The danger of deadly conflict erupting in the Middle East has notched up another few point over last number of days as Iranian and Russian scientists announced that Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant will soon be receiving its first shipment of nuclear fuel, according to reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran has activated equipment to enrich uranium in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions; and there are increasing signs of bold resistance – from countries such as China, Russia, India and Turkey – to the efforts by the United States and Europe to create a united international font against Iran’s nuclear programme.

As a cacophony emanates from political-, special interest group- and ideological vuvuzelas from all sides in the buildup to the meeting of the governing ANC’s national general council next month, it is not easy to keep the eye on the ball. Observers will do well to take note of global debate about the sustainability of the economic system as we have come to know it over the last 100 years.

“To beat around the bush” has come to be used most generally as an indication of evasiveness, skimming around the truth, not confronting issues head-on or even of being slightly less than honest. It would seem, however, that being a bush-beater was quite a noble occupation, but the expression is no spring chicken either.

In that which some experts describe as the worst agricultural conditions in 500 years, Russia and certain surrounding states – the region responsible for 25% of international wheat and other exports – are experiencing a food production disaster that is bound to impact severely on food prices in the immediate future. The world may be heading for a repeat of the 2008 food riots that took place on virtually every continent, when no fewer that 13 countries experienced related unrest, protests, violence and civilian deaths.

Public sector remuneration negotiations and the government’s budget process is badly out of sync, and the process and calendar is due for review to bring greater certainty into the budgeting process, avoid mid-year negotiation congestion, and would steer clear of the danger of disruption of schools at a most sensitive phase in the school year, as has happened this year.

While the debate surrounding the freedom of the media and the free flow of information in South Africa continues attracting an increasing number of participants, and is intensifying to fever pitch; the unintended side effects of the recent massive pushing of secret files on the United States War in Afghanistan into the public domain are tragically illustrating the need for certain clearing mechanisms to deal with information disputes between the media and authorities. The lack of such reliable procedures is costing people their lives as this article is being written.

The financial crisis globally left scars on private and public pension systems. In certain cases, the reserves of pension funds have dropped to between 60% and 100% of national output. By way of comparison, that is the ratio of the national debt to output in some advanced countries. Brazilian and South African companies were the only ones in overall surplus on this score, according to a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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The task to dismantle the solid New Zealand defensive system, stop its dangerous backs in their tracks, and beat the omnipresent Richie McCaw on the ground will arguably not be as challenging as overcoming the inner demons that have been haunting South Africa for several years, when the Boks and the All Blacks meet on Saturday in Soweto for the first of the home Tests in the Vodacom Tri-Nations campaign.

Just when it seemed Julius Malema was again gaining the upper hand in the highly divided ANC Youth League (ANCYL) of which he is president, the Malema-supporting faction in the Gauteng ANCYL lost the election for provincial chairperson over the weekend. But the split down the middle remains quite close, even as the League is sucked into larger factionalism.

Patricia de Lille, leader of the soon-to-be-defunct Independent Democrats, is the big prize – if not the only one – for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the merger of the two parties. She is the best reason the merger may work instead of going the way of all such mergers in opposition politics in South Africa over the past 15 years.

Risks to the smooth supply of oil to the world’s markets has notched up considerably on a number of fronts in recent times. Not only do these risks pose a new threat to the recovery of the global economy, they also create new urgency for the development of alternative sources of alternative energy, despite the fact that there was ample warning on the pressing danger to the world’s largerst economy – the United States.