CIA Interrogations

It has been widely reported in global news media that the US Attorney General has hired a prosecutor to investigate alleged interrogation abuses by the CIA. I can accept that if a prisoner died, then there needs to be an investigation. I can also accept that the use of interrogation techniques such as water-boarding do lie in the grey area between right and wrong. Hence this grey area needs to be clarified. Unfortunately under the former Bush administration this was done in a way that appears suspect, and probably is suspect.

The system under which CIA techniques were formulated and enacted probably was suspect: with a person like Dick Cheney wielding influence behind the scene; with unclear communication channels between the Department of Justice and the Bush administration; and with a clear lack of communication between Congress and the White House. This lack of clarity in direction means that the CIA operatives that actually have to interrogate detainees have no clear framework to work under. They have been asked to operate in a foggy grey area, and that was what they did. By definition they are therefore in general not responsible. There may be, as previously mentioned, specific instances that are outside this foggy grey area. However this does not require a special prosecutor.

It has previously been reported that techniques used included loud heavy metal music, and slamming a persons back against a wall in a manner that sounds worse than it actually is. It is now reported that all sorts of fear tactics have been used: threatening to kill a persons children; threatening to sexually assault a person’s mother; and displaying a gun and a power drill in a session.

In most of the news reports it is implied that these threats a clearly reprehensible. However what is not made so clear is that these are only threats and there is absolutely no intention of carrying out such threats. I know that even reading or writing about these techniques can be itself a harsh experience. However the sort of individual that carries out a terrorist act has a mentality that would not only devise such techniques, but actually carry them out. Certainly if a suspected terrorist is a terrorist, then they would have a sufficiently thick skin that threats like above mentioned would not have the same effect that they would have on a normal person. Of course a detainee may be innocent. Hence the harshness of the interrogation technique needs to balances the seriousness of the possible crime against the possibility of innocence – and the imminence of a potential threat. The use of threats is to me not even in the grey area.

It was also reported that a mock execution was used, but was unsuccessful because it looked like it was staged. I suggest that the interrogators take up some acting lessons.

The opposition to harsh interrogation is strong because torture is so horrendous. Harsh interrogation therefore needs to be devised in such a way that it works subtly on a person’s body and emotions. This is what a lot of the techniques (that have been portrayed as obviously being in the grey area or even clearly torture) have been designed to do.

No-one likes the idea of harsh interrogation, but what is often left out is that innocent victims are also tortured at the hands of terrorists.

Islam and the West

This is in response to an article by the Iranian political scientist Nazanin Amirian published in the online at “Publico.es” on the 4th July 2009.

The author presents a viewpoint that is very similar to arguments presented by the Iranian foreign minister a couple of years ago in the Opinion section of (I think) the International Herald Tribune.

I do not recall the content of the foreign ministers letter. However what I do recall was that it was full of lies and omissions. It is for this reason that I feel obliged to the case recently put forward by Amirian.

The concept put forward is that the West (primarily the United States) is attempting to dominate the world (include Muslim countries) through military force.

I here only respond to the lies that are found in Amirian’s position.

Amirian argues that the concept of the Muslim or Islamic world is a Western concept that “we” do not recognize. Who is the “we” that Amirian is referring too. It is argued that unlike the geographically correct notion of the West, the concept of Islam is an erroneous concept used to further devious military domination. If the concept of ‘the West’ refers to the United States (and presumably also the United Kingdom), then what about South America and Africa?

Also, even though the Pakistani way of life may well more resemble the Hindu’s of India than the Muslims of Morocco, this in no way falsifies the fact that Pakistan and Morocco are both countries where Islam is the state religion. The concept of generalisation, or indeed its opposite, is used to foster understanding. A generalisation may become an over-simplification. However its use by rational human beings is to create understanding out of simplification.

Amirian argues that the so called war on terror does not refer to Islamic terror in Indonesia. In terms of casualties to ‘Westeners’ by ‘Islamic’ extremists, the two Indonesian Bali bombings rank very highly. I find it difficult to therefore accept Amirian’s argument here.

She talks about the millions of people forced to flee the fighting in the Swat valley. It is argued that this fighting is supposedly between the Pakistan army and the Pakistan Taliban; she states however that this is in fact a disguise: actually they are fleeing bombing by the Americans. Amirian needs a lesson in geography. Relatively speaking, the Swat valley is in the north, and the drone bombing attacks by the United States are on or near the Afghan border to the west.

Why is an Iranian political scientist, just like the Iranian foreign minister, using language that is full of errors, inconsistencies, and omissions? With Amirian I am of the view that she actually believes what she is talking about. With the foreign minister I am not no sure. In any case, the view presented is based on a deep running and blind assumption (a belief) that ‘the West’ is evil.

The hypocrisy is that Amirian argues that the essential intellectual problem is in the generalisation and therefore oversimplification of the concept of Islam. However the truth is that she has an erroneous view based on the generalisation and oversimplification of the concept of the West.

Just because a person can put words together to make a sentence does not make them sane. Amirian and the Iranian foreign minister both demonstrated seriously irrational mental thought processes. The more irrational a person becomes the more they approach being insane. Remember this that Hitler could string words together very nicely, and he was in fact either completely cuckoo or nefariously nuts.

High Stakes Poker

North Korea is an increasingly erratic pariah nation that is slowly but surely developing omni-potent weapons technologies. Also of serious concern is that technologies and materials may be fanned out across the globe to state or non-state actors that have ill intent. The difficult and tedious diplomatic efforts are testimony to the difficult road ahead. However it is almost surprising to note that North Korea’s path could easily have been considerable curbed or even terminated at any point over the last decades. Why then has this not happened? The answer is because the power to turn the taps off lies with the Chinese.

With supplies of aid, military trade, and other forms of trade, China has supported many dubious sovereign states. However North Korea’s recent advances in nuclear weapons technology give itself a little too much capability for China to feel comfortable with having such an erratic neighbourhood friend. Hence although it is unlikely that you will see any major policy shift from the Chinese, I would suggest that you will see the breaks being applied gradually over the next years. The same however cannot be said for China’s general policy of supporting brutal and reckless regimes.

Russia has followed suit behind China in propping up pariah states, but to a lesser degree. However I am of the opinion that the motivation is different to the Chinese. With the Chinese Communist Party, it is simply a criminal organisation that supports other criminal organisations. For Russia, I suggest that its poor conduct is more as an added counter-weight to its historical adversary – the United States of America. It is with this in mind that the high stakes poker game is being played out.

Barack Obama, the United States president, recently played a bold move. Just prior to his first official visit to Moskow, he threw his hope for a ‘restart’ in relations with President Medvedev, and openly slammed Premier Putin as an old crony with ‘one foot in the old and the other foot in the new’. Ever since Medvedev came to presidency pundits have incessantly posted the former president and current prime-minister Putin as being the real power. How would you think that this makes President Medvedev feel? Guaranteed Barack Obama does not agree with the pundits. Obama has alienated Putin to make Medvedev his chum. Whether or not this works remains to be seen, however he has at least achieved his initial objective.

There are numerous questions that remain as yet unanswered. Is Medvedev an autonomous presidential power, and if so, is he capable of improving relations with America? It is reasonable to assume that Putin has at least one foot in the old ‘cold-war’ mentality because in his eight years of reign relations have dive-bombed.

If relationships can improve between the two historic super-power enemies, then my prediction is that Russia will back away from its support for countries like North Korea and Iran. In this way China gets left out on its own, and with the increasing internal pressure (such as show in recent days in the major civil unrest with its Muslim minority), China will be in for a rough ride. Not only will it have difficulty maintaining its current ruinous strategy, it will also start to have pressure on its financial clout to back up this intent. Remember that Japan became a post World War II economic giant and everything you used to by was Japanese. Look at Japan now: a lost decade in a financial mire, and now collapsed exports and trade. Now everything you buy is made in China, but this is about to change. Following this logic, the next direction to look is either in Africa or in the countries where the industrial revolution started its first paradigmatic revolution. Such countries (America, Britain and Germany to name three) are now drowning in debt and are at the bottom of a cycle.

Now back to the poker game. In order to move relations forward with Russia, Obama backs Medvedev and gives Putin a good right hook – better remember that Putin is a spy guru with a martial arts forte. Anyway, the main point is that if relations with Russia improve, Russia will most likely withdraw or reduce support for regimes like North Korea and Iran. If this happens, its importance cannot be overstated. This may well shift the balance of power and bring about real change on issues that are getting more and more out of hand – as weapons technologies improve and potentially therefore proliferate.

So good luck to Mr Obama for he has already played his hand and Mr Medvedev is his new chum whilst Mr Putin is not at all a happy camper.

Intelligence Piracy

When you quote someone, as if to give further strength to a certain point of view, you are in effect deceiving yourselves first, and others second. The wise beings of the past have the vision to see far into the future and deep into the timeless. In quoting a wise being you are saying that you share the master’s vision with respect to some particular issue: you see what the master sees. You see as far as the master sees, and hence everybody better listen to you for your utterances are comprised of both clarity and importance.

There is a catch-22 when backing up your point of view with quotes from the sages. If you see as far as a sage then you are a learned one, and hence do not need to quote someone else. You alone stand tall and your words are ingrained with depth and truth. People will listen to your words, though perhaps in time distant from now. If you don’t see as far as a sage then you are unfortunately clueless as to the wisdom that the shell of words so contain. You are not up to the task of understanding wisdom and hence your parallels in apparent understanding are in fact mimicry. Make your own utterances, write your own truths, and live your own life.

Though lotus flowers and rose bushes are the envy of all, the desert wild flower shall dance vibrantly and wither not until its time has come to yield into the silence vast expanse of the endless undulating dunes.

It is true that beings who have attained yet are of less stature than a Buddha, a Jesus, or an Osho, point to these great beings as a means of reaching people who stand tall but shall fall far. If you were to meet a simple buddha who lives in a little hut by the way, and you had multiple university papers in hand, you shall laugh at the idiocy of the simple buddha. However the only thing that a sage knows is the same only thing that a simple buddha knows. The simple buddha is connected to the source, the very same source that has created the oral and written truths that inspire and uplift nations. The simple buddha knows that the sage’s beautiful message is still only a finger pointing to the moon; no problem in borrowing fingers if you are yourself the moon.

Rather than live your life according to another’s quotes, make your life a flowering worthy of being quoted.

Turmoil in Iran

There is a complicated web of problems with the power structure in Iran. I won’t here repeat or explain the structure but rather point to where its shortcomings lie.

The first problem is that the first Supreme Leader was indeed as the name suggests. Hence he set up a power structure that put himself numero uno. This meant that the legacy of the power structure is with the next supreme leader having a lot of power.

The second problem is that the central hub of the system – the Assembly of Experts – is comprised only of clerics. This means that there is a lack of input from various other intellectual fields to bring about balance in society.

The first two problems are almost intractable legacies of the religious revolution. These two problems can be addressed in time if the third problem is tackled.

The third problem is the vetting power giving to the Guardian Council. These ‘guardians’ have the power to exclude people from running in elections for parliament, president, and expert assembly.

It could be argued that the Iranian people democratically elect the supreme religious leader (via electing the assembly of experts, who inturn elect the supreme leader), a parliament, and a government. However the reason for democracy, just the same as the reason for limiting terms in office, is to reduce the corrupting force of holding positions of power. The problem is that by giving the guardian council the power to vet all candidates at the input side of the power structure, this council by default gets the power to hold themselves (and others) in office. They have the power to entrench themselves in power. In principal this is the fundamental power of (and reason for) democracy. The door is opened for the possibility of temptation.

The first time the Iranian political system operates (with the death of the first Ayatollah), all seems well. However on successive occasions, a feedback loop comes into play that restricts the functioning of the input side of the system. The people in power get more power and the Iranian people get less say. The end result is the possibility of a brutal dictatorial regime that on the surface looks democratic. This is what has happened in Iran.

Much effort in recent years has focused on reducing the vetting power of the Guardian Council. This council does not allow almost all opposing party members to run in elections, and certainly not a single woman is allowed to run for any office.

Today Iranian people are risking their lives - indeed giving their lives - in support of freedom and a better way of life. Brutality, corruption and inequality in the current system are revealing themselves through the benefits of modern communications technology. Indeed the current Supreme Leader yesterday sanctioned the bloodshed that today has eventuated. Yet the ugly face of religious hypocrisy is not hidden.

Meditation is Life

Meditation is life in its essence. Modern daily life is often described as a rat-race. Modernity unchecked can envelope our soul, consume our hearts, and spit out piles of rubbish: the tread-mill of hot-wired hearts in tension until suddenly our heart conks out or our brains blood vessels explode.

Modern psychology has transcended the idea of unconsciousness. There are indeed unconscious thoughts it takes hold. However to extend this description to the concept of unconsciousness itself being an entity is an erroneous transgression along the slippery slope of ill-informed sects, cults, and weirdos. Man is conscious: the defining characteristic that impales man on the cross of righteous domination of all that lies belittled below. This I have always found amusing, when we spend so much time asleep, and probably about the same time day-dreaming.

It is true that modern humanity functions at more than a sluggish level of consciousness. However it is not the quantity but rather the quality of this consciousness that it is strangely incumbent upon me to so clatter out on this electronic type-writer. Strange indeed you may or may not wonder – the explanation is that I am weary, yet all day an incessant nagging prods me to crunch these numbers. I shall do this and thus attain relief and sleep. Perhaps it is a looming volcanic vitriolic vestibule.

Notice what it is like when you are in a state of extreme stress. You may be achieving much in the limited slot of time. However what is this state of mania actually like? What is its quality? In this state it is essentially skimming across the surface of life. There is no depth to your experience; neither is there any understanding.

The ancient Buddhas speak of meditation as a tool for calm, and then insight. A consciousness that is tense is like a mirror; ever so prone to shattering is its brittle nature. There is no possibility of penetration, of depth. Techniques of concentration create a state of increased calm. In this state the experiencer tastes each experience in an increased fullness or depth. The calm awareness of a meditator leads to the quality of experiencing known as insight. A person who sees deeply through experiences knows the subtle nuances of life that are seemingly mysterious or unknown to the manic wave surfer.

There are always two sides to a two-sided coin. It happens to be that some people trudge through life like a dull sponge. In the list of sticky mucky smelly citizens are none other than those holy heroes of the great religious dogmas. The dogged dogmatic dodos are drowning in their own dull delusions. They save the immoral and condemn the amoral. They repeat well the scriptures that are ingrained on the mental rail-road of their predecessors and fore-fathers. There is nothing new or vibrant or insightful in their holy chants, nor in their dull eyes. Their conscious experience is like jumping on a trampoline made from a mat of boiled lettuce leaves, with jelly-fish for springs.

Yes the other side of the coin is a feasty gluttony of calm, with a malnourished consciousness. There can be nothing to challenge one’s spirit into aliveness if the path taken be the holiest of holy; except of course the ‘inconsequential’ transgressions of for example a boiling sexual repression.

Life is a quandary, not a quagmire nor a quip. With neither foggy eyes nor those wired by the drug of neediness, those who experience the richness of each moment, the fullness of each breath, are the few that are both sane and human. This is life, this is living, and this is meditation.

Concentration leads to calm, and calm leads to increased awareness and insight. How can a person return to an object of concentration if this person is not aware of a distraction?

How to Meditate?

What is meditation?
How do I meditate?

People tend to turn to meditation for relaxation and to de-stress. With this in mind, the principal meditation is that of concentration. Sometimes our minds may be going so helter-skelter that even a simple mental task seems daunting. In this case, taking our body out for some physical exercise, and then sitting down and reading a book out loud may help calm your mind.

When there is too much tension in the mind, it is not wise to try and tackle it head on. The issues may not be clear to you, but they will keep pushing themselves into your conscious mind. If you therefore concentrate on something that is not of high emotional value to you, then this seeks to block out the emotional noise that is creating tension.

If your mind runs to the stressful issue, which is presumably inevitable, turning you attention back to the chosen object of concentration reinforces the calming process. If the worrying issue is incessant, try ignoring it while still concentrating on the chosen focus. If this doesn’t work try something else. Even this trying is a concentration on trying and is therefore a help. Perhaps you might like to do some physically exercise rather than sitting like a buddha and watching your breath in some way (maybe on the rise and fall of belly). Is there something in the physical exercise that draws your attention and you enjoy focusing on it? Perhaps you just want to do something, and immerse yourself fully into it? Perhaps you just want to do something?

The idea of concentrating our attention for calm is like generating a powerful spotlight. Simply by turning our mind repeatedly to an object, the mind becomes stilled, and the awareness increases. With shades of grey, we reach a state where there is a sense of being very alert, yet relaxed or calm. Also, the mind is not excessively focused in a manic way on some issue. The mind is calm and quiet, and we have a relaxed awareness.

If you feel sufficiently calm and aware you might like to allow the spotlight to disperse its light in a spherical manner: opening your awareness to allow different aspects of the body-mind system to come and go freely in this expanded awareness.
After some time, and generally after it has already happened, you may realize that this state of relaxed and open awareness with mental and physically events passing untouched through it has given way to tension and particular mental or physical events pressing repeatedly on your consciousness. If you feel uncomfortable you may then like to make the consciousness choice to return to concentrating on a emotionally neutral object.

Meditation is the rhythm of moving back and forwards from a state of focused attention to a state of relaxed and open awareness. It is about being here-now, while choosing what to be here-now with. Sometimes the here-now is a little overwhelming. In this case choose a friend to be here-now with. If that is overwhelming just give-up and go with the flow. What ever you do and don’t do, you are in the here and now. This is reality. If you can’t find the truth, the truth will come and find you. It will set you free.

Meditation can seem confusing, and here are two areas that may prove to be a puzzle.

Firstly, sometimes we feel calm yet we are not particularly aware – something like day-dreaming. In this case you may find that if you decide to concentrate on something you can’t. Actually by doing so, this increases the awareness and brings us to an issue that we may have been avoiding by dulling our awareness (going to sleep to avoid a problem for example).

The second puzzle is that of what is the difference between concentration, attention, mind, and awareness. When it is said turn your attention towards something, is that the same as turning your mind towards it? Is this different to someone saying concentration on something? How does this fit with someone saying turn your awareness towards some object?

The confusion becomes cleared up by understanding that if you turn your mind towards something (lets say you chant a holy scripture), this concentrating your mind also concentrates your awareness. You become aware of what your mind is concentrating on. You become aware of the process of chanting, the sound of your voice, the way it makes your body feel, the way your mouth moves to create sound etc.

A person might say they feel so crazy they can’t seat down and read a complicated book. If they still want to read, they may be able to read a simple book. This focusing or concentrating the mind also focuses or concentrates the awareness. The result is an increase in relaxation or calm.

A person might feel so cuckoo that they can’t do their normal task of fixing rocket engines. If such a person is on mental sick-leave, such a person may be able to enjoy fixing car engines. This concentrating the body on a particular task also focuses or concentrates the awareness. The result is an increase in relaxation or calm.

How to Lose Weight

Weight Loss

How to lose weight: the essential focus is on the simple fact that humans are animals who require food and water for nourishment and survival. We do get hungry, and there is a feeling in our stomach when we get very hungry.

The other part of the approach is that we all have a natural weight, and this may mean that we are like a stick-insect or a circus tent.

Food is an obsession in the mind that covers up the basic truths that we are not all ‘thin’, and that food is a natural and healthy biological function.

Firstly, take time throughout the day to take general notice of how much you worry about food – how much you think that you are eating too much, and how guilty emotional and thought patterns repeat themselves afterwards.

When you have a sense of this pattern, also bring awareness to how your stomach feels at different times throughout the day. Along with this, are there any basic patterns that emerge: when is it for example that you are really hungry; what is it like to feel hungry; and what is it like to feel that you are very low on energy because of a lack of food?

Are there times throughout the day when you feel so hungry that this hunger would fit nicely with a main meal. How many times throughout the day does this occur (two or three for example)? How many times throughout the day do you feel that a snack will be the natural order? Please note that this process of identifying your natural rhythm will refine as you bring awareness and (possibly) changes to the way you eat. Also perhaps your rhythm changes throughout the years and with the seasons. In other words the emphasis is on a balance of flexibility and regime, couple with increased awareness.

The idea of bringing awareness to the process is a natural one. If you spend a lot of time worrying about food, your weight, and your image, then would it be worthwhile making a decision to have a good objective look at what is going on – if you are the type, maybe keep a log throughout the day, and over a period of some days, detailing your different emotional states, level of cravings for food, and what you eat (perhaps just one of these elements is your key). You may like to give a particular factor a rating (say from 1 to 10).

With a more objective look at food in your life, you can than make conscious decisions about what changes you would like to make, if any, to the way you approach food. Be prepared throughout the process for general ideas and fresh insights to flow. If you make any startling findings, see how they can become a practical force. Experiment with what you eat and when you eat, and find out what works for you. If you think you have found your golden key to conquering obsessions with food and weight, be prepared for this to change (even if subtly).

In the end you may find that you simply eat when you eat because you are hungry, and that you simply eat what you eat because you like it. This leads you to being the shape you are and this is your natural shape. It is part of your nature and it is the outward expression of your natural beauty. So even if nothing changes physically, to drop all the worry and to accept your natural body shape can bring about tremendous change in you well being.

If you lose weight that may well be great. However the key is to realize that we eat because we are hungry. Also, our body naturally knows the right things to eat and in what quantities if we develop the sensitivity. Ultimately, becoming more aware of the process can give us the distance to see our patterns, even if we feel they are wrong and for now we are not capable of changing these entrenched patterns. This keen observation can also in time create the understanding to slowly bring about change in our physical habits, and send our emotional patterns on a healthy turn towards healing.

Sri Lankan Crisis

If there was ever a clear indication that the future of the new world risks either a world war or destruction of the planet, it was in the majority vote handed down by the United Nations human rights council.

We have emerging and emerged powers and super-powers coming out of the developing world that will create a new global landscape in the 21st century. A combination of these new players secured a majority vote to not only reject a call for an independent investigation into the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war, but also to endorse a resolution praising the Sri Lankan government.

I am not here taking a position against the Sri Lankan government. The simple fact of the matter is that the truth of the situation is not known, and further that there is a reasonable possibility of civilian deaths on a massive scale, and of serious crimes by both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The United Nations was the only independent authority to have collected information (not only anecdotal, but also satellite imagery of craters emerging in civilian safe zones) to get closest to the truth. The United Nations accepts that it does not have sufficient evidence to draw conclusions, but has made it clear that there are sufficient grounds for an investigation. In fact the news accounts that have managed to flow out from the war-zone makes a prima facie case for investigation obvious to any rational person.

How is it then that delegates from a majority of countries managed to conclude that there was no case to answer to (from either side), and that situation was an internal matter? As I said previously, the United Nations had much more information than any other independent organisation. On what grounds did delegates reach their conclusions? Where did they get there factual information as a basis for their decisions?

Adolf Hitler, perhaps the world’s worst known tyrant, was elected into power by the people. The UN Human Rights Council operates under basic democratic principals, and concluded against the evidence. To be sure, the evidence was not sufficient to draw concrete conclusions, but it was certainly sufficient to necessarily warrant investigation into the possibility of serious humanitarian and war crimes.

Conceive if you will a scenario where planet Earth has a democratically elected global government. The democratic vote of the UN HRC is testimony to the logical possibility of this planet being headed by an oppressive and criminal government. If you think I am crazy, consider a super-power like China. China has of course its own internal matter of Tibet, not to mention the Tiananmen Square atrocity, its allies in Burma and Sudan - and the list goes on. The negative influence throughout the world of China’s totalitarian political party is significant, and may therefore continue to do so. If China continues to grow as a super-power, and continues to be run as a dictatorship, it is not very difficult to imagine very grave scenarios some decades down the road - whereby a majority of oppressive states create a scary new world.

A little note here on torture. Sure some of the so-called enhanced interrogation methods used by the United States have occupied the grey area between right and wrong. However even the slightest reading into the torture methods used by the Chinese against the Tibetans leaves no shades of grey for quandary. The level of interrogation used by the United States against indeed the shadiest of characters cannot be compared with state sponsored torture that has occurred in recent times in innumerable countries.

The majority ruling of the UN HRC was indeed a watershed moment in the divining of future global possibilities. It is the clearest warning yet to Western powers such as the United States and various countries in the European Union that they indeed need to take defence and national security as a fundamental necessity for the foreseeable long-term future. A few decades from now, the idea of lending a hand to oppressed minorities in other parts of the world may give way to national defence and national allegiances.

That there is a reasonable possibility of civilian Tamil deaths in Sri Lanka to the level of not just thousands, but tens of thousands in the last weeks and months of battle, and that that goes unquestioned by the international community leaves me with a feeling of utter disgust. I am sure that many countries that voted in accord with the head of the United Nations and the chief of the UN HRC, will indeed take very serious note of the very grave outcome.

The outcome, just like democratically elected Hitler, Hamas, and the new Israeli government, is democracy at its worst. Democracy is a principal that offers hope for a humanity that has since the dawn of time fought against the will to power of tyrants. Democracy is however a principal conditioned by the principal that the majority of civilians are in fact civil: are in fact sane. The barbarian in man has yet to emerge fully from the jungle. The tiger may well be in the Tamil militant group. However it is lurking live and well in other places as well. May this planet prosper and not be consumed by darkness.

Crime and Punishment

That which you do unto others shall be done unto you.

Are you sure who you are, where you have been, and where you are onwards journeying? Who is? Indeed what is onwards, what is now, and what is backwards? Are you sure that your memories are indeed yours? Are you sure that you have even lived this life, let alone a past one?

What if you had dreams or nightmares or visions or intuitions about past lives, and they turned out to be the unlived energetic memories of other people who are living now or have lived in the recent past?

Often people who experience deep trauma go through a period of being in shock, and then have significant gaps in their recollection of the trauma. Just maybe the experience is stored somewhere in the universe, as a compressed energetic experience.

It would be reasonable to assume that initially the trauma is stored in the persons unconscious. However what if the traumatic event never gets recalled, and the person eventually recovers from the trauma (a happy war veteran for example). A believer in past-lives is a believer in future lives. Hence the happy war veteran has some karma to process through a future life in a higher state of penetrating consciousness. However what if there is a collective unconscious – a kind of storehouse for all of humanities nasty stuff. Now in this case when a major life event is buried deep enough, it may (probably at the time of death) merge into a collective quagmire of humanities negative energies.

Conceive if you so choose an event say of someone being raped, tortured, or murdered. Although such a person may in some way attract a negative event - let’s say a person with deep hidden rage attracts a murderer - I would argue that the victim is still not necessarily receiving karmic justice. Further, there are many instances of deep tragedies in this world where innocent victims are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now imagine that a person recovers as best they can from a traumatic event, but still their memory of the incident did not get retrieved. The energetic experience is one of peak human potential. What I mean by this is that during momentous life-changing events people often tap into enormous energy reserves: for example in fighting off or running away from an attacker. This compressed, stored energy one day has to see the light of day.

How is it that mystics say that karma is inescapable? Every negative action will attract a negative consequence; conveniently the reverse is also true. One theory is that when a tyrant of a being is available for learning, and has sufficient consciousness to not in general act on the tyrannical desires, the following occurs.

A stored event in the collective unconsciousness becomes tuned with the tyrant, at the very instant that the tyrant has the negative desire revealed. The stored event (a victim’s painful experience) becomes implanted in the tyrants psyche. It is a perfect meeting of polarised energies; a perfect magnetic fatal attraction.

Karma seems to carry itself out in a vague way in this world, with seemingly innocent victims meeting misfortune in an unfair world. However at a deeper level it just might be that karma is entirely perfect, and entirely inescapable. Also, in this way, if an innocent person can grow from a horrific event, then this journey can in some way be said to be immensely beneficial. Whatever part of the horrific event cannot be consciously witnessed, consciously relived, and ultimately let go of (or dropped), will one day be attracted to either its creator, or a person who has committed a criminal and unethical act of the same type and magnitude.

In this way, at a deeper level, the workings of the universe are perfect. The sentence always fits the crime because the perpetrator one day inescapably adopts the worst part of a victim’s experience, and then has to relive this experience. In this way the tyrant finds out exactly what it is like to be the victim, and in this way those of thick skin learn, and also in this way burn down the storehouse of collective ‘live’ latent energetic memories.

How to act in a complicated world? The wise say that right conduct is not an exploit of intellectual analysis; rather it is conduct that grows in the womb of an accelerating awareness.

The wise say that there are not just two levels of unconsciousness, but three. The third level may be referred to as cosmic unconsciousness. In Christianity it is known as Hell!

That which you do unto others shall be done unto you.

From my experience I firmly believe the above to be true, though not for sure.

China and The Taliban

It is often difficult to discern the truth when the concerned parties hold opposing points of view. Who is right and who is wrong on the latest conflict in the Israeli versus Palestine saga? Israel had reason to take action against the increasing threat of rocket attacks from Gaza. The civilian toll in Gaza seems to be excessive, even after discounting the acknowledged unfortunate (but apparently inevitable: due to Hamas militant operational protocols) errors.

Personally after viewing the situation from afar for a couple of years my opinion is that Israel is in general guilty of aggression. Democracy elected Hamas a couple of years back. Politics pressured them (and rightfully so I would argue) into boiling over and taking over Gaza (at the expense of the West Bank). Now democracy has elected a right-wing government in Israel, and the new foreign minister shows signs of rhetoric leaning towards the current Iranian president Armadinejad’s warped nuances.

Admittedly here it should be pointed out that Armedinejad was condemned without trial for his latest outburst at a United Nations convention against racism. This lack of trial is itself the essential hidden quality of a racist.

In my interpretation of what Armadinejad said, the key launching pad for his tirade against Israel was the military aggression of the newly formed post World War II Israeli state. My reading of the historical situation is clear and uncomplicated. The colonial powers in the region (primarily Britain) gave a growing movement of Jews a sovereign state. Shortly afterwards Israel launched a military campaign that took by force more land from the Palestinian people. Invasion of another country to appropriate its lands is many things, not least of all racist.

However personally I think Armadinejad shows significant aberration of thought processes, and is therefore not just a little neurotic, but actually quiet clearly insane. Though this is perhaps not the most preferential quality of an Iranian president, the final factor in the equation is something very little discussed. Israel has a significant stockpile of nuclear weapons. This issue needs to be dealt with if there is any hope of achieving peace in the Middle-East.

I congratulate George Bush (junior) for at least one thing – being the expounder of the phrase Axis of Evil. (Oh and also for being the first Western power to take a stand on Tibet…really this is a remarkable feat and should never be forgotten.) North Korea and Iran represent serious present and future concern. However I take aim at this focus, and the sidewards focus on Russia. The situation with Chinese spying and financial investments in key strategic foreign interests has been disputed as being the ancient mythological yellow-peril syndrome. However what about the fact that the key financial backer for the Burmese military junta and the Sudanese government is China. Ask the millions of people that have either been raped, tortured, or slaughtered at the hands of brutal state actors propped up by the Chinese Communist Party.

Since we are looking at brutal military regimes what about the situation in Fiji? Fiji’s military leader took control of the country in a bloodless coup in 2006. The situation in Fiji has been declining ever since. The military leader appoints a president who appoints the military leader as the prime-minister. The media is controlled like a vice and all court documents relating the coup have been shredded. As foreign powers are trying to assert pressure to bring back democracy and the rule of law, the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party have been cultivating closer financial and personal ties with the self-appointed leaders of a military dictatorship. The Chinese government forges ties with the oppressive evil of this world.

To call the Dalai Lama evil is an absurdity that is evident to all the major powers of the world. The French president Sarkozy knew this when he went against Chinese pressure and met the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately at the latest G-20 meeting the Western powers needed some of China’s plundered wealth, and hence an intimate encounter between the French and Chinese heads of state finished with Nicolas Sarkozy stating that very clearly Tibet was a part of China. The proposition that the invasion of Tibet, the slaughter of its people and its culture and religion, was an act of surf liberation is in the realms of the seriously delusional. A reading of the Tibetan society shows that it had harshness and beauty that paralleled its natural rugged surrounds. However as a society it was not one that oppressed and tortured its people to maintain power. A look at the democratic changes in a near neighbour (Bhutan, not to mention India) shows that Tibet also was a country that could also change for the better through internal reform, not Chinese annihilation.

So to those who say that the yellow-peril is an ancient myth I say to them just for a day step in the place of a person from Darfur, Burma, or Tibet. Why not spend tomorrow in fear of the Junjaweed; or how about hanging out getting tortured in a Burmese or Tibetan jail? Tomorrow there will be thousands of people languishing in severe torment through outrageous acts of violence against innocent victims at the hands of those who have life through the Chinese government.

While I am on the subject of brutality, what about the Taliban? All those great moral processions of protestors that oppose action against the Taliban are uninformed of the roots of their mis-virtue. To act in the name of good out of emotion rather than understanding is the very crime of the Taliban. The situation in the north-west of Pakistan makes this evident. Many people view this war (as with the war in Iraq) as a war of America versus Islam, or the West versus Allah. Aside from the virtue of toppling Saddam Hussein, the war in Iraq was primarily one between radical elements of different Islamic religious factions – even today it is the case (car bombs still killing people by the hundreds).

The north-west of Pakistan is home to semi-autonomous regions. In small pockets of mountainous terrain tribes, tribal chiefs, and socio-cultural traditions are the foundation of a unique way of life. The Taliban move into these tribal regions, kill or abduct the tribal chiefs, slaughter any adhoc tribal army that tries to prevent their presence, and then introduces a brutal rule of law that is somehow in tune with God. After the government of Pakistan gave the Taliban and its affiliates the Swat Valley as there playground – in exchange for peace – shortly afterwards groups of militants with high-powered weapons started taking over a region immediately to the south (a region home to many hundreds of thousands of people). They have come to within 100 kilometres of the Pakistan capital Islamabad. The key point here is that in their movements they simply take over by force an already existing functioning civil society. They do this via abduction, murder, and essentially, fear. The Taliban oppress its own people through military force. As with Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and the warring in Pakistan, is internal in nature. It is Islam versus Allah, or Allah versus Islam. Actually it is the creative against the destructive, good versus evil, God or Allah versus all that is ugly in humanity.

I note here that the Taliban refers to the umbrella of violent, radical elements, and so does not refer to authentic religious people who call themselves Taliban. The same to is for the term China. China’s general population lives at the whim and oftentimes mercy of its one-party political machine. It is not just the Burmese dissidents, the Tibetan people, or Darfurians that suffer; it is also all the Chinese human rights activists, the deceased Tiananment Square visionaries, the Chinese children that died in poorly built schools, the hundreds of thousands of Chinese babies sickened (and worse) by tainted milk, and the world over that consumes poor quality fast-food and other fast-products.

In my opinion China needs a new religiousness. Buddhism is a religion with deep roots in China, not Christianity. Its people need a new flowering of the ancient buddhist religion to feed its starving soul.

News Story 26 Feb 09

News is often bad so may as well start with the bad news for the day. If luck has its way there will then be room for some good news.

The bad news is that the current Chinese presidents greatest achievement to date (other than for his efforts being promoted to president) is that he was governor of the Tibetan region during the brutal crushing of the second Tibetan uprising.

The good news – see I had a feeling there would be some good news forthcoming – is that Australia will soon no longer manufacture any clothing, and hence if Australia goes to war with China they will have to fight naked. No problem in that I should think, at least we can drive our cars around until they run out of fuel from the Middle East.
Interesting news is that the most pressure applied to a bridge comes not from a convoy of fully laden trucks driving over them, but from a tightly packed bunch of marathon fun-runners pounding their way across it.

Of relevant news – you may well be wondering – applies to the (osho) International Meditation Resort in Pune, India – a resort that claims to have over 100, 000 visitors annually. In particular I refer here to its new almighty, award winning, towering, monolithic, pyramid-like meditation auditorium.

The news is that this building has had cement failure, and a neighbouring building (constructed as part of the same project) has had failings due to mixing down of cement (not using enough cement in the concrete mixture).

The interesting question is what happens to the brickwork, structural steel, cement, welds, and bolts, when the devoted Osho sannyassins pound the floor of the Auditorium during their controversially active morning Dynamic meditation?

Of course it hardly seems worth mentioning that for years people drank contaminated drinking water at this so-called spiritual oasis.

To tie things up neatly, I wonder how many Chinese children died in schools that collapsed during last years horrific earthquake disaster due to atrocious and incomprehensible workmanship?

For the second string on the wrapping, the parallel between Chinese food contamination scandals and contamination of drinking water at the resort is also interesting.

You probably would not be surprised to learn that for my efforts to expose the truth I have been banned from this (osho) resort; I have been threatened in writing; I have been verbally threatened; I have been threatened with being punched, have been pushed, and have been punched; I have been threatened with metal rods and sticks; and I have (probably) been threatened with a knife.

I almost forgot about a sweet little anecdote. A brick-layer came to the resort to do some work-as-meditation. He was put to work supervising labours doing construction projects. The summary of the scenario was that the workers thought that he would obviously not know anything about construction work, and so they could pull the wool over his eyes (so to speak). He was of the opinion that they were trying to steal cement. What they did was overstate the amount of cement needed and used for any particular job. Now a supervisor who has no idea of construction would not have a clue how much cement is needed for a job. However this person happened to be a brick-layer by trade.

I don't recall the exact details: whether they were stock-piling cement on the side or whether at the end of the job it appeared that all the cement was used, yet could not possibly have been: someone who knows about such things would be able to look at the colour of the concrete to see how much cement is used in the concrete mixture. The likely scenario put forward to me was that over-quoting and supposedly using this excessive amount meant that the labourers were free to steal a certain amount of valuable cement.

Now if someone wanted to investigate the quality of cement work on a project they could easily look at the amount of cement used, and draw conclusions accordingly. However in this case the conclusions would be wrong.

So what about the mixing down of cement that I identified on the project that included the grand meditation pyramid? One possibility is that the correct amount of cement was quoted, with lesser cement used, and some of the valuable product strangely disappearing – perhaps into nirvanna?

While I am on the subject, one last little twig. Trees and branches have historically been neglected, and a high-tension cabling system winds trees up into a dangerous state of tension.
It has been some time since my last un-meditative visit to the resort, and I assume that deep meditation in the still-standing auditorium has channelled wisdom and compassion into the supposedly spiritual management.

As far as the Chinese communist party is concerned, the latest US state department survey has noted last years brutal crushing of Tibetans for the third time, and also an increase in the level of human rights abuses generally.

The contents of this article reflect the opinion of the author only. Some of the contents may appear factual, but are conclusions. The author shall not be held liable for any of the articles contents.

Also, the author is not a civil engineer, but is an engineer with practical civil experience.

Finally, it should be noted that the author worked with engineers and consulting microbiologist at the resort, and is a qualified engineer.

Modern Mysteries

Two contemporary puzzles: Trade and Democracy

Barack Obama, the President-elect of the United States has been labelled by some as a protectionist. The Doha round of the World Trade Organisation has been a knockout defeat. The Nobel prize for economics was awarded to Paul Krugman for his efforts in understanding modern trade. Am I just making random comments?

The benefits of trade is not very difficult to understand. People in the West love coffee and coffee grows well in the tropical East. People in the West have (or had) a lot of money, and people in the East like investment funds. Mutual benefit from products or services most efficiently produced and most appreciatively consumed lead to a better outcome for all.

Paul Krugman’s not insignificant award sought to explain a deficiency in this basic system. The anomaly was that at times patterns of trade did not follow this logic. The explanatory framework devised by Krugman sought to take into account the benefits of specialisation and market leadership, rather than simple comparative advantage. Simply by making a start, a person or organisation can develop skills and economies of scale that allow them to be and remain competitive. Hence a smart coffee farmer from the West may be able to keep out Vietnamese competitors if this person started out and grew in size before the Asian became dominant.

Another aspect that complicates the trade situation is based on size and diversity. The more diverse a region the less is the need to rely on products or services from another region. Also, the larger the region (for example the European Union) the greater the possibility for diversity - generally speaking. The more a country or group of countries can meet its wants and needs from within, the less the advantage of trade imports. Most countries or regions throughout the world can meet not only the basic needs of life, but also most of the subtle and nuanced desires of even the most fickle consumers without sourcing externally.

Due to diversity, whether from nature or human endeavour, the law of diminishing returns comes into play with trade. International trade can be immensely stimulating when diversity is restricted – say at the end of World War II. However if a country has reasonable basic resources, and is reasonably engaged in use of resources and human capital, the advantages can soon become disadvantages.

The failure of the Doha round of the WTO is precisely because the leaders of countries have seen that what was a blessing has now become a curse. In a way this is self-fulfilling. The benefits of trade lead to an abundance that created sufficient diversity within countries. With this newfound diversity the country is therefore more adept at meeting its peoples needs, and hence is less reliant on trade.

The United States and other Western nations promulgated trade. They are however now the victims of trade – from China for example. To be of worth trade needs to be mutually beneficial. For a long time this has not been the case in the US’s relationship with China. The fact that the US has been one of the blockers for the Doha round shows some intelligence. The fact the Barack Obama is a protectionist shows a little more intelligence.

The word protectionist has some sort of false derogatory theme attached to it by the benefits of free trade. If the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages in certain trades, then to take a protectionist stand is literally to protect – sounds pretty sensible to me.

Broken and shattered Western countries, as well as international organisations, increasingly look to countries like China (with its trillions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves). Some countries need to realize that the advantages of trade are not intrinsic - just like the advantages of an unregulated financial system are not inherent.

Finally on trade, from Paul Krugman we have that just because one country efficiently produces a product or service, there is not necessarily any reason to label that product or service as a necessary import by any other country. Car manufacturing in countries like Australia and the US is in a moribund state. However better performing Japanese manufacturers do not have intrinsic competitive advantage. From this it can be seen that increasing protection and decreasing trade keeps alive the inherent creative urge that drives a country. At the right time, protectionism actually encourages optimism and keeps alive the possibility of prosperity. Prosperity is what free trade is supposed to be all about. It is also what protectionism is about.

Another key concept of the contemporary world is that of democracy. Like trade, democracy is not intrinsically good.

When the majority of a population has ill-will in mind they then vote into power a leader that will fulfil their negative intentions. An example of this mechanism is found in your average failed marriage. Happiness finds the happy and misery attracts the miserable. If I am just managing to keep a lid on a sea of negative emotions I might like to avoid them by getting married. Like attracts like. My partner will be of the same ilk, and we will spray each other joyously with our wounds.

Hitler was democratically elected by a Germany full of little Hitler’s. Ah yes we elect a leader to fulfil our dreams. Just look at the last democratic election in the Palestinian Territories. Hamas was branded by the West as a veil for violence. Hamas shortly afterwards showed their true colours in a wave of violence and brutality. Hence they now run the Gaza Strip.

Admittedly the situation is not so simple. An obvious issue that is raised is based on innocence. For example some people repeatedly marry and divorce only for money. Is not the victim innocent? Hamas ran a very sophisticated mainstream political campaign. Was not the electorate deceived by the violent gang that Hamas afterwards revealed itself to be?

A partial answer to deception is truth by transparency. If a person or organisation has unethical, illegal, or violent intentions, then a system that reveals that this is the case is paramount; hence the importance of a free press and open access to information about the workings of any governing body.

If a couple are fighting before they get married and then they fight after they get married and then they get divorced, they may (like many) be surprised at the outcome. We so often hide from the obvious out of emotionally based blindness and compulsion. However at least the divorced couple can see that there was nothing sinister or criminal about the failed marriage. No deception took place. The truth was not hidden, rather people were hiding from the truth.

In order to avoid the harming of innocents, whether they be romantics looking for love or a country looking for a leader, it is important that fact be separated from fiction.

The healthy functioning of the concept of democracy is predicated by two factors. Firstly, the general population needs to be sane. Secondly, people with vast power are vulnerable to going insane. Hence the average sane person can see when a politician is a megalomaniac (for example Robert Mugabe of shattered Zimbabwe). Democracy would have been a great institution in the time of Stalin in the Soviet Union, or Mao in China, or the Khmere Rouge in Cambodia. It was not however helpful in the time of Hitler’s Germany. This theme points to the importance of multi-lateral relations between countries to keep in check any rogue country (or countries) – whether it (they) be democratic or not.

Overall Well-Being

Overall Well-Being (ODB versus GDP)

It seems that the world is falling in. Is it really? Grand and fear striking similes and metaphors abound: an economic national security emergency; a financial tsunami; the Great Depression 2.0.

Firstly lets take a look at personal psychology. The term recession seems to not have the same psychological association as depression does, however they are of the same nature. If you take a look at what is driving stock-markets and investors helter skelter, experts repeatedly say that the behaviour does not fit with fundamentals. Also, a little bit of good or bad news tends to go a long way. People are literally in a manic emotional state.

Take a look at the behaviour pattern of financial executives. Essentially they have for years been prepared to take on increased (even absurd) risk for the sake of additional profits. The downside possibility would know doubt have been in the back of their minds, but ignored. Some of these financial executives decided to hedge their bets by taking out insurance: credit default swaps. However the contagion consumed this cautiousness because the people giving out insurance ignored the possibility that they might have to pay out an insurance claim. It is like giving out fire insurance with the idea that money can be made because fires never happen. Insurance brokers however argue that they were covering financial products that will never get burnt, let alone destroyed, by fire. To this there is a very simple response. Why on earth would companies actually pay out millions and billions and trillions of dollars for insurance cover if there was no credible underlying risk? The very fact of the existence of a voluminous credit default swap market is proof that financial executives knew, but in general ignored, the underlying risk that mortgage-related debt products would go bad.

What is the psychological pattern operating in any gambler (or addict for that matter)? The gambler focuses their mind more and more on winning, and ignores the common-sense knowing that the odds are stacked against them. In the back of their minds they know they can’t win, but they have to ignore this. They ignore this because they need to focus on winning. They need to focus on winning because there is an underlying emotional issue that they cannot face. When the gambler inevitably loses, they get a little taste (or wave) of the overwhelming emotional sea that they dare not jump into. In time the addict or gambler can develop the skills, understanding, and most importantly awareness, to tackle what lies hidden in the basement of their mind.

When people in the developed countries the world over accumulate massive levels of debt they do so out of compulsion - this refers to consumer (credit card) debt and household debt, business debt, and government debt. If when I am sitting in my little granny-flat staring at a furniture-less wall, I go crazy. Hence what I do is pick up one of the credit-card brochures lying around, I go out, and I buy a plasma television. Now on those lonely nights I simply stare at the blaring screen in order to both occupy and numb my mind. A zen monk on retreat simply stares open-eyed at a wall. In time (and in fact in a very short time) the wall becomes the mirror to see what lies just beneath your usual waking mental state. A zen master may well watch television, but has seen all the shows on their inner-tv.

No doubt up to a certain level the basic stuff of modern life contributes to wellness of being. However the golf tripping, spa resort frolicking financial executives that are the pillars of financial deconstruction are addicted to indulgence. I recall one such executive saying that he recently had the worst week of his life. Now he was not talking about the state of his bank account. He was talking about his emotional state; he was talking about his very own personal depression.

Am I getting you lost here?

Economic growth is the very foundation of modern society, so it seems anyway. If the world goes into a global recession, or perhaps a global depression, why is this occurring? Here it might help by recalling that strategic tipsters backed the African continent (and not Asia) to become the great emerging economic giant of the 20th century. Rather than prospering, Africa however slipped into decades of violence, destruction, and genocide. Asian countries on the other hand became the developing potential superpowers.

Why were the tipsters wrong? Africa had the potential to prosper. It had the natural resources, the people, and the technology (especially if it harnessed the technology gains from other parts of the world) to create a prosperous society. At both an individual and collective level, the ability to create a vibrant and harmonious social web gave way to violence and destruction. At both the individual and collective level, a vast body of emotional discontent (rage) that was lurking in the unconscious, came to the surface. In a domino effect one persons rage can infect a village, a village can affect a region, a region a country, a country a continent.

The theme of a spreading emotional darkness is juxtaposed historically by the moral fabric of society. The minds of people have the intellectual understand of what is essentially right and wrong ingrained in them. What can make a moral code deeper is the understanding, rather than just the repetition, of what is right and wrong. What can foster this understanding is the nurturing of human consciousness. A meditator instrinsically develops the capacity to distinguish between right and wrong, between good and bad.

An individual that cultivates their own consciousness does two things. Firstly, as mentioned, an understanding develops about morals, about ethics, about values. Secondly the more a person becomes conscious (aware) the more they create a separation from what they are observing. And when a person can detach themselves from the emotion that is going on inside them, they are less involved or caught up in this emotion. They can see that for example the anger, although remarkably unpleasant, is a passing emotional state. Society can provide the tools to help people express this emotion in a safe and perhaps even creative (rather than destructive) way. Traditional meditation already provides the tools to observe the emotions if they are not excessively strong for any particular person at that time.

America is considered a modern superpower. It is also projected to slide into recession, and is fighting to stave off a repeat of the Great Depression. However if I were to travel to America, I would still see all the basic stuff that creates a galloping economic growth rate. All the basic stuff is still there! There are all the raw materials are still there. All the people are still there. All the technology that explains how to put the raw material together to create a great society is still there.

While all the people are there, what is their individual and collective mental capacity? Some of the intellectual geniuses of Wall Street no doubt had high IQ’s. However some of their decisions showed profound lack of intelligence and foresight. Also, now that they can not preoccupy their mind with financial work, some of them will be hitting the drink to stave of their personal depression. If I were to test the IQ of an unemployment Wall Street financial wizard the morning after a binge, I think the results would be pitiful. In order to ignore his or her own personal issues, this person has gone down the road of financial destruction that reverberates around the country and the world - at financial, economic, and social levels.

If any group of people go down the path of collective greed, then when they finally see the possibility that this may end, fear strikes. Ultimately the fear is that they have to face what they have been avoiding: themselves. Deep down, every single person has a sense of what is in their unconscious. When a magnetic and collective wave of fear occurs, the end result is a collective depression: for example the Great Depression.

Whether or not the current global recession turns out to be global Great Depression 2.0 is primarily based what is in the collective unconscious: the sum total of all the stuff we carry around inside us that we are not able, or are not willing, to see.

On a brighter note, it does not have to turn out this way. As mentioned there are tools that can be employed. Also, society is currently geared in a way that puts the preeminent focus on gross domestic product (GDP) and economic growth. A counterpart needs to be developed that acknowledges the deeper aspects of what it is to be human. Sure life would be (and is) tough without the basics of life that many people take for granted: hygienic food, sanitized water, adequate shelter, sewerage removal systems, and education and health care facilities. However beyond this an increase in material well-being does not necessarily equate with an increase in overall well-being - and often leads to an inverse relationship: obesity for example.

The indicator of GDP should have a counterpart called OWB (Overall Well-Being). OWB essentially explores the subtleties of what it is to be human: what it is to be civilized, and what it is to be spiritual or religious. When for example an economic recession or depression is looming, GDP may well spike. However OWB will take a serious nosedive. After a little while people dust themselves off after the crash, forget about their share losses, and thank themselves that they are still alive. OWB starts to improve. People start developing the urge to reconnect with friends who are also hiding in their own personal depression. The urge to create a little bit out of the mess around them rekindles the spirit, and GDP starts its long steady move towards the next precipice. However this time, if society places more focus on factors other than just material or economic well-being, the fall won’t be so bad. Also, there are skills that people can develop that emphasise and contribute to overall well-being. People can learn how to express and even watch the emotional stuff that stunts their creativity, their intelligence, and their spirit.

The focus on economic growth and consumerism becomes a self-fulfilling tragedy. Emphasise the material, and people focus more on the material to avoid the immaterial emptiness. Filling peoples hearts and nourishing their souls cannot be without the values and freedoms that are the cornerstone of any modern and democratic society. However this is just the foundation. A great tower is not built simply by putting foundations on top of the foundation. Such a construction simply collapses under its own weight. The modern social structure will become a highrise as the emphasis moves towards empathy and compassion towards fellow humans and the world at large. Examples of this are the focus on workplace and occupational health and safety; acknowledging and addressing mental health needs; and confronting the degradation of the planet from pollution. The upper floors of the grand towers of post-modern society are not burdened with concrete and steel. They are filled with flowers and mirrors and singing and dancing.

Pilot Flies Blind

So the global financial crisis is global. That appears to be one unchanging conclusion in recent weeks. We have key organisations and figures hammering out a global solution over the last few days in Washington. The International Monetary Fund has met, and has denounced the G-7 proposal to the crisis as weak and ineffectual: essentially a statement of ideals rather than clear, pragmatic actions. The reason for the ineffectual outcome can be seen simply by looking at Europe’s collective response. In a nutshell countries have such diverse opinions and interests that genuine agreement can only be at the vague, fundamental level. Admittedly consistency at the most fundamental level - that of ideology - has been thrown out the window.

At least this is a better situation than in Zimbabwe. There, the two main political organisations finally agreed to specifics to move forward. The downfall came when President Mugabe blatantly ignored the agreement and went his own tyrannical way. If I wasn’t such a sceptic I would say that Robert Mugabe has taken some political lessons from the recently appointed Pakistan president - Asif Ali Zardari. Make a few deals and than double-cross your way to power!

With either mixed responses or vague principals at the collective level, something of importance is to look at key individual players in this game. So if there is a chief pilot, who would it be? Unfortunately the answer is the US Secretary Treasury Hank Paulson. I say this because the crisis comes from the US super-power. Also, the US president is too unpopular and distrusted to take the wheel.

So how is the chief pilot going? Firstly, for a week or so he faced everyone from the congress to the media waving a finger-pointing clenched fist and shouting We need this financial rescue package Now! So with built expectations on this immediacy, when he finally gets his way he says that it will take some weeks (and months) to work out the maths formula to spend the money to save the country and the world Now! I would say that the pilot crashed on that one.

Hank managed to survive this crash. What did he do next? Well he decided that in any case the great plan that he devised wasn’t such a good idea after all. Hmmm…after a great deal of ‘trust me I know what I am doing’ and $700 billion US dollars later, he decides to do what he said all along was a bad idea: take an equity stake in banks and other financial institutions by injecting capital. Well I don’t have a golden parachute, but from what I have seen, any parachute will be just fine.

America: The Road Ahead

All eyes looking at the road ahead are popping out with dollar signs emblazoned. The big question is will the bail-out package, now passed and signed into law, actually pass the test. However there has been a tunnel vision in the last couple of weeks: the apocalypse is here and it is big and we gotta fix it now!

Look at what has just happened to the financial crisis across the Atlantic. Instead of a government brokered (and government insured) deal with Citigroup, Wachovia has received a considerably better offer from Wells Fargo.

What are other people saying about the big picture? Paul Krugman, a columnist for the New York Times advocates the formation of a Works Progress Administration, although he is not so optimistic about this becoming a reality. Also on the issue of where to from here, Congressional House Representive George Miller explained that there’s a pent-up demand…for infrastructure.

Several recent infrastructure failings in the United States have tragically caused loss of life. In August 2007 the interstate bridge over the Mississippi river collapsed in Minneapolis. A couple of weeks earlier a century old steam-pipe exploded in New York city.

Developed countries throughout the world are reaching the stage where their developments are nearing their used-by dates. Further, a lot of large-scale construction has been done without an emphasis on maintenance and replacement (including de-commissioning). Inaccessible piping is a good example. The cost and work involved in maintenance, de-commissioning, or replacement is substantial and therefore not very interesting – to anyone, whether it be engineers or government officials.

Importance needs to be given to incorporating design for maintenance. Also, in the inevitable event of infrastructure (old buildings for example) being declared unfit for repair, design for demolition becomes another critical factor - ease of removing old, dilapidated buildings for example.

The financial rescue package will slow, but not stop, the steady descent of the American economy. Other factors will determine just how much cushion there is when the economy hits rock bottom.

Prophet Ross

Yesterday was going to be a relaxing day. Knowing that the financial quake from the failed US Wall St bailout was of tsunami forming proportions, you might be inclined to ask why. The answer is that I am blessed enough not to have any finances to lose. So what went wrong with my day? The answer is Prophet Ross.

Prophet Ross is (or should I say was) known in the general Australian community as Professor Ross Garnaut. Doctor Garnaut is an Economics professor acting as special advisor to the Australian government in climate-change. Though when he hands down his reports, all activity usually grinds to a halt, his latest report was delayed for a couple of hours as the tsunami coming across the Atlantic took centre stage. Nonetheless, the latest report was delivered.

Eagerly I awaited listening to an expert in economics explain the nuances of the road ahead on this hot issue. It would make a nice change from the boring rhetoric that has been making the rounds…or so I thought.

After a little introduction the Professor of Economics explained that if I didn’t take him seriously I would be ‘haunted till the end of time’. I was taken aback. Being haunted all the eternal years ahead did not seem so appealing. However he had my attention now. Fortunately he quickly went on, in his capacity as the most senior expert on the issue of climate-change (with respect to economics) in Australia, to say that there was a ‘saving grace’. Well hallelujah!!

Prophet Ross is born, or should I say born again. Admittedly ‘the end of time’ sounds reasonably intelligent and professional, but ‘haunted’? Though I don’t mind a laugh at blatant stupidity, it is important to note that the word ‘haunted’ has distinctly religious undertones. And then to come up with a ‘saving grace’. Wow this guy Prophet Ross really is a climate-change crusader.

On the international scene however Prophet Ross cannot compete with Al Gore. Al has been rallying the troops for some time now, and since he did not seek the US presidency I have been wondering what will become of him. However a few days ago, Al Gore raised the climate-change crusade ante by making a call to arms. He said that it was now time for civil disobedience.

The question is, how can tomorrow be a better day? Hopefully Rudd the Dudd will achieve advaita (non-dual) bipartisanship with Saviour Malcolm. In this case Prophet Ross and Saviour Malcolm can join forces with Al War Gore. That would make for an interesting tomorrow.

So there you have it. My planned day watching other people lose their hard earned money was thwarted by karma, or should I say the devil? Tomorrow never comes but let me see what sort of today tomorrow is.

Australia's Saviour Malcolm

Someone should kindly inform Saviour Malcolm that he was elected to his latest post by the national Liberal caucus, not the Australian people. The rhetoric of the last week, that has (hopefully) peaked this morning, has him strongly urging the prime-minister to work in a bipartisan way. It seems that the problems in Australia have become so severe that Saviour Malcolm has made himself available to work with the government to solve the crisis. Thanks Saviour Malcolm!

Did you know, he says, that the Republicans and Democrats in the United States have pulled together to save their country…hmmm…really? Firstly the Bill that poses to be America’s saviour failed to pass the congressional House of Representatives. Yep, those guys in the US are really pulling together…especially the House Republicans and Republican president Bush. Secondly, all the bill would do is make the downward financial and economic trend longer and flatter, rather than shorter and steeper.

Both major parties in the US are working together on this one for two reasons. Firstly, with the vast majority of the population against the bill, neither party wants to be labelled as the party that supported it. Secondly, so it seems, the majority of the elected legislature is against it; so the bill needs bipartisan support in order for its passing.

Saviour Malcolm is standing so high up on his pedestal that he cannot see the significant difference between the US and Australian financial system. Please for the sake of the nation come together as one and save the populous from the devastation that is consuming us all (says our newly born Saviour Malcolm). The US financial crisis is serious, and all the talk about saving Main Street misses the point that the troubles on Main Street were the starting point for revealing the high-rolling stupidity of Wall Street. However this is no excuse for Saviour Malcolm to give up his post as opposition leader and form a coalition of the unified transcendent.

Admittedly the overall economies have notable similarities – burgeoning levels of household debt and a deep trade connection with China for example – that indicate both economies will track similarly over the next few years. However as far as a great rescue from Saviour Malcolm, no thanks. In this interconnected world, perhaps Saviour Malcolm can pull a few strings for them folks over in the States?

Please do not misunderstand me here and think that I am railing against the Liberal party, and am hence demonstrating partisanship. To illustrate that I, like Saviour Malcolm, am being bipartisan, I have a prime-ministers forecast. History will show that the PM will not become known as Kevin 07; nor will he become known as 747 Kevin; our bungling, cliché prone, foggy sighted, ‘in-action man’ PM will become known as Rudd the Dudd!

McCain Aint Stupid

Before beginning to explain the title I should clarify that and say that either he or whoever is whispering in his ear aint stupid.

The long wind of the presidential race had a predictable path. George Bush was (and is) so out of favour with the general population that whichever Democrat wins the primary is a sure bet for the big job.

Along the way something of importance did tempt fate to change its course: the surge worked. Now some critics, including Obama, say that there were other important factors that contributed the improved conditions in Iraq - in particular the Awakening Council of Sunni muslim groups that turned against the violent insurgent movement. However even on this point it should be noted that the increased pressure being applied by the American military is arguably a significant reason for the forming of the Awakening Council.

A little side note here about Barack Obama’s world tour. After emerging from meetings with the leadership in Iraq, the president to-be made a great raucous about him and the big chiefs in Iraq converging on a pull-out timetable. However he probably didn’t make such a drama about the fact that he never discussed the issue with the big cheeses. Also, at any point during the (so far) years long Iraq war his position has been to pull-out ‘soon’. Hence when with the drastically improved situation leading the Iraq government to feel strong enough to consider this as an option, big boy Barack says him and the big cheeses are on the same wavelength. However while they may be on the same wavelength, they are on different planets. Barack Obama’s policy was to winning or losing pull-out. This is a far cry from pulling out after winning.

So back to the main theme. Though George Bush had a significant win in Iraq – that probably surprised him as much as all the critics – he has had a significant loss on the home front. The economy is being battered by more than the occasional hurricane. All the talk is about propping up the high-rollers on Wall Street so as not to have the problem spread to Main Street. However to the many people doing it rough, including all those that couldn’t make their mortgage repayments and hence started the Wall Street crisis, things on Main Street are already pretty much trashed.

All that the Democrats had to do was ride the wave of public sentiment against the Republican establishment. Part of that wave was for Barack Obama to appoint Hilary Clinton as his running mate. Not doing this move allowed McCain to pull a swifty. By appointing any women that is at least able to give a better public speech then him he rides the wave of disenchantment that Obama created. This was Obama’s first wrong move, and this was McCain’s first big move.

When George Bush announces a rescue package to rescue the world-wide Wall Street high-rollers from their collective drunken stupor, Obama throws his support behind the move. Admittedly in some way the Congress will likely pass some form of the bill, with Republicans and Democrats both voting either way. However McCain has taken the opposing position. So we have the Republican incumbent and Democrat nominee versus the Republican nominee. Even if Congress passes the bill, it will be in largely unpopular. Barack and George become friends and McCain wins out.

It is argued that McCain will likely switch his position at some stage. Even if he does, he still has created a division that he stands to gain much on.

So against all odds I would argue that someone in the McCain camp is pretty smart on strategy – that is not necessarily referring to McCain – and someone in the Obama camp should take some surfing lessons.

Pakistan and US

Friends or Foes?

How to make sense of the issue of the growing Afghanistan insurgency base in north-west Pakistan? Following the rhetoric leads to utter confusion.

The first thing that has crystallized is that Pakistan has seen that a growing insurgency base aims itself at Pakistan, not just Afghanistan. There are two consequences of this realization. Firstly the Pakistan government cannot remain complacent and let the problem blow away – or blow into Afghanistan. The second consequence is that if the United States were to escalate its operations into the Pakistan frontier regions than this would have less resistance on the Pakistan side: because Pakistan has sorted out that they have a problem on their own turf and is tacitly thankful for the help.

The Pakistan government tells their people that they think the US is not really very nice, and surreptitiously tells the US, thanks for the help.

The US has been inclined to increase its cross-border operations in large part also because the Pakistan people are becoming more ambivalent due to the pervasive incursion of militancy and terrorism into their society.