Tag: Nelson Mandela

Mandela’s Pathetic Backpedaling on AIDS Drugs Testing

Reuters reports that Nelson Mandela has backpedaled on testing of AIDS drugs and is now endorsing Thabo Mbeki’s ridiculous position that further safety testing of AIDS drugs is necessary because, as Reuters paraphrases his position,

. . . conditions in Africa were different from those in the developed world, where the drugs have proven beneficial.

Mandela does say that the government should provide the drugs to patients with the warning that they are awaiting further safety tests, but how can Mandela seriously call on South Africa to “smash to the superstition” about AIDS while endorsing this part of Mbeki’s pseudoscientific view of AIDS and AIDS drugs.

Source:

Mandela backs studies into safety of AIDS drugs. Reuters, December 1, 2002.

Somebody Tell Belfanonte It’s 2002

There are a lot of bizzare/outrageous statments from Harry Belafonte in this Drudge Report — not the least of which is Belafonte’s racist (and somewhat historically inaccurate) attack on Colin Powell. But scrolling all the way to the bottom of the story shows where Belafonte’s mind is at,

There were tens of thousands of peoples and leaders from all over the world gathered to discuss the issue of race. It was an honorable arena… But by not showing up, by sticking it to the government of Nelson Mandela… It was a dark page on our foreign policy.

Somebody should tell Belafonte that South Africa held elections in 1999 and Mandela stepped down from office in June of that year.

I guess Belafonte doesn’t get out much these days.