| Betreff: World Crisis Update |
| Von: noreply@world-crisis.com |
| Datum: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 09:52:09 -0500 |
Kirsten Zaat - Margaret Hassan has dedicated her life to helping the international community understand that there is no ‘clash of civilisations’. Rather there is only ‘we the peoples’ who are entitled to enjoy our rights while fulfilling our universal responsibilities to protect our fellow human beings. The last 15 years have taught me that ‘we the peoples’ have more in common than we differ. And Margaret has spent more than 30 years now trying to convince the international community of this while tirelessly working to ensure that all peoples enjoy their rights and uphold their responsibilities in dignity and in hope. I hope whoever has taken Margaret away from us realises the momentous mistake they have made and shows the generosity and compassion to right their terrible wrong.
Russell M. Drake - Call him hypnotist-in-chief. He earned it. Among modern era statesmen, only Adolf Hitler comes close to George W. Bush’s skill level as operator of the public consciousness. Consider: After three years of terror and death at the hands of a terrorist band run by two guys hiding in caves, after a bloody, failed invasion of the wrong country in search of who knows what, after a jobs market crash matched only by the Herbert Hoover Administration, and after mismanaging huge national budget surpluses into over-the-cliff national deficits – all supported by the most outlandish lies – Bush still holds a firm grip on the minds of more than half of the people who say they’re going to vote.
S’thembiso Msomi - A Black man is shot and seriously wounded. The unconscious man is rushed to hospital where a white doctor declares him dead. The body is transported to the mortuary where it is stored in a fridge, awaiting identification by the next of kin. A few hours later, the “dead” man wakes up. He screams and bangs on the walls of his icy cubicle, demanding release. A mortuary worker, also black, responds to him in a hushed voice: “Shhhh! Be quiet! The good doctor said you’re dead.” This is one of the stories, I am told, that deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is fond of relating when he addresses audiences. Although the tale is told to illustrate how “the West imposes its version of reality” on developing countries, it is safe to assume that the former Roman Catholic priest finds similarities between his own life and that of the shot man.
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed - Most of us recall that Osama bin Laden is a creation of the CIA. He was employed as a key player in the Afghan war against Soviet occupation. Under his CIA contract, and backed by Saudi finances and Pakistani military intelligence, he built the multi-million dollar CIA-financed underground Tora Bora tunnel complex to serve as a major arms storage depot, training facility and medical center for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. According to the conventional wisdom, US ties with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda ended with the victory of the Afghan war against the Soviets. In the post-Cold War period there was no reason to continue funding the mujahideen. But this convenient narrative falls apart upon closer inspection.
Bill Henderson - The big end of the year recap story of 2004 will not be Bush reelected, but peak oil. After years of underground speculation, the specter of Die Off in our time, right around the corner, is being debated even on the business pages. Of course, the tyranny of the present discounts any perspective that demands radical change, but the reality of peaking production and escalating demand is hard to ignore and the consequences are just a little bit scarier than even four more years of one of the worst US administrations ever. If these global-scale problems are going to be the hallmark of the 21st century, then we must make a conscious attempt to rid ourselves of lingering 20th century lens bias or at least add this global-scale appreciation to understanding how events and policy formation today will effect us tomorrow.
Don Nash - I think that I am beaten. I would never have believed that I would be a stranger in my own country. The social outcast and political pariah. I would never have believed that I could be forced to move from my own neighborhood. Unable to find suitable housing, and the welcome mat that was once on the front door has been unceremonially taken away, and the old place is being rented to criminal junkies. In my neighborhood, criminal heroin addicts are preferable to political dissidents. Especially dissidents that speak out and make the unacceptable political waves. I rank lower on the social ladder than heroin addicts, go figure. Somehow, waging a preemptive genocide on an Islamic people has become fashionable and perfectly acceptable. If one speaks out against this atrocity well then, shame on me and my bad for opening my big mouth.