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Showing posts with label
DANISH PRIME MINISTER HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT.
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Showing posts with label
DANISH PRIME MINISTER HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT.
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Defense News: DTN News - SOUTH AFRICA NEWS: World And South Africa Mourn The Death of Nelson Mandela (IMAGES #2)
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 15, 2013: While world leaders gathered in celebration of the life of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, social media seemed more interested in a selfie and a soap opera in the stands.
President Barack Obama jokes with Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, left, as first lady Michelle Obama looks on at right during the memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday Dec. 10, 2013.
*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth *Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Defense News: DTN News - SOUTH AFRICA NEWS: World And South Africa Mourn The Death of Nelson Mandela (IMAGES)
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 15, 2013: It has been a momentous week in South Africa - of mourning, celebration, chaos, patience, booing and reflection.
But what happens now? What impact will the drama of these past few days, and the death of Nelson Mandela, have on a country that has already had plenty of practice trying to get along without him?
"It's too early to judge if there will be any fundamental change," Mr Mandela's lawyer, George Bizos, told me, with his customary good sense.
"Maybe it will awaken what he stood for in people, and they will genuinely try to mimic what he did. A galvanising moment… I hope. I think it will get home to at least some that talk is cheap. Action is needed," said Mr Bizos.
At this point, a brief word on the organisation of this week's events: no, it wasn't perfect.
There were frequent, tiresome administrative foul-ups.
There was the dodgy sign language interpreter, and Tuesday's memorial service - with its endless, mostly unremarkable speeches - was a missed opportunity to tell Madiba's story with insight and affection.
And yet this country came together, in large events and small, with dignity, passion, good humour and some impressive logistical work. I suspect most South Africans will look back on the week with pride.
Then, of course, there was the booing.
The global humiliation of President Jacob Zuma at Tuesday's stadium event was a defining "emperor's new clothes" moment - when modern South Africa's simmering frustrations briefly, but emphatically, broke the spell of Mandela "magic".
"It was humiliating," Mr Zuma's foreign affairs advisor Lindiwe Zulu conceded to me the following day.
But she insisted the governing ANC - which retains, let's not forget, an overwhelming electoral mandate - would continue to "carry on (Mandela's) legacy".
"We have been trying by all means to make sure that we don't do things that would upset him."
But a growing number of South Africans appear to disagree.
'No catastrophe'"It was a wake-up call for the politicians," said Moeletsi Mbeki, a businessman and long-standing critic of the ANC.
"It doesn't mean they'll do anything about it, but at least they know how seriously people take their incompetence and corruption. People have lost all respect for Zuma and his government. They are a very, very motley crew.
President Barack Obama and sign interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie at FNB Stadium in Soweto on 10 December
"The ANC made a huge mistake in trying to think it could present the current leadership as a continuation of the Mandela generation. It's not."
But if Mr Mbeki sees "the writing on the wall" for the ANC, he is more optimistic about the country.
"We have very high moments and very low moments. We never seem to be somewhere in between… but I don't think any catastrophe is waiting for South Africa. We have strong institutions."
Dr Mamphele Ramphele, former partner of the murdered Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, was also in the stadium in Tuesday.
She told me she believes the ANC hijacked what should have been a non-political event, and that the booing was a reaction to "the rot, the betrayal of Mandela's style of leadership... and the intimidation within the ANC".
"It is a turning point, in that once the genie is out of the bottle in terms of dissent… it's going to be difficult for discipline to be returned."
Dr Ramphele has a political axe to grind. She recently formed her own party, Agang, which hopes to challenge the ANC at next year's elections.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, she sees "an opportunity" in political terms, in the death of Nelson Mandela.
"Many people will feel freer to express themselves in terms of their disapproval of the ANC's performance.
"If people want to honour Mandela they've got to be loyal and honour his values, not an organisation that is undermining those values. His passing may open the way for those people who have been reticent," she said.
Whether this transpires remains to be seen. Measuring the precise impact of Mr Mandela's death will, as George Bizos pointed out, be hard to pin down.
For a young democracy like this, perhaps the most important thing about this week - and about Madiba's legacy - is that his passing will not, and should not, have any great, disruptive influence.
We can briskly nudge aside the paranoia, conspiracy theories, and quiet racism, which have always hovered on the edges of this topic.
No, Mr Mandela was not some mystical, moral corset, keeping South Africa's leaders in line even from his hospital bed.
And no, his death has not triggered a bloodbath of any sort - nor will it.
But there is a broader point. Emerging from all those years in prison, Mr Mandela relentlessly preached tolerance, and the primacy of negotiations.
South Africa, it seems, has not forgotten that.*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth *Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Defense News: DTN News - SOUTH AFRICA: Barack Obama’s Selfie With Danish Prime Minister Leaves Twitter a-Tweet About Michelle Obama ‘Soap Opera’
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources National Post(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 10, 2013: While world leaders gathered in celebration of the life of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, social media seemed more interested in a selfie and a soap opera in the stands.
President Barack Obama jokes with Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, left, as first lady Michelle Obama looks on at right during the memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday Dec. 10, 2013.
U.S. President Barack Obama managed to upstage his own universally praised speech about Mandela Tuesday not once, but twice, with pictures taken in the stands at FNB stadium.
First there was a picture of Obama shaking hands with Cuba President Raul Castro. Then was the superpower selfie taken by Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt with a smiling Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
While some on social media said it was inappropriate to take such as picture at a memorial, many others focused on U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, who was sitting to the right of the president, wearing a grim look on her face.
While she appears to be facing the centre of the stadium, headlines and tweets were focused on her unimpressed look in comparison to the smiling world leaders next to her.
Comic Rob Delaney called the photo gallery the “funniest 3-panel comic in history.”
The later photo shows the Obamas have switched seats, with the first lady sitting next to the Danish prime minister and the president looking ahead sombrely. The president got up to leave and when he did, Michelle Obama could be seen chatting with Thorning-Schmidt.
A headline at Gawker blared “Obama in the Doghouse After Taking Too-Friendly Selfie with Danish PM” and linked to the photo gallery. Buzzfeed asked “Is this the most important selfie of 2013?”
*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources National Post*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Defense News: DTN News - SOUTH AFRICA: Is this REALLY time to take a selfie, Dave? Obama and Cameron strike a pose with Danish PM during Mandela's memorial service (but doesn't Michelle look unimpressed?)
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Daily Mail - UK(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 10, 2013: Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama pose for a selfie alongside Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (left) at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela - prompting an outpouring of criticism.
The world leaders, attending the historic service to honour former South African leader Mandela in Soweto today, smiled as they leaned in for the snap... while Obama's wife Michelle looked non-plussed as she declined to join in. The U.S. president was also seen sharing jokes with the Danish PM, although his wife seemed less than impressed (top right).
Earlier, President Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castor, an unprecedented gesture of friendship between the Cold War enemies. He also paid an emotional tribute to Nelson Mandela, calling him a 'giant of history' as he spoke in a stadium where around a third of the seats were mysteriously left empty (bottom right).
*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Daily Mail - UK*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
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