I was trying to write something positive or at least meaningful about tourism in this climate, but all that comes to my mind is what a horrible February this has been worldwide: more political bloodshed in Nepal, religious atrocities in India, televised decapitations in Philippines and Pakistan, all out war between Israelis and Palestinians, war apparently resuming in Afganistan. Unsurprisingly the Bulletin clock moved forward 2 minutes. So, is this the new millennium or the new middle ages? We urgently need able and imaginative leaders - this is not a spaghetti western - to sort out this mess before anything worse happens, such as moving further back from the new middle ages to a new stone age. In December 2001, the top brains of this world, 110 Nobel Laureates, signed a declaration saying "To survive in the world we have transformed (a polite choice for a verb), we must learn to think in a new way". I think we have to think fast: 7 minutes to midnight.

And now to change your mood...

---->Real vs. Surreal: 

``A live whale is worth more than a dead whale.'' - Hector Ceballos-Lascurain, Director general of the Program of International Consultancy on Ecotourism (Associated Press, 24/2/2)

``It is natural for many Japanese people to enjoy both watching and eating whales, It is like eating BBQ after a farm tour in New Zealand.''  - Joji Morishita, a deputy director at the Fisheries Agency of Japan. (Associated Press, 24/2/2)

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