3 posts tagged “politics”
time tells
we are made of time.
we are its feet and its voice.
the feet of time walk in our shoes.
sooner or later, we all know, the windows of time will erase the tracks.
passage of nothing, steps of no one? the voices of time tell of the voyage.
- eduardo galeano
We had a work retreat this weekend where the research and trading team gathered in big sur and stayed at the ventana inn. Three of us drove down the 1 on Friday and it was an incredible ride down. The weather was perfect and the coast is so beautiful. I'm in awe of how amazing California really is and it was worth taking the extra time to enjoy little infinities of time observing the ocean and light play with each other. We arrived just as the sunset and we were in for another treat with stars coming out to play. With so little pollution you can see a great deal more of the night sky. I remember a bunch of us just stopping and looking up at the sky. I spent some time sitting outside just staring at the sky and listening to music. It makes you feel really connected with the universe when you think about how tiny our little world is.
We also had some really interesting guests come and give lectures such as Dr Richard Perle , Dr John Taylor and a few others. It was really useful to get some radical perspectives. For example Perle is quite hawkish and advocates a tactical strike against Iran and explained how the US would go about doing it. The whole idea was to get people who would be moderately controversial explain and justify their point of view. The other cool thing is to see the personal side of people who you only read about in the media. You see the human side to them and even though you don't agree with their philosophy you can appreciate their passion. I wake up early so I got to the reception area early. People would flow in and we'd talk about what the speakers had talked about and debated it. I love being able to talk to hyper-intelligent people who are opinionated. I just don't get that kind of conversation everyday and I thoroughly enjoy it when I get a chance. The fact that the people I work with are so much smarter than me is extremely humbling.
We had a free day on Sunday and I staked a claim on a hammock. There is nothing better than having the sun caress your body , the ocean soothing your mind and music blocking out the world. It was great just to meditate and ponder the world and my place in it. I made some progress with Freethinkers but I was drawn to observe all the beauty around me. It was just a great weekend and it was something I really needed. It's nice to get away from it all occasionally.
tree of fire
the tree by the river
is weeping leaves.
it strews the shore
with tear after tear.
it reads to the river
its prophecy of fire.
i am that final
leaf that no one
sees
my people
have died as fires
die-without a trace
- adonis
One of my favorite blogs is Open Culture I religiously (heehee) wait for posts to come up because there are always gems. This particular post which was a debate about a nuclear Iran was quite interesting. The rise of Iran as a power broker in the middle east has take quite a few people by surprise.
The Iraq war has accelerated Tehran's plans for creating a Shiite based hegemony in the region. With Iraq having a Shiite majority nothing could have been better for Saddam to go and for the rise of Shiites in the region. Even with a civil war things are good for Iran. They are fighting a proxy war in Iraq right now which is eerily reminiscent of Afghanistan in the 80s. Iran prospers no matter if there is peace or chaos in Iraq right now. I'm not talking about economic prosperity here, they are taking a massive gamble that politics comes first and economic prosperity will come later. When I say "they" I really mean Amadinejad and his cronies. There is an active backlash against him within Iran right now for how much pain people are suffering because of all his posturing and rhetoric. The interesting thing about Iran is that it is one of the few Islamic states that has open elections. Granted it's highest authority is their religious elite so as long as the candidates are sanctioned by the religious leaders regular people get to choose who they want in power. They happened to elect a hardliner in Amadinejad whose experience with the Iran-Iraq war has obviously deeply scarred him and his outlook. I think many people in Iran including the religious leaders are wondering what sort of mess he's got them into. So there is the brave face of unity on the outside with all it's nationalism and jingoism but an internal debate as to whether or not this is the right path for Iran.
Another interesting fact about Iran is the makeup of it's population. They have an incredible number of young people who are educated and keen to debate the right path for Iran. Look at how many blogs are coming out of Iran at the moment. This isn't a one sided story and these kids truly care about their country. Out of this we can only hope there will be another revolution where Iran shifts more towards the center as it realizes the power it has gained. This is wishful thinking at this point and we need to think about the here and now since it will have the greatest impact on whether or not these kids become zealots or moderates.
I'm a mixture of a dove and a hawk , a dork if you will. I believe in secular democracies. I don't believe you can bully people into becoming democracies , there has to be an inherent lust for it to become successful and take root. I often view countries where religious leaders have power with a great deal of suspicion since their framework for progress is based on archaic texts and a magical being who takes care of everything. These people aren't fools and many of elite religious leaders are exceptional scholars , they just happen to be using their intellect in the wrong way (imho). I'm just unconvinced they can be completely rational because they are taking inspiration from a higher power that is curiously quiet. I'm also opposed to concepts such as the moral police who seem to think they know what's best for other people and often their presence leads to tragedies such as the cold blooded execution of Atefah Sahaaleh. However for those of us in the US we also have our moral police we're just lucky they aren't sanctioned to come after us. So the question is when Iran gets a nuclear weapon can they be trusted with it? My sense is that in its current state the checks and balances Iran has might not be enough to ensure that it will be a responsible nuclear citizen since most of it's battles are being fought through proxies (terrorism etc).
Does this mean that a tactical strike by the US or Israel is the solution? I think a military strike a non-solution. The problem has to do with logistics. Iran has a decentralized nuclear program so there isn't one target to strike. Even if you knew where to strike getting to the actual facilities will require the use of tactical nuclear weapons (i.e nuclear weapons powered way down) since they are hidden underground. If you're going down that path you had better be damn sure you've got your targets right or the fallout (yes, I'm quite witty at times) could be disastrous for the country doing the strike. It would be open season on the aggressor and would lead to incredible instability in the region and overseas as jihadis would grow in numbers and start reaping havoc (remember the human wave attacks of the Iran-Iraw war?). Also a strike would only temporarily set back the program. If they are keen to get a bomb they will eventually. It's a matter of pride that Iran needs a bomb and Shiites need a bomb to counter the Sunni bomb (i.e Pakistan's nuclear arsenal). To rational people this might seem like a moronic reason but remember we aren't dealing with rational players here. The military option just doesn't seem worth it for the US or Israel both short and long term.
What are we to do then? Just give up? Put our heads in the sand and hope it all goes away? No, we understand the reality of the situation and deal with it. The only real way for the US to deal with Iran is détente. Bullying will not work since it only fuels their desire to stick it to you. It wouldn't be the first time the US has done this but it's a complicated game. The US doesn't want to seem like it's losing face and giving Iran the chance to gloat how it has brought the "great-satan" to it's knees. Iran doesn't want to seem like it's compromising and selling out after all it's rhetoric. The trick is to do what countries have done for years. Talk in private without anyone really knowing and coming up with a framework to deescalate the situation. It's not going to be easy. The US has to deal with a new power in the middle east and Iran has to deal with the fact that even if they are a power there are 1.3 billion Sunnis that still hate them. There is middle ground here and there is a great deal of bad blood. However it's better to keep that blood in the past than to let more flow in the future. We just happen to live in a world where absolutes are losing positions to be in.
I've always been a romantic and deep down I want the youth of Iran to revolt and create a secular democracy. I just feel like Iran out of all the Islamic countries in the middle east has the best chance of achieving what the rest of us in the west enjoy. This doesn't mean leaving their Islamic roots behind it just means achieving some kind of separation between mosque and state and moving their country towards peace and prosperity. There is too much hate , violence and death and I think they are sick of it just as much as we are.
As Lennon eloquently mused. You may say I'm dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
We live in a world where the cult of celebrity has been forced down our throats by major media outlets and the masses soak it up. I like my share of gossip and innuendo but there comes a point where it served in such quantities that at some point it's going to cause cancer. This particular vicious type of cancer deprives our brains of basic cognitive functions. Media has seized upon this zombie like state that we find ourselves in to see how far it can go with feeding us non-news. Am I not making sense yet? Can you figure out what news item I'm talking about?
Ah, I realize that perhaps your brain is in a fragile state. Let me move beyond abstractions to a concrete example. The death of Anna Nicole Smith has to be one of the biggest non-news worthy stories out there. It's tragic someone lost their life. What isn't tragic is that she was a person that chose to squander her life. Her claim to fame was being a has-been model who married a billionaire (No better way for an old man to go out) and later had a reality tv show (she was famous for being famous). We mostly remember her for living most of her life in some kind of intoxicated state with a mix of some of the choicest drugs and alcohol money can buy. In a way she was a perfect warning sign for every person that maybe at risk of being self-destructive. What I find utterly ridiculous is that people were some how shocked that she died suddenly. She had a death wish for quite some time and occasionally life wishes to perform small mercies and grant you your wish. There will be some of you who read this and think how heartless, she just lost her son (through a mix of drugs and alcohol) and was probably abused in some form when she was younger. There are many people who triumph over adversity and tragedy and never had the resources that Smith had. There are many people who are thrust into the lime light and don't spiral into a world of self-destructive behavior. If she wanted to be part of the cosmos of self-destructive celebrities and leave the world in such a cliched manner her wish was granted. She now has the dubious pleasure of being in the panthenon of celebrities that died young. There is no doubt she will be a lesser deity perhaps regulating the flow of gas from old men. Anna Nicole Smith, you madam are no Marilyn Monroe.
If it is tragedy you seek look no further than Iraq where bomb blasts are killing hundreds of people at a time. These people are merely statistics. Think of those soldiers who have died over the last week. Forget your politics each one of them whether they are US or Iraqi were regular people who died collectively as a number. They will never be given the individual attention they deserve. It's the death of people like this that make me the most emotional. Perhaps we can find some hope in stories like this of a wounded soldier coming back and getting married. If you want to learn more about the Iraqis read the following for an unfiltered view point that is as funny as it is tragic:
