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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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"The Last Train To Zona Verde" - Paul Theroux
Disturbing book. It recounts the writers journey in Africa from Cape Town through Namibia and into Angola. This acclaimed writer travels via road, train etc. No luxuries. What he describes in his book is absolutely shocking as in the way people eek out a living both in rural and urban areas. Gross corruption in these named countries that have wealthy resources but whose governments dont give a sh*t about their people. And it's not just the above countries but most of Western Africa and beyond. Africa is a powder keg that will explode some day. An interesting observation is the number of Chinese interests that are growing up in Africa even in the worst areas. These are Chinese criminals sent abroad to spend their sentence. However these Chinese don't mix with local but through corrupt means are building hotels /casinos for mostly rich Chinese and foreign businessmen. No locals are employed on these ventures. It would seem that like Asia and even Europe (Dublin has a Chinatown) this appears to be part of a greater Chinese plan to exert major influence abroad without going to war. Edited by Biker Pat - 21-November-2019 at 07:27 |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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joey the lips
I spend too much time here!!! 1979 -1983 Joined: 30-October-2007 Status: Offline Points: 9532 |
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they are on every corner of Dublin now
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You can checkout anytime u like but u can never leave
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Rahenyrhythm
I spend too much time here!!! Joined: 02-May-2018 Location: Stradbally Status: Offline Points: 15285 |
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They are taking over the world! When we were on our bus tour in Miami last week the guy kept pointing out new apartment and hotel developments funded by the Chinese - ditto in Nassau ...
... lol Joey, I'm sure I saw a couple lurking in the bushes here last night! I'm afraid to look under the bed !!! |
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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The Chinese are spreading like wildfire here in Asia.
We have to remember there are 1.3 billion of them out of 7.5 billion in the world. The are steep in business acumen and tough to deal with. Even here there are Chinese bidding for land lots to build on and paying way over the odds making it impossible for say, Europeans, to enter the market. And they are doing this on the quiet. They seldom mix outside their own. And as I said slowly taking over the world without going to war. Invading countries, especially poor ones, through economic rather than military means. Edited by Biker Pat - 22-November-2019 at 03:34 |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Rahenyrhythm
I spend too much time here!!! Joined: 02-May-2018 Location: Stradbally Status: Offline Points: 15285 |
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I'm sure I told this story before, but just in case. Pal of mine is a Chinese guy, data analyst with Bet365. Lives in the UK now. During the bust here we were discussing things - I was still working "for the Government"! He made the suggestion that we should ask the Chinese Goverment to dig us out of the hole and then let them run the country! He was quite serious! I think he thought I might bring the idea to the powers-that-be! With that kind of mindset the world will be speaking Chinese in 30 years time !!!
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One of its legs is both the same
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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The Cake and the Rain - Jimmy Webb Jimmy Webb's words have been sung to his music by a rich and deep roster of pop artists, including Glen Campbell, Art Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Donna Summer, and Linda Ronstadt. He's the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, and his chart-topping career has, so far, lasted 50 years, most recently with a Kanye West rap hit and a new classical nocturne. Now Webb delivers a snapshot of his life from 1955 to 1970, from the proverbial humble beginnings into a moneyed and manic international world of beautiful women, drugs, cars, and planes. That stew almost took him down - but Webb survived, his passion for music among his lifelines. Webb's talent as a writer and storyteller will captivate listeners. His book is rich with a sense of time and place, and with the voices of characters, vanished and living, famous and not, when life seemed nothing more than a party. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Rahenyrhythm
I spend too much time here!!! Joined: 02-May-2018 Location: Stradbally Status: Offline Points: 15285 |
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Any good Pat?
I'm just finishing off "Knife" by Jo Nesbo. A grisly enough crime thriller book, part of a series of books about a fictional police detective. Set in Norway, and written originally in Norwegian, then translated to English. Each book stands pretty much on its own, they don't need to be read in sequence or anything. This is the third or 4th book I've read in this series, and while I found the first couple to be riveting, excellently written, I'm having difficulty finishing this one cos the character (Detective Harry Hole) and his various travails are getting too familiar to me. But if you've never read any of them I'd highly recommend giving one a try - "The Snowman" would be an excellent one to start with... |
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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Gerry,
Have read a number of Jo Nesbo but like all books I read the names fade from memory. The Jimmy Webb is excellent. I used the publishers review as comment, being lazy. Great insight into the music scene in the 70's and 70's. His relationship with Harry Nilsson is especially revealing with some of his experiences with the Beatles quite surprising. Also Elvis. Certainly worth a read. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Rahenyrhythm
I spend too much time here!!! Joined: 02-May-2018 Location: Stradbally Status: Offline Points: 15285 |
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Cheers Pat
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One of its legs is both the same
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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Just finished "The Wars Against Saddam" by John Simpson
An account of the wars involving Saddam including the 8 year war with Iran and both Gulf Wars. And the background to them all. John Simpson, who was injured in the second Gulf War, pulls no punches in his wonderful narrative. One of the greatest foreign correspondents. Edited by Biker Pat - 15-June-2020 at 14:48 |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Rahenyrhythm
I spend too much time here!!! Joined: 02-May-2018 Location: Stradbally Status: Offline Points: 15285 |
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Hmmmmm ... one for my list so, Pat
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One of its legs is both the same
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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Kill the Wizards - Alan Cowell
Superb read. Africa as a continent caught between hope and disaster bursts forth in the pages of Cowell's trenchant firsthand report. He covered southern Africa for Reuters and the New York Times from 1976 to 1987 and made a follow-up visit in 1990. From Zaire and Zimbabwe through Angola and Mozambique to Namibia, he found that insurgent groups--surrogates of Soviet and Chinese sponsors--blamed the West for offering them no choice. Under the banner of freedom and justice, liberation movements overlaid with socialist ideology often replaced white dictatorial elites with their own corrupt, authoritarian rule. In South Africa's struggle between Afrikaners and native blacks, Cowell detects hidden agendas on both sides: survival of an elite and acquisition of power, respectively. His top-notch, compelling reporter's notebook reveals a crazy quilt of durable dictators, small, dirty wars, Western imperialist intervention and violence born of revolutioanry impulses but ending as the very currency of political debate among Africans themselves. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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joey the lips
I spend too much time here!!! 1979 -1983 Joined: 30-October-2007 Status: Offline Points: 9532 |
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The Beekeeper of Aleppo- by Christy lefteri ,,
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You can checkout anytime u like but u can never leave
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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"The Secret Pilgrim" - John Le Carrè
Excellent read about British Intelligence during the Cold War period. Spy networks, it's dangers and strategies. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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"Waiting for Snow in Havana" - Carlos Eire.
Interesting surname not related to Ireland. The true memories of the author as he grew up as a kid in pre Castro's Cuba and life after Castro came to power. Castro ousted President Batista on 1 January 1959. Cuba descended into chaos. Christmas banned, possessions and homes and businesses confiscated, mass executions, etc... 14,000 children (including the author and his brother) exiled from their family to America. After reading this I realise what monsters Castro and his sidekick Che Guevara were. Forget that painting Jim Fitzpatrick did of Guevara. He and Castro were thugs. Commandeering prize mansions whose previous owners along with hundreds of others were summarily executed, Castro and Guevara lived well and drove around in luxury. Like all despots they ruled by fear. And what about the Bay of Pigs disaster. Counter insurgents trained in the US were dropped into Cuba to oust Castro. Kennedy had promised these insurgents that Castro's air force would be destroyed. Never happened and the insurgents were mowed down by the hundreds or captured, tortured and shot by firing squads. All described in this wonderful book. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Rahenyrhythm
I spend too much time here!!! Joined: 02-May-2018 Location: Stradbally Status: Offline Points: 15285 |
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Hmm ... interesting!
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One of its legs is both the same
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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"Fatherland" - Robert Harris
Interesting book against the concept that Germany won WW2. Based on many facts a detective investigating a murder uncovers shocking Nazi papers about the Final Solution and describes life in Germany under continued Nazi rule. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Rahenyrhythm
I spend too much time here!!! Joined: 02-May-2018 Location: Stradbally Status: Offline Points: 15285 |
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I read that one Pat - excellent stuff, really absorbing. I'm a big fan of Robest Harris, he writes in a really clear manner about complex enough stuff (even though it's fiction). I've read a few of his books at this stage...
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One of its legs is both the same
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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"Daddy's Gone A Hunting" - Mary Higgins Clark.
Excellent thriller that has you guessing till the end. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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Biker Pat
I spend too much time here!!! 72-75 Joined: 26-April-2005 Location: Swords, Co Dublin (ex Celti Status: Online Points: 38067 |
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"2nd Chance" - James Patterson
Enjoyable thriller. |
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May be going to hell in a bucket but at least I'm enjoying the ride.
Biker Pat Grove 1972-1975 |
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