Sounds, sights and news

VIENNA, Austria -- We arrived here in the historic city of Vienna. The moment we crossed the border between this country and Hungary, vast expanse of what looks like freshly cultivated fields immediately caught my attention. Winter seemed to have finally come to an end but neither hills nor fields have yet to come alive. Spring has yet to yield some buds or flower bulbs but considering that snow is no longer visible here, it will not be long when deciduous trees will be green again.

Hilton Danube Hotel is right along the riverside of the Danube river. Until I traveled in this part of Europe did I realize that this river cuts across countries in Europe. Just two nights ago in Budapest, we cruised along the river Danube and dine there too.

Today, however, when I opened our room window at the Hilton I was awed wth the blue water of the Danube.

USA TODAY has a special edition here. There were two items which caught my immediate attention. US President Trump emulating the drug campaigns in the Philippines, Singapore and China. Trump is waging a war against the menace of drugs in America which kills no less than 30,000 victims annually and subjects infants to extreme pain for at least four years after they are born.

This happens as their parents are addicted to either synthetic opioids or chemical drugs that are smuggled through the porous border of USA and Mexico. Trump calls for death penalty on drug traffickers. He says a drug pusher victimizes not a few people and that while that trafficker may not be using guns, he or she murders hundreds just the same.

Trump is alarmed and if he has his way, it will truly be one hell of a campaign against drug cartels.

The other item which should shock the Commission on Human Rights and other vociferous critics of President Duterte is the blocking of the notorious UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein from speaking before the Security Council. Several member countries backed by Russia and China protested and asserted that human rights issues should not be discussed in the UN body. He had it coming. He is no different from the ICC prosecutor who prejudges based on pure hearsay.

Vienna is the Mecca of classical music and of architectural marvel. Like Budapest of Hungary, Vienna has restored what had been ravaged by wars. The grand palaces and parliaments were preserved and thousands of tourists and students from various universities in Europe flock to these places where ancient and contemporary histories meet in anachronistic splendor.

There are seven Filipino-Americans in this Imperial Europe tour. They are ecstatic over the mega-projects which the anticipate will finally happen under the Duterte administration.

I assured them that many of these will be pulsating realities within four years of the Duterte regime.