The Gangster Festered In His Lair

*

Swamps and flying things; restless, spikes reaching up and gone, strange insects. He was not from here, that was all there was to it. These voices, these landscapes, spoke of a home of origin, a planet of origin, a very great distance away. We are all travellers, someone said, but it simply wasn't true. Most of the people here were born here, would die here; or lived their entire lives within the confines of a village; and were entirely happy, fulfilled, their days full of laughter and gossip, lazy, indolent afternoons, jokes, easy love. I am very sorry not to sleep with you tonight. How deeply he misread situations. How misplaced were his loyalties. He could be sure of only one thing: here was the day, here was the tranquillity that had always escaped him. The boy, more like a hot water bottle than a sex worker, slept through the nights and busied himself in the morning. When he went out he re-arranged the apartment, like any girl. He was pleased. He didn't have a domestic bone in his body, found it hard to make anywhere a home. His last travel bag literally fell apart, and when he handed it over to the Bangkok Air staff at the airport the rip in its side just grew larger, so they were forced to tape it together and obliged him to sign a document to that affect. They didn't even bother to explain to him what the document said. It was all too obvious. Probably they could smell the Jack Daniels on his breath; the last and final.

Well almost. These days it seemed like a million miles away. Crash and burn. Well, Phoenix like, the wounded bird squawked and climbed, flapping mythological wings as it tried to take flight, falling and rising, clumsy but triumphant. It was better than the cartoon landing that had been going on before. They embraced him in their own quiet way which meant nothing, because so many people came and went. This was Bangkok after all. There were secretive assignations he should have been ashamed of, but wasn't, and points of amusement only theatrical queens could manage to pull off; so to speak. The 70-year-old with scars across his chest, worried about his mortality, idiotic, hysteric, told us all how he had waved his young boyfriend off at the airport, someone he "loved" so much, and promptly went to the baths, where, of course, the inevitable happened. There's hope for us all if that balding old f... can go naked to a sauna, strip naked and attract anyone, as he insisted on telling us. Believe it or not, was one of the phrases he used, and he chose not to believe. Twenty five, he whispered fervently, like some magic incantation. Young flesh to feed upon; these ancient crones, their wings flapping as they fed. Oh my God. There were things he did not need to know. No money changed hands, he insisted, but hey, some boys took the long term view, apartments, cars, gold jewellery. Nothing was for free. Not in this town. Not in any town in 2010; life just wasn't that easy.

The gangster festered in his lair; and voices of warning he should have taken heed of kept playing back. Everyone knows he is too crazy, drinks too much whisky, to have a relationship with. Everyone but him. How many lies had been piled one on top of the other? How much pretence? Time and again; when drunk, he would haul home some street worker. When there was blood on the sheets and they were shocked they had deflowered a virgin; having had no idea. No wonder everyone was upset. No wonder the hotel warned him: you are welcome back, but the boy is not. And all the time that five-bedroom house paid for by the company sat almost empty in the streets up past Om Nut, and he wanted to say, I'll take it, I'll keep it tidy, or at least the boy will, and we can mark these times as already read. But of course he had blotted his copy book and they had seen him at his worst; well, not really, there was a damn sight worse to come; but it was obvious these were not the routine machinations of a high functioning professional, that a certain shambolic nature was creeping into his every day functioning and this was not a person to put your faith or your money into, because anything could unfold at any moment. He failed to transmit the mesmerising brilliance behind the facade. Or they failed to see a nuance, a glimmer of hope, seen only from within a deep well.

There were times when he was ill at ease; in the early days of this strange journey, when the world was turned inside out and a trip on the Bangkok Sky Train seemed in itself an astonishing thing; the slanting cityscapes, the beauty of the skyscrapers, all of it shifted off into an urban real he couldn't possess, couldn't long for, couldn't understand. Slowly the words began to make sense. Slowly time stood on its essence, thrilled within itself, shivering beyond the real, and he sat in meetings and said nothing and listened to American garbage and thought, oh God protect me, but there was nothing, no way out; ... Now the gangster was about lose his aerie. About to be tossed onto the slum lord glories of a welfare England. To die stoned on cheap drugs in a dismal room telling stories of the glory days, of how he had owned a nightclub in Pattaya, a bike shop full of Harley Davidsons, of how well heeled well connected friends got him out of trouble, of how he had paid to have his persecutor periodically bashed and hospitalised, of how he had lived in a five bedroom mansion in Bangkok with a swimming pool and a gardener, of how he had been the enforcer in the Australian jails and the criminal master mind in the drug trade between countries. Nothing about how it all came to an end. Nothing about those final years mumbling in a room, barely venturing out, more comfortable in close confines, living on jelly sweets, chocolate, white bread, strawberry milk and weetbix, his health declining as he smoked three packets of cigarettes a day until, in terminal decline, he slumped over one of the houses many internal balconies, and his heart gave out, squandered in evil, every opportunity, every path, every possibility of good will.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/child-play-to-juggle-un-role-says-rudd/story-fn59niix-1225895831369

KEVIN Rudd moved to kill rumours yesterday that the UN would entice him to quit parliament, insisting he could juggle the role with his day job.

As the opposition exploited the confusion over the former prime minister's position, demanding Julia Gillard clarify what role he would have if her Labor government were returned, Mr Rudd confirmed he had discussed joining an international panel with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

In a statement, Mr Rudd's office said he could perform the part-time role from Australia and it would be no "impediment to him discharging his responsibilities" as an MP or minister.

And it affirmed that Mr Rudd would recontest his safe seat of Griffith and serve out the full term in the likely event he won it.

"The UN Secretary-General telephoned Mr Rudd a couple of weeks ago and, among other matters, raised the possibility of Mr Rudd being appointed to a UN panel which might look at a number of issues related to development," the statement said.

"When in New York last week, Mr Rudd met with the UN Secretary-General who explained that such a panel may comprise of a significant number of former and current heads of government, foreign ministers and ministers from developing and developed countries."

A spokesman for Mr Ban told The Australian yesterday the UN boss was aware of media reports that Mr Rudd was in the running for a top-level UN advisory position on climate change that would force him to leave Australia. The UN had no comment, however. Friends and allies of Mr Rudd in the US are believed to have searched on his behalf for international roles with the UN or other agencies, without locking one in.

Mr Rudd was in Washington and New York last week for the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, which debates issues common to both nations. Mr Rudd also met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

He is understood not to have taken Australian officials with him into his meeting with Mr Ban. One senior source told The Australian: "I've not heard of any definitive offers, but various people have been trying to find envoy roles for him."

Another said the UN did not have available positions in the climate change area for Mr Rudd, as reported, after senior logistics and advisory roles had been filled. Mr Rudd has been blamed by Labor colleagues for a series of leaks damaging to Ms Gillard over the past fortnight.

For the second day running, he occupied the limelight in Brisbane, stepping out to tour another school in his southside electorate.

Despite his insistence that he would run again in Griffith, positioning continues behind the scenes in the ALP should Mr Rudd vacate the seat. Formal nominations for candidates must be registered with the Australian Electoral Commission by next Thursday.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-copter-crash-20100723,0,2435187.story

Two U.S. service members were killed Thursday in a helicopter crash in Helmand province, the third fatal chopper crash in the south of Afghanistan in less than two months.

The Taliban claimed to have shot down the aircraft. The NATO force said an investigation was underway and that hostile fire could not be ruled out.

American military deaths in Afghanistan are running at their highest levels of the nine-year war. A record 60 U.S. service members were killed last month, and the latest fatalities bring July's tally to at least 50.

Two NATO helicopters were lost during June -- one shot down and one as a result of mechanical problems. Both of those deadly crashes also took place in the Taliban heartland, where the majority of Western military casualties occur.

A coalition military offensive centered on Kandahar, the south's main city, is gathering momentum after months of delays, with fighting heating up in outlying districts where Taliban fighters have long been in control.

The NATO force is heavily dependent on helicopters for troop transport, resupply runs and combat missions, because many of the roads in Afghanistan are poorly maintained and the rough terrain makes ground travel extremely difficult.

But helicopters are vulnerable to malfunction in the harsh climate, and NATO says the Taliban supreme commander, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has ordered field commanders to try to procure more heavy weapons, some of which could be used to target aircraft.

Thursday's crash took place near Lashkar Gah, Helmand's provincial capital. Thousands of U.S. Marines and British troops are deployed in the area, which lies close to the town of Marja, the scene of a major offensive earlier this year.

Afghan and Western officials, meanwhile, reported the arrest of an insurgent leader who they said had plotted to attack a major international conference earlier this week. The man was captured Wednesday night near the capital, Kabul, in a raid by NATO and Afghan forces, the military announced Thursday.

Picture: Peter Newman.