Tuesday, April 29, 2003

2nd Superpower QUOTE OF THE DAY "The world that we have made as a result of the level of thinking that we have done so far, has created problems we cannot solve at the level of thinking at which we created them." - - Albert Einstein APRIL 29th IN HISTORY: 1970 - - The U.S. Military invades Cambodia, and on the same day the National Guard shoots seven students (4 dead) at Kent State University. RHINO HERE: On Saturday Night, April 12, a swank cocktail party was held in Washington D.C. to celebrate the fall of Baghdad. As Maureen Dowd pointed out in her OpEd piece Sunday, conspicuously missing from the festivities was Colin Powell. It seems there has developed a rift in the administration between what Dowd calls the Rummy people: (Cheney, Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, William Safire, Ariel Sharon, Fox News, National Review, The Weekly Standard, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, the fedayeen of the Defense Policy Board; Perle, Woolsey, Gingrich, etc) and the Powell people (Brent Scowcroft, James Baker, Ken Duberstein, Richard Armitage, essentially, the Foreign Service). Says Dowd, "This clash is epochal because it's beyond ego. It's about whether America will lead by fear, aggression and force of arms or by diplomacy, moderation and example." He's Out With The In Crowd by Maureen Dowd, NY Times, 4/27/03 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/27/opinion/27DOWD.html?th Also in Sunday's NY Times was another Op-Ed by Thomas L. Freedman entitled "The Meaning of a Skull" in which the discovery of the skull of a torture victim in some Baghdad dungeon causes him to laud the actions of our government in it's war against Iraq. He says, "Whether you were for or against this war, whether you preferred that the war be done with the U.N.'s approval or without it, you have to feel good that right has triumphed over wrong. America did the right thing here. It toppled one of the most evil regimes on the face of the earth... Who cares if we now find some buried barrels of poison? Do they carry more moral weight than those buried skulls? No way. So why isn't everyone celebrating this triumph?" The Meaning Of A Skull by Thomas L. Freedman, , NY Times, 4/27/03 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/27/opinion/27FRIE.html?th From a Rhino viewpoint, I can say I'm glad Saddam is no longer in power and all the good things that may come of that. But... did anyone hear that but coming?... There are so many bad things that have occurred as a result of this war, that I have trouble finding the inspiration to celebrate with Rummie & his gang. What bad things some will say? I couldn't list them all but a few key ones are: - Over 2000 dead Iraqi civilians. http://www.iraqbodycount.net/ - The thousands more Iraqis that will die over the next 2 decades due to contamination from the depleted uranium laced bombs that were strewn all over the country and parts of Iran & Turkey. http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/2003/04/000750.html - The hundreds of thousands of U.S. Soldiers who will contract Desert Storm Syndrome or whatever the Pentagon will refuse to call it for a decade as they did to the hundreds of thousands of U.S. Soldiers who got sick &/or died from their exposures in Iraq in 1991. http://www.antenna.nl/wise/431/4259.html http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/#MILDU - The hundreds if not thousands more Iraqis & U.S. soldiers that will die or be maimed by the unexploded land mines & cluster bombs which are also strewn all over the region. http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/2003/04/000757.html etc etc etc And speaking of skulls left by brutal torturers, if you don't know about history of The School Of The Americas, there are Indigenous women from Tierra Del Fuego to Guatemala City who could tell you about their Husbands & Brothers & Sons who ran HEAD long into U.S. Foreign Policy. http://www.soaw.org/new/ AND DON'T EVEN GET ME GOING ABOUT THE SKULL AND BONES SOCIETY!! http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/intro1.htm http://www.freedomdomain.com/secretsocieties/skull02.html Sometimes I feel like John Belushi when he'd get madder & madder & madder 'till he'd do a one & a half flip and crash into the wall. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - ......... RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE today is, I think an important examination of the political power of the internet. It's written by James F. Moore, a leading expert on business strategy, technology & leadership. He's the pioneer of the concepts of "business ecosystems" and "Internet ecosystems," and the ecological approach to alliances and alliance-based competition. These concepts are widely used for strategy-making and venture investing in the high tech community. James F. Moore's bio http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/moore.html Moore is a Senior Fellow at The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a research program at the Harvard Law School founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. It represents a network of faculty, students, fellows, entrepreneurs, lawyers, & virtual architects working to identify & engage the challenges & opportunities of cyberspace. Berkman Center for Internet & Society Web Site http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/mission 7:52:24 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head James F. Moore, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 3/31/03 As the United States government becomes more belligerent in using its power in the world, many people are longing for a "second superpower" that can keep the US in check. Indeed, many people desire a superpower that speaks for the interests of planetary society, for long-term well-being, and that encourages broad participation in the democratic process. Where can the world find such a second superpower? No nation or group of nations seems able to play this role, although the European Union sometimes seeks to, working in concert with a variety of institutions in the field of international law, including the United Nations. But even the common might of the European nations is barely a match for the current power of the United States. There is an emerging second superpower, but it is not a nation. Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the "will of the people" in a global social movement. The beautiful but deeply agitated face of this second superpower is the worldwide peace campaign, but the body of the movement is made up of millions of people concerned with a broad agenda that includes social development, environmentalism, health, and human rights. This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole-and who recognize that at a fundamental level we are all one. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world-and not just the members of one or another nation. Consider the members of Amnesty International who write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience, and the millions of Americans who are participating in email actions against the war in Iraq. Or the physicians who contribute their time to Doctors Without Borders.... THE REST OF THIS IMPORTANT ESSAY IS POSTED AT: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jmoore/secondsuperpower.html "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 7:06:26 AM    comment

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