population and its implication

You may have noticed that the world has become rather populated with people. 7 billion souls they are claiming now. That is one gigantic jump from the beginning of the 20th Century when there was only 1.5 billion people, and no megacities (urban areas of 10 million or more). Today there are now 25 megacities, the largest of which is a mind boggling 34,000,000, with another 75 cities with a population of more than 3 million. This is a rather remarkable accomplishment for a species that was decidedly rural a mere 60 years ago. Within the past few years it is also said that humans have switched over to a predominately urban living situation. What exactly drove people from nature to these concrete creations is anyones guess. For a kid like me who grew up in a forest, cities have always seemed disgusting and unhappy places. All the more disturbing when I as a young adult realized that they eat nature to live and grow. Once this realization sunk in the concept of urbanization has seemed a mistake to me. Population pressures have been the wind in the sails of history from our earliest memories and motivates almost all the dramas of history. So what I meditate upon is what can possibly come from the greatest pressure mankind has ever been subject to? It is no coincidence that the country that has had the highest population growth over the past 50 years is now teetering towards civil war (Cote D'Ivoire at a whopping 541%). The part that makes my mind tremble and long for the simplicity of the forest I grew up in is that mankind has multiplied its number many times but hasn't grown any more kind or intelligent. Rather it would seem that our propensity for profligacy and perversion now dominate; at least in terms of social structures and trends. Having said this, I will complement urbanization for one trait, it makes the spread of ideas fast and fluid, with no amount of censorship having a chance at stopping their progress. If only we could learn to be a bit more thoughtful, think outside our own pitifully short lifespans and begin to see our diversity as our glory and not cause for conflict we can surely find a way to live that works with other life forms and not against them. If not then humanities old companions War, Famine and Plague will surely challenge our bold behavior.

"Soften your tread. Methinks the earth’s surface is but bodies of the dead" -Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri

The Epic Epoch

Biodiversity and its human counter part, cultural diversity, is declining rapidly. Not the years biggest news scoop, I know, but it seems important to me. Not trying to sound dramatic, but where we are at is rather climactic. Criticizing the West for its Imperialism and Consumerism is pointless, and although historically justified, a short cut to thinking. The truth of the matter seems to be to me that humans are humans, and just because one group develops a concept and takes it on a world tour, doesn't mean that it is endemic just to them. Ideas have always been contagious, and this materialism that has replaced so much of the worlds multiplicity is clearly no longer something exclusively Western, it is omnipresent. We have been consuming all the previous lifeforms on earth by burning coal and oil, scavenging our world relentlessly for whatever resources that our collective desires requires. Chopping down the majority of the worlds forests and damming most of its major rivers was accomplished in the span of just a few lifetimes; which is absolutely staggering when one considers how long humans have been around. Say what you will about the spreaders of this affliction, it has been all of humanity harvesting life at an ever increasing rate of late. As I sit writing this I know that I am what I am commenting on. The machine I am using to share these ideas has parts that come from all over the world, and many people, animals, plants were harmed in their acquisition; but I wanted a laptop so here it is. Suppose you have to be part of something to realize what it's all about, hypocrisy has a funny way of revealing complex truths. Having said that, I've concluded alienation is the reason we can cannibalize our home without consciously having a desire for extinction. A brilliant French playwright once observed "There is no religion in which everyday life is not considered a prison; there is no philosophy or ideology that does not think that we live in alienation" and I can find no fault in his statement. The very fact that we now are at the point where complete environmental collapse is no longer a theory but a terrifying inevitability speaks to the depth of human alienation. Just as I said earlier I don't blame the West for introducing materialism and showing the world what it can do for organizing people, t'was just the way the cookie crumbled. I also don't think anyone can blame humans for being voracious omnivores and rather clever, it's what our development made us and the rest of life had a hand in it. I'm past the point of thinking humanity will change through conscious effort, just not how we have functioned so far so why bother holding out hope? The world made us what we are and then we made the world what it is today; one turn deserves another I suppose. If there is any chance to change this epic epoch we are on it is to learn the lesson that the minute you give one human power over another on any scale for any reason it is a slippery slope that leads to the world we now live in. This is purely my opinion and I freely admit I'm no smarter or better than anyone else, probably significantly worse considering I'm a Californian and we're arguably the most hardcore of the materialists. I just wanted to share my conclusions for what they are, one person's meditations on the human condition and position. So brace yourselves my fellow humans for one hell of an evolutionary test. According to scientist's we have been evolving more in the past few thousand years than we did in the previous few million, which should give us some hope for our chances to sort out our current status. So in conclusion- here's to you humanity, I love you and wish you the best in the year to come. "The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn."

- H.G. Wells

Internet Freedom

"And I honor the man who is willing to sink
Half his present repute for the freedom to think,
And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak."
-James Russell Lowell
It is a common thing in human history that when people seek to destroy each other it gives strong impetus to develop new technology. These new tools that come from conflict almost always have dual applications for killing and living. Swords to plowshares and hydrogen bombs to nuclear power, it is part of our species trajectory, c'est la vie. Just such an invention is the internet. It's origins lay in the Cold War, when the US leadership panicked at the launch of Sputnik. They consequently created DARPA in an attempt to gain a technological lead over the Soviets and create a data communication link between various military sites. Over the next decades this technology was utilized for non military use by a variety of institutions. On 6 August 1991 CERN essentially published what we know today as the internet and it quickly started expanding at a rate of 100% annually through the 90's. As we all know the internet is primarily used for consumerism these days, with pornography and online ordering being the most popular uses. It however does have another more interesting use, the ability to publish absolutely any point of view. Liu Xiaobo, recent winner of the Nobel Prize and Chinese prisoner, published essays online that led to his incarceration, probably for the rest of his life. So why would the West, in particular America, forfeit its beloved moral high ground to go after one Julian Assange? It was already established in the 19th century with the ubiquity of the printing press that although the spread of seditious thoughts were dangerous and shook power to its foundations, it ended up just requiring a larger and more complex bureaucracy with democratic trappings, which in the end infinitely strengthened state power. So I repeat my question, why the assault on one man and one site in a sea of such entities trying desperately to stick it to the system? Their is only one logical answer I can come up with, they wanted a pretext for internet crackdown and someone such as Assange who would stand up and be counted because he is a believer played into their plans perfectly. It was likely at some point that proof of US military action violating international law was going to surface anyway, and if you cared to look into such things already had. By making this a matter of one man and freedom of speech they are not only starting the internet freedom debate on advantageous grounds, they are also making the issue of US military conduct an issue of secondary importance, which in the short memory of the modern media relegates it to oblivion. To my mind this seems a sad story of a man seeking to reveal the truth but failing to realize the ability of those he seeks to defame to turn absolutely every act of resistance into a justification for consolidating their power. As I am almost always want to do, I must end with quotes from greats in order to give this situation the profundity I seek: "We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it." -JFK
“Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle.” -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

my hope

The war is old the war is new
the war is just our attitude
capitalism and cultures vie
warriors and innocents die
the world spins on and on
listening to our odd song
depending on machines to toil
our lives are running on oil
for greener pastures we dream
to overcome this nightmare scene
so we hope as only we humans can
still my kindred we are without plan
although the darkness does loom
something awaits us besides doom
or such is what I tell my heart
to keep it from being torn apart
please let their be something for humanity
aside from this cruel destructive calamity

protesting prosperity

"He who drinks off credit gets twice as drunk" -Turkish Proverb
Unlike most of my fellow members of what we like to call Western Civilization I've been immensely enjoying the recent economic upheaval. Its a funny group of people that after 500 years of ruthless exploitation of the rest of the worlds inhabitants has the nerve to get angry about the ups and downs of the capitalist system that has given them the preponderance of the worlds resources. The very fact that they feel they have a right to complain about their banks and governments behaving irresponsibly is ironic in the extreme when one considers what the citizens of the West have permitted. The protests that have swept Europe lately make me laugh to the point of tears. What are they opposing? The fact that their not getting the Imperial handouts they've become accustomed to because their governments are deeply in debt from trying to satiate their peoples demand for social services? Maybe they are protesting Capitalism in its entirety, which is admirable though amusing considering they wouldn't last a day without it. After all the rest of the world has absolutely no incentive to give the West a damn thing. Currently weapons and fiat money are all we offer them, and most of that goes to our proxies in the various states we made up to facilitate the whole process. After generations of some of the worst treatment humans have ever engaged in it is highly unlikely that anything but antipathy exists for those humans that have suffered conquest, colonization and now 'development'. In all objective reality every economic privilege enjoyed by citizens in the West comes at the cost of someone somewhere suffering for their entire life. Occasionally Western citizens have protested this system when the situation has been too egregious to ignore, like Vietnam or Iraq, but that hasn't ever led to them opting out of the benefits of this abomination. The sad truth is that our system is built upon the self serving nature of every single human who lives on this side of the global divide. All the corporations and corrupt politicians that we have the nerve to object against are doing what we have demanded of them, providing us with an unsustainable amount of material wealth. We like to maintain the old tradition of being unwilling subjects of our leaders so as to abdicate responsibility for the atrocities committed for our benefit. What about all those fabulously rich bastards that are creating an ever widening gap between rich and poor in the West you might ask? The explanation I like best was put forth by Juvenile many years ago- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (who will guard the guards themselves?). In the West people have been too preoccupied being self absorbed consumers to keep adequate tabs upon the people who have raped, pillaged and slaughtered for this standard of living. Thus have those people quite naturally been taking a bigger and bigger cut for themselves. So from my point of view what is happening when Americans vote for Tea Partyers and Europeans take to streets is they are objecting to not getting their customary cut of the loot. There is no sincere humanism driving their actions, just plain old fashion selfish politics. While Westerners complain about debt and loosing jobs, much of the rest of humanity longs for food, safety and freedom from the horrendous working conditions with its accompanying pollution that has been exported to them. In all fairness however, after the wild and crazy ride of Western Civilization its to be expected that most people aren't very clear headed about whats taking place in the world. After all, its standard to be programed for about a dozen years with the lies that substantiate the system and obscures even the simplest realities. Fear has motivated people a lot in history, and I don't judge my contemporaries any more harshly than I do any of those that have hurt their fellow humans in an attempt to improve their own lives. Well, with that my rant for the day will conclude. Here are some economists commenting on the same subject:
"All people, however fanatical they may be in their zeal to disparage and to fight capitalism, implicitly pay homage to it by passionately clamoring for the products it turns out." -Ludwig Von Mises
"The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics." -Thomas Sowell

Sino-American Relations

"The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain." -Thomas Jefferson
I got in a debate today with a friend about China and its economic ascendancy. Like most people in this country my compatriot was concerned with the prospect of a trade war with China and thought that the mighty US economy was doomed to disaster. I didn't agree with that outlook and this is why: Since 1784 when the first ship traversed the waters between the two countries our fates have been intertwined. After the Opium Wars the Chinese Emperors ability to resist foreign penetration of China's economy was broken. The result of this was half a century of the Imperial powers of the age extracting as much wealth as possible from the gigantic Chinese economy. This led to the uprising of the Society of Right and Harmonious Fists in 1899. It was bloody and brutal, but the Imperial parties eventually prevailed putting down the rebellion. Around this same time the United States, who didn't have a sphere of influence in China to profit from, sent letters to the other Imperialists demanding an 'Open Door' policy in regards to China. Although they were reluctant to do so, this was largely respected and the ports were opened to American shipping. This all came to an end when the Empire of Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, and then attempted to conquer the the whole country in 1937. What followed was one of the most ruthless military campaigns in history, and only with US assistance and eventual entrance into the war prevented an all out Japanese conquest of mainland China. The honeymoon was short lived however when the Nationalists and Communists immediately engaged in a Civil War after Japan was defeated. America sided with our allies from the war, the Kuomintang, which was soundly defeated by 1949, only holding out in the island of Taiwan. The next year as MacArthur approached the Yalu river during the Korean War the Peoples Republic of China ordered in many divisions, sending the UN force reeling. This almost led to the use of nuclear weapons against China, but they didn't send the bulk of their forces into the field, and the US didn't obliterate the PRC. It was during this time that the US gave its unconditional support to Taiwan, which had become the Nationalists final territory. During the Vietnam War an estimated 320,000 Chinese soldiers fought on the side of the North, with large amounts of material assistance provided as well. Sino-American relations underwent a radical change when the PRC and USSR had border skirmishes in 1969, which resulted in China's almost complete isolation. Enter Nixon and his rapprochement, culminating in the 1972 state visit. After this trade restrictions were removed and things went rather well until the Tienanmen Square incident led to a severe decline in investment and trade. Continuing tensions in the Taiwan Straight didn't help the situation, with the US occasionally flexing its military presence in the region in answer to Chinese military exercises. This all changed with the entrance of China into the WTO, with US sponsorship in 2001. Since then China's economy has been on an upward trajectory of unparalleled proportions. Since then the PRC leadership has been proving years of social theory wrong in that traditionally when a country develops economically and a middle class emerges, this leads to great political freedoms and usually something resembling democracy. Although the rumors that escape tell of secret black jails, hundreds of riots every year, and all manner of human rights abuses. The reason I bring all this up is to emphasis my point, which is that China and the United States are partners in crime. We clearly have never been afraid of fighting each other, but when the opportunity presents itself, as it did after the Boxer Rebellion, during WWII or during the Cold War, we are more satisfied working together for our shared goals. In the current dynamic in which the two countries engage China accepts US dollars and buys treasury bonds for the myriad of goods it produces for export to the US, and in return the US tolerates the Communist Leaderships strangle hold on power, systemic abuses of human rights, and its continued disobedience of virtually every international trade law on the books. Sure there is political grandstanding were the US pretends to be upset at the effect this relationship is having on average Americans and the Chinese act as though the West is undermining their social structure, but at the end of the day we are thick as thieves. Our relationship is one of mutual benefit bordering on symbiotic dependency. The Chinese need jobs and money to keep their people from rising up against the most authoritarian government on earth and the US needs lots of consumer goods to keep its population preoccupied and satisfied. "Those who hear not the music think the dancers mad." -Chinese Proverb

the resistance

With Ramadan over the faithful from Gaza to Ghazni are loading their weapons to continue the millennial struggle with Christian Imperialism. Judging by the last 1400 years I think it’s safe to deduce that the Ummah will forever oppose the spread of Western Market Capitalism, especially as long as it is imposed by force. This is far from the only part of the world that is resisting the expansion of Western power. Labor unrest in Southern China continues to grow which makes rich people the world over extremely uneasy. How the world’s biggest producer will manage to maintain autocratic authority and economic growth simultaneously is a riddle that many are asking and none can answer. A lot closer to home we have what has been dubbed a ‘narco-insurgency’ in Mexico that has already claimed over 7,000 lives this year alone as the cartels compete to meet the ravenous demand of Americans for narcotics. The Mexican government’s involvement since Calderon took office is incredibly ineffective and has only escalated the violence because as the government focuses on this or that region or organization the other regions and organizations directly profit from it. On our side of the border somewhere in the range of 1 out of every 100 citizens is incarcerated or on probation. The statistics are simply staggering: Blacks compose close to 50% of the prison population but are only 12% of the population/ 70% of inmates are non-white/1 out of every 18 adult males is either incarcerated or being monitored. Whatever your opinions on America, it is undeniable that things have become dangerously untenable. There are many more examples, but if you still doubt, take into consideration the war we are fighting in Central Asia as a prime example of how psychotic the US is behaving.
In the rugged Mountains and Valleys that have been the home of the Pashtuns since they were mentioned by Herodotus some 2,500 years ago they have never tolerated outside rule for long. Alexander the Great had this to say about them in a letter to his mother- “I am involved in the land of a 'Leonine' (lion-like) and brave people, where every foot of the ground is like a wall of steel, confronting my soldier. You have brought only one son into the world, but everyone in this land can be called an Alexander” Persians, Greeks, Turks, Mongols, the British and many many more have found the land impossible to control. It has been fought over by so many Empires that resistance to foreign domination has become a part of tribal culture and led to the development of their code of Pasthunwali. The foundation of their pride, survival and identity is thus based upon age old traditions that have proven effective thus far. The elections that we just imposed went off as probably some of the most ridiculous and corrupt that the 21st century has seen. One American Army Colonel came out to downright mock the US war strategy and the top brass that runs the shit show. His confession says a lot about how we wage war in this remote part of the world. Then of course we have the wikileaks scandal where an intelligence officer handed over a humongous horde of documents showing how the war is actually being conducted. Of course none of this has yet dissuaded the American Government from thinking that a positive outcome is possible… truly impressive optimism. The same sort of optimism that thinks our correctional facilities work even though they clearly don’t. On second thought, that isn’t optimism, that’s chauvinism and cognitive incompetence.

An Empire of Irony

Hillary Clinton made a comment yesterday while on a state visit to Pakistan that in my mind will enter the annals of ironic utterances. Here is the article in its entirity . The official US message to Pakistan on the day that we pledge some 7.5 Billion in aid was summed up thus by Mrs. Clinton-"look, you've got to take on every non-governmental armed force inside your country, because even though you think they won't bother you today, there is no guarantee. Its like keeping a poisonous snake in your backyard.
Oh, it will only go after the stranger or intruder, You don't know whether tomorrow it will go after you, so we have been making that case and I find greater receptivity to it, but we still have to make it stronger,". The brazeness of this statement to a country that recieved massive military support from the US to arm the Pasthun and Kashmiri militants that we now claim they should help us destroy is staggering. The US is a full on snake charmer, profiting politically and economically from our sale of weapons the world over, never seeming to consider the consequences. I'm sure under their demure demeanure the heavy hitters on the Pakistani side had to be either laughing at the irony or enraged by the hypocracy; perhaps both. Of course we have the big guns and all the power so they had to sit there and take a lecture on how to run their own country from the same people that have destabalized it in the first place. Furthermore, its one of the oldest facts of Central Asia that if a powerful and organized army conquers a territory, this will neccesarily displace people and have regional effect. In this case it has led to the Pashtun resistence doing exactly what we taught them to do to drive out the Soviets- us the porous Pakistani border in the tribal areas to their advantage in fighting a protracted guerrilla war. And then we have the gaul to tell them that they are keeping vipers in their back yard. In terms of ridiculously over the top hypocritic can-they-be-serious sort of statements, I'm truly impressed by this one. Once more, I must turn to wiser folks than myself to comment on the irony inherint in the system-
"A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself." -Jessamyn West