Portal of the Global Community

Authors of research papers and articles on global issues for this month

Partha Banerjee, Meltdown On Wall Street: Grave Warning For India

Praful Bidwai, Nuclear Waiver - Blow To Non-Proliferation

Yu Bin, China Still On-Side With Russia

Ramzy Baroud, Global Realignment: How Bush Inspired A New World Order

Steve Connor, The Methane Time Bomb

Guy CREQUIE (5)

Sauvons la banquise et l'humanité
PRINCIPE D’HARMONIE ET REALITE SOCIALE = LE CHEMIN DE LA TRANSFORMATION
CONCEPTS……..ET ACTUALITE DU MONDE = QUELQUES REFLEXIONS
Adolescence et violence = Non à l'universalisme de la finitude assassasine
Droits de l'homme et devoir d'humanité

Peter Chamberlin, Overcoming Human Nature: The Revolution Of The Meek

Germain Dufour (2)

This one is for you Obama, McCain, Palin and Biden
Planetary biodiversity zone ( Part III )

Tom Engelhardt, Going On An Imperial Bender

Barry Grey, Panic Sell-Off On Wall Street

Dean Hepburn, The Blue Crystal Ball

Robert Kuttner, Only a Roosevelt-Scale Counterrevolution Can Prevent Great Depression II

Dot Maver, Peace Partnership International

Jason Miller, Murdering Mother Earth

Triaka Smith, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

David Swanson, Why We're Planning To Prosecute Cheney And Bush

Beth Weaver, South Africa: A 21st Century Struggle

Cliff Wirth, Surviving Peak Oil: Obstacles To Relocation

David Yarnold, What Iceland Can Teach America

Research papers and articles on global issues for this month

Date sent	Theme or issue	Read
September 29, 2008	Planetary biodiversity zone ( Part III ) Investigative Report by Germain Dufour Spiritual Leader of the Global Community President Earth Government Global Law The Global Community has established a planetary biodiversity zone now under the protection of the Global Protection Agency (GPA). We have declared a moratorium on all development in the zone, including all drilling, military testing, and any other destructive uses of the ecosystems. The planetary biodiversity zone includes : North Pole region South Pole region all oceans all forests all lakes all rivers and connecting streams all wetlands and grasslands living organisms and ecosystems in all of the above The people of all nations are required to respect the moratorium until global law has been completed to include regulations to be enforced by the GPA.	Read
September 24, 2008	The Methane Time Bomb by Steve Connor Countercurrents.org The Independent The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists. Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and many scientists fear that its release could accelerate global warming in a giant positive feedback where more atmospheric methane causes higher temperatures, leading to further permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane. The amount of methane stored beneath the Arctic is calculated to be greater than the total amount of carbon locked up in global coal reserves so there is intense interest in the stability of these deposits as the region warms at a faster rate than other places on earth. The Arctic region as a whole has seen a 4C rise in average temperatures over recent decades and a dramatic decline in the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by summer sea ice. Many scientists fear that the loss of sea ice could accelerate the warming trend because open ocean soaks up more heat from the sun than the reflective surface of an ice-covered sea.	Read
September 11, 2008	This one is for you Obama, McCain, Palin and Biden by Germain Dufour Spiritual Leader of the Global Community President Earth Government ( see enlargement ) An amoral and decadent NATO Artwork by Germain Dufour September 11, 2008	Read
September 18, 2008	Sauvons la banquise et l'humanité by Guy CREQUIE Ambassadeur de la Paix Cercle Universel des Ambassadeurs de la Paix Universal Ambassador Peace Circle guy.crequie@wanadoo.fr Global Community peace Movement Guy CREQUIE Global file Our Global Community volunteers will help you http://www2.blogger.com/profile/16097917629603014188 http://guycrequie.blogspot.com http://poetesaparis.aceblog.fr L'explorateur français Jean-Louis ETIENNE, vient de lancer une pétition pour sauver la banquise au pôle Nord. Selon ses analyses, la fonte avec le réchauffement va entraîner une période de chaos climatique notamment dans l'hémisphère Nord. Depuis quelque temps, nous connaissons de sérieux avertissements. Même s'il existe des phénomènes climatiques conjoncturels exceptionnels, force est de constater, ces dernières années, l'accroissement des tornades, cyclones, tremblements de terre ou autres tsunamis. Il suggère que le Président français Nicolas SARKOZY, qui préside actuellement l'Union Européenne propose aux Nations Unies le vote d'une résolution qui classerait la banquise de l'Océan arctique comme une zone d'intérêt commun pour l'humanité. Il est temps, qu'en actes, les gouvernements mettent en œuvre les recommandations du GIEC et des conférences internationales. La France pour sa part, a tenu son Grenelle de l'environnement. Il faut, après le vote d'une résolution par l'AG de l'ONU, que les Nations Unies organisent un sommet millénaire pour l'environnement avec le vote ensuite de résolutions par continent avec des échéances d'application et les sommes allouées. En effet, contrairement à ceux qui parlent de déterminisme de la bourse pour justifier leur impuissance ou inaction, les humains sont encore les décideurs de l'économie mondiale .Par contre, face à la nature en colère, quelle que puisse être notre conception philosophique ou religieuse, nous ne pouvons rien empêcher à l'instant = sauf constater les dégâts. Ce qui se fait maintenant et se fera pour l'environnement, aura des incidences pour une autre génération. Cependant, il faut le faire au présent car c'est de la survie de la planète et de toutes ses formes de vie : humaine, animale,minérale, végétale...qu'il est question! L'AVENIR COMMANDE MAINTENANT LA SAGESSE ET LA DETERMINATION DU PRESENT.Que la science serve l'humain, les peuples, et non des privilégiés détenteurs d'intérêts privés ou de stratégies étatiques suicidaires.	Read
September 18, 2008	The Blue Crystal Ball by Dean Hepburn Countercurrents.org Humanity has one of the greatest gifts ever to have been provided to a species- foresight. We can plan our day and year; we can do a shopping list with the knowledge that we can save food for another day and we know that a day will come on which we will die. For all our inventiveness, for all our intelligence, for all our knowledge of history and for all our foresight, we cannot say what Earth will look like in a thousand years, and we can’t stop destroying it. For the next century at least, it is most likely that humanity will continue the degradation of Earths natural resources until we hit a series of catastrophes. Such events will be based on famine, disease and war or a series of climatic events which lead to famine, disease and war. We know that the weather is changing; we know that we are contributing to it; we know that our population will hit about 10 billion by the year 2050 and we know that agricultural systems will not be able to provide nutritious food for such an increasing population forever. Not only that but we are expected to consume more, our economies are based on consumption and we know that our economy must be fed in order for our social services to be provided. So it seems that we are developing to death. ‘Economy’ has become a word so revered that it now has a God or master like status. On any given day you can bet that our politicians and financial gurus will be screaming ‘economy must be fed or we all will die’. Our appetite for consumable products which feed the economy is voracious. World product has increased a massive 1600% since only 1950, whilst trade in that time has increased from less than $500 billion (in today’s money) to more than $8 trillion. It is predicted that by the year 2050, the vast forests of Asia, South America and central Africa will have been consumed and be replaced by representative patches called National Parks while the rest of the land will become sterile pine forests and agriculture. In many instances, and this includes Australia, lands presently or formerly containing forests or grassland filled with a plethora of biodiversity will become barren wastelands caused by unsustainable farming practices and climate change. The loss of such forests will allow greenhouse gases to increase in the atmosphere causing higher rates of climate change leading to more dramatic climatic events such as floods and longer, drier droughts. This alone, it is estimated, will contribute an extra hundred million or more refugees looking for a new home. For all this talk of human apocalypse it is almost reassuring to know that something will eventually destroy the planet no matter what we do to it in the interim. We have an opportunity to shoot for the stars, yet no realistic capacity exists for us to survive for more than a few months outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The unifying aspect is that we all need clean air to breath, nutritious food to eat, a safe home and love. Tragically, all these appear harder to attain as we supposedly progress. The air is no longer clean, food is less nutritious, a safe home can only be found behind security screens and trends show increasing divorce rates and loneliness. The dream of a bright future hid the fact that in dreams begin responsibilities. So what does the future really hold for humanity? With a moment of clarity, let us look into the blue crystal ball called Earth.	Read
September 18, 2008	Panic Sell-Off On Wall Street by Barry Grey WSWS.org Countercurrents.org Over the past eleven days, the US government has taken control of the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; Lehman Brothers, the oldest US investment bank, has gone into bankruptcy; Merrill Lynch has sold itself to Bank of America; and the government has taken over insurance giant American International Group (AIG) in order to stave off its collapse. These unprecedented developments have only intensified fears in the US and around the world of a financial meltdown that could dwarf the collapse of the 1930s. Credit markets in the US and around the world have seized up in the wake of the government bailout of AIG and the demise of Lehman and Merrill Lynch. Banks and financial firms have all but ceased lending to one another, and the cost of short-term credit upon which the financial system depends has skyrocketed. Big investors are bailing out of stocks and other securities and rushing to buy Treasury securities, which are considered relatively safe. As a result, the yield on Treasury bills has plummeted, at one point on Wednesday falling below zero. Other signs of a collapse of confidence in the financial markets were in evidence. Crude oil jumped by $6 a barrel and gold and silver futures soared, as investors scrambled to move their money out of stocks and bonds and into commodities and precious metals. What is involved in the crisis is not simply the failure of certain large finance houses, but rather the bankruptcy of American capitalism itself. The US central bank, the Federal Reserve Board, is heading toward insolvency. The massive decline in the Fed’s real assets is the result of its having doled out hundreds of billions of dollars in low-interest loans to prop up Wall Street, taking as collateral virtually worthless mortgage-backed securities and other assets that cannot be sold on the market because no one will buy them. The Treasury’s announcement of a bailout to the Fed, on the heels of its assumption of the $5.3 trillion in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac liabilities, is the precursor to a colossal government bailout of the banking system, which will be engineered with the full support of the Democratic Congress and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and whose cost will be placed squarely on the working class.	Read
September 18, 2008	Only a Roosevelt-Scale Counterrevolution Can Prevent Great Depression II by Robert Kuttner The American Prospect AlterNet, The Mix is the Message, Corporate Accountability and Worplace Free-market extremists brought us this needless economic collapse. Here's a rundown of the mistakes we've made and the reforms we need now. The current carnage on Wall Street, with dire spillover effects on Main Street, is the result of a failed ideology -- the idea that financial markets could regulate themselves. Serial deregulation fed on itself. Deliberate repeal of regulations became entangled with failure to carry out laws still on the books. Corruption mingled with simple incompetence. And though the ideology was largely Republican, it was abetted by Wall Street Democrats. Three Basic Reforms What all of these sins had in common was that they led financial markets to misprice assets. In plain English, that means buyers were purchasing securities based on bad information, often with borrowed money. When firms started losing money on sub-prime in mid-2007 and other owners decided it was time to get their money out, the whole miracle of leverage went into reverse. And it spilled over into other securities that had been mispriced thanks to all the conflicts of interest tolerated by regulators. That's why, no matter how much taxpayer money the Federal Reserve and the Treasury keep pumping in, they can't turn dross back into gold. The next administration and the Congress need to return the financial economy to its historic task of supplying capital to the real economy -- of connecting investors to entrepreneurs -- and shut down the purely casino aspects of the system that have only enriched middlemen and passed along huge risks to everyone else. Reform One: If it Quacks Like a Bank, Regulate it Like a Bank. Barack Obama said it well in his historic speech on the financial emergency last March 27 in New York. "We need to regulate financial institutions for what they do, not what they are." Increasingly, different kinds of financial firms do the same kinds of things, and they are all capable of infusing toxic products into the nation's financial bloodstream. That's why Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has had to extend the government's financial safety net to all kinds of large financial firms like A.I.G. that have no technical right to the aid and no regulation to keep them from taking outlandish risks. Going forward, all financial firms that buy and sell products in money markets need the same regulation and examination. That will be the essence of the 2009 version of the Glass-Steagall Act. Reform Two: Limit Leverage. At the very heart of the financial meltdown was extreme speculation with esoteric financial securities, using astronomical rates of leverage. Commercial banks are limited to something like 10 to one, or less, depending on their conditions. These leverage limits need to be extended to all financial players, as part of the same 2009 banking reform. Reform Three: Police Conflicts of Interest. The conflicts of interest at the core of bond-raising agencies are only one of the conflicts that have been permitted to pervade financial markets. Bond-rating agencies should probably become public institutions. Other conflicts of interest should be made explicitly illegal. Yes, financial markets keep "innovating." But some innovations are good, and some are abusive subterfuges. And if regulators who actually believe in regulation are empowered to examine all financial institutions, they can issue cease-and-desist orders when they encounter dangerous conflicts.	Read
September 17, 2008	Meltdown On Wall Street: Grave Warning For India by Partha Banerjee Countercurrents.org On September 15, the house of cards starts falling down on Wall Street. Lehman Brothers goes for bankruptcy protection, Merrill Lynch goes for a shotgun marriage with Bank of America, AIG is about to unravel, later to be nationalized by the U.S. Just last week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bailed out by the U.S. govt. CEO's and big investors get out okay; ordinary employees and little people on the street suffer heavily. The collapse of the Wall Street giants comes six months after the meltdown of Bear Stearns and a year after the start of the credit crisis, set off by bad mortgage financing and real estate investments: none of which can be blamed on ordinary investors or home owners -- it's the latter that suffered the greatest (countless people lost their homes). In spite of an outpouring of help from peer institutions, the U.S. market took a great hit and pulled the global markets down. On September 16, the FTSE-100 share index went down 4.07 percent in London, the Paris CAC-40 was off 4.5 percent and Germany's DAX 30 index tumbled 3.23 percent. India's Sensex also crashed 3.4 percent. The end of Lehman Brothers, a 150-year-old corporation, may not stop the financial crisis that has gripped Wall Street for months, analysts said. "More investment banks could disappear soon." Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, a research firm, predicted that “approximately 110 banks with $850 billion in assets could close by next July. That's out of 8,400 federally insured institutions, which together hold $13 trillion in assets,” he said. It's a major debacle for U.S.-style corporate capitalism that thrives on empowering the most powerful and enriching the richest. Nowhere in the world -- even in other market-driven economies such as Europe, Canada or Japan -- a country is run under the guise of democracy, yet power never percolates down to the ordinary people. Especially since the terrorist attacks of September 11, this administration of Bush, Cheney and McCain, with active help from a self-censored media, lied to us both about the war and the status of the crumbling economy. On one hand, a trillion dollar war destroyed two ancient civilizations called Iraq and Afghanistan and killed countless men, women and children; at the same time, the enormous cost of the war emptied precious resources from within the U.S. -- resources that could well have been spent on jobs, health care, education, housing, environment, energy, immigration and other top priorities.	Read
September 14, 2008	PRINCIPE D’HARMONIE ET REALITE SOCIALE = LE CHEMIN DE LA TRANSFORMATION CONCEPTS……..ET ACTUALITE DU MONDE = QUELQUES REFLEXIONS Adolescence et violence = Non à l'universalisme de la finitude assassasine Droits de l'homme et devoir d'humanité by Guy CREQUIE Ambassadeur de la Paix Cercle Universel des Ambassadeurs de la Paix Universal Ambassador Peace Circle guy.crequie@wanadoo.fr Global Community peace Movement Guy CREQUIE Global file Our Global Community volunteers will help you http://www2.blogger.com/profile/16097917629603014188 http://guycrequie.blogspot.com http://poetesaparis.aceblog.fr Le principe d’harmonie est celui où les choses en apparence stables, se développent et meurent en passant par un changement ininterrompu au cours duquel finalement, malgré tous les hasards apparents et les retours en arrière momentanés, un développement progressif vers l’harmonie finit par se faire jour. En 2007, il s’est écoulé 50 ans, depuis que le bouddhiste Josei TODA, devant 50.000 jeunes réunis dans le stade de Mitsuzawa à Yokohama au Japon a dénoncé les armes nucléaires comme un mal absolu et il a rugi comme un lion en exigeant leur abolition. En surface, sans parler de L’échec actuel du TNP ( traité de non-prolifération nucléaire ) on pourrait penser que cet appel n’a pas été écouté car comme l’écrit Monsieur Daisaku IKEDA, dans ses propositions pour la paix le 26 janvier 2007, transmises au Secrétaire général de l’ONU : Ban Ki-Moon, « … Il est regrettable, que nous soyons entrés dans le 21è siècle encombrés du fardeau de 27.000 têtes nucléaires….. » Le principe d’harmonie ? Il sera lorsque les humains mettront en actes le Manifeste RUSSELL –EINSTEIN publié en 1955 qui disait : « L’appel que nous lançons, est celui d’êtres humains à d’autres êtres humains ; rappelez-vous que vous êtes de la race des hommes et oubliez le reste …. » Avec la guerre entre la Russie et la Géorgie début août dans le Caucase, ce conflit est également apparu comme le théâtre d’un affrontement Est-Ouest entre la Russie (qui soutient les indépendantistes Ossètes) et les Etats –Unis (avec l’OTAN.) L’ONU est apparue bien limitée ou timorée pour peser d’un quelconque poids relativement à ce conflit. Il est vrai que depuis l’éclatement de l’ex URSS, les relations des l’OUEST avec la Russie ont permis des avancées de relations plus détendues que lors de la guerre froide, mais l’implantation prévue du bouclier antimissiles dans des anciens pays alliés du bloc soviétique a relancé des tensions. Des concepts tels ceux de : humanisme, démocratie, liberté, valeur, de droit de l’homme et de devoir sont utilisés en des sens divers. Ils deviennent de simples abstractions, des sortes d’hymne générique ignorant les singularités. Le vécu des peuples est ressenti comme étranger à des mots qui ressemblent à des slogans creux ! Egalement, ces abus de langage aboutissent à un affaiblissement de la pensée elle-même ; ceci, dans la mesure ou celle-ci se rétrécit, véhicule par les mots des conceptions fausses ou à interprétations multiples, sans clarté ou cohérence de vulgarisation et sans le respect des usages originaux et primitifs des concepts. Un autre concept reste à affirmer : celui de dignité ; du respect de toutes les minorités humanistes de pensée et de groupes sociaux marginalisés et cependant porteurs d’une riche histoire humaine. C’est pourquoi, ma modeste ambition d’essayiste sera celle de redéfinir l’humanisme contemporain, ce à quoi voulait s’atteler le philosophe Michel FOUCAULT, hélas mort avant d’avoir pu réaliser son dessein. A ma modeste manière, je réfléchis sur les questions de société et relativement à l’humanisme, je viens de terminer 2 livres : la Révolution de l’esprit (pour l’humanisme en action) à paraître le 9 décembre 2008 et « Réconcilier les droits et les devoirs pour l’avenir de l’humanité » à paraître l’été 2009. La culture de la paix et de la non-violence ne concerne pas que les Institutions, elle est exigeante pour chaque citoyen si nous voulons que notre planète vive en harmonie. Sinon, les violences sociales planétaires qui nous attendent seront un drame aussi grave que les déséquilibres causés à la bio-diversité et qui menacent nos vécus à venir. Certes, le rôle des parents, des enseignants reste primordial afin de transmettre les valeurs de paix et d’harmonie et de ce point de vue si l’engagement associatif prend un relief grandissant, le rôle des Religions valorisant la compassion, l’amour universel, le travail intérieur sur soi, devrait être une contribution également importante. Hélas, l’apparition des fondamentalismes et autres fanatismes ont obscurci bien des messages originaux, lesquels, ont perdu de leur portée étant parfois et hélas abusivement assimilé aux dérives sectaires et obscurantistes, voire meurtrières. Je propose donc, dans cette perspective, aux Chefs d’Etats et de Gouvernements de devenir des promoteurs et garants du devoir d’humanité ! Curieusement, les concepts de VIE et de PEUPLE ne font l’objet d’aucune définition dans le droit international. Ceci, alors qu’ils sont au centre de toute aventure humaine. Cette apologie ou ce laxisme vis-à-vis de la suppression de la vie s’applique alors également pour les animaux, les plantes,….Bref, toute vie organique et biologique en général ! Parlons, et réglons dans le droit international, dans les Constitutions, actes, traités, de tout ce qui a trait aux atteintes multiples et caractéristiques des droits et devoirs de la personne. Pour ma part, j’ai suggéré à l’occasion du 60e anniversaire de la déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme, la mise en chantier d’une nouvelle déclaration des droits et devoirs de la personne. J’ai exposé mes arguments dans un livre à paraître sous le titre : « Réconcilier les droits et les devoirs pour l’avenir de l’humanité. En ce début de IIIe millénaire, le véritable humanisme contemporain est celui du respect de la vie : de toute forme de vie, et ce : à commencer pour l’exemplarité par Les Chefs d’Etats et de Gouvernements et autres Institutions, les leaders religieux,…. Cet humanisme, passe par l’exigence du devoir d’humanité !	Read
September 12, 2008	U.S. FOREIGN POLICY by Triaka Smith triaka@webtv.net In the Spirit of Aloha http://www.globalvisions.org/cl/swn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uniteddiversity FACT 1 - The U.S. Constitution established a form of government that gave direct governing power to a small minority over the American people at large. Political power was structured from top-down in Executive and Legislative branches of government, rather than from bottom-up taxpayers and consumers, an oligarchical system that gave preference to money interests who influenced politicians. FACT 2 - Money interests influenced the U.S. government to extend, consolidate and centralize economic, political and military power in what President H.W. Bush termed the New World Order. FACT 3 - By the 21st century, the U.S. was the most dominating force in the world with 1,150 military installations in 144 of almost 200 nations on the planet with the world's largest and most powerful military force in human history. And you wonder why terrorists want to destroy this invasive force? I wonder why the 2008 Presidential and Congressional candidates do not offer a change in Foreign Policy and why media people do not ask the obvious questions.	Read
September 9, 2008	Peace Partnership International Dot Maver, President & CEO Global Community Affiliated Centres for Education and Training Peace Partnership International dot@peacepartintl.org www.peacepartintl.org www. nationalpeaceacademy.us Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace www.mfp-dop.org Dear Friend, Kosta Makreas has encouraged me to update you on our historic initiative to found a National Peace Academy in the United States of America. It is a group effort and we are part of a consortium made up of Case Western Reserve University, Biosophical Institute, and Peace Partnership International. The unique design process we are undertaking is one of the main reasons we are excited about the National Peace Academy. It is not about simply starting another educational institution. It is about infusing and reflecting the principles and practices of peace throughout the process itself and through the emerging institution. You can find out more about the National Peace Academy at www.nationalpeaceacademy.us. Founding a National Peace Academy initiative is one of three major initiatives we are engaged in at Peace Partnership International. We are also working closely with the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, and through our initiative, Building Bridges of Peace, we are forging partnerships with and among government, business and civil society to help create a culture of peace. The Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, which Peace Partnership International co-founded in 2005, is a community of individuals and organizations in 36 countries on six continents working to encourage the institutional support for and expression of a culture of peace in governments around the world. Solomon Islands and Nepal already have such government ministries, and Costa Rica is poised to become the third. Learn more at www.mfp-dop.org. Making the shift to a culture of peace requires everyone, in all walks of life, working together to discover - from their own personal and professional perspective - what that shift means for them, why it is important, and how to do it. Our third major initiative, Building Bridges of Peace, is bridging socioeconomic and intergenerational divides to catalyze partnerships for peace. Learn more at http://www.peacepartintl. org/content/blogcategory/108/132/. Please take a moment and visit our website at www.peacepartintl.org. Once you have familiarized yourself with our work, we invite you to spread the word via our easy-to-use Refer-a-Friend system at www.peacepartintl. org/tellfriends. Thank you for your tireless efforts as we all work together to create a better world. Your support and encouragement is deeply appreciated. Please let me know if you have any questions or desire further information. In the spirit of peace, Dot Maver, President & CEO	Read
September 10, 2008	South Africa: A 21st Century Struggle by Beth Weaver Environmental Defense Fund TakeAction@environmentaldefense.org http://edf.org/home.cfm South Africa faces a multitude of struggles of its own — an enormous rate of unemployment and the lack of quality education for a huge portion of the population result in high crime rates and widespread poverty that perpetuates racial divide. This remaining divide cripples the South African economy and disheartens many South Africans who dreamt that the end of apartheid would be the end of the nation's problems. Environmental degradation and the growing scarcity of natural resources are increasingly affecting life in South Africa and adding great strains on an already fragile economy. Water conservation is at the forefront of the debate. At each guest house where I stayed, I'd see signs reminding us of the necessity of conserving water, which is widely thought of as Africa's most precious resource. The threat of global warming was also present. Several South Africans I met on my journey noted how the weather has been different in recent years and how "we now go from winter directly into summer." No matter how much time one spends trying to save endangered species and protect the environment, it is always a humbling experience to happen upon a plant or animal that is one of the last of its kind. The South African environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk warned that global warming is already impacting the ecosystem of Kruger National Park. He said many of the species could face extinction and added, "If the phenomenon continues unabated, the damage to one of South Africa's most celebrated and popular conservation and tourism areas could be shattering."	Read
September 9, 2008	What Iceland Can Teach America by David Yarnold TakeAction@environmentaldefense.org Iceland's commitment to harnessing renewable energy resources is absolutely inspirational. Their use of geothermal power is groundbreaking. As much as 70% of Iceland's total energy (and 100% of its electricity and heat) comes from renewable energy. This is the highest percentage of any country in the world and puts Iceland on track to meet its goal of providing 100% of its energy needs from zero-emission renewable energy sources before mid-century. To complete their mission, Iceland plans to use geothermal electricity to split hydrogen from water and use hydrogen fuel cells for its fishing fleets and transportation sector, the last industries in Iceland still using fossil fuels. A 2006 MIT study concluded that about 100 Gigawatts of economically viable energy could be developed in the lower 48 states. That's enough energy to power 50 million homes. Iceland's ability to tap their renewable energy resources and maintain a modern, growing economy is a remarkable case study in how we can break free from our addiction to fossil fuels. Iceland has taken care to protect its wildlife from exotic predators; so this puffin with its absurdly oversized and colorful beak knew it had no reason to fear me.	Read
September 8, 2008	Murdering Mother Earth by Jason Miller, Cyrano’s Journal Online’s associate editor. Countercurrents.org Nuclear power only produces 20% of the electricity consumed in the US, but accounts for a number of staggering problems we simply keep sweeping under the rug for future generations to solve. Forget logic or consideration for our children or for Mother Earth, though. John McCain, Greanpeace founder Patrick Moore, and a host of other whores to the nuclear power industry hail nuclear energy as a “green” alternative to fossil fuels and clamor for more. Since nuclear plants rely on large bodies of water to cool reactors (and avoid a melt-down) and discharge about 70% of the heat they generate (as waste), they are vulnerable to droughts and cause significant thermal pollution in the bodies of water that cool them. Nuclear power production begins to contaminate the environment with radioactivity before the fuel even arrives at the plant. It takes a tonne of uranium ore to produce 3 kilograms of uranium oxide. While the tailings that are left behind emit small levels of radiation, they do release radon gas and radioactive dust at a rate 10,000 times faster than the unmined ore. This nuclear contamination stays in the environment for 100,000 years and over time reaches such high levels that a Los Alamos Laboratory report concluded that we need to, “to zone the land in uranium mining and milling districts to forbid human habitation.” Nuclear power facilities produce a steady stream of low-level radioactive waste, including gas, solid and liquid. Gaseous and liquid wastes are “cleaned and diluted,” but are eventually released into the environment. Solid wastes are transported to one of three low-level radiation disposal sites in the US where they continue accumulating and emitting radiation into the environment. Sounds Earth-friendly, doesn’t it? About once a year 33% of a reactor’s fuel rods are replaced, producing anywhere from 12 to 30 tonnes of high level nuclear waste. The frightening part is that we’ve been using this “green” technology for 40 years now and still haven’t figured out a safe and permanent means of disposing of its extremely dangerous and lethal by-products. Temporary pools or dry cask storage (large steel cylinders that require constant monitoring) onsite at nuclear facilities house most of the spent reactor fuel, which will remain a dire threat to the environment for tens of thousands of years. Nuclear power plants are running out of storage capacity and the “permanent storage solution” at Yucca Mountain, projected to be operational in 2017, is little more than a tentative and distant speck on the horizon. Nuclear reactors are “dual-use” by virtue of the fact that plutonium is one of their by-products and plutonium can be used to produce nuclear weapons. Small wonder our ruling class trembles with fear (hence their belligerence, bullying and macho posturing) at the prospect of Iran (a nation which refuses to genuflect to the American/Israeli Empire) developing nuclear reactors to generate power. And someone please explain what it is that’s so “green” about a source of electricity that produces waste that people (whom our malevolent and brutal foreign policy has pissed off—there are millions and millions of them) could use to make a “dirty bomb” and then deploy it against us. Granted the potential efficacy of a dirty bomb is subject to debate, but who wants to find out? We already have 104 repositories for bomb-making materials scattered across the United States. Let’s push to add more! While many anti-nuclear activists focus their efforts on opposing the issuance of licenses to build new nuclear power plants, another approach may prove to be more effective and is in play at this moment. Members of IPSEC, a group of over 70 community groups, have devoted themselves to shutting down the nuclear power plant known as the Indian Point Energy Center. Grassroots and non-profit, the objective of IPSEC groups like Riverkeeper is to replace nukes with a truly safe form of sustainable energy and to preserve the integrity of the environment. If IPSEC is successful in setting a precedent by catalyzing the shuttering of Indian Point, a domino effect could ensue and spell the beginning of the end for the menace of nuclear power. Indian Point is situated about 25 miles from New York City, a rather populous area, eh? (93 million people live within a 500 mile radius of this nuclear facility, most of whom would be impacted by a major accident or meltdown at Indian Point). “Without continuous monitoring and guaranteed water flow, the thousands of tons of radioactive rods in the cores and the thousands more stored in those fragile pools would rapidly melt into super-hot radioactive balls of lava that would burn into the ground and the water table and, ultimately, the Hudson.” Indian Point Energy Center manifests nearly all that is inane and insane about humans shattering atomic nuclei and hubristically believing we can play with the fires of hell without getting burned…..	Read
September 8, 2008	Nuclear Waiver - Blow To Non-Proliferation by Praful Bidwai, Inter Press Service Countercurrents.org The special waiver granted to India by the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) from its nuclear trade rules is being seen as a massive setback to the cause of global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. The NSG's waiver will allow India to resume nuclear commerce with the rest of the world with very few restrictions although India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has refused to accede to any other agreement for preventing the spread of, reducing the numbers of, or abolishing nuclear weapons. Clearly though, the waiver only became possible because of the strong-arm methods used by the U.S. to bludgeon dissenting NSG members into agreeing to the exemption text it had drafted in consultation with India. Contrary to the claim that the waiver, and more generally, the U.S.-India nuclear deal, will bring India into the global "non-proliferation mainstream" or promote nuclear restraint on India's part, it will allow India to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal and encourage a nuclear arms race in Asia, particularly in the volatile South Asian subcontinent, where Pakistan emerged as India's nuclear rival 10 years ago. The special waiver has been roundly criticised by nuclear disarmament and peace groups throughout the world, including in India. With the waiver under its belt, India can proceed to import uranium fuel, of which it is running short, and a range of other nuclear materials, equipment and technologies for its civilian nuclear programme. But it can divert domestic uranium exclusively for weapons purposes. India accepts no limits or restrictions on the size of its nuclear arsenal and has an ambitious nuclear doctrine under which it continues to stockpile fissile material for weapons use.	Read
September 6, 2008	Why We're Planning To Prosecute Cheney And Bush by David Swanson, byu@wittenberg.edu Countercurrents.org Next weekend in Andover, Mass., a group of attorneys, academics, and activists will gather to plan the prosecution of Dick Cheney, George Bush, and the lawyers and advisors who, together with them, are responsible for war crimes. The conference is open to the public and expected to be well attended: http://war-crimes.info In a December 31, 2007, editorial, the New York Times faulted the current president and vice president of the United States for kidnapping innocent people, denying justice to prisoners, torturing, murdering, circumventing U.S. and international law, spying in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and basing their actions on "imperial fantasies." If the editorial had been about Bush and Cheney robbing a liquor store or killing a small number of people or robbing a small amount of money or torturing a single child, then the writers at the New York Times would have demanded immediate prosecution and incarceration. Can you guess what they actually demanded? They demanded that we sit back and hope the next president and vice president will be better. Well, what if they are? The next guy who walked into the liquor store or played with the child would be better too. But how does that fact deter future crimes? Well, we can announce new policies, pass new legislation, amend the Constitution. We can shift power to the Congress, and clean up our electoral system to allow real representation of the people in the Congress. We can shift our resources from the military to peaceful enterprises. We can eliminate secret government and create total transparency. We can perfect the brilliant cutting-edge democratic system that our nation created over two centuries ago and has done little to update since. We can put an end to plutocracy, reclaim our airwaves, ban war propaganda, and develop wholly different public attitudes toward those 95.5 percent of people in the world who are not Americans. And so we should. But even if we could do all of those things instantly, it would not be sufficient to chain the dogs of war. Exquisite laws and enlightened public attitudes are of no use at all as long as presidents and vice presidents suffer no penalty for disobeying them, and in fact benefit politically and financially. And we can make citizens arrests all on our own right now: http://afterdowningstreet.org/citizenarrest	Read
September 6, 2008	China Still On-Side With Russia by Yu Bin, byu@wittenberg.edu Countercurrents.org Sino-Russian relations have been under intense scrutiny lately because of the Georgian-Russian conflict over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. In the early morning of August 8, 2008, when President Dmitry Medvedev was on vacation and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Beijing attending the Summer Olympics Games, Georgia launched a military offensive to surround and capture Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. Putin, who was in Beijing prior to the Olympics opening ceremony, immediately informed the Chinese side in his meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao on August 8. China's reaction to Georgia's assault, according to Putin, was that "nobody needs the war", which was also US President George W Bush's reaction. The Georgian-Russian conflict is in essence between Russia and the US. Beijing's public "neutrality" toward the Georgia-Russian conflict, however, should not be a surprise in that it has been the pattern in China's diplomacy since the 1980s. In almost all cases ranging from international crises (Korean Peninsula, Iran, Kashmir, etc) to bilateral disputes (the South China Sea with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the East China Sea with Japan, border settlements with Russia, Vietnam, India - in progress- etc), China has opted for dialogue and compromise, rather than confrontation or side-taking. The same operational principle has applied to difficult issues such as Hong Kong and Taiwan. Aside from this predictable pattern of China's approach to conflict and disputes, the timing of the conflict was also an irritant for Beijing. China did not want any conflict at the historical moment of hosting the Olympics, whether Russia was part of the conflict or not. Given the complexities of the ethnic conflicts dating back to the 1920s, its evolving nature and the US looming large in the background, China's cautious reaction was expected, if not desirable for Moscow. What China did was perhaps rational within the context of its strategic partnership relations with Russia. It is perhaps what Russia would do in a scenario of a China-US conflict over Taiwan. That is, Russia would more likely remain neutral though expressing sympathy for China. This was exactly what Moscow did in 2001 when a US spy plane (EP-3) collided with a Chinese jet fighter (J-8II) off China's coast, leading to a major crisis between China and the US. When the Georgian dust settles, the West may start to comprehend that the Sino-Russian strategic partnership is perhaps not as strong or weak as it appears. What is unclear, however, is whether the crisis between Washington and Moscow will be over, as Washington has rushed US$1 billion aid, and Vice President Dick Cheney, to Georgia and NATO is amassing warships in the Black Sea.	Read
September 5, 2008	Global Realignment: How Bush Inspired A New World Order by Ramzy Baroud Countercurrents.org The series of unfortunate and costly decisions made during the two terms of the Bush administration, combined with economic decline at home, might devastate the US's world standing much sooner than most analysts predict. What was difficult to foresee was that the weakening of US global dominance, spurred by erratic and unwise foreign policy under Bush, would re-ignite the Cold War, to a degree, over a largely distant and seemingly ethnically-based conflict -- that of Georgia and Russia. Who could have predicted a possible association between Baghdad, Kabul and Tbilisi? But to date the decline of US global power to the advent of the Bush administration, or even the horrific events of 11 September 2001, is not exactly accurate. The rapid collapse of the Soviet Union and the unravelling of the Warsaw Pact -- especially as former members of that pact hurried to joined NATO in later years -- empowered a new breed of US elite who boasted of the economic viability and moral supremacy of US-styled "Capitalism and Democracy". But a unipolar world presented the US leadership with an immense, if not an insurmountable task. The wars and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq were aimed at strengthening the US hand in protecting its interests and managing its international affairs. Afghanistan's position was strategic in warding off the growth of the rising powers of Asia -- aside from its military and strategic value, it was hoped to become a major energy supply route -- while Iraq was to provide a permanent US military presence to guard its oil interests in the whole region and to ensure Israeli supremacy over its weaker, but rebellious Arab foes. Faced with foreign occupation, Iraqis fought back, creating a nightmare scenario and promising US defeat in their country. The US's original plan to exploit the country's fractious ethnic and religious groupings also backfired, as shifting alliances made it impossible for the US to single out a permanent enemy or a long-term ally. In Afghanistan, the picture is even more bleak as the country's unforgivable geography, the corruption of US local allies, resurgence of the Taliban, and the US-led coalition's brutal response to the Taliban's emboldened ascension, has rendered Afghanistan a lost cause by any reasonable military standard. The new military limitations faced by the US in the Middle East have also resulted in the weakening of US political sway and standing. More, its regional allies have also suffered one blow after another: Israel in Lebanon, Georgia in South Ossetia, US allies in Venezuela and other South American countries, etc. Indeed, it is a matter of time before a challenger to US global hegemony arises and tests US resolve under new circumstances. While growing US involvement in Eurasia and its missile defence shield was considered part and parcel of the neo-con plan for "rebuilding America's defences", it was considered by Russia a threat to its national security. The Georgian invasion of South Ossetia represented a golden opportunity for Moscow to send an unmistakable message to Washington. By crushing the US-Israeli trained Georgian army, Russia declared itself a contender to unchallenged US global dominance, which had lasted for nearly two decades. Countries such as Iran and Syria are quickly warming up to the new Russia, as the latter seeks to rebuild its own alliances and defences.	Read
September 5, 2008	Going On An Imperial Bender by Tom Engelhardt Countercurrents.org According to Pentagon records, in fact, there are 761 active military "sites" abroad. The fact is: We garrison the planet north to south, east to west, and even on the seven seas, thanks to our various fleets and our massive aircraft carriers which, with 5,000-6,000 personnel aboard -- that is, the population of an American town -- are functionally floating bases. The U.S. has 106 bases in Iraq at a cost that, while unknown, must have been staggering indeed. U.S. negotiators finally offered the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki its terms for a so-called status of forces agreement, evidently initially demanding the right to occupy into the distant future 58 of the bases it has built. In the U.S., military bases really only matter, and so make headlines, when the Pentagon attempts to close some of the vast numbers of them scattered across this country. Then, the fear of lost jobs and lost income in local communities leads to headlines and hubbub. Of course, millions of Americans know about our bases abroad firsthand. In this sense, they may be the least well kept secrets on the planet. American troops, private contractors, and Defense Department civilian employees all have spent extended periods of time on at least one U.S. base abroad. And yet no one seems to notice the near news blackout on our global bases or consider it the least bit strange. It's hard for us even to begin to grasp just how military (and punitive) is the face that the U.S. has presented to the world, especially during George W. Bush's two terms in office. Americans are unlikely to be able to shoulder forever the massive global role the Pentagon and successive administrations have laid out for us. Sooner or later, cutbacks will come and the sun will slowly begin to set on our base-world abroad.	Read
September 4, 2008	Surviving Peak Oil: Obstacles To Relocation by Cliff Wirth clifford.wirth@yahoo.com http://survivingpeakoil.blogspot.com/ Countercurrents.org Oil and natural gas depletion will soon begin to undermine the capacity of urban and metropolitan areas to sustain human life. Modern urban and metropolitan life depends on oil and natural gas for food production and distribution, residential heating, water purification and distribution, sanitation, and the power grid that delivers electricity for the pumping of gasoline and diesel, airports, communications, elevators, home heating controls, and automated building systems. As international food transport collapses, most oil rich nations face starvation too, regardless of how much oil they possess. Oil depletion means population decline for all urban areas. The notion that urban and suburban dwellers will relocate to small villages in agricultural regions is unrealistic. In the ensuing Peak Oil generated global economic depression, the value of urban residential properties will plummet. Increasing unemployment will slow new house sales and accelerate mortgage and property tax foreclosures. With more and more urban homes up for sale, their prices will decline sharply. And, as the price of urban property declines in value, rural property will increase in comparative value. At the same time, the cost of building new homes in rural areas will increase with the increasing cost of oil and natural gas. Building materials (asphalt and fiberglass shingles, cement, plastic and aluminum siding, fiberglass insulation, glass, lumber, and bricks) are either made from oil or they are manufactured with the energy of oil, natural gas, and coal. All building materials and construction workers are transported using oil (diesel and gasoline). Electricity that is used in the manufacture and construction of houses will also become more expensive. Coal (which is transported with diesel) and natural gas (which uses oil in exploration, drilling operations, and transport of workers) provide the energy for electric power generation. Thus coal and natural gas costs, as well as the cost of electricity, will increase with the increasing price of oil. Similarly, the construction of residential water (wells and pumps) and sanitation systems (septic systems or outhouses in rural areas) will cost more and more as the price of oil increases.. Studies by scientific organizations and independent analysts indicate that global crude oil production will now begin to decline, from 74 million barrels per day to 60 million barrels per day by 2015. During the same time demand will increase 14%. This is equivalent to a 33% drop in 7 years. The price of oil will skyrocket like never before. No one can reverse this trend, nor can we conserve our way out of this catastrophe. Because the demand for oil is so high, it will always exceed the level of production; thus oil depletion will proceed at the same rate until all recoverable oil is extracted. Alternatives energies will not fill the gap. And most alternatives yield electric power, but we need liquid fuels for tractors/combines, 18 wheel trucks, trains, ships, and mining equipment. The proponents of the electric economy, the hydrogen economy, or an algal bio-diesel economy ignore the obvious. There is little capital, time, energy, or public will for such trillion dollar infrastructure makeovers. The belief in alternative energies is so strong that most scientists avoid examining obvious questions – does the development of alternative energies consume more energy than they provide, and do alternative energies consume liquid fuels and give us electric power, which is not what we need? We are facing the collapse of the highways that depend on diesel trucks for maintenance of bridges, cleaning culverts to avoid road washouts, snow plowing, roadbed and surface repair. When the highways fail, so will the power grid, as highways carry the parts, transformers, steel for pylons, and high tension cables, all from far away. With the highways out, there will be no food coming in from "outside," and without the power grid virtually nothing works, including home heating, pumping of gasoline and diesel, airports, communications, and automated systems. After the last power black out, the people living in rural areas will find that surviving will become increasing difficult without all of the goods from the “outside” (food, canning jars, fencing, roofing, hay, straw, seed, animal feed, plastic tarps, fertilizer, clothes, fabric, medicine, hardware, saws, wood stoves, etc.). The survivors will be the very few who live in areas with good rain and soil and who prepared intelligently for a life without oil.	Read
September 4, 2008	Overcoming Human Nature: The Revolution Of The Meek by Peter Chamberlin peter.chamberlin@yahoo.com Countercurrents.org I see clearly the rising image of the new race, a new culture dedicated to enlightenment. The new mankind will be hungry for knowledge, in the same way that the current race is hungry for wealth and power. The new man will seek to overcome life's problems through understanding them, instead of forcefully re-ordering them to a more acceptable configuration. In order for us to open a new path to awakening a generation of new men we must expose the corruption and imminent collapse of the old order, which is based on economic control, and visualize the new earth, based on cooperation and shared humanity. We see a new world, not based on control and the idea of domination, but one of unlimited human potential, given free rein to grow and understand the problems that we create for ourselves. The old world order must give way to a new world that has no center, where edicts and coercive dictates do not exist. In the new order, power will flow from each person. In the old order, everyman was encouraged to want to be king. "Success" was measured by how close you came to fulfilling this kingly ambition. The "aristocracy" ("rule by the best," meaning the wealthiest) came to rule over mankind, with each man giving his consent to the arrangement. The cultivated desire to live like kings is the glue that bound the kingdom together, becoming the basis of the capitalist system. The "aristocrats" were a minority of individuals possessed of the desire to dominate and control all things within their grasp. The economic system created by the aristocracy is a system of control, enforced by laws and armies, designed to expand, without end, until all life on the planet is brought under aristocratic domination. The expansion of the system will not stop until all resources are brought under their control. In order for the system to function, the majority of the people have to remain as willing to submit to the economic domination of the wealthy minority as the elite are determined to dominate them. But a funny thing happened on the way to the world dictatorship, just before total resource domination was achieved, the majority began to resist. The "meek" were starting to assert their will to hold onto the little that they had. The resistance of the meek had begun. When governments all over the world work together to preserve their collective illegitimate powers, then it is time for a worldwide revolution to set all men free. To all the members of the United States Congress I say, if you, as our representatives, allow the invasion of another country, or the introduction of American troops into the streets of the United States, for the purpose of ending democracy and eliminating the Bill of Rights, then the revolution awaits you. To President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid, I say to you, if you move forward with your plans for world war or for establishing a police state in America, for the purpose of seizing control of the world's energy sources and creating an illegitimate world government, then the revolution awaits you, with all its fury. America's illegitimate power can no longer be maintained. America's military and other powers of persuasion can no longer contain the actions of the other governments of the world. Killing is not the solution, the saving and improving of all life is the answer. This country has amassed the largest debt that the world has ever witnessed, for the sake of empowering the military machine used to dominate the world. This debt will never be repaid. This requires that we stop our war of terrorism and devote a large portion of those funds dedicated to waging the war into an international re-building effort, to begin to repair the nations we have destroyed and to alleviate some of the human suffering we have caused. In the new world economy, the illegitimate power of capitalism, which can only be maintained by military force, will have been broken itself. This breakdown will cause unimaginable suffering to intensify, as the food distribution chains break down, as well. What would an investment equivalent to one year of the Pentagon's budget (or the amount spent on new weapons systems in one year) do towards insuring that more people do not starve because of America's mistakes?	Read

Message from the Editor

The Editor of the Global Information Media is now accepting articles, letters, reports, research papers, discussions and global dialogues, and messages for publication. This Media is a way to communicate workable sound solutions to problems arising in the world. Let us share our problems and workable sound solutions. Sharing information is a necessity to all life and humanity's survival. Our world is changing fast before our eyes, and we must react quickly and hard to protect all life on Earth. No hesitation! Right now and no waiting! Life on the planet is our first priority. We must protect it at all costs. We, global citizens, fight to protect life on Earth for this generation and the next ones. We are the defenders of the environment and the global life-support systems. We know who the beasts are, and how they destroy the living on our planet. We have rallied together all over the world to protect our home, Earth. But this time we are not alone. We know it all! We know how everything works. And we will do whatever it takes to protect life on Earth. "We the Peoples", the Global Community, are the Earth revolutionaries, and we will protect life on Earth at all costs.

This is the main index for the Global Information Media (GIM)

concerning activities of the Global Community.

GIM was organized with more than sixty sections. Each section allows everyone to participate in the Global Dialogue. You pick an issue, and you participate. All sections may contain any of the following information: abstracts, research papers, notes, outlines, videos and other works of art, posters, articles, letters, press releases, reports, and newsletters. They may also contain discussions, global dialogues, brain-storming exercises on issues, or just email messages from interested participants and groups.

We are delighted to receive new articles for future Newsletters from our readers. It is imperative that, if you give us permission to re-print, all or in part, you include all copyright verification of permission of quote. We do not have a copyright research expert to do this work.

Just so you all know we don't pay anyone, and we don't pay expenses. We do volunteer work for humanity. We expect volunteers to be responsible and accountable of all their actions. We do soft activism work. The Global Constitution shows us how to operate our organization. We follow Global Law as shown in the Global Constitution. All those who do volunteer work for us must become familliar with it and become 'global citizens'. We want our volunteers to be completely loyal to the Global Community and to the values and principles we promote.

The Editor.

Message from the Spiritual Leader of the Global Community

The world is in a state of perpetual turmoil. We are worlds within worlds orbiting in and through each other’s space. Our interactions with one another can be planned and executed in a caring, considerate manner so that all may exist and not destroy the other.

A good place to start this day would be to see the people living in far away places as we see our neighbors. Neighbors are people we should see as people very much like ourselves. Love your neighbors as yourself. Many scientists have shown that our genetic make-up as human beings are not that much different than that of many other life-forms. The reality is that we as people are not that much different from one another. Our education and upbringings are different and created cultural and religious differences. Conflicts originate often because of these cultural and religious differences.

My teaching for the day is to make the effort to understand what make us different from one another and find a way to appreciate those differences. We also have to make the effort of understanding other life-forms in Nature and appreciate the differences. Because of brain capacity, we dont expect other life-forms of understanding us, but we do have a moral responsibility of understanding them and appreciate the differences. God loves diversity in Nature and in Souls. God loves good Souls from all cultures and religions, and from all life. Yes there is a Soul in every living life-form and God loves them too.

Germain
Spiritual Leader of the Global Community
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/GPA/Lifeisprotected.htm

Message from the President of Earth Government

As a first step to getting help, all nations can and should approve those first three sections on the Scale of Global Rights.

The approval would supersede the political and physical borders of participating member nations. The Global Protection Agency (GPA) would have the approval from all member nations to give immediate help, bypassing normal government protocols. Somewhat like an emergency unit but at the global level. That is what those first three sections mean. They represent an efficient and immediate emergency response to help.

First, participating member nations need to give their approval to the Global Protection Agency ( GPA).

The GPA is a global organization much like the World Trade Organization (WTO) for trade between nations, the World Health Organization (WHO) for health, or the European Union, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), South American Community of Nations (SACON) for trade and economics. The GPA offers an efficient emergency response to help. The GPA is a short term solution, an immediate and efficient response to help.

There are also long term solutions. As with the short term solution, the most significant long term solution is also related to the Scale of Global Rights. The Scale was entrenched in the Global Constitution and is thus the fundamental guide to Global Law. Now the Scale of Global Rights is a long term solution and is also a part of the Global Movement to Help of the Global Community. The Scale was designed to help all life on Earth. What would be preferable is that nations unite amongst themselves to help.

Over time, we have seen the creation of the United Nations, the European Union, the South American Community of Nations, and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Except for the UN, these organizations are mainly concerned with trade and economics. The Global Community offers a more meaningful union in the form of nine or more Global Governments. For instance the South American Community of Nations can be a Global Government by simply accepting the Global Constitution as a way of dealing between member nations. A Global Government is concerned not only with economics and trade, but also with the environment, health, agriculture, energy, food, social, cultural and many other essential aspects. The Federation of Global Governments is the place of meeting between Global Governments. The very first step of the Federation, and maybe the only one for several decades ahead of us, would be the approval of essential services amongst the participating member nations. The Global Community has researched and developed such services and listed them here.

All of them are already in operation on a small scale.

I believe that there is no greater task in the world today than for the Global Community to proceed through the maturation of its leadership, emerging from a more self-interested adolescence as a global leader into a nobler adulthood. We have the potential to act as a torchbearer for a better tomorrow. Do we heed the call? I hope this message has convinced many international organizations and the millions of people who have been with us over the past decades, that the question of how to proceed with that maturation is of far deeper significance than the reforming of the United Nations. In fact the United Nations should not be reformed it should be replaced by the Federation. I thus pray that we move with wisdom, grace, clarity, and love in the days, years, and even decades ahead.

Germain Dufour
Spiritual Leader of the Global Community
(short Bio)
President
Earth Government

Note concerning personal info sent to us by email

Our policy concerning personal information is simple: we dont show it. That includes phone numbers, fax numbers, addresses and any personal notes. Please do indicate what you consider a personal note as sometime it is hard to tell.

What we show is the work done by participants and authors, and their email addresses if any. We will show any work concerning issues, email discussions, opinions, articles, letters, reports, works of art, research papers, discussions and global dialogues, and messages for publication.

And also please note that our computer harddrives will not be containing personal info either. This is because of the damage hackers can do.

Celebration of Life Day, May 26, 2008

Dear friends,

On and around May 26, 2008, millions of people joined together in a global call to celebrate Life, the gift to the universe from God.

Congratulations to all on an incredible Life Day!

Celebration of Life Day
is May 26 every year, a day to say
thank you God for the gift of Life on Earth

On May 26, 2008, the Global Community has asked all Peoples of the world to participate in this celebration of Life in your own community. The following project was appropriate to everyone.

From the experience in your life and local community tell us:

*    Why are you important to this "Global Community"?
*    Why is it important to you?
*    What do you like about it?
*    What bothers you about it?
*    Anything need to be done?
*    What is really good there?
*     What is very very important?
*     What is not so important?
*     What is not good?
*     What is needed to keep the good things?
*     What could make them even better?
*     What could you do to keep the good things good?
*     Could they help get rid of bad things?
*     What unimportant things need to go?
*     How could you help get rid of these things?

to sustain Earth, humanity and all life.

Please send us the following information:

1.     What are the most important issues that would allow your community become more sustainable? Over the past several years, many communities have held Life Day dialogues to determine the answer to this question. We look forward to hearing from all of you.

2.     A brief story of success in your community from the last 10 years in regard to a sound sustainable development.

3.     A picture related to the above or to a Life Day event.

4.     A sample of your idea of the Earth Flag.

We will gather this information from groups all over the world and compile it into a comprehensive report. Your work will be shown during the new Global Dialogue 2006. Please mail or email your ideas, pictures and descriptions, Earth Flag samples to:

Germain Dufour, President
Earth Government

Visit our website for more details concerning the Celebration of Life Day.

Celebration of Life Day

On May 26, as part of the Global Community Peace Movement,

the Human Family,we will be rejoicing with all Peoples of the world , and all life, for the annual Celebration of Life Day. Life is the most precious gift ever given by God to the universe and this event needs to be celebrated.

At the early stage of the formation of the Earth, and a while later, all the conditions for the formation of life were present, and life was created to better serve God. Life was made of matter and every particle of that matter had a Soul that merged with all the others. A Soul is a part of the Spirit of God, His consciousness, and is a living, loving presence, a Being. A Soul can merge with other Souls and become one Soul, and it can evolve as well. The first spark of life was the cause for the formation of a unique and independent Soul to better serve God. Throughout the different evolutionary stages of life on Earth, Souls have guided the step-by-step evolution of life and kept merging with one another to better serve God. They guided the evolutionary process in small, incremental ways over a period of several billion years. Many groupings of Souls became more complex than others as they were much brighter beings than other groupings, but all serve God in their own special way.

One unique and most wonderful grouping was the grouping that made the Human Soul. God loves the human Souls a lot because of their wonderful qualities. Over the past thousands of years, through their Souls human beings became conscious of God in many different ways. Religions of all kinds started to spread on Earth to adore God and pray. Different groupings of Souls affected human beings in different ways and Peoples today have different religious beliefs. God is like a river feeding plentifully and bountifully all lifeforms and plants. There are many pathways leading to the river. They are God's pathways. God loves diversity in Nature and in Souls. God loves good Souls from all religions.

Different religions have different ways to love, adore and pray to God. And God's Heaven exists. Heaven on Earth is different from God's Heaven. To be in Heaven with God will mean a Soul has left the matter of the universe forever to enter God's Heaven.

The Divine Will or Will of God is the most powerful force of the universe and is pure spiritual energy. The Will of God is for life to reach God, God’s Pure Light, in the best possible ways. Life is the building block through which Souls can have a meaningful relationship with God. By observing the Universe, the galaxies, we are observing and studying God. We are seeing His magnificence, His greatness, and His complex making. There is more to the Universe we observe today, that is, there is more to God, much more. God is self-existent, eternal and infinite in space and time. Follow God's Word. God's Plan was revealed to humanity a short while ago.

The Divine Plan for humanity is:

a) for everyone to manage Earth responsibly, and
b) about to reach the stars and spread Life throughout the universe and thus help other Souls to evolve and serve God in the best possible ways.

Humanity’s higher purpose is to serve God by propagating life throughout the universe. Humanity will evolve spiritually to fulfill God's Plan. The human species has reached a point in its evolution where it knows its survival is being challenged. The human species knows through the Souls and now that all human Souls have merged together and formed the Soul of Humanity, we will find it easier to fight for our own survival. The Soul of Humanity does not make decisions for us and can only help us understand and guide us on the way. In the past, human beings have had some kind of symbiotical relationship

(which is something common in Nature between lifeforms in an ecosystem) with the Souls, and now with the Soul of Humanity. We work together for both our survival and well-being. Cooperation and symbiosis between lifeforms (especially human beings) on Earth and between lifeforms and their Souls and the Soul of Humanity have become a necessity of life. We help one another, joint forces, and accomplish together what we cannot accomplish separately. Several billion years ago this symbiosis between matter and Souls resulted in the making of complex biochemical systems. Symbiosis has worked throughout the evolution of life on Earth and today, the Soul of Humanity has decided to be more active with humanity by purifying Souls. The Soul of Humanity shows us the way to better serve God.

The Soul of Humanity is helping to bring about the event of Peace

in the world. Knowing that Earth is a spiritual entity as well as a physical entity in space and time in the universe we begin to have a better relationship with Earth and with all its living inhabitants. This way Earth management

will become a spiritual and a natural process whereby each person is responsible and accountable for its management the best they can. Peace in the world and Earth management have for too long been in the hands of and affected by government and business leaders, in the hands of a few people on the planet, as opposed to being in the hands of all of us (7 billion people on Earth) working together to keep our planet healthy. We are the keepers of the Earth.

The Soul of Humanity will help us:

*     resolve problems, concerns and issues peacefully;
*     reinstate the respect for Earth;
*     work with humanity to keep Earth healthy, productive and hospitable for all people and living things;
*     bring forth a sustainable global society embracing universal values related to human and Earth rights, economic and social justice; respect of nature, peace, responsibility to one another;
*     protect the global life-support systems and manage Earth;
*     evolve spiritually to fulfill God’s Plan; and
*     enter God’s Heaven, His Spirit, His Pure Light, His universal mind and global consciousness.

We have the responsibility of managing Earth. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of life within the Global Community. When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound solution would be to choose a measure or conduct an action, if possible, which causes reversible damage as oppose to a measure or an action causing an irreversible loss.

Life exists on millions of other planets in the universe and our species got to be who we are today through the evolutionary process. Other lifeforms in the universe may have evolved to be at least as advanced as our species. Their Souls may even be more complicated than ours. They may have merged a trillion times more than the human Souls. They may have evolved as well.

We the Peoples of the Global Community, the Human Family, are reaffirming faith in the fundamental human and Earth rights, the Scale of Human and Earth Rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small. We the Peoples implies every individual on Earth, every community and every nation. Earth management is now a priority and a duty of every responsible person on Earth. The Global Community has taken action by calling the Divine Will into our lives and following its guidance. Divine Will is now a part of the Soul of Humanity to be used for the higher purpose of good and life's evolution. We will learn to serve humanity and radiate the Will of God to others.

As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. This requires a change of mind and heart, and calling Divine Will to come into our life to show us the way. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, globally, and within ourselves throughout life. Our cultural diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find their own distinctive ways to realize the vision. We must deepen and expand the global dialogue that generated the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.

Life often involves tensions between important values. This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play. The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for an effective global governance based on global concepts and the Scale of Human and Earth Rights.

In order to build a sustainable global community, each individual, each local community, and national governments of the world must initiate their commitment to the Human Family.

Let our time be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life. Let our expanding consciousness blend with that of the Soul of Humanity.

Humanity welcomes the "Belief, Values, Principles and Aspirations of the Global Community" (see the Global Constitution

on our website) with Faith in the Divine Will and without fears such as the fear of change. Humanity seeks meaningful experiences and embraces the future for the better. Divine Will has caused the event of the Global Community.

Our time is the age of global cooperation and symbiotical relationships. There are many different kinds of symbiotical relationships. Symbiotical relationships exist between nations of the European Union. It is mainly an economic base symbiotical relationship. Other types of symbiotical relationships maybe created all over the world between communities, nations, and between people themselves. The Global Community, the Global Governments Federation, and the Global Government of North America are examples. They may be geographical, economical, social, business-like, political, religious, and personal. There has always been symbiotical relationships in Nature, and between Souls and the matter of the universe to help creating Earth and life on Earth to better serve God.

The Global Community has begun to establish the existence of a meaningful global co-operation all over the planet. National governments and large corporations have taken the wrong direction by asserting that free trade in the world is about competing economically without any moral safeguards and accountability to peoples and the environment. The proper and only way is for free trade to become a global cooperation between all nations. Surely, if we can cooperate in fighting against terrorism, then we should also be able to cooperate in fighting against the effects of the type of free trade and the emergence of the planetary trading blocks as applied by national governments members of the World Trade Organization(WTO). It has already been shown (see Newsletters on our website) that these effects will be disastrous socially and environmentally and are a direct threat to the existence of life on Earth. The Global Community is proposing a solution that the process of trading within the planetary trading blocks be changed from a spirit of global competition to that of global economic cooperation. This is the new way of doing business, the new way of life.

The Global Community has made clear that globalization and planetary trading blocks should be serving the Human Family and not the other way around, the people around the world serving the very few rich individuals. The September 11 event was the result of bad trading of arms and oil and the absence of moral responsibility and accountability in our way of doing business with the Middle East nations. By applying proper moral safeguards and accepting responsibility and accountability of all products (arms and oil in this case), from beginning to end where they become wastes, each corporation would make free trade and globalization serving the Human Family. The September 11 event was also a turning point in human history and indicated the end of the last superpower in the world and the birth of the Global Community. Over its long past history trade has never evolved to require from the trading partners to become legally and morally responsible and accountable for their products from beginning to end. At the end the product becomes a waste and it needs to be properly dispose of. Now trade must be given a new impetus to be in line with the global concepts of the Global Community. When you do exploration work, and develop, manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product, you become legally and morally responsible and accountable of your product from beginning to end (to the point where it actually becomes a waste; you are also responsible for the proper disposable of the waste). This product may be anything and everything from oil & gas, weapons, war products, construction products, transportation and communications products and equipment, to genetically engineered food products. All consumer products! All medical products! All pharmaceutical products! In order words, a person (a person may be an individual, a community, a government, a business, an NGO, or an institution) becomes responsible and accountable for anything and everything in his or her life.

Certainly an important action has been for the Canadian Government to ratify the Kyoto Protocol as it is. No more waiting! Time for action is now! We are all responsible for the creation of global warming, and there are plenty of observable effects. Greenhouse gases are accumulating dangerously in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, and temperatures are rising globally due to these activities. Climate changes have to be manage without delays and the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is only the beginning of a long fight for the protection of life on Earth. There is much more to be done to even come close to what we have to do. The ratification was only the beginning to help save the next generations.

Global consumption is a very important aspect of globalization. Consumers should be concerned with the impact of their decisions on the environment but also on the lives, human and Earth rights and well-being of other people. Since one of the key functions of families as a social institution is to engage in production (selling their labour in return for wages) and consumption (using those wages to buy goods and services), then the role of families has impacts on sustainable consumption and development. Corporations are required to expand their responsibilities to include human and Earth rights, the environment, community and family aspects, safe working conditions, fair wages and sustainable consumption aspects. Global Community has summarized the rights of every person on Earth by developing the Scale of Human and Earth Rights.

The scale will eventually be replacing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Global Constitution established all rights.

Just as corporations have social responsibilities and so do consumers in societies. Consumers are socialized to improve the quality of their lives. Quality of life is a multi-dimensional, complex and very subjective concept. For instance, someone who has changed their consumption habits to better ensure that their choices will make a better quality of life for themselves, the environment and future generations, may be seen by others as having a lower or inferior quality of life since they have removed themselves from the materialistic mainstream characteristic of our consumer society. Someone may feel that an absence of violence and abuse in their life leads to a higher quality of living even though they have fewer tangible resources, money, or shelter; peace of mind and freedom from abuse has increased the quality of their daily life relative to what it was like before. There are universal quality of life values which lead to "human betterment" or the improvement of the human condition. In addition to the value of species survival (human and other living organisms), they include: adequate resources, justice and equality, freedom, and peace or balance of power. A better quality of life for all people of the Global Community Earth Government is a goal for all of us and one of our universal values.

Global Community found that an adequate level of health care is a universal value as well as a human right. We expect adequate health services to be accessible, affordable, compassionate and socially acceptable. We believe that every individual of a society is co-responsible for helping in implementing and managing health programmes along with the government and the public institutions.

Being unified under the Soul of Humanity, Divine Will, God the Spirit and the Human Family dissolve all barriers and expand our global consciousness. We become more whole and complete within ourselves and as a group. Our common Spirit is able to resolve planetary problems in a coherent way. One common 'global Vision'

allows us to see how all the parts of the whole relate to each other. We have the right relationship with one another, with all lifeforms and Earth itself, and with the Soul of Humanity, the Divine Will and God the Spirit.

On May 26, let us all celebrate life in our heart, mind and Spirit. Let us thank God for the gift of life.

Cultural Appreciation Day August 22 of each year

On August 22 of every year the Global Community celebrates the Global Cultural Day, the Cultural Appreciation Day. The event's theme is "Culture, Values and Social Development."

Noting that culture and development are not mutually exclusive, event organizers are asked to promote a union between historical preservation and future local - global growth. The Global Community is rich with tradition and art. Culture is certainly tangible - churches, temples and monuments; and intangible - heritage with performing arts, fine arts or visual arts. Every community is based on a society distinctly different from any other country and its people.

The Cultural Appreciation Day celebration.

The Cultural Appreciation Day celebration promotes the meaning of culture, the real nature of Humanity and what inhibits its development.

It is for all, regardless of education, age, race, political or religious beliefs. The idea of the Cultural Appreciation Day celebration is that Humanity in truth is limitless, and that there is a unity underlying all the apparent diversity in our daily lives.

Activities

Activities during the celebration may include mask making, cooking, singing, music, dance/drama, and puppet making by and for the children.

The day provides vendors, live entertainment, children's activities, and food in celebration of the various cultural groups.

The Cultural Appreciation Day celebration occurs at the same time and is an important part of the Global Exhibition.

For the third year since the first time ever promoting of a Global Exhibition, there is a Global Exhibition at the time of Global Dialogue 2008, and at the same site in Nanaimo. It is also occurring everywhere else in the world along with Global Dialogue 2008. People of all nations are asked to organize a Global Exhibition during the period August 17 - August 22 of each year.

We seek more symbiotical relationships with people and organizations

The Global Community has a symbiotical relationship with many people and organizations all over the planet. We work together to help create a better future for all life on Earth. Check the website especially created for educating on the issue of Earth ownership.

For examples we have symbiotical relatinships with:

Global Environment Ministry
Sustainable Civilisation, Peace and Disarmament
Sustainable Development Global Information Society
Global Peace Movement
Global Justice Movement
Global Movement to Help essential services
Global Community of North America (GCNA) Emergency, Rescue, and Relief Centre
Global Community Assessment Centre (GCAC)
Global Governments Federation
Global Community Affiliated Centres for Education and Training

Global Dialogue 2009 has many other issues

than Earth ownership, and we wish to set up symbiotical relationships with other groups on those other issues for the benefits of all life on Earth. Anyone interested please contact us.

Proceedings of Global Dialogue 2008

Proceedings of Global Dialogue 2008 are now ready for reading and found on the Global Community website.

As a start to reading the Proceedings we suggest you read the summary table of the Proceedings of Global Dialogue 2009 shown here and as evaluated by the Global Community Assessment Centre (GCAC). And again the next step might be to read the info from Participants and authors.

Global Files of our participants show more of the work presented to the Dialogue.

Please let us know of any corrections and omissions, or if you would prefer your name and info not be published on the Global Community website. Our services are free, and we do not charge fees.

Summary Table

These five sections give you a good idea of what we have done throughout the year from September 1st 2007 to August 31 2008, and what needs to be done in the coming years. The final product of this global process is to give humanity a sense of direction for a better future. This final product is shown in the Proceedings.

We are showing the way.

Contact Information
Telephone: 250-754-0778
Postal address: 186 Bowlsby Street, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada V9R 5K1
Electronic mail: globalcommunity@telus.net

Website: http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/
Webmaster: gdufour@globalcommunitywebnet.com