Game over.

This blog would be turning two years old on June 12. But for some reasons, I have lost interest in blogging.

Therefore, this would be the last post for The Nutbox.

I will, however, continue reading other interesting blogs and occasionally post comments on them. And if I ever feel strongly about any topic that comes out, I’ll probably post my reactions on that collective blog.

Thanks to all those who cared to read this site.

Tigers dead.

In Sri Lanka, one president pursues all out war against the Tamil Tigers, got crticized by peace-nicks, lost an IMF loan, but eventually suceeded in ending South Asia’s longest running insurgency. Now, Colombo is talking of ways to reconcile with the Tamils and address their grievances to ensure lasting peace, without being distracted by armed rebels.

Why can’t the Philippines do the same?

Swine Flu.

During the communion at the church last Sunday, the priest refused to put the host on my tongue. He insisted that I take the host by my hand. When I asked why, he smiled and said: “It’s the influenza, my child.”

That was the first time that I realized how real the threat of this “swine influenza” (or the H1N1 virus) actually is. And how the precautions that the government says it is taking is anything but reassuring.

The first reported case of the H1N1 virus infection here in Japan occured last week when Health officials confined infected Japanese students who arrived at the Narita Airport in Chiba from a field trip in Canada at a nearby hospital. The government claimed that the fact that they were spotted at the airport and treated immediately proved that the quarantine measures being implemented at different ports of entries are reliable.

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Rainbow at Kinshi-cho.

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Ozawa quits, Aso in danger.

 So near yet so far. That’s how the Kantei seems to be for Ichiro Ozawa.

The notoriously brilliant backroom negotiator who have been instrumental for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s temporary ouster from power after decades of dominance in the early 1990s and who was, just months ago, seen as the next Prime Minister of Japan, has finally ended his political career. With tears in his eyes, Mr. Ozawa yesterday announced his intention to resign as president of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) “in order to save his party’s reputation and to realize his goal of wrestling power from the LDP.”

“We definitely need to secure victory (in the election). . . . Forming solidarity is indispensable for that purpose,” he said. “If I’m posing any problem for that goal, that’s not what I want to do.”

His resignation comes weeks after his chief aide was arrested for accepting donations from a scandal-tainted construction company. Ozawa himself maintained his innocence, but members of the DPJ, which Ozawa had led to a resounding election victory in 2007 that made it the second largest party in Japan, have demanded his resignation.

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Legal language.

I have friends studying Law who whine about how hard their “English For Lawyers” course is so I always thought that English for lawyers is completely different from our English. I thought their language is archaic and formal. Turns out I’m completely wrong.

Check out this court order penned by Judge Jorge Emmanuel Lorredo, the presiding judge on the high-profile perjury case filed by former presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor against ZTE Scandal witness Jun Lozada. It reads more like a political humor blog. No shit. These really are the exact words:

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Damn it, Goku is Asian!

YouTube sensation KevJumba hit it right with his latest video on the Hollywood version of all-time Asian anime favorite Dragon Ball:

He could not have said it better.

And mind you, this is not the first time Hollywood made an Asian hero white. In the original book called Starship Troopers, the hero, John Rico, is Filipino. But in the Hollywood movie adaptation, he became an Argentine white man.  

Thai military’s double standards.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok in an effort to quell the violent protest actions by the red shirted supporters of ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra. The emergency declaration empowers the police and the military to disperse a gathering of five people, make warrant-less arrests and even censor the media. Abhisit’s deputy, Channel News Asia reported yesterday, appealed on the army to impose this emergency declaration.

The army heeded his appeal. A while ago, troops fired rubber bullets and threw tear gases on the protesters, who vowed to continue their protests until the government calls for an election. The confrontation is poised to turn bloody in the next hours, and many countries, including Japan and the Philippines, have issued travel advisories urging their citizens to avoid Thailand.

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A banana kingdom, thanks to PAD.

I have long feared that the political instability in Thailand would one day spill over and affect the rest of the ASEAN. And it happened yesterday.

The East Asia summit– and along with it the signing of an agreement allowing the members of the ASEAN to receive about $10 billion in infrastructural loan from China– was aborted after angry demonstrators trooped to the hotel where the leaders of the region were staying.

A while ago, the embattled prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vehjajiva, addressed his deeply divided nation, vowing to restore order following one of the biggest embarrassments his country had in recent years. He began by arresting one of the leaders of the protesters, a singer-activist named Arismun Pongreungrong. But the protests are continuing and it is doubtful that the government in Bangkok can contain it, unless it uses violence or heeds the demands of the protesters.

The demonstrators belong to the United Front For Democracy, Against Dictatorship (UDD), which are more commonly known in Thailand as the red shirts. They are supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister who was ousted in a coup in 2006. They demand that the present government step down and call for another elections.

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Some smart moves from Seguis.

I don’t know much about the current chair of the re-constructed Philippine government negotiating panel in the Mindanao “peace process,” Amb. Rafael Seguis. But his latest actions seem to be right on track.

On VeraFiles.com, veteran journalist-blogger Ellen Tordessillias reported last week that Seguis has, during his courtesy call on the Malaysian foreign minister, requested the removal of Othman Abd Razak as facilitator on the grounds that he was biased to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

According to Tordessillias’ “highly-placed” sources, it was Othman who advised the MILF to demand 95-5 percent sharing of the resources of the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) during the negotiations that resulted to the drafting of an unconstitutional Memorandum of Agreement that, had it not been stopped by the Philippine Supreme Court, could have created a de-facto state for the MILF within the Philippine state.

In the MOA, the government and the MILF settled for a 75-25 sharing agreement, which was still unfair. I have said on this blog that such an agreement would mean that the MILF could utilize a lion share of the area’s resources to fund its armed secessionist campaign.

Also, Seguis requested that the Philippine government be allowed to shoulder the accommodation expenses of the Philippine panel in Kuala Lumpur so that Manila could have a say on logistical matters like the Filipino panel’s lodging. There have been allegations that the rooms the Philippine panel occupied were bugged by the Malaysians, enabling the MILF to learn of the government’s strategy.

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