Gaddafi no gadfly and other African sit-tights

President Muammar Al-Gaddafi of Libya led a coup by young army officers in 1969. He deposed King Idris I, abolished the monarchy and established the Libyan Arab Republic. He was only 27 at the time. That's one of the reasons he's been able to build up such a long track record of dictatorship, coming up for 42 years. He's right up near the top of the list of longest ruling non-royal leaders. If he hangs on for a few more days he will overtake Omar Bongo of Gabon for fourth place on the list. Ahead of him are Fidel Castro of Cuba and and Kim Il-Sung of North Korea. The way things are going, he's not going to overtake those two as both have several years on him still. There are quite a few sit-tights left in Africa. Down here in the southern cone of Africa we have Robert Mugabe, holding on after 30 years of disastrous rule. Also next door is King Mswati III of Swaziland who became Crown Prince of Swaziland in September 1983 and was crowned as King on April 25, 1986 when 18 years old. He remains Africa’s last absolute monarch with the power to choose a prime minister and other governmental and traditional positions. The QSL is from Radio Jamahiriya in Libya, heard in London in 1999. This was one of those QSLs where many reports were ignored, then out of the blue this smart card arrived.

Oil on top of corn in Mexico

Taco? Enchilada? Just the thing for that al fresco summer lunch by the pool. Easy to prepare: just wrap some tasty goodies up in a tortilla, add chilli and you’re done. Mexicans have done this for hundreds of years and exported the delicious cuisine to the world. This year it may not be so easy. The corn price, in Mexican pesos, has doubled over the past six months and is back to the peaks of the boom before Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. Although population growth has slowed sharply, at over 110m (second only to Brazil in Latin America) there are still lots of Mexican mouths to feed. White corn is the base for tortillas and corn imports have doubled over the past decade to around 8mt per annum, leaving Mexico vulnerable to the vagaries of the world price. Mexico is also a big producer of oil but supply has declined from 3.4mbpd to 2.8mbpd over the past six years. It is also consuming increasing amounts of its own oil, now at 70% of output, and at the current rate will cease to be an exporter in this decade. Mexico has hamstrung itself by prohibiting foreign participation in oil exploration with the state-owned oil company, Pemex. Legislation has recently changed here but it will be many years before new production comes on stream from what is hoped are significant potential finds offshore. The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is also likely to raise the cost of development. (See link to this on http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=133567). The QSL is from XERMX Radio Mexico International heard on shortwave (9705kHz in the 31 mb) in London in 1999. I also have a few Mexican AM station QSLs which I'll post in due course.

Yesmen no more in Aden

The turmoil in Tunisia and Egypt has generated echoes in Yemen. Protests in Sana'a and Aden have called for the end of the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978. He has offered to move on in 2013 (no hurry, then!). But the issue in Aden is more complicated than: 'Tunisia, Egypt and now Yemen.' Aden is an ancient port and has been ruled over time by the Portuguese, the Ottomans and the British. There was contact between Aden and the Chinese Ming dynasty as early as 1421, long before western European ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope. Under the British it was for a while part of India! The British pulled out in 1967 and Aden became the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. Then in 1990 north and south Yemen were unified with Sana'a the capital. Some of the dissatisfaction in Aden is linked to its historical independence and a desire for secession. The QSL is from the Peoples Democratic Republic in Aden heard in Johannesburg in 1986 on AM. It's one of my best.

For Chrysler's sake!

Three days running the north-wester has blown steadily over the Cape and each morning I headed early down to Muizies with the paddle-ski. This is pretty unusual for mid-summer when the south-easter usually prevails, flattening and chopping up the surf. The first morning saw a big swell but the shape was still forming. Several surfers were far out waiting for big ones but hardly any of them was catching anything. So I hovered a bit closer in and looked for swells at critical break point but with shape to give me a left or right hand ride. It worked well and I had quite a few long runs keeping just ahead of the break, cutting back to keep up the power. In the parking lot a guy in a South African-assembled Chrysler Grand Voyager got into an argument with another driver blocking the way and there was some loud, angry hooting. Chrysler has just announced that it expects a profit this year for the first time since it filed for bankruptcy protection after the credit crunch in 2009. It is now owned by Fiat and has brought out a spate of new models. The QSL is from WJR heard on 760 AM in 1991. The transmitter is located in Riverview, Michigan, not far from Chrysler's HQ.