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lapsedmodernistfor some reason a whole island/country being out of touch with the whole world on account of a broken phone system really weirds me out. ? it's just so colonial/julius vernes-plot-type development. like a weird hybrid of problems of the past (extreme poverty categorically equavalent to "the past"? aspiring time travel machine engineers, take note!) and front-page news elsewhere (the whole refugee camp issue). shit, let's hope the Bush administration does not get wind of this, otherwise they will be like: "those no-good Pakistanis and Iraquis caused a collapse of an entire nation! And people say we are too hard on the detainees!" and all of a sudden Nauru will be in the news as the Elizabeth Smart of little impoverished countries.
anyway, this is from the Economist that, judging from the tone, also seems really weirded out by the content of its own article.
THE NEWS FROM MISSING NAURU IS NOT GOOD
THE good news is that Nauru, a tiny speck in the middle of the Pacific, is back in touch with the outside world. An Australian engineer has fixed its telephone system, which collapsed in early January. The bad news is that the hazy reports of parliamentary paralysis, riots and fires that emerged during the breakdown all seem to be true.
Things just keep getting worse in one of the world's most dysfunctional countries. For a spell in the 1970s, revenues from phosphate mining gave Nauruans the world's largest income per head. But now there is hardly any phosphate left to mine. In a string of doomed attempts to maintain their standard of living, the islanders have tried everything from money-laundering to bankrolling an appalling London musical about Leonardo da Vinci's love-life. In 2001, the government of the day even agreed to house refugees on Australia's behalf in exchange for a big dollop of cash.
The current chaos stems in part from that decision. Some of the 454 refugees, mainly Iraqis and Afghans, took control of their camp in a riot in late December. The government succumbed to a no-confidence vote soon afterwards. The courts subsequently reinstalled the ousted president, but he quit again a day later, as did the speaker. Amid the confusion, the presidential mansion somehow got burned down. A five-times former president, Bernard Dowiyogo, claimed the office again, but then flew to America for medical treatment. In his absence, the parliament cannot agree on a new speaker, let alone a budget.
The mess rolls on. The government is not paying its employees. It cannot afford fuel to run the island's power plant. It is behind on payments for Air Nauru's one and only aircraft. And if that gets impounded, Nauru will be cut off again.
anyway, this is from the Economist that, judging from the tone, also seems really weirded out by the content of its own article.
THE NEWS FROM MISSING NAURU IS NOT GOOD
THE good news is that Nauru, a tiny speck in the middle of the Pacific, is back in touch with the outside world. An Australian engineer has fixed its telephone system, which collapsed in early January. The bad news is that the hazy reports of parliamentary paralysis, riots and fires that emerged during the breakdown all seem to be true.
Things just keep getting worse in one of the world's most dysfunctional countries. For a spell in the 1970s, revenues from phosphate mining gave Nauruans the world's largest income per head. But now there is hardly any phosphate left to mine. In a string of doomed attempts to maintain their standard of living, the islanders have tried everything from money-laundering to bankrolling an appalling London musical about Leonardo da Vinci's love-life. In 2001, the government of the day even agreed to house refugees on Australia's behalf in exchange for a big dollop of cash.
The current chaos stems in part from that decision. Some of the 454 refugees, mainly Iraqis and Afghans, took control of their camp in a riot in late December. The government succumbed to a no-confidence vote soon afterwards. The courts subsequently reinstalled the ousted president, but he quit again a day later, as did the speaker. Amid the confusion, the presidential mansion somehow got burned down. A five-times former president, Bernard Dowiyogo, claimed the office again, but then flew to America for medical treatment. In his absence, the parliament cannot agree on a new speaker, let alone a budget.
The mess rolls on. The government is not paying its employees. It cannot afford fuel to run the island's power plant. It is behind on payments for Air Nauru's one and only aircraft. And if that gets impounded, Nauru will be cut off again.
