The Cardboard Army

An army of souls lacking souls...

Courtesy of the movie Syriana:

“When a country has five percent of the world’s population but spends fifty percent of the world’s military spending, that country’s persuasive power is in decline.”

With the economic downtown taking place around the world, it couldn’t be more apparent to see the decline of the United States. Most nations around the world tied their economies to the American economy and those same nations are suffering along with the downtown. Hopefully things will change with a new political administration set to step in courtesy of Barack Obama but there are still many elements in place which must change first. Policies and changes won’t float in oceans of oil and blood…

But this is only the tip of the iceberg… and speaking of icebergs, we’ve got nations like Iceland close to declaring bankruptcy. How can an entire country declare bankruptcy? The thought is boggling. The corporate world has taken over and Iceland Incorporated, for tying its economy to that of the United States, is suffering. Other countries will face similar problems. Another rather interesting quote from the movie Syriana:

“I want to rebuild my nation, set up an independent judiciary, a parliament, reforms for women. I want to do whatever possible to introduce efficiencies to maximize profitability; profits that would then be used to rebuild my nation. Except your President rings my father and says I have unemployment in Texas, Kansas and Washington state. One phone call later we are stealing out of our social programs to buy overpriced planes. We owed the Americans, but we have overpaid our debts. I accepted the Chinese bid, the highest bid. And suddenly I am a terrorist, a communist.”

The reality is that “if you’re not with us, you’re against us”. As shown from the previous quote, leaders around the world have faced this problem over the last few decades… if you’re not with them, you’re against them. It’s a very fine line.

Aside from fictional statements and meanings comes those from actual people. It’s rather sad that most always have to come from performers and musicians but that’s probably because those who are at the front-lines are a bit preoccupied. This comes from British musician M.I.A.:

“America has successfully tied all these pockets of independence struggles, revolutions, and extremists into one big notion of terrorism.”

How long will it be before people step up and fight the manipulation, propaganda and injustice going on in the world? Look westward and you’ll find your source but look eastward and you’ll find the ramifications. Look north and you’ll see the icecaps melting but look south you’ll find the penguins surfing…

“You can lie to me right through your smile I’ve seen behind your eyes…”
- Madonna (Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You)

The Takeover

Looking sharp in pirate gear...

While the world is up in arms over piracy on the seas off the coast of the Somalia, I feel a little respect is due to these “pirates”. They’ve successfully managed to ransom $30 million out of companies for the return of the ships that they’ve hijacked and they’ve done all of this with a speedboat, some grappling hooks and a few automatic weapons. Now, they’ve taken over a supertanker, one of the largest ships in the world, carrying as much as 2 million barrels of crude oil. The supertanker could potentially have a payload of $100 million though it may be difficult to move that crude oil in exchange for money considering that there might be few buyers for illegal oil and a lack of refineries to process the oil in Somalia itself.

What makes this situation interesting is that the first response that many observers have to the situation is to attack the pirates with brute force. Bomb the ships, bomb the ports from which they operate out of, blockade them and attack them… destroy them. However, what many fail to mention or realize is that piracy has been going on for many years off the coast of Somalia near the Gulf of Aden and that there are root causes of the problem that need to be addressed.

Firstly, Somalia has been in a state of lawlessness for over two decades. It’s been the military playground for the Soviets and the Americans where they waged war on each other while using Somalians as cannon fodder. The governments have been propped up by the Americans and other nations to be subservient to them instead of to the people of Somalia. This can be seen from the fact that oil in the region was forced to be sold at levels significantly lower than their market price and exchanged for weapons mostly instead of trying to redevelop the country. Any time a nation is forced to buy weapons for its resources, a red flag should go up indicating that there’s no intent on reforming the country but only further propagation of war and death.

With that being said, some Somalians have turned to piracy to be able to recoup something back for themselves and perhaps for even the Somalian populace. A little wealth never hurt an impoverished nation and $30 million will help in that sense. One can’t expect a nation mired in war for so long to simply lay dormant.

Secondly, it is believed that piracy in Somalia began as a defence response to the dumping of toxic wastes by European and Asian nations and large-scale illegal fishing. With the population already impoverished, taking away a major way of life for many – fishing – can be a huge problem. Illegal large-scale fishing drastically reduces the amount of fish available in the waters and the dumping of toxic wastes destroys anything else that’s left. With no functional government and the people starving to survive, it becomes apparent that the fishermen turned to piracy in order to survive. Push a desperate man and they’ll respond or retaliate in a way against the norm.

It might just make more sense for the root causes of the problem to first be addressed before observers simply talk of bringing more death and destruction to a nation that has faced that for far too long. With no functional government in place and efforts such as the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that brought peace, alibi temporarily, shut down by American forces, a culture of warfare and death can only continue to permeate. Illegal large-scale fishing and other acts which take away methods of income for Somalians also won’t help the problem and need to be addressed. Otherwise, piracy will only continue to reign off the coasts of Somalia no matter how many pirates are killed or captured… and in the end, the cycle of violence and hostility will only continue.

“Wild boys fallen far from glory, reckless and so hungered…”
- Duran Duran (Wild Boys)

Hurricane Watch

In the Eye of the Hurricane

It seems that life has an odd way of testing your resolve. Just when you think things are going great, they tend to muddy themselves and seem to head in a different direction. When you think things are bad, they either pick up somehow or show you how much worse it can get. It’s a constant shift in directions like a hurricane barreling through the Atlantic Ocean – you don’t really know where it’s going and you only have a vague idea of how it’s going to end up.

My life has felt like that of late. After a great and productive 2007, this year hasn’t been quite the same. My plans to earn my C.M.A. accounting designation were hindered, I didn’t have a great year playing hockey thanks to injuries, my plans to tour the world were shelved (again – for obvious reasons) and my mother’s health deteriorated forcing me to put everything else on hold. It hasn’t been a great year in terms of accomplishments and at such a critical time in my life, I’ve become stagnant.

The silver lining comes though in remembering that we need bad years to appreciate good years. I can get things back on track in 2009 regarding my C.M.A. designation, get my health back and be ready for a tour-de-force in hockey, tour the world when I’m able to do so and have my mom around in my life which is the most important thing. As frustrated as I am about how 2008 has gone, 2009 has as much promise as I want it to have so it’s just a matter of riding the hurricane out and then setting upon one of my own.

“Place yourself in the shoes of true felons and tell me you won’t ball every chance you get…”
- Jay-Z (Watch Me)

Impossible is Nothing

The mysteries of life...

Today is a day of uncertainty. What makes it so uncertain? Well, no one act accomplishes this task but it’s a culmination of things. It seems that everything is negative and disappointing these days. From a worsening recession to a U.S. Presidential Election that could turn out to be closer than what most intelligent people would like, things don’t look good for the world. People continue to die, costs continue to rise and the world steps each day closer to its end…

My mother was diagnosed with colon cancer this past week. It’s unfortunate but that’s just how life is. We grow old, we get ill. My mother has always battled through other ailments and made the most of things so this will be no different. Impossible is nothing.

This situation has obviously taken precedence in my life and puts other things on hold. It’s hard to make short-term or long-term plans because everything now revolves around this situation. Who knows how things will be one year from now… we just have to take it day-by-day and sort it out as we go along. Life is never perfect so a scripted ending won’t work… improvisation and perseverance is the only route.

All I can ask from the world is to pray for my mother to overcome this sickening disease. For those who’ve already contacted me, I thank you for your well wishes and I apologize for not being able to individually respond to each and every one of you at this time.

“But all the drugs in this world won’t save her from herself…”
- Marilyn Manson (Coma White)