First Impressions

Hello and welcome to Light Emitting Diatribe, the place for uninitiated discussion of political and economic events form around the globe. I've been meaning to start this blog for a long long time and now that the recession has bestowed upon me an abundance of free time I finally can.

A little about me; my name is Dave, I'm an economics and sociology graduate from Dublin. I am painfully under qualified to give a legitimate opinion on any of the subjects that I will be discussing which means my discussions will be blissfully free of any of that impenetrable academic jargon that professional writers seem to love so much. My main areas of interest are the Middle East and Africa but I also enjoy the politics of Central and South America as well as the small Asian states and quasi-states surrounding China and India.

A lot of people dismiss politics out of hand as boring, having some vague notion that all politics takes place in 5 week long sessions of the UN which produce non-binding resolutions on subjects so obscure that even those directly effected don't care. And they have a point. But underneath the dry flaky crust of professional politics lies a delicious gooey centre of intrigue, dishonour and bald-faced audacity that simply does not exist in any other field. Concentrated in the very human hands of a few presidents and prime-ministers is enough conventional fire power to reduce the world as we know it to a smoking ruin. Add in the unconventional (chemical, biological and nuclear) weapons controlled not just by states but by terrorist cells and other non-state actors the world over and suddenly politics is the opposite of boring. Suddenly it's the story of whether you, or I or any of this is even going to be around tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy reading these meandering thoughts of mine. I'll do my best to keep it interesting. Be sure to leave your own thoughts in the comments box.

Bye for now,
-Dave