For a change, SA’s geographic isolation is a blessing, not a curse

Whenever life seems terrible, cast an eye around and pretty soon you'll realise many others would swap places in a heartbeat. Not for the first time, after events of the last week or so South Africans can see their problems in perspective.

The horrific ISIS-instigated attacks in Paris on Friday night which killed 129 and injured another 352 came after a Russian passenger plane disintegrated over Egypt, killing all 224 on board. Both tragedies are a reminder we live in a very dangerous world, populated by people with such deeply held idealistic beliefs they justify murder as a means to their end.

As a member of the G20, South Africa currently has a front row seat at discussions where the developed world ponders how it will react these outrages. As a small country with limited resources, SA is unlikely to be called upon to send young men into the frontline as it did during two World Wars and in the Korean conflict.

Being geographically isolated is often a curse. Not today. For all South Africa's socio economic challenges, there are many worse places on earth to be right now.