Bringing Peace to Syria

With over five years of completed destruction of Syria the world is still wondering how to bring peace to that country. The really sad part of the statement of not knowing how to bring peace is the reality that the answer is known. What is lacking is the will to actually do the work. To be precise, the lack of will is on the part of the leaders and not the people who actually do the difficult tasks. What is the answer to bringing peace to Syria? The answer is the cliché – boots on the ground. Looking back on how Syria spiraled into this chaos we will see the very tactic of boots on the ground. As mentioned in an earlier article, Al Qeida produced a document named “The Management of Savagery”. This document is a step by step teaching aid on how to take over any sector, area, city, or country. Oddly enough it is also the exact method to bringing peace. The difference is the mindset of those putting the plan into practice. The Management of Savagery is specific to the destruction of society using Islamic rules and most times twisting Islamic ideology, the methods are very similar to what is known as sector security reform. The simplicity of the plan is that you need to have people living, raising families and working in the area you are trying to take over. Then comes the complexity of putting those people on the ground comes into play. For the most part the leaders of the world would rather drop bombs, fire missiles and send drones than put people on the ground. The reasons for that is easily understood but such a tactic only prolongs the war and builds a deep hatred within the minds of the children who get caught in the war. Dropping bombs erodes the trust of those who say they are trying to bring peace. What the children see on the ground are the people helping them after some unknown force destroyed their home, school, hospital, community, playground and family. The people who make up Daesh may be a group of evil hate filled arseholes but they are the ones hauling the bodies to hospitals, bringing aid, food, water and supplies to the children (even though the supplies are stolen from the United Nations aid programmes). This is the fog of war a child will endure. Who do you think they will side with as they get older? After five years of war a 10 year old is now 15 and an 16 year old is now 21 and most likely had children of their own. What message is that child going to be taught? In the process of negotiations the ideology of using “ultimate hammers” is understood to rarely work. Within the context of war, bombs rarely have the desired wide spread impact. If bombing worked, Allepo would have been turned into a peaceful city long ago. Sadly it is still a battle ground and looks to remain so for a very long time. No doubt there are underground tunnel systems throughout the city that have been and are being made. This war will not end until a peaceful person walks across Syria a hundred times without having to preach peace or lament the atrocity of hatred.

Global trade and social transformation

The world of international trade is being thrust into a new reality with Brexit and the rhetoric of Donald Trump. With trade agreements and relations being looked at, dismantled and/or renegotiated we must understand the reasons. We must also must understand the opportunities. Of recent discussion topics in trade and economics we have heard a great deal about globalization. It is my understanding that globalization has been apart of trade and economic for thousands of years. For example the silk road, Marco Polo, Roman Empire and other European Empires developed a vast trade trading area. With that knowledge, there is very clear evidence that globalization of trade and economics is nothing new to us. The reasons for those wanting to renegotiate agreements is due to feeling a lack of control and/or the feeling of getting the bad end of the stick. Such a situation is understandable to wanting a new agreement. The down side is that those who want out may just find themselves out altogether. Such a situation will lead to a new paradigm of economic hierarchy. What will also happen is an uneasy time as the new takes over from the old. The world is in the midst of the paradigm shift. We are now negotiating our way through what we are familiar with towards a new reality. This is a time for many countries to forge new bonds, bolster old ones, let go of bad ones and bring new opportunities. As we set out to ease the tensions of transitions we must stand confident within ourselves. We know that some will lose, some will gain and a few will remain the same. As those song lyrics become a mantra of the now, we have to be firm in the reality of adventure as we step through the doors of the unknown. There is only one reason why we must do such a thing and that is because we are building towards the perfect society. We are not there yet but with each step we are one more step closer. These turbulent times are what the greatest moments in life are about. We are in the midst of such a time and it is up to us to either take the step ourselves or stand still and go with the flow. As a Canadian, in this moment in time I am of the mind that we must guide this next step the world is about to take. We have an tremendous opportunity to shape the world as we never had before. Countries that are trying to open up, trying to bring peace, trying to improve have an opportunity to enter a new phase of reality. Such times are needed for steps as these to be made. The only thing in our way is the will to actually make those leaps. For many years we have talked about widening our trading partners, getting rid of provincial trade barriers, building infrastructure banks, engaging with emerging markets and reducing our 80% economic reliance on one country. At present we have two major influences voicing opinions of backing away from international trade deals The United Kingdom and the Republic of the United States. We can seize this moment to forge new alliances, agreements and relations. We must diversify our economy now because a better time may not be had for many decades. This our chance to build a model of global success the world will use as a template.

Ego, power, peace and change

Being comforatble with chaos is how many people are dealing with today as the Republic of the United States elects a polarizing person to the office of president. The chaos of the unknown is not that scary. We have a very deep knowlege of the personality type and that is Machiavellian ideology, alive and well. It is not so much the desire to succeed, be better than, desire to control or the fear of elites but the hatred, anger, vengence, destruction of others, stepping on others and segratory ideology for personal/monetary gain that is troubling. Here we are with this reality. We can be shocked and dismayed but we will still have to find ways to work together. With that, perhaps there are opportunities to improve trade agreements and to improve relations. We may have doubts but that should not stop us from fingding those improvements. What we are faced with is the task for those that have stood up and barked about how great/smart and accomplished they are in politics. If those people are as skilled as they say they are, we have no cause for panic. There was already an enourmous amount of work to do and still needs to be done. Each of us has our own work to focus on to bring peace to our world. What matters most is how each of us face the tasks of peace. Leaders will change but what will always be the most important factor is the individuals desire to bring peace to themselves and others. Each of us will need methods to vent our emotions, what ever those emotions are. That will never change. If you do not trust in yourself to be peaceful then you will not have a positive peaceful impact on the world. As I have often stated, anger and acts of aggression of an individual are more about that individuals desires to change but have not or believes they can not change. With Donald Trump we have a vast data bank of his work and words where he vents. That data tells us where he, himself wants to change. Whether he will or can is up to him but we do know where his concerns are and how to work with those concerns. Unless he is insane, then all bets are off and we must insulate him as best we can to contain the harm.

What world are we building?

The reason we had to invent governments was to organize society to accomplish large scale tasks of common good. As we/society progressed we had to deal with individuals that operated against the common good. These untrustworthy people are a major factor why we had to invent systems for public discourse. These systems are widely known as the judicial system – laws, courts, police, jail, lawyers, etc… Having these systems are good but, it really does cause me some misery as I think the lack of trust we, encourage and carry towards each other. The lack of trust is best viewed in the phrase, it is unethical but it is legal. This is Niccolo Machiavelli theory in its simplest format which is defined as cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics or in advancing one's career. As we use game theory practices we understand that such a system will eventually erode and kill itself. However these practises are still widely used, supported and accepted. This is why we have phrases such as: Read the fine print, get it in writing, they will twist your words, perception is reality and other such terminology. How do we stop such behaviour? As difficult as it is, it has to start with each and everyone of us. Yes that does mean you will be taken advantage of as we set out to enact change. Sadly I have to acknowledge that there will be very few of us willing to take that course of action. So we will slowly slide into the untrusting hell of small print, twisted words, perceptions of peace and personal gain at the expense of all others. What world are we building where we support the efforts of taking advantage of others because we can for personal gain? Utopian ideology, it certainly is. However, there is not a single person who would say no to such a reality and everyone would say no to the world of untrusting small print, get it writing, word twisting scavengers. Oh wait we are saying yes to the untrusting small print, get it writing, word twisting scavengers. What a world we are building.