Sexual slave traders: both ISIS & UN Soldiers

You may have heard of these stories a lot in the past few months & it is still continuing on in war-torn regions of Iraq & Syria by that certain group. Although, obviously, I don't condone it at all, I do want to bring a bit of balance to the Western media's coverage of this situation where young Yazidi girls & women are being captured & then sold for sexual slavery or forced marriage.

Western media keep harping about this incessantly but they never reported human trafficking & especially young girls, some as young as 8, & women being trafficked for sexual servitude by ... the armed forces of Western countries, with full blessing of UN, under the false pretenses of bringing peace to war-afflicted regions in the world.

Let's take an example from the 2010 movie, "The Whistleblower," starring Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci, & Vanessa Redgrave, to name a few. This movie is based on the true events of UN's whistleblower, Kathryn Bolkovac, who was an American cop, recruited as a UN peacekeeper by DynCorp International in post-war Bosnia & Herzegovina, in 1999.

While in Bosnia & Herzegovina, she came across the fact that several young Eastern European (Ukrainian & Russian) girls were being trafficked in Bosnia to serve as sexual slaves for UN peacekeepers. Of course, long story short, she tried to blow the whistle on this but ultimately, not only she was fired, the soldiers (American, Canadian, European etc) were let go & also escaped prosecution for essentially raping these under-age girls. 

To top it all off, the defense contractor responsible for all of this, DynCorp International, won further million-$$$ contracts from US Pentagon, for Iraq & Afghanistan.

You can read all about this, with footnotes & links to more news stories & analysis, in the movie's Wikipedia page. Here's a little excerpt from that page in its "Aftermath" section.
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Consistent with Bolkovac's account, The Whistleblower portrays DynCorp International employees as participants in the postwar Bosnian sex trade with the UN turning a blind eye. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted a screening of the film & promised action would be taken to prevent further instances of human trafficking. Bolkovac responded, "Unfortunately, the widespread horror is already there. This is not going to be simple or a quick fix." She said that in addition to Bosnia, peacekeepers had violated human rights in Nigeria, Kosovo, Burundi, Sierra Leone, the Congo, Liberia, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Colombia, Guinea & Sudan. ... Following the theatrical release of The Whistleblower, The Guardian reported that other UN officials attempted to downplay the events depicted & that initiatives against trafficking in Bosnia were aborted.
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Now, let's look at this from a "numbers" perspective (of course, this would be a little difficult, since no hard numbers are available anywhere on this human trafficking business & the numbers are all estimate):

Per the Wikipedia page on Yazidis, & news stories on abduction & selling of Yazidi females in British newspapers, Daily Mail & Telegraph (from October 2014), about 5000 - 7000 girls have been sold into sexual slavery. Let's round that up to 10,000.

However, per the Equalitynow.org, "at least 20.9 million adults & children are bought & sold worldwide into commercial sexual servitude, forced labor & bonded labor." Of that 60% are sold for sexual servitude, & 98% of that 60% are made up of women & girls. So that estimate becomes about 12.3 million women are sold & bought for sexual servitude in the world. Even if we assume that only 0.5% of these 12.3 million girls are handled / used by UN peacekeepers, that's still 61,500 girls & women.

Now, let's summarize all this data:

Yazidi girls & women sold into slavery: about 10,000
Countries: Iraq & Syria (2 countries)

UN peacekeepers & defense contractors involved in sexual servitude of girls & women: about 61,500
Countries: Nigeria, Kosovo, Burundi, Sierra Leone, the Congo, Liberia, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Colombia, Guinea & Sudan. (11 countries)

The scale of young girls & women being used as sexual slaves by UN peacekeepers is far larger than what a certain group is doing in Iraq & Syria with Yazidi girls, but the Western media never showed this in the West.

If you are thinking why UN won't do anything to stop it.
Simple answer: it's a huge profitable business.

As we all may know that sex is the best way to release tension & stress (scientifically proven several times over). UN has 1000s of its peacekeepers in war-torn regions around the world. These peacekeepers are far from their families in highly stressful situations everyday. With this sexual slavery business, UN not only shows around the world that it is doing great work in war-torn regions by keeping peace there, but also helps its soldiers relieve their stress & tension with the help of these sexual slaves. Of course, the brothels & human trafficking rings get a huge customer in UN for their despicable business.

It's a win-win for both UN (& the nations who are sending their soldiers) & the human trafficking mafia groups. Loser, obviously, is the silent group of girls & women who are used as nothing more than a piece of meat by these soldiers.

(Disclaimer ... once again ... I am in no way condoning this widespread & increasing practice of selling girls & women for sexual servitude, by any group, by any religion, in any country. I am only trying to bring some perspective to the stories).

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2883607/ISIS-forced-thousands-kidnapped-girls-sexual-slavery-five-months-traded-openly-markets.html

Edward Snowden quote

Cloud Atlas (Quote # 4)

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Sex Education, Then & NOT Now

As all Canadians may know already by now that new sex-ed curriculum of Ontario has been revealed & come September 2015, 7-year-olds (Grade 3) will come to know the meaning of same-sex relationships & gradually, within 5 years (age 12), will know what oral sex is.

I deliberately chose this article / opinion because that's the general attitude of people who are supportive of this curriculum. However, what it shows to me:

1. Disregard of people in a "democratic" govt: is this we called "democracy"? Is this the democracy Western leaders incessantly harping about in their speeches all over the world? It may as well be an absolute monarchy because at the end of the day, gov't is acting like, "I am going to throat-gag you with this, & you not only going to love it but will ask more for it."

2. What happened to diversity, Canadian multiculturalism & assimilation of new immigrants? As soon as something bad happens by a few deranged individuals, in the name of a specific religion, the whole group associated with that religion is blamed for not assimilating in the population & living in their own little bubbles (I'm deliberately not putting in any infamous labels here).

Who should be blamed for French ban on burqa in public or as Mr. Harper itching to bring burqa ban in Canada (it's a slippery slope, starting with niqab ban in citizenship oath ceremonies) or Mrs. Kathleen Wynne ignoring all immigrants, a sizable majority of which hails from South Asia, in bringing this curriculum?

Who is considering whom a "second-class" citizen & doing every bit that can be done to help push immigrants away, instead of helping them assimilate, to the point, that that immigrant / "second-class" citizen packs up & leaves Canada for good?

Will a majority of Muslims (I can't talk about other religious groups, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs etc but I do believe they are in the similar situation as Muslims) happily embrace this curriculum & gladly assimilate in the multicultural fabric of Canadian society? I firmly don't think so. This will only alienate those immigrants further, & next thing you know, someone is again pointing fingers at this group for not assimilating.

Assimilation is a two-way street & how can the majority of a group identify with their new country or society when a majority of the residents of that country are always coming up with laws & regulations to encourage those immigrants to disavow their whole belief systems? Is this called "freedom of religion" as such enshrined in the Charter? In fact, it seems more like, "be like me or you are my enemy" or that famous Mr. Bush's quote, "either you are with us or against us."

3. Do I really want my future kid to learn about same-sex relationships at the age of 7? Yes, as a Muslim, I am against homosexuality, & no I don't want my kid to learn about homosexuality. I don't care what people do in the hallowed halls of their bedrooms. People who support it in this country ... well, put it bluntly, are the same people who naively believe that Western countries are the beacon of peace in the world, & religion is the source of all evils in this world & women are only liberated when they take all their clothes off ... what's the point of wearing a bikini in the public, anyway (thanks to this curriculum, even little kids will know what breasts, nipples & female genitalia look like) ... might as well be completely free ... take everything off !!! (this will be explored more in my next blog with the help of Irina Shayk's fabulous choice of dress in the Vanity Fair's after-Oscars party).

Even as a very involved parent (once in the future), how will I be able to "un-teach" homosexuality at home when my kid is learning all about the wonderful world of same-sex relationships from those teachers in the school? As the article suggests, it's better that schools are teaching this than parents. Really? That kid will be even more confused then. Do I believe the story of Lot in the Quran, as told by my parents or do I believe what my teacher told me that my budding love for another human of the same sex is because of my genes? (everything nowadays is genetic; obesity, homosexuality & next will be racism, drug addiction, hatred ... all happen because of our genes ... eventually, we won't need to have a debate on "nature v nurture" because it's all nature's fault).

To further compound the confusion of a little kid, if he/she is enrolled in an Islamic school & he/she is learning about same-sex relationship in Grade 3, but then he/she can't find any of his/her friends / classmates having 2 daddies or mommies (since, homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Islam), then learns about story of Lot from the Quran; that kid is completely confused by now. What is right & what is wrong? Is homosexuality right or natural or is it right what the Quran says & what punishment those people in the Quran got? Do we want this confusion for tender minds of our kids?

4. Another argument is put forward in support of this curriculum that today's kids are learning all about sex through social media & they are learning this at a very young age. My problem with that is why are parents enthusiastically buying smartphones for their kids with such expensive data plans to go along with them. They won't able to sext, at least from their own phones, when they have those dumb phones (yes, they are still available in the market) with parental locks on it.

Furthermore, what happened to parents getting involved with their kids & teaching them about sex & relationships when they themselves see fit, according to their own religion, customs, & beliefs. I will explain the story of Lot & dangers of homosexuality to my kid when I see fit, as per my religion, & not when Mrs. Kathleen Wynne likes to think.

5. Some may say now, well, why don't you move out of Ontario, since this is only being instituted in Ontario. My belief is that this curriculum will spread, if not already, all over Canada like wildfire. Take my word for it. Some of it is already in other provinces' sex-ed curriculum & other provinces who doesn't have this invasive curriculum will enthusiastically adopt it.

Regardless of what the Charter or Constitution espouse, the North American gov'ts enthusiastically adopt anything & everything which remotely sounds Liberal, as long as it helps their agenda; homosexuality is all market-driven (money from marriage licenses, weddings etc), so why not promote it even more, line up govt's pockets behind the clever charade of equality & in the process, look good too in the eyes of voters.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/sex-education-then-and-now/article23160602/

Criminal Minds, S1E1 (Quote)

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Innovations in Weapons but minimal innovations for Humanity

Why is it that most innovations are taken on by military-affiliated government agencies & companies? Why is it that our tax $$$ are used for innovating new weapons in killing others & spreading more death & destruction?
 
For instance, internal combustion engines (in motor vehicles) are such a stale & old idea that a few $$$ in R&D would've gotten us cars driven by alternative powers ... 30 years ago. Heck, GM made the EV1 (first working electric car) 20 years ago. Alternative sources of power isn't some new & novel idea.

 

Take any facet of our lives; healthcare, pharma, food, alternative power, transportation etc; innovations in these areas are miniscule when compared to the available finances & technology being developed to kill & injure others.

 

How can we even hope for peace when we ourselves, as public, let our gov'ts, around the world, use our tax $$$ to finance wars & spread chaos, instead of directing those precious $$$ towards building technology & related processes to improve humanity?

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2876120/Department-Defense-testing-bullet-CHANGE-DIRECTION.html

Inch'Allah, a great movie

Loved this great Canadian-French movie ... gives the viewer a perspective (correct, from my viewpoint) on the occupation & war in Israel & Palestine.

People in the West think & defend Israel's right to attack Palestinian lands (e.g. Gaza bombing in 2014) because "Palestinians conduct suicide bombings in Israel to kill Jews & spread terror in Israel." We don't think why that suicide bomber blew him/herself up. Everyone loves to live & enjoy life. Killing oneself is extremely hard & requires lots of courage.

Spoiler Alert: Film starts with a suicide bomber blowing up a café in Israel. Then it goes back & shows what led up to that suicide bomber blowing herself up. A young, pregnant Palestinian friend of the Canadian doctor (pictured) loses her newborn baby, minutes after giving birth, because she gave birth at a checkpoint & Israeli soldiers wouldn't allow her to go to hospital, & couple days later, her husband was sentenced by Israel for 25 years. So, she effectively lost her whole family in couple days. What she got to lose by blowing herself up? Does she have anything to live for?

As one of my previous post with a Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's quote from movie, Cloud Atlas, shows that "Rob a man of everything & that man will no longer be in your power."
What's that Palestinian woman got to lose when she is robbed of everything in this world? How many lives could have been saved in Israel if that Palestinian woman would've been allowed to go to the hospital? Would she still blew herself up after hearing about her husband's sentence but still have her baby to look after, who would've been a symbol of hope & life for her?

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Cloud Atlas (Quote # 3)

That's what developed countries have learned & still to be learned by developing countries ... Arab Spring happened because of this & Saudi Arabia after learning this, started to spend millions on social programs.

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Multiple Choice, Multiple Students

A great idea to improve learning in students & works more like how decision-making takes place in today's workplace ... as a team. Plus it may sow the seed of curiosity & learning in students than students just preparing for a test without understanding or remembering any of the material as soon as the final exam is over.
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Immediately after each student completes a 30-question, multiple-choice exam, Gilley makes all his students take the exact same test again, only, this time, in groups of four. ... But does it help prepare students for life after university? “Nobody goes into a room & writes a multiple-choice test for their job,” Gilley says. “People sit down in groups & discuss things to get points across.”

 

A recent study co-authored by Gilley showed higher retention of course material when students have collaborative group tests immediately after the individual test. “It’s not just that I know the answers better,” says Danny Congleton, a first-year bachelor of arts student at UBC. “I understand the reasoning behind why certain answers are correct.”

 

Faculty over the years have seen the benefits of the two-stage exam, to the extent that more than 50 classes at UBC have implemented them today, across courses in physics, chemistry, biology, math, statistics & computer science.

 

One drawback to the test, however, is that consensus doesn’t necessarily translate into the correct answer. As well, for some difficult questions, a group may leave without any certainty over which answer was correct.

 

“The longer you delay the feedback, the less useful it becomes,” says Jim Sibley, a staff member at UBC’s Centre for Instructional Support & co-author of a book on team-based learning. “Can you imagine you hit a golf ball & I tell you in a week in which direction it went, & then you try to adjust your shot?”

 

And, to make sure no slacker shows up unprepared, the two-stage exam system can be weighted such that the individual test accounts for 85% of the exam mark, whereas the remaining 15% comes from the group test. In that case, everyone knows the right answer by the end of the exam, everyone has individual accountability, & the students learn from each other. “You’re not the teacher anymore,” says Sibley. “You’re the architect of a learning experience.”

 

 

http://www.macleans.ca/education/multiple-choice-multiple-students/

 

Cloud Atlas (Quote # 2)

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Gunned down ... New face of American fatalities

So, US have essentially become a warzone by its own actions. We immigrants bemoan that in several "developing" countries (i.e. Pakistan, Brazil, India, African countries etc) gun violence keeps increasing & these are labelled "war zones" & dangerous countries. Problem is that these kinds of stories & stats are not frequently reported in the media to the point that we all think that Western countries are safe & sound.

 

So I did my own quick calculations on death & killings (being a Pakistani myself, I'll compare Pakistan & US):

 
US Population (July 2014 est.) (per CIA World Fact Book): 319M
Per this article & CDC, about 33,563 were killed by gun violence in 2012: about 0.01% of 2014 pop.
 
Pakistan Population (July 2014 est.) (per CIA WFB): 196M
Using US death percentage of 0.01%, we get about 21,000 deaths in Pakistan ("should-be-deaths")
 
Per website, pakistanbodycount.org, there were 32 suicide attacks, killing 243 people & injuring 705 (total = 948) in 2012.
51 drone attacks killed another 349 & injured 98 people (total = 447), bringing the total lives affected by terrorism in 2012, in Pakistan, to 1,395.
 
Yes, 1,395 total lives affected. If we strictly compare apples to apples, meaning deaths vs deaths, then that number (killings in Pakistan) drops to 592. (0.0003% of population).

Even if we assume that these numbers from PakistanBodyCount.org are underreported & exaggerate the numbers to 20 Pakistanis dying, on average, on a daily basis in cities & civil unrest all over the country; even then, we only add an additional 7,300 deaths in the above total of 592 ... still far below the American deaths of 33,563.

Deaths by guns, in US, in 2012: 33,563.
Deaths by guns, in Pakistan, in 2012: 592
 
You can decide for yourself which country is more unsafe !!!
Power of media can show one country to be far more unsafe than it really is, & show another country far safer than it really is ...

 

On top of that, when 3,000 Americans died on 9/11, the whole America was after revenge & destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq, & even Libya, & in the process, sow the seeds of hatred & discontent in the peoples of those countries to the point that now, we are reaping the "wonderful" fruits of those invasions. These 33,000 deaths are 11 times more than how many Americans died on 9/11, but is any American shouting for blood & revenge?

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The year 2015 may well be the first in recent US history that firearms fatalities exceed traffic fatalities. Gun deaths by homicide, suicide or accident have been steadily increasing, following a low point in the year 2000, & are expected to top 34,000 by 2015.

 

In contrast, deaths from motor vehicle accidents have dramatically declined in the same time period, & are expected to drop below 33,000 in 2015, based on the 10-year average trend.

 

Restricting gun ownership ... has been much more difficult due to the powerful lobbying efforts of the National Rifle Association & other advocacy groups, & because of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees all individuals the right to bear arms (a right that has been upheld by the US Supreme Court).

 

... the overall trend is unlikely to change: guns kill people, cars not as much.

 

http://www.macleans.ca/news/world/gunned-down-not-run-down-the-new-face-of-american-fatalities/



China detains Uighurs

No Western countries crying foul over China's treatment of its minority & why will they? After all, China is driving their economies. These kinds of news stories don't get any airtime, if any, on Western media.
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But international human rights groups say that Beijing's policies against the Uighur's culture & religion has resulted in systematic oppression, the imprisonment of many peaceful activists, & has forced more people to flee China.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/12/china-detains-uighurs-fleeing-vietnam-201412248204177846.html

 

Newspapers - Malcolm X Quote

The Words (Quote)

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Candidates with Anglophone names get hired

This is a picture of a Canadian Business article from its January 2015 issue. I had to post its pic here, since it's not available on its website. 1st pic is of the whole article & the 2nd one is of the last paragraph in the article, which I want to highlight. Most profound sentence in that para:
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"One of the biggest barriers to getting employed for a recent immigrant is the hiring process & the reliance on the resume." For example, a 2011 University of Toronto study showed that applicants with Anglophone names were more likely to pass the resume-screening process, regardless of experience or education.
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Although, the managing director of software company, Fitzii, emphasizes that it only happens to "recent immigrants." Using simple logic, one can question that why this cannot happen or already happening to experienced individuals, too? Since, resume-screening software isn't even looking at the experience or education, & eliminating job candidates based on their names, it can happen to any individual, regardless of that individual having 1 month of Canadian relevant work experience or 10 years.

 Anyway, since, almost every company, at least all the large ones, have these resume-screening softwares, job candidates with non-Anglophone names will never know when they are eliminated based on their name only, except receiving a standard email, "Sorry ....".

That's why, we hear names like Alex Arifuzzaman (most likely Bengali) or Sydney Zaidi (Pakistani) or Manny (from Maninder) or Sunny (from Sunil) (both Indians) or all those Anglophone names of Asians.

So, essentially, you are pretty much screwed as a candidate, if your name is not Matthew, John, Eric, Jane, Patricia, or Cindy. Maybe, I should change my name to Moe.

 

Class is something you are born with ...

Crappy movie, but loved this quote ...
 
Funny how people think that a brand name dress or shoes or living in a mansion or have powerful people in their network or driving expensive cars elevate them to a higher class in society. That class is like that chocolate egg, which is hollow from inside but covered in delicious chocolate ... but devoid of any nutrition.
 
Our world has become topsy-turvy now with low class people at the top, with the help of brand names in everything they own, & high class people at the bottom of the society.

 
On top of that, public itself has changed its perspective to hold these low-class people in high regard. General public doesn't hesitate from struggling in this world, to doing anything it can do, to emulate those low-class people (e.g. Kim Kardashian is the idol to several young girls or young women in universities, in Western & Eastern countries alike, pimping themselves out to "sugar daddies" to earn enough to buy brand name accessories).
 
People are ready & willing to do anything that will make them easy money, even selling oneself is not out of bounds, just so they can buy their way into the "high-class society".

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George Carlin on Governments & Citizens

UNC Shooting & Western Media Bigotry

Frankly, I'm surprised by the reaction that American & Western media didn't give this story enough airtime. What were you expecting? That American & Western media is biased & fair. Heck, most of the public in Western countries isn't even unbiased & fair. By nature, humans are not supposed to be unbiased. We are not robots, after all. Media gives what the public wants. Public doesn't care if 3 Muslims were killed. Looking at the Facebook comments to this Al-Jazeera story, it seems quite a few are saddened by the fact that more weren't killed (& btw, they are not trolls since these comments are not anonymous).

If you are still thinking that the West is fair & unbiased, then sir / madam, you are living a fool's dream.
 
All of the West is suffering from dire economic situation. When economy suffers & people lose jobs in droves, they like to take their anger / frustration out on someone. They turn to anyone who is different from them; religion, language, race etc.
 
Although, I may sound like a broken record, I'll say it again that time is coming that if a person appears to be a Muslim from his/her name or appearance (hijab etc), then he/she will be in fear of his/her life, all the time. After all, movie "American Sniper" blatantly stoked the hatred for Muslims & Arabs, in particular, & it is going to win several Oscars for it. It has already earned $350M USD in box office. Evidently, millions & millions of Americans loved the movie. Now, all that rage needs a release valve & authorities will try to spin these kinds of stories as "not a hate crime".
 
This atheist guy did what others are only thinking. If you remove the shackles of American / Western judicial system, then you will truly see the depravity of the public. Authorities are spinning this story as "not a hate crime" to reduce the sentence this guy can get. Regardless, be thankful that he is still in custody & will get punished, whatever that punishment might be, & forget about the biased Western media. Shouting about the biases won't make the media (& Western public) any less biased, esp. since they are falling on deaf ears.
 
We can ostracise this double-standard as much as we like & even feel like that we are achieving something in this fight, but we Muslims don't own the media. Our efforts will change the minds of 100 people around us. The media will turn the public against us in 1000s in one instant.
 
We, Muslims, are 2nd-class citizens in these Western, Judeo-Christian countries. Regardless of our birthplace (in the West or in the East), if our appearance or habits or culture (not drinking alcoholic beverages, dating etc) are different from the majority around us, then we are 2nd-class citizens. In every walk of life, we are treated as such. It doesn't matter how much education or work experience or whatever else you can achieve in these countries, that second-class status ain't going away, until or unless, we change our religion. Are you ready to take that step? If not, then accept what's given to you. Slavery may have ended but it never ended, actually. It has just taken a different form.

Even slavery ended because African-Americans got united under one banner. We, Muslims, are all over the place. Many Muslim sisters shun the hijab like the plague, & instead, prefer mini-skirts, clubbing, drinking, & dating. So, why would non-Muslims in the West respect a hijabi sister over that partying sister? We ourselves are not united for any cause & we are ostracizing another country's media while residing in that country.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/02/chapel-hill-shooting-western-media-bigotry-150211083909613.html

 

Atheism & Religion

So, as you may have already come across this news story today, what I had an issue with this incident was an atheist killing 3 Muslim student. He may have gotten the inspiration from movie, "American Sniper." (just like killers in France got the inspiration from Yemeni branch of Al-Q**da) & as I have said earlier, these killings, abuses, & harassments etc are just the start right now in the West.
Besides, the obvious lack of media coverage of this incident in the West (hey, after all, a red-blooded, beer-drinking, American killed 3 Arabs who must be plotting some nefarious scheme against US), his religion cannot be blamed in this incident, because he was an atheist.
 
Ironically, don't atheists always harp on their own misguided opinion that religion is the root problem of all evils in this world. Their argument is as hollow as guns are the source of killings (& people have no responsibility in any and all deaths occurring around the world ... I guess, judges should be sentencing guns & not people) or smartphones & social media are the causes of an increase in child abuse by predators or movie making tools are the causes of the rise in pornographic movie productions & consequently, the subjugation & exploitation of girls, as young as little kids.
 
Be it religion or guns or smartphones / internet or movie making tools (movie camera, movie editing software etc), these are all mere tools or ways & means. At the center of all of these are the actions of a human.
 
Yes, that may sound like NRA's defence that guns don't kill people, but people do, but it's true. A tool is just a tool. You can destroy the world with it or create something beautiful with it. You can kill people with a bomb or use it to bore holes in the ground to make a tunnel. You can use smartphone to keep yourself updated what's going on in the world & learn new things or do sexchat. You can use movie making tools to make porn (the best, recession-proof, business on the internet) or make videos for the Animal Planet & learn something new.

Similar to these tools, you can use religion to kill people & incite hatred or learn to be a better human. Religion was used by:
 
1. Christian Kings to get poor people under their kingdoms to wage wars, labelled as Crusades, to loot & plunder the Middle East & essentially, amass wealth for themselves. Crusades had nothing to do with Christianity.
 
2. Zionists use Judaism as an excuse to extract more land from Palestinians for themselves (all Zionists can be Jews but not all Jews are Zionists).
 
3. Hindus killed innocent Muslims (Gujarat incidents) in the name of religion (how many said Hinduism is inherently violent religion at the time?) at the incitement of political figures (Narender Modi, the current Prime Minister, was the provincial governor at the time) to gain votes / favours from far-right, nationalist minority, but Hinduism, itself, as a religion has nothing to do with violence.
 
4. ISIS can use Islam as an excuse to kill humanitarian workers & burn people alive. Religion has nothing to do with these incidents. After all, we all know ISIS is playing to the sensitivities of violent individuals around the World who are readily accepting Islam, just so they can go to Middle East & kill people (since they can't do that anywhere else, since they will / can be caught & prosecuted).
 
People, regardless of religion, ethnicity, cultural, or language, need to be given proper training & development in their lives. Just like we all need proper training & development to perform well in our jobs or careers, we all need proper & correct study of religion (whatever or whichever religion that may be) to become a better human. Religion is not the problem of all evils in this world but people themselves are. Current world has shunned the religion & let the hordes of "untrained" people out on the world. Everyone is feeling ready to do whatever they want to do to anyone else, disregarding any and all basic humanity. And when it is blame time of why that hideous crime was done, religion gets the finger. After all, religion can't defend itself now, can it???

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2948803/Man-arrested-3-shot-death-North-Carolina.html

 

My Skepticism on Blind Trust Project

One of my Facebook friends enthusiastically shared this on his timeline. Here's my comment on his post:

I don't know what these social experiments are trying to prove. Either these social experiments are wrong or polls suggesting Harper's Conservatives leading the race in an election year are wrong, especially since, Harper just tabled a new bill, which will easily become a new law, which are much more strict & invasive in nature, all in the name of stopping terrorism ... we all know which ethnicity and/or religious group will be most affected by these laws.

A major problem with these social experiments is that Canadians have come across & are fine with Muslims, but there are only like 5 big enough cities in Canada, which have a significant enough population of Muslims where non-Muslims can come across Muslims; Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, & perhaps Edmonton. But a lot of non-Muslims & voters live in smaller cities like Thunder Bay, Red Deer, & Kamloops etc. Those people have not interacted with Muslims as much, so their views about Muslims are quite skewed & biased.

Secondly, there are many different types of Muslims. There are Muslims who drink alcohol & eat pork without any hesitation. There are Muslim sisters who don't hesitate for a minute putting on a bikini on public beaches (knee-length skirts are actually far more conservative for them). Non-Muslims prefer those kinds of Muslims because those Muslims are considered Moderate / Modern Muslims. Problem happens when Muslim sisters who like to wear veil or brother who wants a short break at work to pray one of the daily prayers or even Friday prayers or have a full beard. Those Muslims are considered as hard-liners.

Question then becomes are the attitude of non-Muslims similar for both kinds of Muslims? Are they as kind & welcoming to a hard-partying, mini-skirt clad Muslim sister as they are to a veil clad sister?

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/06/blind-trust-project_n_6626898.html

 

Canads's secret arms deal with Saudi Arabia

Just in case, if you were thinking after reading (assuming you read & not closed your eyes & jammed fingers in your ears) that article about how an activist crashed a glitzy arms industry dinner, that it's all other countries & got nothing to do with Canada, & Canada is the beacon of peace. Well, here's an article on arms deal between Canada & Saudi Arabia, & ironically, government isn't revealing much info on the deal ... wow, what a great democracy ... people cannot know what the gov't is doing ... the same people who voted for the govt.

My tax $$$ are going to support human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. I don't think I voted for that in last election (I voted NDP). Isn't this a great feeling that Canadians are supporting human rights abuses in foreign countries? Then, when people in those countries don't feel that great about us, we are like, "they don't like our way of life." Frankly, why would or should they? We are complicit in them being abused through our tax $$$.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadas-arms-deal-with-saudi-arabia-shrouded-in-secrecy/article22547765/

 

Why I gatecrashed a banquet for arms dealers

Since, Independent news site is a paid-subscriber site & one may not have access to it (like me), I've posted the whole article below:
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As I waited for the right moment to take the stage at last night's annual ADS dinner, I was surrounded by a world where luxurious dinners reward the business of selling the tools of death & repression. In a room full of leading politicians, civil servants & arms dealers, I began to wonder: which ones were responsible for what crimes?

Had the people in this room been among those who sold the weapons to Israel that were used in the assault on Gaza, which killed 2,105 Palestinians & 495 children? Were they among those who had sold the tear gas used against democracy protesters in Hong Kong? Was it here that MPs were persuaded that renewing the UK's nuclear weapons is a necessity, or that buying useless aircraft carriers for billions of pounds was a good idea?

What about the UK weapons that have been used by oppressive governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt & Bahrain, & the sign this sends out? When the UK sells arms to tyrannies it acts as a signal of support for the human right abuses that are taking place in those countries.

I was seconds away from speaking in front of representatives from MBDA, a missile company that armed the Gaddafi regime; BAE Systems, which is Europe's biggest arms company. I wasn't on the speakers bill, I wasn't meant to be there, but I felt like I had to be there.

The ADS isn't just another trade body: it represents some of the biggest arms companies in the world. It spends a lot of time & money on lobbying politicians & trying to sell as many weapons as it can to anyone who will buy them. Along with the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, I wanted to be there to make sure any illusions they had that they were working in a publicly acceptable business were well and truly shattered.

Their power is obvious. When I looked through the guest list it became apparent that there were over 40 MPs in the room, as well as lots of top ranking civil servants & Ministry of Defence personnel. It is this kind of access to politicians which means arms company interests are put before those of ordinary people.

I'm 5 months pregnant, & am worried that before my child can even talk, he will have lost opportunities. My local council is talking about closing children's centres & shutting its youth centres in the coming year. That's bad enough without even thinking about the loss of free further education, & how he'll manage to house himself in a post-austerity UK, or whether a decent job will still exist.

So for me, the reasons why I found the courage to stand up to hundreds of arms dealers as they lobbied our politicians for more military spending feel very personal. But I was there with others, many of whom stood in the freezing cold to challenge the arms dealers as they arrived.

We did it because these people profit from enabling & encouraging conflict, & from selling their weapons to some of the most oppressive governments in the world. The politicians help: they make sure the government pull out all stops to promote these arms companies & their deadly wares. In the last 4 years alone, the Coalition government has licensed £3.8bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, a dictatorship with an appalling human rights record.

I don't want my son to grow up in a world where arms dealers can make millions of pounds through encouraging war. I want him to grow up in a world with different priorities, a world that puts social & environmental justice ahead of militarism and war.

I am still wondering why the arms dealers clapped when I spoke. Some were certainly applauding the security as they managed to silence my challenge. For others, I think, clapping was a way of trying to neutralise what I was saying, of staying distant from their own humanity.

But I didn't go there expecting to change hearts or minds. I went there to make sure they knew that ordinary people don't accept their skewed priorities; that we will challenge & expose them as they influence the political agenda; that they can't expect to carry out their business as if it was any other.

I think it is possible to end the culture of militarism & war & to assert human needs over arms company interests. It starts when any of us stand up & say enough is enough.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-gatecrashed-a-lavish-banquet-for-arms-dealers-because-death-and-misery-should-never-be-considered-business-as-usual-10026988.html

 

A deep question from Expendables 2

Lords of War ... in West

This article reminded me of one of my most fav movies: "Lord of War". Damn, it was a good movie but it only earned $73M (budget: $42M) ... but I digress ...

How can there be any peace in this world when all powerful, developed, "civilized", & guardians of UN & NATO, are armed to the teeth themselves, & support their defense industries through tax $$$ (people don't get healthcare, food, education in US, UK, EU, but there are millions available for state subsidies for these companies). Ironically, North Korea also uses its state funds to build more weapons instead of feeding its own people.

People are being laid off all over the place because economies are in recession for almost 7 years now, but ironically, these companies like Raytheon, Cobham, Thales etc. are enjoying significant growth in their businesses all over the world. Ironically enough, not only they are principal job creators in the West but they also are at the forefront of technological innovation.

Regardless of what some groups are doing in Middle East & Africa or what is right or wrong in their eyes or the world, but at least, in the West or "civilized" parts of the world, all of us humans know, for a fact, that wars & conflicts are bread & butter of these huge defense companies. Then, why will they ever, with the help of their respective governments, pursue or help spread peace in this world? Thanks to media, we are all being programmed to hate dictators & certain groups in Middle East & Africa, but we completely ignore pointing fingers at these billion-$$$ harbingers of death & destruction, & their activities are much more widespread & destructive than those dictators & groups.

http://rt.com/uk/229675-arms-industry-profit-bloodshed/

 

Senate report on CIA torture on Gitmo prisoners

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2867111/CIA-torture-report-reveals-waterboarding-sleep-deprivation.html

 



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2867354/Competing-claims-torture-effectiveness.html

 

Way of the world

So true. Isn't this the way of the world?

 

US hacked North Korea in 2010

American foreign policy: When I do whatever I want to do to you first, you cannot retaliate in kind, & if you do, you are the bad guy.
I can poke you as much as I want but you cannot poke me back.

 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30879637

 

"Matrix" Quote

This is one of the primary reasons of all this chaos & discontent in the world on the international level & depression & stress on personal levels. We all sane adults know the difference between right & wrong, but we still deliberately choose something wrong to do because we gain something, in the short term, at the expense of someone else or even the society.

Be it the war vets (i.e. American Sniper) suffering from PTSD (mind & heart are in conflict; mind says all that killing was necessary, heart says otherwise.), or scores of educated people unemployed due to managements' cost cutting when top bosses' bonuses & perks cost more than laid-off employees' payroll (poverty & elite's wealth, both keep increasing) or hiring based on connections (networking) instead of merit or partners in a relationship cheating on each other or etc. etc. etc.

Ironically, this chaos in the world is due to the actions of "educated" & "civilized" people, regardless of any racial, ethnic, cultural, regional, or linguistic characteristics. The majority is choosing the wrong path (when confronted with a choice) in whatever capacity it can, whenever they can, wherever they are in this world. It's starting to seem that the most honest is that guy in the deep rainforest in the Amazon or in the middle of an African desert who has no education of any sort. To me, it seems like the world has not developed at all.

Always know both right & wrong paths, but always walk on the right one !!!