A first round the world, part 51

If you followed this 50th anniversary story about Australia, Gérard Bouvier, Marcel Grivel-Dellilaz, Jean-Pierre Chatellard as well as Alexis Saudan and his son Christophe were the only protagonists you’ve read about. 

We mentioned other instructors and personnel too, but there was one French ski instructor that’s been conspicuously absent till now, and it’s been Philippe Coutaz. 

This is simply because we were unable to track him down. Fortunately, a bit of investigating work and some luck led us back to him. As our 1971 ski season was well underway, Philippe arrived to us from Chamonix. 

We all knew his dad, the Chief Inspector of French Ski Instruction. Upon getting to Mt. Buller, Philippe, who was around 20, went to work immediately. 

Philippe was at the starting level in terms of certification and was hoping that two season teaching in Australia would enable him to take his "Moniteur Auxilliaire" exam. He hit the ground running, appeared very smart, highly adaptable, and his English was very good. 

However, because he was a late-comer, it wasn’t easy for him to fit inside our circle, and we didn’t put too much efforts into integrating him into our group, which was a shame. 

He also was more introspective than the rest of us and the age difference, however slight, played a role too. Philippe would end up returning in 1972 with Gerard and I. 

Later on, in 1985, he got a PhD in economics at NYU and pursued his career in the economic and financial sectors.

A first trip ‘round the world, part 50

In familiar parlance, around the bars at Mt. Buller, “birds” was a very common word (today, something highly sexist as well as condescending) used among boys to talk about girls, in the context of the resort social scene. 

The birds I want to discuss though, though, are the ones with feathers, that flew around us, or sang to wake us up in the morning when we would have rather stayed in bed forever. 

Many of them sounded quite differently than what visitors hear at most ski resorts around the world where the few flying creatures left in the cold of winter were a few lone birds of pray, some ravens or magpies like we find in Park City. 

Not at “exotic” Mt. Buller, that was home to a variety of parrots, like the Cockatoos, they were also Kookaburras and the Crimson and Eastern Rosellas that stood out, like true “birds of paradise”. 

Most of them looked and sounded like no other birds encountered in the European Alps or the North American mountains during their long and mostly black-and-white winter season. 

These birds were hot, always looked super cool and reminded me of paradise!

A first trip ‘round the world, part 49

Money was not the key motivating factor for us to teach down-under, far from it! Remember, we were paid AUS$60 ($50) per week, it was not a lot, but it included complete room and board and a paid round-trip from Europe. 

In fact, after paying taxes and insurance, it was about the same as what I was making as a low-level instructor in France and $20 better per week than the French minimum wage! At that rate I would have needed to work 29 weeks straight to purchase myself a brand new Citroën 2cv, not counting my contribution to health insurance and income tax! 

Still we needed every dollar we could earn because we all had big plans to visit exotic places at the end of season, so having some extra money was important to us. Sure, we sold the free gear we got from Dynamic, Dynastar, Rossignol and Kerma, but that might have amounted to little more than a week working at the ski school. 

Just like in America, Australia used a dollar denomination for its currency that, at the time, was worth about 83% of the US dollar (1 AUS$ = 4.55 French Francs). Until 1966, there was no dollar but an Australian pound just like England.

On February 14 of that year, it was replaced by the Australian dollar. When we came, it was a bit surprising to see Queen Elizabeth’s face still adorning the one dollar bill and I couldn’t quite understand why a country like Australia that prided itself on its egalitarianism and entrepreneurship would still be under the British monarchy and a member of the Commonwealth. 

In fact, Australia was still a constitutional monarchy, in which the Queen was the head of state. After a while, I couldn’t care less and was reasonably happy when I collected my weekly salary. I’ve always wondered if John Hilton-Wood would pay us for the extra time we were held up on the ship, but I still was filled with illusions in those days, and he evidently did not. 

Yet, he and Alexis let JP and I stay a bit longer to make up for the money we couldn’t earn while we were having so much fun on the Galileo-Galilei. I had never realized that kind gesture until now, but better late than never!

Could have the US addressed the Taliban resurgence?

When the US thought it kicked out the Taliban after they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 through 2001, Bush, its president, focused on “nation building”, promising that women would be free, in order to leverage its support among females, and creating an Afghan military in the American image. 

The Taliban, were more pragmatic. Instead of spending the money they didn’t have, like Bush did, they decided to build a financial empire in order to regroup and eventually regain control over that country. As of today, they’ve rebuilt their fighting force from about 30,000 soldiers in 2010 to perhaps 100,000 today. 

They accomplished that by setting up a constant stream of income that has amounted to $400 million per year around 2011, and might have grown to $1.5 billion annually. To accomplish that, their cash-flow was secured through a variety of sources and a widespread taxation system. 

They first relied on foreign donations, coming from the “usual suspects” like Pakistan, Iran and Putin (the man was too happy to reciprocate Reagan's help to the mujaheddin during Soviet occupation) even though each players denies it. 

In addition private citizens from Pakistan and Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, threw money into their coffers amounting in the half a billion dollar range a year. Another excellent reason to purchase an electric car!

Then, there also was generalized extortion as well as the drug trade (Afghanistan is the world's largest grower of opium), to brings even more money. Its estimated annual exports can reach several billion dollars and are employing almost 120,000 Afghans. Where were our B-53 bombers that should have sprayed and eradicated these opium fields? 

Of course, the Taliban deny their involvement in the drug business. The 10% tax collected from opium farmers and refiners earn them up to another $400 million a year. 

The Taliban's financial network extended well beyond taxing just the opium business; in an open letter in 2018, the Taliban warned Afghan traders to pay their taxes on all goods - including fuel and construction materials - when traveling through areas they controlled. 

After ousting the Afghan government, the Taliban now controls all the major trade routes in the country, as well as border crossings, creating more opportunities to tax imports and exports. To add insult to injury, Taliban have also lined their pockets by taxing the money we lavished Afghans to build their infrastructure and services. Good job America! 

For instance, the Afghanistan's Electricity Company told the BBC that in 2018, the Taliban siphoned more than $2 million a year by billing electricity to consumers. 

There are also the country’s minerals resources and precious stones, still under-exploited as a result of years of war. That resource is estimated to be worth $1 billion annually, according to the Afghan government. The Taliban have already taken control of mining sites and extorted money from ongoing legal and illegal mining operations. 

All this to say that there was a very low-hanging fruit in the 20 years of occupation that we’ve totally chose to ignore, and that was cutting these sources of revenue and drying the financial stream that has made the Taliban stronger than ever before. 

Instead, we choose to shower corrupt Afghans with money, believing that their medieval culture would make a miraculous U-turn, that these leaders would be honest and the a US-inspired military would work. 

How naive were we or better yet, how idiots were we to believe that Congress which gets its money from Big Oil and the Military-Industrial-Complex would act differently than it did?

Valery Giscard d’Estaing’s secret

For those of you who don’t recall the man, didn’t know him, or were simply not paying attention, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, also known as Giscard, or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. 

He passed away in 2020 at the age of 94. A long life, chuck-full of great accomplishments, and in my opinion all of them the result of him always wearing what could be called a “magic necktie”. 

This photo of Giscard skiing in the 60s, hints to a number of tangible details that support my assertion: 

1. He had no need for protection, wore no headgear, either knit hat or of the hard helmet type. 

2. In spite of being bald, I presume that he wore absolutely no sunscreen either. Ultra violets rays couldn't touch him. 

2. He eyesight must have been excellent. He didn't have to worry about the effect of UV on his vision either, and wore neither sunglasses nor goggles.

3. He seemed impervious to cold and had no need for a ski jacket 

4. He also had an uncommon sense of balance and didn’t need to hold on to the Poma. 

All these observations validate the magic power of Giscard’s necktie, and make me believe that all the safety features that are creeping up on all of us are just conspiracy theories!

A first trip ‘round the world, part 48

As an Australian ski resort, Mt. Buller found itself in the midst of a forest of eucalyptus.

Long after a snowfall, the flexible tree limbs would normally stand and hide their surroundings with their year-round greenery, but under the weight of a recent snowfall, their leafy crown would almost collapse revealing the entire village. 

Now you see it, now you don’t! The flexible tree is either called eucalyptus, gum tree or even snow gum. Without a question, it’s the ubiquitous tree of the Australian landscape that remains always green through the entire year. 

With more than 800 species, these trees dominate the country scene, forming forests, woodland and shrublands in all environments except for the most arid deserts. The trees are called "gum tree" because of the sticky rubbery substance that flows from the injured bark. 

The sight and smell of eucalypti are also defining part of Australian life. It’s a fragrance that I have always since associated with my Australian experience. In fact, the sight of the blue haze from the eucalyptus oil arising from the bush in the mountain ranges west of Sydney gave the Blue Mountains their name. 

In the Snowy Mountains, these trees are also called “snow gums”. In winter, eucalyptus trees simply stop growing and produce no new buds, but when they grow, some of them, in the plains, can reach over 300 ft (90 meters) tall — taller than any trees but the Californian redwoods! 

Like for most trees, eucalyptus lifespan depends on the species, but most can survive over 250 years in the wild. Beside being very fragrant, their leaves are rich in oil that can be used to alleviate the symptoms of bronchitis, sore throat and nasal congestion… 

Three main eucalypti make up the mountain woodlands. The Black and White Sallees (eucalyptus stellulata and pauciflora) are both snow gums and are unique to the alpine environment. 

 These trees have been twisted and contorted by the harsh weather conditions and have some beautiful colors especially when wet. The Candlebark (eucalyptas rubida) grow much taller and straighter than the snow gums and have a beautiful red trunk in the warmer months. In addition to eucalyptus trees, were the acacias. 

Two species are found in the Snowy Mountains, the acacia delbater and the acacia melanoxolin and these provide a home for birds and offer some extra colors to the landscape during spring. 

I will always remembers these beautiful sunny mornings, the frozen snow wrapping lift towers and Mt. Buller's fragrant eucalyptus trees!

Toyota and the Taliban

For decades, the Japanese brand has been known for its ruggedness, durability and dependability. It’s never been an innovative company, except perhaps for the Prius, but overall, the vehicles it put out work. ISIS seem to know that as well as the Taliban. 

I figure these two groups aren’t very good at maintaining vehicles, they might be able to refuel them, inflate tires and occasionally change oil, but their ability to care for their set of wheels was pretty much limited to that. Both have been using 4x4 like the Toyota Hilux pickup truck, the overseas version of the Toyota Tacoma or “Tac” as my grandson would say, and the Toyota Land Cruisers.

We’ve seen them spreading mayhem during the ISIS campaign in Iraq, Syria and Libya, and more recently in the hands of the Taliban during its reconquest of Afghanistan with their truck beds loaded with heavy weapons and cabs jammed with its disheveled, bearded terrorists. 

Toyota is uneasy with that unwanted, but effective publicity and would love to disengage itself from these modern bandits. In fact, the company has long worked to distance its association with terror groups and has publicly supported a US Treasury Department investigation into how some of is vehicles end up into the hands of terrorists. 

Toyota has also announced a new policy it launched the 2022 version of the Toyota Land Cruiser, the company’s longest-running model. After it went on sale in Japan on August 2, priced at around $46,500, the car manufacturer announced that anyone buying one had to sign a contract promising not to resell the vehicle within a year. 

This certainly won’t stop the export of gently-used Japanese vehicles, through the Sea of Japan, to Vladivostok, the world's capital of the Japanese car second-hand market, and some rogue dealers will maintain a brisk business and keep clients happy whether they are Taliban or other terrorists. Another war-related hypocrisy...