On the 7th of October one year after the Massacres

The Middle East is the Hub of the World where wars constantly start and peace seems impossible. The only solution is a united planet with a global democracy, and can anyone seriously imagine our species being intelligent, mature, and evolved enough to come together to make it so? 

Had my own moment of silence. Today. So many emotions. One year after Palestinian terrorists from Iran’s proxy militia Hamas broke out of Gaza into southern Israel and murdered about 1,200 people. Most were Israelis, Jews, but others were citizens from more than 30 different nation-states and from other religions. A large number of those were Thais working in Israel. Most of the Thais were likely Buddhist. The killed and wounded ranged from babies to the elderly and from across all genders. Hamas engaged in mass carnage. The Israeli counterattacks have killed and maimed many, many more in Gaza, tens of thousands more, mostly Palestinians but also others from different countries and religions including Christians. 

Since then the war has spread across Gaza and Israel to the West Bank, Yemen, Lebanon, and has drawn in Iran, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and several European allies including France, Italy, and the UK. Waves of anti-Semitism and sometimes violent pro-Palestinian protests have erupted in numerous countries including here in the USA. There have been vigorous pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish pushback. There are also mass demonstrations within Israel against their Prime Minister Netanyahu and to negotiate a ceasefire to return the remaining hostages home alive. Mass protests by Israelis against Netanyahu had been going on well before the Hamas butchery as Israelis rose up in the streets against their increasingly Far Right, authoritarian, and heavy handed regime. Continue reading

Jim Rough interviews William Bass about “We the People of Earth”

The founder of Dynamic Facilitation and of the Wisdom Council process interviews me on the topic of We the People coming together for a united, democratic world republic back in 2008

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Stupid Ways Smart Activists Destroy Public Support and What to do Next

There are many ways to champion even desperate causes and draw public support for them. Lately, however, well-meaning but thoughtless activists have failed, utterly failed in generating support for their causes and programs. Makes one sad. No, their actions piss people off!!! Piss me off! Self-righteous idiots dashing about destroying incredible paintings and interrupting football games and blaming corporations and lecturing governments in the name of fringe ideologies too rigid to function in the rough and tumble of reality.

Forget about raising much money to make a difference. Forget about rallying the general public and their many institutions of religion, government, and business to support a wide range of environmental and social justice causes. As the end is apparently so nigh, why antagonize potential allies with stupid stuff when there’s so little time left to take action? To make a real difference? Makes me wanna go, “Boo Hoo Hooty Hoo!” at The End of the World. Let our art stand long after we’re all dead!

The tragedy is we do indeed have little time left as our human lifespans are so short and we reproduce so prolifically across Planet Earth. As a species, we face multiple and convergent global challenges and interlocking local problems. They blur together into a thorny thicket of so-called Wicked Problems, each one in itself a cluster of multiple apocalypses in the making. Continue reading

Beyond Country over Party

During times of strife and division, we often hear others and sometimes ourselves responding emotionally to events seemingly beyond our control. We may remind ourselves and others to remember our priorities. We say and write slogans such as, “country over party.” Or, perhaps, we may feel events have gone so far we must put party over country “to save” the nation. Or that the working class or the ruling class, depending on where you put yourself if not in the middle, transcend politics and thus our country. Or the Goddess, God, or whatever entity you consider as the Divine must rule over country and planet. All of these perspectives, save for country over party, are destructive, self-destructive, and inevitably result in violence and loss of freedom. Here we look briefly at country over party and go beyond that slogan.  Continue reading

Putin is Stupid and Dangerous

*Like many bullies are*

The former President of the USA, wannabe autocrat and racist protofascist Donald Trump was, thank God, profoundly incompetent and too slimy to do anything correctly. The dictator of the Russian Federation, however, and his cowardly, quivering, greedy followers are a fucking, stupid mafia of corrupt, incompetent despots. Fucking dumbasses, every single one of them! And as dangerous as rabid rats stuck in corners of blood, madness, and fear. Putin and his nasty siloviki, the Russian intelligence/surveillance-military/security komplex, have gutted Russia to facilitate their imperialist, fascist fantasies of Glorious Empire. 

How DARE they threaten the planet with nuclear weapons! How DARE they spout lies and distortions of Eurasian history as “historical truth!” Are they aware Muscovy was initially a backwater feudal principality that despite its grandiose title as a Grand Duchy was still a part of mighty Kievan Rus’? Do they know Muscovy was part of a loose confederation centered in what is today Ukraine? And all conquered by the Mongol Empire? With Muscovy being a vassal of the Mongols? That upon independence from the Mongols/Tartars was ruled by bloodthirsty butchers such as the deranged Ivan the Terrible? Have they considered why all empires dominated history with failure? So how dare Putin thinks he can do whatever he wants to do to build an empire before he dies in office?

Vladimir Putin the Invader has been corrupted and isolated by his quest for power and supremacy. He’s sat on the throne for too damn long and has become impatient, chaotic, confused, and frightened. Putin’s become as angry as a schoolyard bully after those he beats up sneak up behind him and quickly jerk his britches down to reveal such a little man. Not even Donolf Trumpler’s “very big, very large, and very, very, very powerful” hands could come to the rescue. And what the hell Old Trumpie’s little big hands gonna do with Old Pootie anyway, pet a cheeseburger in bed? Continue reading

Will Climate Change Drive Global Cooperation or World Dictatorship?

Will it? Shall we allow climate change to drive global cooperation or world dictatorship?

Either way, apocalypse looms. Doesn’t mean it’ll land in our laps, tho. Better get ready to growl. Yes, start growling.

Greta Thunberg chastised her fellow humans the world over for our collective failure to act and to act now to address the engines of our own extinction. She pointed out we already have the solutions. We know what to do. We already know what we must do to successfully address our current interlocking, wicked problems of global climate disruption, Anthropocene global warming, and the Holocene mass extinction. She doesn’t need to wait to grow up and earn her PhD. She can’t. We cannot wait. Yet we do. 

We as a species remain divided into hundreds of squabbling nation-states and thousands of quarreling stateless-nations. We remain divided by socio-economic class, ethnicity, culture, religion, politics, economics, finance, sexuality, gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, appearance, and levels of education. So many things split us apart from one another we fail to recognize how much more we share in common as Homo sapiens of Earth, third planet from the Sun. We still argue with each other over our isms while secretly wishing all of those on the other side would simply die or somehow vanish. We debate the intricacies of global cybersecurity and of the space race between China and the U.S.A. to colonize the Moon and Mars without considering these may all be silly and moot with our world roiled by crises of our own making.

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Full Disclosure and World Democracy Now!

View of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean with tip of Africa visible. Composite NASA image from the Scientific Visualization Studio for the International Polar Year 2005.

View of Antarctica from low orbit if the ice cap was removed. Created with Bedmap2 by the British Antarctic Survey with NASA’s ICESat and Operation IceBridge, 2013.

We live in the midst of a time of transition. Now is a time of final endings and new beginnings. We live during a time of great volatility, destruction, and fear, yet also one vibrant with dynamic and revolutionary possibilities.

Together we experience what seems to be the ending of the Modern Age as global capitalism breaks down, nation-states grow increasingly obsolete, Earth’s sixth Mass Extinction unfolds, technology races ahead, nuclear warfare returns to threaten all of us with obliteration, A.I. emerges in disturbing new ways, and global climate disruption accelerates. New energy sources and technologies begin to emerge as the old dinosaurs of coal and oil still roar.

Marx, Engels, Trotsky, and others are being rediscovered upon the centenary of the Russian Revolution as more information is uncovered to discover what actually occurred and not the slander and falsehoods portrayed as “history.” Socialism continues to evolve in the 21st Century as it integrates more with democracy and uncouples from authoritarianism. Newer, greener versions emerge such as Democratic Socialism, the expansion of democracy into all areas of life. The Left is in a process of rebirth and renewal even as its advocates are challenged not only by the rise of newly-confident and violent fascists but also by the grim realities of life in despotic, self-proclaimed “socialist” regimes such as Venezuela and North Korea who blame all of their woes on capitalist imperialists. Yet the Fascists and their authoritarian, nationalist allies are the ones currently in ascendance.

Both the Right and the Left have reached the limitations of isms rooted in the terminologies of 18th and 19th Century language so even dead giants polished off and reclaimed such as Marx soon end up abandoned by a world enthralled with the euphoria of our technonarcissism. At the same time our scientists discover more and more stars with more and more planets likely to support life. In the midst of such turmoil Humanity experiences more UFO and ET phenomena than ever before.

Growing numbers of whistleblowers dare come forward to disclose what they claim to know. These people include not only everyday folks, but top scientists and engineers, astronauts and pilots, military officers and intelligence agents, corporate CEOs, and high government officials. Most are credible people in their own right regardless if one agrees or disagrees with their individual politics and religions. Their testimonies and who they are can be verified. More and more experiencers are also coming forth, however, who appear believable, even charismatic, but who are not credible or verifiable. Many of our fellow Humans who risk all for the truth face ridicule, harassment, loss of jobs, dismissal, threats to families, and in some cases what appears to be murder disguised as suicides or accidents. Those who seek truth without leveraging critical thinking skills risk finding answers within the circular reasoning of cults. Or they struggle to free themselves from the groupthink of our societies at large.

Yet incredibly the mainstream mass media behaves as if these “UFO people” are stupid and insane. Mainstream academia, beholden to bureaucratic tyrants and the financial reins of their corporate overlords, remains too terrified and astonishingly ignorant to address these challenging subjects. Thus the people who most need to pull their heads up out of their smartfoneholes won’t even look at these life-changing issues. They will instead debunk these matters even when confronted with clear evidence governments deliberately created and engaged in debunking and smear campaigns during the height of the Cold War to distract the public from the enormity of the truth.

It is vital we human beings continue to awaken from old patterns of self-destruction to build new political and economic systems. We can do better than the horrors we visit upon each other and ourselves. We must ascend our current and prehistoric limitations.

We must support the establishment of a Constitutional, Democratic World Republic.

Creating a Democratic Socialist World Parliament with all representatives subject to recall in a participatory republic is a primary step in this direction.

We must find ways to wrest control of the world’s money powers away from central banking cartels, corporations, big banks, tax regimes, and energy conglomerates.

Demanding Full Disclosure now is imperative. We the People of Earth must know exactly what in the world is going on. Now!

What must we do now? Continue reading

Not Too Late to Rescue our Planet Earth: An Urgent Review

Vote Yes for Democratic World Government

“Extinction is not something to contemplate. It is something to rebel against.”

— Dr. Helen Caldicott, one of Jim’s heroines.

2x.VWG.Unknown

This is a critically important book. Its message is urgent. Democratic world government is an idea whose time is now. Our species stands at the threshold of global upheaval and possible extinction. A convergence of challenges unique in human history threatens to overwhelm us, and a cooperative worldwide response via a constitutional planetary democracy with a socially responsible economy represents the most effective way to address these issues. First, however, we must choose to create these new human systems for our planet. Jim Stark of Canada has come up with a novel yet simple approach to help us get there.

This book is a rare integration of vision and pragmatism. Jim Stark advocates a grass roots, internet-based Global Referendum along with paper mail-in ballots. The ballot proposition is simple and direct. One votes “Yes” or “No” for “Do you support the creation of a directly-elected, representative, transparent, and democratic world parliament that is authorized to legislate on global issues?” Early polls indicate a majority of people around the world and across many different religions and ethnic groups would vote yes if they could. Nation-state regimes, including the non-democratic United Nations, will also have a choice. They can work together with this movement, or be by-passed. In regions of severe repression, warfare, and socio-political-economic upheaval voting may not be possible. And it is a start. It’s start toward achieving a dream many have had for centuries.

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Cold War Blues: A Review

Long overdue recognition for a nearly forgotten part of the Cold War

Image of the Amazon kindle edition cover of Jim Stark's book.

Image of the 2010 Amazon kindle edition cover of Jim Stark’s 1989 book.

Cold War Blues: The Operation Dismantle Story is unique. Jim Stark’s book is a rare and worthy addition to our history of this enigmatic and most dangerous war. First, this book is original history, i.e. a primary source, from the Cold War. It’s not a rehash of espionage dramas, combat ops, or Cuban Missile Crisis politics. It is a detailed account of this planet-wide conflict on a personal level from the anti-war camps. Specifically it addresses the rise and fall of the Operation Dismantle campaign of 1977 – 1985. What makes the book an especially novel read is it’s written in memoir fashion from the perspective of a Canadian pro-peace and anti-nuclear weapons activist, not those espousing American or Soviet viewpoints. One hears the desperation and hope of those within other nations compelled to choose sides in a glacial world war that more than once almost erupted into thermonuclear Armageddon.

Jim and his fellow Canadian activists carved or threatened to established a third front to challenge not just Soviet Communist totalitarianism but the hypocrisy and murderous arrogance of the Western Capitalist, anti-Communist regimes. “Yes, I managed to piss off both superpowers at times,” wrote Jim.[1] Operation Dismantle became a major force to be reckoned with not only in Canada but also with the Americans as it came close to stopping the deployment of U.S. cruise missiles including those quietly armed with atomic warheads into sovereign Canadian territory. Continue reading

Empire of Bases for Wars without End

Hey, guess what, folks? It turns out the leaders of the United States don’t even know exactly how many American and Allied military bases exist. Furthermore, the number of wars the so-called, unofficial but still real Euro-American Global Empire is engaged in does not match the official count. Because there are more violent military and intelligence operations occurring simultaneously than Empire wants to admit. When Special Forces engage in covert hostilities behind enemy lines of a state or quasi-state we are not technically at war with, or when the CIA fires drone missiles into countries that we’re also not technically at war with, isn’t that “war?”

There are two ways the great, borderless superpower of today behaves in a similar fashion to empires of old.

During the height of many large, polyglot empires from the Roman to the Mongol to the British, the imperial Center, i.e. the homeland realms, were often in a state of prolonged peace.  Except, of course, for an occasional civil war for control of the state. The majority of the population enjoyed the illusion of a peaceful world of trade and commerce free of war. What they actually meant, however, were their cities and countryside were free from invasion.

The far-flung borders and colonies of these empires, however, were often in a state of chronic warfare. These conflicts included tribal wars, local ethnic rebellions, and frontier guerrilla wars. There were unique situations where off and on border wars raged between large empires without either committing fully to what would have been a Phyrric victory. Ancient History buffs may note one case in particular, the Roman-Parthian Wars. A Modern example would be the American-Soviet Cold War, although the Soviet Empire  collapsed at the end of it.

Today, the dominant region of the Euro-American Global Empire is called “the United States Homeland.” “Homeland” is a post-9/11 term that recalls a time not all that long ago when the Nazis emphasized Germany as “the Fatherland.” The Soviet Communists did the same with Russia as “the Motherland.” The focus has shifted from American liberties and protecting Constitutional rights to enforcing Homeland Security with domestic surveillance and militarization. The militaristic and ultranationalist “feel” these terms evoke is quiet different from the peaceful, loving reverence many feel for “Mother Earth and Father Sky” for example.

The second similarity is the vast number of military garrisons empires establish to maintain control of far-flung regions, whether it is political control, to promote and protect certain religions and corporations, to defend against enemies, to hold territory, or to allow for safe commerce to flow. These imperial frontiers and colonies were dotted with numerous forts, castles, and other fortifications. The First and Second World Wars destroyed the concept of “forts.” Now they are called “bases.” Forts became something preteen boys built back in the bushes from which to lob rocks and sticks at one another.

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