It is briefly Thursday. Soon after the plane takes off we will cross the International Date Line and it will be Friday. I will savour the delights of Thursday while they last.

LAN were unable to check our bags through to Sydney as the French wanted a chance to check our bag in Tahiti. Also flights to Tahiti from South America aren’t subject to the new ‘not allowed to hijack a plane with a bottle of shampoo’ rule. This does apply for flights in and out of Australia. The irony of the terrorism prevention measures in Tahiti, is that the French Government has a long history of supporting terrorism. It was somewhere in French Polynesia that the French Government terrorists responsible for bombing the Rainbow Warrior were sent to work on their tan for a few years in the guise of a ‘gaol sentence’.

Anyway, as a result of all this security palaver, we have had to line up, go through immigration and customs, collect our bags and do it all in reverse 50m down the concourse. We were in the country for less than 30 minutes. That is my shortest stay in any country. The airport hasn’t caught up with the trend in most of the civilised world and still allows smoking in its terminal, and not just in a tar stained glass booth with powerful air conditioning. It is permitted everywhere and those French cigarettes with the smell of slowly burning Parisian dog shit seem to be the order of the day. Or is that the ‘odour of the day’.

If the French disappeared off the face of the earth, would anyone really care or indeed notice? Certainly getting them out of the Pacific would be a start, although that might mean having to test nuclear devices a little closer to home.

Sue has gone to see if we can get into the ‘Club Lounge’ since she is in the Qantas Club and the flight is code shared with Qantas. Unfortunately on these code-shared flights only business class passengers are allowed in the lounge. Pricks!

This is our second last airport of the trip. The last of course being Sydney, where we look forward to being abused by the taxi driver for the crime of living too close to the airport. We shall see.

Hegemony or Survival: America’s quest for global dominance by Noam Chomsky
America was born during a war and seems to have been at war ever since. The American psyche is such that self-interest rises above all, even if self-interest means the suppression of the rights, democracy and self interest of others. Noam Chomsky takes a critical analysis of the influence of US foreign policy, its continued support of terrorists and rogue states, and its overall quest for global domination.
The boldness with which the US is prepared to ignore international law has increased since the fall of the Soviet Union left it as the world’s only superpower and self appointed world policeman. Unfortunely, it is acting more like a Texas county sherrif who interprets the law to suit itself and turns a blind eye to lawbreaking if it is advantageous.
Chomsky is obviously from the left wing of politics, but the facts in this book are presented in a relatively balanced manner (some may disagree) and make you think that probably ever US president in the last 100 years could probably have been convicted as a war criminal. (Both Bushes should certainly be on the list.)
I highly recommend this book.