a sailors guide to pirate hooking

food security in the united states and emerging economies.

2012-09-27T12:59:00.002-07:00

Global food security is one of the most pressing concerns in modern times as the issue itself is a product of transition by design. This interconnected shift is happening on a global level at a scale and speed that has never been experienced before among industry, government, agriculture and technology. The cause of food insecurity can be sourced to conflict, speculation, climate change, natural disasters, protectionist policies as well as global and regional economic recessions. Among these causes exists a realm of frequency that divides these experiences into the categories of transitory and chronic hunger. As the name suggests chronic hunger stems from a broken system where as transitory hunger is the product of isolated events.

The implications of a transitional period and the pains associated with hunger and food insecurity are no longer reserved for developing countries or emerging economies. The term developing countries relies on dated information and is simply no longer an accurate statistical representation of the world. Many of the countries that are lumped into the category of developing countries are better classified as middle income or emerging economies as many corporations have invested in these places to reduce labor costs. This is an exciting opportunity for those living in emerging economies but this also means that the middle class has essentially been exported leaving a void between available jobs in the United States and the skill sets of their workers.

It is true that 15% of the United States is food insecure nearly 12% into the 21^st century. Is this number acceptable or is it just a sign of things to come for other western countries and who are the 15%? Far too often those most affected are those that are the least able to help themselves such as children and the elderly. Emerging economies have done an incredible job reducing poverty more specifically state capitalism models in Asia. The increased efficiency resolves from the government’s power to enact laws in a less democratic process. This mode will create jobs however the jobs that are created will not afford western amenities such as retirement benefits or high paying salaries. At the same time many consider Africa to be in general decline with a myriad of social challenges such as chronic poverty, aids and extreme civil unrest. According to Swedish statistician Hans Rosling, Africa may be viewed as the biggest success story in the world given that 55 years ago Africa was essentially in a pre-medieval situation and now they are comparable to Europe at the turn of the 20^th century.

When thinking about food security in emerging economies and the United States the main difference is the existence of safety nets. The hungry in Sub-Saharan Africa may be displaced refugees due to tribal conflicts or farmer’s whose crops have failed. Generally these people migrate to urban areas with no money in hopes of making a better life but end up in the slums where poverty and disease enjoy safe haven. These people are essentially invisible to government, as they have no bank accounts or registered address, which poses challenges to the distribution of food aid.

The United States enjoys the luxury of infrastructure and when most people loose access to their ability to purchase food there are government and locally organized outreach programs that are able to help. The financial crisis of 2008 displaced many food secure individuals in the United States and around the world. Suddenly families that had been earning a comfortable wage where not and the psychosis this created could be felt throughout the fabric of society. Gallatin Valley was especially prone to the recession as many people either directly or indirectly relied on the tourism and construction industries.

Recent projections do not have a favorable outlook for food security within the United States. Climate change will continue to place increased risk on food producers while investment stagnates. Global populations will rise although not as fast as the bottom billion requiring more efficient crop production to coincide with increased demand. If this does not happen and agriculture continues to rely on archaic finite fuels then the cost of food will soar. Bio-fuels have the potential to help but only if they are produced by cellulosic processes that diverge from interfering with food production and are done so on land that would not otherwise be used to produce food. If bio-fuels are sourced from land that once produced food from nutrient intensive crops such as corn then not only will the consumer suffer but so will the producer as their new found crops will compromise the integrity of the soil requiring never ending expensive external inputs. Brazil maintains a geographical competitive advantage in the production of sugarcane, which is grown to produce 24% of the world’s ethanol. This has allowed for the government to greatly advance the nation out of poverty and into the global limelight as one of the promising emerging economies.

All of these paradigms play into a positive feedback loop that accelerates those in need into a system that is increasingly challenging to overcome. There is so much more to discuss on the topic of food security in both the United States and emerging economies, as the issue is deep and complex. The underlying saving grace is that there are people and organizations intensely focused on creating a better society for all sentient beings regardless of socioeconomic status and I truly believe that the most change will come from the works of these forces.

philosophy

2012-05-05T01:43:00.002-07:00

you couldn't possibly have your cake unless you eat it too.

Envisioning a Sustainable Bozeman

2012-04-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

The goal of this paper is to provide practical solutions that will sustain a growing city for current and future generations while surveying the theoretical framework of such paradigms.

Bozeman, Mt is a part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and for most visitors of Yellowstone National Park, Bozeman, MT is the gateway at which all outside visitors use to access what has been deemed as the greatest gift America has given the world. Yellowstone National Park was the first reserve of its kind and introduced the idea of national parks to the world. As the residents of this 20,000,000 sq. mile expanse are condensed into the initialism that is the GYE it is our shared responsibility to become stewards of the land and ensure the mitigation of anthropogenic environmental impacts so that future generations will also be able to enjoy the splendors of southwest Montana.

At present there is overwhelming peer reviewed evidence that human caused global climate destabilization, the actor formerly known as global warming or climate change is going to cause the populous increased challenges and one may be successful in arguing that these events are already happening. Adaptation and mitigation are crucial strategic components when dealing with what may be our generations’ greatest challenge on the eve of an ecological revolution.

Much like the industrial revolution lifted many out of poverty and increased standard of living in a material sense, the ecological revolution will depart a new sense of connectedness and enlightenment. In this holistic time the hyper-individual will be regarded as socially unacceptable as anthropocentric reasoning becomes ever more reserved for the domain of historical archives. Biocentric enlightenment will take root as our understanding of systems theory strengthens thus negating reductionist perspectives that maintain humans as the most significant and therefore important species.

We need to tread lightly here as the facts amount to a very different equation, in the true equation human life is a mere variable that can be solved for if we let the actions of our daily business alter the ecological constructs homo sapiens evolved with and to date this is simply the case. Should we be concerned that the actions of the modern hydrocarbon man have altered the planets atmospheric chemistry? Yes, these new horizons are stark in contrast to the co-evolutionary path we have historically navigated. So how do we proceed?

Currently Montana imports over 90% of the food consumed in the state essentially exporting billions of dollars out of the local economy while emitting unnecessary pollutants into the atmosphere. This is serious cause for alarm, as any good financial planner will attest to the benefits of a diverse portfolio. The same is true for any crucial system, which leads us to assess the inherent risk of homogenous industrial agriculture or any homogenous system for that matter. In 1950 Montana produced 70% of its own food, however there where many more farmers that operated on a smaller scale with less inputs. Montana farms of the 1950’s where much more biological diverse and this resulted in healthier ecosystems and prosperous local economies. There was no concept of Organic food, people of the day simply referred to their organic goods as food.

As the world recovered from the atrocities of WWII large corporations needed an avenue to sustain consumption. This is around the time that the American consumer was born as well as its sibling the universally practiced phenomena of planned obsolescence. Instead of designing products that withstood the test of time engineer’s incorporated the idea that consumer goods would fail within a set timeframe in order to earn more revenue. It’s a delicate game, as the consumer needs to gain enough satisfaction from that product in order to feel the need to replace it and thus a single serving disposable culture was born. Fortunately there is hope and just like any other grassroots action there are good people leading the way unwilling to wait for help from centralized resources. The folk I speak of are the young folk who are exchanging consumer culture for a set of morals and ethics. These people are concerned about the triple bottom line when making a purchase and by doing so create a conscience market for goods and services.

The young organic farmer is challenging what have become societal norms and in doing so have become patriots in the battle for local food security. A beautiful thing happens when communities are connected with their food source and that is the creation of social roots within a community. This network is the common thread of all heterotrophic organisms on Earth. Community supported agriculture landed in Massachusetts during the mid 1980’s by way of Switzerland and Japan. Later CSA’s would spread throughout the nation by individuals concerned about food safety. Today, over 13,000 CSA’s do business in North America with 99% of these operations existing in the United States.

Local food is not reserved for the private realm or a device of the elite. In fact a very successful case can be made that growing your own food or being part of a CSA could potentially save an estimated 80% on retail produce costs while having the carbon equivalent of reducing the average American residential energy use by 20%. Consumers are weighing these positive externalities more so than ever before since the adoption of disposable culture. In doing so businesses have taken notice of the benefits associated with green business practices.

Steamboat Springs maintains an aggressive stance on this frontier with their zero waste initiative. Bozeman city planners and the board of directors at Bridger Bowl should take notice and adopt similar strategies to their business models. Steamboat in their first year successfully reduced their annual landfill contribution by over 60%. The inaugural years success was achieved through education and the implementation of human capital. You see in Steamboat there is a specialist sorting excess as soon as the consumer is finished. The used goods are either composted, recycled or reused and eventually incorporated back into the community in the form of viable soil for trails, gardens or fill. There is no reason why every public and private entity should not be embarking on such an exciting journey.

Unlike food systems decentralizing combustible transportation will lead to greater emissions and rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves. The population centers in Montana are geographically isolated from each other and within each center exists a further detachment amongst a local scale. The solution for many places of larger populations relies on convenience or more accurately put inconvenience. In urban area’s public transportation is more convenient as city planners have implemented streamlined routes, increased accessibility and decreased parking. By doing so the individual is inconvenienced and enters into a paradigm where the right of the commons takes precedence over the right of the hyper-individual. This solution may take some time, as the Gallatin Valley grows but it’s important to take these concerns into consideration now when the infrastructure for such growth is in the design phases. In the short term promoting the social and physical benefits of cycling to those not in the know is a great place to start. Bozeman can achieve this goal by creating additional bike lanes and trails, non-profit bike clubs such as the Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club, cyclo-centric festivals that’s celebrate man, machine and nature.

We are fortunate to live in a valley that is flat and easily navigated by bicycle and if you happen to encounter a steep incline there is most likely a bus stop for the fare-free Streamline Bus system that provides alternatives to single occupancy vehicles in partnership with private businesses, the city of Bozeman and Montana State University. This service keeps senior citizens, disabled individuals, low-income residents and students of all ages plus non-drivers and downtown shoppers circulating while reducing the amount of cars on the road thus reducing traffic and potential emissions.

Education and awareness are the keystones of changing public perspective and there is no better place to start than at the most basic levels of education all the way through the university system. Experiential education has proven to strengthen communities and increase students’ chances to excel in various academic disciplines such as writing and mathematics. Some of the most beneficial lessons I have learned in my personal experience have been outside of the academic forum and continue to be sources of inspiration at which point these experiences are reintroduced into class discussion for others to reflect upon and potentially share themselves. I feel that it is also very important for schools to promote creativity and critical thought opposed to a system that solely focuses on training students to better serve industry. In short, as long as education is treated as a commodity opposed to a right this paradigm will persist.

Given the location of Montana State University – Bozeman and President Cruzado’s commitment to a national climate action plan the campus has an obligation to both students and community members to educate all with a set of environmental ethics and morals. I propose that by utilizing the natural wonders of southwest Montana and Yellowstone National Park the University would efficiently increase retention rates, as incoming students will gain a greater appreciation for the ecosystem they are a part of. Such exposure would happen in the first semester for all incoming students as part of the pre-existing required seminars. In attempt to make the movement more appealing we would call the requirement the SCREDIT. The sustainability requirement will act as a catalyst for incoming students to engage the community, advance communication skills, cultivate critical thought and partake in a service-learning project of their choosing. Again implementing direct action like this is an easy way to take spice up what is a fairly mundane required course while connecting students with the community and the community with the university.

The United States historically has held the competitive advantage in innovation however for our next endeavor we venture to Wörgl, Austria during the Great Depression for a lesson in decentralized currency. In the early 1930’s the entire world was in economic decline and the small town of Wörgl was no exception. With unemployment rates peaking around 30% in 1931 the local officials took direct action and implemented a local complimentary currency to the Austrian Schilling, which is backed by the Austrian Central Bank.

The complimentary currency was dubbed as certified compensation bills and maintained a negative monthly interest rate that caused the currency to change hands 13 times to the Schillings 1. The idea behind this goes back to the original purpose of money and that is to standardize value so that people have a level playing field in which to obtain essential goods. Somewhere along the way society has lost sight of this original mantra and championed systems that encourage the hoarding of money within a small group of individuals. After a year of what has been deemed a complete success of macro-economics the Austrian Central Bank killed the complimentary currency as it threatened the sovereignty of a system that places wealth in the silk lined pockets of a few individuals opposed to the well being of all. I propose that Bozeman, MT as well as any other community has the ability to adopt a similar plan that internalizes trade barriers and promotes unparalleled local economic growth. But first we must define basic goals of American Society, do we want to live in a country with limited upward mobility and extreme wealth inequality or do we want to live in vibrant prosperous place for all citizens? The current system has resulted in unwarranted suffering among the masses, inflated education and food costs in association with environmental and other social injustices of monstrous proportion.

Energy production has traditionally been a largely centralized system and while I’m a proponent of large-scale renewable energy the future of energy generation will also be decentralized. Much like a good neighbor that can be relied upon for a cup of sugar or a stick of butter in the future your next-door neighbor will also be good for electricity. This is not a radical paradigm to enter into as the inputs associated with centralized energy systems are ever increasing and rely on eminent domain and the taking of private property. The average cost to construct electrical transmission lines runs around 4-6 million dollars per mile depending on topography. Montana is in a unique position as an energy exporter. On an annual basis Montana simply produces more energy than it consumes, the excess energy is exported to markets in the Pacific Northwest. The main issue with such practice is the fact that the majority of this electricity is generated by coal fired power plants that emit a neurotoxin known as methyl mercury into the atmosphere. These same power plants are owned by out of state utilities therefore Montanan’s again as with the case of food are unnecessarily exporting their hard earned savings while accepting all the negative externalities of such energy production. In the end the citizens of this great state allow their water and air quality to be marginalized for the sake of a few wealthy business people. This is generally the case in a capitalist society however innovative green businesses are putting the power back in the hands of the people making affordable independent energy generation competitive with grid energy per kWh. This is especially true if a carbon tax is established making renewables even more competitive as they save money by not having to pay for emission once established.

Unfortunately a carbon tax is a regressive tax, which is to say that it disproportionately affects the poor. However using carbon tax revenues to favor those in need may mitigate this side effect. If we look to the places where renewable energy is being pioneered, places like Germany and Japan we will begin to notice that these places do not have a competitive advantage in solar or indirect solar (wind) resources. Despite this reality these countries have been able to bootstrap their economies in places that traditionally receive as much solar insolation as foggy London. A tax of this nature will most directly generate revenue from coal, oil and natural gas industries that have been allowed to profit from environmental degradation and environmental/social injustices.

Boulder, Colorado implemented a carbon tax on emissions in the spring of 2007 assigning a $7 charge per ton of carbon emitted. This tax costs the average Boulder household $1.33 a month while generating roughly a million dollars annually however is also set to expire sometime this year. An effective tax rate of $7 per ton of carbon emitted is not high enough to change consumer habits and therefore is not a solution but could most certainly serve as a good rainy day fund for things like public education and infrastructure improvements.

The coal industry is heavily invested in Wyoming and Montana as 25% of all domestic coal is found within Montana’s borders and even larger reserves exist in Wyoming. In the past year coal revenues have dropped by 4% largely due to increases in efficiencies. As pressure mounts from public interests demanding a switch to low carbon renewable energy resources coal executives have found financial solvency in foreign markets, more specifically in China. It may be counter intuitive to think mining coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and transporting it half way across the world could ever be economically viable but with little to no environmental regulation in China and booming demand for cheap electricity it is more than plausible.

The cost of coal in Wyoming is around $7 dollars per ton where as the cost of Chinese coal is closer to $100 per ton. The increased cost of mining coal then transporting it from northern China to coastal southern population centers in a system with a developing infrastructure attracts the benefits of cheap American energy that can be shipped to southern Chinese ports. While a few businessmen will reap the benefits of such commerce the majority will reap the repercussions of such action. Immediately the people living within close proximity of those operations will suffer from decreased air quality and increased respiratory disease. Those who are most susceptible are women and children in addition to future generations. If the proposed ports in Washington and Oregon are built/expanded to better serve the extraction of Powder River coal and China’s massive energy demand then the people who have made their lives along such routes will be greatly changed and not for the better.

Residents of Billings, Livingston, Helena and Missoula will all be exposed to increased diesel particulate matter that contains benzene, a known carcinogen. Coal trains range in length but a decent rule of thumb is anywhere between 100 and 130 cars in length with each car carrying around 12,000 tons of coal. During the pilgrimage from Wyoming to the Pacific each car loses an estimated 500lbs of coal dust. There are regulations in place to force coal industries to coat each car with a dust suppression spray but insiders claim this practice just does not happen, as the policy is not enforced. Covering the coal is not an option as sub-bituminous Powder River coal is susceptible to self-combustion. This type of coal has low levels of sulfur dioxide that makes it a popular choice for utilities that are mandated to reduce emissions due to government checks and balances such as the Acid Rain Program established by the EPA as part of the Clean Air amendments of 1990. Unfortunately this kind of coal has a low energy potential and that just means utilities burn more of it for less energy.

Peabody Energy, Cloud Peak Energy and ArchCoal are the three main players in Powder River coal exports to China. At current Peabody Energy, the worlds largest privately held sector coal company mines 140 million tons of coal from the Powder River Basin and by 2015 they predict to extract 250 million tons. This would mean that over 600,000 tons of coal would have to travel by rail on a daily basis. The increased coal traffic would cause delays for all users including emergency response vehicles and in the case of Bozeman prompt city planners to consider petitioning for billions of federal tax dollars to finance an off ramp for the airport diverging from highway 90 due to increased railroad traffic that would block the current route on Frontage Rd. Air quality would also rapidly decrease and there is greater potential for acid rain, as sulfur dioxide concentrations would increase.

The weak link in the sustainability movement exists in the realm of public policy and the perceptions associated with the plight of the politician. An elected official in a democratic system is much like a performer as they are generally judged by the quality of their last performance. During this time corporate private interest groups such as utilities and energy industries lobby for more accommodating regulations. The fact that a corporation is treated with the same regard, as an individual should be cause for alarm as it allows for the interests of such corporations to supersede the best interests of the people that same organization was created to serve. The solution is to withdraw large campaign contributions from the realm of legality thus severing the incentive of those looking to gain riches from political networking. Perhaps we would see a change in political behavior and those elected to public office would have the best interest of the citizens opposed to some indirect financier. I would also implement a state ethics code and board to review all candidates running for office. Its important to note that religious affiliation will not be part of the review panel’s criteria. All those seeking office that do not comply will simply not appear on the ballot, this would in effect disband any individual that has demonstrated ethical and moral incompetence from public office and potentially prevent social injustices.

It would be irresponsible to leave you with the impression that the plight of the human predicament is one of doom and gloom. On the contrary historically when people have been presented with what seem at times to be insurmountable challenges incredible things happen. The collective bands together for what is right and just. What drives human behavior is rooted in the why and not necessarily what or how. As we prepare for the future we must maintain a long-term vision and diverge from the temptations of short-term gains or band-aids that neglect to address the root issues.

"taking off the cowboy hat"

2012-03-29T16:19:00.001-07:00

Taking off the cowboy hat may be a difficult paradigm to embrace for the proud whose self-worth is defined by the rhetoric of others. For the courageous souls that challenge the status quo choosing function over fashion becomes more than fashionable, it is the progressive. These progressive folk remain un-swayed by populous thought in their search for pragmatic sustainable solutions. These savvy citizens are not organized by large government action but coerced by like-minded behavior among decentralized thinkers. A great example is the Community Supported Agriculture movement that cultivates greater profits for producers and greater savings for consumers while minimizing ecological impacts.

It is easy to become hostage to the thought traps of agribusiness that claim the solution to hunger revolves around increased production but this is not solving for pattern at all. If agribusiness were truly interested in a solution to hunger then they would focus on efficiency and be forced to reconsider current inefficient endeavors. This simply won’t happen for large-scale agriculture until a large shift in consciousness occurs in the market and suddenly rGBH and toxic crops are simply no longer purchased.

Economists often speak of purchasing power but what about the power of purchasing? As a consumer every purchase is a vote but do we realize who and what we are voting for? The invisible costs of chemical agriculture are dehumanized by economists as negative externalities that are passed onto the consumer but who will hold them accountable? The “buycott” is a beautiful idea that suggests consumer’s support business’s that provide safe workplaces, pay fair salaries and reinvest in the community. Why would anyone wish to aid in the profit of an exploitative organization whose chief concerns are short term gains disregarding any sort of social or moral obligation to the consumer? It’s a simply unsustainable business model once we have succeeded in creating a culture of conscience consumers.

Buddhist Economics

2012-03-08T11:22:00.002-08:00

E.F. Schumacher contends that the current economic system based on continual growth is inherently flawed given the nature of our planet being a mostly closed system. The modern economist in their infinite wisdom would contend that its ok to exhaust resources as it gives industry incentive to create innovative substitutes. It is this forced bottleneck that is thought to help drive progress but is such exploitation progress?

A Buddhist Economist would arguably disagree with such paradoxes and maintain that a balance between economic growth and ecological impacts remain in check. I would argue that many of the major issues with society regardless of socio economic status and nationality have stemmed from the idea of the individual. This idea excludes the idea of community and its role in well functioning human systems. Such thinking is inherently dangerous and results in a set of self-serving motivators and since these motivators are rooted in the individual’s cause of action we are then allowed to enter into a positive feedback loop of destructive cultural conditioning. This cultural conditioning is great for producers as it ensures a sustained market for their goods and services. Take this idea of continual consumption to fuel an endless economy then design products to fail after a short period of time and you have created the perfect storm. This storm will come and go but will the human race be left in its wake? I wonder if an app has been created to navigate such treacherous straights.

The function of work for many people is a means to an end yet the material possessions that work affords an individual in essence takes ownership over the owner. In order to keep up the individual is forced to work more hours thus negating whatever happiness is achieved by the merits of work. This is at least the case for 99% of the population or those that earn less than $400,000 a year.
It is important to address the naysayers in that a conscious economy does not suppress the idea of prosperity; in fact the opposite is true. The main difference is that the worker achieves a greater level of prosperity than the employer generally would because we have now entered the realm of social and moral consideration. In this realm it is more than unfashionable to maximize profits at the expense of people or the environment for if it weren’t for either of these parties there wouldn’t be any work to be had.

So work is a necessary evil by modern analysis, in the regard that the employer would like to receive the benefit of labor without the added expense and the employed would greatly like to receive the benefit of an income without participating in the actual work. How did we get to this point? Examining native cultures like the Ladahk people of the Himalaya’s its apparent that the root of unhappiness is centered around a disconnect from the natural world. Those living in traditional tribal communities have much less material wealth yet one could successfully argue they are wealthier than the typical American professional whose work consumes them marginalizing family dynamics and applying excess stress on the body. Often times these situations result in the opposite reaction where a person maintains professional status to support a family yet the behavior that stems from being entrenched in that work dissolves the very same family that work is designed to support. The Lahdak people after being exposed to western cultural consumption had a choice to make, accept the economic ideals that challenge their entire way of life or maintain a traditional existence. There is little room for those in traditional communities to return once experiencing the flaws of western ways. The estranged are left on their own, outside the community, standing as an individual with a predestined demise.

Those that are most successful in western culture are the ones that are able to combine career and calling. This relationship allows for meaningful passionate works that invigorate the soul with a sense of self worth and purpose in addition to a paycheck. So why isn’t this idea being taught at institutions of higher education? Well the function of a higher education is to better serve industry, not to create conscious cultures of critical thinkers that challenge the status quo. In an economic sense people in western culture go to school to be something, there is much less emphasis for people to go to school in order to just be and rightfully so as a proper education is expensive. This implied cost of education is a means to further suppress populations after all if land, homes and the right to knowledge weren’t costly and therefore privileged then everything else would be less expensive as well. In doing so the economy is much smaller and no longer reserves such a desperate need for unlimited growth.

In present day Bozeman, MT the adaptation of Buddhist Economics would naturally streamline bureaucratic city departments that are not essential to the city. Private industry would be forced to pay more appropriate compensation outside the realm of earned incomes. The local economy would be much smaller creating a dualism between those that choose to establish roots in this community and those that wish to vacation here. People would diverge from super markets as their sole source of food and rely more upon local farms for nutrition. The connection that people have with their food and its origin would be much more focused championing the idea of know thy farmer. This viability of local farms could inspire others to be stewards of the land opposed to the oppressed factory worker of industrial farming. Montana State University would be forced to be more serious about expenditures and committing to things like the climate action plan and the sustainability requirement thus ensuring that no matter where a student travels in life they have at least been exposed to the concepts of community and human values. Libertarians would argue that this ought not to be the role of public institutions but one of the individual, however given a university has a higher standard of care to enlighten that individual in order to better serve the community it is their duty to do so.

I truthfully regret to say that I feel this is simply beyond a community of forty thousand people whose existence is based on experiential and extractive industries such as tourism and industrial agriculture. Such ideals are more appropriately suited for even smaller communities. Redemption County as referenced in rooted in the land is a good example of how Buddhist Economics could be applied successfully. For one the main difference is that the community of Redemption County is composed of like-minded individuals that first must apply to be accepted into the community. Once accepted they must spend a year studying at the local college, this transitional time is crucial for cultivating the kind of mindset that will allow for an idealist community to flourish. In a town of forty thousand people it is impossible to impose such ideals on all inhabitants. Those who choose this path will be rewarded with a greater sense of community and higher quality of life but such quests are individual journeys at this point in time and less communal pilgrimages.
Regardless people in modern society tend to inhabit areas that afford opportunity, how that opportunity is defined varies.

When these kinds of ideals are forced then the general view is slanted away from a democratic community and more towards a commune or cult where the members alienate themselves in isolation. Short of joining the Church of the Universal Triumphant or drinking the preverbal punch there are opportunities for those to engage in local community regardless of population density. Community supported agriculture gained popularity in Germany, Switzerland and Japan during the 1960’s when food safety and loss of arable land concerns gained prominence. Biodynamic agriculture then spread to the United States and has continued to mature since its inception. Today urban farming is serving as a tool to connect inner-city people with the natural world, foster a sense of place within the community and help mitigate the urban heat island effect that is a consequence of the concrete jungle.

Where the application of Buddhist Economics falls short is the arena of big industry and government. These organizations are far removed from the conscious collectives’ considerable concerns. It is in this realm that wars are fought for resources opposed to valid causes of action such as social injustices. These campaigns of conquest are in themselves social injustices to everyone involved, the soldiers that risk their lives when engaging in battle, the local people whose homes are uprooted by the perils of war which is ultimately driven by our need to secure never ending growth within the global economy. So if it’s the will of the majority to avoid such conflicts then how are the elite allowed to operate in a manner that marginalizes the human predicament to a value, a value that can be diminished, exchanged or raised based on GDP or some subjective metric of national worth. I would argue that the idea of Buddhist Economics is based in communal long-term growth. A paradigm that exists outside the understanding of newly formed governments and corporations whose focus is a single tiered bottom line. It is obvious that the biggest threat to modern man is the modern man and the devices created within that framework.

Works Cited:

Schumacher, E. F. Small Is Beautiful; Economics as If People Mattered. New York: Harper & Row, 1973. Print.

Vitek, William, and Wes Jackson. Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1996. Print.

The Influence of Affluence

2012-02-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

I’m constantly pulled toward thinking about practical applications of theory that would enable a citizen of the developed world to exist in a more meaningful capacity. Sadly I accept that this mode of thinking is an esoteric thought process among the majority of students in the academic system or more simply put just not part of the collective curriculum, which it should be. How hypocritical is it to create a climate action plan thus acknowledging the negative externalities of the Universities existence, yet still allow for students to complete their education with the potential to never being exposed to the topic of sustainability? I suppose we need to address the purpose of education, is it to simply better serve industry or humanity? Are we trying to create better societies based on GDP or is there a more abstract value that economists fail to observe?

The family farm as maintained by Wendell Berry is on the decline. I would agree with this notion despite the fact that there are a growing number of people interested in community supported and urban agriculture throughout the nation. The demise of the family farm is an economic principle as it allows for more people to be more productive in modern societies but what this thought process fails to acknowledge is the cultural connection farming cultivates with the land. This connection to the land is essentially dying off as pre-consumer generations are also dying off. When people are treated like things then those things become expendable and demoralized to the same end result of the products that they consume. It’s true that American culture has strayed from that of the American dream of the pre-consumer era and has been contorted by the influence of affluence into a society disconnected from human values. In my own life I have witnessed a secular divergence however feel it has been replaced by the notion of spirituality. This notion is experienced through outdoor pursuits that unfortunately many members of society are isolated from. This equates to a dangerous paradigm where leaders place value to something whose value is intrinsic having been evolved rather than implemented or created.

If communities truly have value, which they do then why does the colonial economy, persist? I pose a challenge for the industrialists; in an attempt to save their own fate and not be consumed by the consumer the industrialist must create a new code of industry. One that serves an industrial interconnectedness and accepts the costs of production opposed to marginalizing that cost to the masses.

conscience of a liberal book review

2011-11-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

Nobel prize recipient in Economics Paul Krugman outlines the historical significance of American political economy over the past eighty to ninety years in his best selling book “The Conscience of a Liberal.” This text touches on issues that are the basis for the “Occupy” movement such as social inequality, race, culture and evaluates how the American political system has changed over time. Krugman does an excellent job providing facts and statistics to illustrate how we have achieved the greatest wealth inequality in our nation’s history as well as what that inequality really means. Krugman is well qualified to author such a relevant text holding a faculty position with the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. A long list of accolades and achievements precede this well-published writer with more than two hundred journal articles and twenty books to his credit.

The “Occupy Movement” has raised awareness of wealth inequality and commenced a dialogue the looks to shed light on long pressing social issues. At present an annual salary of $400,000 would place you in the top 99.9th percentile of wage distribution however this earning has its own set of inequalities among the rich and the super rich. Krugman states that since the 1970’s the only people who have done better have been the top 1% of earners. Among those elite professionals the top tenth percent are seven times richer than they were in 1973. But what does this mean for the average person? The bigger picture is realized in a holistic perspective of political economy. Krugman argues that the transition to a service based economy has altered the “demand for skill” and thus alienating the middle class or essentially exporting the middle class to countries that have the competitive advantage in labor costs leaving average American’s in the wake of injustices embodied in the movement conservatives agenda. This agenda seeks to assert policies that further widen wealth inequality, abolish the welfare state, and disband environmental regulation. The byproduct of the corrosive agenda better known as the great divergence is increased partisanship and social divisions that have not been well highlighted until the “Occupy Movement” that was potentially inspired by the infusion of social media’s role in the “Arab Spring”. America when compared with Europe has traditionally less support for socialist agenda’s despite maintaining similar standards of industry, education and population growth which has created a cultural norm of wealth inequality. Krugman maintains that during the 1930’s CEO’s where paid around 40 times that of the average American, today it is not uncommon for American CEO’s to be paid on upwards of 367 times that of the average American (Krugman, p. 142) with the majority of these increases occurring since the early 2000’s associated with the tech boom. Simply put greed is now ingrained in American culture, as corporations are people too.

Krugman’s stance on the drivers of the conservative agenda operate on a long term scale rewarding career politicians with lucrative opportunities with right wing think tanks that are generally funded from unanimous sources. Such a hierarchy simply does not exist in other facets of American Politics like it does in the GOP. The electability of conservative candidates in theory should be a tall order as their policies are tailored to the wealthy minority. It’s counterintuitive to think that any success could be gained from these strategies given the state of the commons but with enough resources it is possible to buy a political party and that is transpiring today.

In all of Krugman’s arguments through out the “Conscience of a Liberal” the reader is exposed to metrics that support the argument. It’s nearly impossible to put aside my own political bias and give an accurate assessment to the fairness of content given my own experiences and the current political climate of the nation. Krugman however does a quality job explaining multiple perspectives. His resolve as a Liberal is apparent and a joy when paired with financial insight. I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone that is interested in understanding wealth inequality in America as its a dynamic issue with many variables influencing public policy.

Works Cited:

Krugman, Paul R. The Conscience of a Liberal. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print.

Paul Krugman | Nobel Prize Winner and Op-Ed Columnist for The New York Times. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. .

UC DAVIS POLICE OUT OF CONTROL

2011-11-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

I encourage everyone that is interested in preserving their constitutional right to assemble to formerly submit a complaint against the UC DAVIS POLICE DEPARTMENT.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/19/watch-online-furor-after-police-pepper-spray-demonstrators-at-uc-davis/?hpt=hp_t1

The political economy of energy, united states energy independence and the nuclear option.

2011-10-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Question 1:

The term security implies conforming a dynamic environment into a steady state that can be manipulated for the best interest of the secured party. I personally do not subscribe to matters of security as I find the concept more of a shared delusion in which those that are secured have simply subscribed to the status quo. Unfortunately the status quo is not needed as we rapidly approach our seventh billionth person and are faced with the market failures of the industrial revolution.

Despite my personal thoughts on the concept of security it is possible for the United States to re-emerge as a leader in energy and innovation. Energy independence for the United States or any country for that matter is similar to balancing a checkbook and we are currently writing bad checks placing future generations at risk of being more disadvantaged than generations past.

The first step towards American energy independence is relying less on foreign oil. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that the nation has gone soft as a result of decades of conditioning. Innovation has been drowned out by cheap fossil fuels and government has taken a more federalist stance often advocating policies that best benefit industry rather than its citizens. An energy revolution is in order, as we need to shift from a petroleum-based economy to a less carbon intensive clean and green economy. This will be achieved by busting paradigms of old that are ingrained in modern hydrocarbon society and embracing new as well as old technologies. For example the electric car may seem progressive but in reality this concept is over one hundred years old. Bringing the EV (electric vehicle) to market has its own set of challenges one of which would be increased stress on an aging electrical grid that may be obtaining energy from coal fired powered plants which are huge emitters of mercury, a well documented neurotoxin capable of damaging vital organs.

The United States reliance on foreign oil has resulted in a long history of failed foreign policies, war and poverty, which equates to a stalled and unproductive society. If this nation truly believes in life liberty and the pursuit of happiness then the current system must be challenged. The concept of freedom is closely associated with owning and operating an automobile, an ironic thought given the American oil addiction. The “independence” associated with an automobile is an iconic American cultural ideal as well as a pivotal part of rural communities that lack an efficient allocation of public transportation.

It is unrealistic to assess a complete halt on all imports and the solution is never as simple as a cut and dry approach. I am personally deeply concerned with the social consequences and repercussions that stem from America’s sphere of influence in the Middle East. There was a time when the true drivers of American foreign policy were easily masked by the human rights violations of ruthless pro American dictators however the world is beginning to associate the perils of pre-existing paradigms. Libya and Iraq are perfect examples of western neo-colonialism in an oil rich region of the world.

The second course of action is effective leadership which can only be obtained by leaders that drive behavior or the why, not the what or the how. In general I feel that the most innovative leaders are rarely attracted to politics therefore the American public is essentially left with an inefficient group of policy makers that fail to emerge from the shadows of bureaucratic batholiths. Jay Hakes calls on leaders to make conservation a “Patriotic Duty” in chapter 13 of “A declaration of Energy Independence.” This strategy has the potential to resonate with the American people changing lifestyles and developing a consciousness that can change the world as we witnessed during the world wars. Making energy conservation and independence a “patriotic duty” is a successful tool because it speaks to human behavior. People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it. Promoting the message of energy conservation for the greater good was effective for Nixon and Carter only because it spoke to human behavior drawing on references from our nations history that called on its citizens to make sacrifices and maintain a sense of ownership.

The third tier of energy independence requires increasing the strategic petroleum reserve capacity. Much like the rest of the energy system the SPR did not adapt to rising consumption and therefore is ineffective in offsetting any unforeseen circumstances that affect oil markets longer than 90 days. The SPR has an estimated 700 million barrels of crude, which is equivalent to 29 billion barrels after the refining process. (Hakes p.145) It should be noted that the SRP is a more of a band-aid and less of a solution.

Understanding the past is the best tool we have for speculating into the future yet
it’s incredibly difficult to think about the future of energy markets and the role of government in the next twenty years, as there has been no real paradigm shift in the last twenty years. What is certain is that the people of the United States must make their powerful voice heard in order to end bipartisan pandering and evoke results. Hard decisions must be made as well as compromises from all sides of the issue. My largest concern is that politicians are willing to appease the demand for cheap energy in a bid to create shortsighted opportunities that boost the economy while marginalizing the integrity of ecosystems and the biodiversity within them. As we have witnessed this only suppresses innovation driven by the stressors exerted on markets when the true cost of energy is reflected in the price. I’m of the school that we should be making sound investments in renewable technologies opposed to developing an archaic finite resource that has long exceeded peak production in many portions of the globe.

Question 2:

The nuclear option currently accounts for 9% of domestic energy use in the United States and with the pressing issue of climate destabilization it is likely that this low carbon energy source has the potential to acquire larger market shares in the coming years. This increased capacity will help supply the growing electrical demand however there are some pressing concerns associated with the process. First and foremost is the safety and viability of nuclear energy. Nuclear is a system that operates with minimal room for error however the United States lacks the oversight needed to maintain safe energy production. Opposed to France, which utilizes a 24-hour international monitoring system, the United States relies on individual oversight within each plant and guidance from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC by expert accounts is another example of inefficient government bureaucracy that is failing to maintain aging power plants on the dawn of proposed new plants.

Today there are 104 nuclear reactors operating within the United States with 500 or so operating worldwide. The process of permitting such a facility takes years and billions of dollars invested in addition to the ecological challenges of mining and storing spent Uranium. Statistically nuclear energy is very safe but in order to avoid a Three Mile Island, Chernobyl or Fukushima Daiichi disaster engineers will have to rethink the current system accounting for human and natural threats.

I am unconvinced in our nations ability to secure and maintain nuclear reactors and the waste associated with them, however the safe development of this technology would greatly benefit the economy and environment. As a whole the nuclear process has great potential if the development of nuclear fusion is ever attained. The current model of nuclear fission is based on splitting atoms and utilizes an enrichment process of 3-5%. There also seems to be a great social disconnect in the true difference between weapon grade nuclear proliferations and the latter. Bridging this gap is imperative in gaining support for the nuclear option in the face of growing tensions with Iran. As an aspiring nuclear power and blatant threat to United States interest in the Middle East, Tehran seems poised to flex its dominance in the region. At what length would western foreign policy go to ensure a diplomatic resolution to any dispute? Is a war with Iran based on compromised relations with Saudi Arabia and Iraq really in the best interest of the United States at the sake of protecting oil-exporting nations? These are all relative questions that are not designed to scare but make one think critically about the ramifications of the oil weapon.

2011-10-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

Talib Kweli at Occupy Wall Street from Eddie Pages on Vimeo.

seek the light.

2011-07-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

www.grist.org

"Send lawyers, guns and money" ~warren zevon~

2011-06-30T15:56:00.001-07:00

Post Colonial America “You got a lot of splainin’ to do”
comments on the geopolitical climate crisis drawn from:
• Newspaper Granma International (Cuba)
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html

A postcolonial modernist society that has entered the last phase of the demographic transition model would in theory follow the foot steps of European nations and release their sphere of influence on unincorporated territories of the United States. After following the Cuban newspaper Gramma International during the course of this assignment I have gained an appreciation for the experience of being subjected to the will of super powers whose geopolitical aspirations are rooted in capitalistic strategy and not always for the greater good of the local population. While I would like to maintain that my nation is not an oppressive organization, but one that has the best interest of humanity at the forefront of its ideals, this is simply a naïve assertion. Recently President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise to visit Puerto Rico and upon arrival was greeted with anti-colonial protests. The president traveled nine hours to spend a scheduled five hours in the extended sphere of influence ultimately cutting the trip an hour short.

Puerto Ricans greet Obama with anti-colonial protests
Staff Correspondent
San Juan, June 14.

Thousands of Puerto Rican demonstrators greeted U.S. President Barack Obama with demands of independence for the island and the release of Puerto Rican prisoners in U.S. jails, PL reports.
The presidential delegation was confronted by a large number of placards reading “Yankee go home.” For a large part of the Puerto Rican population this visit has opportunistic motives and is related to electoral fundraising. Telesur reported clashes with the security forces.
Translated by Granma International

The African continent has experienced a long legacy of colonialism throughout its history. This incredibly vast expanse of natural and cultural resources have been exploited and oppressed by colonial conquest who view indigenous societies as merely a road bump on the path to a more homogenized planet which furthers the progression of capitalistic and religious interests. During the Berlin Conference of 1885 a 1/5 of global land mass was divided amongst European nations with no regard for local dynamics. In modern society there is a growing consciousness among educated populations that results in devolution as exemplified by the election of Alejandro Toledo in Peru. It is no longer socially acceptable to oppress ethnicities through classical means such as slavery. Today oppressors’ methodology of choice to control the poor and uneducated masses is fear mongering and drug addiction.

No more than one year for African descendants? June 16, 2011
• There is no insult in saying Black, just as there is none in saying White: José Martí SILVIO CASTRO FERNÁNDEZ

The United Nations has proclaimed 2011 the International Year of People of African Descent, but in order to avoid this idea falling into a vacuum, as was the case with the so-called International Year of the Child, a relevant plan of action is needed, not for 12 months, but long-term in its reach. This is to ensure that the discourse on the right to alimentation, to work, to health – in other words, equality of rights and opportunities – is a real one, not only for African descendants, but for everyone.
The issue has remained almost a silent one. While there is discussion in many countries of discrimination against women or religious groups seen as minorities, the issue of racial discrimination merits only low key mention or none at all. It is a difficult one because more than 300 years of subjecting African men and women to slavery generated false stereotypes and prejudices which have proved hard to dispel.
Barely three months after the triumph of the Revolution, Fidel Castro raised the issue of racial discrimination and lamented the fact that people purporting to be revolutionaries were racially prejudiced. More recently, President Raúl Castro noted, "It is shameful that women, African Cubans, persons of mixed race and youth have not been assured promotion to decision making posts."
It should be recalled that in a scientific meeting of the Cuban Anthropological Society – founded in 1860 – a definition of Cuban was put forward and it was almost unanimously decided that Cubans "were all white people born in Cuba." That absurd and highly racist conclusion came after the 10 Years’ War, in which Antonio Maceo y Grajales, a Cuban of African descent, was a major general who led the supremely dignified Baraguá Protest, and more than 75% of the Liberation Army was made up of Africans and mixed race fighters, who had gone to war as Cubans and not as African descendants.
The Society’s committee was primarily composed of highly qualified doctors who graduated in Paris, including its president, Luis Montané Dardé, a work colleague of Ernest Théodore Hamy, founder of the Paris Anthropological Museum (now the Musée de l'Homme).
Now, in the 21st century, Europeans are no longer hunting down Africans in Africa to transport them as slaves, but are hunting them down in the streets of Europe in order to send them back to Africa. At the end of 2010, on an Air France flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport, I witnessed a black man brought aboard in handcuffs and protesting loudly against being separated from his daughter. The reason: the child was born in France and thus had legal status; he was not and therefore was an illegal immigrant being "sent back home" to Kinshasa.
In a lecture he gave in 1941, Fernando Ortiz said, "Martí always calls Africans Blacks and mixed-race persons, without the colonial euphemisms of morenos and pardoswhich, upon being applied to freed persons, highlighted the infamy of the other names employed for slaves.
We know that independence from the colonial yoke did not lead to real changes for those of African descent and indigenous peoples in the republican states that emerged out of the defeat of colonialism.
After the wars against Spanish colonialism, Blacks and indigenous peoples were excluded in the small homelands resulting from the dismemberment of the Patria grande(Great Homeland) dreamed of by Bolívar, Martí, San Martín and Morazán. The small homelands did not recognize the cultural and ethnic diversity of our peoples and they – the indigenous, Black and mixed-race groups – remained the poorest of the poor. The republican elites did not take into account the contribution of these groups to the independence process, but reaffirmed the negation mechanism, perceiving Africans and indigenous peoples as an obstacle to progress and the culture of the nation state. These elites aspired to become European; there are more than sufficient examples, such as the massacre of the indigenous peoples of Argentina and the European immigration sponsored by Sarmiento, because he failed to see any other engine of progress than to populate the country with contingents of white Europeans who, according to him, "should displace the barbarity of the native population."
In the face of that was the earlier thinking of Simón Bolívar in Angostura, "We are aware that our people is not a European people, nor an American one, but is rather one composed of Africans and Americans. Or Martí’s words, "Let us say Cuban, which is to say more than white, more than black…" The attempt to whitewash our countries with European immigration was repeated in Cuba in the early 20th century with European immigration proposed by Orestes Ferrara.
On account of racially based fears, with the exception of Cuba, Africans and mixed race people did not have prominent roles in the liberation armies. Many of them rose through the ranks to become senior officers and even generals. For example, Antonio Maceo y Grajales was a Lieutenant General of the Cuban Liberation Army; Juan Gualberto Gómez – the freed son of slaves – was the man entrusted by José Martí to give the order to initiate the War of 1895, but the prejudices of 400 years of colonization and the opportunistic intervention of the racist United States in the Cuban war accentuated racial prejudices and discrimination in practice.
During the formation of the modern states of the Americas a racially exclusive discourse was noted. The intention of the new nation states of the 19th century was to move beyond the hierarchical structures of the colony under the banner of one sole culture and nation. This served as an attempted national homogeneity which swept away and excluded so-called "inferior" cultures from the official ambit; in other words, African and indigenous ones, via acculturation and extermination.
As Eduardo Galeano wrote, "From the outset the independence of American countries was usurped by a minority. All the early constitutions… left out women, Amerindians, Africans and the poor in general (…)" He continued, "To look ‘black or to look Indian’ are frequent insults in Latin America and ‘to look white’ is a frequent tribute."
Recent statistics point to an institutional discrimination which places the black population "among the poorest of the poor," alongside indigenous groups. On pardoning 25 common criminals for Christmas, President Hugo Chávez affirmed that only the poor and Blacks go to prison and, unfortunately, this is a continental reality. Economic discrimination goes hand in hand with cultural and ethnological discrimination, as many people still refuse to accept that America cannot be explained without Africans, as the Costa Rican writer Quince Duncan wrote.
Estela Morales Campos, researcher at the Autonomous National University of Mexico, stated, "In a kind of pendulum movement between exclusion and omission, recognition of the cultural and genetic contribution of African immigration and its national settlements has been systematically ignored (...)"
Africans and their descendents have contributed in various ways to the construction of nation states in the Americas. In addition to finding social justice, the challenge for our continent in the 21st century is to end discrimination, to recognize African immigration as an indivisible part of Latin America populations. Lamentably, large chapters of official history fail to mention or highlight the lives and contributions of Africans and their settlements, nor their participation in the continent’s independence struggles. They are only identified in a folkloric context of dances and music, which would seem to be their sole contribution.
One important contribution on the road to the elimination of inequality would be to make African and mixed race populations visible in censuses, thus definitively demonstrating those who are at the bottom of the social pyramid and prompting appropriate policies.
But that would only be one step. Racial discrimination and its sequel of prejudice will only be dismantled in conjunction with profound structural changes laying down the bases of social justice in a way which would allow for the implementation of inclusive and integrative policies in relation to material, educational, cultural, community and media factors which have a bearing on the problem.

Geopolitical strategy is a strongpoint of the United States. Even in a region of the world that enjoys cultural continuity, our nation has had their proverbial foot in the door and their hand in the cookie jar. All political “punndering” aside this strategy has increased economic productivity and resulted in a culture of consumers. Now in order to sustain the “American” way of life our government has adopted a policy of preemptive patriotism that can be viewed by an auspicious eye as borderline terrorism. I predict a trend of growing anti-American sentiment, if our only checks and balances are purveyed by the likes of political satirist on the Comedy Central Network.

50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAY OF PIGS
CIA attack injures 26 children
June 2, 2011
GABRIEL MOLINA

ON May 28 1961, 26 children in Pinar del Río were almost killed. Terrorists organized and trained by the CIA presented new evidence as to their total lack of scruples. At 4:00pm, several hundred children were enjoying a children’s show at the Riesgo Theater when suddenly flames broke out around the screen.
Employees and other adults quickly extinguished the fire but not before 26 children were burned or injured. Another 14 adults were hurt, for a total of 40 people injured as a result of the sabotage. Apparently, the United States had decided to resolve its dilemma as to what to do about Cuba in the way suggested by Nixon and Eisenhower: war.
As far as relations between the two countries went, the ‘covert action plan against the Castro regime’ remained in force and, written between the lines, included was terrorism. A report by Marines Colonel Jack Hawkings, one of the principal leaders and implementers, listed as accomplishments during the period more than 150 acts of sabotage, using fires, and 300,000 tons of sugar cane burnt in 800 attacks.
A few days later, a bomb exploded in a bathroom in the Hotel Casa Granda. The explosion confirmed that Washington had not given up on the use of force to put an end to the revolutionary government.
May 30, the Havana District Revolutionary Court prosecutor, Dr. Pelayo Fernández Rubio, left his home located at 421 Estrada Palma at 7:30 a.m., carrying his 20-month old son. The well-known lawyer placed the child in the car, got in, inserted the key and started the engine. As he put the car into gear, he felt a violent explosion. He was only able to throw himself over the child in an attempt to protect him and both were injured – two days after the events in Pinar del Río.
President Kennedy was frantic after the April defeat in Cuba and everything else seemed unimportant compared to his desire to avenge his family’s honor, besmirched at the Bay of Pigs.

THE REVOLUTION’S HUMAN APPROACH
A few days earlier, May 20, at 1:30 pm a strange group of passengers disembarked from Pan American flight 422 at Miami International Airport. Dressed in their camouflaged mercenary Brigade 2506 uniforms, ten prisoners of Cuban authorities arrived, clean and well-shaven to U.S. territory, without any sort of escort whatsoever.
The U.S. citizens present at the airport curiously observed the frustrated invaders. A large group of relatives called out their names and pushed to get closer, while federal authorities and border agents surrounded the group, preventing anyone from approaching
Waldo Castroverde Giol, a Brigade parachutist said in a few succinct words that the prisoners in Havana were all in good health and had not been mistreated at any point. The group brought two boxes of letters from other prisoners to their families. He added that they were not able to give a press conference.
Fidel demanded from the U.S. government, responsible for the invasion, compensation in the form of 500 tractors. Cuba would return to the United States more than 1,000 prisoners. The delegates swore to their fellow invasion Brigade members that they would return to Cuba if no solution was forthcoming and would stay a total of seven days if an exchange could be arranged. Already accustomed to the behavior of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, the prisoners were not too surprised when, on the morning of the previous Saturday, the leader of the government they had attempted to overthrow appeared at the naval hospital under construction where they were being held.
He conversed with a few small groups of prisoners before meeting with the commission which had been elected to represent the group, as he had insisted. Upon hearing the plan, the men responded with optimism, a few couldn’t hide their happiness and support for Fidel’s proposal granting them the freedom they had been dreaming of since they had been captured while serving the interests of a foreign power.
Fidel had declared that, in victory, the Cuban Revolution would not demean itself. The mood of the prisoners was summed up by one who used a popular phrase to say that the U.S. was ‘obliged with a loaded gun’ to consider the proposed exchange, meaning that the initiative had created a stir.
The generous treatment of the mercenaries contrasted sharply with the propaganda broadcast by Radio Swan reporting that Cuba had subjected them to torture and, even more so, with the treatment they received upon arriving in Miami. They were not allowed to talk with their families at the airport, but were whisked away in cars, practically kidnapped.

Control and exploitation of natural resources is at the heart of colonial conquest. Currently much attention has been focused on securing access to finite oil reserves. The Orinoco Tar Sands are estimated to hold 12 billion barrels or the equivalent of the world’s collective conventional oil reserves. Venezuela has consistently procured petrol to markets the Unites States has placed sanctions on such as Iran. The United States military is the largest consumer of petroleum in the world and with military spending at all time highs there is no indication of a favorable agreement while Hugo Chavez holds power. South America as a whole is a much more stable oil producing region partially due to the early colonization and the death of 90% of the indigenous people thus allowing for the Diaspora of European settler’s and ideals.

Venezuela under attack
from the empire once again
June 1, 2011
JOAQUÍN RIVERY TUR

WITH imperial arrogance, the government of Barack Obama has undertaken a new offensive, unilaterally imposing economic sanctions, completely unsubstantiated, on the company which provides the Venezuelan people a significant portion of its resources: Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).
The issue is the danger that these sanctions represent, that the U.S. government is unleashing new attacks on the Bolivarian Revolution precisely when Latin American and Caribbean countries have reached a new level of unity and integration.
The sanctions issued by the Obama administration presume to punish PDVSA for its trade relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. At this rate, all countries will have to ask permission of the U.S. State Department when they carry out these kinds of activities with any nation not to the liking of Washington. This is clearly a violation of the international free trade agreement for oil and other minerals, which the government of Venezuela has taken upon itself to reject with the unconditional support of the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).
The sanctions which the U.S. intends to impose state that PDVSA is not allowed to sign contracts with the U.S. government, or receive any financing from the country for its operations.
This is laughable, since the document itself indicates that this is no way affects the delivery of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. As far as financing goes, the body in charge of such transactions within that country is the governmental Export-Import bank, an entity to which Venezuela owes not a single cent and which Venezuela can do without. Clearly the decree doesn’t carry much weight, but does reveal the true U.S. concerns in opposition to the process unfolding in Venezuela led by Hugo Chávez.
The sanctions are an indication that the objective, established by the United States, is the control of all areas rich in energy resources and Venezuela has vast oil reserves in the Orinoco Belt.
In any event, the Venezuelan oil company can easily do without its U.S. customers, although Caracas is interested in maintaining the best possible relationship with the people of the United States and continuing its traditional supply, given that it even owns refineries within U.S. territory, under the name of CITGO.
There are already numerous transnational corporations based in a variety of countries which have accepted the conditions set forth by the Bolivarian government in contracts for oil exploration, extraction and sales. The principal emerging powers in the world, such as China, Brazil and India, whose developing economies are large consumers of oil, and others less strong, are drawn to Venezuela’s energy resources, now a key component of the global energy market.
For example, on September 16, 2010, the Venezuelan official gazette published Law 39.511 which ratified a long-term trade agreement between the governments of China and Venezuela, including a credit of 20 billion dollars to finance 19 development projects. The payment of this line of credit will be effected through the sale of oil to the Asian country, of no less than 250,000 barrels daily in 2011 and 300,000 in 2012. Oil tankers are already leaving Venezuelan shores with half a million barrels of oil for China a day.
Making the announcement, Chávez clarified that it is not just about the amount, but also, "It must be read as a political, geopolitical document, one of confidence."
Within a few years, more than a million barrels of oil will depart every 24 hours headed for China, the same amount sold to the United States. This cannot be much to the liking of Washington, as fuel available at a minimal distance which U.S. transnationals have always aspired to controlling.
Nevertheless, it must be repeated, the major concern of the United States is the Latin American current committed to unity and integration led by Bolivarian Venezuela. It will be extremely difficult for the U.S. to dominate the rest of the world without control of Latin America and the Caribbean, with their extensive energy, water, mineral and land resources, as well as their biological diversity.
It is no accident that the United States is trying to develop a neoliberal economic block along the Pacific coast of South America which it hopes to counterpoise to Mercosur and the Bolivarian Alliance, ALBA.

After WWII the United States asserted itself as the world’s primary economic and military superpower however emerging markets in China, India and Brazil are poised to be serious game changers in the future. These nations have large populations that have not been consumed by devices of convenience. It is my personal opinion that America has gone soft and has been suffering from a brain drain for the last decade. The United States also has a legacy of ignoring foreign nations sovereignty whether this stems from the pentagon is not my place to say, however I will site the ATF’s involvement of trafficking weapons and ammunition into Mexico in hope’s of finding the weapon’s at crime scenes and therefore building a case against some of Mexico’s dangerous cartel. This solicited criminal activity subjects innocent bystander’s to excess violence and should be serious cause for alarm that the powers that be are out of control. The lack of domestic protesting and general acceptance among American’s illustrates a nation of over fed and comfortable citizens. “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” ~Thomas Jefferson~

Argentina asserts its sovereignty
Feb 24, 2011
JOAQUÍN RIVERY TUR

• IN the midst of a dispute with the United States over the U.S. military aircraft that illegally transported weapons, equipment and drugs to Argentina, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has called for "the defense of national sovereignty."
Buenos Aires entered into open conflict with Washington when weapons and equipment not declared in the aircraft’s cargo manifest were discovered, leading to their confiscation in Argentina as contraband.
President Fernández began her speech at the inauguration of the Néstor Kirchner coastal highway in El Calafate, Santa Cruz province by asking, "Do they know what genuine sovereignty is? It is that which defends the nation’s interests."
"We have to incorporate ourselves into the world with dignity and sovereignty. Since May 25, 2003, decisions have been made by the President in the Casa Rosada, and not imposed from anywhere else," the head of state added in response to the annoyance expressed by the U.S. State Department in reaction to Argentina’s sovereign actions.
In his turn, Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman sent a protest to the U.S. government for failing to declare cargo and to cooperate with his country.
On February 10, the C-17 Globemaster III, Registration No. 77187 military aircraft was delayed at the Argentina’s Ezeiza International Airport given a number of irregularities.
It was thought that the aircraft was transporting a team of specialists to train port police in managing kidnappings and other high risk situations. The team traveled with cots and other equipment related to the agreement, which dated back several months.
But it also came with items that were not part of the program. The Globemaster contained unusual weapons. Finally the embassy had to acknowledge that the cargo contained "sensitive material" which was not declared to the Buenos Aires authorities, although it was alleged that it would be used in the training. The items included electronic equipment to intercept communications, sealed appliances labeled "secret" and cutting edge GPS devices.
In August of last year a similar exercise had to be cancelled because the cargo which the airplane carried did not match the manifest presented to Argentine authorities. This is called smuggling anywhere in the world.
The "extra" materials were confiscated by Argentine authorities and the case is in the hands of the country’s judicial authorities.
If the group was only going to train police in techniques to combat abductions, why would morphine be needed? What was the objective of introducing contraband equipment into Argentina to intercept communications? And finally, as far as is known to date, what was the purpose of having latest generation GPS devices in the southern nation and equipment labeled "secret," whose code the military contraband transporters certainly did not wish to reveal.
It was a clear violation of Argentine law, of the training agreement and a suspicious concealment of weapons and technical equipment which the U.S. attempted to bring in unnoticed.
Conspiracy is a habit with U.S. administrations and one never knows what might come to light. But the C-17 Globemaster III had to return without its cargo and, of course, with the famous training course cancelled.

This last piece of journalistic brilliance is featured on Granma Internacional by way of The Black Report, a self proclaimed 24-7 “black news source”. While I’m in agreement with the article’s representation of NATO’s neo-colonial conquest of oil rich North Africa, I wish that Glen Ford had portrayed his thoughts in a manner that allows the article to be featured in more relevant media outlets. This is a classic example for the call of devolution where there is essentially no hope as Libya produces an estimated 2 million barrels of oil per day.

NATO: Free Africa from the Africans!
(The Black Report – featured on www.granma.cu)
June 10, 2011
BY GLEN FORD

AS far as the United States and Europe are concerned, Africans have nothing to say about what happens in Africa. South African President Jacob Zuma made a second trip to Libya this week, on behalf of the African Union, seeking a diplomatic end to NATO’s war against Mouammar Gaddafi’s government. Just as with a previous African Union peace keeping mission, back in early April, Colonel Gaddafi agreed to the peace plan. And just as before, the so-called rebels and their American and European bosses refused even to consider a cease fire.
As has been obvious from the beginning of this “humanitarian” farce, the Great White Fathers of Europe and the “Wall Street mascot” from the United States, as Obama has been called, will be satisfied with nothing less than regime change in Libya – and to hell with what Africans think!
The Euro-Americans will soon prove just as contemptuous of their erstwhile North African Arab allies, based in Benghazi, who claim to be leading a “revolution” against Gaddafi. But these rebels lost their legitimacy the second they decided to become the ground troops for a neocolonial invasion of North Africa. Revolutionaries fight the Power. The gang from Benghazi are mere pawns of imperialism and have no credibility whatsoever as revolutionaries. This is an imperialist war, fought for imperial objectives.
The rebels have chosen to become imperialism’s mascots, waiting like pitiful little Gunga Dins for the British and French to arrive with attack helicopters to burn and kill their countrymen.
NATO orders their Libyan minions around like children. NATO recently “issued instructions” that the rebels not move beyond certain points in the desert, so as not to enter the killing fields that the rich white fathers – plus Obama – are preparing to incinerate Libyan government soldiers. Naturally, the rebels will do exactly as they are told, since this is not their revolution. Rather, Libya is the front line of the European and American counter-revolution. The chain of command reaches to Paris, London and Washington. Benghazi has reverted to the colonial outpost that it was when the Italians ruled – only now, in the 21st century, all of the Europeans plus the Americans get to lord over the Libyans, who grin and skin while thanking the colonizers for coming back to save Africa from the Africans.
And so it makes perfect sense that a peace proposal from the president of South Africa, Black Africa's most powerful and wealthy country, acting on behalf of the organization that includes every nation on the continent, counts for less than nothing in the imperial scheme of things. The West encourages South African President Jacob Zuma to help bring chaotic Black countries into line, but Zuma and the African Union are not authorized to interfere with imperial wars on the continent. That's “white folks’ business.”
When the Western attack helicopters arrive, the Benghazi-based rebels will cheer, as if they won something. The Gunga Dins should carefully study those helicopters and their awesome firepower, because those guns will one day likely be turned against them. The U.S. and Europe have no intention of allowing Libyans to rule Libya. And after all, why should the imperialists hand over all that oil to a bunch of local flunkies who couldn't even fight their own war?

Part 2:

European colonial conquest in modern society and globalizations role in shaping a cultural collective is represented unabashedly by Granma Internacional. This news source has a very clear anti-American sentiment and for good reason. The geopolitical positioning of Cuba allying with key players of the cold war has caused intergovernmental and financial tension. Democracy as a whole should not be forced upon any nation instead the revolution needs to be by the people, for the people as we have seen in Egypt and Tunisia.
By western standards, a nation’s GDP is an accepted tool of gauging the quality of life in that nation but this ideal is inherently flawed. Cuba is an example of a culture that has rebelled against American consumerism and devolved to a state of classic automobiles and well functioning health care systems. Government influence on private business is visible but by no means overburdening and not that different from the socialist bailout of Wall Street whom had grown “Too big to fail”.
A continuing theme of anti-American/European rhetoric persists throughout the “post colonial modern” world as our control relies on natural resource claims in unstable regions. Perhaps instead of appeasing constituents with the fruits of cheap energy there is room to take the moral high road and devolve back to a nation of independent forward thinking activists. To continue on the current path will ensure that America’s grandchildren are subjected to further manipulation by big government. The founding forefather’s of this nation would be treated more like terrorists than patriot’s by current standards and this should be very alarming to any forward thinking independent citizen of this self proclaimed great nation of immigrants. The reality and severity of this paradigm is coupled by “peak oil” and the negative ecological externalities that take a back seat to economic progress. At this time I must acknowledge that without a well functioning environment there cannot be a well functioning economy. The framework of capitalism and consumerism rests heavy on planned obsolescence, that is to say the average cell phone’s life span is around 18 months however I’m currently on my 5th warrantee replacement of a Verizon Wireless smart phone device since August of 2010. I ask, who is really the intelligent one?
While resisting my cynical inclinations and frustrations with the socially accepted business and geopolitical practices of industrialized nations it’s crucial to realize the value of the independent spirit. If this force hasn’t been completely dismantled by colonial conquest and homogenous branding then I predict a call to proverbial arms amongst the worlds exploited and disgruntled. Such an uprising could certainly take place among the youth whom have been priced out of the educational system but sheltered by the virtual Sheppard that is the Internet. Social networking has no geopolitical allegiances and gives every individual a platform to share ideas and voice political profiteering.

encountering globalism.

2011-06-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

In a post industrial modernist society the influence of globalization and industry specialization is witnessed everywhere. For example I write this paper next to my majestic dog Nanuq of the North. She is an American Eskimo by breed but in reality she is neither American nor Eskimo but German. This undercover agent of globalization has been shedding on my USA made T-shirt while trying to steal imported Mexican Mango from my European/Native American fingertips. For better or worse this is our accepted paradigm in the year 2011.

Analyzing the table and maps I began to notice a few trends. On average food appears to travel long distances before it reaches the consumer. This should be a troubling realization as transportation inputs are directly linked to petroleum markets. In addition conventional large-scale industrial agriculture relies on fossil fueled farming equipment and unsustainable inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides to fulfill consumer demand.

Even though I have never left North America I own many things from all over the world. The majority of my clothes have been purchased from retailers who have imported the product from an area where cost is minimized and environmental regulations are more relaxed or non-existent. This outsourcing of manufacturing is known to economists as specialization and is at the root of the globalization phenomena. The emerging markets of China, Japan and the rest of the orient have been bolstered by increased outsourcing amongst international corporations whose profits can exceed the GDP of the nation its doing business in.

Globalization is shaping the culture of a global collective where products and logos are ingrained in daily life. The prevalence of mass consumption and cross-cultural links are evident in developing Bozeman, MT. Historically Montana has provided industry with vast amounts of copper and coal amid other raw resources. These metals have been used to wage war, build infrastructure and power a nation.

I predict a booming economy for Montana as the need for alternative energy and domestic production is escalated by Arab unrest partially spurred by the occupation of western culture in these oil-producing regions. Montana has nine percent of the world’s coal within its border’s. This coal has the potential to be utilized as a fuel source by means of the Fischer-Tropsch process. This process converts carbon monoxide and hydrogen into a hydrocarbon, which can be used as a petroleum substitute thus reducing American dependence on foreign oil.

open letter to senator john kerry

2011-04-12T01:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Senator John Kerry,

It has come to my attention that you are a long time proponent of commercial Massachusetts’s fisheries as the industry has historically been able to sustain a good quality of life for fishermen and women alike. We happen to share the common goal of improving the local fishing economy in Massachusetts and thus improving the standard of living for the families who choose to make their money off the ocean’s bounty. What is most difficult when dealing with matters pertaining to ecological disasters while satisfying economic requirements that mandate lifetime commitments to the industry is time. As we are both well aware of financial markets change and adapt to speculation and other factors much faster than a fisheries ability to recover from the present and past exploitation of our oceans. Currently 97% of the world’s oceans are open to commercial fishing and with 70% of the earth covered by these same fisheries that means that 67% of the earth’s surface is open to the competition that commercial fishing brings to the natural biota of the seas. It is important when addressing the common goal of improving the profitability of Massachusetts’s fisheries that we heed lessons learned from the past. For example the 1992 moratorium on North Atlantic Cod in New Foundland, which is still in place today, caused the complete disruption of a culture in a land rooted in fishing. Today the North Atlantic Cod has yet to recover from the overfishing that occurred in the past. This severe lack of management allowed for the decimation of a species and thus the decimation of the fishermen. I feel that it is our shared priority not to see this happen in Massachusetts. I applaud your call for creative adaptive management measures that ensure the protection of the small fishermen. I feel these fishermen can offer an external benefit to the allure of the state’s romance that is not reflected in the state’s catch.

At this moment it is crucial to consider the international science and investigation efforts that point to a declining world catch suggesting that we are consuming our ocean’s at unsustainable rates. Science has limited economic incentive and therefore should hold more validity than organizations whose best interest is the industry that led us to this point. If Massachusetts’s fisheries hadn’t been so heavily exploited in the past then there would be no need for mandates that severely limit a fisherman’s catch. The ocean would still be teaming with biological diversity that has a long-term goal of sustaining the local Massachusetts fishing economy.

It is my hope that you will be able to work with the various interests involved to come up with a solution that not only ensures the protection of our oceans and fishermen while affording future generations the same opportunities realized by generations past. At this pivotal moment in aquatic history we must err on the side of conservation as justified by scientific independent studies whose fiancées do not gain from immediate monetary value from the fishing industry that continually turns a blind eye to their increasingly empty nets.

Best regards,
Jordan Roberts

Four Essential Ecosystem Processes pertaining to Kodiak, AK

2011-01-31T17:45:00.000-08:00

Kodiak Alaska is considered a non-brittle environment receiving an annual rainfall of 74.2” in addition to 84.5” of snow. The temperature of Alaska’s sixth largest city can swing from around -20 and plateau around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Two thirds of the island is preserved as the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge home to the Kodiak brown bear, which is one of the world’s largest carnivores. Needless to say this is a wild place with plentiful biological diversity.

On the island we explore the effects of urban/wild land interface. The islands chief industries are fishing, tourism and the military. Kodiak is home to the Coast Guard in addition to the Alaska Aerospace Corporation that operates the Kodiak Launch Complex and the Navy Seals. Industrial agriculture is not part of the local economy and almost all produce is imported due to short growing seasons and severe climates. However when the clouds break and the sun beam’s the island comes alive. The transformation is amazing with minimal bare ground and organisms photosynthesizing on just about any surface even houses.

In non-brittle environments such as Kodiak the succession process is elastic and acts much like the spring analogy in Savory’s text. Compared with more brittle environments large herds and predation is not necessary to achieve a working community dynamic. This is mainly in part due to a functioning water cycle, which is part of a mineral cycle, which all functions as an energy flow to achieve a holistic perspective of the environment.

A well functioning water cycle will allow for a longer growing season by storing energy and minerals in anticipation of the growing seasons return. I can’t help but think of the old saying “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” However that being said man has the amazing inability to not let sleeping dogs lie and with increased non-adaptive human management of complex environments comes decreased biological diversity, increased “pests” plus surface runoff and less water retention. It is this attempt to manage a system that we can barely begin to fully understand that often leads to massive failure and the potential fall of established civilizations.

When the water cycle of an environment is functioning properly the mineral cycle is also functioning properly increasing community dynamics and the energy flow that we are all a part of. This lack of understanding as pertaining to our collective interdependence has caused severe worldwide ecological damage. The leaching of fertilizers from agriculture has caused massive blooms in aquatic environments that rob the environment of oxygen and alter the energy balance that all life is a part of. The four essential ecosystem processes are self-governing and have never benefitted from the impact of man, however as long as we exist we will continue to alter these processes through technology.

Dating in a ski town by Jordan Roberts

2010-11-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

So you’ve made it! Congratulations, you have officially left home and landed the dream lifestyle catering to those whose priorities do not revolve around powder. Perhaps you even scored a sweet job rolling sushi or washing dishes, which in some mountain towns requires a bachelor’s degree in shredology. Armed with your newfound freedom and coupled with a freshly discovered sense of wealth, its time to cruise the local watering wholes in search of that majestic maiden.

Montana mountain women are their own species. They exist immersed in a sea of heady bros that drop big cliffs, ski big lines and generally consider themselves more solid than the majority of the nation. Prententious? No, never brada, “welcome to ‘Mantana’ where the men are men and the sheep are nervous”. This is the land where you don’t lose your girlfriend, you just loose your turn or perhaps the odds are good but the goods are odd. Whichever way we embark on the ultimate goal of all living organisms, one thing remains constant, hot girls love douche bags. Yes its true as a self proclaimed non-douche I have been conducting a social experiment at Montana State University on the second floor of the library. The second floor is a place to update your status, print off that epic paper on anthropogenic climate change or simply creep on prospects. It is on the 2^nd that I tell girls I’m really into football and beer pong I know it sounds crazy but it truly works.

Method behind the madness:

Hot girls have poor taste in men until they are about 22, the idea is that hot chicks dig douche bags and need to get their proverbial fill. After about 4 years of crap I’ve noticed a shift towards more rational dating behavior. If a girl is still on the “market” by the time she nears 30 then said female acquires a complete reversal of wants. Regardless, dating is essentially a series of crap happenings highlighted by the good times. These good times are more hormonal than anything and therefore relative to any other good time for example the feeling one receives from a powder turn. This constitutes a wild love affair between a pair of really fat skis, the mountains and an occasional surf trip. So next time you’re bummed out that the hot new prospect are in reality tried and true by a 1/3 of your friends, simply go ski.

got sisu?

2010-08-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

got the opportunity to add onto a sweet historic shed on the northside. like most projects i get a hold of they tend to blossom awesome deals. i might have convinced the owner to let me build a turret with wrap around deck on the second story.

Yeasayer - 2080

2010-05-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

international relations essay

2010-05-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Liberal thought dictates increased interdependence among states serves to stabilize the global climate. This goal is achieved by allowing all parties to be vulnerable to others’ actions. Some states fear interdependence will compromise their sovereignty as well as security. However protectionism generally leads to political and economic instability generating conflicts that result in war. The short-term gains of protectionism skew a long-term agenda of peace and economic stability.

The United States acting as a hegemonic power should seek to lead by example in the liberal ideals of laissez-faire economics. Unfortunately our government falls victim to “Do as I say, not as I do.” As exemplified by French President Nicholas Sarkozy when the United States established guidelines that favor American contractors when bidding on a project that supplies the US Air Force with tankers. Although the French are allies of the United States it is the same negative speculation for future trade that leads to war in an uncertain economic environment; as evidenced in the World Wars.

The United States practices protectionism masked under the veil of international aid. When another nation receives aid, it is the hope and sometimes precondition that a portion of that money will be spent of products originating in the United States. The department of defense proposed budget for foreign military aid has increased from $350 million to $490 million for the year 2011. These funds are dispersed among 37 countries and a human rights initiative. A desired side affect of these programs is the creation of a new marketplace in which United States weaponry are consumed.

Realist view of economic interdependence essentially is the opposite stating that dependence is more likely to promote war than peace. This perspective is fostered by the belief that during a crisis, national security can be compromised by an outside source controlling goods such as oil, thus resulting in military conflicts; as seen in the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict and inferred by the United States occupation of Iraq.

When dealing on the topic of interdependence the benefits and consequences must be weighed heavily. Does a state benefit greater from trade rather than invasion? To fully analyze trade vs. war both liberals and realist speculate on future trading. Liberal thought dictates that a heavily interdependent society with the prospect for further trade reveals peace and stability. However when the prospect of future trade is low and maintaining security is high, then the prospect of war may be more beneficial to one state in order to relieve dependency. It is the opposing views of realist and liberals that center on vulnerability.

“The sin of globalization is thus both collective (an assault on the nation) and individual (injuring the nation’s citizens), making it a severe violation of the global moral order.” (Boli, Elliot, and Bieri 2004)(Kegley, 2009, P.231) Globalization and the corporations behind this capitalist agenda are committing cultural genocide. In a world of instant gratification and convenience, powerhouse merchandisers have found a large platform to push product. Multinational corporations offer more competitive pricing than local merchants, saving on labor costs by outsourcing thus moving jobs from the global north to south. Foreign direct investment between countries is furthering the economic gap in these regions. While some residents benefit from a steady paycheck they ultimately fall farther behind the nations that prosper. In the relative gains race of tomorrow; multinational corporations lead the campaign with gross national incomes rivaling and exceeding countries. (Kegley 2009 P.210-212)

Human and economic rights in an increasingly interdependent globalized society are complex issues. A realist would argue that life is a balance and without poor, uneducated members there will not be middle to upper class populations that consume the global market place majority. It is unfortunate that the people most in need are left behind, used as pawns in a game of international profiteering and security regimes. These constructs of society that divide the rich and poor will only gain momentum in time to come. In the absence of a complete restructuring of the worlds monetary system, globalization and interdependence will continue to spread influence, shrinking the world and homogenizing cultures. If this trend continues then a new world order where states are no longer the highest level of jurisdiction will come to light. It is feasible to see a globalized government and monetary system similar to the UN and Euro emerge from the ashes of a ruined political past. This may seem as radical thought however the conditions of the world’s current state warrant such ideas.

Reference:

Kegley, Charles W. 2009. World Politics: Trend and Transformation. Belmont, CA: Cenage

Reuters.com, 3/12/2010, U.S. setting bad example on protectionism - Sarkozy