World Affairs: July 15, 2006

United Nations Security Council

Middle East: UN team holds talks in Cairo on need to defuse crisis15 July – Aiming to help defuse the current crisis in the Middle East, a three-person team dispatched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the region held talks today with key Arab countries in Cairo.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Israel accelerated its air attack on Lebanon on Saturday, blasting Hezbollah hideouts and hitting central Beirut for the first time. It accused Iran of helping fire a missile that damaged an Israeli warship in an ominous sign the showdown could spread.

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Saturday to impose limited sanctions on North Korea for its recent missile tests and demanded that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile program. North Korea immediately rejected the resolution and vowed to continue missile launches.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Leaders of the world's industrial powers clashed Saturday over the escalating violence in the Middle East even as the summit host, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged, "We will find common ground on this."

Reflections from History

Chicago, February 27, 2002: Today, the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock," the symbol of nuclear danger, from nine to seven minutes to midnight, the same setting at which the clock debuted 55 years ago. Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, this is the third time the hand has moved forward.

General Douglas MacArthur, September 2, 1945 (on the deck of the USS Missouri) "Men since the beginning of time have sought peace," but "military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn have failed, leaving the only path to be by the way of the crucible of war." Now "we have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be for the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

Commentary - - -

As we look at the current events of the world in the recent past, we are faced with the stark reality that on a "global-scale" humanity sucks. As a "child" of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union, I personally would prefer to face the "Evil Empire" of the Soviet Union with their nuclear arsenal than the present state of global affairs, with the numerous terrorist groups that have so many initials you could use two or three cans of alphabet soup to cover them all.

During the "height" of the "Cold War" while we all faced the doctrine of "Mutually Assured Destruction", it was that same doctrine that in many ways kept a facsimile of peace in the world. Each super-power essentially riding herd on its client-states. Third-world nations that currently sponsor state-terrorism were under the generalized threat of losing their "super-power" foreign aid and economic support if they "rocked-the-boat" too often.

In today's global hierarchy without the former Soviet Union riding herd on countries like Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and to a lesser extent North Korea (more a Chinese client) these countries are to an extent on their own. And who's their targets? Client states and governments of United States allies and the United States itself, its people and overseas offices and installations.

Why are we the target? For lack of a better cliche' lets call it "Cowboy-Yankee Arrogance." I'm not arguing that the United States is the best place on the planet to live, but we have plenty of room for improvements to be made, and until we no longer have people living in poverty, people without medical benefits, elderly losing their hard earned homes; until we no longer have the scourge of illegal mind altering substances polluting the population because people refuse to face reality; until we no longer have to protect women and children from sex offenders and predators; we had better remember that CNN, the BBC and other news agencies provide global 24/7 new coverage. So while the American Ideal is noteworthy and honest, it is not 100% reality.

Secondly we need to consider the fact that what works in our American Ideal, is NOT going to work all over the globe! It doesn't even work 80% of the time in the United States. Hence the term used by many third world nations, dictators and terrorists ... Yankee Imperialism.

Since the human race's entrance to this scene of Earth history, mankind has had before them a freedom of choice. The rules, the dogmas, the teachings ... you can through them all out the window, for unless we as a race, a species, choose to follow whatever set of rules we believe in; we as a species are far worse that even the most vicious animals of the animal kingdom. For even they do not kill their own kind, except in cases of self-defense or defending their young.

We often hear from psychologists and psychiatrists that a certain individual is genetically predisposed to such and such condition, for example, being an alcoholic or diabetic. Obviously one is quite different from the other in a general medical sense. However they both are often subject to personal choices, sometimes associated with a psychological or physiological need. How many times have we had such a desire or want for something that we've ignored our inner gut feeling of not to and done it anyway?

Often times we make choices based upon our life experiences. For example we may be extremely hesitant to go into a body of water that is over our head if we have experienced nearly drowning, i.e., the sense of danger. Yet in the same vein, we may also strap into a top fuel dragster, amidst the potential danger, merely because of the adrenaline rush that it provides us.

Yet one of the most common and frequently used excuses for our choices is based upon "That's how I was raised," or "I'm a product of the society I live in." Is that really how we want to live our lives and make choices about the things we do in life? Two of the most common clichés of this manner of thinking are: "When in Rome do as the Romans do," and "A million Frenchmen couldn't be wrong." These choices are based not upon life experiences or wisdom but based upon our perception of the world around us.

It's high time we wake up!