"Cold War Mentality" - Loujie, China Daily, China
Showing posts with label chaos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chaos. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
World's refugee population hits all-time high of 60 million, half of them children – UN
Unsurprisingly, what else to expect from the report. To help these refugees, peace has to be instituted in the developing countries, but then that would mean that developed countries of the West (US, Canada, UK, Germany, France) and even new economic powers like China & Russia have to stop selling arms & weapons to these developing countries. These developing countries where these refugees are coming from don't have any resources of their own to manufacture these deadly arms & weapons.
Secondly, developed countries of the West have to stop installing their own puppet governments in these developing countries. They need to stop interfering with the negative development of the countries. It's well known how US constantly interfered in the internal affairs of Latin American & Middle Eastern countries. US interfered with Japan to the point that Japanese PM Shinzo Abe changed the constitution to make the country more militaristic. That's not exactly a positive step towards creating peace in the world.
Thirdly, aside from covert & political interference by the developed West, the West also needs to stop with the military interference in the shape of active invasions. Recent examples of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan & some old examples of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines etc. by the American, British, French, & other forces would provide ample evidence of this interference.
In one of my prior blog posts, I mentioned that one of the primary reasons the developed countries of the West do all these interferences in the developing world is to create active chaos in developing countries. This chaos & anarchy helps developed countries to keep a strong control over financial, mineral, energy, & human resources of the developing countries.
Developing countries keep themselves embroiled in these messes, & spend their valuable resources in resolving these matters. Developed countries provide loans to developing countries, take out resources from the grounds of developing countries for their own use, & let the bright minds of the developing countries move to developed countries, where they are mostly used for menial labour.
Developing countries, which are embroiled in wars or not, are left to shoulder all the burden of either suffering from internally displaced refugees or provide for refugees who have sought refuge in their lands from foreign lands. Developed countries, on the other hand, cause the problem & then get out of the picture.
The primary reason this problem of refugees is keep getting worse with no sign of any improvement is that developed countries actually want more chaos & anarchy in developing countries. Hey, it's not happening in their corner of the world, so why bother resolving it. They actively cause it & prefer to keep it that way. When there is a problem in their corner of the world (problems arising from the dissolution of former Yugoslavia), then they are on the mission of resolving it asap & actually successfully achieve it, too. After all, when there's a will (to resolve a problem), there's always a way.
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The annual “Global Trends Report: World at War” was released ... by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
It stated that worldwide displacement is at the highest level ever recorded, adding that the number of people forcibly displaced at the end of last year had reached 59.5 million – compared to 51.2 million a year earlier, & 37.5 million a decade ago. 14 million people were displaced in 2014 alone.
According to figures detailed in the report, over half of those refugees are children.
The year 2014 also hit a 31-year low for the number of refugees who were able to return to their home countries, at just 126,800.
"We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.
The figures show that one in every 122 people on the planet is now either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum. If these people had a country of their own, it would be the world's 24th largest.
Every day last year, approximately 42,500 people became refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced, the report said.
And those numbers – which represent the biggest leap ever seen in a single year – are likely to worsen, according to the agency.
Causes of displacement
Since 2011, the main reason for the surge has been the war in Syria – now the world's largest driver of displacement, surpassing Afghanistan for the first time. A total of 7.6 million Syrians are internally displaced, & 3.9 million are outside the country.
The report noted that at least 15 conflicts have erupted or reignited worldwide in the past 5 years: 8 in Africa, 3 in the Middle East, one in Europe & 3 in Asia.
"Few of these crises have been resolved & most still generate new displacement," the report stated.
Meanwhile, continuous instability & conflict in Afghanistan, Somalia & other areas has led millions to be constantly on the move, stranded as long-term internally displaced or refugees.
The report also drew attention to the current Mediterranean refugee crisis – the result of instability in North Africa.
It added that countries housing the majority of refugees are part of the global poor. Almost 9 out of every 10 refugees were in regions or countries considered less economically developed. One-quarter were in nations among the UN's list of least developed nations.
In the face of the rising displacement numbers, Guterres warned that people in need of “compassion, aid & refuge are being abandoned.”
"For an age of unprecedented mass displacement, we need an unprecedented humanitarian response & a renewed global commitment to tolerance & protection for people fleeing conflict & persecution,” he said.
The UNHCR report comes just 3 days after an Amnesty International report said the world is facing the “worst refugee crisis since World War II.”
The report, called 'The Global Refugee Crisis: A Conspiracy of Neglect, accused governments of effectively letting thousands of people die by failing to provide them with basic human protection.
It paid particular attention to the situation in Syria, Mediterranean, Africa & Southeast Asia.
Amnesty is urging world leaders to call an international summit on tackling the refugee crisis, & for all countries to ratify the UN Refugee Convention. This gives displaced persons legal rights & status in the nations where they have sought refuge.
Secondly, developed countries of the West have to stop installing their own puppet governments in these developing countries. They need to stop interfering with the negative development of the countries. It's well known how US constantly interfered in the internal affairs of Latin American & Middle Eastern countries. US interfered with Japan to the point that Japanese PM Shinzo Abe changed the constitution to make the country more militaristic. That's not exactly a positive step towards creating peace in the world.
Thirdly, aside from covert & political interference by the developed West, the West also needs to stop with the military interference in the shape of active invasions. Recent examples of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan & some old examples of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines etc. by the American, British, French, & other forces would provide ample evidence of this interference.
In one of my prior blog posts, I mentioned that one of the primary reasons the developed countries of the West do all these interferences in the developing world is to create active chaos in developing countries. This chaos & anarchy helps developed countries to keep a strong control over financial, mineral, energy, & human resources of the developing countries.
Developing countries keep themselves embroiled in these messes, & spend their valuable resources in resolving these matters. Developed countries provide loans to developing countries, take out resources from the grounds of developing countries for their own use, & let the bright minds of the developing countries move to developed countries, where they are mostly used for menial labour.
Developing countries, which are embroiled in wars or not, are left to shoulder all the burden of either suffering from internally displaced refugees or provide for refugees who have sought refuge in their lands from foreign lands. Developed countries, on the other hand, cause the problem & then get out of the picture.
The primary reason this problem of refugees is keep getting worse with no sign of any improvement is that developed countries actually want more chaos & anarchy in developing countries. Hey, it's not happening in their corner of the world, so why bother resolving it. They actively cause it & prefer to keep it that way. When there is a problem in their corner of the world (problems arising from the dissolution of former Yugoslavia), then they are on the mission of resolving it asap & actually successfully achieve it, too. After all, when there's a will (to resolve a problem), there's always a way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The annual “Global Trends Report: World at War” was released ... by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
It stated that worldwide displacement is at the highest level ever recorded, adding that the number of people forcibly displaced at the end of last year had reached 59.5 million – compared to 51.2 million a year earlier, & 37.5 million a decade ago. 14 million people were displaced in 2014 alone.
According to figures detailed in the report, over half of those refugees are children.
The year 2014 also hit a 31-year low for the number of refugees who were able to return to their home countries, at just 126,800.
"We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.
The figures show that one in every 122 people on the planet is now either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum. If these people had a country of their own, it would be the world's 24th largest.
Every day last year, approximately 42,500 people became refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced, the report said.
And those numbers – which represent the biggest leap ever seen in a single year – are likely to worsen, according to the agency.
Causes of displacement
Since 2011, the main reason for the surge has been the war in Syria – now the world's largest driver of displacement, surpassing Afghanistan for the first time. A total of 7.6 million Syrians are internally displaced, & 3.9 million are outside the country.
The report noted that at least 15 conflicts have erupted or reignited worldwide in the past 5 years: 8 in Africa, 3 in the Middle East, one in Europe & 3 in Asia.
"Few of these crises have been resolved & most still generate new displacement," the report stated.
Meanwhile, continuous instability & conflict in Afghanistan, Somalia & other areas has led millions to be constantly on the move, stranded as long-term internally displaced or refugees.
The report also drew attention to the current Mediterranean refugee crisis – the result of instability in North Africa.
It added that countries housing the majority of refugees are part of the global poor. Almost 9 out of every 10 refugees were in regions or countries considered less economically developed. One-quarter were in nations among the UN's list of least developed nations.
In the face of the rising displacement numbers, Guterres warned that people in need of “compassion, aid & refuge are being abandoned.”
"For an age of unprecedented mass displacement, we need an unprecedented humanitarian response & a renewed global commitment to tolerance & protection for people fleeing conflict & persecution,” he said.
The UNHCR report comes just 3 days after an Amnesty International report said the world is facing the “worst refugee crisis since World War II.”
The report, called 'The Global Refugee Crisis: A Conspiracy of Neglect, accused governments of effectively letting thousands of people die by failing to provide them with basic human protection.
It paid particular attention to the situation in Syria, Mediterranean, Africa & Southeast Asia.
Amnesty is urging world leaders to call an international summit on tackling the refugee crisis, & for all countries to ratify the UN Refugee Convention. This gives displaced persons legal rights & status in the nations where they have sought refuge.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Canada sells arms to African countries
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, that how developed countries of the West & especially, the members of the UNSC (UN Security Council) are largest exporters of arms & weapons around the world, I won't say much here about them.
I will pose couple of questions here, though:
1. How & why do we (primarily, Canadians) still think that Canada still flies the banner of peace around the world?
2. When countries like China, Russia, US, Canada, France, Germany etc. actively hawk their military wares to the developing countries around the world, then how can we expect any peace around the world, & how can we expect developing countries to ever get out of poverty cycle?
In light of my second question above, it seems like the strategy of keeping a majority of countries (& hence, their citizenry) underdeveloped around the world, by the developed countries is working perfectly. Developing countries keep fighting, either each other or rebel groups or multinational terror networks, with the multi-million $$$ of weapons bought from the developed countries.
Besides, owing developed countries money for these weapons, developing countries also borrow & owe lots of loans (infrastructure, development etc.). The same loans that developing countries borrow from developed countries are paid back to developed countries in the form of payments for military wares. But that payment doesn't count towards loans repayments & interests. Developing countries still need to pay developed countries' financial institutions (IMF, World Bank etc.) for those loans & interests.
So, developed countries get repaid twice, while developing countries lose their citizens' money twice. So developed countries always get richer at the expense of widespread poverty in developing countries. Those developing countries can never get out of the poverty cycles.
And if we look at the chaos & social upheavel in the developing countries, we see a common pattern among the groups which are causing that chaos. All those groups (Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Indian Maoist rebels, Joseph Kony's LRA etc.) came into being because of citizenry's poverty, e.g. ISIS came out of discrimination against Sunnis in Iraq, in official government & in getting employment; essentially realizing that their voice will never be heard. (I am not defending ISIS here, but just saying how it came into being).
So, the West wants chaos & upheavel in developing countries. Why?
Two Reasons:
1. Money is power. More money you have in this world, more power you have in this world. If developing countries start using those IMF loans to develop their own countries, by investing in education, infrastructure, industries, economy, healthcare etc., they themselves & their combined power will overwhelm the currently developed countries. Those formerly developing countries will easily take the reins of the world from formerly developed countries.
So, the strategy of developed countries: don't let the developing countries use their own citizen's money (taxes) & international loans in investing in their own countries. Keep these countries indebted to us. Debt is slavery.
2. When these countries have chaos & upheavel in their countries, their citizens, especially the ones who are intelligent & smart, will try to emigrate out of their countries, in search of a better future for themselves & their families. They will then settle in one of these developed countries. This way, the developing countries also lose "brains" of their countries (while also losing finances, as explained above).
Those people who immigrate to a developed country are then treated as inferior in those developed countries, & are discriminated against, based on religion, race, ethnicity, education etc. Those immigrants become similar to compliant slaves of the slavery era. They provide the low-wage workforce, which silently toils away at the bottom of the corporate & social hierarchies, while the native residents of the developed countries enjoy the fruits of their labour (i.e. become rich).
So, the developed countries get multiple benefits from selling weapons of mass destruction to the world:
1. get intelligent people out of developing countries (so they can't develop),
2. get a low-wage compliant labour force,
3. increase their country's tax base,
4. a large, intelligent labour force works in factories, making products to sell, worldwide, which helps exports & national GDP,
5. more exports & an increasing GDP helps boost economy,
6. working immigrants also increase the consumer base of the country, &
7. loans to developing countries are also repaid so money also comes in the country through that way (besides, exports)
On the other hand, you can imagine what developing countries lose (pretty much opposite of those 7 points above). So, developing countries get hit with multiple whammies on financial, economic, & human resources level.
So, more people will definitely fight for a decreasing share of resources in those developing countries, to the point that people start killing each other.
Then, we all say, the residents of those developing countries are so "uncivilized" & "barbaric".
By the way, if someone is thinking those developing countries are poor because of government corruption, then, here's my answer:
A corrupt government is indeed one of the factors why developing countries stay in "developing" mode. But we do have to keep in mind that those corrupt government officials are in power, thanks to the blessings (i.e. constant political interference) of the developed countries.
For instance, the developed countries bombed Libya & Iraq. Didn't invest in them to build these countries. Result is both of these countries became a haven of terror networks. Fractured political landscape is in such a shape thanks to the developed countries' interference. Well, as we can see, residents of these countries are all over the world as refugees & immigrants, while those countries & their neighbouring countries are buying weapons from these same developed countries, which created those conditions from their abhorrent actions, in the first place.
My final questions: who are the real barbarians in this world? Who are the real merchants of death in this world?
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With global arms sales surging, Canadian companies have joined the booming business by selling armoured vehicles to Nigeria & Cameroon for their fight against Boko Haram, a new study says.
Canada is among a growing group of countries selling arms to the West African nations for the military campaign to recapture territory from the radical Islamist militia, according to the report ... by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Most Western governments have been reluctant to sell weapons to Nigeria because of widespread concerns about well-documented atrocities by the Nigerian military, including the mass murder of civilians & detainees. The US, for example, cancelled the proposed sale of Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria last year. But those restrictions don’t seem to apply to private companies.
Nigeria & Cameroon, seeking weapons to fight Boko Haram, have in the past year purchased helicopters from China & Russia & armoured vehicles from China, South Africa, Ukraine & the Czech Republic, along with armoured vehicles from Canadian-owned production lines in Nigeria & the United Arab Emirates, the report said.
... Nigeria has spent large sums on major weapons purchases in recent months. Its political leaders say the government went to the black market to buy weapons because the US & other countries would not sell to Nigeria. Hundreds of foreign mercenaries have also reportedly been hired to fight Boko Haram for $400 (USD) in cash per day.
The Nigerian deals are part of a worldwide boom in weapons sales. Global arms sales have jumped by 16% over the past 5 years, compared with the previous five-year period, the SIPRI report said.
The report showed that China is now the world’s third-biggest weapons exporter. China’s arms exports have soared by a stunning 143% over the past 5 years, allowing it to overtake Germany, France & Britain in global sales, although it still remains far behind the two biggest exporters, the US & Russia, which together account for 58% of arms exports. In the past 5 years, US exports have increased by 23%, while Russian exports have risen by 37%, compared with the previous five-year period.
Canada was the world’s 13th-biggest arms exporter over the past 5 years, according to the SIPRI report. In the previous five-year period, it was the 14th-biggest weapons exporter.
The SIPRI database identifies the sale of 40 armoured vehicles to Nigeria from Canadian companies in 2013 & 2014. Streit Group, founded in Canada in 1992, has publicly confirmed that it has recently sold its Spartan armoured vehicles to Nigeria. The company says it has sold 12,000 armoured vehicles worldwide since its foundation.
Peter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm institute, said another Canadian-based company, INKAS, has sold light armoured patrol vehicles to Nigeria from a production plant in Nigeria. Retired Canadian general David Fraser, who commanded Canadian troops in Afghanistan, is a director of INKAS.
Mr. Wezeman, in an e-mailed answer to questions from The Globe and Mail ..., said Canada should ensure it “understands the risks involved in arms exports” & should try to help Nigeria to deal with Boko Haram “in a way that involves the minimum amount of violence needed.” He added: “Just allowing the supply of weapons is not enough.” He said he was speaking in his personal capacity, not on behalf of the institute.
I will pose couple of questions here, though:
1. How & why do we (primarily, Canadians) still think that Canada still flies the banner of peace around the world?
2. When countries like China, Russia, US, Canada, France, Germany etc. actively hawk their military wares to the developing countries around the world, then how can we expect any peace around the world, & how can we expect developing countries to ever get out of poverty cycle?
In light of my second question above, it seems like the strategy of keeping a majority of countries (& hence, their citizenry) underdeveloped around the world, by the developed countries is working perfectly. Developing countries keep fighting, either each other or rebel groups or multinational terror networks, with the multi-million $$$ of weapons bought from the developed countries.
Besides, owing developed countries money for these weapons, developing countries also borrow & owe lots of loans (infrastructure, development etc.). The same loans that developing countries borrow from developed countries are paid back to developed countries in the form of payments for military wares. But that payment doesn't count towards loans repayments & interests. Developing countries still need to pay developed countries' financial institutions (IMF, World Bank etc.) for those loans & interests.
So, developed countries get repaid twice, while developing countries lose their citizens' money twice. So developed countries always get richer at the expense of widespread poverty in developing countries. Those developing countries can never get out of the poverty cycles.
And if we look at the chaos & social upheavel in the developing countries, we see a common pattern among the groups which are causing that chaos. All those groups (Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Indian Maoist rebels, Joseph Kony's LRA etc.) came into being because of citizenry's poverty, e.g. ISIS came out of discrimination against Sunnis in Iraq, in official government & in getting employment; essentially realizing that their voice will never be heard. (I am not defending ISIS here, but just saying how it came into being).
So, the West wants chaos & upheavel in developing countries. Why?
Two Reasons:
1. Money is power. More money you have in this world, more power you have in this world. If developing countries start using those IMF loans to develop their own countries, by investing in education, infrastructure, industries, economy, healthcare etc., they themselves & their combined power will overwhelm the currently developed countries. Those formerly developing countries will easily take the reins of the world from formerly developed countries.
So, the strategy of developed countries: don't let the developing countries use their own citizen's money (taxes) & international loans in investing in their own countries. Keep these countries indebted to us. Debt is slavery.
2. When these countries have chaos & upheavel in their countries, their citizens, especially the ones who are intelligent & smart, will try to emigrate out of their countries, in search of a better future for themselves & their families. They will then settle in one of these developed countries. This way, the developing countries also lose "brains" of their countries (while also losing finances, as explained above).
Those people who immigrate to a developed country are then treated as inferior in those developed countries, & are discriminated against, based on religion, race, ethnicity, education etc. Those immigrants become similar to compliant slaves of the slavery era. They provide the low-wage workforce, which silently toils away at the bottom of the corporate & social hierarchies, while the native residents of the developed countries enjoy the fruits of their labour (i.e. become rich).
So, the developed countries get multiple benefits from selling weapons of mass destruction to the world:
1. get intelligent people out of developing countries (so they can't develop),
2. get a low-wage compliant labour force,
3. increase their country's tax base,
4. a large, intelligent labour force works in factories, making products to sell, worldwide, which helps exports & national GDP,
5. more exports & an increasing GDP helps boost economy,
6. working immigrants also increase the consumer base of the country, &
7. loans to developing countries are also repaid so money also comes in the country through that way (besides, exports)
On the other hand, you can imagine what developing countries lose (pretty much opposite of those 7 points above). So, developing countries get hit with multiple whammies on financial, economic, & human resources level.
So, more people will definitely fight for a decreasing share of resources in those developing countries, to the point that people start killing each other.
Then, we all say, the residents of those developing countries are so "uncivilized" & "barbaric".
By the way, if someone is thinking those developing countries are poor because of government corruption, then, here's my answer:
A corrupt government is indeed one of the factors why developing countries stay in "developing" mode. But we do have to keep in mind that those corrupt government officials are in power, thanks to the blessings (i.e. constant political interference) of the developed countries.
For instance, the developed countries bombed Libya & Iraq. Didn't invest in them to build these countries. Result is both of these countries became a haven of terror networks. Fractured political landscape is in such a shape thanks to the developed countries' interference. Well, as we can see, residents of these countries are all over the world as refugees & immigrants, while those countries & their neighbouring countries are buying weapons from these same developed countries, which created those conditions from their abhorrent actions, in the first place.
My final questions: who are the real barbarians in this world? Who are the real merchants of death in this world?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
With global arms sales surging, Canadian companies have joined the booming business by selling armoured vehicles to Nigeria & Cameroon for their fight against Boko Haram, a new study says.
Canada is among a growing group of countries selling arms to the West African nations for the military campaign to recapture territory from the radical Islamist militia, according to the report ... by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Most Western governments have been reluctant to sell weapons to Nigeria because of widespread concerns about well-documented atrocities by the Nigerian military, including the mass murder of civilians & detainees. The US, for example, cancelled the proposed sale of Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria last year. But those restrictions don’t seem to apply to private companies.
Nigeria & Cameroon, seeking weapons to fight Boko Haram, have in the past year purchased helicopters from China & Russia & armoured vehicles from China, South Africa, Ukraine & the Czech Republic, along with armoured vehicles from Canadian-owned production lines in Nigeria & the United Arab Emirates, the report said.
... Nigeria has spent large sums on major weapons purchases in recent months. Its political leaders say the government went to the black market to buy weapons because the US & other countries would not sell to Nigeria. Hundreds of foreign mercenaries have also reportedly been hired to fight Boko Haram for $400 (USD) in cash per day.
The Nigerian deals are part of a worldwide boom in weapons sales. Global arms sales have jumped by 16% over the past 5 years, compared with the previous five-year period, the SIPRI report said.
The report showed that China is now the world’s third-biggest weapons exporter. China’s arms exports have soared by a stunning 143% over the past 5 years, allowing it to overtake Germany, France & Britain in global sales, although it still remains far behind the two biggest exporters, the US & Russia, which together account for 58% of arms exports. In the past 5 years, US exports have increased by 23%, while Russian exports have risen by 37%, compared with the previous five-year period.
Canada was the world’s 13th-biggest arms exporter over the past 5 years, according to the SIPRI report. In the previous five-year period, it was the 14th-biggest weapons exporter.
The SIPRI database identifies the sale of 40 armoured vehicles to Nigeria from Canadian companies in 2013 & 2014. Streit Group, founded in Canada in 1992, has publicly confirmed that it has recently sold its Spartan armoured vehicles to Nigeria. The company says it has sold 12,000 armoured vehicles worldwide since its foundation.
Peter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm institute, said another Canadian-based company, INKAS, has sold light armoured patrol vehicles to Nigeria from a production plant in Nigeria. Retired Canadian general David Fraser, who commanded Canadian troops in Afghanistan, is a director of INKAS.
Mr. Wezeman, in an e-mailed answer to questions from The Globe and Mail ..., said Canada should ensure it “understands the risks involved in arms exports” & should try to help Nigeria to deal with Boko Haram “in a way that involves the minimum amount of violence needed.” He added: “Just allowing the supply of weapons is not enough.” He said he was speaking in his personal capacity, not on behalf of the institute.
Monday, May 4, 2015
"No Peace on Earth" by Rick McKee
"No Peace on Earth" - Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle, Augusta, GA, US
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Doubtful Intelligent People & Confident Stupid People
Possible Translation: Stupid people don't know they're stupid, so they make decisions without hesitation. Intelligent people recognize that they might be lacking knowledge, so they wait before acting.
And that creates quite a few problems.
And that creates quite a few problems.
Friday, March 27, 2015
The Lone Ranger (Quote 1)
Although, "The Lone Ranger" was an action / adventure movie, there were still a few interesting lines in it.
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Looking at the condition of our world today, nature is indeed out of balance today ... all done by "modern" humans !!!
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Looking at the condition of our world today, nature is indeed out of balance today ... all done by "modern" humans !!!
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
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.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
"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 !!!
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 !!!
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