What Are We?

Recreation of a Neanderthal woman taken from bones, tissue, etc.

Friends, looking at our world critically, I mean, really critically, it is hard not to wonder whether what we are is shown in the photographs or, when the clothes and the artifice is stripped away,  what we are  is more closely related to our distant ancestors.

Of course, I don’t mean to look only at our physical differences which are obvious but to look at our behaviour. What then do we mean by behaviour? Humans exhibit an enormous range of behaviours. Men behave differently to women. Children behave differently to adults, etc.

The setting we find ourselves in affects our behaviour as does our upbringing. For example, most of us don’t spit or pass wind when we are at a dinner party. Neither do we fondle our genitals or those of others (although feet under the table have been known to do mischievous things). And we don’t usually rape another person at a dinner party or carry out a murder either even if, possessed by lust or hatred, we might want to. And, usually, we don’t tell the other guests that we sexually molest our children or animals or watch child porn, etc.

But in other settings, our behaviour might well be different. Take war for example or when we are part of a mob.

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Obama: Man For All Seasons Or Abject Failure?

Friends, Obama, who modestly claims that he leads the free world, has proudly announced that hostilities in Iraq are now over and all the troops are coming home. All the troops that is except for the 50,000 troops that are staying there to hold the hands of the Iraqis as they try to return their destroyed, divided country to the prosperous, thriving place it was before the liberating American invasion.

One American came home from Iraq some time ago. Major Tammy Duckworth lost both legs in Iraq when the helicopter she was piloting was attacked in 2004. She ran for senator from Illinois unsuccessfully in 2006 and subsequently became head of veterans affairs for the state of Illinois. President Obama nominated her to become the assistant secretary of veterans affairs in his government. This, of course, won’t return her legs or allow her to dance.

As well as the 4,000 plus dead and the 30,000 plus wounded like Tammy, the Bush-Obama exercise in Iraq has been a complete failure with Iraq still unable to decide who will govern it and still unable to stop suicide bombings and corruption. This reality contrasts with the Obama spin that suggests success in Iraq!

This photograph shows Obama in another role.  He is genuflecting at the Wailing Wall in Israeli-controlled Jerusalem. He is wearing a yarmulke or Jewish skullcap to show his strong affiliation with Israel who he, and a succession of Presidents,  have supplied with untold amounts of arms and money and support for the various atrocities and human rights abuses which the Israelis frequently carry out.

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Peace Talks Under Occupation And Siege?

The photograph shows Israeli soldiers at the scene of a shooting on a West Bank road, one that claimed the lives of four Israeli settlers, two men and two women (one of whom was pregnant). This incident, which Hamas claims responsibility for, comes on the eve of so-called peace talks in New York.

Now it is easy to point the finger at Hamas and accuse them of terrorism. But, let’s face it, Hamas, which was the democratically elected Government that Fatah (led by Abbas) usurped, is under siege just as the West Bank is under occupation and has been since 1967. People under occupation and siege have the right to resist using any means.

And, besides, the Jewish settlers lived in homes and were driving on roads built on occupied Palestinian land, acts that are illegal under International Law.

My question is: how can people under siege and occupation negotiate a proper peace settlement with those who are still brutally oppressing them? Surely the first condition for any peace talks should be that the Israelis return to the 1967 borders, that they dismantle the concrete walls, that they release all Palestinians prisoners, etc. This would bring some balance to the negotiations!

And how can people under siege and occupation negotiate a proper peace settlement when the major supporter of the people conducting the brutal siege and occupation, the one who arms them and gives them untold sums of money and vetoes U.N. Resolutions which condemn Israeli behaviour, is again pretending to be an honest broker?

Indeed, ironically, the talks are to be held in Washington, hardly a place of neutrality given that a majority of Americans support Israel no matter what atrocities it carries out!

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America’s New Weapon To Control The World?

Friends, when I saw this article this morning on Reuters, I knew the game was up, knew that we were entering a frightening new era, one where Big Brother rules.

It appears that the U.S., ever inventive, is going to patrol the border with Mexico using drones called Predators which can stay aloft for up to 30 hours at a time.

Yes, soon the south-west border some 2,000 miles long will be under constant surveillance. Using infra-red technology, the drones will be able to see day and night and help to disrupt the activities of drug smugglers and would-be immigrants.

At this stage, as far as I can gather, the drones won’t be armed but it’s only a little step to put a missile or two on the drone and before you know it, people are being blown to pieces much as they are in Pakistan and wherever else these silent killing machines are being used!

Then, eventually, some devious mind in the Pentagon or in Congress might well put two and two together and ask, “Why stop there? We could employ our drones in other places. We could spy on or  obliterate all those considered to be our enemies with the press of a button. “

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Beck And Palin: Harbingers Of Evil!

Friends, these are some of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who came to the Lincoln Memorial to hear speeches about God and Country and Patriotism, speeches given by such right-wing intellectual visionaries as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.

“Something beyond imagination is happening,” Beck declared with evangelistic fervour. “America today begins to turn back to God.”  This must be 2010 B.C. surely!

What struck me as ironic is that many Americans will get off their bums and attend a rally like this but they won’t rally to protest about the imperial direction their Government is taking.

They won’t protest their Government’s financial and military support for a rogue nation called Israel which threatens to lead the world towards a nuclear doomsday.

They won’t protest about inaction regarding global warming or the American drug problem or the many other social problems which plague their nation.

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Is Israel About To Nuke Iran?

The beginning of the nuclear winter?

Friends, one of the people on my Special Links, Damian from Telling The History Of The 21st Century, has sounded some alarm bells. Though Damian never comments on Dangerous Creation, I do support his blog from time to time.

What he has drawn attention to is the worrying sale of 2 billion dollars worth of fuel by America to Israel. This fuel is made up of aviation gas (for war planes), diesel (for things like tanks and armored personnel carriers) and unleaded petrol (which can be used for anything). The link shown at the end of this post gives the full details.

He has suggested that the purchase means Israel is getting ready to nuke Iran’s nuclear facilities. Then, that accomplished, he feels that Israel might well begin a ground war against both Lebanon and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (and who knows who else?) in order to achieve a massive land grab hence bringing about Greater Israel (it’s probably best if you read his full post).

Of course, you will recall that I have posted about this potential scenario many times as has Damian, but  the fuel purchase suggests, after a lot of false starts, perhaps it’s finally about to be showtime!

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Happiness Still Happens!!!

Friends, I wanted to present you with something positive, something beautiful, something that shows our better side rather than our worst.

I hope these two images lift your spirits. I also hope that, during the days ahead, you too can laugh, see the funny side of life, share a joke with friends, feel happy.

Remember, normal people, when laughing, have no bad thoughts. And laughter is catching!

I hope it becomes a pandemic!

Peace and love to all.

The God Of War Still Rules!

Friends, ever since mankind dreamed up the many, many differing concepts of God, one God in particular, though not always obvious, has remained in the ascendancy: the God of War.

For thousands of years, men have been engaged in constant war. Some have been big and involved whole empires; some have been small and localized. Regardless, men since prehistoric times have been hacking, stabbing, spearing, clubbing and firing arrows at each other. Their battlefields have been bathed in blood while they fought over land and strategic advantage.

The advent of gunpowder quickly unleashed the power of bullets fired by muzzle loaders and cannon balls. The God of War must have smiled as his willing subjects slaved to invent ever larger cannons. Eventually rifles and machine guns made their appearance, better to gain the upper hand in the frequent contests.

Ever inventive, flight was discovered and bullets gave way to such refinements as rockets, bombs and napalm.  Then we developed atomic bombs which had their nadir in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Was this the ultimate? Of course not.

We moved to missiles, depleted uranium, drones, ICBMs, to say nothing about chemical weapons, germ warfare, spy satellites, etc.

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Dismembering Is All The Rage.

Friends, Reuters carried this photograph of four headless corpses hung upside-down from a bridge in Mexico. Their genitals and index fingers were also missing. They were believed to have been caught up in the drug wars which are wracking that country.

As well, in Australia the body of a woman was found buried in some bushland. The body was without head or limbs. Police have finally arrested the woman’s ex-partner and his female accomplice. The man was the father of the female’s children and was a drug addict who had been stopped from seeing his children. Wanting revenge, he is alleged to have killed the woman then cut her into pieces with a hacksaw.

These two seemingly unrelated incidents have one thing in common: drugs. But hang on. They also have murder in common. And they also involve decapitation and dismembering. And they clearly show what humans are capable of.

Two other items caught my attention in the news. I bet you can’t wait!

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Drones, Derangement And Despair.

Friends, Reuters carries the story today of a new drone that Iran has developed. It certainly looks dangerous unlike the propeller-driven, slow flying, American model (which is being used all over Pakistan).

While you should read the whole article, here are a few facts about the snazzy looking weapon:

- the drone had a range of 1,000 km (620 miles)

- the drone has a speed of 900 km per hour (560 miles per hour)

- the drone could carry four cruise missiles or a payload of either two 250-pound (113-kg) bombs or one of 500 pounds.

Now,  what does this mean for the Middle East? Well, for starters it suggests that Armadinejad and Islamic Iran will not allow anyone to attack or invade Iran without vigorous retaliation.  Can they be blamed for that?

Who would attack them, you ask? Well, Israel and America have been loudly beating war drums for several years, even threatening to use nuclear weapons against Iran (which has none). Iran’s predictable response has been to try to increase the size of its armed forces and it has done so. It even has mini-submarines.

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