Gaia Community: Albert 's Blog

The Nobel Peace Prize 2008

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:59:30 -0000

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2008

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2008 to Martti Ahtisaari for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts. These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to “fraternity between nations” in Alfred Nobel’s spirit.

Throughout all his adult life, whether as a senior Finnish public servant and President or in an international capacity, often connected to the United Nations, Ahtisaari has worked for peace and reconciliation. For the past twenty years, he has figured prominently in endeavours to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts. In 1989-90 he played a significant part in the establishment of Namibia’s independence; in 2005 he and his organization Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) were central to the solution of the complicated Aceh question in Indonesia. In 1999 and again in 2005-07, he sought under especially difficult circumstances to find a solution to the conflict in Kosovo. In 2008, through the CMI and in cooperation with other institutions, Ahtisaari has tried to help find a peaceful conclusion to the problems in Iraq. He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia, and on the Horn of Africa.

Although the parties themselves have the main responsibility for avoiding war and conflict, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has on several occasions awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to mediators in international politics. Today Ahtisaari is an outstanding international mediator. Through his untiring efforts and good results, he has shown what role mediation of various kinds can play in the resolution of international conflicts. The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to express the hope that others may be inspired by his efforts and his achievements.

I am especially delighted about this years Nobel Peace Prize as Martti Ahtisaari is one of the co-founders of European Council on Foreign Relations. he is an European Pioneer for the beginning 21st century. Together with Joschka Fischer he wrote this article one year ago in October:

Why Europe needs to assert itself in the World

As Associate member of European Council on foreign Relations I am very happy to see one of its co-founders beeing rewarded with the Nobel Prize. Martti is an examplary European shaper of new world orders.

Congratulations!

Musings of a Guru and about his missing Why...

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:31:06 -0000

One of my all time favorite business gurus Tom Peters comments on current financial crisis. Here are some musings of him. I agree in a kind of of paradoxical feeling. Thought they are on spot, they still do not reflect an in depth understanding of what is going on. As Zachary Karabell, Fareed Zakaria, Roger Cohen et al are demonstrating already.

All 8 points reflect lots of nervosity and very central confusion of what is going on at the global stages. A Call to the waeapons for Natural Design as is given in Spiral Dynamics Integral. Once again I remember that it was Dr. Don Edward Beck who wrote already 1996 in "Spiral Dynamics -Mastering Values, Leadership and Change" in the passage "Shifting Views of Tom Peters and the Tofflers" of Chapter 1:

"AS you will discover shortly, what Peters (with tongue in cheek) now calls `weird enough" is simply a next developmental step on a Spiral of thinking systems. You will also come to recognize that the organizing principles that Peters (and Peter Senge, Edwards Deming, Stephen Covey and many others) advocate are NEVER THE solution, but A solution set lies at a particular region within a whole spectrum of organizational forms.

Alvin and Heidi Tofflers popular trilogy -Future Shock, Third Wave, Power Shift -also maps a pattern of change. But even their 1993 book (War and Anti War) still does not uncover the deep forces that drive major transformations...
...
All beg the question- Why? it is as if we arew blessed with elgant files for a mosaic but have no design. There are mounds of great ideas, insightful bits,and clever pieces, but no artist with a plan for turning the whole assortment into an elegant, integrated picture and no grout to hold it together..."

Musings of a Guru

Here are some things I don't believe:

***People of great character are needed on Wall Street. Nice idea, and I'm all for it—more or less. Fact is, humans are greedy—you know, the survival thing explained by Darwin and his successors. Moreover, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations tells us in no uncertain terms that self-interest is the engine of the economy. Fact is, in ordinary times, self-interest is imperative, and more or less the more the merrier—i.e., greed. That's how innovations are commercialized—and why there are bubbles. Hence, this ends up being an argument for appropriate regulation and strong government intervention in general, rather than hoping that God-like individuals will save us, or at least our 401(k)s. (None of this is to suggest that I'm not in favor of beating the bloody tar out of some of these pricks, like the Lehman guy.)

***The world is flat. Sure, flatter than it was. But national sovereignty is alive and well—e.g., Russia invades Georgia. Central banks and finance ministers should work in concert, as they are and as they have been since at least Bretton Woods. Given the new flat-ish-ness, coordinated responses have to be made much more quickly, and dramatically, than before. But anyone who thinks that economic globalization will round off the forces of national sovereignty is flat out nuts in my opinion.

***We need a plan. Yes we do, but the market crisis will abate when the price of assets falls far enough that stocks are obviously significantly undervalued and worth buying. Mssrs. McCain and Obama are being criticized for failing to provide oceanic solutions in their get-together last night. Well, there aren't any panaceas, except to do more of what we're doing ever faster and ever more intensively—e.g., the Brits more or less nationalizing banks yesterday.

***Cut costs to the bone in individual enterprises. Yup, that's the self-interested answer—which I just touted. Problem is that cutting costs accelerates and deepens the recession when Susan and I delay a home construction project as we just did—in our case, it puts the hurt on the local contractor. (We've already extended a couple of projects purely to avoid such an outcome.) When the cycle of delayed or cancelled purchases accelerates, then, God help us. Or, rather, God help us, period—it's happening. The only major exception I can think of is companies with cash hordes who choose to make investments that will greatly disadvantage their competitors when the worst is past.

***Oh my God, even GE has problems. Worrisome indeed, and psychologically important, but for heaven’s sake, as we conjure up remedies, remember that all of our economies consist primarily of small companies with local markets ($$$$, employees, and in our case "American spirit"). Policy must be aimed at least as much or more at the world of the "millionaire next door" (or the biz with $200,000 revenue) as the big dudes.

***Governments never get anything right. True, governments over-regulate, then under-regulate, with blunderbusses, not scalpels. But there are times when "more government" is the solution, not the problem. This is clearly and unequivocally one of those times, like it as not—even congenital free traders like Paulson get it. (Greenspan seems to be the only one who doesn't get it—a little too much Ayn Rand as a lad.)

***Globalization is still inevitable. True, but with a timetable very different than imagined a couple of years ago. The reverberations from this crisis will probably be with us a decade from now.

***The worst is behind us. Nobody but nobody has a clue, but "the worst is yet to come" is the odds-on favorite. (We are really trying to find viable prices for stuff that in the "mark to market" sense are valueless—to the tune of trillions of bucks.)

There is no particular point to these musings. It's just my mind at work since I am totally unable to focus on my normal affairs given the economic situation and the election. I warned you not to "mark time"—but I am. I also warned you not to let depression get the best of you—well, it's sure got me by the &#^%*. (I'm not talking personal economic woes—though "life is good" would be a stretch. I'm talking about significantly debilitating disorientation.)

Phone interview with Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:52:16 -0000

This is the transscript of a short phone interview with new Nobel prize Winner of Literature 2008. The Prize was awarded for:

"author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization"

This is a good sign. Its pointing -similar to Orhan Pamuk in 2006 and Doris Lessing in 2007 - to the recognition of first person awareness and perceptions in the discoveries of global developments. Though in the history of Nobel Prizes in Literature exceptional writers like James Joyce were not rewarded , now the discovery of poetic power and at least beginnings of global multi layered perceptions can be celebrated.

And, though lots of international comments are critically, It must be remembered that
literature in toto hasnt covered this terain up to now. Sure, some retro-style awareness is expressed in the authors literature.

But, what the heck is saying this? Lots of Consultants, expats , polticians and journalists, writers etc are flickering in their perceptions. Either subscribing to traditional romanticism, modernist rationalism or utopian fantasies, to economic expectations, to touristic dreamings or simply escapism.

Whats expressed in literature always has to do with some awakenings in mainstream cultural awareness. In AQAL and SDi its the lower left quadrant. Here connected to the Upper Left one.

Le Clezio is writing basically as global nomade. I wil certainly pick up some of his books and take a deeper look.

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2008

Interview

"Literally, writing for me is like travelling. It's getting out of myself and living another life; maybe a better life."Telephone interview with Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio immediately following the announcement of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, 9 October 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:15:10 -0000

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008

8 October 2008 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2008 jointly to

Osamu Shimomura, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA, USA and Boston University Medical School, MA, USA,

Martin Chalfie, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

and

Roger Y. Tsien, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

"for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP".

Glowing proteins – a guiding star for biochemistry

The remarkable brightly glowing green fluorescent protein, GFP, was first observed in the beautiful jellyfish, Aequorea victoria in 1962. Since then, this protein has become one of the most important tools used in contemporary bioscience. With the aid of GFP, researchers have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells spread.

Tens of thousands of different proteins reside in a living organism, controlling important chemical processes in minute detail. If this protein machinery malfunctions, illness and disease often follow. That is why it has been imperative for bioscience to map the role of different proteins in the body.

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewards the initial discovery of GFP and a series of important developments which have led to its use as a tagging tool in bioscience. By using DNA technology, researchers can now connect GFP to other interesting, but otherwise invisible, proteins. This glowing marker allows them to watch the movements, positions and interactions of the tagged proteins.

Researchers can also follow the fate of various cells with the help of GFP: nerve cell damage during Alzheimer's disease or how insulin-producing beta cells are created in the pancreas of a growing embryo. In one spectacular experiment, researchers succeeded in tagging different nerve cells in the brain of a mouse with a kaleidoscope of colours.

The story behind the discovery of GFP is one with the three Nobel Prize Laureates in the leading roles:

Osamu Shimomura first isolated GFP from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, which drifts with the currents off the west coast of North America. He discovered that this protein glowed bright green under ultraviolet light.

Martin Chalfie demonstrated the value of GFP as a luminous genetic tag for various biological phenomena. In one of his first experiments, he coloured six individual cells in the transparent roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans with the aid of GFP.

Roger Y. Tsien contributed to our general understanding of how GFP fluoresces. He also extended the colour palette beyond green allowing researchers to give various proteins and cells different colours. This enables scientists to follow several different biological processes at the same time.

The Age Of Bloomberg

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:18:47 -0000

In this new article for Newsweek Fareed Zakaria once again summarizes what it is all about in the current financial crisis. he is referring to the analysis of Zachary Karabell too which is mentioned here earlier. Basic insight :

Globalization in 21st Century is connected with emergence of a new multi-polar world order. And the institutions of first worlds -as much as the people living in these worlds- must learn, recognize and understand deeply what is going on in these large scale systems.

This historic context and perspective needs the full attention and bye-bye to all idelogical and 20th century mantras. Dilemma always emerges when the dynamics isnt clear. Right now we are wtnessing the fitful dying of limited economic imagination and thinking.

Check out too Fareeds book:

The Post-American World
The Age of Bloomberg
It's a time to figure out what works, not what ideological mantras to keep repeating.

Published Oct 4, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Oct 13, 2000

America's financial crisis has allowed all sorts of people—from British trade unionists to Asian central bankers to France's mercurial president—to declare that we're seeing the end of laissez-faire capitalism and free markets. We're not. Let's step back, take a deep breath, and put this in historical context. What is happening now is a deep, wrenching financial crisis unlike any we've seen since the 1930s. It's contributing to a broad slowdown of the American economy. The pain is spreading across the world. It's ugly. But it's not unprecedented. The history of capitalism is filled with credit crises, panics, financial meltdowns, and recessions. It doesn't mean the end of capitalism. But it might well mean the end of a certain kind of global dominance for the United States.

Read more..

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:21:57 -0000

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008

7 October 2008 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2008 with one half to

Yoichiro Nambu
Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, IL, USA

"for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"

and the other half jointly to

Makoto Kobayashi, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Japan

and

Toshihide Maskawa,Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP), Kyoto University, Japan

"for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"

Passion for symmetry

The fact that our world does not behave perfectly symmetrically is due to deviations from symmetry at the microscopic level.

As early as 1960, Yoichiro Nambu formulated his mathematical description of spontaneous broken symmetry in elementary particle physics. Spontaneous broken symmetry conceals nature’s order under an apparently jumbled surface. It has proved to be extremely useful, and Nambu’s theories permeate the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. The Model unifies the smallest building blocks of all matter and three of nature’s four forces in one single theory.

The spontaneous broken symmetries that Nambu studied, differ from the broken symmetries described by Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa. These spontaneous occurrences seem to have existed in nature since the very beginning of the universe and came as a complete surprise when they first appeared in particle experiments in 1964. It is only in recent years that scientists have come to fully confirm the explanations that Kobayashi and Maskawa made in 1972. It is for this work that they are now awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. They explained broken symmetry within the framework of the Standard Model, but required that the Model be extended to three families of quarks. These predicted, hypothetical new quarks have recently appeared in physics experiments. As late as 2001, the two particle detectors BaBar at Stanford, USA and Belle at Tsukuba, Japan, both detected broken symmetries independently of each other. The results were exactly as Kobayashi and Maskawa had predicted almost three decades earlier.

A hitherto unexplained broken symmetry of the same kind lies behind the very origin of the cosmos in the Big Bang some 14 billion years ago. If equal amounts of matter and antimatter were created, they ought to have annihilated each other. But this did not happen, there was a tiny deviation of one extra particle of matter for every 10 billion antimatter particles. It is this broken symmetry that seems to have caused our cosmos to survive. The question of how this exactly happened still remains unanswered. Perhaps the new particle accelerator LHC at CERN in Geneva will unravel some of the mysteries that continue to puzzle us.

2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:34:25 -0000

The 2008 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine

Press Release

6 October 2008 The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2008 with one half to

Harald zur Hausen

for his discovery of "human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"

and the other half jointly to

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier

for their discovery of "human immunodeficiency virus"

Summary

This year's Nobel Prize awards discoveries of two viruses causing severe human diseases.

Harald Zur Hausen went against current dogma and postulated that oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV) caused cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women. He realized that HPV-DNA could exist in a non-productive state in the tumours, and should be detectable by specific searches for viral DNA. He found HPV to be a heterogeneous family of viruses. Only some HPV types cause cancer. His discovery has led to characterization of the natural history of HPV infection, an understanding of mechanisms of HPV-induced carcinogenesis and the development of prophylactic vaccines against HPV acquisition.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier discovered human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Virus production was identified in lymphocytes from patients with enlarged lymph nodes in early stages of acquired immunodeficiency, and in blood from patients with late stage disease. They characterized this retrovirus as the first known human lentivirus based on its morphological, biochemical and immunological properties. HIV impaired the immune system because of massive virus replication and cell damage to lymphocytes. The discovery was one prerequisite for the current understanding of the biology of the disease and its antiretroviral treatment.

Discovery of human papilloma virus causing cervical cancer Against the prevailing view during the 1970s, Harald zur Hausen postulated a role for human papilloma virus (HPV) in cervical cancer. He assumed that the tumour cells, if they contained an oncogenic virus, should harbour viral DNA integrated into their genomes. The HPV genes promoting cell proliferation should therefore be detectable by specifically searching tumour cells for such viral DNA. Harald zur Hausen pursued this idea for over 10 years by searching for different HPV types, a search made difficult by the fact that only parts of the viral DNA were integrated into the host genome. He found novel HPV-DNA in cervix cancer biopsies, and thus discovered the new, tumourigenic HPV16 type in 1983. In 1984, he cloned HPV16 and 18 from patients with cervical cancer. The HPV types 16 and 18 were consistently found in about 70% of cervical cancer biopsies throughout the world.

Importance of the HPV discoveryThe global public health burden attributable to human papilloma viruses is considerable. More than 5% of all cancers worldwide are caused by persistent infection with this virus. Infection by the human papilloma virus is the most common sexually transmitted agent, afflicting 50-80% of the population. Of the more than 100 HPV types known, about 40 infect the genital tract, and 15 of these put women at high risk for cervical cancer. In addition, HPV is found in some vulval, penile, oral and other cancers. Human papilloma virus can be detected in 99.7% of women with histologically confirmed cervical cancer, affecting some 500,000 women per year.

Harald zur Hausen demonstrated novel properties of HPV that have led to an understanding of mechanisms for papilloma virus-induced carcinogenesis and the predisposing factors for viral persistence and cellular transformation. He made HPV16 and 18 available to the scientific community. Vaccines were ultimately developed that provide =95 % protection from infection by the high risk HPV16 and 18 types. The vaccines may also reduce the need for surgery and the global burden of cervical cancer.

Discovery of HIVFollowing medical reports of a novel immunodeficiency syndrome in 1981, the search for a causative agent was on. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier isolated and cultured lymph node cells from patients that had swollen lymph nodes characteristic of the early stage of acquired immune deficiency. They detected activity of the retroviral enzyme reverse transcriptase, a direct sign of retrovirus replication. They also found retroviral particles budding from the infected cells. Isolated virus infected and killed lymphocytes from both diseased and healthy donors, and reacted with antibodies from infected patients. In contrast to previously characterized human oncogenic retroviruses, the novel retrovirus they had discovered, now known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), did not induce uncontrolled cell growth. Instead, the virus required cell activation for replication and mediated cell fusion of T lymphocytes. This partly explained how HIV impairs the immune system since the T cells are essential for immune defence. By 1984, Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier had obtained several isolates of the novel human retrovirus, which they identified as a lentivirus, from sexually infected individuals, haemophiliacs, mother to infant transmissions and transfused patients. The significance of their achievements should be viewed in the context of a global ubiquitous epidemic affecting close to 1% of the population.

Importance of the HIV discoverySoon after the discovery of the virus, several groups contributed to the definitive demonstration of HIV as the cause of acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier's discovery made rapid cloning of the HIV-1 genome possible. This has allowed identification of important details in its replication cycle and how the virus interacts with its host. Furthermore, it led to development of methods to diagnose infected patients and to screen blood
products, which has limited the spread of the pandemic. The unprecedented development of several classes of new antiviral drugs is also a result of knowledge of the details of the viral replication cycle. The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased spread of the disease and dramatically increased life expectancy among treated patients. The cloning of HIV enabled studies of its origin and evolution. The virus was probably passed to humans from chimpanzees in West Africa early in the 20th century, but it is still unclear why the epidemic spread so dramatically from 1970 and onwards.

Identification of virus-host interactions has provided information on how HIV evades the host's immune system by impairing lymphocyte function, by constantly changing and by hiding its genome in the host lymphocyte DNA, making its eradication in the infected host difficult even after long-term antiviral treatment. Extensive knowledge about these unique viral host interactions has, however, generated results that can provide ideas for future vaccine development as well as for therapeutic approaches targeting viral latency.

HIV has generated a novel pandemic. Never before has science and medicine been so quick to discover, identify the origin and provide treatment for a new disease entity. Successful anti-retroviral therapy results in life expectancies for persons with HIV infection now reaching levels similar to those of uninfected people.

Harald zur Hausen, born 1936 in Germany, German citizen, MD at University of Düsseldorf, Germany. Professor emeritus and former Chairman and Scientific Director, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, born 1947 in France, French citizen, PhD in virology, Institut Pasteur, Garches, France. Professor and Director, Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.

Luc Montagnier, born 1932 in France, French citizen, PhD in virology, University of Paris, Paris, France. Professor emeritus and Director, World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, Paris, France.

Nafiz Rifaee:" Why aren't Arab Universities Excelling?

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:06:11 -0000

This the latest entry from the blog of:

Build Palestine Initiative

I asked Nafiz to provide an English translation for the article written in Arab. And he just sent me this text. Thank you very much! Its a pleasure and privilege for me, dear Nafiz, to be together . You are truly a Palestinean top leader and I assure you a German Palestinean Integral Joint Venture is already born..

Monday, September 22, 2008

Nafiz Rifaee:" Why aren't Arab Universities Excelling?Why aren't they on the list of the Top 500 Univ. in the Wolrd?"

In an article published last week in Al-Quds newspaper in Jerusalem, Nafiz Rifaee, a leading Palestinian mind who is bringing cultural and systems innovation to Palestine, asks why isn't any Arab university mentioned on the list of the Top 500 Universities in the world. A recent study published by Shanghai Universities ranked European, American and 6 Israeli universities among the top universities in the world. Mr. Rifaee is calling on all Arab academics, politicians and business people to take a closer look at the problem. He says "We have some of the greatest minds in the world. Our young Arab men and women are eager to learn and be innovative; the question remains, are we providing them with the best education and technologies to help them excel?" adding " our young generation is where we need to invest most. they are the tallest buildings we want to build, and the most precious resources we have."

Nafiz Rifaee is the President of Bethlehem University Alumni Association. He is leading the Build Palestine Initiative sponsored and designed by the Center for Human Emergence-Middle East. He can be reached at

nafizrifae@buildpalestine.org

Here to the English translation of the article:

Bethlehem University celebrates its 35^th anniversary with an initiative to establish a Prize for Excellence

By Nafiz Rifae

Head of Bethlehem University Alumni Union

nafizrifae@buildpalestine.org

This year Bethlehem University celebrates the 35^th anniversary of its founding. The university is an inspiration not only in the quality of its academic research but also in the role it has played in Palestinian history. Bethlehem University enjoys a formidable reputation among other Palestinian institutions of higher education.

The founding of the Palestinian universities in the 1970s came during a critical political decade. The Palestinian resistance movement was growing stronger and Palestinian students served as its back bone. The pressure from the occupation forces at the time was enormous. Israeli authorities used every excuse to prevent Palestinian students from studying at other Arab Universities. It was a ploy to curb their politicization and to prevent them from joining organized Palestinian resistance abroad.

It was at this time that the occupation forces agreed to grant licenses to establish several universities inside Palestine. These universities had to face many challenges, notably a lack of funding and resources. To deal with this challenge, and to meet academic standards, the universities worked hard to attract professors from abroad, and to gain credibility among students who had to believe they were enrolling in establishments capable of granting them internationally recognized degrees and diplomas.

I would like to pay tribute to the early pioneers of Palestine's universities, especially our late professor Dr Anton Sansour who died before he was able to realize his dream of seeing Bethlehem university shine on the international stage.

I remember in 1980, the students staged a strike against the university's administration demanding that they appoint an Arab president. This was a condition if Bethlehem University was to be recognized by the Union of Arab Universities, which would have allowed graduates to apply for public sector jobs in the Arab world. Dr Sansour spoke to us and its strikes me how relevant his words are today. He said: "It is not important that we are recognized by the Union of Arab Universities. What is important is that we work to establish ourselves as an institution of academic excellence, like the American Universities of Beirut and Cairo. The Union of Arab Universities did not recognize them but they have asserted their presence and imposed themselves through their merit and academic achievement." He added that Bethlehem University should aim to outshine both of these other universities.

We should recall his words, today. We are in desperate need of his vision. Thirty five years have passed since Anton Sansour's dream was established and eleven more since he passed away. Bethlehem University currently has no one who can drive it forward with the same vision and commitment.

This year Shanghai University published a list of the best 500 universities in the world. There was not one Arab University on that list. Not the famous Al Azhar, not Cairo, not Ain Shams, not Damascus University or Baghdad or Al Zaituna, Jordan or Beirut, not even a Palestinian University. Not even Bethlehem University! Why? Here I am slightly biased. I feel I have the right. I may have been reconciled if at least one other Arab or Palestinian university was on that list. Why do they not have a place among the best? I asked this question but found my answers dispiriting, so I went back to the time when Palestinian universities were created, from when they took their first faltering steps to the time when they managed to establish themselves as durable institutions, a permanent part of the Palestinian landscape. The task seemed impossible but they managed to withstand the challenge and earned their right to exist. They persisted despite the lack of resources and they sent their roots so deep into the ground that they could no longer be removed.

Statistics shed light on the issue. Today we have more than 6000 PhD holders working as professors at these universities. This number provides an indication of our potential for academic publications and for scientific research. Our economy and our political establishment are shaky. One could argue that the practices of the occupation and the imposed isolation played a critical role in this state of affairs. You may agree or disagree with these excuses. But the universities are a critical case. The weakening of our universities threatens a crisis in Palestinian society.

The fact that six Israeli universities got on the Shanghai 500 best universities list while we remain outside is unacceptable. There are no excuses. We need to raise these questions with all our university professors. Our writers, intellectuals, business people and other high achievers need to be engaged more proactively with this issue: Where are we now? What have we produced in culture, literature and science?

We can expect setbacks but we need to build our reserves of intelligence, or face being swept away. This is why I look back to the days when our universities were founded, when the occupation forces agreed to grant licenses to prevent students from travelling abroad and joining the resistance forces. The tables turned as the new universities became the bastions of the Palestinian national movement. These universities were the crucibles of political awareness, creativity and resistance which culminated in the first intifada in 1987. This was a special time for Palestine, a time of cultural achievement and a well-conceived resistance movement against the occupation. The universities were the launch pads of this movement. They served as thinking-factories which, together with the prisons, produced a revolution. Both society and students had an acute political awareness and were working to oppose the occupation. The dream of freedom was born and matured within the walls of these universities through countless festivals, strikes and conferences.

I wonder where this spirit has gone? Where is that heightened awareness, the debates, the engagement? The foundations were laid then but what has happened since? I often ask people this question but the answers I get tend to be vague. What should we do now? Do we need to raise our old dear pioneers, professors and students out of their graves?

Our universities have produced not hundreds but thousands of high achievers who now occupy sensitive posts in the Palestinian society. They are members of parliament, politicians, economists, businessmen and successful employees. This is why mental isolation, defeatism and underachievement are so unacceptable.

I am not alone in wanting our universities to reclaim their souls but we are going to have to work to achieve that. I insist on my right to dream that Bethlehem University one day takes its place in the 500 best universities in the world. To do this we need a little of Anton Sansour's spirit, a little of the strength of his dream, alongside committed professors who want to persevere and give back to our society. We need to instill a spirit of competition among our universities and push them to reach for the stars. For if we do, if we excel, if we manage to win a place among the best we also win a piece of the sun that will light our people's way to freedom.

This is an invitation to all businessmen and women, to those who want to be remembered and to leave their mark on history. Join us in shaping our future through supporting the prize for excellence in scientific research, best literary work and best achievement. We have the capacity to manage this initiative and we are ready to work to form a credible jury to judge this prize.

We intend to organize a yearly festival to award these prizes with the vision that, one day, they will enjoy the same status among Palestinians as a Nobel prize or an Oscar.

We are launching this initiative in the hope that it will provide a horizon for our national pride. It is a dream not only of mine but of many friends who share these ideas, who want to support open competition and see rewards for merit and achievement. The idea is to establish a joint committee of Palestinians from around the world to judge this prize and give it the distinction it deserves, so that it truly becomes a stamp of creativity and excellence.

Towards New Business Landscapes With Dustin Moskovitz

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:08:13 -0000

Thanks to Cherie Beck I found this longer email of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. Very interesting, thoug a bit unsharp at moment. However even established entities like World Economic Forum,IBM and -yes they too -British Secret Intelligence Service MI6 - are using FB like virtual nets in order to catalyze orgs.

Go to FB and you will find already an MI6 group in order to recruit from a larger base:):)

Towards New Business Landscapes With Dustin Moskovitz

Facebook founder's goodbye email hints at business-focused startup

When he announced his cofounder and college roommate Dustin Moskovitz's departure from Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn't say what he would be up to. But in a separate email leaked to Valleywag, Moskovitz hints at his plan: With fellow engineer Justin Rosenstein, who's also leaving the company, he hopes to create tools like the ones he built at Facebook to run its internal operations, and market them to all sorts of companies. Here's his note to colleagues:

At various times in our progress, people have come up to me to deliver a now familiar question: "did you ever imagine Facebook would be this big?" And I give a familiar answer: "well... yea, actually". Frankly, Mark and I knew even at the beginning this was something the world needed. We went into the college market as a stepping stone - identifying dense nests in the graph that would lead us to the rest of the world. We could see far enough in the future to know there would be an impact, we just didn't know exactly what it would be. Now I can look back on our progress and see the ways the world has changed, the ways we have changed it. We've altered the future in a score of ways, from making it easier to look up phone numbers and email addresses to making it more difficult for terrorists to isolate impressionistic youth in the middle east. At the same time we've built a competent and vibrant organization, driven by a passion to push the world more open.

Read more...

In the Spirit of True Champions: Music Hommage to Tsipi Livni

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:28:08 -0000

* * *

I think this music from QUEEN -one of my all time favorites - shows- including its lyrics, very good the spirit of real champions. And the diverse moods, gestures and moments of reflection, thinking, quiet emotion and even melancholy of Tsipi Livni very well.

Dear Tsipi Livni, my strongest wishes for your next dreamjob and good luck for becoming next Israeli Prime Minister!

Lyrics of WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS:

I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortuen and everything that goes with it
-
I thank you all -

But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise -
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race -
And I ain't gonna lose -

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

The Second Israeli Female PM?

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:24:33 -0000

For lots of years I followed the public gestures and statements of Tzipi Livni:

Tzipora Malka "Tzipi" Livni (Hebrew: , born 8 July 1958 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is Foreign Affairs Minister and the designated Acting Prime Minister of Israel.

On 17 September 2008, Livni was elected leader of the Kadima party, giving her the opportunity to seek to form a government that would gain support from a majority of the Knesset, Israel's parliament. If she succeeds in forming a government, Livni will become the second female Prime Minister of Israel, after Golda Meir

A most remarkable woman for me who shaped already lots of decisions in Israel. A country with still a high share of Macho Mentality:):)Of course the life conditions and geopoltical framings of Israel -the country that continues to fascinate me since my first rememberances to the Yom Kippur war -demand a certain toughness .

And its not every day that such a career of a poltical world leader starts at Defense Forces and Mossad.....

The second female PM, after Golda Meir would be a miracle in itself for me. Both thumbs up for Tsipi...JUst in April of this year she participated in 8th Doha Forum on Democracy, Devleopment and Free Trade 2008.

This is in my eyes a great gesture directed to Arab GCC Countries. I always thought about the big cultural, economic and poltical opportunities given Israel and the GCC Region would initiate diplomatic relalions. To speak there, as female Israeli top leader is a remarkable event.

Here is a portrait from Roger Cohen which is the best I could find at hoc. As Roger picks up her personal aspects too. The article is a lengthy one and has 10 pages.

Her Jewish State

By ROGER COHEN

Soon after our first meeting in her Spartan office in Jerusalem, Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, called me. Something was on her mind. A lawyer by training, she does not like to leave loose ends. I had asked her if the four years she spent in Mossad, the intelligence service, made her a disciplined person. Livni had seemed taken aback by the question, which interrupted the cascade of her pronouncements on Israel and its Palestinian nemesis. After a long hesitation, she said: "I don't like this phrase, a disciplined person. I don't know. I don't know."

Now, an hour later, she wanted to set the record straight. "I was thinking about this idea of me as a disciplined person," she began. I perched myself on a stone wall near the King David Hotel and listened through a blustery desert wind. "There are other parts of me that are different. I prefer jeans to a suit, sneakers to high heels, markets to malls. You've just returned from Paris: I prefer the Quartier Latin to the Champs Elysées. In general, I don't like formality at all. It is just part of what I do. You know, when I was young, I went to the Sinai and worked as a waitress."

I had not known this detail about a woman who entered Israeli politics only 11 years ago, the first to serve as foreign minister since Golda Meir and a potential prime minister. Nor was it easy to imagine the tall, well-groomed 48-year-old I had just met, in her gold-belted black pants, her crocodile-skin shoes and her snug black jacket, donning denims and sneakers and hitting a flea market.

But Livni's phone call was telling. Israelis these days fret about how they are seen. They like to convey the spirit of the underdog - that of Israel's heroic beginnings - as if discomfited by the adornments of an increasingly moneyed, Americanized and postheroic society. More powerful than ever, Israelis are also more anxious than ever, a paradox with U.S. parallels that they find maddening. Israel's strength and wealth grow, but the country's long-term security does not grow with them

Read more...

America looses its Dominant Economic Role

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:43:19 -0000

SPIEGEL ONLINE once again gives an insightful analysis from a European and German view. Its about the sinking role of America in world economy and poltics. I have bloged about this phenomenon the last 20 months. Competent global Voices like Fareed Zakaria, Parag Khanna, Mark Leonard, Gabor Steingart, Roger Cohen and lots of others are drawing for years the new picture of global realties. Putting the big Asia Pacific Area in alignement with transatlantic isssues.

So its time for world leaders from all continents to create global solutions and perspectives in really integrative manner. The current meltdown of Wall Street isnt Mainstreet. It makes clear however that US isnt the navle of the world any longer.

THE END OF ARROGANCE

America looses its Dominant Economic Role

By SPIEGEL Staff

The banking crisis is upending American dominance of the financial markets and world politics. The industrialized countries are sliding into recession, the era of turbo-capitalism is coming to an end and US military might is ebbing. Still, this is no time to gloat.

There are days when all it takes is a single speech to illustrate the decline of a world power. A face can speak volumes, as can the speaker's tone of voice, the speech itself or the audience's reaction. Kings and queens have clung to the past before and humiliated themselves in public, but this time it was merely a United States president.

Or what is left of him.

George W. Bush has grown old, erratic and rosy in the eight years of his presidency. Little remains of his combativeness or his enthusiasm for physical fitness. On this sunny Tuesday morning in New York, even his hair seemed messy and unkempt, his blue suit a little baggy around the shoulders, as Bush stepped onto the stage, for the eighth time, at the United Nations General Assembly.

He talked about terrorism and terrorist regimes, and about governments that allegedly support terror. He failed to notice that the delegates sitting in front of and below him were shaking their heads, smiling and whispering, or if he did notice, he was no longer capable of reacting. The US president gave a speech similar to the ones he gave in 2004 and 2007, mentioning the word "terror" 32 times in 22 minutes. At the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations, George W. Bush was the only one still talking about terror and not about the topic that currently has the rest of the world's attention.

"Absurd, absurd, absurd," said one German diplomat. A French woman called him "yesterday's man" over coffee on the East River. There is another way to put it, too: Bush was a laughing stock in the gray corridors of the UN.

The American president has always had enemies in these hallways and offices at the UN building on First Avenue in Manhattan. The Iranians and Syrians despise the eternal American-Israeli coalition, while many others are tired of Bush's Americans telling the world about the blessings of deregulated markets and establishing rules "that only apply to others," says the diplomat from Berlin.

But the ridicule was a new thing. It marked the end of respect.

Read more..

Mr Cool vs. Mr Hot?

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:45:02 -0000

Newsweek reflects about the essence of choice for Nov 4. And adds some historic perspectives from last decades to it. its good in my view that they reference to the three tests of recent weeks. As the real and tough work which begins at Jan 1, 2009, for next president of USA needs simply every virtue and a blance of vices.

Regarding Barack Obama, whom I clearly prefer since 2006, its not easy to embody determination and sharp intelligence simultaneously. Public perceptions are often following stereotypical mechanisms and reflexes.

A new transpartisan approach to national and global issues is -from week to week, from month to month -a most demanding exercise. Beyond rhetorics, tactics, strategy , lobbyism etc etc. Basically it demands a new view on realty itself. Seeing change with new lenses.

I expect a most exciting month of October regarding the US Eelctions. May Mr. Cool win enough hearts and minds from all those who can already look behind these stereotypes. Shaping realty and poltical evolution demands a magma mastery which is beyond cool and hot..

The Vices of their Virtues

John McCain's impetuosity is either thrilling or disturbing. Barack Obama's cool is either sober or detached. It's clear now how each would govern.

By Jon Meacham and Evan Thomas | NEWSWEEK

October came early this year. In presidential politics, the penultimate month almost always brings surprises, or at least big news. In 1980, the Carter-Reagan debate that put the Gipper in the White House was not held until seven days before the Nov. 4 election. In 1992, Iran-contra independent counsel Lawrence Walsh chose the last weekend of the race to indict Reagan-era Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, wounding George H.W. Bush, who was seeking re-election. In 2000, a Fox station in Maine broke the story of an old DUI of George W. Bush's, news that Bush's advisers believe hurt him in the popular vote against Al Gore. Four years ago, in 2004, a videotape of a very-much-alive Osama bin Laden stymied John Kerry's bid by sending worried voters back to the seemingly tougher Republican ticket (despite the fact that the very same Republican ticket had been unsuccessfully searching for the very same bin Laden for more than three years).

With the troubled markets and the ensuing debate over the Bush administration's proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial sector, October started in September. By suspending his campaign and threatening to postpone the foreign-policy debate in Oxford, Miss.—after a campaign in which he's taken hawkish stands on Russia, Iraq and just about everything else—John McCain quickly emerged as Mr. Hot, a candidate who makes no apologies for his often merry mischief-making. (See Palin, Sarah H., selection of for further evidence.) With his measured responses to the news of the season and his steady insistence on projecting a cerebral image, Barack Obama came off as Mr. Cool, at once impressively intellectual and yet aloof.

The three tests of recent weeks—the vice presidential nominations, the conflict in Georgia and now the financial crisis—have raised, in a serious way not always evident in presidential politics, the key question: how would each man lead? Our view is that if you are among the 18 percent or so of undecided voters (the current figure in most national polls), we think you now have more than enough on which to decide. McCain and Obama see the world differently, and you can see how; they behave in their own skins differently, and you can see how. The drama of the autumn has served perhaps the noblest end we could hope for, shedding light on how each man would govern. McCain is passionate, sometimes impulsive and unpredictable; Obama is precise, occasionally withdrawn and methodical.

Read more..

No More Fairy Tales

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:17:41 -0000

There is a new blog entry from Andrew Cohen which I agree with nearly completely. I have commented last months extensively about the complexity of transitions, transformations, shifts and change as much in context of US Elections as in more global dimensions.

Steve McIntosh summarizes it too in this answer to a questionaire for the Chopra Center:

"Question: How could this collective coming together of leaders be most instrumental in bringing public awareness to the great shift that is occurring?

Answer: First, we could demythologize the idea of "the great shift", recognizing that there is not just one shift, there are actually many shifts in consciousness going on simultaneously in the world-a shift from pre-traditional to traditional in Africa, a shift from traditional to modern in Asia, and in America, and ongoing shift from modern to postmodern, as well as the beginning of a shift from postmodern to integral.

We could also be more discerning about the nature and behavior of cultural evolution, and recognize the fallaciousness of the wishful thinking that expects that the world is going to "wake up" and suddenly become "cultural creative" in a miraculous transformation. "

The take of Andrew is one more to re-connect to real and responsible consciousness.

No More Fairy Tales

Two Western spiritual teachers came for a visit last week. One was American; one was English. They both claimed to be enlightened. They actually told me they were. And I think, to some degree, it was true. They both had undergone many powerful transformative spiritual episodes and were considered by some to be masters or gurus in their own right. They both had a light in their eyes, the unmistakable shine of consciousness that has been awakened beyond the veil of the separate self-sense. They both radiated and transmitted a personal kindness and inspired enthusiasm about life that is unique to individuals who are spiritually awakened. They also both spoke nonstop about their own lives, their own work, their own beliefs, and their excitement about their own futures. We didn't really have two-way conversations . . . but I'm a good listener!

I did genuinely enjoy their company, but I remember what struck me after the second meeting had ended was that they both shared a view that is common among spiritual adepts that I believe is out of date. (Even enlightened people have to keep up with the times, have to continue to evolve, have to keep moving forward.) They both kept referring to the common popular refrain among nontraditional "mystical" believers that "something's happening in consciousness." And because something mysterious and powerful is happening at the mystic level for an individual, a group of individuals, or many groups of individuals at the deepest unseen internal level, that a big external "shift" is imminent.

There's nothing new about this particular idea but I find it remarkable that even today, when we're well on our way into the twenty-first century, that many spiritually minded individuals seem to be the last ones to get what's really happening right now. The "big shift" that's about to occur is occurring on the national stage in our Presidential election. This election will make an immeasurable difference on just about every level for literally billions of real living souls all over our precious planet Earth. There's nothing mystical about this shift and how important and meaningful it is for all of us who put consciousness first and foremost.

Let's give up the need to believe in fairy tales. Consciousness doesn't exist or work in mysterious ways outside of or away from the innermost depths of our individual and collective selves. Awakening to consciousness and its movements, its evolutionary leaps forward and its infinite failed attempts to do so, can be clearly and obviously discerned by looking closely at human history-from the most heinous crimes of the most notorious dictators to the highest spiritual attainments of our most revered saints and mystical luminaries.

Consciousness is not a mysterious dimension where forces disconnected from human volition are at work making all things possible or not. Consciousness is who we all are at the deepest level of our interiors-and how profound our recognition of that is can be seen through the choices we make and the actions we take. The more we not only awaken to that fact but take responsibility for it, the more quickly this world will become the paradise that we all long for in our most inspired moments.

The Echoes of Crisis

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:20:02 -0000

Zachary Karabell, a newswek writer, has summarized some useful reflections upon the current meltdown of Wall Street. And its possible impact towards Mainstreet. This is useful and necessary. As exercise in viewing the process with global lenses and to remember that the share of World Capital represented at Wall Street and global stock exchanges makes roughly 15 percent. The sum of Private Equity Capital the other 85 Percent.

He gives a rough picture about global mainstreet. And nails down additionally that even economy in toto is neither following poltics in toto nor can it be separated from the dynamics of society and culture in general.

Newsweek did once again a good job in bringing nearer this global in depth picture.

"There has never been a week like this!" "There is no playbook!" "The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression!" These phrases and others of equal hyperbole were repeated any number of times on Wall Street these past weeks. No doubt the drama has been spectacular. In the space of ten days, the U.S. government took over two mortgage-bond behemoths, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and assumed de facto control of one of the world's largest insurance companies, AIG. Two of the oldest and most renowned investment banks, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, came to an end; Merrill was acquired by Bank of America for about $50 billion; and Lehman was forced into bankruptcy, with some of its more-valuable assets and employees picked up for pennies by Britain's Barclays Bank. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs saw their stocks plummet and then boomerang back up. Global stock indices lost and then gained trillions in value, and central banks injected hundreds of billions to prevent the global economic system from freezing. To cap it off, the U.S. government announced a far-reaching plan to assume responsibility for the bad mortgages that triggered all this in the first place.

When someone shouts "Fire" in a crowded theater, the person who stands up and asks for calm usually get knocked down. That doesn't make him wrong. The suggestion that the current crisis may not be quite so critical isn't finding much traction these days, but that doesn't make it false.

In another insightful article for Huffpost - Wall Street isnt Main Street -he makes clear:

"To say that things are not catastrophic says nothing about perceptions, fears, insecurities and real-world challenges of paying the bills, dealing with health care and education costs, and all the other problems besetting a substantial percentage of the population. But the idea that as goes Wall Street so goes the nation is a mistake that reinforces the self-importance of Wall Street and does nothing to address the challenges of Main Street."

A 10 Point Checklist of Minimum Requirements for a new Paradigm

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:33:28 -0000

I found this checklist -given by Dr. Don Beck- again when I thought about my new focus on change and the centre of the vortex of change in myself. As it developed last 18 -24 months.

And while others offer more intellectual complexity , historic backgrounds, scientific verve and mental sophistication I have discovered for myself that Dons take is the most practical, dynamic, global and powerful aproach when it comes to all of these complexities.

It became clear to me when I blogged about Neuro Plasticity in August 2007.

The brain that changes itself

And followed the dialogue between Kevin Kelly and Ken Wilber last days about technology, Evolution nd God. The 10 points of Don have the most complex and global action potential for me as soon as global transformation is in demand. I smell, feel and taste almost the heat and real time intensity of integral action in the real world....

“Any new paradigm will need to be an open system rather than a closed state since conditions constantly change.
Any new paradigm must be consistent with current research into the deepest functions within the human brain.
Any new paradigm must subsume all previous paradigms as being legitimate for different times and circumstances.
Any new paradigm must be able to penetrate all areas of human life - biology, psychology, spirituality etc.
Any new paradigm must accommodate the full texture of human cultural differences as they evolve over time.
Any new paradigm must contain an effective mix of political and economic models calibrated to stages of emergence.
Any new paradigm should be able to anticipate different realities, future visions and contain its own sunset clause.
Any new paradigm must address multiple bottom-lines on issues regarding standards of living and the quality of life.
Any new paradigm should contain the DNA-like codes to reveal its assumptions in a clear, understandable manner.
Any new paradigm should be equally relevant to individuals, organizational groupings,
and to society-at-large. ”

Some additional recent notes from Don here. As i am personally re-focusing my life and professional habitat I found nowhere more integral existential relvance than in these words from Don Beck:

".... I must admit that I have little interest in history right now but only in creating enough focused energy and insight to deal with serious problems in our current society, so we can have "a history" worth recording. So, I am only interested in mobilizing enough of a critical mass to get to the core of these problems, so when efforts are compromised, or they dissipate into a series of "mini" efforts, then we have lost any leverage. Orange does that to us...-

I have found the work of Graves to be extremely powerful and a pure, clear tone, especially the major piece on how systems change that I do not find anywhere else. We had had a unique set of experiences over the last 35 years that have taught us a great deal about complex transformations. I am a student of the human spiral, and there are many different wrappings -- and I like them all -- but I cannot carry them all into the real world because the audience would be so confused."

Feminisms greatest leap forward since Madonna?!

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 06:34:32 -0000

Regarding the post Palin speech status Quo of US elections I found the voice of Camille Paglia very meaningful. David Brooks, Sam Harris, Arianna Huffington, Chopra...and lots of others commented in a more rational way.

I appreciate in Camilles Writing the language at blood temperature. the feeling and breathing qualties of a woman who did vivid and provocing work with great scope on female issues for decades. Never escaping the basic instincts of collective consciousness and unconsciousness. And graciously overcoming the cul-de-sacs of spiritual, poltical and sexual correctness .

Embedded in a clear rationale and biggest perspectives.

This article in salon.com summarizes her feelings and insights.

A beady-eyed McCain gets a boost from the charismatic Sarah Palin, a powerful new feminist -- yes, feminist! -- force. Plus: Obama must embrace his dull side.

Fresh Blood for the Vampire

...

Pow! Wham! The Republicans unleashed a doozy -- one of the most stunning surprises that I have ever witnessed in my adult life. By lunchtime, Obama's triumph of the night before had been wiped right off the national radar screen. In a bold move I would never have thought him capable of, McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his pick for vice president. I had heard vaguely about Palin but had never heard her speak. I nearly fell out of my chair. It was like watching a boxing match or a quarter of hard-hitting football -- or one of the great light-saber duels in "Star Wars." (Here are the two Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn, going at it with Darth Maul in "The Phantom Menace.") This woman turned out to be a tough, scrappy fighter with a mischievous sense of humor.

Palin: Feminism's greatest leap forward since Madonna

Conservative though she may be, I felt that Palin represented an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism. At her startling debut on that day, she was combining male and female qualities in ways that I have never seen before. And she was somehow able to seem simultaneously reassuringly traditional and gung-ho futurist. In terms of redefining the persona for female authority and leadership, Palin has made the biggest step forward in feminism since Madonna channeled the dominatrix persona of high-glam Marlene Dietrich and rammed pro-sex, pro-beauty feminism down the throats of the prissy, victim-mongering, philistine feminist establishment.

In the U.S., the ultimate glass ceiling has been fiendishly complicated for women by the unique peculiarity that our president must also serve as commander in chief of the armed forces. Women have risen to the top in other countries by securing the leadership of their parties and then being routinely promoted to prime minister when that party won at the polls. But a woman candidate for president of the U.S. must show a potential capacity for military affairs and decision-making. Our president also symbolically represents the entire history of the nation -- a half-mystical role often filled elsewhere by a revered if politically powerless monarch.

As a dissident feminist, I have been arguing since my arrival on the scene nearly 20 years ago that young American women aspiring to political power should be studying military history rather than taking women's studies courses, with their rote agenda of never-ending grievances. I have repeatedly said that the politician who came closest in my view to the persona of the first woman president was Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose steady nerves in crisis were demonstrated when she came to national attention after the mayor and a gay supervisor were murdered in their City Hall offices in San Francisco. Hillary Clinton, with her schizophrenic alteration of personae, has never seemed presidential to me -- and certainly not in her bland and overpraised farewell speech at the Democratic convention (which skittered from slow, pompous condescension to trademark stridency to unseemly haste).

Feinstein, with her deep knowledge of military matters, has true gravitas and knows how to shrewdly thrust and parry with pesky TV interviewers. But her style is reserved, discreet, mandarin. The gun-toting Sarah Palin is like Annie Oakley, a brash ambassador from America's pioneer past. She immediately reminded me of the frontier women of the Western states, which first granted women the right to vote after the Civil War -- long before the federal amendment guaranteeing universal woman suffrage was passed in 1919. Frontier women faced the same harsh challenges and had to tackle the same chores as men did -- which is why men could regard them as equals, unlike the genteel, corseted ladies of the Eastern seaboard, which fought granting women the vote right to the bitter end.

Over the Labor Day weekend, with most of the big enchiladas of the major media on vacation, the vacuum was filled with a hallucinatory hurricane in the leftist blogosphere, which unleashed a grotesquely lurid series of allegations, fantasies, half-truths and outright lies about Palin. What a tacky low in American politics -- which has already caused a backlash that could damage Obama's campaign. When liberals come off as childish, raving loonies, the right wing gains. I am still waiting for substantive evidence that Sarah Palin is a dangerous extremist. I am perfectly willing to be convinced, but right now, she seems to be merely an optimistic pragmatist like Ronald Reagan, someone who pays lip service to religious piety without being in the least wedded to it. I don't see her arrival as portending the end of civil liberties or life as we know it.

One reason I live in the leafy suburbs of Philadelphia and have never moved to New York or Washington is that, as a cultural analyst, I want to remain in touch with the mainstream of American life. I frequent fast-food restaurants, shop at the mall, and periodically visit Wal-Mart (its bird-seed section is nonpareil). Like Los Angeles and San Francisco, Manhattan and Washington occupy their own mental zones -- nice to visit but not a place to stay if you value independent thought these days. Ambitious professionals in those cities, if they want to preserve their social networks, are very vulnerable to received opinion. At receptions and parties (which I hate), they're sitting ducks. They have to go along to get along -- poor dears!

It is certainly premature to predict how the Palin saga will go. I may not agree a jot with her about basic principles, but I have immensely enjoyed Palin's boffo performances at her debut and at the Republican convention, where she astonishingly dealt with multiple technical malfunctions without missing a beat. A feminism that cannot admire the bravura under high pressure of the first woman governor of a frontier state isn't worth a warm bucket of spit.
..."

Exploring the Technium -Technology, Evolution and God

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:39:04 -0000

From Integral Life. Its a free audio dialogue between Kevin Kelly and Ken Wilber. Two mavericks outside the mainstream who gain increasing impact towards the mainstream..

See also:

www.kk.org

Exploring the Technium: Technology, Evolution, and God

Contributors: Kevin Kelly and Ken Wilber

Wired magazine's own "Senior Maverick" talks with Ken Wilber about some of the ideas behind Kevin's blog The Technium, which explores the various ways humanity defines and redefines itself through the interface of science, technology, culture, and consciousness. Kevin also shares some of his own thoughts about the role of spirituality in the 21st century, going into considerable depth around his own spiritual awakening several decades ago.

(This interview is available to everyone, absolutely free. Email this dialogue to a friend!)

To download this dialogue, right click here.

Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He helped launch Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor until January 1999. He is currently editor and publisher of the Cool Tools website, which gets 1 million visitors per month. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a journal of unorthodox technical news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers' Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. He authored the best-selling New Rules for the New Economy and the classic book on decentralized emergent systems, Out of Control.

Ken Wilber

Ken Wilber is the most widely translated academic writer in America, with 25 books translated into some 30 foreign languages, and is the first philosopher-psychologist to have his Collected Works published while still alive. Wilber is an internationally acknowledged leader and the preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development, which continues to gather momentum around the world. His many books, all of which are still in print, can be found at Amazon.com. Some of his more popular books include Integral Spirituality; No Boundary; Grace and Grit; Sex, Ecology, Spirituality; and the "everything" books: A Brief History of Everything (one of his largest selling books) and A Theory of Everything (probably the shortest introduction to his work). Ken Wilber is the founder of Integral Institute, Inc. and the co-founder of Integral Life, Inc.

Read more

The Ultimate Black Belt Test?!

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:21:31 -0000

I found a remarkable article in Issue 31 from WIE. Want to drop my 2cts. As in next issue they will relable the magazine into EnlighteneNext. What makes really sense for me...

As I have two black belts of third and second degree and exercised in most diverse ways fighting for 3 decades - on the mat, on the street and in the woods - and the archetype of the warrior is very strongly shaping my life. I feel authorized to say something .

Ross is absolutely right in his intiating statment about the gospel of self acceptance. True mastery- in what field ever (See George Leonards little book about mastey) needs the discipline described here. The programme reflects lots of what Ken Wilber pictures as the myth of the given. See his take on Mike Murphy (whom I respect very much for his great insights into integral mind body aproaches)in the chapter "A few books at random" of "Integral Spirituality"...

it has lots of American self mastery specifics. From Traning mantras of the Marines to sales traning.....Tony Robbins Mastery university and self improvement everywhere. It says zero about cultural codes, context and all-quadrantic vortex of reality transforamtion. It has lots pf pathfinder virtues:) -not bad - and it has too much lilly-white good guy quality.

I am saying this as devoted European secular man. Rooted strongly however in authentic spirituality and deeply connected to what Ken Wilber describes in IINTEGRAL SPITRITUALITY. And learning more and more about large scale systems change as masterfully applied by Spiral Wizard Don Beck and his colleagues in the core teams around the world.

Regarding simple bodily fighting I see no ultimate training. There are guys in the streets and armys of the world who may have fullfilled only 10 percent of the training modules. They can put one down in minutes. Skilled streetfigthers with razor-sharp instincts have pulverized experienced black belt men before my eyes.

Martial arts and any sportive efforts over a longer time are always useful and have a deep impact. As has meditation when applied long and clearly enough. However innovation in last decades came as much from completely untrained nerds and digital enthusiasts. From people who cannot even spell meditation.

Science has developed in completely unpredictable ways. From areas which are only loosely connected to it.

Medicine made progress in last 200 years as much with outsiders as with professionals.

Etc.etc..

Going beyond limits...has one part which is connected to mystery, enigma and grace. its an opening in spirit , soul and atention structure which cannot be programmed through aproaches however advanced they are.

Tom Callos is on spot however when he advocates and demands his training modules as strong antidote to the wide-spread gospel of self acceptance.

The Ultimate Black Belt Test

by Ross Robertson

At a time when the gospel of self-acceptance is leading to ever-lowering expectations, an audacious martial arts training program strives to replace mediocrity with mastery. All too often in our postmodern world, traditional character virtues like humility, integrity, and self-discipline have given way to self-acceptance, self-importance, and self-indulgence. In some quarters, where judgment is a sin and personal affirmation is a human right, many find even the idea of seeking victory over mediocrity (our own) to be not merely antiquated but emotionally hurtful and maybe even psychologically dangerous.

Not Tom Callos, sixth-degree black belt and creator of the Ultimate Black Belt Test. Not the ninety-odd men and women, from fourteen-year-old Joel Snyder to sixty-five-year-old Dave McNeill, who have signed up for this grueling two-year teacher- training program designed to revitalize and revolutionize the martial arts world. For Callos and his students, all of whom are already black belts and most of whom own their own schools across the country, complacency is the enemy of excellence, and life is a relentless call to go beyond limits. "Learning from masters and striving to master ourselves . . ." muses Gary Khoury, of Khoury's Karate Academy in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. "This is not a test. This is my opportunity to be fully integrated, fully alive."

The UBBT is not for the faint of heart. Minimum requirements include 52,000 push-ups, 52,000 crunches, 1,000 rounds of sparring, 1,000 repetitions of a chosen form (kata), 1,000 miles of walking or running, 150 hours of jiu-jitsu mat time, a weeklong eco-adventure course, and proficiency in multiple arts, including boxing, Filipino "stick-fighting," and reality-based self-defense. But the test doesn't stop with physical skills. Students are also expected to mend three relationships gone bad; right three wrongs; practice meditation daily; seek out a master in or outside the martial arts; name and profile ten living heroes; perform 1,000 acts of kindness and respect and catalyze 50,000 acts through their students and community; keep a weekly journal chronicling gains and losses, frustrations and victories; spend an entire day blind, one day mute, and one day living in a wheelchair; read twelve books on management, philosophy, motivation, or enlightenment; complete an Anthony Robbins motivational course and Bill Phillips' Body for Life program (or equivalent); and participate in or spearhead an environmental cleanup project.

"With the Ultimate Black Belt Test," says Callos, forty-six, of Placerville, California, "I thought we could mobilize a small army"-an integral army of modern-day warriors equipped with a modern-day warrior code for transforming not only themselves but also their schools, students, and communities. "What if we collectively did a billion acts of kindness over the next ten years?" Callos asks. "What if a million martial arts students and instructors became their own Desmond Tutus, Nelson Mandelas, or Martin Luther Kings?" For the UBBT's growing cadre of leaders, that is a vision that inspires personal confrontation with the demons of weakness, inertia, and normality, because it's a vision that demands living examples in order to make it real.

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Creating A Bigger Debate about Europes Role In The World

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:15:57 -0000

This is excellent news for European Public spheres and Media Networks. A new Pan-European Audience is thus built. As European Council on Foreign Relations is doing with European poltics in the World. I am convinced that the Euro Sphere in global Media Orbits needs even more power networks like this one.

Congratulations!

A NETWORK FOR EUROPE

SPIEGEL ONLINE Launches Partnership with NRC.NL

As part of an effort to establish a network of English Web sites from Europe's leading high-quality journalism brands, SPIEGEL ONLINE has launched a partnership with NRC Handelsblad in The Netherlands.

SPIEGEL ONLINE International this week launched an editorial partnership with NRC.nl/international, the English-language Web site of the respected Netherlands daily NRC Handelsblad. The partnership, SPIEGEL ONLINE International's first with a major European publisher, is a crucial first step in an effort by the two Web sites to launch a Europe-wide network of publishers of high-quality journalism on national, European and international affairs in the English language.

"By working together, we hope to create a network where readers can come for opinion-shaping journalism on issues affecting the European community and participate in the debate," said Rüdiger Ditz, editor in chief of SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Airlines have networks like the Star Alliance, and we would like to introduce this concept to European journalism."

Like SPIEGEL ONLINE, which aims to deliver news and analysis from Germany on major European issues to a broader international audience in English, NRC.nl/international will provide Dutch perspectives from one of the country's most respected journalism brands to people who do not speak Dutch. NRC.nl/international will publish a daily selection of news reports, background pieces, features and editorials about the Netherlands and its role in Europe and the world. The site will also feature a discussion panel featuring some of the Netherland's most influential thinkers, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Geert Wilders and Dutch Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs Frans Timmermans.

"With the launch of this site, we want to participate in the international discourse and to claim a space in the European public debate," said Birgit Donker, editor in chief of NRC Handelsblad. "We are convinced that we can appeal to a broader audience by publishing a selection of our daily content in English. Topics like Dutch participation in military operations in Afghanistan, immigration and integration, or the debate about the future of the European Union will be covered."

NRC.nl and SPIEGEL ONLINE plan to exchange content on a regular basis and develop joint journalism specials in order to add a deeper European dimension to their coverage.

By working together with NRC.nl/international and future partners, SPIEGEL ONLINE International hopes to provide broader reporting on European issues and to contribute to a greater debate about the future of the European Union and Europe's role in the international community. The network also represents an important step towards building a larger Pan-European audience for both Web sites.

Since its launch in October 2004, SPIEGEL ONLINE International has become one of the most influential and respected English-language Web sites in continental Europe. In July, the site reached an historic peak of over 9.3 million page views and more than 1.2 million unique visitors. SPIEGEL ONLINE is Germany's leading news site and the Web home of DER SPIEGEL, Europe's largest newsmagazine.

In July, the Atlantic Monthly Web site called SPIEGEL ONLINE International "everybody's favorite newspaper these days," and the Economist.com recently described the site as "increasingly impressive -- in German and English."

Best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh recently said: "SPIEGEL, by providing an English Internet version, provides you with a whole different way of looking at a lot of events. I always tell people that we have this invention called the Internet: You've got Haaretz, which is more critical of Israeli policy than any American newspaper. You've got the obvious ones like the Guardian and the Telegraph. And you have SPIEGEL ONLINE in English now to give you a European look that is open-minded and detached."

Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad -- with its recently launched morning edition nrc.next and its Web site NRC.nl -- is one of the most authoritative news brands in the Netherlands. In the past year, the Web site almost doubled its unique visitors per month, now reaching 1.4 million. The focus of both the paper and the online edition is on World and European news, as well as opinion about national and international issues.

To learn even more about the partnership, please click on the video above produced by our partners at NRC.nl.