Travel. See The World. Come To London. It's A Riot!

For 4 days of August, London was at war.
A war nobody could have predicted, with an outcome nobody could ever imagine.
London was at war with itself, and I have read at least 5 different reasons on each of these four days. As the smoke subsides and the tensions settle, I doubt anybody is any closer to an answer as to why.

At first there were wild guesses that this was planned by organized gangs. The next day there were links to a young man named Mark Duggan, shot by police while unarmed. The uprising was blamed on the youth showing their frustration at the way police have been handling a few cases of late.
On the third day I saw an interview by the BBC of a West Indian man now residing in London. The video on YouTube was never again played by the BBC, and upon watching it is clear to see why.
A young and angry unemployed lower and middle class, venting their frustrations at the system. It made sense. It was a credible reason for a popular uprising.

Then came the arrests, court cases and convictions.
Suddenly the face of the perpetrator had changed from a young, angry, unemployed youth to that of a middle-class, employed and reasonably stable young man or woman. One offender was even studying for a law degree, and didn't want his criminal record to affect his future!

After 4 days of SkyNews and BBC, I couldn't help but ask myself where Emma Hurd was in all of this ruckus?
Remember her?
This is one of her more famous YouTube video's as seen on SkyNews, questioning whether South Africa was really ready to host such an important event as the FIFA Soccer World Cup. Of course she went on during the run-up to the eventually successful event drumming up support for her view that we were not ready. At least not by her standards.
London will be hosting the Olympics very soon. I can't help but wonder what Emma Hurd's opinion is regarding London being ready to host the Olympics, in light of these recent riots.

Do I believe London is ready? Absolutely.
But that doesn't stop me from pointing out the obvious to the vast number of naysayers who were so quick to point out our shortcomings. 

As for the political ramifications, I must admit I had more than just a little giggle at Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinajad's advice to Downing Street when he advised that they exercise restraint in dealing with the rioters. This was clearly a man who wouldn't miss an opportunity for a dig at the West. Remember it was David Cameron who had previously advised Iran to exercise restraint in dealing with unrest.
Next came 'Mad Bob' Robert Mugabe's quip when he said "London, sort out your mess before you come to Africa to try and sort ours out."
It seems in this crazy day and age, even crackpot dictators have a sense of humor.

 

There was talk of calling in the British Army to help the police fight the battles on the street.

Interesting that, since the British Army is currently pillaging in Iraq, Afghanistan and anywhere else oil can be stolen. Had these riots continued for longer than a week, one wonder's whether NATO would have been called in to bomb London in order to save the civilians. We all know what a great job of it they're currently doing in Syria.

I guess if these riots have proved anything, it's that the champions of freedom and bastions of democracy have more problems in their own backyards than the countries they're currently trying to liberate through bombardment.
Britain is burning while trying to tell the rest of the world how to live by it's 'high moral standards'.
America is bankrupt and continues to crumble while trying to teach the world about 'democracy'.
All the while, the world continues to spin on it's axis and goodness prevails in ever diminishing pockets of society.

Aluta continua.