll keep you all updated on my progress and stuff as and when I can. All the best for 2006 - here's to a safe and prosperous new year for all.