cold relation

"...the decision by the most powerful governments in the UN to bypass a sovereign government in order to assist citizens in need impressed Vierra de Mello. Like many, he understood this to be the harbinger of a "new world order" in which citizens might be rescued from their abusive governments. He did not yet appreciate how unprepared the UN system was to tackle these complex new challenges."
-Samantha Power, Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vierra de Mello and the Fight to Save the World

Framed into the context of Zimbabwe, 2008, this passage concerning the hopeful changing role of the United Nations, circa 1991, seems painfully misguided. Again and again in the past and future, we hope that we learn from mistakes; that governments can take the moral and humane high road, act decisively, with human preservation and dignity as the compelling factor.
Zimbabwe, now: a catastrophe; the United Nations has delegated its authority to another governing body, another bloated bureaucracy, another largely ineffectual political tool, the African Union. Who knows if the leaders of Africa, many of whom have fought and couped their way into perpetual power, will create a defining moment in Sharm Al-Sheik, or if they will rest on their laurels, fall back on the typical, and the people of Zimbabwe, and Africa as a whole, will continue to struggle for survival.
Will the "new world order" that Sergio de Mello dreamed of decades ago begin to bear fruition with the condemnation and action against abhorrence? Will the African Union learn from the past, join together, understand that the common man is what all nations are built on, and act in defense of this lowest common denominator? Will the mechanisms that have been put into place to defend human rights function as their founders hoped?
One thing is clear; Mugabe must go. His mere presence is a cruel reminder of a day far gone; with him saddled up to the leadership table, it spoils the legitimacy of all others gathered.

“Zimbabwe is burning. It is on fire. It is important that the African leaders save it before it burns beyond recognition.”
-Thokozani Khupe, the vice president, Movement for Democratic Change

America in Decline

"My fellow Americans: We are a country in debt and in decline — not terminal, not irreversible, but in decline. Our political system seems incapable of producing long-range answers to big problems or big opportunities. We are the ones who need a better-functioning democracy — more than the Iraqis and Afghans. We are the ones in need of nation-building. It is our political system that is not working."

--Thomas Friedman

We are wrapped in a warped tailspin of delusion in this country. The thinkers continue to think; the writers continue to write; the workers continue to work, when are where they can; and the people continue to struggle more and more as the days move into the future.
The American people are under attack from their own government. The American way of life will never regain the peaks of the 1990's. And the worst part? Most are still blind to the decline.

A government of cronyism and corruption; not blatant corruption, but a corruption that has become so subtle and ingrained to the workings of the Capital that blame cannot be easily delegated. Who is at fault for the mess that our country has become? Is it the predatory lenders, the predatory President, or the predatory press? As the days wear on, the candidates start to sound more and more alike, the congress, the senate, the judges, quite simply exist in a separate plane than the American people who they have been chosen to represent.

“America and its political leaders, after two decades of failing to come together to solve big problems, seem to have lost faith in their ability to do so,” Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib noted last week. “A political system that expects failure doesn’t try very hard to produce anything else...“the political system seems incapable of producing a critical mass to support any kind of serious long-term reform.”

Brilliant Column

Nicholas Kristof and another brilliant Sunday Op Ed in the Times. When Kristof first mentioned a respectable retirement for Mugabe in South Africa, my knee-jerk reaction what aghast...Mugabe is directly responsible for genocide in Maatabaland, and for the countless misery of millions more; however, reason must take precedent when dealing with politics, and especially, African Politics; things are not black and white; sparing more misery, for even one unfortunante soul caught in the Zimbabwean crossfire is far worth the trade off. For lack of an analogous penchant for words, here's some of his:

If Only Mugabe Were White

When I grew up in the 1970s, a central truth was that Ian Smith was evil and Mr. Mugabe heroic. So it was jolting on my last visit to Zimbabwe, in 2005, to see how many Zimbabweans looked back on oppressive white rule with nostalgia. They offered a refrain: “Back then, at least parents could feed their children.”

Africa’s rulers often complain, with justice, that the West’s perceptions of the continent are disproportionately shaped by buffoons and tyrants rather than by the increasing number of democratically elected presidents presiding over 6 percent growth rates. But as long as African presidents mollycoddle Mr. Mugabe, they are branding Africa with his image.

The solution is for leaders at the African Union summit this week to give Mr. Mugabe a clear choice.

One option would be for him to “retire” honorably — “for health reasons” after some face-saving claims of heart trouble — at a lovely estate in South Africa, taking top aides with him. He would be received respectfully and awarded a $5 million bank account to assure his comfort for the remainder of his days.

The other alternative is that he could dig in his heels and cling to power. African leaders should make clear that in that case, they will back an indictment of him and his aides in the International Criminal Court. Led by the Southern African Development Community, the world will also impose sanctions against Mr. Mugabe’s circle and cut off all military supplies and spare parts. Mozambique, South Africa and Congo will also cut off the electricity they provide to Zimbabwe.

If those are the alternatives, then the odds are that Mr. Mugabe will publicly clutch his chest and insist that he must step down. There will still be risks of civil conflict and a military coup, but Zimbabwe would have a reasonable prospect of again becoming, as Mr. Mugabe once called it, “the jewel of Africa.”

Some people will object that a tyrant shouldn’t be rewarded with a pot of cash and a comfortable exile. That’s true. But any other approach will likely result in far more deaths, perhaps even civil war.

If only Mr. Mugabe were a white racist! Then the regional powers might stand up to him. For the sake of Zimbabweans, we should be just as resolute in confronting African tyrants who are black as in confronting those who are white.

Yoo Who

Combating evil with evil, bad with bad, wrong with wrong seldom achieves anything but a further plummet into despair and disregard. Thus, masking as the moral strong road in the global war on militant Islam, some of this country's leaders took it upon themselves to completely deviate from the Geneva Convention and the regard for basic human dignity. Time is not on the side of those who made these atrocious and narrow minded decisions; men who have never picked up a weapon and fought for anything with their own two hands, but rather find no difficulty in sending so many others to die, and condoning cruel and unusual punishment of captives. These strong men, courageous with the lives of so many others, urban cowboys, will be found and charged with war crimes. Time is not on their side.
Nowhere should this treatment be acceptable; least of all the United States. This administration has deviated so drastically from the path of righteousness and serving the better interest of the citizens; it is hard to imagine how, and if, we will regain credibility in the greater world. We, the citizens of this nation, deserve better than this.

Yesterday, two of the architects of the torture in Guantanamo Bay came before the House of Representatives Subcommittee to testify; they said nothing; they held their tongues; they were a practice in evasiveness so obvious it literally made me laugh in disgust. David Addington and John Yoo represent fully the ideals of this administration. Yet their testimony received almost no press coverage; strange, considering prodigious international repercussions of their actions.
Scott Horton, a NY Human Rights Attorney, said, "By and large, it was an exercise in dodge ball with the two witnesses avoiding the questions."


From Today's NYTimes:

Physicians for Human Rights has released a report, called “Broken Laws, Broken Lives,” that puts an appropriately horrifying face on a practice that is so fundamentally evil that it cannot co-exist with the idea of a just and humane society.

The report profiles 11 detainees who were tortured while in U.S. custody and then released — their lives ruined — without ever having been charged with a crime or told why they were detained. All of the prisoners were men, and all were badly beaten. One was sodomized with a broomstick, the report said, and forced by his interrogators to howl like a dog while a soldier urinated on him....The ostensible purpose of mistreating prisoners is to inflict pain and induce disorientation and despair, creating so much agony that the prisoners give up valuable intelligence in order to end the suffering. But torture is not an interrogation technique; it’s a criminal attack on a human being.

24 Hours for Darfur

sudanreeves.org

from sudanreeves.org:

Eric Reeves is Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He has spent the past nine years working full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst, publishing extensively both in the US and internationally. He has testified several times before the Congress, has lectured widely in academic settings, and has served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan. Working independently, he has written on all aspects of Sudan's recent history. His book about Darfur ("A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide") was published in May 2007. (Read critical praise for A Long Day's Dying.) He is also at work on a longer-range project surveying the international response to ongoing war and human destruction in Sudan over the past 25 years ("Sudan — Suffering a Long Way Off").

What this bio does not mention is that Professor Reeves has terminal leukemia; he has dedicated his remaining days to documenting the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan, claimant of the title, First Genocide of the 21st Century. Reeves is a tireless crusader for the voiceless in Darfur; this is the example of a man who should be celebrated as celebrity in this country. I came across Eric Reeves while viewing PBS Frontline's documentary, On Our Watch, which details the chronological massacre of Darfurian citizens set against the almost equally horrifying inaction of the United Nations and world community. This is a powerful and sobering work, an important work, from Frontline.

Living up to reputation

"It is hard for me to find the words to express what a massive, fraudulent, pathetic excuse for an energy policy this is."
-Thomas Friedman on Bush's new "energy policy"


Quite simple, when is enough, well, enough? John Stewart has taken to calling him "Still President Bush." And that is the cruel truth; this man who has single handedly (well, with a few more hands of his inner circle, to share the blame a bit) destroyed American credibility overseas, hollowed out the middle class, repeatedly crippled and disregarded the Constitution and will go down in history as perhaps the worst U.S. leader of modern times. But before he bows out in disgrace, before retiring to the Fox News speaking circuit, he will do everything in his power to further enrich himself and his cronies, to derail any progressive legislation in the realm of energy security, and continue to spread fear and hatred as the twin pillars of his time in power. When is enough enough, Still President Bush?

Who Murdered the Virunga Gorillas?

Heavily armed militias shatter the stillness in this central African park. Desperate refugees crowd park boundaries. Charcoal producers strip forests. Then, last summer, someone killed seven of these magnificent creatures in cold blood.

I became encapsulated in National Geographic's July cover story; this was a story with so many layers, so much virulent suffering and struggle, a microcosm of the greater battle between man and man, and man and natural world.
This region of the planet, this godforsaken corner of Africa, has seen so many lives extinguished on its fertile red soils that news of seven more should not have penetrated the yawning gap that lies between the world of the suffering and the world of survival. Except this time, the seven lives that were taken were those of the endangered Mountain Gorilla, 7 of perhaps 700 still left on the planet, left to die at the whim of a cruel fate in the cruelest part of this world. News of these deaths permeated even the insular news outlets of the U.S.; I recall seeing a giant Silverback being carried on a crude stretcher of branches through green fields; I recall being deeply saddened by this sight; the closeness of our evolutionary anatomy struck my heart.

There is so much tribulation, so much pain, so much death here in eastern Congo, that eyes glaze over and even the most compassionate of minds becomes calloused. More have died here than anywhere else since the final days of World War 2; they continue to suffer an almost unimaginable fate, puppets controlled with the crude strings of sadistic marionettes.

The dismantling of the mountain gorilla's habitat for fuel charcoal and the valuable mineral resources that lie beneath the earth is one story not unique to this planet; a story of man's insatiable appetite for everything at the table, an appetite that knows no bounds, an appetite that will only be satiated when there is nothing left to eat. In this part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, corruption is simply a way of life. Congolese National Army soldiers ride out of the jungles on trucks packed with freshly produced charcoal, blowing past roadblocks, into the heart of darkness. Little immediate thought is given to the habitat destruction taking place as a result; the hardwoods being churned into charcoal will provide fuel for a destitute family living in a displaced persons camp for perhaps two months; this is such a cruel trade off; its hard to imagine what is morally right in a situation as depraved as this.

This is a story of rebel armies and ethnic hatred; of mass rape and economic pillaging; and of the unfortunate creatures stuck in the crossfire, who just happen to bear a striking similarity to their close relatives, those other creatures who have wrought so much horror. So simply put by the article's author, Mark Jenkins, "North Kivu is a Hieronymus Bosch painting come alive."

This is also a story of hope; of a brave few who swim against the tide of nepotism and criminally negligent national management; who still bring hope despite so many setbacks. Men like Paulin Ngobobo, a ranger who almost lost his life along with his troop of men, who were massacred at the hands of corrupted rebel armies...
"Paulin, one man, was now going up against a system of corruption that has existed in the Congo for 50 years. Naturally, he was immediately arrested. It is very dangerous to be a principled man in the Congo."



How To Help?
http://gorillafund.org/

Growing Divide

Veteran newsman Bill Moyers brought an eye opening report to his pulpit this week, discussing the income gap and inequalities in America, in the context of "The Next Gilded Age.". Awareness of this gap is crucial; most Americans are so busy either trying to keep up with their bills by working two or three jobs in addition to raising families, or on the divergent side, spending vast amounts of disposable income on incredible luxuries, that they do not notice the burgeoning divide in this country. It is more than a divide; it is a virulent chasm in our landscape. The middle class, in a traditional sense, has been all but wiped out in the last decade, replaced by mounting debt cycles and lower real wages for many than they were making 50 years ago. Concurrently, the rich and affluent continue to get richer; hedge fund managers make billions speculating on the sub prime mortgage market, profiteering off of other Americans' destroyed lives. The capitalists scream for capitalism, until trouble brews; then they run for government handouts and bailouts, just like the poor they so bemoan. And who pays the bills in America? Its the citizens, the very ones who struggle to make ends meet, the ones who end up bailing out white gloved Wall Street banks for their misdeeds. Moyers remarks, quite clearly, "The government is us. The Taxpayers." And us, we, make up this country, which is rotting from within. We can do better than this.

CEO's make hundreds of millions of dollars annually, while the workers they represent struggle to survive on minimum wage and no health benefits; the chasm in this country is growing, and along with this, the American ideal is vanishing, its insides being devoured by greed and disconcern.



As Per Moyers:
"Even as our streets and highways crumble, our schools gasp for help, and health care becomes more and more costly for those who are fortunate enough to have it, wealth is being so ostentatiously squandered that historians are calling this the Second Gilded Age."

And his guest, Steve Fraser, of The Wall Street Journal:
"...when you have such enormous disparities of income and wealth, there's a kind of warped set of priorities. So that the amassing of wealth and this was true of the first Gilded Age, comes at the expense of funneling vital capitol resources into improving the material lives and even the cultural lives of ordinary folk. Because we're living in the Second Gilded Age during a period of downward mobility for millions of Americans, even while the hedge fund managers are or others are accumulating this wealth."


And, as usual, it comes back to the government, the elected representatives of the citizens of the United States, tasked with being the voices of the many, who fail to hear the cries of their citizenry. They are, in most cases, beholden to only the great dollar; the dollar that allows them to campaign for another election, to maintain their personal grip on power and affluence. "Money is the golden rule of politics; those who have it, rule," says Moyers. And wealth, in the hands of the few, buys the policies that only work to further enrich these few; it is a vicious cycle, one in which the only winners are those lined up to the feeding troughs.

There will be nothing left for the rest of us when they finish eating.

Boob Tube

"...television is also a one-way medium. Individuals receive but they do not send, they listen but they do not speak, they are given information but they do not share it in return, they do not comment on it in ways that others can hear. Therefore, automatically, their ability to use the tools of reason as participants in the national conversation is suspended."
-Al Gore


Therein lies the promise of the internet. While most of the content is still a one way street, it marks a vast improvement over the dominating qualities of its predecessor; and a fundamental change in how things are thought about. This changing of the playing field, this seismic shift, occurs so rarely, that when it does, it is always profound. At the very least, the internet gives us more choice, and flattens the content-based playing field so those who are not backed by Wall Street still have the opportunity to have their voices heard; many of these voices were extinguished in the 1980's media consolidation. And opportunity is what freedom and democracy are built on.

"When information is freely available to individuals and flows unimpeded throughout the political or economic system, the important decisions are not always made by the same small group of people. "
-Gore

yemen journal

looking back at my yemen trip journal....
5.18.08

The Arab world is a knife's edge. One constantly walks on this sharpened razor wire; the unalert
will face a precarious fall on both sides into abyss. Life is lived in public by men , constantly dancing on, and daring the blade to penetrate. Smoking, shouting, swearing, driving like mad, living like mad; the feeling is both exhausting and exhilarating. Living for only that moment, that day, that second in time; a sharp blade indeed; an edge that brings with it the complete mysterious and unknown, men look the same from the outside, but it is what is inside that matters, and these ingredients are often volatile.
Step into a vehicle and dance on the edge with one foot; horns blaring, swerving, speeding, moderation not even an afterthought. Exhausting and exhilarating; a drug addict who hasn't slept in a week will inevitably crash.
The women are there, but they are not present. It is a disconcerting feeling to lose half your society so quickly, so quietly.
The men do the work; the men drive the cars; the men argue; the men clog the markets with their wares and shouts and touts; the women slide by formless in black, dark ghosts, black tears in the panorama, dark eyes burning under cover of night.
This balancing act, the blade itself, abandoned to history's call.
Explosive arguments, explosive personalities, explosively disarming smiles from strangers; passions, politics; much is explained, so simple, with this edge.

capitalistic deception

"When push comes to shove, it seems, the imperatives of crony capitalism trump professed faith in free markets."
-Paul Krugman, NY Times

And when push comes to shove, the Bush Administration has taken every effort to undermine our regulatory agencies, and thus, both weaken and demoralize our democracy and put citizens in very real danger of a variety of health risks.

Krugman points out one of many cases of the "fox guarding the henhouse," approach Bush has taken:
"Thus, when mad cow disease was detected in the U.S. in 2003, the Department of Agriculture was headed by Ann M. Veneman, a former food-industry lobbyist. And the department’s response to the crisis — which amounted to consistently downplaying the threat and rejecting calls for more extensive testing — seemed driven by the industry’s agenda."

Again, this disturbing scenario has been the RULE, not the exception in the last 8 years of our democracy; and while the citizens doze in front of their 24 cable news, our democracy is dismantled from within. Concerning another regulatory agency, Al Gore discusses the role of special interests in the highest echelon of US democracy:

"After members of FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) were appointed with Mr. Lay's (yes, thats Ken Lay, former head of Enron) personal review and approval, Enron went on to bilk the electric ratepayers of California and other states without the inconvenience of federal regulators trying to protect the trying to protect citizens from the company's criminal behavior. Likewise, this explains why many of the most important EPA positions have been carefully filled with lawyers and lobbyists representing the worst polluters in their respective industries, ensuring that these polluters are not inconvenienced by the actual enforcement of the laws against excessive pollution."
-from: The Assault on Reason

This is disturbing at the very least, and more broadly a systematic deception and dismantling of the democratic system in this country. It is a rebuttal to every basis of truth that this country was founded on. Al Gore sums up the inherent relation between the governed and the governing, brightly framing the current failures:

"The derivation of just power from the consent of the governed depends upon the integrity of the reasoning process through which that consent is given. If the reasoning process is corrupted by money and deception, then the consent of the governed is based on false premises, and any power thus derived is inherently counterfeit and unjust. If the consent of the governed is extorted through the manipulation of mass fears, or embezzled with claims of Divine guidance, democracy is impoverished. If the suspension of reason causes a significant portion of our citizenry to lose confidence in the integrity of the process, democracy can be bankrupted."

unmasked hypocrisy

Two headlines on today's BBC News Africa page struck me as a cruel hypocrisy; the first, "Ethiopia Appeals for Urgent Aid;" the second, "Images Back Ethiopia Abuse Claim."

The first article, self-evidently deals with the current humanitarian crisis in the country; there is an urgent appeal for food aid to feed millions on the cusp of starvation in the Horn of Africa. This is a story that is continually repeated, a cry for help, a government throwing up its hands in impotence. While far desirable to a government such as Burma's which faces humanitarian crisis and does nothing, either domestically or internationally, to alleviate the suffering of its citizens, it is still a strong pronouncement of a country that is extremely far from the point of self-sufficiency, in even the most basic essence of the word. In the individual case of Ethiopia, a nation saturated with Aid agencies from throughout the developed world, and independent and "free from tyranny" from almost two decades, it is an indefensible scenario of ineptitude and malevolence.

The second article deals with the Ethiopian Army's cruel human rights abuses in the Ogdagen Desert region of eastern Ethiopian, in land that is historically Somali, and currently inhabited by Somali descendants. According to Human Rights Watch, "(there is) evidence of extrajudicial detentions and killings, beatings and rapes in military custody, forced displacement of the rural population and the collective punishment of communities suspected of helping or sympathising with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels."

A government that respects the human dignity of its people is a government that does not worry about internal security issues arising from militant dissent. A government that is stable and viable for the future does not rape, kill, and burn its own citizens ; it does not supress, it supports, regardless of ethnic background. And a government that can take the time, resources, and organization to destroy, but cannot muster the same to create, is tyrannical.

The simple and troubling fact is this; Ethiopia has the money to support a vast standing army that is fighting on three fronts at the current moment in time; yet, Ethiopia has no ability to feed its people at risk of starvation. This is a disquieting fact that has repeatedly played its hand throughout the history of the African continent. Regimes have no problem funding and finding guns; but when it comes to food and basic necessities for life, the cup is empty.

What role should the international community play in these situations? As a human mandate, we must help the people in need; they are the innocent victims of famine and drought and do not deserve death. However, governments will never gain a sense of civic responsibility if their shortcomings are always filled, no questions asked, by international aid. This is a fine line to walk, morally and politically; the answer, elusive.

After centuries of advanced human development, it is a cruel scar on the face of humanity that we still value guns over food, fighting over peace, in so many regions of the world. There is no true human advancement if some are left behind; we must progress as one, and we also will fail as one.

Planet Earth

Described by many as, "the definitive look at the diversity of our planet," the Planet Earth series from BBC is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word. I have recently finished making my way through this captivating series; the scope and cinematography, from the most minute to splendid grandeur, is as compelling as anything I've seen on the screen. Narrated by Sir Dacid Attenborough, it was five years in the making, and spans 62 different countries, taking in every major earth habitat and the species that inhabit them, from the deepest Pacific to the highest Himalaya, the densest Amazonian rainforest to the driest of deserts; this is truly a feast for the senses.

Particularly captivating was the story of the snow leopard. Many were familiarized with the name from Peter Mattheisson's classic book of the same title, where he and biologist George Shaller trekked into the deepest Himalaya to study the rare and elusive big cat. For the first time in history, Planet Earth filmed a snow leopard in full hunt, hurtling down the rugged cliffs of Pakistan in persuit of prey; this footage alone took more than a year of patient waiting to capture, and is the first up close footage of the animals in the wild. The scene was chilling in its beauty and raw energy, as is most of the series.

The Assault on Reason

Some moving passages from Al Gore's The Assault on Reason (one of my current reads)...a wonderfully stimulating , passionate work from Mr. "what-could-have-been..."

Reason-the belief that free citizens can govern themselves wisely and fairly by resorting to logical debate on the basis of the best evidence available, instead of raw power...

The very idea of self-government depends on open and honest debate as the preferred method for pursuing the truth-and a shared respect for the rule of reason as the best way to establish the truth. The Bush Administration routinely shows disrespect for for that whole basic process. It claims divine guidance. It feels it already knows the truth and isn't very curious to learn about any facts that might contradict it...
For example, Bush described the war in Iraq as a 'crusade,' disregarding the obvious fact that the sectarian implications of that description might make the task for our troops more difficult in a Muslim nation that had repeatedly fought off invasions by Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages.

The Bush Administration has demonstrated contempt for the basic tenants of a rational decision making process, defined as one in which an honest emphasis is placed on getting good facts and then letting good facts drive decisions: Instead, the hallmark of the current administration is a systematic effort to manipulate facts in service to a totalistic ideology that is felt to be more important than the mandates of basic honesty.

Uncomfortable Marriage

"What we've seen is a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation."
-BBC News correspondents on the political climate in Zimbabwe, after traveling undercover for weeks around the country

New reports are coming in to various new outlets concerning the intimate marriage of the military and the ruling party in Zimbabwe's runoff elections. Few realistically expect these elections to be even remotely free and fair; Mugabe's grip on power is tenuous, but his hands are strong, and his grip is braced by all those around him with so much to lose if the old man falls. The army's direct involvement in campaign intimidation and violence is a particularly disturbing turn; as in any nation, the men with the guns are the ones with the true power; if the opposition does, somehow, win the runoff election, this can be quickly nulled by a military coup. The military, at this point, and according to law, should not be taking part in any facet of the election cycle; their involvement is another disturbing turn of events in the tragic story of Zimbabwe. "We are told to vote ZANU-PF, and you have to vote in front of your commanding officer," says a Harare policeman, risking his life in a discreet meeting with journalists.

"It is now clear that Robert Mugabe and his military will use all means necessary to stop them (the opposition)," concludes the BBC report. As is always the case in this part of the world and the rest, it is the lowest common denominator in the situation, the common people, who will continue to suffer at the hands of this messianic anachronism.

Vote the Environment

Patagonia's Mission Statement: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

Patagonia has put together a number of environmental organizations, musicians, and other assorted players in their bid to make a positive impact on the environmental crisis and to reduce the impact we have in our daily lives. This impact will be felt most on November 4th, when we cast our votes for President. Patagonia's coalition of the willing is called Vote the Environment, and it is a most worthy cause. Patagonia is a pioneer in both making great products and standing at the pinnacle of corporate responsibility. Yvonne Chouinard, founder and President, is a personal hero for his outspoken, yet disturbingly unaffected, demeanor; he has crafted this excellent company in his personal image, to a great result. Chouinard's longtime surf partner, environmental activist, and musician, Jack Johnson, wrote a simple yet poignant essay for the group, found on Patagonia's site...

Vote the Environment

by Jack Johnson

Surf 2008

Not only are we a product of our environment, we are an integral part of it. This statement seems obvious enough, but in our modern culture human beings often feel separate from nature. We see this when we vote: the environment has become only the 10th most important issue on a list after war, healthcare, education and other concerns. As the foundation for all of life and all human endeavors, the environment should be our first and most important consideration.

When you vote for candidates who support environmental programs, such as school gardens, you are not only supporting education, you are supporting better childhood nutrition, and you are reconnecting the next generation of voters to nature. When you vote to improve water and air quality, you are voting to improve human health. When you vote to provide incentives to use renewable energy, you are helping to create jobs and energy independence, in turn making an investment in peace.

When you Vote the Environment, you are not voting for one isolated issue, you are voting for all of the issues on the list. You are casting a positive vote for life on earth.

Looking In

Thomas Friedman in his Op-Ed Piece this morning:

Yes, all of this Obama-mania is excessive and will inevitably be punctured should he win the presidency and start making tough calls or big mistakes. For now, though, what it reveals is how much many foreigners, after all the acrimony of the Bush years, still hunger for the “idea of America” — this open, optimistic, and, indeed, revolutionary, place so radically different from their own societies...
That’s the America that got swallowed by the war on terrorism. And it’s the America that many people want back. I have no idea whether Obama will win in November. Whether he does or doesn’t, though, the mere fact of his nomination has done something very important. We’ve surprised ourselves and surprised the world and, in so doing, reminded everyone that we are still a country of new beginnings.

This brings me to something Friedman wrote awhile back that rings true again and again in my encounters overseas. People still smile at the idea of America.
If one day, all political barriers and borders were erased around the world, there would be a big queue of people waiting to get into the United States, and a whole lot of countries quickly emptying out. This is a real case of global supply and demand-and the life that can be attained in the US is still, even after the damage of the Bush years, in demand by many of the world's citizens. The simple promise of personal freedom and a the opportunity to succeed in a relatively flat environment is something that is not a reality in most areas of the world; it is a reality that we need to recognize, harness, improve upon, and thrust into the future.
It is a comfort that even in today's wired world, hundreds of years of history may fray, but will not completely unravel, under a near decade of misguided use.

Hypocracy and Strength

"The Iranian presidential election of 2005, the ninth presidential election in Iranian history, took place in two rounds, first on June 17, 2005, and then as a run-off on June 24. It led to the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline mayor of Tehran, with 19.48% of the votes in the first round and 61.69% in the second. Ahmadinejad is believed to have won the second round because of his populist views, especially those regarding the poor and their economic status. The election saw a turnout of almost 60% of eligible voters, seen as a strike back by Iran at the United States' initial allegations that many in Iran would be restricted from voting."
-Source: Wikipedia

Granted, the elections themselves brought some criticism from the outside world, but they were judged as generally free and fair, and in the global context of nascent democratic movements, can be considered a success story. Enough of a success story to truthfully believe that Ahmadinejad was the choice of the people, with or without the weight of the Clerics behind him (additionally, his opponent was much better financed and much better organized). Regardless of these points, a much higher percentage turned out and voted in this election that in the US Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Yet, according to Foreign Policy in Focus, "...President Bush insisted that the Iranian vote failed to meet 'the basic requirements of democracy' and that the 'oppressive record' of the country's rulers made the election illegitimate."

Free and widespread political debate and protest recently halted autocratic moves by the democratically elected leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez to implement new intelligence and counterintelligence agencies in the South American country. Hugo Chavez was reelected President of Venezuela in 2006 with 63% of the popular vote.
"Even though a fair number of international observers were present, the CNE instituted an open and public series of audits of the vote results. Each one of the 11,118 automated polling places was equipped with multiple high-tech touch-screen DRE voting machines, one to a "mesa electoral", or voting "table"... The voting machines perform in a stand-alone fashion, disconnected from any network until the polls close." Again, the elections in Venezuela were generally perceived as free and fair by international monitors.
Free and widespread political debate and protest recently halted autocratic moves by the democratically elected leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez to implement new intelligence and counterintelligence agencies in the South American country. Pay attention to the words free and fair, and pay attention to the fact that democracy is democracy, whether it involves players the United States likes or dislikes.

While I certainly do not condone their policies while in office, there remains a basic fact: Ahmadinejad and Chavez are the democratically elected Presidents of sovereign nations, chosen by the people.. Does the United States have the right to decide what constitutes democracy around the world, when our own system of government is in such arrears?
Do we have the right to label and brand other regimes autocratic when our own administration listens little to outside advice or the will of the people? Can our own government, one that is gridlocked with partisan bickering, empowered through deception, and controlled by corporate lobbyists, be used as a mirror on democracy and openness? Can our 2000 Presidential election, one that was not decided by the people and remains locked in debate, be used as an case to judge others by?
I use Iran and Venezuela as two simple examples; there are many more. These two states have been accused, branded, scapegoated; the basic fact remains that they are led by Presidents chosen by the will of the people. We are in no position to criticize even the most fragile or nascent democratic state when our home front is in such disrepair. There is no nobility in hypocrisy. We must lead by example, and the current example is tarnished beyond repair.

Every man for himself

As high gas prices, natural disasters, economic, and political struggles grip the United States and many other industrialized nations, have we begun to fall back on the "Every man for Himself" philosophy of love-thy-neighbor? As we become more and more encapsulated into self preservation, or self-way-of-life preservation, does it lessen our ability for empathy? Does it promote national protectionism over rational internationalism? Does the altruistic mindset retreat in the face of personal struggle or threat?

"...food riots in Egypt and Haiti would convince the world’s wealthy nations of the need to do more to feed the world’s poorest. ...yet at last week’s United Nations food summit, the world’s more-developed nations proved, once again, that domestic politics trumps both humanitarian concerns and sound strategic calculations," reports the New York Times.

Witness something so simple and local as a short heat wave in NY. Suddenly, nothing is being said of global warming and greenhouse gasses....all comments revolve around "I'm melting," and the subsequent, "...I'm going to crank up the a/c and make my apartment into a freezer!"

Social and environmental consciousness taking a quick back burner to an overheated body, a temporary moment of carnal discomfort. When our own nation's politicians and policy makers face the potential tradeoffs from lessening agricultural trade barriers and reducing unnecessary agricultural subsidies, they balk. They know its the right thing to do for the world, especially the world's poor; yet, they are stifled by inaction and continue with the status quo. This temporary political discomfort is not a worthy trade off for doing the right thing.

When we actually face a trade off in our daily lives, when our comfort levels might be shifted out of their narrowly defined range, do we still desire to get up off the couch and make a change? Or is it every man for himself?

Lost Opportunities

In North Tehran, Iran, immediately after the attacks of 9/11, thousands took to the streets in a protest against terrorism, in solidarity with the United States of America. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameni spoke publicly against the attacks, stating clearly  that "...mass killing is wrong..."

During Friday prayers that week, for the first time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the "Death the America" prayers in mosques were halted; this decision was made at the highest levels of Iranian government, directly from the office of the reformer President Mohammed Khatami. Iran went as far as playing a constructive role in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan; they worked closely with the Northern Alliance, their Shiite religious neighbors, in toppling  the extremist Sunni regime in Kabul. 

On January 29, 2002, President Bush, in his State of the Union address, labeled Iran as a state sponsor of terror, and branded them a member of the Axis of Evil, along with Iraq and North Korea.  In response, American flags were burned in the streets of Tehran the next day, and the pro-American regime was stripped of all credibility in the eyes of both the Iranian people and ruling Clerics.  The Reformists, who had worked so hard to get a toehold in the hard line Iranian Government, were shocked. "The very least expectations that we had, at the height of our struggles for real reform, was not to be branded like this...politically, it was an odd thing to do," said former Vice President, Mohammed Ali Abtahi. 

Searing rhetoric soon blasted from loudspeakers in public squares, deriding the long time enemy of the Islamic Revolution. Relations have steadily deteriorated since, coming to the point of nuclear brinkmanship and further destabilization of the Middle East. 

9/11 was a moment in time that was both devastating and yet held a unique promise; a brief point where empty hatreds of the past could be wiped away, and a new, positive and promising future could be shaped. This moment was crushed in the machinery of the neoconservative ideology, an ideology that was both hegemonic in design  and disastrous in implementation.

See this example as a microcosm for relations the world over; the administration charged with steering United States policy subsequently drove it into a ditch; partnership and sympathy has turned to loathing and distrust; and in a vital period of globalization, we have been turned into an island on the world stage.  It is vital to observe the critical moments of history, study, and learn from both their mistakes and successes. Comprehending the dynamics and forces of relations throughout the world directly correlates to an understanding of our place in the world, and our country itself. 

Frank Rich

Frank Rich wrote a great, "this guy really gets it" op-ed in today's Sunday New York Times...stimulating reading on the state of affairs in the political race....

"As more and more Americans feel the pain of spiraling gas prices and lost jobs, they are also coming to recognize, as Mr. Obama does, that the globally reviled American image forged by an endless war in Iraq and its accompanying torture scandals is inflicting economic as well as foreign-policy havoc.

Six out of 10 Americans do want their president to talk to Iran’s president, according to the most-recent Gallup poll. Americans are sick of a national identity defined by arrogant saber-rattling abroad and manipulative fear-mongering at home. Mr. Obama closed his speech on Tuesday by telling Americans they “don’t deserve” another election “that’s governed by fear.” Of the three candidates, he was the only one who did not mention 9/11 that night."

Heres the permalink:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/opinion/08rich.html?ex=1370577600&en=e5031ce2182300eb&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

words

"Great social transformations-the end of slavery, the women's and civil rights movements, the end of colonial rule, the birth of environmentalism-all began with public awareness and engagement. Our political leaders followed rather than led-it was scientists, engineers, churchgoers, and young people who truly led the way."


"When possible, travel. There is no substitute for seeing extreme poverty, or deforestation, or the destructive forces of nature in New Orleans, to understand our generation's true challenges. There is no substitute for meeting and engaging with people across cultures, religions, and regions to realize that we are all together."

-Dr. Jeffrey Sachs

An Appropriate Time for Action

There are pivotal moments in history that lead the future down one of two paths for those fortunate or unfortunate enough to be tied into the juncture; and yet often, when both paths are clearly posted and easily predictable in outcome, we will allow the wrong path to be taken. And these are paths that cannot walked in reverse; the roads to the future are only one way. They are the paths and roads and arteries that are comprised of man's action towards other men, and thus the history and future of this world.

Paths have been guided by both sword and plowshare. British military intervention in Sierra Leone in 2005 saved countless thousands of lives and restored hope to millions; the action of the British was surprisingly unselfish, and guided the troubled country and region on a road to decency. Moving back to 1994, however, the path of violent extremism was chosen, with the full complicency of the western powers, in Rwanda; almost a million people died on this particularly bloody road, and those with the ability to change the course of the future stood by and actively did nothing.

States and regions at tenuous moments in their history do need outside intervention if the outcome can be easily fortold and the consequences understandably grave. We must learn from our past mistakes of inaction in the face of untold and easily preventable bloodshed and genocide; we, the Western military powers, must guide the correct, and moral path of action as a symptom of humanity in troubled times.

According to news reports, the people of Northern Uganda, once again, find themselves standing barefoot in this critical juncture, facing the paths of war and peace, of life and death, as plain and clear as day. As so often is the case, it is the innocent civilians who will bear the brunt of this nascent war. Terrorized by the Lords Resistance Army, a messianic-cult like outfit for decades, the people of northern Uganda have become ghosts; a chance at peace and normalcy was so close, yet terribly ephemeral, just months ago. Yet Joseph Kony, the genocidal leader of the rebel army, balked at normalcy, balked at life, and walked away from peace talks in South Sudan; he is now actively engaged in reviving his war which will undoubtedly cost the lives of thousands more innocent victims.
According to Reuters, "Ugandan rebels have killed 23 people including 14 south Sudanese soldiers and "started war", a south Sudanese minister said on Saturday. Wednesday's raid by Lord's Resistance Army guerrillas at Nabanga village on the remote Congo border appeared to signal the collapse of peace talks with the Ugandan government that have been hosted by south Sudan since mid-2006."
It is difficult to see a more lucid example calling out for swift, targeted military action by the US anywhere in the world. I am not a proponent of war; but I am a proponent of using a vast military machine to preserve life in dire situations.

The United States has extensive diplomatic and military ties with Museveni's government in Uganda; a coordinated Special Forces strike against the Lord's Resistance Army, decapitating the leadership of the group, could and would prevent untold suffering and regional war that will be wrought by the predictably macabre hands of Kony. Reuters adds, "Kony and two of his deputies are wanted by the ICC in The Hague for crimes including massacres, rapes and the kidnapping of children as sex slaves and fighters in their insurgency." This is the degree of madman faced by the innocents of East Africa.

The two paths are clearly defined in Northern Uganda; the path of inaction, of mass killing and turmoil wrought, yet again, by the Lords Resistance Army; and the path of action, of intervention, of removing this threat before further destruction and devastation can be brought upon Ugandan and Sudanese civilians. Northern Uganda lies at a critical juncture with two roads leading in two very different directions; the United States must set a precedent and lead the world down the correct road.

One Way Street

Flying into Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, a few months back on a Lufthansa jet from Frankfurt, I marveled at the strip of fertile land bordering the meandering Blue Nile, as well as the barren bleakness that closely besieged. The fertility initially appeared a mirage; nothing could live in these harsh lands of the Sahel. The checkered green sidings looked like they were being held hostage by the sands, any slight move could be the last.
Such a tenuous grasp in such a harsh land. This exact harshness of nature has created a harshness of man, played out again and again in this unforgiving theater of Saharan life, through countless conflicts and strife.

A raging fire, once it starts and grows, requires no more spark, no more flint. It self sustains in its expansion, and will take a mighty dose of water, or a simple exaustion of fuel, for it to die out. And in the Sudan, according to Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, the only reason for the flickering of the flame of violence in the Sudan, is that "there are fewer villages to burn and loot, less civilians to terrorize and kill.”

This country, this entire region, in fact, has seen nothing but violence and struggle in its modern history. There is no placidity to harken back to, no peace to reclaim; it has simply not been a reality since the existence of the modern Sudanese state.

Despite the Facebook appeals, the rallies in Washington D.C., Steven Spielberg quitting the Beijing Olympics, and world awareness on an unprecedented level, the violence and slaughter of innocents simply continues. The people perpetrating the crimes remain untouched by both the voices of the oppressed and the voices of the outspoken global citizens. This is a simple case of bark without bite, and the criminals running the regime in Khartoum are crafty; they are fully aware that they run no risk of punitive action; the world's bodies, though fully given to the lofty retoric of the shiny offices they hold, are less than fully inclined to actually do something about the situation.

“The entire Darfur region is a crime scene,” Luis Moreno-Ocampo, told the (Security) Council, saying the government of Sudan had been bombing schools, markets and water installations, some as recently as May. He said 100,000 people had been displaced so far this year.

A common theme I see tying all of the global conflicts together on one long macabre string is this: it is so much easier to destroy than to create; it takes but a tiny spark to ignite a raging conflict; but it takes more than the world can seem to muster to douse these flames of conflict. History should be the first lesson for the men and women charged with action on these horrific crimes being perpetrated by the Sudanese government; without a sense of where we have fallen short in the past, it will be impossible to mark the starting line in the Sudan. According to Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Costa Rica’s foreign minister, “the ghosts of Srebrenica and Rwanda should awaken us to the fact that some in Sudan believe that the graves in Darfur are not sufficiently full.”

Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the MIddle East

"Violence and force can never by themselves create genuine beliefs," says Akbar Ganji, an Iranian dissident writer.
The war in Iraq has completely devastated American standing in the Middle East, and has also, more broadly, devastated the case for democracy as leaders look at the Iraqi experiment in horror; it has emboldened the autocratic rulers of the region, and has subject nascent democratic movements to serious setbacks and regressive freedoms. The war has achieved a few unintended things: solidarity in the Arab world against the United States of America, and a thrust of violent extremism that has taken hold in previously moderate segments of Arab society. In our violent wake, have left only a severely distorted view of democracy for the region to frown upon.

"The United States was not too long ago seen by Muslims as a partner and as a model of democracy, even when it was criticized. Today, if we had no borders in the Arab world, thousands of people would be willing to go to Iraq. Nobody thinks you really want democracy in Iraq."
-Aziz Rebbah, head of Morocco's moderate Party for Justice and Development


"In an extraordinary twist, Arab anger was greater at American leadership than at Israel.
When asked what foreign leader they disapprove of most, President Bush scored the highest-more than three times higher than Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."
-Robin Wright, Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East

Geo Green

I have continually cited and expounded on one of the greatest thinkers and most eloquent writers of the 21st century, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times.
Friedman is progressive in every sense of the word; progressive not in the constricted realms of partisenship, but progressive in a grander view of the world and the challenges that lie ahead for all global citizens. He began speaking about the reality of "going green" in 2006 when oil was at $50 dollars a barrel; his theories about the continued rise in prices have all been validated. Friedman is not worried about the price of filling up your tank; he is worried about the money being sent back to support the very people we are fighting concurrent wars against today in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is worried about the erosion of democracy and human rights as a result of petrodollar fueled budgets. He is worried about the standing of America as we continue to be sluggish off the line in true progressive energy policy and implementation. And broadest of all, Friedman worries about the effects on the planet itself of the unsustainable explosion in fossil fuel usage around the world. These are the broader regions of geopolitics which will affect all our lives more and more as the days progress; we will adjust to $4 a gallon gas; it is actually a hidden blessing for the advancement of green science and technology in this country; but we cannot simply adjust to the larger, and darker realities of the world and our standing in the world if we do not adjust our thinking towards going green.

Friedman on Charlie Rose discussing his concept of GeoGreen:

"If you want to be a democracy promoting realist or a democracy promoting idealist, you darn well better be a energy environmentalist. Thats what it means to be GeoGreen."


"Three billion new players just walked onto the playing field over the last decade.
They all came with their own version of the American dream. A house, a car, a toaster, a fridge, and a microwave. If we don't find an alternative to fossil fuels to satisfy the energy demands of these new players, we are going to burn up, choke up, heat up, and smoke up this planet so much faster."

I believe that China is going to go Green. And I believe that Green China is going to be so much more of a challenge to us than Red China. China is going to green because China can't breath. The richest man in China today is already a solar energy entrepeneur...

What im trying to do is to rename green. I want to rename it geoeconomic, geostrategic, geopolitical, capitalistic, and patriotic..green is the new red white and blue."

The First Law of Petropolitics

Lets start this discussion on foreign energy dependence, and its rippling reprocussions here in the U.S. and around the globe. Lesson number one:


"...Iran’s president denies the Holocaust, Hugo Chávez tells Western leaders to go to hell, and Vladimir Putin is cracking the whip. Why? They know that the price of oil and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions. It’s the First Law of Petropolitics, and it may be the axiom to explain our age...

The First Law of Petropolitics posits the following: The price of oil and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions in oil-rich petrolist states. According to the First Law of Petropolitics, the higher the average global crude oil price rises, the more free speech, free press, free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, and independent political parties are eroded. And these negative trends are reinforced by the fact that the higher the price goes, the less petrolist leaders are sensitive to what the world thinks or says about them. Conversely, according to the First Law of Petropolitics, the lower the price of oil, the more petrolist countries are forced to move toward a political system and a society that is more transparent, more sensitive to opposition voices, and more focused on building the legal and educational structures that will maximize their people’s ability, both men’s and women’s, to compete, start new companies, and attract investments from abroad. The lower the price of crude oil falls, the more petrolist leaders are sensitive to what outside forces think of them."

-Thomas Friedman


Friedman on Charlie Rose:

Living History

Relationships and interactions help to mold who we are as people; held against the light of others, both strengths and weaknesses, dreads and dreams, become evident; our country's relationship with the world thus has crafted and defined its individual personality. People, as well as the entities they create, must be examined from all levels, from all heights; we need to observe our country as a singularity, and we also need to draw back on the camera, to pan out, and see The United States in the broader context of international relations and affairs. This broad outlook, this wide angle shot, is particularly crucial in this new, globalized age. No man is an island; no nation is an island either. We are the sum of our parts, and these parts extend way beyond our political and physical borders. These parts define who we are, and who we will be 20, 30, 50 years from now. We must be respected in the world to accomplish our collective goals and aspirations; but this respect must be reciprocated; we are beyond the age of imposing will on the unwilling; we need to offer goodwill to the willing.

This world, I hope, will be seeing a new face of the United States next year. An image so battered and bruised, emotionally, politically, and economically, around the world; an image in dire need of a makeover that is more than skin deep. It will be impossible to undo the errors and deceptions of the last 8 years; what is done is done, and there is no meaningful point forward that dwells in the past. Quite simply, this country needs to not make the same mistakes again; we need to learn from our errors, to become that beacon of hope and courage once again. We are at the breaking point; we simply cannot afford the misguided actions which have pervaded Washington's policies.

I strongly believe the only man capable of encapsulating this new era for America is Barack Obama. And last night, he claimed the Democratic Nomination for President, thus becoming the first African American to lead a major political party in a Presidential election; I believe this is a moment that all Americans, regardless of skin color, party affiliation, or socio-economic background, should be proud of; this is a historic day for the ongoing history of the United States of America. We should all be proud that we, indeed, have come so far. But there is still much farther to go.





The most important subject right now is developing a new energy policy. This will be either our success or failure as a nation; the current path cannot be maintained. We need to lead the world as we have done in the past; this is the key to reclaiming our economic and moral leadership around the globe. These are guiding points in Obama's energy plan, which I fully support as bold and necessary.

* Invest $150 Billion over 10 Years in Clean Energy: Obama will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that technologies that are developed in the U.S. are rapidly commercialized in the U.S. and deployed around the globe.
* Double Energy Research and Development Funding: Obama will double science and research funding for clean energy projects including those that make use of our biomass, solar and wind resources.

Good Words

"Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth-more than ruin, more even than death...Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man."
-Bertrand Russell

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
Edgar Allen Poe


"The young (in Lebanon) will have more influence than any previous generation because, for the first time, the majority of them are literate. They are also connected enough to the outside world to be deeply dissatisfied with the status quo at home. They are the dreamers."
-Robin Wright, Dreamers and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East

A Tank of Gas, A World of Trouble

The United States uses up over 15,000 barrels of oil and
the world as a whole consumes 58,000 barrels of oil per minute, every minute, of every hour, of every day.
Private car ownership in China is growing at the rate of 30-40% per year.
We might very well have already hit the stage of "Peak Oil"-when we have maxed out new petrochemical discoveries and resources, on a global scale. Some say it has already happened; some say it will happen in 10 years, 20 years...but there is no disagreement that oil is a finite resource, that will eventually peak and run dry.
Paul Salopek, International Affairs correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, created a documentary series that traced the sources of oil for one small gas station in suburban Chicago. The oil was pumped from all parts of the world, and affected lives in every area it passed through, in all stages of production. This is the most important conversation of the present day, hands down; a conversation that affects every facet of life for all global citizens. Salopek, a visionary, wrote and produced this special back in 2006 when oil was 60$ a barrel.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-oilsafari2-htmlstory,0,3163462.special

"All of our lives around the world are interconnected through this nexus of oil. It keeps our civilizations alive.
"We have not done enough planning to buffer the period between when the oil becomes uneconomical and the point at which we discover alternate strategies and technologies. There is going to be a gap. And that gap is what worries many experts....we are in a pickle when it comes to sustaining our profligate energy lifestyles. We need to rethink our lives. "
-Paul Salopek, International Correspondent, Chicago Tribune