The Middle East Today

I don’t very often comment on politics or, more properly, world events on my blog, but today I feel inspired to do so, so please bear me out. I actually can’t stand politics, it even seems to me such a thing really shouldn’t even exist, as rather than being an honest search for the best solution to our problems, it quickly degenerates into a battle of wits, or even worse a test of who is stronger. Why so many people blindly confuse strength, confidence or heavy financial backing with truth I’ll never know, but the most optimistic side of me says that this comes from some basic faith that whoever gets to be strongest is also rightest (at the time), but it still seems to me that politics is an ugly game, whilst world events are very real and pressing concerns, like it or not.

 

Anyway, with that out of the way, it’s time for me to get into my views on the thorniest of subjects- the state of the middle east. Now I’ll come straight out now and say that I am not even attempting to speak in terms of strict acceptance of all views prevailing there. Some are to my mind true and others, however wide-spread they may be are actually false. I have no time for fanatical Islamism, which seems to me just fascism in a loosely ‘Islamic’ guise. Just as no-one believe these days we should tolerate, let alone support fascism, I’d say the same goes for radical Islamism, however convenient in the short term such movements might seem (I talk here of the so-called ‘Mujahadeen’ brought into Afghanistan to end Soviet mis-rule, a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire for a country like no other analogy I can imagine).

 

I wish for and will only ever accept, a multicultural and religiously tolerant Middle East, so the fact that members of a religious majority in certain places might want to extend their prejudices by supporting a government discriminating on their behalf is not real democracy at all. At best it could be called popularism, but it is destined to fail, as sooner or later the rest of the world will realise that they identify just as much, if not more, with the Christians, Jews, Kurds and other minorities of the region and will find ways of guaranteeing equal rights for them all. So whenever we talk of the need for more democracy in that region, the ‘elephant in the room’, so to speak is the danger of Islamism. What if, in such destablised circumstances, populations rather than supporting liberal democratic ‘good guys’ turn in their evident frustration with the status quo to Islamic-clothes wearing fanatical ‘bad guys’, as they do in many cases seem to be doing. If they accept the voting principal, but use it in a bigoted way, or the only truly popular and organised opposition is in Islamic-themed (notice my use of ‘themed’ and ‘clothed’, as I don’t want to think or claim that this is the very nature of that creed, as then we really are in trouble), What then? I admit, this is a question I have no real answer for, though my faith tells me that time will bury such people if they refuse to recognise universal rights just as it buried the dictators that came before them.

 

All we can do, I suppose, is avoid legitimising or condoning their prejudices and without fail stand up for the minorities rights, even make respecting those rights a prerequisite for our support. The fact is, business will go on unabated. Seeing as Saudi Arabia, long considered a key Western ‘ally’ outrageously discriminates against Christians with the flimsy excuse that their fellow religionists have done so for generations shows us how bad things actually are there. Europe in the past did such things, in Medieval times  minorities were widely persecuted and after the financial upheavals of the great depression fascist parties came to the fore, often with the blessing (perhaps under duress, we don’t yet know for sure) of the majority Catholic Church and others, who saved their property but arguably lost their souls in the process, leaving Europe as the most agnostic continent the world has ever seen in their wake. Not that I see that as a bad thing, on the contrary, a broadly secular state is the only guarantee of religious freedom, in the end the most precious of freedoms, as a lack of an imposed religion allows those of conscience to flourish.

 

I may add that secular injustice is also to be condemned. The so-called Baath parties of former Iraq and present-day Syria lack any kind of legitimacy, yet it is still questionable if violently overthrowing them is the right answer. In Iraq, it clearly wasn’t and in Syria a combination of delegitimising the existing government there and it’s own terrible, repressive behaviour, far from new though it may, though with terrifying barbarity, has lead to widespread chaos. What kind of order can emerge from such chaos, could it be humane governments, or will more rough beasts slouch forth from Babylon to be born?

 

So, to bring the conversation right to the point of current events, we have a certain dilemma here, presented in it’s starkest terms in Syria. By toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein, we helped expose just how transitory such governments in fact are. We also revealed the sectarian chaos that can emerge from beheading a government in a country that was from the very beginning a post-colonial construction of convenience, cutting blindly across ethnic lines that would presumably has delineated ‘natural’ entities rather than forced ones that seem to require near-constant armed intervention to maintain. Not my use of the word ethnic rather than religious, though the two of course combine in identities. Even if you could strip away the religious identities of Sunni, Shiite, Jew, Kurd, Christian, Christians often being the most badly treated with shocking indifference from the West, ethnic conflict would still be possible in lands with unnatural borders, so rather than try to reduce identities it might be better to expand them with a sense of universal humanity and enlightened, shared custodianship of the Earth.

 

 

In Syria we have a protest movement that was so brutally suppressed that it turned into a fully-fledged armed uprising, which has gathered such pace it can almost be called a civil war. I say almost as the sides are so unequal and, at least in the side of the opposition, ill-defined. A pressing question is what kind of opposition is it really? Assad claims it is Al-Queda linked terrorists and it can’t be denied that members of such groups have made their way into the country, though hopefully the West isn’t and won’t ever dream of arming them. I would have thought after the experience of Afghanistan, finding themselves at war with some of the same groups they had helped supply previously, the West would realise that such entities are like a wild tiger. You might train it, but can never tame it and here we are talking of horrendously barbaric groups, which are in essence no different from the Attila the Huns and Ghengis Khans of history.

 

Yet apparently, they are being heavily equipped by Saudi ‘charities’ and are in a position to do much of the fighting. How to help the legitimate, democratic opposition whilst avoiding arming them, who sooner or later will find some way of turning such arms on us anyway, whether it be by Maliesque hostage-taking, terrorist plots, or simply wishing to destablise nearby countries and attempt to infiltrate them. Knowingly arming them would not only be downright cynical (which is why I wouldn’t put it past some our so-called intelligence services), but ultimately self-destructive as we are the the ‘great Satan’ of freedom, enlightenment and prosperity they fear so much, whilst Assad and his Russian backers are just a little Satan. Yet do nothing and we will be resented as silent accomplices of the regime, which is fighting not so much a terrorist insurgency, though this forms part of the problem, as an internal uprising by a people thoroughly tired of his mis-rule. Here we have a crystalisation of the uprisings there in the 1980s, which at the time we merely ignored, though now affecting the entire country.

 

It seems to me though that there has to be a clear decision by the uprisers that they will commit to a democratic and egalitarian program, that recognises the rights of all groups there, if they want to see Western support. Without that, I’m not sure it makes any sense  to give any armed assistance, for the reasons outlined above and the charge of moral blackmail isn’t very persuasive. However odious Assad’s government might be and however tempting the idea of winning over a country in Russia’s pockets, the end does not justify the means for the simple reason that the end is something that comes after the first act. How nominally Christian countries can even think of arming people whose stated, not perceived, but stated intention is to commit genocide against all non-muslims in the area and also different types of muslim, simply beggars belief. I can understand the desire to have some influence on the resulting government and to be remembered as allies rather than strangers, which surely helped lead to the Libyan involvement. Yet we have to be pretty clear we won’t support just another form of bigotry, however it is dressed up.

 

Of course, in this context two things should be remembered, however unpleasant they may be. One being that these militants are reportedly being armed with the help of the Saudis. Seeing as Saudi Arabia is very much in the american ‘pocket’, even extending to formally secret drone bases, it is hard to believe the West would know nothing of this, especially as such a tactic was used in Afghanistan in the 1980s, with similarly blinkered objectives.

 

The second is perhaps darker and I hope it’s not the case, but I think it’s worth pointing out the possibility. In the time of the original crusades, the Orthodox Christians of Slavic and Middle-Eastern lands were seen as just (or even more) heretical than the Jews and Muslims, who at least had the excuse of not knowing who Christ was, rather than going against his wishes of Apostolic successorship by being folded into the Roman Church and following the Pope directly. So Orthodox Christians were not just abandoned to regional rulers, but actively targeted, based around a fanatical belief that their way of worshipping with icons offended God, though persecuting them would somehow please him.

 

Nowadays, of course, there is much more fellow-feeling amongst Christians, though it seems to me possible that one reason there is such shocking silence amongst Western Christians in the face of such appalling oppression of their brothers and sisters in the Eastern Churches has it’s roots in this. Christianity may have evolved to be much more peaceful and enlightened, but I wonder if the same silence and even Western aid would greet groups persecuting Protestants or Catholics. This shouldn’t be the case and I don’t accept it at all, but other than the possibility of a New World Order organisation that essentially sees Christians as a threat due to their overt morality, this explains in part the widespread silence. Another possibility is that they themselves don’t want to be any more identified with an ‘alien’ west than they already are and beg to be allowed to resolve things on their own terms. Reports of a Christian exodus from Iraq and ‘liberated’ parts of Syria and persecution in ‘Arab Spring’ countries like Egypt suggest otherwise. To an extent, the so-called freedom of the Arab Spring is a death-sentence for minorites and more has to be done if their rights aren’t respected.

 

In all of this we have the existence of modern-day Israel, who I will be clear I recognise, see as a good thing ultimately for the region and the world and support their right to exist. With this comes of course the right to self-defense, self-defense in one of the roughest neighbourhoods on Earth I might add, though I hope they use that right wisely. I don’t have any time for radicals or religious fundamentalists there, either, though think it pretty much absurd to try to pin the blame for all the region’s troubles on such a small entity, which after allis just trying to survive and prosper and doing a lot better than any of her neighbours at doing that. Why do people try to blame Israel for things so obviously beyond their control? Part of this is no doubt the historical prejudice of ‘blaming the Jews’, an almost superstitious tendency to escape from the complexities of a situation by blaming an at least mostly innocent party, a ‘scapegoat’. This works very well for the regimes of the region and keeps the people they are ruling and oppressing off their backs.

 

Yet even if there are Zionist conspiracies, and I have no doubt in such an unstable region, some wheeling and dealing is going on to protect Israel from the insanity so common around her (economically unproductive insanity I might add), it is beyond stupid to think that everything that goes on there is a result of such conspiracies. Yet intellectual laziness has seemingly endless appeal, particularly amongst the disenfranchised (which is not to say that Israel does no wrong, but to emphatically say they don’t do all, or even most of the wrong). The only thing I can see ending this, or any other prejudice for that matter, is universal suffrage and free education. What we are seeing in the Middle East now is that without education, democracy means very little. People are more likely to vote in their own new oppressors, representing their own particular bigotry, rather than governments that have a real likelihood of solving their various problems. The cultural divide between the West and traditionally Islamic majority states, which I still maintain are in reality multicultural countries as well, is very vast. That doesn’t mean we should forget about human rights and pluralism. We are lucky to come from countries where human rights are almost taken for granted. The overthrowing of corrupt dictators is only the first stage of bringing those universal rights to the rest of the world. Only governments that respect the rights of all their citizens, whatever their background, should expect to be seen as legitimate.

 

 

 

New Life in Japan?

First of all I want to extend my hand to all the people affected by it, whether it be property damage, losing someone dear, or fear for the effects of the radiation expelled from the reactors. Yet for all this, as one still believing in an ultimately intelligent hand guiding the events of the universe, we also need to see what good things can come out of it. Who could have designed a world in which something so terrible could bring sweeping changes to a country that are in fact ‘good’, necessary even? Only a true genius the like of which I have never encountered before. It was a terrible event for all concerned, without parallel in Japan’s history for many years, but it carries with it a ray of hope. You know what that is? It is the fact that it is exposing the terrible cronyism that overtook Japan’s politics and employment schemes.

For years, whistleblowers and human rights activists have been demonised as ‘troublemakers’ and misfits, their good and noble actions bringing them approbation rather than the praise they deserve. It was said that the ‘nail that sticks out is hammered down’, even when that nail was a prophet seeking to save the society from its own mistakes. Such inflexibility, an inability that actually fails to differentiate between actual, rather than seeming good and evil, just has to go. The Japanese system, in some ways like the system of the Soviet Union before it, may have brought some measure of collective wealth and security compared to what came before it, but it certainly curtailed the spread of personal freedom and the ability for citizens to chart their own happy destiny that western liberalism grants. It seems that this very system is being exposed by the Tsunami, to the people both in Japan and around the world, as the central government is proving itself unable adequately, despite the billions in allocated aid both from Japan’s budget and the tremendous inflow of overseas aid.

We are seeing around the world one corrupted system after another being dethroned. Such systems, through deified by their networks of mass-media and social hypnotism are in no way the divine offshoot they claim to be. One by one, we are seeing restrictive, corrupt systems being knocked off. Communism, Islamism, now ‘Japanism’, in all cases ones where individual freedom is curtailed to serve the elites with the excuse that it is to maintain the stability of the ‘greater whole’. Is it divine judgement? It may seem that way, but actually it is our own actions that are bringing about this often messy, but wholly necessary, throwing off of old shackles to move into the new millennium with a greater sense of purpose of who we can be, what we can do and quite simply what is possible for a human being living in today’s times.

Technology, through the internet, is liberating us from scandalously corrupt ‘old’ media (take the News of the World phone hacking scandal, for example), democracy and the voice of the people freeing us from enslavement to older systems that no longer serve us to bring our greatest happiness and freedom. We can hear the cries of freedom, decency, justice, ring around the world. In these great and perilous times we best serve ourselves and those around us by heeding them.

Towards a New Humanity

It is now quite clear to us here that the only solution to the challenges posed by this moment is to press forward with the most important change of all- a change to ourselves. Whilst personal transformation has been a theme for centuries, the potential for humanity to evolve as one has only recently been seen as a possibility. At this point, we hold, it is in fact a necessity for the continued survival of the human race. Our technology has reached a point of no return.

It has reached the point where we either use it to transform our way of interacting with our planet, to make it both post-industrial and harmonious with the ecosystems surrounding us, that we have realised with increasing clarity we are dependent upon- or use it to wipe our sorry asses off the face of the planet before we become a danger to the planets surrounding ours. In this there is a failsafe to nuclear technology; only a peaceful, harmonious society can hope to survive the advent of a nuclear age. One overcome by self-centeredness and blinkered enslavement to special interests will quite simply self-destruct, before it spreads.

Looking at the challenges that face us, we would be well-advised to remember this central and well-designed truism of universe existence. The path to having god-like power is also the path to god-like responsibility and the consideration of others this brings, and in this context I include not only humans, but the rich variety of life with whom we share our planetary existence.

Everything that has happened thus far can only be seen as a warning shot, a shot above the bows, fired by no external enemy, but by us, towards us, warning ourselves of the responsibilities to ourselves and the planet we hold. There was once a time to record history, there was once a time to speak of history’s own unfoldment, yet now has come a sudden rush of something that can only be called consciousness, not only the consciousness of a few individuals, but one on a planetary level.

Let us look at the year, look at the calendar and we will see how little time is left, mere moments of this illusion we call time. In these moments, we have to learn new ways, ways in keeping with our enlarged sense of selfhood, fired by our ascendant technology. A world on the verge of discoveries of deep space travel, time travel and on the cusp of computing power that could peer into the very structure of this mathematically-designed universe itself, must awake to itself, must awake to it’s own internal unity, it’s various members being parts of one body, a body that is waking into consciousness of itself and it’s place in the universe.

In many ways, this is the last year before the great beginning. This is a time of great and dramatic change, a sudden unfoldment of evolution, by the end of which former things will be no more. A natural, sustainable world in terms of energy, politics, human inter-relations is the only way forward and it is becoming clearer and clearer all the time. As our dreams, both personal and collective, come closer to fruition, we will all the more strongly reject that which is not in accord with them. For we are not so much being remade by some hypothetical outside force, as remaking ourselves, being ultimately the arbiters of our own destinies, the co-creators of ourselves. A process we are all the more conscious of, as the moment dawns when we can stand upright in mind and heart, as well as merely in bipedal form. A moment in which we will be in touch as never before with who we are, aware as never before of that divine spark burning brightly within us and ready as never before to resume communication with our divine ancestors, who have cared so lovingly for us for all these years.

More on the Demise of Bin Laden

Certainly, if everything that is said about him is true, we have here one of the worst people of the twentieth century. From his days as a C.I.A. backed fighter in Afghanistan, in which he was trained to lead attacks on Russian soldiers and innocent civilians alike, to his more recent crimes against humanity, we have a monster who could well be considered too dangerous to be let loose, or perhaps even to let live.

Yet despite the natural jubilation of his demise, we still have to watch and check our feelings about this. As a fairy-story, it is comfortable to see a bad guy being removed from the face of the planet by highly trained SEALS, but why did this happen, and why, if it happened before, was the news released now? The most obvious answer is Obama’s election campaign. Just days after a long form proving his birth in the US, another piece of evidence of his commitment to patriotism was put on display. It appears that orders were given to not just capture the man, even if unarmed, but to execute him on the spot. Hours later, apparently, he was rushed to an aircraft carrier for a secret burial in an even more secret location. Personally, I want to trust Obama. He comes across as cool, humane and decent. Yet, I am also aware of the nature of the electorate he hopes to convince, which has a very large right-wing element which constantly throws jibes at him, not only because of his being a Democrat, but also because of his racial background. He has, in other words, an unusual amount to ‘prove’.

I don’t believe there will be any specific atrocity because of this. If any people bear the brunt of it, it will probably be in the steadily-destabilised Pakistan, where perhaps the already intense attacks on the authorities and civilised structures there will mount. Even if something did happen, there’d be no way any one could be sure to connect it to this rather than the far worse situation of daily civilian deaths in countries in the area. Fear of further terrorism, now as before, is used as a convenient media smokescreen to avoid any serious ethical (or even legal) examination of what is going on.

That all said, it would make more sense to some to target active terrorists rather than pursue the current strategy of plunging entire populations into an almost genocidal combination of military occupation, humiliation and destabilisation in the midst of the inevitable insurgencies. If just a few terrorists are killed, even in extra-judicial killings, surely this would minimise the pain? Some would say that such a view ignores the wider objectives being sought- ‘cleaning up the swamps’ that produce terrorists and guarding the next decade’s energy supplies. If such is the case, targeted killings won’t change anything, yet I still think, whatever the case, we can make something of yesterday’s news.

Whatever really happened, the feelings of relief at the news mean we are at a cross-roads. Just as the A-bomb being dropped brought controversy, but also an end to conflict and a a search for peace, this is a golden opportunity to wind down a lot of operations in the area. Whether or not the various groups we call the Taliban have been subdued, Obama can plausibly claim victory and an accomplishment of objectives. Of course, there is no guarantee any of this will happen, there is even just as much scepticism that anything has changed. Yet, as the perceptions have changed, so has an opportunity opened up. As with any possible future, it depends which one we, collectively, choose- one involving further violence and recrimination, or one with more peace, based on faith.

The Demise of Bin Laden

A seemingly momentous event occurred yesterday- finally, US special forces caught up with Bin Ladin. This is all, of course assuming that what we are being told is true. In a controversial move, rather than capture or disarm him, when he refused to surrender the forces shot him with hits to his head and chest. Saudi Arabia refusing his body, there was then a quick and secretive sea burial in accordance to Islamic customs (or so we are told), apparently putting to rest a decade of frustration at locating him and avoiding any future shrines to a man who undoubtedly will be seen as a martyr by many sympathisers.

When the news broke out, there were spontaneous celebrations in the U.S. These were mostly by people from members of the younger generation, whose early years had been scarred by his actions. They view him as a tyrant, however simplistic that may be in a world in which others, from a very different perspective, may see him as a freedom fighter, keeping colonial forces at bay. In fact, looking at the celebrations, it is perfectly clear that they are shouts of freedom, freedom from the effects of Islamic Extremism. It may well not be the end of the story, but it is certainly the end of a chapter. There are still neo-nazis around, even after the ‘suicide’ of Adolf Hitler. Yet, people celebrate VE day and VJ day all the same. It is fashionable to be a pacifist, but it makes me wonder- why are people objecting to this personalised hit on a terrorist overlord and staying silent when it comes to the daily brutality of war, that affects civilian as well as military participants? Is it the ethical issues involved, the question of capital punishment? Or is it fear of acts of revenge from his followers? Probably, a combination of both. Yet still, it is worth examining who these Islamicists are and whether opposition to them can fairly be called ‘hate’. It is also necessary to clearly distinguish between them and regular Muslims.

Look first at the society they are creating in Pakistan. Christians are persecuted and even those who stand up for their equal rights under the law. Politicians who believe in equal rights are assassinated. This is a so-called American ally! Then we have the situation in Iraq, where Iraqi Christians, even more so than in the rest of the Islamic world, are afraid for their lives and seeking to leave the country of their birth. An Afghan who converted to Christianity had to leave Afghanistan and seek refuge in Italy. It seems that direct intervention, in that it bolsters these extremists, may well do more harm than good. Yet we have to be clear about the nature of the extremists and not just seek to understand their position- they have an unacceptable level of intolerance, they have hatred in their hearts. The Americans celebrating in the streets, or the Arab masses making huge demonstrations to be free from their own tyrannous leaders share the objective of being free from this- theirs is a cry for freedom. It is very important now to make this point, as there could be a misunderstanding. Looking around the Blogsphere, I feel this is already happening- people celebrating the demise of Bin Ladin are being accused of supporting murder, or assassination, or even hatred. Yet this is a spontaneous expression of joy on the part of the people,a hope for freedom, a hope that lies in the potential of the United States especially, through diplomacy in particular, to get rid of this evil force once and for all. For whatever the problems in the US, what other great power is even nominally oriented towards freedom? The issue is for her actions to be clearer expressions of her high ideals, not becoming bogged down in worldliness.

Yet, there are mistakes and mistakes are very often failures of communication. I personally feel that it was a mistake to invade Islamic countries as part of the ‘War on Terror’, as rather than make the inhabitants have a better feeling towards the Western world due to the fruits of democracy, it increased their fear and made us seem more like occupiers. As our enemies, this made the Islamic extremists leading insurgencies, however terrible their ideas, more attractive. It helped produce soil in which they can grow. It made Vietnam-like military quagmires, in which the vastly different culture of local peoples and their intense mistrust made establishing a friendly, stable government; as was the expressed intention, almost impossible. It has wasted billions of dollars, with nothing much to show for it. Yet, being used to it, no-one objects, the situation has become institutionalised. If there is a gradual retreat from these unsustainable positions, there may still be a need to make targeted strikes, or extractions of enemies for trial. The question is, can they be precise enough to avoid civilian casualties?

In summary, the position of Perfect Futures is that the killing of Bin Ladin was a dangerous move, in that it could well enrage his followers and make him seem a martyr. Yet leaving him alone simply allows other situations, done in his name, to fester, unresolved. Whilst it is wrong to celebrate anyone’s death, it is understandable to celebrate a body-blow to tyrannical ideologies. Those who killed or celebrated the death of Bin Ladin are unlikely to be hateful people such as his followers are. The idea that they are celebrating death of any sort is a superficial misunderstanding. They are celebrating closure of a dark path the world went on after 9/11. They are hoping things will go back to normal. Their spontaneous joy is more like that of the Arab protestors in Egypt than those burning flags. They are exhibiting hope and pride. I am personally glad he is gone, but won’t be celebrating as such, as the problem of Islamic extremism is still with us. It is especially still with the Christians in Islamic lands. Yet I hope this weakens their grip, that the overall decency of Obama is remembered and the intentions he has towards a peaceful world are respected. I’d like to live in a world in which no-one needs to die. Yet I’d rather one who murdered did, rather than send a message that it is possible for such people to escape from justice and imperil million in the long run. What if he had been captured and his followers took hostages and threatened to kill them unless he was freed? I for one wouldn’t put it past them. President Obama has the tremendous responsibility of being the one in charge.  Violence may well not solve anything, but those in charge of keeping the peace may well have to deal with the violent, if only to protect the innocent and the very rule of law from being harmed by them.

We witnessed the lesser of evils yesterday. Let us hope and pray for a better world to follow, that it’s aims are understood and that the plans of anyone seeking revenge for it will come to nothing.

>Prayers for Peace

>Prayers for the safety of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, recently attacked by an Afghan war veteran, quite probably for her strong support of Obama’s healthcare plan and also for the family of Salmaan Taseer in Pakistan, assassinated by his own bodyguard for his support for the religious freedoms of Pakistan’s Christian minority. Each were attacked by violent extremists, egged on by the aggressive rhetoric of irressponsible politicians. Sure, the cultures and situations are very different, but these violent actions, attempts at intimidation aimed squarely at human rights activists, clearly show the danger we face from those opposed to the democratic process and the mandate enjoyed by those elected. People, we hold, are more or less the same everywhere, they just express themselves according to the culture they find themselves in. Our superficial differences shouldn’t blind us to our essential similarities.

Now in drawing a parallel between the two events I’m not suggesting in any way that the situation between the two countries is similar, nor that support for violent, right-wing extremism is anywhere near the same level in the US as in Pakistan or other parts of the ‘Islamic world’. What I am saying is that severe intolerance leads to the same ends, wherever it’s ugly head surfaces. Those who do have power have a clear duty to discourage it, not just in terms of actions such as this, but on an emotional level. Of course, Sarah Palin wouldn’t have wanted this to happen and her condolences are sincere. Yet her notion of targeting individuals based upon their commitments may well have played some part here. As a popular political leader, she needs to be very careful what she says and how she says it. Her freedom of speech implies a responsibility to use it well. When large groups of people are whipped up into a frenzy, some of them are bound to spin out of control and this can even happen in a relatively developed, stable country, as we know only too well.

Writing these actions off as the bizarre acts of lone madmen simply because they just weren’t directly tied to a larger group just won’t do it. People act according to the encouragements of their environment. The context they are taking place in is one with countless smaller, un-newsworthy exchanges, such as have stained the ticker-tape of humanity’s history for generations. We need to be encouraging people to change within themselves.

So lets’s put our faith in democracy as a way of finding the best in the mix of qualities that make up the human race. Lets’ expose extremism before it grows in popularity and becomes an even more dangerous phenomenon. To enforce one’s views on another is an act of violence, whatever the cultural context. They hope we will be intimidated and run away scared. Yet there are actually more of us than of them, though we should always remember that ultimately there is no ‘us’ and ‘them’, whether it be the case of countries or of individuals. The only real revolution starts within every one of us. If we want a better world, we have to change ourselves first of all.

>In Response to the Situation for Iraqi Christians in Post-War Iraq

>This really is a heart-rending issue, so I decided to comment on it…

First of all, our prayers go out to them, our brothers in faith in a land of terrible spiritual darkness and political uncertainty. Only God can truly provide peace of mind and safety, through his influences on the world. Yet, even as humans, we have a big part to play in this.

It’s clear to me that, however unfairly, the association of the Christians with the ‘regime change’ operation, along with others who actually helped, such as translators, is a large part of the reason they are being singled out like this. Whilst I don’t hold with Islam being a tolerant religion, based upon it’s history of being quite different, in other times and places such discrimination has also happened because of the assumed ‘guilt of association’, which is a toxic thing to begin with. It’s a horrible shock to see, but it is something that humans have been capable of for a long time. We need reasonable solutions to make sure people are safe.
Bush and Co. should never have invaded unless they were sure they could produce a stable, secular government in a short time. Still, such a government, made by Iraqis for Iraqis is the only hope that this sort of thing, which doesn’t tend to happen so much in stable countries, becomes a thing of the past.

Radical groups flourish in anarchy and removing not just Saddam Hussein, but also the Baath party administrators, police and army, pretty much ensured this anarchistic situation, which Iraq is still climbing out of. He was actually putting the brakes on Islamic radicalism, as it was a threat to him too.

It seems to me that evil loves chaos, as it can fulfill it’s darkest fantasies in such a time, with no-one able or even willing to stop them. Good requires a certain amount of order, as it is a constructive force. This should be a lesson to the world about attempts to make things better. They should be careful to see that they create what they really want and ensure the safety of the innocent. It seems like radical Islam is so barbaric, it requires strong governments to control. The unsavoury things such governments do may just be the lesser of two evils compared with setting it free.

Freedom, in short, is closely related to safety. If we can’t guarantee this to the Iraqi Christians in their own land, then they should be granted safe asylum, as a priority, partly because it seems to me almost no-where in the middle East is truly safe for anyone not a Muslim. We can’t just wash our hands of this and hope things get better there. Obama and co has inherited these problems just as much as he inherited the wars that exacerbated them- ironically, as part of their intention was (publicly at least), to create stable, viable, friendly states out of tyranny. Whether this ‘lead to gold’ alchemy can work is a philosophical point to those living under the effects of it.

Well, that’s my two cents on the situation, anyway. Right now north Korea is hogging the headlines, but not only will these issues not go away, we should also urgently study them, to see what lessons can be learnt if we do take part in other regime changes, such as the North Korean problem. In such a case, we shouldn’t just fire everyone working for Li’l Kim, as they might actually be decent individuals just doing a job, essential for rebuilding the country. We should be realistic and avoid radical actions. That way, more reasonable people are likely to come to the fore in the aftermath. Your means define your ends, not the other way around.

>Why did Germany Lose World War 2

> The simplist answer to this is that they were in the wrong- goodness was destined, somehow, to triumph against even the most seemingly unsurmountable evils.

Ultimately, the main reason for his downfall and that of the regime was their evil nature. Whatever dark forces helped him to build up that tremendous army so quickly and hypnotically transfix a whole nation were no match for the powers of goodness.

Had he been more sane, kept calculating rather than act impulsively, surely without defeating many of his enemies, he could have reached an understanding and maintained a limited ‘Reich’ that would have been too costly to invade. A more restrained Hitler would have been a terrible adversary, holding enough forces in reserve to make D-Day too costly to carry out.

We are lucky, in fact that he was so closely identified with evil that forces we would call good galvanised themselves to take care of the problem, however great the cost. For evil is craziness, a misunderstanding of the way reality actually is and a failure to understand the cause and effect relationships that will make it’s intentions impossible to realise. History’s purest yet expression of evil called forth the purest forces of good to oppose it. For me, it’s as clear cut as history gets.

Just sticking to the conventional, historical factors, (though I think whatever had happened, Hitler’s craziness would have gotten in the way), I can identify several main reasons-

1) Underestimating the Russians with Barbarossa. Russia is known as an ‘unconquerable’ nation due to the harsh winter and stubborn people, who could unite against an aggressor like nothing else. By not capturing Moscow as a priority and trying to fight on without preparations for the winter, Hitler was being extremely unrealistic.

2) The lack of enough intelligent propaganda leveled at conquered nations. Although this would go straight against Hitler’s twisted world view, presenting themselves as a liberating army to conquered people could have won them valuable allies. In many cases, there were great opportunities here- many people would be happy to be freed from the Soviet Union, or for that matter, from the European Empires they lived in. Yet with great cruelty, the Nazis created new enemies in many places, rather than take the route of ’empire building’ through flattery that had worked so well for others.

3) Underestimating Britain. In this, I mean the geographic factors of the channel as much as the people’s resolve and technological ingenuity. In fact, it seems obvious to me that Hitler held out the hope that Britain would join him as a somewhat ‘fellow Aryan nation’, so long as their empire was preserved. Yet such thinking went clearly against that of the British public and was made all the more impossible by the targeting of British cities (even if German cities had themselves been targeted). Hitler’s fantasies were not shared and he for long refused to believe it.

4) I put this in order of historical eventuality, not importance, but the declaration of war on the US was a foolish mistake. No doubt the mistaken idea that a prosperous democracy is ‘soft’ lay behind this, but America’s commitment and vast resources were (and still are) unprecedented. That said, had he left them tied up with Japan they might well have hesitated to be drawn into a ‘European problem’ and restricted themselves to arming friendly countries like Britain for years. Again, we can see Hitler’s craziness at work.

5) At heart we have the arrogance and lack of diplomacy at the heart of the Nazi movement, but there was the lack of seriousness in seeking and co-ordinating with Allies. Italy was possibly worse than useless. Spain wasn’t brought in and Japan given to fits of fanaticism that couldn’t be sustained by her natural resources the way Russia’s behaviour was. Fascism was thankfully a flash in the pan (I hope), but a good reason for this was the lack of co-ordination. Attacking Russia in unison, for example, would have made more sense than Japan bringing America into the fray.

6) Antisemitism and lunatic racial theories. This meant that not only in conquered countries, but even from the German population itself, many opportunities were missed. Genius scientists like Einstein went to work for the allies, though presumably if Hitler had kept his personal feelings to himself, he would have had their assistance, though of course this all goes quite against the very essence of the lunatic ideas he entertained. Thinking your own race is superior is one thing. Thinking that entitles you to turn others into hard-labour slaves is another and apart from the immorality involved, it resulted in an inefficient use of labour, resulting in a poorer economy than otherwise possible.

6) Misapplication of technology. Germany had some of the world’s best scientists and it is well known that they pioneered dive bombers, submarines, jet aircraft and even ballistic missiles, but the problem with these projects is that they lead to complex and expensive designs that were hard to mass produce as needed. When coupled with an irrationally rushed desire to ‘take on the world’, they just couldn’t be produced fast enough.

7) Hitler refusing to listen to other’s advice. Of course, the achilles heel to the whole project, aside from it being despotic and therefor inherently short-lived, was the leader’s arrogance and pig-headedness. If he had simply admitted to himself he needed advice from others, it would all have been more sustainable, especially as regards strategic decisions.

I think I’ll stop there, as I’m left with the distinct impression that underlying all of this is Hitler’s arrogance, on a personal level amongst others. The whole movement was embodies by him, much more than say, Communism, which has it’s own texts and various manifestations. Aside from being, as said, crazy, I think he was a frustrated artist at heart- his chosen creation the ‘greater Germany’. For me, this explains the unrealistic decision making (which, I think we should remember, did at times work, just not very reliably) and the ‘all or nothing’ approach.

Fortunately, the Germany we have today is one of the most progressive and forward looking nations on the planet, yet somewhat ‘denationalised’ by the EU and eclipsed by greater powers like the US. I like to think we can respect what their soldiers went through and even went beyond their usual limits to achieve, without in any way condoning the whole enterprise.

I think by seeing into the Abyss and not wanting any more of it, Germany and Japan made a great effort to make a fresh start in rebuilding their countries. So, despite losing the war, I think they made a better job of learning that war’s a bad thing than the winners did. Existing under American protection, though, it’s been a bit easier for them to be pacifists.

>The End of Iraqi Combat Operations- Yet When Will They Have Their Lives Back?

>The wonderful Bill Blum says about the Iraqis

“( they) have lost everything — their homes, their schools, their electricity, their clean water, their environment, their neighborhoods, their mosques, their archaeology, their jobs, their careers, their professionals, their state-run enterprises, their physical health, their mental health, their health care, their welfare state, their women’s rights, their religious tolerance, their safety, their security, their children, their parents, their past, their present, their future, their lives .”

>Writing Japanophilia

>I’ve recently started making a blog called ‘Japanophilia’, The idea behind it is to make an accessible resource for people interested in Japan. Also, it has a view to perhaps ending up as something with commercial potential- not so much ‘selling out’ as making a wide audience possible. Of course, if that lead to other opportunities, that won’t be turned down.

The problem is that so much of the subjective, the confused, the exaggerated, exists in my writing. It could be said, so much that is subjective perhaps to the point of esotericism. Is it just me? Who knows? Certainly, I have my own perspective of things, informed by my unique collection of experiences. I want to inform and share, yet I also want to be free to be myself. Here, below is my account of Sawara, which I have still yet to edit to appeal to a wider and commercialised world. I wonder how it will end up, following my best instincts. This is how it looks now, at any rate-

A town that used to be a city, Sawara is as sleepy a backwater as you could hope to see, complete with a canal flanked on either side by gorgeous weeping willow trees, practically drinking the water they hang over. Going there a couple of days ago, free from the weekend or even more extensive festival crowds, was a relaxing but inspiring experience. I’ve been there before, for the tremendous summer festival- now was a chance to see it’s quiet side, along with my friend Elizabeth, author of Chibaraki Life, a blog about things in Chiba and Ibaraki. Each of us ready with camera in hand, we set off for the wild (well, really not so wild!) world of Sawara.

Central to Sawara and it’s charm is the canal running through the center of the town and connecting it to the wider world by the Onogawa river. You can ride a boat down this, lined by weeping willows, seeing where merchants used to descend steps to trade produce, on what was once an important trading route on the way to Tokyo.It was a very pleasant and friendly ride; this being a week-day, there weren’t so many tourists around, so we could get more attention and time.

 As I often do, I enjoyed getting lost in the microsphere of the ‘Tiny Universe’- taking photos of textures on the walls of old houses and finding flowers shooting up amidst ancient ruins. Having so many old structures (Sawara was spared wartime bombing, perhaps because it’s unimportance, perhaps for it’s heritage), they were everywhere to be found- like the rings on trees, they tell stories of the age and endurance of the town, that has been through so many time periods, but kept it’s charm intact. People still come here in droves, not so much to trade, as to reconnect with it’s history and deep feeling.

Away from the town center lie various shrines and temples, which all seem to be well kept up, one of the better effects of tourism. I enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of their gardens and their reverence for nature. We made our way to Kanpukuji temple, a quiet and green area that gave us respite from what was proving to be a long walk. We enjoyed the gardens and simple, meditative atmosphere. Temples in Japan are both places of (occasional, most Japanese people don’t consider themselves to be religious) worship and the home to whatever monks or priests may be there. This one had the feeling of a large country garden, as well as the ambiance of the various prayers that have been uttered here over the centuries.

We made our way to a Suwa Shrine, past a statue of the man (Tadataka Ino, who looked like a samuri with all his swords), credited with mapping the whole of Hokkaido, simply by pacing the distances by foot, the first person to ever do so. Whilst I think there must be more to the story than that, no doubt he achieved some great feats, especially considering the perilously unstable nature of Japan at the time. A man was waiting there to  share the history with passing visitors.

Walking up the steep steps, we could see it as a storehouse of memories for the community, of deeds done long ago. with boat propellers and anchors lying amongst the grounds.

After a while it was time for lunch. Near the canal are a variety of shops and restaurants, surprisingly quite a few based around sushi. The one we went to had a very friendly man, keen to tell us about the town and to share the secrets of good food. He gave us some special Japanese green tea, which tasted fresh and invigorating,. Apparently the tea and rice all comes from nearby Narita, which is a famous agricultural area alongside having of course Japan’s main airport. Farmers have strong movements to keep the character of the place intact, refusing to sell land in some cases when there are calls to expand the airport. In a way, this illustrate’s a central feature of Japanese life- the urge to modernise and the call to maintain traditions. Generally they exist side-by-side, seemingly out of conflict in harmonious Japan, , but every so often people feel the need to draw lines in the grass. Certainly, I am glad to see Narita keep it’s culture and the sushi was excellent, aesthetic and delicious at once.

Just outside the town, a short taxi-ride away, lies Katori Jingu, a shrine in the Shinto tradition, the designation Jingu referring to it’s connections with the Imperial family and grandure. Unlike a lot of places in Japan, it is very much a living place of spirituality, with ritualised, rhythmic dances performed for the gods to see. We actually saw two- one by kindergarden students chanting in a hypnotic, rythmic fashion that seemed to make all of time slow down to it’s rythmn. Then there was a second, silent one inside the shrine itself by the miko-san, or shrine maidens, (these days, usually university students doing a low-stress part-time job). Out of politeness we didn’t watch it too closely, but I could sense the slow, swaying rythmns of that ancient culture, the subtle, understated actions that belie passionate emotions, astheticised to the point of scerentity. With all that was happening and the stillness of it, the shrine has a very quiet, regal atmosphere, softened and made more serene by the presence of so many tall trees. like you can find at that more-accessible of Jingu, Harajuku’s Meiji-Jingu.

Naturally, any association with Japan’s Emperors are controversial for many and the issue of this often comes up with the subject, for Japanese people as much as foreigners, many of whom refuse to even set foot in ‘Jingu’ for this very reason. From my point of view though, though, it should be remembered that with the post-war turnaround Japan made to being a pacifist society, shrines are much less linked to Japan’s former empire these days (with the exception of the infamous ‘museum’ of WW2 in Yasukuni Jinja, that is). National pride as a member of the family of nations, as seems to be being cultivated in Japan these days, may even be a good thing. At any rate, we can safely make a distinction between the ‘State Shinto’ that revolved around nationalism and ‘folk Shinto’, that deifies and stands in awe of the forces of nature. Like many other Westerners who feel their own culture has been robbed of a sense of the magical, the mysterious, even the sacred in nature, such places now appear as an invaluable resource. The trees are quite literally revered as sacred, propped up with supports and treated with bandages to ensure they live for centuries- rocks are wrapped around with prayer flags. All of this is a recognition of the divine force flowing through all things, which is so visible in these great trees.

In a sense I’m neither for or against religion- what matters more is what it is used for; either trying to control people, or helping them to rediscover their true and better nature, the power that animates the universe itself.  I was in awe of the massive tree standing there in Katori Jinja, draped in prayer flags, radiating energy all around it.

We were lucky enough to see a dance by some elementary school girls. With a steady rhythm, they paced out a chant-like song that had a hypnotic melody, going on for quite a while. After that, some of the Miko-San (shrine maidens) did their own dance inside the shrine itself. You could just about see them from outside and it had a similar haunting beauty, more like a trance or a ritual  than a dance in the usual sense. If it is a form of communication with ‘the gods’ and the gods reside in the subconscious, then I suppose this is appropriate. For me the melodies are very soothing and inspiring, with a delicacy that is hard to find in a rushed, modern world. To be around all this was fascinating and it certainly brought the place to life, a life that in one way or another has gone on for so many centuries; and if the birth-dates ascribed to many shrines are to believed, millennia even.

After visiting the shrine, along with it’s small museum of relics and gifts from all over the world (my favourite of these being the cartoonesque Phoenix-head ship prow from an old ship, that reminded me of the character from Osamu Tesuka’s classic manga), we had a hot cup of macha and snacks in a small cafe, amongst a row of small restaurants and souvenir shops lining the route to the great Tori, the gate marking entrance in into the shrine grounds. The sun was setting and another full day was coming to a close. (By the way, you can se some more photos from the day at this Flickr Gallery)