Remember Margaret Thatcher, female former Prime Minister of Britain? If you remember the 80's well enough, you remember Thatcher and former US President Ronald Reagan's "axis of evil", their rabid anti-socialist (and anti-USSR in particular) paranoia, and Thatcher's heavily criticized Falklands War, wherein she (with Reagan's support) battled for several islands that were claimed both by nearly bankrupt Argentina and the UK.

In a "wag the dog" situation, the unofficial war bolstered Thatcher's fading popularity and got her reelected. You may remember punk rock music being heavily anti-Reagan and anti-Thatcher, and even British political activists and punk unit Crass' album devoted to the Falklands conflict entitled How Does It Feel (To Be The Mother of 1000 Dead?), and the anonymous Sheep Farming In The Falklands, largely believed to be their work as well.

So Reagan is dead. Thatcher's not in power. Her son lives in South Africa. Nice place. Apartheid is over (no thanks to Thatcher), but South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, who took over from anti-apartheid and anti-AIDS crusader Nelson Mandela, has publically claimed that AIDS in South Africa is special and unlike the rest of the world, is not related to HIV. This is contrary to the findings of just about every major HIV/AIDS researcher in the world, and is indicative of a greater problem in South Africa. Despite the end of apartheid, the government is still run by people who don't have the people's best interests at hand.

Honestly, this kind of behavior suggests that Mbeki doesn't care about that much about the people one way or another. And what of Mandela? His
remaining son died of AIDS about a weak ago. His public announcement was an attempt to get AIDS treated as a real disease in that country, breaking a long-standing tradition of silence and ignorance.

And what do we find the son of Margaret Thatcher doing in this climate? Why, allegedly using his dollars to vote for a coup in oil-drenched Equatorial Guinea. Now that's progressive. Margaret Thatcher's lack of comment suggests to me that mommy is very cross with her bouncing baby boy, but considering his mother's history, is there any wonder where he learned to behave like this?