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Monthly Archives: November 2014

Is Black Friday our worst example of unchecked consumerism.

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Is Black Friday our worst example of unchecked consumerism.

Tags

Advertising industry, Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day (BND), Consumerism, Economic Growth, Media technologies., Modern global economy, Online retailers, Society, TV commercials

This year, the shopping orgy called Black Friday became untethered from Thanksgiving and floated across to the U.K., where it most assuredly did not increase happiness and gratitude. It did however exposed a society that is encouraged by its Government since Maggie Thatcher day to treat   shopping as a sport.

We were all treated to woman fighting over leggings, people stampeding to get the latest TV/Smart phone/i Pad till the police had to be summoned to stop them from biting or killing each other. An extremely shameful, embarrassing thing to watch.

Many of the more extreme political movements in the world today claim that they are a response to the power and force of the modern global economy and its accompanying set of values. We should not be surprised when Social Media carries such pictures.

Today, young people are building a shared understanding of how the world works through social and other web-based media..

In 2008, a Walmart employee was killed when a mob of deal-desperate Black Friday shoppers tore the store’s doors from their hinges and stormed inside, trampling him to death. The chain was eventually fined $7000 for their role in the employee’s death — but six years and $2 million later, the world’s largest retailer has yet to pay up. I am sure the poor brighter did not collect his Loyalty points either.

The shape of the global economy, media, and world-wide society now being born is difficult to predict. On the one hand, the logic of economic growth can lead to the pursuit of short-term economic gain to the exclusion of other values.

On the other hand, a sustainable growth strategy could help ensure that the pursuit of economic growth factors in long-term considerations such as environmental impacts and human well-being.

Consumerism has is part to play in this well-being but because humans are like wildebeests the advertising industry spends $12 billion per year on ads targeted to children, bombarding young audiences with persuasive messages through media such as television and the Internet.

The average child is exposed to more than 40,000 TV commercials a year and ads are reaching children through new media technologies.

Some researchers say that consumerism is baked into our DNA, nestled in our neurons. They say our consumptive tendencies will forever evolve in response to marketing, culture, policy and changing needs on our one and only, tiny blue planet.

In light of Black Friday let’s rediscover the full meaning of the word consume.

Is it a modern American tradition gone wrong or just one more bizarre piece in the backbone of our wobbly world economy?

Now days to consume has become a negative word, but there are other meanings.

The verb to consume can also mean to enjoy avidly and to engage fully.

More and more people are coming to the realization they much prefer to consume experiences than stuff — they prefer doing over owning.

Nature has massive value that we may never be able to put a value on. This is truth, not a fad or a trend. For example if you love the ocean, share it, and don’t be afraid to consume it in the very best sense of the word. But also, fight for it. Protect it.

Black Friday has its roots in shopping frenzies. Online retailers such as Apple and Amazon have facilitated the spread of Black Friday far beyond its american frameworks, to any would-be consumer with an internet connection.

While it is easy to brush of all this behavior off as dystopian present-day phenomena, consumerism and taste-makers set the course of this nations culture, with purchasing power playing a huge role in the nationalistic negativism of or nations.

The technologies of information, stimulation, and comfort are seductive and addictive. People and their needs remain constant. Little else seems to be very stable. We are literally drowning in information. Still, the great difficulty with the empirical base of the information age is that much of the data we rely on to understand the world we live in is unverified.

So much so that the reality behind all that glam and glitter is that joy of engaging in the natural world might be forgotten.

As Pope Francis succinctly wrote: “Today’s economic mechanisms promote inordinate consumption, yet it is evident that unbridled consumerism combined with inequality proves doubly damaging to the social fabric.”

So what can we do to slow or even work against the hordes of mindless buyers?

We could and should promote a Buy Nothing Day (BND)

A global day of exercised purchasing power, where social activists or other concerned people work to counteract the rampant avarice and shopping orgy of Black Friday with a day dedicated to purchasing… nothing.

Let’s call it neoconsumerism.

Our economies are being artificially kept afloat, and despite all the signs (shuttered businesses, monetary easing, disastrous world politics and energy issues looming), businesses are now pulling out what appears to be the “final act” for the phrase BLACK FRIDAY.

Thank god there are some gnus that are still evolving.

Black Friday Shoppers

These are rich experiences worthy of consumption. Think of the parts of your life that give you immeasurable joy, yet cost nothing taking time to eat good local food and to consume nature, together, is perceived as valuable, because it is valuable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of us worry about the addiction to the information streaming out of smart phones as people walk the street, oblivious to vehicular and even pedestrian traffic.

 

 

 

 

 

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The market revolution was a boom-period in american culture derivative of advancements in technology, infrastructure, and communications, as well as the shift in public attitudes after the Great Awakenings.

The mirrors, furs, furniture, hats, and fine clothes allowed for consumers to express their individuality, not only as sovereign beings with varied tastes, but as citizens who were beginning to desire a sovereign nation.

 

 

 

 

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Sovereign Wealth Funds. Alarm.

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Sovereign Wealth Funds. Alarm.

Tags

Business and Economy, Capitalism, Extreme poverty, Globalization, Government, Greed, Inequility, ongoing Privatization of the world, Privatization of the World., sovereign wealth funds (SWF), The European Union

<img alt=”” src=”http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/04/79/29/e0/1728.jpg”/>
This photo of 1728 is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Its back to my hobby-horse the ongoing Privatization of the World.

It is of course is happening in a clever way, with very careful paperwork, so we have the option of pretending that it’s not actually happening, right up until the bitter end.

I often wonder is it just me. You barley hear a mummer about it from any other quarter. Other than Ireland where the population has woken up to the Privatization of water.

Perhaps it’s that no one gives a tosser.

That our Governments are systematically divesting themselves of bits and pieces of their own sovereignty, by transfer of assets and service functions from public to private hands.

It’s taking place all over the world without really anyone noticing it happening — often not even the people are asked to vote formerly on the issue.

It is my contention that it is the quality of the state rather than the fact that assets are owned by the state that matters more. In developing countries with extensive market and information failures the state should play an important role in promoting equitable development over the long run not sell of their assets to the highest buyers.

At the political level privatization has been challenged by workers affected by attendant retrenchments and the restructuring of internal and external labor markets consequent upon privatization that has resulted in increased worker vulnerability, and by consumers who have often been negatively affected by increased prices based on cost recovery pricing regimes instituted as a consequence of privatization, or by reduction in service provision arising from “efficiency enhancing” measures as a consequence of privatization.

No one knows precisely how much money is held by SWFs but it is estimated that they currently own $3.5 trillion in assets, and within one decade they could balloon to $10–15 trillion. (equivalent to America’s gross domestic product, an amount larger than the current global stock of foreign reserves of the USA which is about $5 trillion.)

Imagine the biggest and most aggressive hedge fund on Wall Street, then imagine that same fund is fifty or sixty times bigger and outside the reach of any other major regulatory authority, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what an SWF is.

The rise of sovereign wealth funds (SWF) as new power brokers in the world economy can no longer be looked at as a singular phenomenon but rather as part of what can be defined a new economic world order.

This new order has been enabled by several mega trends which operate in a self-reinforcing manner, among them the meteoric rise of developing Asia, accelerated globalization, the rapid flow of information and the sharp increase in the price of oil by a delta of over $100 per barrel in just six years which is enabling Russia and OPEC members to accumulate unprecedented wealth and elevate themselves to the position of supreme economic powers.

It will not be long before transactions involving investment by sovereign wealth funds, as with other types of foreign investment, may raise legitimate national security concerns.

Concerns are growing that the purpose of the investments might be to secure control of strategically important industries for political rather than financial gain.

They on the other hand see themselves as passive, long-term investors, driven solely by the need to make a good return on their country’s surplus cash.

There is a degree of looking through the wrong end of the telescope to all this.

Sovereign wealth funds have with total assets estimated at $5.4tn as of October 2013. The funds have gained more than $750bn in additional assets since 2012 of which only $60 billion has gone to recent bank bailouts.

They are rapidly becoming owners of big chunks of American,the UK and Europe infrastructures.

Unlike the central banks of most Western countries, whose main function is to accumulate reserves in an attempt to stabilize the domestic currency, most SWFs have a mission to invest aggressively and generate huge long-term returns.

The origin of these SWFs is not even relevant, necessarily.

What is relevant is that these funds are foreign.

They are state-owned investment pools that thanks to a remarkable series of events in the middle part of the last decade they are buying up your governments services such as water treatment, parking meters, toll highways, rail links, ports, public infrastructure projects, commercial real estate all delivering a lot of cash into the coffers of sovereign wealth funds like the Qatar Investment Authority, the Libyan Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia’s SAMA Foreign Holdings, and the UAE’s Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Some recent activity:

(The first was the announcement that the Qatari royal family is planning a large investment in the controversial £50billion HS2 rail link, focused on a major new station and housing scheme in central Birmingham.

Qatar Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, is soon to table a new bid to take over Songbird Estates which owns the iconic Canary Wharf tower in east London, one of the best-known modern symbols of British capitalism.  

Libya’s sovereign wealth fund is suing French bank Societe Generale in a British court for $1.5 billion for allegedly channeling bribes to allies of the son of slain dictator Muammar Qaddafi.  

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday the country’s sovereign wealth fund could reach $55 billion by March next year if oil prices kept high.

Iran earned $100 billion in oil revenue in 2011. Iran is both the world leader in Shariah Compliant Finance and the world’s most active state sponsor of Jihadist terrorism.

Deutsche Bahn Seeks Sovereign Funds for the state-owned railway, is seeking to sell shares to sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia during the initial public offering. )

What is more to the point, is we’re being colonized/Privatized.

Industry today may not be regarded as such an industry tomorrow, and vice versa.  Just look at the explosion of energy prices — thanks to a bubble that Western banks and perhaps some foreign SWFs had a big hand in creating.

Out side any regulation these funds are free to plunder the earth in the form of Hedge Funds( (which they have a bunch) with out anyone knowing who the funds investors are.

The point here is if these funds.

Are not regulated by the relevant international bodies determining which kinds of information about their balance sheets, management structures, investment objectives, portfolio breakdowns, and so forth should be supplied by sovereign wealth funds. The European Union could then put curbs on funds failing to comply with the standards for the publication of such information.

One way or the other they should be Capped ( See previous posts)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We must change the way we perceive ourselves.

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on We must change the way we perceive ourselves.

Tags

American Way of Life, Bio-economy, Changing ecosystems, CO2 emissions, Conflicts over resources, Conservation, Earth’s biological wealth, Extinction, Greed, Green infrastructure, investments in science and technology., Lifestyles, MAN v NATURE, Manage the planet, Population growth, Wasteful fossil-fueled

 

I don’t know if like me you see the urgent need for all of us to recognize our role in the world and the enormity of humanity’s responsibility we all have as stewards of the Earth.

Given humanity’s enormous alteration of the Earth we need our Governments/ Leaders and world organisations to change the way they view the world that we all live in.

What they now call economic “growth” amounts too often to a Great Recession for the web of life we all depend on. 

The need to build a culture that grows with Earth’s biological wealth instead of depleting it is more urgent than ever.

We have as a species a duty to protect it and manage it with love and intelligence. It is beautiful still, and can be even more beautiful, if we work together and care for it rather than what we have today a nightmare facing us all

It’s no longer us against ‘Nature.’ It’s we who decide what nature is what it will be.

I am tired of the well worn rhetorical trick for stirring the fears of people unperturbed by current, relatively modest changes that we are all can see are for the sake of the Financial world.

Imagine our descendants in the year 2200 or 2500. They might liken us to aliens who have treated the Earth as if it were a mere stopover for refueling, or even worse, characterize us as barbarians who would ransack their own home.

The Earth’s history shows that the planet can indeed tip from one state to another.

To underestimate the sheer scale of what is going on (caused by us) is a joke in the extreme.

A long-held religious and philosophical idea — humans as the masters of planet Earth — has turned into a stark reality.

Dam by dam, mine by mine, farm by farm and city by city is remaking the Earth before your eyes.

What are we doing about it?  Let me remind you.

To date while driving uncountable numbers of species to extinction, we create new life forms through gene technology, and, soon, through synthetic biology.

We have acidified the oceans and changed global climate with our use of fossil fuels.

We have bent more than 75 percent of the ice-free land on Earth to our will.

We have built so many dams that half of the world’s river flow is regulated, stored or impeded by human-made structures.

We have transported plants and animals hither and yon as crops and livestock and as accidental stowaway.

We have cut down rain forests, moving mountains to access coal deposits and acidifying coral reefs,

We have fundamentally change the biology and the geology of the planet.

We have infuse huge quantities of synthetic chemicals and persistent waste into Earth’s metabolism. Where wilderness remains, it’s often only because exploitation is still unprofitable.

We have through industry disrupted the key biochemical cycles. For good or ill, it will do yet more.

What we do now already affects the planet of the year 3000 or even 50,000 and I can hear you saying that Humans have been changing ecosystems for millenniums. Ecosystems are not — and have never been — static entities.

However if your definition demands that nature be completely untouched by humans, there is indeed no nature left.

First:

We need to learn to grow in different ways than with our current hyper-consumption.

We need bio-adaptive technologies to render “waste” a thing of the past, among them compostable cars and gadgets.

We need innovations tailored to the needs of the poorest, for example new plant varieties that can withstand climate change and robust iPads packed with practical agricultural advice and market information for small-scale farmers.

Global agriculture must become high-tech and organic at the same time, allowing farms to benefit from the health of natural habitats.

We need to develop technologies to recycle substances like phosphorus, a key element for fertilizers and therefore for food security.

We need to move towards “negative CO2 emissions,” e.g. by using plant residues in power plants with carbon capture and storage technology. In addition to cutting industrial CO2 emissions and protecting forests, large investments will be needed to maintain the huge carbon stocks in fertile soils, currently depleted by exploitative agricultural practices.

After years of stalemate and the infamous Copenhagen collapse, there is now at least a glimmer of hope that humanity can act together.

In Cancún, countries agreed that Earth must not warm more than 2 degrees Celsius above the average temperature level before industrialization. This level is already very risky — it implies higher temperature increases in polar regions and therefore greater chance of thawing in permafrost regions, which could release huge amounts of CO2 and methane.

The problem will not be solved soon enough to avert significant climate change unless the Earth system is a lot less prone to climate change than most scientists think. But that does not mean it will not be solved at all.

(For biodiversity, green remnants in a sea of destruction will not be enough.)

We need to build a “green infrastructure,” where organisms and genes can flow freely over vast areas and maintain biological functions.

We also need to develop geoengineering capabilities in order to be prepared for worst-case scenarios.

We need to stop Conservation management turns wild animals into a new form of pets for TV Documentaries. The impression that nowhere on earth is natural and because the concept of pervasive human-caused change may cultivate hopelessness in those dedicated to conservation and may even be an impetus for accelerated changes in land use motivated by profit. But that does not mean we inhabit an ecological hell.

We need to do far more than just hold back the tide of change and build higher and stronger fences around the Arctic, the Himalayas and the other relatively intact ecosystems.

We need to consider actively moving species at risk of extinction from climate change. We can design ecosystems to maintain wildlife, filter water and sequester carbon.

We need countries worldwide to stop striving to attain the “American Way of Life,” citizens of the West should redefine it.

We need Honesty in politics not the Hippocrates we see to-day.

We need to abolish modern-day slavery, stamp out corruption and poverty  by ensuring all round equality.

We need to fight sprawl and mindless development even as we cherish the exuberant nature that can increasingly be found in our own cities, from native gardens to green roofs.

We need to pioneer a modest, renewable, mindful, and less material lifestyles.

We need to cut the consumption of industrially produced meat and changing from private vehicles to public transport.

We need to replace the wasteful fossil-fueled infrastructure of today with a system fueled by solar energy in its many forms, from artificial photosynthesis to fusion energy. Our troubles will deepen exponentially if we fail.

We need to build a world culture that grows with Earth’s biological wealth instead of depleting it.  Remember, in this new era, nature is us.

We need to far surpass our current investments in science and technology.

We need to cap Greed by introducing a world aid commission of 0.05% on all High frequency trading, Sovereign wealth funds and foreign exchange transactions over $20.000$. ( See previous posts)

Finally, we need to adapt our culture to sustaining what can be called the “world organism.”

Human population will approach ten billion within the century. Between now and 2020, however, the commitments on paper must be turned into real action.

To prevent conflicts over resources and to progress towards a durable “bio-economy” will require a collaborative mission that dwarfs the Apollo program. We must invest at least as much in understanding, managing, and restoring our “green security system” — the intricate network of climate, soil, and biodiversity.

Global military expenditure reached 1,531 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, an increase of 49 percent compared to 2000.

The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed. Gandhi pointed out that To accommodate the Western lifestyle for 9 billion people, we’d need several other planets.

On a planetary scale, intelligence is something genuinely new and powerful from which the planet, and its people, cannot simply revert to the status quo. Our management and care of natural places and the millions of other species with which we share the planet could and should be improved.

We humans are becoming the dominant force for change on Earth. — This phrase was not coined by an esoteric Gaia guru, but by eminent German scientist Alexander von Humboldt some 200 years ago. Humboldt wanted us to see how deeply interlinked our lives are with the richness of nature, hoping that we would grow our capacities as a part of this world organism, not at its cost.

His message suggests we should shift our mission from crusade to management, so we can steer nature’s course symbiotically instead of enslaving the formerly natural world.

So the Question is can man create Institutions to save him from the dark forces of his own nature and from the overwhelming consequences of high technological successes.

In this disturbed world, there is nothing left that has not being touched by man who still does not have a clue how to manage the planet.Man-vs-machine.jpg

There you have it. What do you think? Don’t be shy lets have your comments, or contributions.

http://preview.discovery.com/tv-shows/klondike/videos/man-vs-nature/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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At Long Last a World Figure Speaking the Truth:

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on At Long Last a World Figure Speaking the Truth:

Tags

Climate change, European Union, Pope Francis, Syria, Tony Blair

The other day Pope Francis addressed the Strasbourg Parliament.

Pope Francis addresses the European Parliament

In his speech he referred to the European Union as an Institution/ Organisation run by aloof and opulent leaders that treat their citizens as cogs in a machine. ” They have forgotten how to talk about anything but economics, and treat people as humans beings”

He went on to Call the Europe a ” Barren Grandmother” run by bureaucratic technicalities of Institutions.

How right he is.

When technology is allowed to take over there is a confusion between ends and means. This can be seen in all aspects of present day life. The inevitable consequence of throwaway culture and uncontrolled consumerism.

He believes that people of faith must build bridges from one community to another, and from the present to a future of peace, tolerance and goodwill.

Another words prosperity and dignity for all in a world where humankind lives in harmony with nature. He is not the first or will he be the last to have this aspiration.

Never before has man had such capacity to control his own environment: to end thirst and hunger; to conquer poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world—or to make it the last.”

What we have is a world faces multiple crises with most if not all of our world organisations out of date and in dire need of reform. ( See previous Posts.)

Conflict continues to rage in Syria, Iraq and beyond. The Ebola virus continues its deadly grip on West Africa. Threats such as drug trafficking, transnational crime and terrorism are growing in intensity and feeding off each other.

Today’s pre-eminent powers seem to have forgotten that they are elected by the people for the people not the Economy. They need to go back to Basics before we all forced to do business in a new way.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time. We can no longer afford to burn our way to prosperity and we cannot eradicate extreme poverty without fighting climate change. We must all act – as individuals, communities, businesses and governments – individually and together to transform our world. Lives of innocent people are being claimed in unacceptable numbers from Syria to Iraq, from Ukraine to the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Children are being drawn into conflict and kidnapped simply for wanting to learn to read and write.

There is no good in verbalizing these challenges we must surmount them, or together we will suffer the consequences of inaction. We need change in mindset from one of arguing over dividing the work, to one where we all do the maximum that we can, always asking, What more can we do.

The first concrete commitment of any Government be to ensure that any economy gains are inclusive of all its people not the Privatization of its peoples rights to clean water, to clean sustainable energy, to affordable health, education, and public transport. Not to manufacturing arms, bailing out Banks.

Multinational corporations search the globe for the lowest possible labor costs and weakest environmental safeguards. It is not unusual for them to get help from governments that compete in the global marketplace by refusing to protect their citizens from environmental degradation and workplace abuse—ranging from below-survival wages to physical attacks.

Take Immigration as an example.  View by the economy as useful only to grow the economy. A form of modern-day slavery labor that leads to social tensions, as you can see in Great Britain.

Global economy is the exchange of goods and services integrated into a huge single global market that ignores and is blind to the unheard voices.

Copernicus the father of modern-day Astronomy taught the Vatican that the center of the Universe was not earth. Pope Francis has just discovered that the Ten Commandants have to be voiced to be heard.

When you boil down all the valiant words they all fall on deaf ears, and will continue doing so till you and I learn to vote with our wallets, and demand change with our Smart phones.( see post;  what a 0.05% aid commission on all High frequency trading, Sovereign wealth funds and foreign exchange transactions could achieve.) We deserve to do more than just survive.

He did not mention the Hippocratic disease that is spreading throughout our world leaders. Sell arms with one hand and give aid with the other.

This Disease now seems to have spread to a world charity Save the Children how recently awarded Mr Blair a Legacy award.

The Iraq war, George W Bush and Tony Blair – est killed – 500,000. The Syria’s civil war more than doubled in the past year to at least 191,000.

They say that Sarcasm is the lowest for of wit. For such a well supported Charity that does excellent work you would think that with the sadness they see in the world they could pick some one deserving of a Legacy.

Here is a list of some well known people that perhaps they might consider giving a retrospective legacy award too >

Mao Ze Dong         –  killed – 49 – 78,000,000

Adolf Hitler           –  killed   12,000,000

Stalin                   –  killed   7,000,000

Lenin                    – killed       30,000

Pol Pot                  –  killed   1,700,000

IDI Amin                – killed        300,000

Castro                   – killed       30,000                   (All to depressing.)

Milosevic                – killed      100,000

Saddam Hussein   – killed       600,000

Mugaba                  – killed       20,000

Bin Laden               – killed         3,300

 If you want to get a grip of what humanity is have a look the below Videos.. which you might not have viewed. 

Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner speaks on behalf of civil society during the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Leaders Summit in New York City. Check out this high-quality version of Kathy’s poem with footage of climate action around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJuRj…

http://youtu.be/L4fdxXo4tnY

 http://youtu.be/DIIrrPyK0eU

Shanghai   The best cruises for 2014

Aerial night view of Liverpool Street on August 6, 2007 in London.    Tokyo at night

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Trans humanist philosophy :

25 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Trans humanist philosophy :

Tags

Bio medicine, Biological limitations, Computer technology, fabric of human civilization., Genetic engineering, Nanotechnology, Technology advances, The human race, Visions of the future.

Don’t read this if you have a closed mind.

As If we need more problems in the world here is one that is going to blow the minds of our children’s children.

It’s the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology.

If you were to build a human from scratch, from the bottom up, at some point you cross the threshold into humanity — if you believe in evolution, at some point we ceased being a great ape and became human.

Likewise, if you slowly remove parts from a human, you cross the threshold into inhumanity. Again, though, we run into the same problem: How do we codify, classify, and ratify what actually makes us human?

Does adding empathy make us human? Does removing the desire to procreate make us inhuman? If I physically alter my brain to behave in a different, non-standard way, am I still human? If I have all my limbs removed and my head spliced onto a robot, am I still human?

As technology advances, so do our visions of the future.

Artificial wombs? Not so far-fetched. We already have the ability to keep donor hearts pumping externally with nutrient-rich oxygenated blood before transplants are performed.  We are already putting animal brain cells into robots as a control system.

The only thing creeper than a baby robot named Diego-San is a cyborg fetus with no name. It’s an interesting concept that before long we might be incubating our unborn children in tanks, but we might want to think about what that means for population control.

We can’t find a single reason to make a human-gazelle hybrid, but fusing animals and humans (however frightening the concept may be) could be good for something.

It’s only a matter of time before we start digging up skeletons of robots past. With all of these robot dogs walking around and being taught new tricks, how long will it take for robots to adopt other more efficient animal designs?

Whether or not you’re a Transhumanist, future society and all of the potential it brings does seem exciting.

Now all we need is a box that keeps our brain working long enough for a cyborg transplant. Sounds routine enough.

Humans are extending current biological limitations, and in the next few decades what it means to be human might change considerably.

At first glance these questions might sound inflammatory and hyperbolic, or perhaps surreal and sci-fi, but don’t be fooled: In the next decade, given the continued acceleration of computer technology and bio medicine, we will be forced to confront these questions and attempt to find some answer.

Through genetic engineering, nano tech, cloning, and other emerging technologies, eternal life may soon be possible.

So what will happen when we finally craft a computer with greater-than-human intelligence? (the technological singularity).

If every human on Earth suddenly stopped dying, overpopulation would trigger a very rapid and very dramatic socioeconomic disaster. Unless we stopped giving birth to babies, of course, but that merely rips open another can of worms: Without birth and death, would society and humanity continue to grow and evolve, or would it stagnate, suffocated by the accumulated ego of intellectuals and demagogues who just will not die?

Likewise, if only the rich have access to intelligence and strength-boosting drugs and technologies, what would happen to society? Should everyone have the right to boost their intellect? Would society still operate smoothly if everyone had an IQ of 300 and five doctorate degrees?

Humans have always used technology, but never has society been so intrinsically linked and underpinned by it as is to days Society.

As we have seen in just the last few years, with the advent of the smart phone and ubiquitous high-speed mobile networks, just a handful of new technologies now have the power to completely change how we interact with the world and people around us.

In just the last 100 years, we’ve doubled our life span again, created bionic eyes and powered exoskeletons, begun to understand how the human brain actually works, and started to make serious headway with boosting intellectual and physical prowess. Trans cranial direct current stimulation is being used to boost cranial capacity, and as we’ve seen in recent years, sportspeople have definitely shown the efficacy of physical doping.

If you were born 500 years ago, odds are that you wouldn’t experience a single societal-shifting technology in your lifetime — today, a 40-year-old will have lived through the creation of the PC, the internet, the smart phone, and brain implants, to name just a few life-changing technologies.

Just think about how many industries and jobs have been obliterated or subsumed by the arrival of the digital computer, and it’s easy to see why we’re wary of transhumanist technologies that will change the very fabric of human civilization.

That all changes with the children of today, however.

To them, anything that isn’t computerized, digital, and touch-enabled seems unnatural. To them, the smart phone is already an extension of the brain; to them, mind uploading, bionic implants and augmentations, and powered exoskeletons will just be par for the course. To them, transhumanism will just seem like natural evolution — and anyone who doesn’t follow suit, just like those fuddy-duddies who still don’t have a smart phone, will seem thoroughly  inhuman.

For the children of tomorrow, living through a series of disruptive technologies that completely change their lives will be the norm.

      

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We don’t live in a digital world – the washing machine has changed lives more than the internet.

23 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on We don’t live in a digital world – the washing machine has changed lives more than the internet.

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Capitalism, Capitalism and Greed, Capitalist World., Distribution of wealth, FOUNDATIONS /FORUM THINK TANKS, Globalization, Greed, Inequility

We do however live in a Capitalist World.

Capitalism is woven into nearly every aspect of our lives, yet it’s rarely subject to substantive conversation.

If we’re to move forward as a society, capitalism needs to be up for serious discussion, honest evaluation and, ultimately, systemic change. Capitalism is often discussed—even dismantled—in academia, but not in terms that make sense to non-specialists.

If there is a problem with capitalism, it is with the greedy few who occasionally foul up the system for the rest of us. The 85 richest people in the world hold as much wealth as today’s “other half”—3.5 billion of the world’s 7 billion humans. Who thinks that’s a fair system? How can it be acceptable that anyone, let alone 2.4 billion people, lives on less than $2 a day?

With more free time, we could build a more robust democracy by engaging with the political issues that affect our lives and organizing more participatory structures to make decisions in our communities. If there’s anything threatening to capitalism, it’s that!

It’s convenient for capitalists to have everyone else thinking they don’t work hard enough and that any ill fortune is their own fault.

How well can capitalism be working when so many say it doesn’t? Capitalism can’t work for everyone. If it did, it wouldn’t be capitalism.”why do we settle for a system that fails so many?

So here is a hypothetical question.

If you were asked to explain Capitalism to an individual who had never experienced or heard of Capitalism what would you say it is.

Here are a few Quotes to get you started then have a look below at what I think.

Gustave Flaubert

“As humanity perfects itself, man becomes degraded. When everything is reduced to the mere counter-balancing of economic interests, what room will there be for virtue? When Nature has been so subjugated that she has lost all her original forms, where will that leave the plastic arts? And so on. In the mean time, things are going to get very murky.” ― Gustave Flaubert

Carl Sagan

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of thebamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. Thebamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

Edward Abbey

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” ― Edward Abbey, The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West

Michael Parenti

“The essence of capitalism is to turn nature into commodities and commodities into capital. The live green earth is transformed into dead gold bricks, with luxury items for the few and toxic slag heaps for the many. The glittering mansion overlooks a vast sprawl of shanty towns, wherein a desperate, demoralized humanity is kept in line with drugs, television, and armed force.” ― Michael Parenti,  Against Empire

Napoleon

“The hand that gives is among the hand that takes. Money has no fatherland, financiers are without patriotism and without decency, their sole object is gain.” ― Napoleon

George Carlin

“Capitalism tries for a delicate balance: It attempts to work things out so that everyone gets just enough stuff to keep them from getting violent and trying to take other people’s stuff.” ― George Carlin

Gustave Flaubert

“As humanity perfects itself, man becomes degraded. When everything is reduced to the mere counter-balancing of economic interests, what room will there be for virtue? When Nature has been so subjugated that she has lost all her original forms, where will that leave the plastic arts? And so on. In the mean time, things are going to get very murky.” ― Gustave Flaubert

Philip Slater

“Our economy is based on spending billions to persuade people that happiness is buying things, and then insisting that the only way to have a viable economy is to make things for people to buy so they’ll have jobs and get enough money to buy things.” ― Philip Slater

Russell Brand

“Perhaps if we could popularise through the techniques of branding and consumerism, a different idea, a different narrative, perhaps the world can change. After all it changes constantly and incessantly, it’s just the perceptions that we have are governed by people with self-interest and are not in alignment with the health and safety of us as individuals or as a planet.” ― Russell Brand

Jonathan Sacks

“To whom is an international corporation answerable? Often they do not employ workers. They outsource manufacturing to places far away. If wages rise in one place, they can, almost instantly, transfer production to somewhere else. If a tax regime in one country becomes burdensome, they can relocate to another. To whom, then, are they accountable? By whom are they controllable? For whom are they responsible? To which group of people other than shareholders do they owe loyalty? The extreme mobility, not only of capital but also of manufacturing and servicing, is in danger of creating institutions that have power without responsibility, as well as a social class, the global elite, that has no organic connection with any group except itself.” ― Jonathan Sacks

Daniel Pinchbeck

“The capitalist mind perceives the world purely in terms of material resources to be used for its benefit, to increase productivity and profit without thought of long-term consequence. If there is still a vague and oppressive sense of guilt, of wrongness and imbalance, this gnawing guilt spurs capitalism on to greater acts of consumption, more …  more violent attempts to subjugate nature, more totalizing efforts to create distractions. To the “rational materialist” mind, death is the end of everything; this thought feeds its rage against nature, which has placed it in this position of despair.” ― Daniel Pinchbeck

Barry Unsworth

“Money is sacred as everyone knows… So then must be the hunger for it and the means we use to obtain it. Once a man is in debt he becomes a flesh and blood form of money, a walking investment. You can do what you like with him, you can work him to death or you can sell him. This cannot be called cruelty or greed because we are seeking only to recover our investment and that is a sacred duty.” ― Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger

Chris Hedges

“Unfettered capitalism is a revolutionary force that consumes greater and greater numbers of human lives until it finally consumes itself.” ― Chris Hedges, The Death of the Liberal Class


My Thoughts:

In fact, the term capitalist, is a remnant of sloppy, hysterical, anti-commerce, 19th Century thinking that survives to this day.

I guess it all depends on what kind of capitalism we are talking about and the problem with capitalism is that it is rarely practiced in its entirely.

You might say it is a rat race for the worker who must live a life in which there is a real possibility that changes in consumer demand or in technology will eliminate his/her livelihood and in which his/her ability to find a new job is conditioned by his/her “ability to compete”.

There is not a single day that passes that I don’t hear some complaint about the state of capitalism. “What is wrong with capitalism today?” is dependent on who you ask.

Modern market capitalism has shifted recently with the emerging supremacy of money markets and the financial system over the actual trade of goods. The new capitalism” is based on mathematics rather than trade and its currently practiced is simply not sustainable.

We do not have global organizations capable of managing these tension points nor are societies willing to curb growth and consumerism.

Under capitalism insensitivity to human needs has developed. One of the fundamental faults of capitalism is the basic axiom that if everybody tries to accumulate as much property/money as possible the general interest of the people will be served.

For years now I have watched the gradual drift in the minds of the average person from an understanding of our political economic reality and the need for corrective actions.

The reality is fear and greed are part of the human condition and Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.

The mass media is becoming more and more an opiate, an aid for living the unexamined life.

The current world tensions are a result of a struggle for spheres of influence and trade—the socialist markets are essential not open to trade from capitalist countries.

So if I were to explain to days Capitalism I would tempted to say that the essence of capitalism is to turn nature into commodities and commodities into capital. The live green earth is transformed into dead gold bricks, with luxury items for the few and toxic slag heaps for the many.

But no economic order to date has so obviously displayed such an enormous productive capacity as has capitalism.  However whether it aids the poor in escaping their poverty or abets the forces that perpetrate that poverty is still to be seen as Capitalism is inherently exploitative in that it forces people to be “competitive” rather than “cooperative”.

As long as Capitalism exists, there will always be people who will be rich and those that are too poor. One longs for a kind of economic “peaceable kingdom”; such cannot exist under an economic system in which competition plays such a large role as it does in capitalism. For the most part, capitalism can be viewed as complex system based on inequality and monopoly.

In a true Capitalist market economy, we would not price fix, bail out banks, give subsidies, etc.

Peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.

In what they call the third world we have glittering mansion overlooking a vast sprawl of shanty towns, wherein a desperate, demoralized humanity is kept in line with drugs, television, and armed force. Let nothing interfere with economic growth, even though that growth is castrating truth, poisoning beauty, turning a continent into a shit-heap and riving an entire civilization insane.

The hand that gives is among the hand that takes.

Money has no fatherland, financiers are without patriotism and without decency, their sole object is gain.

Our political problems have deepened with the demise of unions as an effective political force, the continued growth in the belief in the desirability of pyramid economics and class structure (which has been sold by a media controlled by those at the top of the pyramid), and the dependence of our two-party system upon those at the top of the pyramid for funds to cover their election expenses.
Here’s no such thing as a ‘free’ market.
Globalisation isn’t making the world richer.
Poor countries are more entrepreneurial than rich ones.

Higher paid managers don’t produce better results.

We are quickly reaching the tipping point where growth in GDP in any particular country comes at the expense of growth in GDP of another.

What would replace it (capitalism)?

It’s too late to replaced it by any other system and extremely difficult to prompt any-other system but not too late to rectify its glaring weaknesses.

It’s not to late to suggest/generate ideas to create a better society where everybody is properly fed, clothed, and housed; where everyone worked and received a fair return for their work with none receiving too much; where intellectual development for all is encouraged; where businesses are the servant to man; where the production of war materials end; where the ending of all exploitation, including one region by another or one class by another; where and the ending of a press which is controlled by those who make up the ruling class.

To find the world that could exist after capitalism, we must look to the worlds already being created in the countless cracks of capitalist domination.

Switzerland is to debate the introduction of a living income for all its citizen’s rather than a living wage and social welfare. Perhaps the first step in the right direction. In the meantime Capitalism is still alive and well.

All we can do is to keep on hoping that maybe the corporate government administration and media are on the level with us.

Today’s economy profitability is important, but there are also a plethora of external and internal factors involved which determine the type of model that exists today.

(See Previous Posts. Create a World Aid Fund by capping Greed/profit with a Commission of 0.05%)

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We Must Alter Course. Which of the world’s biggest problems needs to be solved now?

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on We Must Alter Course. Which of the world’s biggest problems needs to be solved now?

 

I am sure you often though what the hell is happening to the world I live in.

To touch what can be touched the state of our living history has to be changed by all of us.

– Albert Einstein (1879-1955) said “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

Unlimited possibilities are not suited to man; if they existed, his life would only dissolve in the boundless. Everything must change so that nothing will change.

This is a brain storming post, so what would you change to make a better world.

If you we asked to list the priorities that you would like our elected and no elected leaders to tackle what would your list look like, and what priority would you give to each item on your list.


Is it public health?   Dementia.

As of 2013, there were an estimated 44.4 million people with dementia worldwide. This number will increase to an estimated 75.6 million in 2030, and 135.5 million in 2050. Much of the increase will be in developing countries. Already 62% of people with dementia live in developing countries, but by 2050 this will rise to 71%. The fastest growth in the elderly population is taking place in China, India, and their south Asian and western Pacific neighbors.


Is it Biodiversity?

Growth hormones used on animals get into our food sources and may be affecting humans. Mono culture crops can be easily wiped out by new diseases. The use of chemical fertilizers pollutes the environment. Human actions in the management of land, water, and other natural resources has caused the Earth’s biodiversity to be reduced at an alarming rate. Some sources claim that biodiversity has decreased at a rate faster than any time in history since the mass extinction millions of years ago.


Is it Lowering airplane emissions?

It is widely acknowledged that man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are causing major changes to the planet’s climate. 

Worldwide, flights produced 705 million tonnes of CO2 in 2013. Globally, humans produced over 36 billion tonnes of CO2.

In 2013, over 3 billion passengers were carried by the world’s airlines. Over 58 million people are employed worldwide in aviation and related tourism. Of this, 8.7 million people work directly in the aviation industry.

              


Is it Climate Change?

The catastrophic warming of the planet. High environmental degradation related to global diversification of fossil fuel extraction. In developed countries existing systems and infrastructure creates resistance to adoption of renewables.

Most regions, particularly developing countries are experiencing significant energy demand growth which puts pressure on global fossil fuel consumption.

Disagreement on responsibility between the developed and developing world to transform the way energy is produced and used.

Lack of energy policy co-ordination among countries is impacting regional stability and an obstacle to cohesive regional energy planning.

Insufficient mitigation of short and long-term risk associated with nuclear energy generation and waste disposal.

Existing energy generation through renewables is not competitive with current carbon intensive energy sources.


Is it the Current wars and conflict? 

Major wars Brown-                              10,000+ deaths per year
Wars and conflicts Red –                       1,000–9,999 deaths per year
Minor skirmishes and conflicts Yellow –    fewer than 1000 deaths per year.
Here are a few to be getting on with.
Syrian Civil war
ISIS
Israeli-Palestinan
Afghan Civil war
Mali
Somali Civil war
Libyan
North West Pakistan
Sinai
South Sudan
Ukraine.


 Is it the Drug Trade?
The drug trade is widely believed to be the most profitable illicit economy, dwarfing others such as the illegal trade in wildlife or logging, its impact on society and the intensity of violence and corruption it generates vary in different regions and over time. Mexican drug trafficking is estimated by analysts to be worth $13 billion US a year.


Is It Terrorism?

The List is endless with some considerable variety.

Al- Quada, Al- Shabaab, Taliban, ISIS, Boko Haram to mention a few.


Is it Inequality, Poverty?

Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.


Is it Slavery?

There are 29.8 million people living as slaves right now. These 30 million people are living as forced laborers, forced prostitutes, child soldiers, child brides in forced marriages and, in all ways that matter, as pieces of property, chattel in the servitude of absolute ownership.


Is it Freedom of Speech?

Liberty is a paradox. Or to be more precise: liberty is surrounded by paradoxes. One of these seemingly contradictory propositions is that when people are increasingly talking about freedoms and rights, true liberty itself may increasingly be in retreat as well. An important aspect of the freedom of speech is that it requires more than just the possibility to express your personal views; it also requires the possibility to hold these personal views.


Is it Ebola?

The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa. There were a small number of cases reported in Nigeria and a single case reported in Senegal. About 200,000 people are having problems getting food because of problems caused by the Ebola outbreak. More than 15,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone have contracted Ebola since March, according to the World Health Organization, making this the biggest outbreak on record. More than 5,400 people have died.


Is it Greed?

Greed has a strong biological basis. However, it has an even stronger social basis. This sets it somewhat apart from self-preservation and reproduction. Extreme desire for wealth was harmful to the society since it concentrated too many resources in too few hands.


Is it Privatization?           Sovereign Wealth Funds


Is it Immigration?

The number of people forced to flee their homes across the world has exceeded 50 million for the first time since the second world war, an exponential rise that is stretching host countries and aid organisations to breaking point. More than 25,000 unaccompanied children lodged asylum applications in 77 countries last year, a fraction of the number of displaced minors across the globe.We are witnessing a quantum leap in forced displacement in the world. 2013 showed a total of 51.2 million refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people. If displaced people had their own country it would be the 24th most populous in the world.


Is it the economy?

Barring major geopolitical upheaval, global economic growth in 2015 will hold at a rate of 3.4 percent in 2015.


Is it NATO?

“One for all, all for one”: That’s a central principle of the NATO alliance — but in recent months, multiple members have wondered whether it truly applies to them. Should it be abolished as a provocation or is it a collective territorial defense, which builds on credible physical and cyber defense capabilities against an attack or a threat thereof to any of its member states.


Is it Antibiotics?

A terrible future could be on the horizon, a future which rips one of the greatest tools of medicine out of the hands of doctors. The most basic operations could become deadly. A world without antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance in some parts of the world is like a slow tsunami, we’ve known it’s coming for years. The consequences are absolutely massive, that’s actually something people have not quite grasped.


Is it the Population Growth?

According to the most recent United Nations estimates, the human population of the world is expected to reach 8 billion people in the spring of 2024.

TODAY:  21/Nov/2014.
Births today
263,667
Deaths today
108,792
Population Growth today
154,875
THIS YEAR:  2014
Births this year
123,673,453
Deaths this year
51,029,150
Population Growth this year
72,644,400


Is it Corruption?

Corruption adds 10 percent or more to the cost of doing business in many parts of the world and as much as 25 percent to the cost of public procurement. Corruption also impedes economic growth, distorts competition, and creates serious legal andreputational risks.


Is it Arms Trading?

Country Total Arms Sales Percent of Global Arms Sales
1
United States $154.882 billion 41%
2
Russia $63.823 billion 17%
3
France $31.247 billion 8%
4
United Kingdom $26.914 billion 7%
5
Germany $16.261 billion 3%

Is it Woman’s Rights?

Promoting gender equality.Women account for about two-thirds of the 1.6 billion people globally who live in extreme poverty. Women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace.


Is it Energy?

Policies and market-based mechanisms sometimes conflict instead of synergistically pushing a region towards a sustainable energy future.

Lack of public awareness creates barriers to long-term thinking about energy.

Energy efficiency is not being embraced to the required degree due to political, financial and cultural drivers despite significant savings potential.


 

It is the United States foreign Policy? 

The key divide on America’s role in the world is no longer between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between elites and everyone else.


When you look at my list they are all interconnected either by one leading to another or one destroying all the others.

So which one will eliminate all the others. Climate Change is the best candidate.

Or are there more pressing problems.

Government isn’t just too divided to solve our problems. It is too limited in scope, too caught in old silos, too burdened by our ever-growing expectations.

The defining feature of Western-style government — its success in catering to a wide variety of citizen needs — has become its greatest liability.  Governments are going broke while contorting themselves into ever stranger positions to satisfy often contradictory constituent demands. ( Value exchanges- Internet-related) Government’s willingness to forge partnerships . . . to make data more open, to contract for outcomes, to reduce regulatory minefields, and to convene diverse groups of contributors will hold tremendous sway over the scale of the solution economy within its borders. All worthless when it comes to climate Change.

There you have it.

I am sure all of you have your own horrifying list and I would be delighted to see it, but more so to hear your opinions as to why and what should be done.

For me the price of inaction is so high with climate change which threatens the entire world ( all the human suffering created by any of the others is put in the shade)

We must stand up and demand all our world leaders to take responsibility in the race to save humanity now and in the future.

If you don’t believe me have a look at this video.  

http://youtu.be/mc_IgE7TBSY  Statement by Ms. Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Civil Society Representative from the Marshall Islands at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit 2014.

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Love Him or Hate Him, Vladimir Putin’s Poll Numbers Have Never Been Higher

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Love Him or Hate Him, Vladimir Putin’s Poll Numbers Have Never Been Higher

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President Putin.

I never meet the man.  To know a person you have to live with them.

I have however mentioned him in previous posts ( Our Mr Putin is he good or bad and Thanks to Putin NATO no Longer has to justify its existence.) so I got to thinking what do I know about the man.

For what its worth here is a short picture of the Man.

Vladimir Putin was born on October 7, 1952 in Leningrad, two brothers Oleg and Viktor, (neither of whom survived childhood.)  Mother, Maria Shelomova, (died of cancer 1998) Father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin,(died of cancer 1999.) Wife Lyudmila, two daughters Maria, 28, and Yekaterina, 27. Divorced after 30 years. He turned 62 this year and there is speculation that he might be ‘latently gay. Emerging from an environment of fistfights and drunken thugs, Putin gained an explosive temper.

Vera Putina, 82, in rural Georgia has claimed he is the child she gave away at the age of ten.

Elected president of the Russian Federation in 2000 as the hand-picked successor of Boris Yeltsin. Putin said that the authorities must draw their support solely from the Russian people, and if this support is absent, the authorities have no place in Power.

A member of the KGB beginning in the mid-1970’s, Putin spent years working primarily in East Germany, then left the service in 1991 and became active in the politics of St. Petersburg (Leningrad).

He was brought to Moscow by Yeltsin in 1996 and served as an administrator in the Kremlin and an official for the security organizations which replaced the KGB.

He was officially elected to the office in 2000 and re-elected in 2004 in a landslide vote. He stepped down in 2008 (as required by term limits) and was replaced by his own hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev installed Putin as prime minister, a move which left Putin, as the country’s dominant politician, with a firm grip on power. He is not shy about wielding his power publicly or privately.

In 2012, Putin was again elected President, but this time accompanied by wide-spread protests of election fraud.

Within a few brief years, he has dismantled the country’s media, wrested control and wealth from the country’s burgeoning business class, and decimated the fragile mechanisms of democracy. Virtually every obstacle to his unbridled control was removed and every opposing voice silenced, with political rivals and critics driven into exile or to the grave.

During his latest administration, the Russian government has become increasingly repressive by virtually eliminating dissent, from the arrest of members of the feminist punk rock protest group Pussy Riot to the dissolution and intimidation of news agencies and journalists who are critical of the government, as well as instituting policies against the LGBT community.

Who is he really? Does he respects anything resembling a Western understanding of free expression in his country.

He is clearly not anti-democratic. However, he has shown himself to be indifferent toward democratic institutions or a democratic ethos to the extent that he believes that they will hinder his implementation of his vision of a more dynamic and modern Russian economy.

His time with the KGB is cloaked in mystery. A man without a history, an unexplained political figure. Accused of using poison as a political tool, with no prejudice against gay people provided they obey Russia’s ‘oppressive’ anti-gay laws. He remains an endless source of fascination. His secretive past lends itself to the interests of conspiracy theorists, critics and cloak-and-dagger fans.

Often seen in contradicting capacities that fascinate us, such as photos that show him kissing the belly of a little boy and others in which he presents Russian soldiers with hunting knives. He also has a habit of saying things that are considered extremely controversial.

A mass of contradictions: On the one hand he is portrayed as cautious, thoughtful family man, while on the other he’s a stern ruler whose harshest critics have a tendency to wind up dead. Yet, he is favored by hard-line Soviets and free-market reformists alike.

Named by Forbes Magazine as the most powerful man in the world he has essentially cut a deal with the Russian public: You stay out of politics, I’ll make sure the economy grows and that wealth trickles down.

He is explicitly aware of the reasons for economic failure under the different leaderships of Nikita Khrushchev, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin and is consciously seeking an alternative policy. (Most probably, Putin is using the economic chaos of the 1990s as a negative model when making economic decisions.)

 

He holds a sixth-degree black belt in judo renowned for his sweeping leg throw,called a haraigoshi and is the coauthored the book Judo: History, Theory, Practice. 

He earned the degree based on a dissertation entitled, The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations, but some uncertainty exists about precisely when he wrote it and if he wrote it at all.

In 1997, Putin technically earned a doctorate in economics from the St. Petersburg Mining Institute; however, his thesis was targeted for a “candidate of sciences” degree, which is widely considered to be a full academic class lower than a doctorate. 

His mother was devoutly Russian Orthodox, while his father was atheist and a member of the Communist Party. Vladimir’s position was unknown until the mid-1990s, when a fire erupted at his dacha (a summer retreat) and he nearly lost his life. As a direct result of this near-death experience he converted, and today he is an active and practicing member of the Russian Orthodox Church — the very organization that was once largely banned in his country.

Putin’s paternal grandfather worked as a chef at one of Stalin’s many dachas. Additionally, Putin recalls his grandfather relating tales of serving meals to both Lenin and Rasputin but his family associated with Stalin, Lenin and Rasputin is only slight.

As the leader of the largest country by land mass on the planet — and one that is actively fighting a conflict in breakaway Chechnya (The Second Chechen War was launched by the Russian Federation, starting 26 August 1999)  The exact death toll from this conflict is unknown. Unofficial estimates range from 25,000 to 50,000 dead or missing, mostly civilians in Chechnya. Russian casualties are over 5,200.

Chechnya is all but silenced following the 11 September attacks on the US. A controversial referendum in March 2003 approved a new constitution, giving Chechnya more autonomy but stipulating that it remained firmly part of Russia.

He is now staging a proxy war in the Ukraine and inked a deal to build a more than $70 billion gas pipeline with China (the planet’s largest construction project) our choice simply seems prescient.

With the annexation of Crimea he is surely, drifting away from core Western values concerning the importance of democratic principles, an open and free civil society, an independent media and a competitive market economy with Russia looking more and more like an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped rogue.

We would be fools to measure Russia by textbook edicts or homespun hopes that its form of democracy should eventually resemble that of the United States and/or other Western countries. Russia has started to convincingly recover from the chaos of the post-Soviet collapse and reforming Russia’s still very Soviet military establishment and mindset has always been an important policy agenda of Putin’s presidency.

In doing so he is NATO Favorite disciple, in so far that Nato had to reinvent itself after the cold.

Western sanctions seem to have encouraged Russians to “rally ’round the flag.”  The early indications are that there are backfiring spectacularly.

According to the Levada Center, Russia’s leading independent polling agency, Russians have never been more supportive of Putin. His approval rating in October 2014 was a preposterous 88%, with a mere 11% voicing disapproval.

What’s noteworthy isn’t just the high overall level, but the fact that it has been relentlessly ticking higher and increasing steadily ever since the situation in Ukraine blew up in late February and early March.

So far the West’s response to the Ukraine crisis has measurably strengthened Vladimir Putin’s domestic support. Since the policy’s goal was precisely the opposite, I’d humbly suggest that should cause us to re-think our approach. Regardless of your opinion, though, any attempt to analyze what the West should do next needs to take into account the fact that Vladimir Putin is now politically stronger than he has ever been before.

The thorny question of whether Putin’s vision for Russia is good for the country’s future and that of the rest of the world is to be answered.

Putin created his own narrative that vilified NATO expansion as an unjust Western strategy of entrapment. Much of the real story has yet to be written, and there is still cause to hope it will end differently.

From Putin’s perspective, NATO expansion was a broken promise, a violation of a post-Cold War covenant between Russia and the West.

NATO expansion in Central and Eastern Europe crystallized the narrative in Putin’s mind that the West was reinvigorating its policy of containment.

As long as the West keeps punching, Putin, the hotheaded and thin-skinned judo martial artist, will punch back. There are peaceful alternatives on the horizon. What is needed is warming not a chilling.

.

And Finally he has his own Web site.

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Every 30 seconds, a human being is sold.

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on Every 30 seconds, a human being is sold.

Tags

Consumerism, Debt Slavery., Modern day Slavery

I run a Magazine Call Silent Witness to Modern day Slavery on Flip board.

I call it Silent Witness because Flipboard does no facilitate comment. In it I post articles and videos from the Internet covering a wide range of Slavery as there is no typical victim of slavery. Modern-day slavery affects men, women and children across the world..

( Have a look. Robert de Mayo Dillon@no1bobdillon.)

It has come to my notice that the biggest source of Slavery get little mention if at all.  Debt Slavery.

In the Oxford Dictionary the term Slave is defined as “a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them” as in the case of the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries where slavery was a legalized institution. These the Dictionary now defines slavery as “a person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation” as in today’s world of a person working for a company or corporation where their efforts are usually under appreciated.  It also describes a slave as “a person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by something” or “a device, or part of one, directly controlled by another”.  DEBT.

An economy that is consumer based with credit is a disaster in the making because that debt only becomes unmanageable in the long run, especially when the people have no means to repay its debt obligations. Consumerism leads to moral decay with people becoming perpetual servants of mega corporations and international banks.. You saw what happened on Black Friday, it is a reminder of how people react when products they don’t really need are on sale.

Consumers suffer psychological abuse by its creditors.  As long as an individual remains in debt bondage, that person will have to repay that debt until the day that person literally dies in most cases. Imagine how they will react in times of economic despair.

How many people clear their House mortgage in their life time? Interest rates attached to the purchases made is the bond that ties you and the corporate interests or bankers for eternity. It becomes a “control mechanism” as the creditor becomes the “Slave Owner” and the debtor becomes the “Slave”.

When people become ingrained in consumption disregarding the debt they inherit, they become immune to the realities around them. 

We are all slave in one way or another and it would be reasonable to say that Debt is a choice which I would agree with. The Interest is not. My bone of contention is that the Interest should stop once the Capital sum is repaid. If your house goes down in value your mortgage and interest payments don’t. Would you not think it reasonable the cost of one a Toll road or Bridge has being repaid it should transfer to public ownership

Anyway Modern day slavery is flourishing with 20.9 million people worldwide victims of forced labor. 4.5 million of these are victims of forced sexual exploitation, while 14.2 million are victims of forced labor exploitation. The remaining 2.2 million are in state-imposed forms of forced labor.

Celebrities’ personal lives still dominate headlines in the main stream media.  The ‘War on Terror’ has taken away civil liberties and the ‘War on Drugs’ has increased the prison population.  High-crime rates in major cities remain problematic. With the rollout of 7000 drones in 2015, endless wars, a looming economic collapse, and endless Pharmaceutical commercials that keep people heavily drugged are serious problems for the world public.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing form of international crime.

Every 30 seconds, a human being is sold for an average price of $90. The profits generated from human trafficking are estimated to be $32 billion every year. 

The legal confusion between a job with appalling conditions and criminal exploitation means it can be difficult to identify and prosecute 21st-century slave traders and people traffickers.

In a world driven by profit there is little hope of changing the above till we start using our wallets to force change. One day of boycotting any company that does not pay its employees a living wage would soon make that company sit up and pay attention.

You might think slavery does not touch your life but mark my words Fresh water, Clear Air, and demishing natural resources are being privistised as we speak by Sovereign Wealth Funds, and all knowledge is being stored by Google. Both will ensure Slavery in all its forms.

When the necessities such as food and shelter become scarce the people will begin to panic and lose control over their own lives reality will sink in.

Millions of people are in forced labour around the world.   

 

 

 

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G -7 G-8 G-9 G-10 G-20 G-25 G- Whatever Are they all pointless talk-fest?

16 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by bobdillon33@gmail.com in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on G -7 G-8 G-9 G-10 G-20 G-25 G- Whatever Are they all pointless talk-fest?

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Ebola, G -7 G-8 G-9 G-10 G-20 G-25 G- Whatever, Islamic State militants, MH17., Slavery, Ukraine

At the G8 summit in Scotland, Bono and Bob Geldof heaped praise on Tony Blair and George Bush, who were still mired in the butchery they had initiated in Iraq.

I never listen to what the G8, G9, G10, G15, G20, G25 G-Whatever have to say.

They are not legitimate by any means, it is just a club of rich nations that think they have the right to decide the future of the planet on their own!

Let them speak and feed their self-importance. With no secretariat, no treaty or legal instrument to back up its decisions and no power to force member nations to do anything,

The decisions made on a global scale should be with the participation of all countries, not just the rich few. 

Anyway the G20 in Brisbane are certain not to find a global response to Ebola, the conflict in the Ukraine, the International Action against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria and Russia’s response to the downing of MH17.

Will it Boosting growth, infrastructure, tax enforcement and free trade not on your Nelly.  In reality it’s just an other gossip shop with 4,000 delegates and 3000 media. An excuse for a party.

The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

While the G8  is a divisive body made up of the seven most powerful economies of the world, (United States, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Italy) and Russia. The world’s “elite” economic and political countries make up the G8. Acknowledged by some as a casual forum for the world’s leaders to discuss matters of mutual concern, while derided by others for being ineffective and for excluding important nations (China, for example) in their affairs.

One of the most pressing questions for these G Clubs, is their relevance – with many arguing that there are now so fewer international superpowers, that any power remaining in the hands of ‘powerful’ nations is diluted to the point of irrelevance.

The Clubs represent about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85 per cent of global gross domestic product and over 75 per cent of global trade.

For me they create policies in order to have the authority to exploit developing countries resources. The policies are not “optional”  they are indirectly mandatory in forms of trade agreements.

Together, these countries are able to push policies and agendas in formal world institutions. For example, G8 countries have nearly 50% of the vote in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). G8 countries also have enormous influence in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Security Council of the United Nations (UN). World Bank, and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This is the case despite the fact that, unlike the above institutions, (Today, these institutions are plagued with identity and representational crises and find themselves ineffective in the face of new global challenges, such as responding to the outbreak of intrastate conflicts, stopping financial crisis contagion, and regulating transnational corporations. Structural reform is necessary if the WTO, World Bank, IMF, and UN are to meet some of these challenges, while other global problems will require new, visionary agendas of global governance — and new institutions. See previous Postings) the G8/G7 has no permanent staff, no headquarters, no set of rules governing its operations, and no formal or legal powers.

For those negatively impacted by the policy agendas advanced by the G8/G7, and for countries excluded from its deliberations, the G8/G7’s influential role in global governance is highly resented and frequently criticized.

Unfortunately, the G8/G7 has shown little leadership in addressing the deepening crisis of global governance. Indeed both have contributed to this crisis by supporting policy solutions that bypass the UN and that favor transnational corporations over public welfare. 

A yet more fundamental challenge to global governance in the post-9.11 era is failure of Japan, Russia, and European nations to mount a challenge to the increasingly assertive U.S. expressions of hegemony and supremacy in military, economic, cultural, and diplomatic affairs.

But we don’t have to worry.

A worldwide estimates suggest that as many as 36 million people live today with dementia, with just over 40% of them in high-income countries. And these numbers… are set to triple… by 2050. And according to Alzheimer’s Disease International… every day every 4 seconds someone somewhere develops dementia., which Putin will have done by the time he lands in Moscow he will have invented another G Club.

    The group of demonstrators take part in a protest by burying their heads in the sand at Bondi Beach - 13 November 2014

Slavery is illegal in every country, yet millions are enslaved by vicious criminals, archaic traditions and brutal greed. As news media uncover shocking stories of modern day slavery, more and more people are waking up to the need to take action.The reasons why slavery still exists are complex. In many countries the fight against slavery is not a priority. In some countries, existing laws are not being enforced. In some countries, certain forms of slavery are so common that they are almost considered normal.

This would have being worth discussing.

 

 

 

 

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