Numerous Narratives

"I used to think that the causes of war were predominantly economic. I came to think that they were more psychological. I am now coming to think that they are decisively "personal," arising from the defects and ambitions of those who have the power to influence the currents of nations." ~ B. H. Liddell Hart "According to the first image of international relations, the locus of the important causes of war is found in the nature and behavior of man. Wars result from selfishness, from misdirected...

The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it, and when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly. ~ Margaret Atwood It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi Democracy is based on a delicate balance of trust between t...

Situational awareness is the ability to perceive and understand your environment. You are able to assess potential threats or changes. You take appropriate action. You are conscious of what's happening around you. You are able to identify important elements such as people, objects, or events. You understand their significance. You can predict how they might change in the near future. This skill is important in high-risk jobs, emergency situations, and daily decision-making to maintain sa...

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change." ~ Jim Rohn "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." ~ Leo Tolstoy "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." ~ Nelson Mandela "I think the growth of the brain is a slow process. But you do change and the more you accept change and embrace change, the better." ~ Diane Keaton Adapting often requires trusting your own instincts. Adapting also require...

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt "Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities." ~ Pope Francis "In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are in substance saying to that man that he has no right to exi...

Johannes, how do you like this country so far? "I really enjoy this place but this northern country makes me long for my country that I was born in." Really? What makes you long for your country? What makes you want to go back to your southern country? "Back home, the weather was different. We never wore heavy jackets even when the monsoons came. It was as if our bodies were part of nature. Yeshua, it is so different here." I don't understand, how is it so different? "When we flew into t...

"I made 'Bowling for Columbine' in the hope the school shootings would stop and that we would address the issue of how easy it is to get a gun in the United States, and tragically, those school shootings continue." ~ Michael Moore "We live in a crazy time. Every other week, there's a school shooting. There's always some nutty thing and I've always wanted to kind of understand the crazy." ~ Richard Patrick It horrifies all of us to hear of a school shooting, that news becomes a nightmare for ...

Israel's military has dropped 80000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza Strip. Over 90% of Gaza has been leveled. Living conditions are inhospitable. No running water. No electricity. No internet. No cell phone coverage. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli bombing. Military bomb analysis and economist have estimated at least 10 years or more it will take for all of the rubble and unexploded bombs dropped by Israel on the Gaza Strip to be cleared so that reconstruction...

Reading through an amazing outstanding, informative book, "The Palestine Lab." The author has an outstanding section on Israel's NSO Pegasus spyware. This spyware is almost equivalent to NSA spyware, just an easy click on a link via text message and the phone is infected, and the organization that has sent the infected link has full access to your phone. The spy ware can listen to voice messages, read text messages. View all the work done on the cell phone including website searches and eve...

"I've always loved my own little office spaces no matter what they were like. It's the Virginia Woolf, room of one's own concept, it's really important." ~ Lena Dunham It can be somewhat of a mental strategy when transitioning to a new office. What needs to go? What needs to be added is to change it up slightly. An office needs to look professional and, at the same time, welcoming, promoting a sense of belonging and relaxation or mindfulness. Art and books play a significant role in the off...

A moment of historic danger: It is still 90 seconds to midnight. 2024 Doomsday Clock Statement. Science and Security Board ~ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists A durable end to Russia’s war in Ukraine seems distant, and the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in that conflict remains a serious possibility. In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to “suspend” the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). In March, he announced the deployment of tactical nucl...

The obstacle is the USA administration. I know there is a strong Israeli lobby in America, no doubt of it. ~ Yasser Arafat The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing criticism. Politicians challenge it at their peril because of the lobby's ability to influence political contributions. ~ George Soros The Israeli lobby has clout in the U.S., which means that re-arranging the region and controlling its resources one way or another, will serve Israel through its control ...

"It's a lot easier to get your way if you have more than one way." ~ Jennifer James "Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent." ~ Nolan Ryan "Action and adaptability create opportunity." ~ Garrison Wynn "Adaptability is being able to adjust to any situation at any given time." ~ John Wooden Adaptability and Suppleness The key is to be flexible and positive with any colleagues that are neg...

"Resistance is feasible even for those who are not heroes by nature, and it is an obligation, I believe, for those who fear the consequences and detest the reality of the attempt to impose American hegemony." ~ Noam Chomsky "The scope of America's global hegemony is admittedly great, but its depth is shallow, limited by both domestic and external restraints." ~ Zbigniew Brzezinski "Wars are never fought for altruistic reasons. They're usually fought for hegemony, for business. And then of cou...

"A leader's lasting value is measured by succession." ~ John C. Maxwell "Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed." ~ Corita Kent "life is a succession of readjustments." ~ Elizabeth Bowen "Great things do not just happen by impulse, but as a succession of small things linked together." ~ Vincent Van Gogh In any organization, succession can have positive or negative consequences. If individuals are retiring or departing or being promoted, succession is an important ...

There are few things more bizarre than watching people advocate that another country be bombed even while acknowledging that it will achieve no good outcomes other than safeguarding the 'credibility' of those doing the bombing. Relatedly, it's hard to imagine a more potent sign of a weak, declining empire than having one's national 'credibility' depend upon periodically bombing other countries. ~ Glenn Greenwald [I]t's impossible to evade the fact that Endless War will inevitably degrade the c...

"Encryption...is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running the government... It's hard to think of a more powerful, less dangerous tool for liberty." ~ Esther Dyson "I believe that if you took privacy and you said, I'm willing to give up all of my privacy to be secure. So you weighted it as a zero. My own view is that encryption is a much better, much better world. And I'm not the only person that thinks that." ~ Tim C...

"Social networking is playing a huge role in creating awareness and mobilizing support for all kinds of common interests. What better way to use this remarkable tool than to change the world?" ~ Natalie Portman "Networking is an enrichment program, not an entitlement program." ~ Susan RoAne "Smart mobile phones connect you with 1 billion users worldwide, basically for free - you don't pay for the phone, you don't pay for the Internet, you don't pay for the wireless connectivity. Social networ...

Depending on how you count, the 2024 conflict is Israel’s forth major war with Hamas in sixteen years, or its sixth with Palestinian groups since the Second Intifada, which erupted in September 2000 following the collapse of the Oslo Accord peace process. ~ Sebastien Roblin Some Israelis refer to their periodic shelling of the Palestinian territory as “mowing the lawn.” It is a disturbing metaphor because it is so indiscriminate. They don’t talk about “weeding the garden” or “pruning the trees...

"DD, never dehumanize people of any culture!" ~ Maria (Englishished - Matilda) Campbell (My Kookum or Memere - Grandmother) and Frank Campbell my Moshôm (Grandfather). My grandparents and parents lived and felt dehumanization... psychological dehumanization of a people makes them seem less than human and not worthy of humane treatment... My siblings had a tremendous hate and anger toward this dehumanization against our parents and grandparents, Métis, and Cree families... we were willing to r...

New Canadians offer important benefits to Canada. From economic growth to cultural enrichment, the positive impact of new Canadians strengthens Canada. Economically, new Canadians play an important role in pushing growth. They bring different skills and knowledge, which help to promote innovation and increase productivity. New Canadians also contribute to the labour force, creating jobs and enrolling in colleges and universities. This increases consumer demand and leads to economic expansion i...

Israel's Gaza bombing campaign is the most destructive of this century, analysts say... Satellite technology reveals bombing more intense than in Ukraine, Syria or even the Second World War ~ Evan Dyer · CBC · Posted: Dec 30, 2023 Israeli Forces Dropped 2,000-Pound Bombs on Gaza “Safe Zone,” Killing 90... At least one of the eight 2,000-pound bombs used in the massacre was made in the US... In fact, the U.S. has provided Israel with thousands of JDAMs and 2,000-pound bombs since October, an...

For this summer, besides working Summer School, which I just love, I immersed myself into reading, exploring, and understanding from a lateral thinking perspective on the Middle East, more specifically the Israeli conflict with its political factions and the Palestinian people. Not being facetious at all, but being totally serious, if world leaders, such as presidents and prime ministers read these specific books, they would have a much broader perspective and understanding of the middle East a...

Politicide describes the deliberate destruction of a particular political group or ideology. It involves military actions to eradicate the political identity, influence, and existence of Hamas members and leaders. Politicide conveys a sense of targeted political violence, such as assassinations and repression, and it is used in discussions about political persecution, ideological suppression, or targeted campaigns against the Hamas movements and the political and military branches of the organiz...

"If we have a biometric exit-entry system, we know on the day after six months has exceeded his visa.And with that exit- entry system, we can then send ICE, the law enforcement agents that exist, to go and get John and say, OK, you're here illegally now." ~ Ted Cruz "We will finally complete the biometric entry-exit visa tracking system, which we need desperately. For years Congress has required biometric entry-exit visa tracking systems but it has never been completed. The politicians are all...

August 17, 2024 Over 50,000 Palestinian Gazans, majority civilians have been killed by the Israeli military in less than one year of constant bombardment of missiles and drone attacks; over 50,000 missiles have been dropped on the Gaza strip. Here are some facts presently.... Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not Israeli citizens and their rights are severely limited by the Israeli military occupation. In the West Bank, Israeli military law governs Palestinian life, while Jew...

Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the deadly October 7 attack on Israel and appointment as the new leader of Hamas, has close ties to Iran. Sinwar has been in Israel's sights since the beginning of the war, with Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari describing him as a "dead man" following the October attack. Killing Sinwar remains a priority for the Israeli army. ~ Kian Sharifi Now appointed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif are walking dead men. T...

When I was 7 years old, I squeezed in between my parents, sitting at the kitchen table in between my mother and father, all three listening closely to my mother's father, Frank (my Nimoshôm—Grandfather), our family's WWII war hero who was only 19 when he began... he fought in Italy and into interior Europe against the Nazis for Canada and USA. He was injured by a Nazi sniper, sent back to England for medical attention, eventually sent back to mainland Europe to continue to fight against the Nazi...

"I used to think that the causes of war were predominantly economic. I came to think that they were more psychological. I am now coming to think that they are decisively "personal," arising from the defects and ambitions of those who have the power to influence the currents of nations." ~ B. H. Liddell Hart "No war can end war except a total war which leaves no human creature on earth. Each war creates the causes of war: hate, desire for revenge and have-nots, desperate with need." ~ Zelda Pop...

"Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich." ~ Peter Ustinov "We have guided missiles and misguided men." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt "You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war." ~ Napoleon Bonaparte "We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children." ~ Jimmy Carter The notio...