Clear Conscience
Think Globally
In this day and age it's pretty hard not to be aware, on at least some level, of the vast disparity between the lives most of us lead and the lives of millions upon millions of people in developing countries. It's hard, too, not to feel guilty--and even ridiculous--about bemoaning the price of a latte when confronted with the facts about war, hunger, disease, and other horrors beyond our imagining that people not so very different from us are enduring every day. With the internet and cable television having made the world so much smaller, we can no longer plead ignorance of the plight of others, no matter how many of thousands of miles away they might be. This time of year, especially--after having spent many hundreds of dollars on holiday gifts and indulgences--my conscience isn't feeling particularly clear. Read more.
Ireland: One Conflict, Two Countries
When you think about Europe, you probably think about quite a prosperous and relatively peaceful continent. If you consider some of the more troublesome areas in the world like Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, or Israel and Palestine, then a country like Ireland, which has recently shown a great increase in economic development, can look like a quiet and calm country. Read more.
Syria: Gateway to History
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country too much associated with what is wrong in the world today. If I didn't know better, I would think such a country as Syria was made up entirely of evil, and that and nothing but evil lived and grew there. But, of course, evil can reside everywhere and in every person, no matter his religion, background, education, location or nationality. Read more.
Dubai - Land of Plenty
If any place on earth can be called "manmade," it is Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates in the Arabian Gulf. One would expect that most of its revenues come from oil for no other reason than its geography, but this is not the case. In fact, oil generates just less than 10% of its revenues, while the Jebel Ali Free Zone and tourism make up the rest. Read more.
The Guiana Twins
The two countries British and French Guiana have fascinated me with their names. Though they have Suriname situated between them, they seem to me like twins, one British and one French. Read more.
The Land of a Million Elephants: Laos
It strikes me funny that a country with only four letters in its name is also known as the land of a million elephants. Actually, Laos is short for Lao People's Democratic Republic, and in addition to all those elephants, it has about 6 million human inhabitants. Geographically and politically, it is one of the most isolated countries in the world. It lies squeezed between neighbour countries China, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam. Along with Vietnam and Cambodia, it is one of the former states of French Indochina. Read more.
Tonga -- Malo e lelei
The Pacific harbours many well-known gem-like islands. You're probably familiar with the Fiji Islands, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. All spectacularly beautiful, the pictures portraying these islands in magazines are dreamlike. When I think of fantasy islands I think these little spots of heaven. Tonga is an island group and kingdom in the Pacific Ocean that fits right in with the beach fantasy. Read more.
Ukraine -- A Point of No Return
Ukraine, a country nestled between Russia, Belorussia, Moldova, Slovakia, Rumania, Hungary and Poland, became independent of the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991. That, of course, was a turning point. Suddenly Ukraine was faced with the necessity of distinguishing itself from its neighbours, especially the giant-like Russia, a task made very difficult because of geographical as well as political divisions. Read more.
Some Consciences Are Not That Clear in Las Vegas
No matter where you live, I don't think there are many who haven't heard of Las Vegas. As soon as I say the name aloud, my eyes start to flash, my cheeks start to blush and my slot-machine arm starts twitching. I've been to Las Vegas, you see, but luckily, I left in time. Read more.
Just a little bit
"Just a little bit ...."
I can't remember how many times I have said these words during my travels in Turkey. Asking for just a little bit more off a price, inevitably followed by the salesman lowering the price just the teeniest, tiniest of bits and the game of haggling continued. Slowly we come to an agreement that is satisfactory to both of us. Most of the time it takes a couple of minutes, sometimes it takes more than an hour. When my
boyfriend's father bought a carpet, the process took more than two-and-a-half hours! We all got hungry in the end, even though salesman offered us tea and cookies throughout the negotiations. Read more.
Independence: Always a Good Thing?
Yes, I do think that independence is always a good thing but I have some question marks when it comes to methods used to maintain independence. Throughout history the ideal of independence has always been something worth fighting for. People and cultures the world over recongnize that freedom is a precious commodity. I could drown you with examples of people and countries that have fought for or are still fighting for independence, but instead I want to focus on one example that might not to be the one that first comes to mind. Read more.
Great Expectations
Politicians' expectations always seem greater or more idealistic than what their countries' citzens think is possible or necessary. Some of the more widely publicized expectations are related to the Gross Domestic Product, abbreviated "GDP." GDP forecasts are expected to be met with happiness, but citzens generally react with doubt, thinking that a hopeful prediction is no more than the zillionth promise that will go unmet. Many believe that politicians care only about filling their own pockets and care little about what they pledge to their people. Often the citizenry becomes more and more indifferent, not caring any longer about the GDP, about the pocket-fillers, or about much of anything regarding politics. Without realizing it, these citzens have set their expectations and therefore their happiness far below what could be achieved. Read more.
Sudan
There is a saying that darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. A greater example to illustrate relativity I can't find. But sometimes I think that relativity is used to minimize some problems that persist. For instance, the problems in Africa are so severe that even though we can use relativity to ease our minds, the problems won't go away or become any less grave. How much of a dose of relativity is necessary to see Africa in a more positive way? Read more.
Defining Moments
When looking at world politics, I could come up with an innumerable amount of defining moments. In fact, in just the past year there was an abundance of events that were significant to varying degrees. The term "defining moment" is a very subjective one, which makes finding one particular incident even more difficult. Ask a historian, a politician, a doctor and a writer what the most important defining moment in the past ten years has been, and you'd be sure to get a variety of answers that have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Read more.
Tsunami
Since the day after Christmas the world has watched, riveted in horror, the destruction and devastation left by the tsunami in Southeast Asia. As I write this, the death toll has reached 160,000 and is expected to rise, and the lives of countless survivors have been left in ruins. The wreckage and loss of life are staggering, simply beyond our powers of comprehension. Read more.
Serenity
When I think of serenity, I think of Buddhism. After all, meditation is a Buddhist practise and I can't think of a more serene activity on earth than peaceful meditation. In general Buddhism is not regarded as a formal religion but as a way of life. This does not mean you can't believe in Buddha in a religious way or organize your spiritual life around the concepts of Buddhism. Read more.
The World's Phobia: Immigration
We live in a fearful time. Despite the fact that we have all kinds of communication technologies and resources available to help us understand and learn about other cultures and people, xenophobia still exists. Fear of immigrants is the most common manifestation of this xenophobia. Read more.
Just a small neighbour...?
This issue's theme is about self-acceptance. Self-acceptance is difficult when an individual constantly compares himself with others. Yet that is what people constantly do. People compare themselves on the smallest levels with others. More often than not these comparisons result in depressing thoughts like: "Her dark, curly hair is so beautiful, I wish my blond, sleek hair was just like that." And vice versa. Inevitably comparisons result in a view in which somebody is regarded as being superior to another who is doing the comparison. Read more.
Freedom in Zimbabwe
Not all things lie in your own hands.
Discussing "What If" scenarios in relation to theoretical situations usually can produce solutions or nostalgia, however "What if. . ." in politics can start up a heated debate with no end. What if president X had acted way Y? Then Z would have never happened. There is, of course, a fresh wound of "What if" in the collective memory of the world. What if U.S. intelligence agencies had paid more attention to threat signals? Then maybe these days we would still have the Twin Towers. But this is an old issue and nothing can be done about the past. Read more.
A True World Hero: Nelson Mandela
This year is the tenth anniversary of the first democratic elections in the Rainbow Nation known as South Africa. In 1994 Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) came into power and brought much needed change to the political scene. The election of the first black president was a victory for those who stood up against apartheid, discrimination, oppression and deprivation. Read more.
Not Just Window Throwing Anymore
Everybody has those days when everything and everyone gets on her nerves. In reality, you would love to hit your boss, strangle a client, tell off an annoying so-called friend or throw everything and everybody that bothers you out of a window--for good. Read more.
How Openness in Politics Can Bring People Together
Nearly fifteen years ago the Berlin Wall collapsed in Germany. The Wall became a symbol of the Cold War and its fall instigated a wave of transformation throughout the Eastern European countries. This change spread from Germany to Russia and almost all the countries in between. Former state-led or closed economies opened up. This caused political and economic ideas to change as well as social and intellectual ideas. Read more.
New York, a Mosaic of Nationalities
Have you ever wondered why New York is New York and what makes this city so fascinating? So many treasures come to mind when I think of New York. Skyscrapers, the Empire State Building, Wall Street, hip clubs and expensive restaurants, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Battery Island, and hot dogs on street corners. Read more.