Thursday, August 31, 2006

The UN Security Council should put the Iran Report on hold for a "30-Day Cooling Period". This should afford us all some "Thinking Time". And political sanity.

Second, we would spend the time to commemorate September 11 and reflect on the just-ended Israel-Lebanon conflict. Plus let the US administration address post-Katrina issues, especially as the new hurricane season is here - with dire predictions for the Gulf of Mexico, The Caribbeans and elsewhere.

Then, Iraq! Things are so bad. Every time we think we've seen the worst, a worster hits us!! We can't just ignore that theatre of daily slaughter, can we? Absolutely not. In the name of the KIDS and the hapless MOTHERS of Iraq, let's do something sensible....FAST. Iraq needs urgent help... TODAY!!!

The international community needs to be together, stay together, on these and other issues for a better, safer world. Iran has no nuclear bomb yet, and won't have one in 12 months. So, we can be more patient and circumspect in our resolve to peacefully resolve its matter. Let tempers cool, please. There is time.

Like many life-changing inventions, and earth-shattering discoveries, the sustainable solution to this knotty issue can (and may indeed) come from anywhere. Let's sink in and speak out during the coooooling peeeriod, and let the Council do some reaching-out and plenty of listening. Track the world media!

By October 2, we should be better disposed.

My take? Say tuned, here, and on: www.onoviranseries.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The recent spate of accidents (rail, road, air, water, structures) must add to our worries about the times. Before investigations are concluded on one, series of others are occurring! We do not envisage a world without accidents or willful damage, but it is time to look again...differently and anew. Is something very amiss, which we are missing?

Now, if reports show technical causes, then, let's reengineer things. If they point to human error, then, we need to get psychological and spiritual. Are we getting more distracted? More upset? Or dangerously more emotional? Are we facing too much, too soon? Are our coping mechanisms intact, in place? Attention, attention, attention....please!

No-one, from world leaders to the world's masses, is a truly happy and settled soul today. Not if you watch TV and follow the news. Where really is safe today? Who is immune?

Then, the weather: Oh my God!

Let us pray....

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

We thank Italy and France for taking the lead in the UN Force that will enforce the Israel- Lebanon cease-fire. Let other progressive nations do their bits...promptly, and robustly, please.

We join UN Sec-Gen, Kofi Annan, in asking Israel to stop any further violation of the cease-fire henceforth. Hezbollah should also keep its word.

My preliminary congratulations to all involved in these constructive steps, and our heart-felt commiserations to all who lost and/or grieve at this time.

Peace to all.

Monday, August 28, 2006

First anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the signs ain't good at all. From all the reports and what we can see, it is bad bad news! Not safe by the Gulf, not smart for America. We worry.

Poor New Orleans, how I bleed for you!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Oil prices are not relenting in their upsurge. They won't come down any time soon. But that is stating the obvious, isn't it?

Fine. But there is another obvious: The costliness and economic damage the high prices bring and visit on the "poor of the world" - from countries to communities to homes, around the world. As souls freeze in the West, hearts burn in Africa. The poor is POOR everywhere!

Can the G8 plan on ENERGY security kick-start things, please?

No poor anywhere can wait any longer.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

With the truce in Israel/Lebanon front, let's have cessation of hostilities on the Isreal/Palestine axis immediately. With a new, robust and agenda-setting UN resolution.

The world's MEDIA should help us refocus the UN Security Council's focus on both Iraq and Afghanistan. Too much was overlooked, even ignored, and neglected while we all focussed on the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

The press should do an in-depth update, and henceforth offer a 4-way daily reportage on these four areas of crises. We must not let one supplant the others. Equal treatment, please.

It is time for new ways, new means, new players and.....new resources..... for World Peace. The UN needs to stand up to these challenges courageously. Time is running out!

Hey folks, was leadership ever called a piece of cake? Why are our world leaders nibbling at this tough cookie instead of cracking the damn thing!? Nibblers be dribblers, period.

The world must crack these knotty nuts.

Monday, August 14, 2006

President Fidel Castro of Cuba is a great phenomenon. His 80th birthday, this week, finds him in post-surgery convalescence. No matter. Happy Birthday, sir!

This man is a legend in his time, a lion of lions. He should be so acknowledged.

My birthday wish for him is to get him and President George Bush to a Talk-Table for an historic peace deal.....unprecedented, and unheralded.

In old age, you cease fighting. In your last term, you stop all wars. So may it be with Castro...So may it be with Bush! Time be short, dear leaders, time is critically short. Act now.

As for the hawks, on both sides, time will tease them no end. Relent.
Ceasefire. The end of hostilities. And the return. Soldiers, civilians and aid workers. Now the real talk begins, for the real work to truly begin.

We speak of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, the unforgettable war that has just ended.

Better late than never, we thank the United Nations for finally ending the war. As Secretary General Kofi Annan solemnly stated, it is lamentable...even disgraceful...that this day didn't come much much earlier. We must, and do, lament.

Soul-searching must follow, on all sides, and by every side, of the divides. We have all lost in this war. All of us.

May the "wasted" souls find repose.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Humanitarian services, activities and operations are getting more needed, more cumbersome and more dangerous around the world. Now, the world must review, reconsider and redesign them. International laws must be revamped for this purpose. Best Practices must established and benchmarked. Compliance must be strict and total. No contempt, no excuses, no delays.

I think the United States, the European Union and the African Union need to lead the United Nations in this matter. It is now dire.

Let's have a Clinton Commission on this, drawing as members Gorbachev, Schroeder, Jiang, Bono, Soyinka, Barak, Amanpour, Simpson, Boutrous-Ghali, Powell, Thatcher, Gandhi, Fox....... among others, including some legal, military, media and aid-agencies' veterans....totalling 17. They should be fully serviced by the UNHCR.

The UN Clinton Commission should sit for 12 Months. Its report must be approved by the UN General Assembly, latest, by December 2008.
Shouldn't we be alarmed, and intrigued, and baffled by the turn of events in the volatile Middle East? Should we be surprised that things are heading haywire? Not by any shot. No!

We should be asking ourselves whether we really have "world leaders", and if there really is an "international community". Each soul lost, whether soldier or civilian, is "slain" in vain! Together and apart, the leaders and the community owe us...and hold us.

The final question should be....."of what QUALITY be both".... pillars and platforms?

Soon, positions will deepen and harden on all sides. Sooner than our political leaders will ever know, times and tides will change. And all of them will be at the mercy of "history".

For them, like for the harassed and hapless peoples of the states of Israel and Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories, there shall be "no hiding place". But, unlike these peoples, who are at the mercy of these leaders plus platforms, history will own its say.

Now, we bleed. Then, they will.