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Now the enemies of Bangladesh are very happy and satisfied that they could deliver what the western powers were craving to see — ‘Bangladesh harbouring terrorists’! The writers of the news items like ‘Be aware of Bangladesh’ and ‘Dangerous Cargo’ and their sponsors are smiling mirthfully — we found the tigers where we wanted! When no opposition political parties could pose any political threat to the BNP-Jamaat alliance the enemies played their trump cards. They used their second front — Ahle Hadith Andolon which was actually funded and managed by a foreign intelligence network. Our corrupt, illiterate and inefficient intelligence community is yet to discover this reality.
   Mohammed Ayub Khan
   Canada

The people of the southern part of the United States of America are experiencing the hardest time of their life. People are scrambling for food and shelter, aged men, women and children are dying and languishing in the hospital. National guard and law enforcers are prowling in the street to prevent looting and disorder. The trail of destruction is too big to count it instantly. It will take year to get recovered from this destruction. It is all about the great natural disaster USA has ever experienced. The international news channels BBC, CNN and SKY NEWS are broadcasting non stop the plight of the hurricane torn Louisiana, New Orleans states’ people. It seems to me that I am watching any famine or war stricken area in Africa or Iraq. It has been treated as the new Tsunami in the USA.
   Anyway, the next thing to ponder over is, who is to blame for this horrible scene in the world? Is it the natural calamities, or the human activities to blame for this disaster? Of course it is nature that is to blame for its direct effect but, indirectly human society and activity do influence nature negatively or positively. For the past few years we see the hostile show of nature in several parts of the world and the last of its kind in the USA. Scientists and meteorologists have predicted this type of consequences long ago but the state leaders from all over the world is yet to make any unanimous decision for getting a positive output. As a result, initiative like Kyoto protocol has been an untouched hope for the ill-fated people of the world. America has always bypassed this protocol in the name of economic loss. Even it has accused the effect of global warming as an exaggeration and rhetoric. Is this hurricane an evidence of that exaggeration? Now the policymaker of the USA will answer this question otherwise, they will be responsible for the destruction and devastation to its own people. USA is now defeated to the nature for its own action. Time is running out to make a second thought for ratifying Kyoto protocol. Be kind to nature so that it can also be kind to you.
   May God continue to bless the wretched people of USA to get back to their normal life.
   Md Harisur Rahman
   JU

There is news in England that wild boars are to be reintroduced into Scotland, after a period of 300 years.
   The stated reason is that the huge forests in Scotland are being choked by bracken and bushes, growing as a result of global warming. Boars are famous for digging up ground, and removing shrubs and bushes.
   The real reason is that Scotland is empty of bores; they’ve all gone south to England to become either managers of football clubs, or politicians.
   Actually it’s a problem, because Scotland wants independence, and it’s no good being independent if the country is empty, because then there’s no one to celebrate Independence Day and burn effigies of Tony Blair and the Queen. So all the bores will be going home soon, which is where I started this article.
   It’s not clear if Scotland will stay within the Commonwealth, or leave to become an independent socialist republic. Something like the ‘Peoples Socialist and Democratic Republic of Scotland’.
   Anyway, to get back to the theme of wild boars, about 40 young are going to be introduced, and eight females and one male, so someone’s going to be happy.
   Apparently the plan is to also introduce other wild animals, such as beavers, lynx, wolves, brown bears and bison. The wolves will control the deer population so everything will be in balance.
   I thought I should tell you this because there are probably expatriate Bangladeshis in either Glasgow or Edinburgh, and I wanted them to know about the impending changes. After all, in Bangladesh the nearest thing to wildlife is a few snakes and, a couple of tired crocodiles and some tigers in the Sundarbans.
   Hey! That’s an idea! We all know that the tigers are being hunted to extinction, why not send a few over to Scotland?
   That then leaves the problem of what to do with the empty spaces in the Sundarbans, left by the tigers. They can’t be just left empty.
   This is my real masterpiece! What we could do is resettle the Welsh there! Wales is a most awful place, and it’s really not fair to make the Welsh stay there any more. So, we’ll just put them on the boat with their sheep, and they can repopulate the Sundarbans. They’ll be happy there, especially in the rainy season, because it Wales also has a rainy season. It’s called the whole year.
   Wales will be left empty, apart from the famous Welsh dragons, who roam the Welsh hills, breathing fire and eating unsuspecting Englishmen. Stay away from Wales! My first wife’s mother was a dragon. She didn’t eat me, but she gave me a good roasting many times.
   But that’s another story.
   Richard J Murphy
   On e-mail