Has there been anything hollower during the past two weeks than the posturing by lame duck US President George Bush over Russia’s iron fist response to Georgia’s assault on South Ossetia?

Apart from the fact that his talk of “sovereign nations” just draws attention to his own reckless invasion of Iraq, an underlying truth of what happened in South Ossetia to spark Russia’s wrath was the presence of the meddling hand of US foreign policy which has continued unabated during Bush’s two terms in office.

Both the United States and Israel have been engaged in building up Georgia’s military, a reminder that the Cold War is gone in name only.

Now though, rather than a global conflict between communism and capitalism, we are witnessing a grubby battle to cling onto known reserves of non-renewable energy masquerading as a fight against “terrorism”.

Georgia is just another pawn in the ongoing battle for non-renewable resources and the corridors necessary to transport them.

But this is no “game” and homes are being destroyed and families decimated in what will ultimately be seen as being just another sideshow in an inevitably doomed attempt to cling on to the past.

And for what? So that the capital investments of major corporations are protected until their balance sheet economic life spans are expended?

Petrol price illusions
The relative fall in the price of petrol in recent weeks should make no-one sleep easier in their beds.

We should all now be clearly aware of the impact fuel prices have on our economy, inflation and interest rates.

We should also be absolutely clear that unless alternatives are found and our reliance on fossil fuels reduced, we are going to have to be prepared to accept that people will die in great numbers to allow us to participate in the non-sustainable practices of the past.

Australia clings to its mining boom like a life raft, but it is a precarious future, dependent on one major client and a handful of multi-national companies to sustain our illusions.

At the same time we are under-investing in building our research capacity and knowledge to develop the skills to provide the energy solutions and to discover the new building blocks of the future.

If the money now being spent internationally in military misadventure was turned to a quest for knowledge and the unlocking of knowledge already developed, the world would be well on the way to ridding itself of the forces that find acceptable the type of hypocrisy now on parade in Georgia.

If that conflict and the inability of old orders to give up now obsolete sources of economic power teach us anything, it is that we need to look elsewhere for the solutions to the future.

Increasingly it will be what we do locally, and how successfully we break free of reliance on centralised sources for our basic needs that will determine the ability of communities to survive.

Climate change Olympics
China has fast-tracked the inevitable consequences of ignoring nature. They are on show for all to see at the Beijing Olympics.

Long after we forget the medal count or who broke which world or Olympic record, it is to be hoped for all our sakes that we remember the opaque air China’s citizens inhale for the sake of progress.

Think Beijing, think climate change and some lasting good may well come from this celebration of elite sport in the polluted mist of unsustainable industrial practices.

A sad loss
The sudden death late last week of Jane Thomas after a short illness is a reminder that some things make no sense. A wonderfully strong woman, who in her role as a teacher touched the lives of thousands of children on the central Sunshine Coast, Jane was stamped with her Murray-family heritage and all the toughness and compassion that come with that.

Hers was a fortunate life, enjoyed to the full and blessed by a loving marriage, children and grandchildren.

If the Coast does no more than aspire to create an environment that gave every family the capacity to enjoy life and raise families in such circumstance this place would truly be paradise on earth.

I offer my condolences and I’m sure the thoughts of everyone who knew Jane, to her mother Mary, husband Paul, children Grant and Liesl, her brother Mark and sisters Kate, Gwendolyn and Liesl and their extended families.