tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45562696497313270162024-02-19T08:02:27.696-08:00Perennial TeachingsThe ultimate collection of essays and articles written by Arseniy A. KozlovArseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-23294662543557592662014-10-04T11:14:00.000-07:002014-10-04T11:14:26.542-07:00Highlights of the Business Week – 10/4/14 <div class="MsoPlainText">
This was an exciting and interesting week for financial
markets. Aside from yo-yo like fluctuations of pharmaceutical and biotechnology
stocks, large corporations made far-reaching moves that have implications in
the future market developments. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The Chinese dragon has not fallen asleep and we
are often reminded of its prowess through economic fireballs that it likes to
shoot at us. Surprisingly enough, this time it was an Internet-based e-commerce
company that decided to go public with aspirations to become a counterweight to
Google. From the glorious days of its IPO on September 19<sup>th</sup>, the
Alibaba stock has fell this week and was recently traded as low as $85.61 per
share. This is a shame, considering all the hype that was broadcasted by every
news channel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in;">
I would be charting this
territory very carefully, because Alibaba is a relatively unknown company and
its future is highly depended on Chinese quasi-liberal policies. China is not
an open society which espouses liberal ideals of democratic conduct. Therefore
the marketplace remains highly unpredictable and is at the mercy of Chinese
politburo. As long as this company is run and monitored by Chinese officials, I
wouldn’t bet on its future creativity and dynamism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Alibaba can spread its tentacles
beyond the Great Wall of China only if it is given similar autonomy as Google
and Yahoo companies enjoy in the West. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Furthermore, there are reports
that children of Chinese officials are either employed or have significant
stakes in the company. Although key figures with ties to the government could
be interpreted as a good sign, many investors remain skeptical. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Alibaba is a risk prone conglomerate,
but is worthy enough to be put on my Market Watchlist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->On Monday, September 29<sup>th</sup>,<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/paypal-play-google-leftover-ebay-155129470.html" target="_blank"> eBay announced that it will spin off PayPal</a>, which was eBay’s electronic payment
service business. This was followed by reports that Alibaba and Google juggernauts
are contemplating its acquisition, which will expand their empires and will
certainly enrich their portfolios. If Google succeeds with this deal, PayPal
will be introduced into the Android system and pose direct competition to the
new Apple payment system.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
PayPal is going to become a separate company
and a very attractive one due to its healthy cash flow. Apparently, half of eBay’s
revenue was derived from PayPal’s electronic transactions and commerce.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/ebay-to-spin-off-paypal-adopting-strategy-backed-by-icahn/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1&" target="_blank"><i>The New York</i> Times reported that venture capitalist Carl Icahn</a> had been working
tirelessly pushing for the break up, but faced fierce opposition from the eBay
management.</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> Eventually, eBay management acquiesced to
the spin-off calls made by Icahn and PayPal became a separate publicly traded
company. This move will be completed by the end of next year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
Carl Icahn saw eBay as nuisance and
hindrance to the thriving nature of PayPal and believes that becoming a
separate company will help it focus on its core values. </div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
The financial metrics sing praise to PayPal
and since it is going to be a publicly traded company I would put it on my
Watchlist and monitor its developments very closely.</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
Important PayPal numbers from <i>The New York Times</i> article:</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
Accounted for 41% of revenue of eBay</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
153 million active digital wallets</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
Handles mobile payments, employed by apps
such as Uber and Airbnb</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
3.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-october-could-turning-point-131904002.html" target="_blank">This week kicked off a historically volatile month of October</a>, which is a great month for both big gains and big losses. A
month of great opportunities and unexpected threats. In a Yahoo Finance
article, Patti Domm of CNBC quotes Jeff Kleintop, chief global investment
strategist at Charles Schwab:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in;">
"October is historically a
turnaround month, where the markets tend to turn around after weakness but
often the weakness carries on into October. Maybe, we have to get to the middle
of the month-until we get some Chinese data and then we turn around. We think
stocks are probably headed higher from here to year end."<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: .5in;">
This is a perfect time to search
for stocks that have temporarily fell in price due to outstanding uncertainties
in the marketplace. As the dollar continues to grow its muscles, I wouldn’t bet
on commodities, such as gold and silver but keep trading stocks with high
volatility ratings.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.1760005950928px;">**Please note that all referenced articles are embedded in the blog post and can be accessed by clicking on the blue colored text.**</span></div>
Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-90563756811758658922014-10-02T07:09:00.004-07:002014-10-02T07:09:36.895-07:00Update on Silver - 10/2/14<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="http://perennialteachings.blogspot.com/2014/09/dude-where-is-my-goldand-silver.html" target="_blank">As was discussed in my previous blog post</a>, silver is
still in the downward trend and is most likely to stay on this course. The price
of silver has fallen to $17.01 per troy ounce, which is more than $1 drop
comparing to the prior 2 weeks. The price of gold continues to trade sideways, but
has more hopes of returning to the new highs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Historically speaking the health of the economy is
directly correlated with the price of gold and silver. The downward trend of
these commodities is indicative of improving economic times. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/29/us-usa-economy-spending-idUSKCN0HO16U20140929" target="_blank">The positive reports </a>on the improving US economy,
including a 0.5% increase in consumer spending, will continue to drive down the
prices of precious metals. Consequently, the Fed might increase the interest
rates next year to offset the inflation and provide stability to the
macroeconomic climate. There are many other signs in the economy that signal
positive trends. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Due to the continuing downward trend of silver, my
recommendation is to hold off of any purchases and continue to wait until
silver hits mid-teens or gets close to that mark. At that point, it is
advisable to start slowly accumulating silver at relatively low prices. The
next phase of the business cycle will be shaped by a downward curve, and
coupled with the increased federal interest rate, the price of silver might go
up in the 2<sup>nd</sup> half of the year 2015. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Unfortunately, the price of commodities is difficult to
predict. Don’t fall for the hype or doom and gloom scenarios, which are
broadcasted to get you to buy their silver and gold products. Unless you are
looking for a long-term hold of commodities, gold and silver can be profitably
traded only during the times of high volatility, akin to what was happening
during the <a href="http://perennialteachings.blogspot.com/2011/03/financial-bubbles-or-bursts-for-rich.html" target="_blank">Great Recession of 2007-2009</a>. At that time, the prices of silver and
gold were fluctuating every day and gains were made in a matter of weeks. Due
to the sideways trading, silver and gold remain a long-term solution at this
point. </div>
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<br /></div>
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**Please note that all referenced articles are embedded in
the blog post and can be accessed by clicking on the blue colored text.**</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-19141628539124941142014-09-19T12:06:00.000-07:002014-09-19T12:06:03.963-07:00Geopolitics v. Markets<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><a href="http://www.cfr.org/economics/global-economics-monthly-september-2014/p33406" target="_blank">Global Economics Monthly: September 2014</a> </i>report published by the prestigious Council on
Foreign Relations (CFR) provides an interesting analysis on the connection
between geopolitical conditions and financial markets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Generally, market watchers scan the political landscape and
look for developments that might affect the world of finance. In turn, the harvested
data is used to develop market predictions and determine the current volatility
levels. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, this connection is not always so clear-cut. The
crises in Ukraine and current turmoil in the Middle East are striking
testimonies to this reality. The spillover effects are different for each
country. For instance, China has economic buffers that protect it from many
existential shocks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The report goes on to say that market investors might
overestimate the impact of political developments on the financial markets. The
cause and effect factors are not always clear and the implications of political
changes mostly depend on the country’s connectedness to the global markets. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, what are some of the metrics we can look at?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The central bank policy plays a major in shaping the
economic realities. For instance, the low interest rate stimulates economic
growth and provides incentives to open new businesses and take risks. The
author mentions that the federal interest rates are expected to go up in
mid-2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the trusted metrics that is used to measure market
volatility is the VIX index. Current figures show that market volatility has
risen, but continues to remain at historically low levels. This news provides
some confidence for market traders. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the political landscape, one can look at the Eurozone,
which is plagued with systemic problems. The lack of economic resilience has
made it vulnerable to external crises and shocks. Furthermore, due to Europe’s
connectivity with the rest of the world, European problems are world’s
problems. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therefore, market players should look to Europe and check
the VIX index to tailor their moves in the game. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Is the US stock market in the downward curve in the
proverbial business cycle of boom and bust? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For entire summer, the proliferation of bad news has been
evident from every headline and talking point. Countries consider cessation
from their parent nations, the Euro zone is facing a serious financial
conundrum and economic sanctions continue to escalate against Russia’s
aggression. In addition, the gold and silver continue to trade sideways and the
future of stock market is clouded in mystery. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Operating in uncertain financial environment is becoming a
key feature of every analyst and practitioner. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are told that the capital managers are increasing their
short positions. The stock market has been bearish, will this continue and
manifest into a <a href="http://perennialteachings.blogspot.com/2011/03/financial-bubbles-or-bursts-for-rich.html" target="_blank">crash akin to 2008</a>? It has been over five years since the last
one. Are we entering into the bust phase of the financial cycle?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the investment circles it is well known to follow the
moves of “financial alchemists”, who tend to over perform during downturns and
market crashes. The portfolio of major venture capitalists is often the
indicator of where the market is going. The hedging moves signify that the
financial markets will go through some systemic changes in the future.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://moneymorning.com/ext/articles/rickards/55-billion-gamble.php?iris=252777" target="_blank">[Buffett’s $55 Billion Gamble is a Bet on U.S. Collapse,Warns CIA Economist, by Money Morning Staff Reports]</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In an exclusive interview with Money Morning, CIA financial
analyst Jim Rickards, warns of the imminent stock market crash that would
result in the widespread market meltdown.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although I would not ascribe to the doom and gloom scenario,
there are a number of signs that investors need to look at. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If we are entering into the time of financial uncertainty,
how can we save and multiple little that we have? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The stock portfolios can be converted into cash or other
liquid assets. Another option is to reallocate them into less volatile stocks
that are less susceptible to market changes. The recommendation is to purchase
low volatility stocks with a healthy dividend yielding history. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">We can use a variety of
metrics to determine the volatility of a given stock. In simple terms,
volatility is the responsiveness of a given stock to the market changes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Beta, which is provided by many trading
platforms, is one of these metrics. The beta of less than 1 indicates that the
stock will not fluctuate as much in response to the changes in the market. Beta
of more than 1 indicates a highly volatile stock. This does not mean that the
stock will crash or quadruple each time there is a change, but the fluctuations
become more frequent and at a shorter period.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">When good stocks plummet or fall in price, the
crowd tends to sell their positions at whatever prices they can get. The
prevalent philosophy among affluent investors is to hold strong to their
positions and, yes, buy more when the prices are still low. Whatever came down
will eventually come back up. That's their game plan and they follow it
judiciously.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Of course, it's easy to say but hard to do.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">However, consider this as a practice period to
test your positions and charter new territories. Be positive, because the time
of change is also the best opportunity to look for greater and better things.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Good luck...because you'll need it.</span><br />
<br /></div>
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<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-52411852713465338272014-09-12T09:03:00.001-07:002014-09-12T09:05:21.935-07:00Dude, Where Is My Gold…And Silver?<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Nowhere to be seen, because the
prices have fallen dramatically over the past 3 years. In fact, the prices of
precious metals have dropped so much that investors forgot that they are even
an option. The gold has descended to the $1,232 mark and has been oscillating
in that range for a while. Some wonder if precious metals are still worth
the investment. George Soros certainly thinks so. He is known to hedge his
capital in gold and silver before the expected <a href="http://etfdailynews.com/2014/09/10/professional-investors-are-preparing-for-a-stock-market-crash/">“financial shock”</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
In the aftermath of the <a href="http://perennialteachings.blogspot.com/2011/03/financial-bubbles-or-bursts-for-rich.html">Great Crash of 2008</a>, gold and silver prices continued to rise, thereby reinforcing many
wild speculations that the price of gold will reach $2,500 and beyond. Of
course, it never did. Precious metals like any other financial instruments
require undivided attention and constant scanning of the environment. The
economic, political and social forces shape the value trend of every commodity
in the marketplace. However, a mere “hope” cannot be traded in open markets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
I believe that hope is what drove
many people to buy gold and silver coins with an inflated expectation that they
will reap great wealth in the near future.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
It should be remembered, that gold
and silver are good hedging financial vehicles and long term investment tools.
Precious metals are fantastic to diversify your portfolio, but poor for short
term trading. If you are looking for a high risk / high return instruments,
stock market is your best choice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Following the Great Recession of 2008,
a number of radio talk show hosts and TV pundits were advising every freedom
loving patriot to purchase gold and silver to protect their financial
portfolios. Some commentators went as far as stating that everything will crash
and the country will descent into chaos and destruction. The only protection
they saw was canned food, bullets and real gold. As is usually the case, the
doom and gloom scenarios never materialize.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Gold kiosks and exchange
shops were sprawling across the country and folks from all walks of life
were getting into precious metals. These actions have driven the prices
up to unprecedented levels and reinforced the inflated expectations of
rapid wealth creation. The lucky bunch had made money in the bullish trend,
while others procrastinated and ended up with the cheaper commodities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Wealth managers consider gold and
silver as hedging mechanisms that they employ in the volatile economic times.
However, precious metals have remained part of a relatively long-term
investment strategy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Furthermore, the current
macroeconomic indicators show that the US economy is continuing to improve,
thereby suppressing gold and silver prices. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
For almost three years, silver has been
in the bears market and the price has fallen to a new low. Technical analysts
predict that silver will continue to trade sideways due to the uncertain
political climate. This trend will be partially determined on the outcome of
the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Geopolitics is a known factor of influence
in the financial markets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
What is the lesson
learned? Markets are volatile, dynamic and prone to change. The market
place is susceptible to the gravitational forces that will bring the inflated
expectations down to the grim reality of supply and demand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv2414830148msonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
For instance, currently the silver
is trading at $18.69 per ounce and it is difficult to predict where it is heading
next. It might reach a base level and shoot back up to the upper 20s or remain
in the teens until the next crisis. The prediction that silver will reach $50
mark is unrealistic at best and deceiving at worst. We are more likely to
see silver to <a href="http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/brokerage-recos-commodities/expect-gold-prices-to-trade-sideways-sushil-finance_1176501.html">trade sideways</a> and continue to stay in a $15-20 price range.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Therefore, my recommendation is to
refrain from accumulating gold and silver. For silver, I would wait until the
price drops to mid-teens (or gets close) and then make buying moves. For gold,
the geopolitics will decide where our money will go.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-58297186125634056142014-09-10T12:12:00.003-07:002014-10-04T09:00:31.985-07:00Why Iran?<br />
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Have you wondered why Iran keeps making its way back to the
headlines in America? The fear mongering abounds, the outcry does not seem to
cease and a nuclear apocalypse is said to be imminent. The threat remains the
same—Iran almost, almost…already…kind of got the bomb. No, wait…it got all the
necessary components, nuclear fuel from Russia, etc. to make the bomb that it
can use to leverage its position in the Middle East.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the meantime, politically dysfunctional Pakistan and rogue North Korea have tons of weapons and missiles, but these facts make only
an occasional appearance in the mass media outlets. In addition, the
aforementioned countries do not receive the same level of demonization as Iran
does.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thus, the question arises: Why Iran? Why Iran and not North
Korea, Pakistan or even Somalia (save for the occasional pirate stories). <o:p></o:p></div>
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What makes Iran so special to be the prime target of every
newspaper commentator and TV pundit? Furthermore, what do we know about Iran,
its history, culture, heritage and current situation to throw our weight behind
all proposed sanctions, embargoes and other devastating actions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why Iran remains the target of the USA foreign policy? This
is the intellectual challenge I am willing to undertake to understand the idiosyncrasies
of this situation. Moreover, I hope my readers will assist me in furthering
this understanding. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The relations between USA and Iran began to deteriorate
after the Iranian popular revolution of 1979, which ousted the monarch and
established the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the aftermath, America adopted a
harder line toward the Middle East in order to preserve the regional status
quo. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Regular readers of the <i>Foreign
Affairs </i>magazine, published by the prestigious Council on Foreign
Relations, might have read numerous policy articles on the Middle East region. The
apparent fact is that this region is composed of diverging nation-states, some
of which have aspirations for regional dominance. In order to preserve status
quo, America is actively engaged in the region to prevent any one country from
reaching the status of the regional hegemon and to continue to set its own
policy. </div>
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The Iraq was taken out of the picture during the American led invasion
in 2003. The next aspiring actor in the region is Iran. Its strength and
vitality must be extinguished in order to fulfill the policy of preventing any
one power to control region’s development, thereby ensuring the preservation of
American primacy in the region. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is quite apparent that United States’ policy toward Iran
is twofold. First, all the war conflicts and military operations carried out by
the Western governments appear to take place around Iran, which is in tune with
the policy of encirclement and containment. Second, United States will use any
means necessary to prevent the ascent of any one country into the hegemonic sit
of power in the Middle East. The hegemon will ultimately dictate its policy to
the region and might unite all Arab states under one common front, which will
pose a threat to the U.S. interests in the region. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Even if Iran does go nuclear, should we become more fearful
of it than of rogue North Korea and unpredictable Pakistan who currently have
the capability to carry out a nuclear strike? In addition, Pakistan is
politically unstable and vulnerable to terrorists and non-state actors who contemplate
stealing a nuclear device. Furthermore, have you seen any real military
response to the threats that North Korea has been issuing since it has acquired
a nuclear weapon? So, why all this focus on Iran, who in addition to lacking
nuclear weapons, does not have a delivery system for a successful launch? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Although, the Iranian government is known for their radical
rhetoric and unwarranted threats, but they exercise reasonable caution when it
comes to taking military actions outside their borders. Tehran is not as crazy
as the leader of the North Korea and it is in their interest to preserve
stability and uniformity in the Middle East. The fanatical speeches are mostly
directed towards dissenting political bodies and other troublemakers who are
considered a threat to the Iranian regime.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is true that in the current international nuclear
non-proliferation climate, the leading countries would like to see a nuclear
de-escalation and a shift toward a safer world. However, countries who choose
to live and act independently should not be muscled and intimidated by more
powerful world actors. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As was pointed out by Mohammad Java Zarif in the <i>Foreign Affairs </i>magazine, Iran is one of
the few countries that “remained independent from outside powers and practiced
genuine nonalignment, lending it a particular freedom of action within the
existing global order.” Perhaps Iran’s independence is another reason why it
has to pay the price to the new global order that is attempting to emerge. Iran
wants to take its own road to happiness, whatever they conceive it to be, which
apparently deviates from the Western plans. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, I wonder what happened to the concept of Inclusive Diversity
and why can’t the West leave Iran alone.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Instead of taking a hard-nosed approach, U.S. government
should focus on economic growth and development.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To sum up, I would like to leave you with the quote from
Hillary Rodham Clinton, which appeared on the pages of the <i>Foreign Affairs </i>magazine. Her article in the November/December 2010
issue is titled “Leading Through Civilian Power” and focuses on the American
diplomacy and development abroad. Perhaps an economic miracle that was achieved
in the South Korea and Japan can be replicated elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Economic growth is the surest route out of poverty, and
expanding and strengthening middle classes around the world will be key to
creating the just and sustainable international order that lies at the heart of
the United States’ national security strategy.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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For anyone interested in the works used for this blog post,
please contact the author. I strongly encourage comments and suggestions.</div>
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<a href="mailto:arskoz86@gmail.com">arskoz86@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-24775579833883455942011-06-01T09:54:00.000-07:002011-06-17T21:14:23.171-07:00Inception: A Labyrinth of Inner Voyage<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Introduction:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As we are in the process of entering into the new age of rapid change and informational battlefield or what Jacques Attali dubs as the “virtual nomadism”, there is an emergence of a dire need for a new type of thinking. The intellectual clique in the West is drifting away from the linear approach to the gradual acceptance of more convoluted modes of reasoning, coupled with the increased interest in a labyrinthine thinking and cognitive complexities. Who better than Dr. Attali can prepare us for the strange future that is lurking around the corner, to help us solidify the new realities on the firm basis of the ancient pathways to wisdom.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Western consumerist society for far too long has been based on the unsustainable premises of endless and overindulging consumption driven by the desire for instant gratification, which inadvertently overshadowed the infinite treasure hidden deep within ourselves. Those who dare to survive in the current social transformation must embrace certain ideals in the form of nonlinear thinking and multi-tasking intellectual initiatives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Hollywood blockbuster movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i> (2010) will serve as a visual aid in the author’s hunt for the new spiritual meanings and intellectual techniques that will become useful in the journey to the center of many social labyrinths that we inhabit. The task can be achieved via understanding of ourselves. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i> shall be examined through the prism of Dr. Attali’s intellectual brilliance on the topic of labyrinths and the concept of the new nomadic man, because that movie has all the earmarks of the classical labyrinthine structure, where the easiest and the shortest path is not always the correct one. Ultimately the meandering paths of the labyrinth can teach us about our inner beings and prepare us for a more nomadic and less sedentary world of tomorrow.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tssOY3y4D9bX0n7S9cdlv-XUN1nSLsYcUjiGXkBnGxOaWen_0YlcSUerZdsnlK3heBMx3GPJ0_UxWt5zRNb1z2YPUZgqEmLQQZ7ZHRqM1ujknRV6JCeHs34AKIOe4-3wPCYB01ZScbL_/s1600/legendary_pics_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tssOY3y4D9bX0n7S9cdlv-XUN1nSLsYcUjiGXkBnGxOaWen_0YlcSUerZdsnlK3heBMx3GPJ0_UxWt5zRNb1z2YPUZgqEmLQQZ7ZHRqM1ujknRV6JCeHs34AKIOe4-3wPCYB01ZScbL_/s200/legendary_pics_logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Inception</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> and the Hunted Voyager:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the opening scenes of the movie one may notice numerous labyrinthine renditions on the walls and maze like patterns on the windows, even the logo of the Legendary Pictures, the production company, is drawn in a form of a maze. Thus the movie makers prepare their attentive spectators to enter into the world that is totally different from the one they are accustomed to, because for a long time the public has been deliberately deprived of the benefits of nonlinear thinking. The curved and the complex thought was abandoned in favor of a straight line.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The viewer quickly learns that what seems real can be a false perception, an illusion of the mind that can play very elaborate tricks and deceive even the most skilled dream walker. After understanding the basic set-up of the world of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i> the viewer begins to anticipate a strange journey that will consist of dark paths, dead-ends, various traps and hard to spot exit points.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The realm of a dream can be interpreted as the mirror image of one’s personality, encompassing its defects and imperfections and the unresolved psychical dramas manifesting in a series of die hard projections ready to sabotage the most stable and beautiful dream mission. The extractor is the person who is able to tap into the inner workings of the human mind and extract valuable information with serious implications in the real world. The process is reminiscent to psychoanalysis or an attempt to find the root cause of an ill sentiment. It can also be equated to the induced hypnotic state and the specialist’s search for hidden or forgotten information in the client’s mind. In any case the extractor or the inceptor lies on a couch and submerges into the universe of infinite subconscious to look for the right star on the endless night sky.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is the leading extractor on the team, who is highly skilled in the corporate espionage business and is able to utilize the psychoanalytical methods to enter into the subject’s subconscious to find the closely guarded information. However after his wife’s suicide inserted a seed of self blame the journey through the labyrinth into the subject’s mind became a very ugly commute rendering his architectural abilities rather feeble and ineffective. He became the “hunted voyager” being pursued by his own demons, the projections of his subconscious guilt, stemming from the sentiment of horrific responsibility for his wife’s death. Even during the business missions the personal predicaments and unresolved inner conflicts created a barrage of obstacles which slowed him down in the extraction or the inception process by many folds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> To conquer the last monster spawned by Dom’s subconscious, he had to confront his past wrongdoing and confess his sins to Ariadne. Cob reveals that he planted an idea in the recesses of his wife’s mind “that her world is not real” because he felt that they had to stop living indefinitely in the dream world and escape it to return to their real children and home.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KdpU8w5pwJePUnRcYlkUyZXLtLFXqdo6aVoJ1XjHh7ZwFtR0zBKvGwN31BpBkBLA4mInrcm8JZGazvNxrlufIa2skkTFumtBDlQqXgjbR9XG6ty-SbEoLr366ktvLKZ7Gx7X9VUsW5XI/s1600/IMG169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KdpU8w5pwJePUnRcYlkUyZXLtLFXqdo6aVoJ1XjHh7ZwFtR0zBKvGwN31BpBkBLA4mInrcm8JZGazvNxrlufIa2skkTFumtBDlQqXgjbR9XG6ty-SbEoLr366ktvLKZ7Gx7X9VUsW5XI/s320/IMG169.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"> (Scanned from </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i>The Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Nonlinear Thinking:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Since the advent of electromechanical computers and algebraic logic of computer language the Western person developed a peculiar type of reasoning process that follows a straight line, a path that was prearranged and preprogrammed by technological specialists. The public had abandoned the curved and complex accepting the straight and singular road to the understanding of things. We are taught in the West to follow the linear, straight and short path to the discernment. This type of conditioning disabled our innate faculties responsible for grasping the depth of labyrinths in our daily lives and meanings of symbols placed all around us. Ultimately it created a mass of people who are easily conned and manipulated by politicians, salesmen and televangelists. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Life is an elaborate structure, a network of many paths, sharp corners and dead ends, and one cannot get to the center by cheating and cutting through the maze. However we are persuaded to believe that we can, as long as we put our trust in some charismatic leader who promises to take the quickest road and lead us into the room full of treasures. Consequently we voluntarily succumb and follow him/her, or speaking in the biblical terminology, we abandon the narrow and difficult pathway in favor of the broad way. During the venture after the chosen leader the followers are oblivious about the real goals that are being pursued by the leading party and things usually unravel to the detriment of the larger part of blind adherents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When faced with an issue and a desire to reach an optimum solution or understanding one has to examine the problem from multiple angles. The object of the study has to be approached in a manner of a private detective, who is scanning over all scenarios and possibilities, taking into account all the surrounding factors to derive at the best possible answer. Many roads should be taken to test if they are the right ones. The time must be used wisely to ponder things over. Unfortunately in the artificial society of today the efficiency, speed and transparency are the celebrated virtues of progress. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As far as the critical thinking is concerned we had given that ability away to the visual and printed media, to the television talking heads and experts who are willing to debate every possible subject for us and all we are left to do is accept one or the other opinion. Our minds are slowly becoming atrophied due to the lack of exercise. Our intellects are being conditioned to the point of simplicity as we are taught to be politically correct at work, in the grocery store and even in the churches. By the way the political correctness is also shaped in a form of a straight line, an Orwellian orthodox party line which has zero tolerance for deviation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those who are in control of society do understand the principles of nonlinear thinking, thus they are able to come from many different angles on the average person. They use the successful scientific techniques of shock and awe, through repeated cycles of crises, to drive the person into the state of utter shock, and as a result of that a man or a woman stands in dismay and is ready to accept any solution that is rushed forward. Thus the populace is controlled and the big plans move ahead into fruition without any hindrances.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Unpredictable actions are part and parcel of the curved line and of the meandering path. Those who do follow the straight line are extremely predictable and therefore easily exploitable by the designers or experts of the labyrinth. The con game can be played nicely on the naïve and shallow person who is unable to grasp the depth of things, afraid to step into the unknown and fearful of the dark corners of the maze.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However in the long run it is the complex path that will triumph over the singular one. Therefore follow the commandments of the traveler of labyrinths, do not fear and have the courage to enter into the door of the life itself.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Pavlovian Conditioning:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i> movie Mr. Saito employs Cobb’s team to perform an inception, or the implantation of an idea in the subconscious mind, on Robert Fischer, that would lead to the conviction to breakup his father’s vast energy empire. In the preliminary meetings the team discusses various means and techniques that can be used to inject an idea into their subject’s mind in a way that it will not be rejected later on as a foreign substance. Cobb underscores the necessity of the intense emotional experience during the inception process as a vital prerequisite for a suggested thought to sink in deeper in the subject’s mind. By the end of the movie when Robert reaches the deepest point in his subconscious the emotions grow tense and he is crying. Therefore whatever happens during that high emotional state will stay in the person forever, changing his very earthly existence. The key to inception is the premise that the subconscious is motivated by emotion and not reason.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ivan Pavlov, the Russian Nobel prizeman in Medicine, observed both dogs and humans in the area of suggestibility and conducted extensive studies on the conditioned reflexes and the general methodology of suggestion. Pavlov’s work led to the understanding that ideas or beliefs embedded during the conditions of stress or fatigue rub in deeper into the person’s mind and are very difficult to be eradicated. Similar methods of persuasion and brainwashing have been applied by political and religious demagogues in the past eras with great ingenuity and talent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Combined with a sound the conditioned reflex or the trained response in the brain can be enhanced. For instance catchy tunes and sticky melodies are used in the television commercials as the delivery agents for the corporate messages that are projected into the viewers’ minds. The television viewers have often pointed out that they remember nonsensical commercials with a greater ease than more important things from their immediate experiences. Youngsters and adults walk in the broad daylight humming to themselves the toothpaste or cereal commercials, whistling the popular song of the day and other tunes engineered by public persuaders. What they fail to realize is that all of that is used to change their behavior in a direction that is suitable for someone’s commercial purposes. Marketing propagandists work hand in hand with corporate giants to sell the mass produced stuff to the consumers of the West.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the instance of political brainwashing Hitler utilized all the available methods of persuasion that were produced from the scientific and technical advancements of the early 20<sup>th</sup> Century. Radio was used to deliver propaganda to the masses and influence the opinions of many with the single transmission. Furthermore Hitler delivered all of his important speeches during the night, because he was intuitively aware that people are tired and hence will succumb faster to the propagandist speech. The psychological resistance becomes feeble during the times of physical fatigue, thus susceptibility increases respectively. Similarly the advertisers pay more money to show their product ads during the evening hours, because the viewers are at the higher level of suggestibility and less critical to what is being projected into them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition to that evangelists and preachers are not free from the use of various psychological mechanisms to stir up emotions and affect higher nervous system. William Sargant provides a fascinating account in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Battle for the Mind</i> of the techniques for religious conversion practiced by popular evangelists. What kind of methods contribute to the sudden conversion of the large groups of people? The content of the sermon does not really matter when one begins to investigate the causes behind the momentary transformation of minds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The preachers play with religious sentiments of people, focusing on stimulating the emotions rather than concentrating on proving the specific doctrines of church’s creed. Therefore the road to conversion is led more by the psychological manipulation than an appeal to reason and logic. The common rhetoric applied in the sermons to stir up emotions includes the guilt motivating descriptions of the sinful human nature and the inescapable prospects of hell. The common features of the protestant speech in the past century have been the detailed and vivid accounts of the latter days and the closing proximity of Jesus Christ’s second coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end of the world is nigh, today is the day of salvation, repent and believe in the Gospel, are the common catchphrases to move people into action. Faced with that kind of fear mongering about the Judgment Day, the person will soften up and become more placid for a religious transformation. The preacher’s eloquence and the teaching’s consistency built up on the innate religious feelings present in every person and combined with the scare tactics of impending doom and gloom form a powerful cocktail able to move the masses from one pasture to another, from the present “ungodly” state to the more righteous one.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The conversion sermons often begin with a horrendous picture of hell that awaits all sinners and nonbelievers after life. The fatalistic images are perpetuated and it is proclaimed that everyone is under sin, there is no escape and a possibility of punishment is great. Under severe stress and with no end in sight the brain breaks down, which becomes an ideal time to implant ideas or behavioral patterns into the subjects’ minds. The psychological catharsis is reached when a salvation plan is offered in a form of repentance and acceptance of the true faith or the church’s creed. Equipped with that kind of psychological trickery the priests and evangelists were able to successfully convert people by thousands at a time. John Wesley is an ideal example, because his sermons are typified as the articles of emulation for young preachers who desire to go into the world to “save souls”. Wesley’s sermons consisted of two parts, an account of fire and brimstone and a salvation package of repentance and faith.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Essentially Dom Cobb and his team launched a classical brainwashing campaign in the Pavlovian fashion to condition the person under psychological stress, which is the favorable state for implanting an idea that will blossom and become part of that person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Theseus and Ariadne:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There are clear parallels between the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i> and the Greek myth about Theseus and Ariadne. Both Dom Cobb and Theseus managed to go through the tortuous labyrinth with the help of a young damsel, Ariadne, kill the monster and save lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When Theseus attained manhood he was set on the dangerous journey to Athens, during which he encountered bandits and robbers, outwitting them or defeating them with his physical strength. Dom Cobb took a great risk by taking a plane to Los Angeles and performing an inception at the same time, overcoming the fear of being thrown in jail for the rest of his life. Robert Fischer’s hostile projections that pursued the inception team are equivalent to the highway bandits that Theseus faced on the road to Athens.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Theseus penetrated into the Cretan labyrinth to deliver Athens from the ominous tribute and to save the sacrificial victims. Dom Cobb entered into limbo to find Robert Fischer and Mr. Saito and pull them back to the reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiMfIXUfTZ6B-WXY_Uy5fud5nsxk6ygHcq-N12e_4ET7kfb5qIoN_XteZDAwfQ_wME1PezSLwmhiZT_arX4kPOMREWmzoDWrtRTF9LX5EobSH9TKi3l2xg_S6A1vsuaFgYNQAIoYUQj0bf/s1600/IMG180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiMfIXUfTZ6B-WXY_Uy5fud5nsxk6ygHcq-N12e_4ET7kfb5qIoN_XteZDAwfQ_wME1PezSLwmhiZT_arX4kPOMREWmzoDWrtRTF9LX5EobSH9TKi3l2xg_S6A1vsuaFgYNQAIoYUQj0bf/s320/IMG180.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"> (Scanned from </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i>The Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Each member of the team carries an amulet, a totem to determine if they are located in another person’s dream space. Theseus had a magical thread and a ball of wax that helped him venture through the labyrinth and kill Minotaur.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ariadne not only helps Cobb to traverse and solve the labyrinth, but she also helps him with deep psychological dilemmas by listening to his confession. She gives an advice to confront the destructive guilt, to find the monster that is hiding in the labyrinth of his soul and slay it. Ariadne leads Cobb to forgiveness and to the state of absolution in his consciousness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Minotaur was personified in Mal Cobb, Dom’s deceased wife who created obstacles and impeded the progress of the journey through the three levels of the dream world. Dom Cobb was indirectly responsible for Mal’s suicide which led to the formation of destructive guilt that hunted everyone who shared the dream with Dom until the growing beast was met face to face and the unbearable infliction was eradicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Information Age:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the knowledge-based society of the Western Hemisphere the people have understood that one of the most precious commodities in the world is information, or what the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment used to call knowledge. Dom Cobb was searching for sensitive information that proved to be valuable for corporate executives in the market competition against their economic rivals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The accurate and up to date information empowers the “Insiders” on the Wall Street in making sound decisions fast and in a correct manner, which usually turns out to be very lucrative. Large enterprises rely on their think tanks to gather and analyze data to create 5, 10, 25 year plans in order to project accurately into the future, taking into account all the possible scenarios that can affect their business models and strategies. The modern marketing is premised on the understanding of the American psyche, which was developed by public relations specialists like Edward Bernays, who applied certain scientific techniques to exploit all the hidden and dark corners of public’s minds to influence and direct the consumers towards industry-friendly consumption choices. After the successful round of studies and tests conducted by behaviorists the informational tidbits enter into commercials and movies with the purpose to influence our psyche in the predesigned directions. Finally the right information is the key in the current interconnected virtual space.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Therefore the proper accumulation and understanding of information can help anyone to make healthy personal decisions and gather a more abundant harvest in the monetary or other material form. Furthermore the refinement of its exactitudes will grant a penetrating insight in order to navigate safely through global financial markets and other internet-based systems, which became the new road networks that connect the entire world under one global trade and communication systems.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Consequently the information becomes an aide towards understanding of things and an idea, which is a culmination of accumulated and analyzed information, begins to take its roots to form a contagious and a resilient intellectual virus. Individuals with right ideas are always a menace to the totalitarian political regimes which tend to ostracize those who produce unwanted ripple effects that upset the social fabric. For instance, Soviet dissidents, although were celebrated in the West for revealing the truth, were heavily persecuted, tortured and put in labor camps for speaking out about the injustice and the lawlessness in the Soviet System.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A person who understands the situation and has a linguistic ability to convey his thoughts to others in a coherent fashion constitutes an explosive element that can demolish the slave grid of any social system. The dictators from time immemorial were more afraid of a person with an idea than a weapon. Ideas are bulletproof and tend to outlive the people who are holding them in their hearts and minds. Armed with a right set of ideas the populace can march ahead to the fulfillment of freedom and liberty for all.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Internet—a Labyrinth of Information:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As the Western Society is becoming more Internet based, we are in desperate need to learn how not to get lost in the informational labyrinths of endless paths beset by infinite distractions. As we delve deeper into the virtual world it will become increasingly harder to preserve our ability of independent thought, to refrain from the machine like reasoning and keep our sanity intact. Humans were created to operate both on emotion and logic and experience a vast array of feelings, which computers do not provide. Here are some of the things to keep in mind when coming aboard the vessel of an Internet browser that sails in the sea of digital information.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One needs to learn how to navigate through the turbulent waters of the Internet and develop a sense of a guide. It is fairly easy to get lost in the crossroads and forks manifested in hyperlinks which permeate the viewing page. We need to develop a form of digital stoicism to become resilient to the distractions of the flashing ads, attractive commercial offers and links promising more delightful information. Staying focused and concentrating on the object of study without deviating from the main course and without getting lost in the paths of endless data is the most difficult thing to achieve on the journey through the virtual continent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Once on board of the browser the digital sailor needs to place a marker on the map to signify the destination point and prepare for an experience of trial and error. Duly equipped the Internet sailor will be able to avoid dangerous encounters with monster viruses, overcome the temptations from the islands of sensuality and safely arrive at the harbor with the purpose to exchange information.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A person with refined skills and abilities will find his or her travel through the Internet maze extremely beneficial, because less time will be spent on exploring useless paths and more locations of hidden informational treasure will be revealed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bon voyage to all! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Escapism:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During the confession to Ariadne Dom Cobb made a revelation that being in the dream world for too long can blur the line between the dream and reality. There is a strong correlation between that and people living in the age of computers, where they spend long hours in the virtual world of video games and Hollywood fiction. The spectators who tap into the virtual realm of moving pictures do not suspect that their cognitive states are being affected in the process. The images and messages projected from the screen become engraved in the subconscious and evolve into more concrete thoughts in the person.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Furthermore movies generate an emotional response in the viewer, which in turn solidifies the buzz words and slogans pronounced by the movie characters. These catchphrases form ideas and conclusions in the person’s mind and logically influence all the subsequent individual development.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When we plug our brains into a television or a computer we volunteer for a download of daily slanted information of non-personal origins, something that was not produced by us and whose intentions are totally unknown. If we are not the originators of our ideas and conclusions then we become an easy prey to the workings and machinations of outside parties, because we are oblivious about their primordial intent. Opinions mold actions and whoever has control over the mind via scientific persuasion or dictatorial rule controls the human being walking on earth.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The above narrative is akin to the process of inception, once accepted an implanted idea grows in the person’s subconscious and becomes extremely resilient, almost impossible to be rooted out. The delicate part of the mission is to convince the person that he or she is the true progenitor of that idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However there is another side to the world of fiction. There are a growing number of people who escape into the virtual world from the harsh realities of the real world. They come from school or work and go to some kind of game station to play with their magical heroes, slaughter terrorists and build imaginary towns. You might live in six by eight feet squalor, but your computer screen shows a bright red shiny Ferrari parked in front of a Florida mansion surrounded by palms and ladies serving cocktails, and it feels much better. In certain instances the emotions that are expressed in the movies can begin to function as the only avenues where we can experience them, slowly replacing the emotions that we are not allowed to vent in the real world.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If an individual is not careful enough, then there is a high possibility to get lost in the fictional world and lose an ability to distinguish between truth and fiction, fact and fancy. If the brain is heavily saturated with fictional accounts and images that one is not meant to encounter every day, then that process is bound to produce in the person a surrealistic outlook on the real things that take place in the world. For instance, most of us who grew up on action films, horror movies and combat simulation games became gradually desensitized to the images of blood and death. We no longer grow indignant and become shocked by the grotesque footage from the streets of Baghdad or reports of mass slaughter in one of the African villages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Dream within a Dream:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The less obvious patterns of labyrinths are embedded in the captivating plot of the movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i>. Multi-level dream world is symbolic of the complexity of the real world in which the struggle for existence takes place. It involves convoluted structures with crossroads or conflicting decisions to be made, alternate routes, which can lead to more problems if one avoids the main thorny path and finally the dead ends or the spirit of futility that inflicts each human being in tough circumstances. To conquer that destructive spirit one must reverse his or her way, remember the wrong turns that were made, search for the unexplored paths and choose the road that will lead out of the maze. The greater the intricacy of the levels the greater the prize that awaits at the end of the journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VKPPMnAemdBWt6HwUniDkVZHA0VgsR1Qf_A21J6CtSVRASyW2KkXrFbKwqACaDNeeOcePCsrQsMkdXggmEUiqrf6xlKTD56Zvxnl7eo5r0YE-lBk6jKfpHlaofQnYogOCp7ho221TCTg/s1600/IMG175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VKPPMnAemdBWt6HwUniDkVZHA0VgsR1Qf_A21J6CtSVRASyW2KkXrFbKwqACaDNeeOcePCsrQsMkdXggmEUiqrf6xlKTD56Zvxnl7eo5r0YE-lBk6jKfpHlaofQnYogOCp7ho221TCTg/s320/IMG175.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">(Scanned from </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i>The Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The extraction/inception team’s job consists of navigating through people’s minds which are structured like a maze. The thoughts can get lost in the multiple sets of bifurcations that lead to cognitive compartments. To recall something from the memory one must follow the exact path that the thought took to the place of its dwelling in the recesses of the mind. The sequence of memories could be aligned or questions could be asked by a person who wants to withdraw an informational packet from the client’s head.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ariadne is auditioned for the job of dream architect by Cobb, who gives her an assignment to draw a maze in two minutes that will take more than one minute to solve. She was faced with a task of creating an intricate structure which fell under the magnificent definition of the labyrinth pronounced by the Roman patrician Seneca, that is “to create an infinity of paths within this finite space”. After few failed attempts a circular labyrinth triumphs over the square mazes. Unicursal labyrinth has only one correct path that leads to the center and is considered to be the superior form which celebrates the indirect and curved path.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The circular forms even appear in our imaginations during meditation and prayer. To help believers in their spiritual journey Dr. Lauren Artress of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco had taken the dimensions of the Chartres labyrinth in France and replicated it in her home parish. The eleven circuit labyrinth is walked for spiritual healing and psychological therapy since 1994. People report profound transformations of consciousness after experiencing the labyrinthine walks. Gradually the Christian faith turns to and regains the ancient values hidden in the complex forms that were unfortunately suppressed during the Dark Ages in Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMesS4_BTjMP20QLfHfqJTYfnBk_VPaocSrdJmyW2M8qHvzaJ86BIMVczfgL7BNrSbhj9yTUTpiPKD5icSAJSjZ8tq0qBOr-k_6I_D-GIh8NMRHbbmlQS5ZhwVzW17qH0Cv8hoepO58dsf/s1600/Labyrinth-Above.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMesS4_BTjMP20QLfHfqJTYfnBk_VPaocSrdJmyW2M8qHvzaJ86BIMVczfgL7BNrSbhj9yTUTpiPKD5icSAJSjZ8tq0qBOr-k_6I_D-GIh8NMRHbbmlQS5ZhwVzW17qH0Cv8hoepO58dsf/s1600/Labyrinth-Above.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Taken from the website http://www.gracecathedral.org/visit/labyrinth/)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ariadne is hired to create an intricate network of streets and confusing alleyways within a finite space, because the complex architecture will hide the inception team from the projections of a person’s subconscious who is dreaming. The person’s subconscious tends to become hostile and violent once it begins to sense foreign objects, which is similar to the monster in the labyrinth having an acute sense for an outsider.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In one of the scenes Cobb is chased by agents hired to kill him through the zigzagging city streets and indirect alleyways. He escapes by squeezing through a narrow opening between two houses, which is a visual demonstration that exit points are often more difficult than the inner paths themselves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During the times of nomadic people the seasonal encampments and temporary dwelling areas were organized in the labyrinthine form with enclosures and meandering village streets to protect the sacred altar and the tent of the chief. The complicated patterns in which the tribal village was organized were passed on through generations and kept in the memory of the members of the tribe, thus the outsider was not aware about that and would get lost in the labyrinthine paths.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the third level of the dream Dom Cobb due to the shortage of time decided to cut through the maze to bring Robert Fischer faster to the safe room. Cobb insisted for Ariadne to reveal an alternate route, thus he chose the straight line and forgot that the shortest and the quickest path is not the best. Those who try to circumnavigate the labyrinth or cut through the convoluted structure will find themselves in a more perplexed stage. Cheating in the labyrinth is a futile attempt that can only lead to disastrous consequences, in the movie Robert was shot by Dom’s projection and a couple of inceptors had to go into the limbo state to retrieve the lost members of the team.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Cheating in the labyrinth defeats the purpose of the entire experience during the traversal in the circles, because at the heart of that structure the person is supposed to achieve spiritual enrichment and personal fulfillment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the final stages of the multi layered dream world Robert Fischer opens up a safe with the key information that decided the outcome of the mission and Dom Cobb finally resolved his personal issues with the past and the quest was complete.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Death and Resurrection:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In order to come back to the previous stage in the dream or return back to reality a synchronized system of “kicks” was developed which involved the participant falling or dying in his or her sleep. This idea is akin to the perennial concept that one must die to be born again, which was prevalent throughout the mystery schools of antiquity and still performed during the rite of initiation in various esoteric orders.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3EeRD3QXwp4KLh6y4ZBTQuIPRyF8zwld_n4s_mlExnH5SQSy9igWoI1nD7ffmLOZ9Uwh1cXhh5HiTFe9cbm7PvutTSSEQQpIO8MdelzD4mspMEMDD3P12kSUK6O5DnRIuwxpgMDw5GDk-/s1600/IMG171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3EeRD3QXwp4KLh6y4ZBTQuIPRyF8zwld_n4s_mlExnH5SQSy9igWoI1nD7ffmLOZ9Uwh1cXhh5HiTFe9cbm7PvutTSSEQQpIO8MdelzD4mspMEMDD3P12kSUK6O5DnRIuwxpgMDw5GDk-/s320/IMG171.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">(Scanned from </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i>The Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Death and resurrection is a common theme or attribute in the rites of many philosophical societies. Various religious cults beseech their adepts to die to this world, to the old self and resurrect to the new life and the whole new understanding of how this world operates. During the initiation ceremony into the occult organizations the inner workings of the physical realm are whispered into the initiate’s ear followed by the iteration of meanings of symbols which are incrementally revealed during the accession to the higher degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Holy Bible instructs a Christian convert to die to the sins of this world, to take the cross and follow the Savior Jesus to the life everlasting. The neophyte is taught to go on the Calvary, because only through the death of Jesus Christ a believer can enter into Heaven. Christ was predestined to die from the foundation of the world so whoever believes in him shall live forever. In Eastern Philosophical tradition a believer who reaches <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nirvana</i> escapes the tortuous cycle of birth, death and resurrection, thereby entering into a higher realm of existence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52f6ROdMnxm8H-_6BVwIutoZTNsUIVHOaesNSGlRJdc1ECObk6YHBXvkpy2J5lxg4dumyuJnE7ORb2n2agDpmUWBwbaujPPACA8J2fC3OJTB9ot39kFuo5FNsZhcUgRiOGcPBHa9XAyAn/s1600/KalachakraSera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52f6ROdMnxm8H-_6BVwIutoZTNsUIVHOaesNSGlRJdc1ECObk6YHBXvkpy2J5lxg4dumyuJnE7ORb2n2agDpmUWBwbaujPPACA8J2fC3OJTB9ot39kFuo5FNsZhcUgRiOGcPBHa9XAyAn/s320/KalachakraSera.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Taken from Wikimedia.org)</span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">According to Manly P. Hall the initiate into the Egyptian Mysteries and similar esoteric schools of antiquity performed a rite of symbolic death, laying in the tomb and then being metaphorically resurrected by the hand of the priest wearing the mask of a lion. Thus whoever was accepted into the Temple was considered to be twice born or the one risen from the dead. This allegorical ceremony was essential for the later introduction to the Great Plan of cosmic unfoldment.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWwEaDD_HFcF91ZLJoGZ_vcCMBhMdhvAbJ6L1mqOUpESpP-IBVyXH60xab_5tVnZve8JipqlQqWjBsjoYAQu3U1tYnIRjQtxptfQ-VU-RaPQ7SVZxvC77X43Xnd1daRExDCHEARGIy2TU/s1600/25_lions_grip_manly_p_hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWwEaDD_HFcF91ZLJoGZ_vcCMBhMdhvAbJ6L1mqOUpESpP-IBVyXH60xab_5tVnZve8JipqlQqWjBsjoYAQu3U1tYnIRjQtxptfQ-VU-RaPQ7SVZxvC77X43Xnd1daRExDCHEARGIy2TU/s320/25_lions_grip_manly_p_hall.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"> (Scanned from </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i>The Lost Keys of Freemasonry</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The labyrinth has been commonly regarded as the journey of the dead. In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Epic of Gilgamesh</i> a demigod had to venture through the tortuous paths of magic forest to find and slay the hideous monster and rescue the damsel. In the Cretan tale Theseus traversed through the labyrinth to kill Minotaur to save lives of young sacrificial victims. In Hinduism the concept <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">samsara</i> presupposes a continuous cycle of birth and death which can only be escaped through the attainment of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">moksha </i>or the release from the earthly suffering and repeated deaths. To leave this samsaric prison <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tibetan Book of the Dead</i> advises the dead person to remain still and seek the light behind all consciousness. The intricate cycles of living and dying of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">samsara </i>are identical to the labyrinth drawn in a form of a circle with numerous concentric rings inside of it. In the Christian New Testament Jesus Christ descended into hell to preach to the imprisoned souls before he was raised to Heaven and glorified in a new body (1 Peter 3:19-20). According to Virgil, Aeneas, who was condemned to wander in the maze, had to go through Hades, the kingdom of the dead, to escape his prison. Thus one must go through death to experience life anew.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The descent into the limbo state is equivalent to the descent into Hades or hell. That narrative is present in all cultures which incorporated the story of a dying god into their holy teachings. The myth of a dying god is an account of personal redemption and regeneration, an allegory that teaches the person to become illumined and wise through self-sacrifice, to teach the devotee how to meditate above illusion and attain self-realization. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Tribal Voyage:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By the end of the movie the viewer is convinced that in order to persevere through the labyrinth the traveler is not required to carry large weapons. The wit and cunningness are more effective than firearms. In fact all material possessions are an encumbrance to the traversing nomad, whose wealth is concentrated in his or her past experiences, gained knowledge and skills and relationships with the fellow travelers. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i> has correlations with the tribal voyage which unites individuals from all walks of life and diverse skill sets into one group to kill a mammoth that is impossible to tackle by a single man.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our nomadic ancestors differed in many ways from the sedentary societies that we became accustomed to for the past three thousand years. The nomads held in high esteem the virtue of individuality and cherished the time they spent in solitude. However they were able to join together under the banner of solidarity and mutual respect when the situation demanded a concerted effort. The individual differences between them were temporarily put aside to confront a common problem. Each member of the union understood and reinforced the values of mutual respect and courtesy toward each other, but retained to his or her individualistic dispositions. Working together and preserving a personal uniqueness simultaneously is one of the hardest tasks on this planet. However this tribal union should not be confused with a socialistic utopian approach, because it is polar opposite from conformity or uniformity. Instead it is a temporary union for the sake of solving an individually insurmountable problem. Those who can master this method will be able to advance further and faster in the Darwinian world with utmost independency from the oppressive external forces. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Confession—the Cleansing of the Soul:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Inception</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> is the story of human struggle, a battle that takes within the hearts and minds of everyone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dom Cobb’s bad memories and regrets disabled him as a dream architect. The entire mission was sabotaged and on the brink of total failure because Cobb had destructive guilt which projected out of his subconscious in the form of a freight train and Mal’s violent outbursts. Cobb was able to reconcile with himself through the sacrament of confession or what Christian theologians call the cleansing of one’s consciousness or soul.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyone who is downtrodden by the past mistakes and guilt can express his or her feelings to a trusted person, e.g. a priest. Confession, which is ignored in many Protestant communities as a sacred rite, is an important part of a healthy spiritual life and is an essential element that keeps the individual moving forward. Whether it is a priest or a close friend, talking to somebody about personal problems will have a positive effect on the psyche and overall physical health. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Memory—A Magical Thread:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Upon Cobb’s descent into the state of limbo memory was the only viable tool available for stimulating the mind of Mr. Saito to help him remember the arrangement with Cobb. With the absence of external help memory becomes the magical thread to find the correct path out of the labyrinth. In the maze like world with sharp corners and twists, the experienced traveler uses the memory to recall past events, precedents of the bygone days in order to reconstruct the timeline of past happenings and realize the present location in the complex structure.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During our journey on earth we can only rely on ourselves, on our five senses and our personal memory. In many cultures the children are trained in memorizing verses of great poets, learning religious prayers, sometimes employing labyrinthine type of drawings to memorize these texts. It would prove highly advantageous in the adult years if the person was learning things by heart during his or her childhood. Our nomadic ancestors relied on the memories stored in their heads or preserved in their culture and passed on by their elders. The individual memory is the only trusted citadel of reference that one can be sure of, granted that the person is sane and has no pathological diseases. Today the short and the long term memory should be used to decipher through the confusing and contradicting barrage of news that is being projected from the glowing screens of our electronic devices. This is a prerequisite to the understanding of the current social and political circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Do Not Fear:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Life is a labyrinth and standing at the threshold the participant must find courage to enter. If one prefers the broad avenues and straight paths, afraid of sharp corners and dim, obscure ways, then he or she is not properly prepared to face up to the challenges of the meandering networks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The only reason Cobb and Ariadne were able to accomplish the mission was their bravery, which allowed them to go into the limbo state with a possibility of never coming back to reality. They were willing to get lost in the unchartered territories of their minds to find their nomadic partners and complete the job.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Do not fear is the commandment of a traveler of labyrinths. Do not be afraid to get lost in the indirect paths, in the presence of bifurcations and in the face of inevitability of forthcoming failures. To run into errors on the journey of the quest does not imply any lose, because new failures deliver new tools to be used for the refinement and perfection of the self. The person with a brave heart and appropriate level of cunningness has enough capacity to take a rough ashlar and cut it into a perfectly shaped stone to be socially useful in the construction of the building. Therefore do not be afraid of failures that lie ahead, instead welcome them with joy and prepare to extract something useful from your experiences, whether they are ill or weal.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Conclusion:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We live in the world that is growing increasingly complex and henceforth more challenging. The best and the worst of times are upon us. The global forces, including the sophisticated advances in communication technologies, are bringing all countries together and the new convoluted networks are being formed. Politics, economics and social sciences are compelled to confront these new global circumstances and respond by penetrating into the newly structured labyrinths. Those who will acquire the necessary and applicable navigation skills in the world of Internet and interdependent trade systems are destined to come through relatively unscathed into the new age of world peace and stability.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However it will not be a smooth transition and a sacrificial altar will be placed at the entrance to the global labyrinth. Certain sacrifices will be required in order for the World State to rise from the ashes of the old order and land on the firm platform of international respect and solidarity. The world of tomorrow will be divided into haves and have-nots and the decisions made today will determine the individual placement at the table of global commerce.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Understanding the realities listed above is the first step in the battle, acting upon that understanding is the hardest but also the most rewarding part of it. The word to the wise: educate yourself, stand firm, walk upright and do not let yourself be deceived on the road to the New World Order. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwDzRx6vGyo7By0BovaVKQ02O6sQjxF0SaiJH2ExjrmcAaSmQw-jbmHv7pKUOt0qZ2umYK8cnFmhz1yhyXNRHKNnloYyhgdd0xhlK4lrj_zQ5w2xPi0Vsmc_hemMkxk9auqwL-K1WPJzs/s1600/IMG178.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwDzRx6vGyo7By0BovaVKQ02O6sQjxF0SaiJH2ExjrmcAaSmQw-jbmHv7pKUOt0qZ2umYK8cnFmhz1yhyXNRHKNnloYyhgdd0xhlK4lrj_zQ5w2xPi0Vsmc_hemMkxk9auqwL-K1WPJzs/s320/IMG178.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">(Scanned from </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i>The Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;">)</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bibliography:</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Attali, Jacques. <u>The Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom</u>. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1999.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hall, Manly P. <u>The Lost Keys of Freemasonry</u>. New York: Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company, 1923. (1957 edition)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Huxley, Aldous. <u>Brave New World Revisited</u>. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Keightley, Thomas. <u>The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy</u>. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1878.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sargant, William. <u>Battle for the Mind</u>. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1957. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-88645863312749930062011-04-06T09:31:00.000-07:002011-04-17T09:44:23.016-07:00Wake Up and Smell the Innovation<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From the days of Michelangelo to the days of Steve Jobs the innovation has played a key role in the development and subsequent progress of humanity. The inventions of various kinds have contributed a great deal to the improvement of human’s lot on the planet. Imagine your life without the given conveniences of mobile devices, the time saving home appliances and the freedom of movement which comes with automobiles. It used to take days for a delivery person to carry a message from one party to another, but with the improvements in information technology it became a matter of seconds. Our indispensable cell phones became the pocket minicomputers featuring all kinds of applications, from the digital clock to the complex programs for computation. We can even envision the time when the passport, the personal medical information and finances will transfer into our portable phones. In the near future you will no longer be obliged to carry a thick binder with personal documents, because everything will be stored on the electronic device in your pocket.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However we would not be able to enjoy the wonders of technology if it was not for trailblazing innovators who were not afraid to introduce something radically new into our midst. Think of Stibitz at the Bell Laboratories and Aiken at Harvard who worked on the early electromechanical computers in the 1940s, the invention of the transistor by Brattain, Bardeen, and Shockley in 1948 which enabled the appearance of the microelectronic integrated circuit (the microchip) or the current research carried out by Professor Aleksandr P. Kozlov and his colleagues at Gas Technology Institute who utilize the recently discovered thermodynamic cycle (M-cycle) to increase the efficiency of air conditioning units that are run on water. These innovators constitute a creative class of scientists who bring about a positive change into this world and are remarkable examples worthy of emulation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Although it is apparent that not everyone can become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, nevertheless every individual has the necessary talents and innate abilities in order to make a valuable contribution and advance certain significant ideas into our society. Today is the day for all of us to pull together to share the knowledge and skills we have in our possession and change things for the better.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are a youngster who is dissatisfied with the current way of life, do not look forward to the violent revolution, which in your false belief will clean up the streets and resurrect the dying society. We do not need a bloody revolution, what we need is a revolution of ideas, which will be conducted by bright individuals who will join hands together and work toward the goals of peace, justice and prosperity. The change we desire to obtain can be reached via the union of creative intellects operating on the common platform towards the grand common purpose. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Southern Illinois University Innovative Systems acts as one of these strong platforms to advance change into this world. The existence of the publicly accessible intellectual stage, where the industry actors and young entrepreneurs can congregate together in the University type of setting to exchange ideas and share valuable insights, is imperative for the maintenance of American liberties and freedoms. The study of diverse perspectives and opinions can vastly expand one’s intellectual horizons and help to grasp the larger picture of the shape of things to come. The University grounds make up an ideal place for the public discourse and the sharing of ideas, because anything that is promulgated in the educational facilities will inevitably produce the ripple effects that will be felt across the globe. The Innovative Systems Conference at SIU carries an immense pragmatic value and enriches the professional lives by establishing the lines of communication between various disciplines. Furthermore, it is of vital importance for the student body to be privy to the large number of views so they can augment their awareness of the world at large. The students who had the privilege to participate at the SIUIS Conferences were able to establish beneficial contacts with the industry leaders and test their cherished ideas with people who have the ability to implement them in the real world. As a participant at SIUIS-2010 Conference I was given a wonderful opportunity to be a part of that intellectually refreshing experience, during which the technical experts and entrepreneurs were exchanging the gems of wisdom and offering us an outlet from the humdrum of everyday events of the professional circles that we dwell in. Speakers were given a valuable occasion to receive feedback in the form of questions and answers session and the healthy critique from the audience composed of faculty members and students.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Innovative Systems is a fabulous intellectual platform where the fusion of creative thinking of bright individuals has found its place and where the students have the privilege to get in touch with the successful innovators and their potential employers. Innovative Systems also serves as a hub of diverse ideas emanating from the fields of business, economics, engineering and information technology. After three days of intellectual journey at SIUIS Conference one may ponder for months on the knowledge that was conveyed by intriguing and eloquent speakers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is an ideal plain for innovation that needs to be reinforced, strengthened and supercharged in order to move this organization to the next level of outreach and influence. All participants need to understand the cordial relationship between technology and development and redouble their efforts in propagating the concepts of Innovative Systems, the greater ingenuity and better future through the groundbreaking ideas. Our future depends on our present actions which should be more sustainable and less harmful to the environment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To guarantee the sustainable future for our progeny we need to start working on the present environmental conditions and mitigate the adverse impacts on the earth’s climate stemming from certain careless human activities. The fulfillment of these benevolent goals can be premised on the sustainable living, e.g. the Village21<sup>©</sup> project proposes to accomplish this by selecting an urban or a rural area to run a pilot project to demonstrate to the nation and the rest of the world the benefits of self-sufficiency and communal existence. In addition to that the current developments in the greening technologies can greatly enhance the goals summarized above.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the prerogatives will consist in the restoration of a tightly knit community which will conduct its own farming, cloth weaving and workshops that will carry its respective activities independently from the monopolistic corporations. The idea is to recreate and improve the longhouses of American Indians and make them suitable for the 21<sup>st</sup> Century living. Imagine several families and/or couples or one large family clan existing under the roof of the giant habitable complex with meeting rooms, a joint dining place and communal sleeping quarters. The housing complex may incorporate the renewable energy technologies that will act as a source of clean energy producing no harmful emissions or dangerous byproducts. The green energy technologies will power the local community workshops which will be in business to make shoes, weave clothing and repair the machinery that is in local usage. Several communities can develop networks in order to undertake larger projects which will require an effort of multiple research groups. The cross-community networks will not constitute an environment of dependency, because the essential things needed for the basic human survival will be conducted independently and in a self-sustaining manner. Water, food, shelter and heating are the only crucial factors to consider for the preservation and continuation of human species. If these are granted all else follows.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Many of us are aware of the fact that the food in the majority of grocery shops is unfit to eat and the water from public suppliers is unfit to drink. Therefore the only way to safeguard ourselves from the contaminated food and water is to take these matters into our own hands. A series of water wells can be dug to supply the village with fresh water or install filtration systems for the general and personal usage. The fruits and vegetables can be grown in the gardens around the housing building along with the crop fields that will be shared by all members of the community. When one conducts the farming that person regains control on the type of pesticide that is used, the type of soil that is cultivated for plantation and the type of seed that is used in the production of a given crop. Everyone should have a say in the matters of community and share an equal amount of responsibility in the village. Together we can both overcome the burdens and take joy in the accomplishments.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are looking for an easy way out in this world then you are destined to fall prey to the frameworks and systems devised by other individuals who will exploit you and confiscate the fruits of your labor via taxation or legal fines. If you want to consume good quality food, you must monitor closely its production and preparation phases to insure that the optimum benefit is derived from it to you and your loved ones. One cannot be a slave to the social system when he or she controls food, water and shelter. How long do we need to endure a small class of parasites existing on the backs of the larger populace? We must act now in a collective fashion to ensure that we do not wake up in the world of slavery and utter subjugation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Furthermore we can no longer afford to rely on air polluting fossil fuels and dangerous nuclear power plants, because these activities have a large set of adverse consequences on environment in general and human health in particular. The only feasible solution is to go back and start living harmoniously with Mother Nature and stop plundering our finite planet. The true definition of greening is to respect the Nature and be grateful for the gifts she has to offer. To be green signifies the special relationship one can have with the Nature herself, caring and protecting that which is vulnerable. It is a viable approach to arrive to the goals of greening and innovation by accumulating knowledge, experience, and wisdom to be eventually implemented in the right circumstances.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However the scientific knowledge, which is essential for understanding the operations and processes of the surrounding world, without the specific mindset cannot serve as a fertile ground for innovation. Only the inspired and illuminated individual can make a significant breakthrough in the particular field of study. Unfortunately one cannot assign the exact criteria of what makes the person suitable for a significant discovery. Nevertheless an individual with the inquisitive mind, the eagerness to learn and the ability to think outside established norms has enough potential to rediscover the forgotten truths or come up with something totally new that will become the useful tool for the betterment of society. One should learn how to think outside the standardized and accepted modes or zones of reasoning in order to arrive at refreshing solutions to the current sociopolitical predicaments. If the person cannot think and reason beyond the push buttons on the computer screen, he or she will be hopelessly lost in the array of tailor-made cognitive structures. Retaining to one’s critical abilities during the journey of self education can greatly enhance the innate creative features thereby producing a new set of ideas and techniques that could be utilized for the greater good of all.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If someone wants to remain a mindless touchscreen zombie only to be useful in the McDonald’s restaurants then let them be where they are. If you take things for granted and assume that the currently structured society is just a natural order of things then no one can help you. Those of you who understand the power of non-linear thinking, the necessity of complex thoughts and are able to achieve an acute concentration on the object of your study, you have the potential to invent the next steam engine, the next internal combustion engine, and the next microprocessor.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just think how one invention can bring forth a dramatic change to our lives in the form of numerous tangible products. For instance the invention of the microchip has enabled the appearance of three indispensable devices: the cell-phone, the laptop and the Internet. Besides communication the cell phones granted us an opportunity to use complex applications to make purchases, browse the Internet and even to create an array of ultra-sophisticated programs to calculate financial instruments in the global markets. Without innovation all of that would still remain in the realm of magic and sorcery.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However the change we so desperately seek in this world cannot be actualized without the renegades and intellectual “rebels” who are not afraid to break through the established norms and deliver something that is new and reinvigorating on the scene. Sometimes an odd idea can have a tremendous and a positive impact on the surroundings and in turn contribute to the rise of the society’s health level. Thus it is in the best interest of free thinkers, intellectual rebels and cognitive dissidents to unite under the common front and concentrate their indefatigable energies into one positive beam of constructive and beneficial change. Entrepreneurs, innovators and radical thinkers compose a powerful crew that can gain enough momentum to punch through the stale walls of banality, the archaic conventional wisdom and the rotten conditions of normalcy. The rebellious spirit, which is especially acute in the youngsters, can be utilized for much higher purposes, such as the construction of more robust communities. After all the communal work can be made into something that is both pragmatic and entertaining. The people of our generation must become the drivers of civilization and the progenitors of great ideals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Imagine the road to discovery as the winding paths of the labyrinth, which one must traverse, conquering various obstacles and running into dead-ends, to reach the center and find the valuable artifact and bring it back to the people. We have tremendous powers of creativity and ingenuity hidden within ourselves and the innovative thinking can unleash them with the full force. We cannot always divert the direction of global trends, but we can certainly prepare for what lies ahead with the help of the spirit of discovery and the audacity of hope. Our guiding principles for shaping the better future for our posterity should consist of community, solidarity and charity. Gravitating toward these ideals will help us persevere through the ignorance and intellectual darkness of today and will lead us into the light at the end of the tunnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bibliography:</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Attali, Jacques. <u>The Labyrinth in Culture and Society: Pathways to Wisdom</u>. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1999.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Foreign Policy Association. <u>Toward the Year 2018</u>. New York: Cowles Education Corporation, 1968.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Russell, Bertrand. <u>The Impact of Science on Society</u>. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p>Written by Arseniy A. Kozlov </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-68760945169648726462011-03-18T16:05:00.000-07:002011-03-18T17:55:44.052-07:00Radio Interview on the Republic Broadcasting NetworkArseniy A. Kozlov was a guest on THE NATIONAL INTEL REPORT with John Stadtmiller from 4pm-6pm on March 18, 2011.<br />
<br />
The topics covered during the discussion: Federal Reserve System, Communism, Contemporary Russian History and the influence of Jewry on the European Historical Progress.<br />
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<a href="http://republicbroadcasting.org/j_stadtmiller.html">http://republicbroadcasting.org/j_stadtmiller.html</a>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-38685727604134797792011-03-03T21:20:00.000-08:002011-03-03T21:20:16.239-08:00KAA Greening Fund Projects<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Saving the Planet: What does it entail?<br />
1) Under our <span class="yshortcuts">grand vision</span> of the KAA Greening Fund, the organization seeks to construct an exemplary village suitable for the 21 century living. The village will comprise a communal farming, communal living and joint workshops. The village will have <span class="yshortcuts">public transportation</span> and be overseen by the council of the wise. The goal is to resurrect and to replicate the concept of the long houses of the American Indians and live sustainably and harmoniously with <span class="yshortcuts">Mother Nature</span>.<br />
2) Establish a school to learn about nature, its remedies and a proper place of the human being in it.</span>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-54209247653601809402011-03-03T21:11:00.000-08:002011-03-07T09:38:11.948-08:00KAA Greening Fund Mission Statement<span style="font-size: small;">KAA Greening Fund, an independent, not for profit organization that spreads awareness about vital environmental issues and provides through private tutoring an alternative perspective on the true-green sustainable living. The organization believes that we all should go back to our ancestral roots and live on the land in harmony with Mother Nature, like American Indians once did, and exit overcrowded cities. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">KAA Greening Fund is committed to the goal of illuminating the world by the grand vision to restore nature to its original pristine state and make it free from certain human activities that have devastating effects upon the environment.</span></span>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-80095554659389476352011-03-03T10:22:00.000-08:002011-04-17T09:40:45.146-07:00Financial Bubbles or the Bursts for the Rich<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.gcnlive.com/wp/2011/03/16/financial-bubbles-or-the-bursts-for-the-rich/">http://www.gcnlive.com/wp/2011/03/16/financial-bubbles-or-the-bursts-for-the-rich/</a><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"> On September 15<sup>th</sup>, 2008 the US public was shocked to find out from the newspaper headlines that one of the most highly rated investment banks, the Lehman Brothers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The fear was quickly replaced by panic on the stock markets and due to America’s ties with the rest of the world the prospect of the global meltdown was imminent. The immediate reports on the status of the US economy did little good but intensified the prevailing negative attitudes thereby clouding the critical abilities of the people to discern the situation. The foreclosure rates began to rise, the workforce took a massive hit and the transfer of wealth began to take its course paving the way to usher in the age of super-rich plutocrats. The deregulation of the financial markets, the low federal interest rates and the inept financial authorities served as the causative factors behind the great crash of 2008. In the aftermath of the financial debacle the US image was tarnished and the free market ideas were mocked. What we are going to learn from the current events will determine the fate of the US economy and our place in the world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The first response came from “experts” on the TV who started offering various first aid kits to fix the economy, one of them being an educational reform that could be accomplished via the reduction of tuitions to improve the accessibility to the college education. However more education does not necessarily mean a better education. America experienced recessions in the past akin to the 2008-2009 economic downturn. In 1970s the unemployment was high, citizens were getting disgruntled and CEOs received bonuses. Thus Americans have a lot to learn and the educational facilities will not grant us any insights into these predicaments, because higher educational institutions exist on grants from major corporations and philanthropic foundations which benefited from each financial crash. After the “Great Crash of 2008” we witnessed a consolidation of financial power on the scale of Germany of the 1920s manifesting in the devouring of small businesses by financial sharks. George Soros knew that the crash was coming and was laughing on his way to the bank. Even he concurs and states that we need a new paradigm for the financial markets. The financial alchemist argues in his books and lectures that the economic education in universities is inadequate and poor. The Economics and Business courses produce numerous batches of suitable prey that are usually utilized as the cannon fodder by the financial predators. America’s revered economists and financial analysts along with the FBI have warned about the massive mortgage fraud several years before the September 2008 Crash, the dangers of derivatives were recognized and discussed in many congressional hearings. However, nothing was done and Americans were left holding the bag.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The classical economic theory that is propagated by the London School of Economics and mirrored by other higher educational institutions does not prepare the average consumer/market participator for the economic jungle of predatory lending and loan sharking. Those who do understand the reality tend to exploit it for the purposes of wealth creation and generally earn the status of “insiders”. The optimum way to make a “massive killing” in the financial markets is to detect what Soros called the far-from-equilibrium territory and charter it carefully. The University’s economic models tend to break down in the far-from-equilibrium situations when the humdrum of everyday events comes to its end and the generally accepted rules are no longer applicable. The investors who managed to get on the lifeboats, before the panic erupted due to the sinking of the financial ship, are rewarded generously by the market. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The events of September 2008 have caught some of us by surprise, but we can still explain them in the light of the historical context by gathering clues scattered all over the main-stream media and referring to the publications of financial gurus. To identify the root of the problem and tackle the responsible parties are the effective means to solve the current financial conundrum. On the one hand we have ignorant politicians and financial authorities who are still busy patching up holes in the economy and who are preoccupied with the treatment of symptoms of the ailing financial system. On the other hand there is the public who is always hopeful that the economy will rebound, because they put their trust in the experts who promise to take care of all the problems. Both sides as of 2010 assume that the worst is over and we can go back to business as usual, back to the happy days of consumption and entertainment. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The identification of the boom and bust cycle and the understanding of the appearance and formation of financial bubbles are essential prerequisites for discovering the causalities behind the economic crises. The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) and other concepts of the conventional economic theory propagated by the Universities are not sufficient enough to explain the events behind the boom and bust processes. Therefore a new comprehensive analysis of the financial markets is required to produce a new set of theories and frameworks in order to avoid the future failures. Since the appearance of the financial capital in the 12<sup>th</sup> Century and its respective financiers the constant state of crisis became an indispensable feature of the capitalistic system of the West. Whether it is the tulip bulb crisis of 1636 or the Great Crash of 2008 the events seem to follow an identical pattern of speculation, growth, profits and a rapid decline. The financial crashes sometimes translate into the economic ones thereby affecting the country’s status quo.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> After the bank run of 1907 the special interest groups managed to push through the legislation to establish the Federal Reserve System with the purpose to control the money supply of the United States via the federal interest rates. The members of the John Birch Society and other economic observers have long recognized the economic roller coaster, but no one was able to formulate a solid theory to explain the boom and bust cycle. The financial crises seem to follow a pattern of the gradual and slow booming stage which is usually followed by the short and rapid bust. However, there are more factors to consider when it comes to the inflationary stage of the bubble. George Soros recognized the multifaceted aspect of the bubble formation, which boosted up his confidence in the financial field. That is the reason for his bold statement in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Soros Lectures</i>: “When I see a bubble forming I rush in to buy, adding fuel to the fire. That is not irrational”. The universality of the conceptual framework, which is elaborated upon in this essay, makes it feasible for application during various debacles of the past and present generations, including the crises of non-economic nature. The depression of the 1930s, the conglomerate boom of the 1960s, the international banking crisis and the Japan’s asset bubble of the 1980s and the current financial turmoil (2008-2010) have common features and similar fallouts. The bubble theory will be approached from many different angles to create an optimum three-dimensional look and to amplify the understanding of the operations involved in the financial markets.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> After the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank, America’s Central Banking Institution, every generation went through the minor recessions and financial crashes with some being worse than others. However, the September 2008 Crash stands out as the worst case of the boom and bust cycle since the Great Depression of the 1930s. First, the financial crisis was not confined to one segment of the economy but affected the entire system. Second, it is the first global financial crisis since the globalization of financial markets began in early 1980s. In the midst of 2009 turmoil the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Newsweek </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Time </i>magazine headlines were adding fuel to the fire by announcing the looming demise of globalization and its utter failure to prevent the crisis. The resilient economies of the world also suffered great losses, but as the global picture is becoming more lucid we can see that China and India have weathered the storm, came through relatively unscathed and actually benefitted economically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> Between 2001 and 2006 one could easily notice that the printed and visual media was hyping the new opportunities in the housing market for eager investors. The public was encouraged to invest into the newly build homes, “flip” them every five years and make a large profit. Everyone seemed to be going into the real estate sector as agents and/or investors. The “experts” on the TV were giving us a rosy picture of the future and were predicting the housing prices to go up. It was argued continuously that everyone had to invest into the growing housing market to make a fortune of the lifetime. After several years of the heightened activities in the housing market many lost their livelihoods and only few stood to gain.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> In the aftermath of September 11, 2001 terrorist attack and the bursting of the technology bubble the Feds lowered the interest rates and removed restrictions on credit expansion. As a result of that the financial institutions began to inject an abundant torrent of sophisticated financial instruments. In order to expand further the mortgage industry developed intricate techniques to lure the less credit worthy customers into their offices. The aggressive subprime mortgage companies began to spring up like mushrooms after the rain offering loans at subprime rates in the pursuit of profits thereby increasing the US household mortgage debt by more than twofold since 2001. The financial institutions knew the risks involved in such schemes and took cover under the sophisticated financial creations, such as the credit default swaps and the collateralized debt obligations. The risky loans were “sliced and diced” into various securities and sold to profit minded investors without them realizing the cheapness of the sources of the revolving capital. The idea was to create a perception of protection from the increasing debt by diversifying the loans and repackaging them into a new set of contracts with other banks and institutions. The low-income families and people with poor or no credit histories were encouraged by the media and mortgage companies to take on the loans at subprime rates and thereby artificially inflating the value of homes. The moment of truth came during the spring of 2007, when families found themselves unable to make payments on the mortgages and discovered that their mortgage balance was worth more than the market value of their homes. The excessive use of derivatives and other types of securities created an unsustainable situation in the household sector. The climax point was reached in August 2007, when the American Home Mortgage, one of the largest home loan providers in the US, declared for bankruptcy laying off the majority of its staff. The financial institutions were becoming insolvent and the credit quality was deteriorating in the process of aggressive lending by mortgage originators. The panic ensued in the stock markets resulting in the financial fallout of 2009. For more details read the January/February 2009 Issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Affairs</i>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> With proceeding paragraphs the author will present the boom and bust model devised after the meticulous examination of the works written by one of the most successful speculators of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century, George Soros. The financial alchemist specialized on making money during the crisis period because he was “more stimulated by the bust” than the boom part of it. For instance “The man who broke the Bank of England” made £1 billion on Black Wednesday in 1992 by betting on the devaluation of the pound (“George Soros, the man who broke the Bank, sees a global meltdown”, March 28, 2009, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sunday Times</i>). Soros’ financial success from the application of the boom and bust model is a vivid indicator of its objective value. On many occasions he welcomed intellectuals to the critique of his theory of bubbles and the general conceptual framework, because the contributions by other intelligent minds can greatly enhance the understanding of how financial markets operate. Furthermore, the proactive measures can advance these ideas into the University classrooms. Being the active part of the first generation of hedge fund managers Soros utilized the boom and bust model for his benefit. The crises theories have been largely ignored by the main-stream Academia due to the serious challenge that the new paradigms for financial markets are posing on the classical economic theory. The modern Economics formulations are veiled under the guise of being scientific, but since the practice of Economics is an art therefore its principles cannot be modeled after the Newtonian physics. The conceptual framework devised by George Soros can be found in several books including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Alchemy of Finance</i> (1988), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Age of Fallibility </i>(2006), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Crash of 2008 and What it Means</i> (2008, 2009) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Soros Lectures</i> (2010). The author of this article will contribute to the project of propagating the new paradigm for financial markets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> In order to understand the boom and bust cycle the concrete philosophical foundation needs to be constructed because it will grant the researcher the proper insights into the workings of the financial markets. Under the theory of reflexivity George Soros examines the two-way relationship between thinking and reality. The person who studies the course of events and participates in them at the same time has a direct and indirect influence upon them. For example, the actions taken by the market participants determine the outcome of the prices of stocks, bonds and other underlying assets. As opposed to the natural world the social affairs cannot be based on principles and axioms derived from the study of nature, because the subject of economics involves a human factor which shares the elements of uncertainty and fallibility. The formulas stemming from the study of nature are not applicable in the fields of social sciences. Human actions are generally unpredictable and henceforth the overarching model cannot be superimposed to predict the future of social affairs. Therefore the economic theories cannot be modeled after the laws of physics and chemistry.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> To understand social affairs one must study the workings of the human mind and be engaged in the study of man. In a brief summation the information that enters into the minds of people contributes to the formation of their belief system which in turn influences the decision making process. Human understanding of the world is inherently imperfect and during the relevant situations when the making of the decision is required the gaps in the intellect are automatically filled with information derived from instinct, previous experience and bits and pieces from the main-stream media accounts. Therefore an incomplete idea of reality is an innate feature in the field of social affairs including the stock markets. The distorted views inevitably lead to inappropriate or erroneous actions. Taken on the massive scale the incorrect decisions can mutate into the nationwide debacles, e.g. the bursting of the US housing market bubble in 2007-2008. Those who understand the mental processes and the power of perception can utilize their manipulative functions to change the perception of the reality to their advantage.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> Ron Suskind reported in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i>, October 17, 2004, “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush”, that the Bush administration had created a propaganda machine that worked on creating various versions of reality for the general public for political persuasion purposes. The senior adviser to George W. Bush was quoted saying that their group operates in “the reality-based community” that plays with the opinions of the public. Upon the attempted refutation by Ron Suskind the adviser stated unequivocally: “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do”. The groups who control the formation of public opinion mold it in the shape that will be financially beneficial to the elites. Furthermore, according to the father of modern propaganda—Edward Bernays: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Propaganda</i>, p. 1). Therefore the manipulation of people’s attitudes in the desirable direction is a highly efficient art that aids in the harvest of the fruits of the working class. The current public persuasion techniques are developed by marketing firms, who sell their services to politicians and various industries.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> During the formation of the bubble there are two reinforcing agents in the play: the prevailing trend and the prevailing misconception. The misconception or the misunderstanding of the reality can be dissected into two parts as well: the views of the reality and the course of events. The public’s incorrect perception influences the course of events thereby accelerating the overall trend. For example, during the expansionary stage of the subprime bubble the American consumers were able to borrow more money and they did due to the rise of the property prices with the value of loans sometimes exceeding the value of homes. During the upward trend the market participants expect to receive high returns from the constantly rising prices of commodities. Meanwhile the politicians and credit rating agencies keep their mouths shut because they receive a large cut from the investment banks who are given the high ratings to attract more public’s savings. Thus the cycle reinforces itself and gains momentum until it comes to the period of dissatisfaction and the situation when the investors are reluctant to buy more unfamiliar financial products. The excessive use of debt and equity leveraging inflates the prices and affects the market fundamentals.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The above narrative is in direct violation of the efficient market hypothesis principle which assumes that the markets tend toward equilibrium and are not bubble prone. The market participants usually look at the market prices before they make buy and sell decisions on the stock market. Under the classical economic theory lies a premise that market prices accurately reflect the underlying reality or market fundamentals. However, nobody bothers to look at the sources of the inflating capital. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The political and economic arms act in concert together during both phases. When the trend reaches its highest point the public’s perception of reality changes due to the rising suspicion about the credit quality and that process destabilizes the financial system further which results in the sudden and sharp drop in the stock market prices. The financial crisis erupts capturing many segments of the economy, the implosion occurs resulting in the financial fallout. The political arm rushes in to help with bailouts and rescue packages thereby draining the taxpayers’ purse and transferring wealth to the pot-belly financial industry. The misguided participants suffer great losses, lose their tangible assets and stand in disbelief from the shock and awe they have just experienced. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> For instance during the formation of the subprime bubble the speculation, the securitizations and the use of derivatives were making the financial capital thinner, rotting it from the inside with the injection of the so-called toxic assets. Cheap sources of money and the high availability of credit caused the real estate prices to soar. However, nobody thought that eventually these practices would create an unsustainable and credit worthless situation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The maxim “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” did escape the minds of participants. Unfortunately the positive thinking and the pursuit of luxurious living were the emblems during the booming stage of the housing bubble. Various crime reporting agencies were warning the financial regulators prior to the 2008 debacle about the abuses and excesses in the industry responsible for the collapse, but the financial authorities remained silent.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> “The authorities consistently ignored or underestimated the abuses and excesses in the mortgage industry and their effect on the real economy. That is how the Federal Reserve fell so far behind the curve. The Federal Reserve had the legal authority to regulate the mortgage industry, which it failed to exercise. The Treasury also remained totally passive during this period and became active only when the crisis was well advanced.” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Crash of 2008 and What it Means</i>, p. 121)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"> Nevertheless, the true reality eventually catches up with the participants’ thinking and the dirt that was swept under the rug is discovered. The financial authorities usually plead not guilty and begin to claim that they have not foreseen this course of events.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> According to the prevailing theory of the EMH the financial markets tend toward equilibrium and deviations occur randomly whose origins can be traced back to the extraneous shocks. However with the introduction of debt and equity leveraging and the sophisticated methods of credit creation the financial markets could actually affect the fundamentals that the market prices are supposed to reflect. The first stage in which the bubble gains the momentum is defined by the prevailing trend and a prevailing misconception. The prevailing misconception reinforces the upward trend because the market participants’ biases are proven to be right. The participants continue to invest in the same fashion due to the inflated expectations, the underlying hope factor and a herd mentality. The factors that substantiate that trend can be found in the assumption taught in all Economics courses that the market prices accurately reflect the reality. Soros explains in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Crash of 2008 and What it Means</i>: “Market prices usually express a prevailing bias rather than the correct valuation. In the majority of cases, the valuations are proven wrong by subsequent evidence, and the bias is corrected, only to be replaced by a different bias.” (p. 71) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The identification of the prevailing trend can be done by noticing the rush of investors to a particular segment of the economy. Sometimes the market trends can be caught by witnessing the tactical bombardment of information conducted by the common media outlets, because these actions inevitably contribute to the formation of people’s opinions on certain topics. After the identification of the prevailing trend is completed, one can ride it to the safest point and pull-out before the trend reverses itself and market prices plummet. After the prevailing trend reverses itself the majority of investors are left holding the bag while the few walk out relatively unscathed and actually benefit from the bust. After each crisis the financial authorities intervene and issue rescue packages to the failing institutions on behalf of the taxpayers. The squeezed taxpayers grumble and large banks and corporations enlarge themselves by swallowing the smaller and/or unlucky firms. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The development of the US housing market bubble fits perfectly with the boom and bust cycle. Along with the frenzy of new construction the mortgage industry was willing to lend to anyone and practically on any terms. The credit was easy and cheap and sometimes no down payment was required. There was an opportunity for everyone to live the American dream consisting of the home ownership, the private automobile and other material possessions. And if you couldn’t make the payment the freshly baked firms were offering the delicious packages to refinance or remodify your mortgages. Not only people were living the American dream but they were given a chance to make additional money from selling their homes every 5 years. The housing prices were rising to reflect the expansion of the credit market and thereby reinforcing people’s confidence in the prevailing trend. The cheap money sources of the house market inflation were largely ignored, because the middle class was focused on making petty cosmetic renovations in their homes and flipping them when the price was right. As the situation progressed further into the credit crunch area, the mortgage creators became relentless and the deregulated financial institutions were injecting more sophisticated financial instruments, whose risks involved were not even understood by the financial authorities, because they relied on the risk assessments provided and conducted by the institutions that were spawning them in the first place. These laissez-faire policies were inspired by Ronald Reagan’s idea called the “magic of the marketplace” resting on the belief that the market is self-correcting and should be left to its own devices.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The suitable economic conditions produced the perfect storm and after the events of August 2007, when American Home Mortgage went into bankruptcy, the subprime mortgage bubble burst triggering a chain reaction through the entire economy. According to Merrill Lynch reports a large percentage of the US economic growth in early 2000s was due to the housing market. Thus the housing bubble served as a detonator for a larger explosion affecting many segments of the US economy and taking on the systemic proportions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> In order to finance their predatory activities and receive the necessary capital from the federal government the financial institutions resorted to the cleansing of their balance sheets from the mortgage-backed securities and other toxic assets. The risky loans and subprime mortgages were repackaged into various financial vehicles, such as securities and derivatives, which eventually were sold as bonds on the stock market. The deregulation of financial markets accelerated since 2001 clearing more room for the new financial instruments and upping the profits. The investors who sought high returns in the shortest period of time quickly entered into these intricate financial schemes perpetrated by the mortgage industry. In the process of inflating the money supply via the low federal interest rates the financial capital was getting thinner and was deteriorating in value. The entire system was bound for a controlled implosion. Meanwhile the investment banks were building a façade of safety and prosperity by hiding their toxic products under various pseudo-insurances. Whenever an investor decided to purchase a securitized product the bank would cover it with an additional layer of insurance to minimize the risk and make it seem safe to purchase. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The uncontrolled hedge funds played a substantial role in purchasing the securitizations and disseminating them all over the world. These schemes were formulated by the group of very clever financial players, who expected to receive high bonuses by catching the public savings in their complex nets. Ultimately a casino type of environment emerged, where as a rule the house always wins. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> From 2006 the number of people who ran into trouble making monthly payments on their houses began to rise and the mortgage originators started to panic because their accounts were permeated with empty promises. The systemic risks were recognized by bank regulators, and the FBI has warned that the mortgage fraud was escalating and reaching “epidemic” proportions, which was fueled by the low interest rates and increasing home prices (“FBI warns of mortgage fraud “epidemic”, September 17, 2004, CNN). William K. Black, a former bank regulator, has been instrumental in sounding the alarm bells about the massive mortgage fraud and the impending disastrous consequences. In May 2005 the FBI released the “Financial Crimes Report to the Public” that summarized various frauds and their impact on the nation. Section D of that report lists financial crimes associated with the mortgage fraud stemming from financial and non-financial institutions, including the artificial inflation of the property value and the issuance of loans on the fictitious properties. According to the March 08, 2007 FBI Press release “FBI issues Mortgage Fraud Notice in conjunction with Mortgage Bankers Association” the mortgage fraud was becoming a problem that required “the unified efforts of law enforcement, regulators, and industry…because mortgage lending and the housing market have a significant overall effect on the nation’s economy.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> In the past the financial authorities would intervene before the start of the economic crisis to prepare the platform for a safe landing. However that was not the case during the autumn of 2008 when the Lehman Brothers and other big institutions were allowed to go bankrupt without proper preparations. Consequently the global financial system was brought on the verge of collapse. Furthermore the investors were not warned by credit rating agencies prior to the beginning of the recession about the dangerous toxic assets on the balance sheets of investment banks. As a result the financial avalanche was approaching and nothing could stand in its way. The bubble that was inflating for several years burst in a deafening explosion sending the entire economic system into one crazy spin and shaking off the unlucky elements. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"> Thus one can identify four main aspects of the financial bubble: the prevailing trend, the prevailing misconception, the uncontrolled credit expansion and the belief in the conventional economic theory.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> In the aftermath of each economic crash one can usually observe the emergence and the clash between the two major forces that advocate for the remedial change. Government intervention is an anathema to the ardent followers of the free market idea, because they believe that an independent and a powerful market will be able to solve major problems on its own. That the market should be left to its own devices is the central theme of their ideology. As a result of that any hint of nationalization or state capitalism will be strongly opposed by the devoted followers of the laissez-faire market approach. On the other side of the battlefield there is a force adamantly decrying the deregulation of the past several decades and blame everything on the lack of the regulatory regime which allowed for the abuses and the excesses in the mortgage industry and encouraged other aggressive lending practices. Consequently millions of Americans found themselves in the precarious situation unable to make the payments even on the subprime level and were forced into the foreclosure status. And since the housing market had such an overarching influence on the economy the crash of September 2008 was felt across the entire continent. It is interesting to note that in the aftermath of September 2008 events the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Time</i> magazine published peculiar articles stating that the large corporations were lobbying for years for the deregulation of financial markets and were demanding that the risk assessment prerogative should be left in their hands. The advocated solution by the global regulation protagonists is to impose a planetary financial regulatory institution on par with a strengthened IMF and World Bank. The adherence to the rule of law needs to be enforced globally along with the fair redistribution of the world’s wealth. Incidentally these proclamations are in tune with the agenda of the Communist International groups.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> Nevertheless both propositions are elitist in nature and rewarding to the most aggressive players. Whether it is the free market or the planned economy both assume a predatory dominant group which exploits the masses and profits from the suffering. A more humane system can be devised but no one will have the guts to stand up behind it. The simplest solution is to stop participating in the stock market, which is known to crash every generation followed by the wealth transfer to bankers and corporation overlords. One can never profit in the long run in the casino-type of environment. For instance, the 1987 stock market crash devastated the lives and destroyed the savings of many hard-working Americans. On September 15, 2008 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and many people lost their homes. If you still want to play the Wall Street roulette do not grumble when your 401(k)s, pension plans and social security benefits, which are highly dependent on the stock market, vanish in the mid air and go to the “money heaven”. What are some of the practical steps one can take to protect him or herself from the unknown events of the future? You may do your own investing and/or raise a good solid family that will support you in the latter stages of life. You are a fool if you believe that your savings will be held by someone else until your day of retirement. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The rationale of the regulation advocates is that if the financial markets are given free rein to decide the allocation of wealth and other financial resources they will prove incapable of sustaining equity and fairness in the society, because the profit motives are not virtuous by any means. Jacques Attali, George Soros and other eminent economic advisors and hedge fund managers insist that the financial markets need to be regulated to ensure the adherence to the rule of law and to prevent the misappropriation of financial capital by leading institutions. With the grand motto of universal liberty, equality and fraternity the planks of the Communist Manifesto are being propagated before our eyes, e.g. the redistribution of wealth. Along with the followers of Karl Marx’s philosophy the Fabian Society has been instrumental in promoting the creation of the universal socialist system via the distribution of wealth across the globe. The idea of global wealth diffusion can be traced back to British Lords; Lord Bertrand Russell underscored its necessity for world peace and justice in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Impact of Science on Society</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"> Jacques Attali, who was the first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a special advisor to Francois Mitterrand, has eloquently summarized the notions behind the push for a greater planetary regulation in his most recent book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">After the Crisis: How did this Happen?</i>: “…the subprime crisis, the first real globalization crisis, could considerably hasten the realization that one day it will be necessary to set up a socialization of the most important monetary markets, which are the instruments of sovereignty, with an equal access to knowledge, a stable world market, a world minimum wage, and a world rule of law, as a prelude to an eventual world government.” (p.18)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Soros Lectures</i> contains carefully placed clues which point to the understanding that the Economy is run by clever individuals who utilize their manipulative functions to distort the public’s perception of reality in order to change the situation to the advantage of the financial industry giants. Jacques Attali speaks about the “insiders” in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">After the Crisis</i> who exploited the low federal interest rates and utilized the borrowed money for hefty profits without any consideration of the well-being of others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"> The boom and bust cycles precipitated the globalization forces which began to solidify the markets of the world into a one giant financial network of global financiers and corporate overlords in the 1980s. Precisely as it was envisioned by the Georgetown professor Carroll Quigley in his 1966 magnum opus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tragedy and Hope</i> “…the powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.” (p. 324)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Affairs</i> journal and other magazines dealing with the American foreign policy subject ran a series of conspicuous advertising pages featuring two elegant women standing in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York City. One of the versions of the ad poses a rather radical and anti-nationalistic question: “As a global citizen, to whom do I pledge allegiance?” The NYU SCPS offers a large number of courses to improve the diplomat’s perspective and understanding of the increasingly globalized planet. In addition to declaring that today’s educated class is composed of global citizens the NYU Center for Global Affairs offers a “global passport” for shaping the future. The two women dressed in the office outfit appear to be of Oriental and Caucasian descent, thereby illustrating the new global partnership between the East and the West which was endorsed by the community of nations in 1980s. The leading educational institutions that specialize in the field of international affairs have been offering the classes on global citizenship for many years, thus preparing both the diplomatic and bureaucratic classes for the emergence of the more unified global order.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The indirect result of these consuming globalizing forces has been the widening of the gulf between the global rich and the global poor and the appearance of new sets of haves and have-nots, winners and losers. The increasing foreclosure rates and the prices of consumer products act as the exacerbating drivers of the hostile division between the wealthy few and the poor plenty. Consequently these new global developments produced the new class of plutocrats, which is composed of the small number of super-rich people enjoying both the political and economic power and possessing the ultimate sway over the questions of national policy. The plutocrats are generally indifferent to the mourning of the struggling wage-earners of the developed world. The new cosmopolitan elite, which is no longer bound to any nation, has no empathy towards their own countrymen living on the bottom of the food chain. The Darwinian principle of evolution, the survival of the fittest, has found its application in the realm of Economics as well, where many competing financial groups struggle for survival or profits. In that predatory marathon the American consumers are used as the cannon fodder to achieve various goals in the economic and political fields. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Atlantic</i> magazine, January/February 2011 issue, rightfully contends that the new global super-rich class differs from the ruling-elite of the past in that the nouveau rich are the successful product of the global competition and have no obligation to be faithful to their countries of origin. The profits are global, the financial capital has been liberalized and now is able to move all over the world and so is the “transglobal community of peers”, who have formed various clubs and world groups wielding global influence. For the first time in the history of civilizations it is practically possible to create a planetary empire due to the improvements in communication technologies and the liberalization of global trade, i.e. the regional and global integration of national markets via free trade agreements.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> The fast pace of the current changes renders many to become incompetent and unable to adapt to the new realities of the day. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has been candidly warning through its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Affairs</i> magazine that those who will not be able to unlearn the obsolete ideas of yesterday and pick-up the new ones will be left behind in the new era of Global Competition.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> The elites are no longer silent about their extraordinary positions of power. The international conferences, such as the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission, used to be the taboo topics for the main-stream media, but now the references to them appear regularly in the magazines and newspapers. The members of the Council on Foreign Relations are making themselves public by appearing on the television channels to share their expert opinions. For example, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Economist</i> January 22<sup>nd</sup>-28<sup>th</sup> 2011 issue included a special report on the global elite mentioning the world’s most influential meeting places and conferences in the article “The world’s water-coolers”. The author of the article starts with a bit of humor in that the Bilderberg group is “an evil conspiracy bent on world domination”, and swiftly dismisses that notion by saying “that is what numerous websites allege”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To dispel any negative thoughts about the international economic conferences the article goes on to state that the Bilderberg group is merely “an annual conference for a few dozen of the world’s most influential people”. The global think tanks are simply making suggestions and providing useful information in the foreign policy field and the national governments still reserve the right to not accept them. Therefore the public can go back to deep slumber, because they can trust the experts who have everything under control. Nowadays the national governments conduct their domestic and foreign policies on the basis of the findings by major think tanks, which in turn operate under the sponsorship of the private business giants. For instance, the Goldman Sachs Group has been supplying for decades the personnel to the US Department of the Treasury. Furthermore, every Presidential Administration since Nixon has been primarily composed of the CFR and the Trilateral Commission members. The major societal shifts are no longer directed by the elected national governments, instead they are debated and discussed during various world meetings, the ideas are exchanged during international conferences and the global conclaves are becoming the new bodies of global governance.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> The America’s moguls 100 years ago used to go by the name “robber barons”, because they have accumulated their wealth at the cost of exploitation and suffering of the many. Apparently the period of the crisis is the ideal time for the rich to become richer. The Rothschild family who made a fortune on the Napoleonic wars was credited with the phrase: “the time to buy is when there's blood in the streets”. Nevertheless, after several PR jobs the industrial tycoons had a face lift under the benevolent title of “philanthropy”. In order to gain social acceptance the philanthropists distribute their fortunes on the public works projects that supposedly alleviate global poverty. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> However for some strange reason the massive influx of the philanthropic money cannot do anything beneficial to the devastating situation in Africa. Where does the humanitarian aid go to? Dambisa Moyo has given a bold account in her latest book on the African Aid that never gets to the people it is intended to help. The author of the book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dead Aid</i> was educated at Harvard and Oxford, worked for World Bank and Goldman Sachs and won numerous awards from the world’s top economic groups. Dr. Moyo frankly explained the dreadful situation surrounding the fate of the western aid in Africa. Not only Africans are denied the right to distribute the funds according to their own judgment, but it mostly ends up in the hands of the authoritarian rulers. For example the Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic squandered the monetary aid to purchase a gold-plated bed and there have been many accounts of the dictators’ wives flying to Singapore on the shopping spree. The conclusive argument was made in favor of terminating the aid to Africa within five years. The longer the West mingles with the African affairs the harder it will be for them to raise their standards of living. Since the colonial times the African situation has gotten worse and the entire land is on the verge of becoming the lost continent. Leaving Africans to their own devices could be the best, but unfortunately it is still the unthinkable, solution.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"> When the plutocrats of America have no sympathy for their own countrymen, what makes you think they have the best intentions for someone on the other side of the globe. The financial bubbles are exploited successfully by the richest class in America to the detriment of the entire country. Honor, integrity and honesty are the dusty archaisms in the financial sphere, which solely depends on the gullibility of the American public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"> As long as the financial cycles are facilitated by the financial elites and supported by the gullible public the boom and bust processes will not cease in their destructive agenda. As we have seen from the events of 2008-2010 the perpetrators of the financial catastrophe were not prosecuted according to the law and order of the land. Instead they were rewarded for crashing the economy. Therefore the only sensible solution would be to stay on guard and avoid running into the Wall Street casino. There is no law against people’s stupidity who enter into the manipulative constructs and play the roulette with their savings. Read the cited materials in this essay and start thinking critically about the business world. Learn how to identify the ponzi schemes and financial pyramids which operate freely behind the curtain of the scientific economic theories. Approach with caution the current money making frenzies and stay alert in the financial fields which promise you high yields. If you are going to play the stock market games anyway, then good luck to you and may the Fortune smile at you abundantly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<div align="right"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Written by Arseniy A. Kozlov </span></div></div></div>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-74817554311411525342011-01-04T08:07:00.000-08:002011-01-09T22:29:41.027-08:00The Global Political Awakening of the Profane Masses<div align="left" class="MsoNormal"><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">When the target of the American patriot community announced the “global political awakening” from the podium to the members of his ilk during the Council on Foreign Relations conference in Montreal, the patriot radio stations went ballistic in the info-war and began streaming the same portion of his speech to their info-hungry audiences. Of course the speaker was Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US National Security Advisor and the author of the notorious works <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grand Chessboard</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Between Two Ages</i>. In the neo-patriot/resistance movement Dr. Brzezinski is known as the geopolitical mastermind, “the gatekeeper” to the higher sciences and the man who worked on the project to provoke the Soviet Union to enter into <st1:country-region w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region> in 1979 (see </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Le Nouvel Observateur</i>, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:city>, 15-21 January 1998</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">). The speech on the awakening movement was swiftly picked up by every patriot radio station which did not cease to mention it every week during their regular broadcasting periods. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless, many social fundamental questions remain unanswered and a continuous replay of Brzezinski’s speech does not act as a catalyst to move closer to the answers. What is the correct interpretation of Brzezinski’s “global political awakening” speech? What does it mean to be awake? Is there a difference between a deep awakening process of the individual and a reactionary movement of the masses? Perhaps the public is merely reacting to the immediate social changes and adapting to them in the process. The following essay will address these and other questions in the context of the general analysis of the contemporary American society. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Due to the growing influence of the alternative media and patriot radio stations any social study cannot afford to ignore certain contributions they made to the perception and behavior of the American citizens. Any influential group must be put under close scrutiny of the social observer in order to formulate the radius and estimate the magnitude of the ripple effects they are producing. Therefore it is utterly important to understand the content of the messages that are being disseminated by patriot groups in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Before proceeding to the author’s discussion on the realities of the awakening movement few comments are needed to draw the frame of references and define the “awakening” terminology. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">To be disgruntled about the current economic situation, outraged after being laid off, generally dissatisfied with social institutions, i.e. family and church, angry from going into the foreclosure are not the evidence for the person’s “waking up” situation. These are reactions to the crunching circumstances, the outbursts of discontent and the expressions of anger. When the person is being squeezed tighter the squealing intensifies. It is quite natural for political/economic/social burdens to cause a cascade of negative reactions in the public. “I lost my job, my unemployment benefits are about to run out, I no longer trust the government, I lost my trust in the President I voted for…I am awake now!” These are the usual expressions of callers on the radio who claim to be “awake”. When the market prices and government taxes go up the wallet of the consumer is drained and the mood suffers respectively. Being kicked in teeth and then punched in the eye does not add smartness to the victim. What has stopped them from being “awake” before? Were they sufficiently satisfied with bread and circuses?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">George Orwell gave two examples in his famous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1984</i> novel that illustrate different levels of the awakening process. I am under assumption that my reader is familiar with this work and I will not belabor him or her with the tedious summary. After the main character Winston Smith understood that something was terribly wrong in his world, he began to make inquiries to find out about the general conditions that existed before the Big Brother System came on the scene. He needed some kind of an idea of the past to compare it to the contemporary circumstances and determine if it is better at the present, as the Big Brother system claims it is, or worse. Winston went to the proles’ district and searched for the oldest person. The old rugged man was waiting at the bar stand, Winston approached him kindly and started to converse with an old fellow, asking questions. What was it like before Big Brother; does he remember things from his young years? The only things the old man could recall from the distant past were that the beer was better and he might have won in the lottery. He had nothing of value to impart. Winston was asking the right questions about the past and the system of the present and he was genuinely curious and eager to learn. But the wisdom of an old man was as useless as the three legged chair, because all of his years were spent on booze, women and playing the lottery.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Another story is found in the narrative of Winston Smith’s illicit romance with Julia. The intellectual rebellion against the Party helped Winston to develop the hunger for knowledge and information. And Julia’s rebellion consisted only in satisfying her carnal desires that were prohibited by the Inner Party. Winston often read to her the excerpts from the aged pages of books and newspapers, but Julia usually fell asleep. She did not have enough wit or desire to understand the orthodoxy that she was forced to regurgitate in public. Her rebellion was “from the waist downwards” as Winston liked to say. Julia was one of those people who knew when to cheer and when to boo at party meetings. She was aware that the Party was lying but did not care to grasp the meanings of the crude distortions of the objective reality. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The adherence to the political correctness of today is reminiscent to Julia’s disposition. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">According to the writings and interviews by Zbigniew Brzezinski the meaning of the “global political awakening” concept differs from what is understood by the patriot community. The 20<sup>th</sup> Century will go down into the annals of history as the century of mass education, mass proliferation of literature and when the precedent of the political awakening extended across the globe. The political awakening in the sense of the process in which the people are becoming politically aware and of the world in which the subject of politics has entered into everyone’s household. The politics are being discussed by the working class Americans on par with sports, entertainment and social affairs. The newspapers and books on the political issues can be purchased at any bookstore and are affordable to any working person. There are enough publicly available studies and data on any subject, but the only thing that is lacking is the number of concerned individuals. Anyone can become educated and informed on issues in order to fulfill their citizen duties. But how many do that? How many Americans do you know who can recite at least five amendments to the US Constitution? Therefore, the masses cannot fathom to pose any intellectual challenge to the elites. The core of the problem is in the public itself which is too easily distracted by the banalities on the television sets. Furthermore other innate obstacles prevent the genuine awakening to take place in the minds of the populace. For example, examine how easy it was to convince the public of the WMDs in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region> and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the former friend of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>, on the basis that he was simply a “bad man”. Brzezinski’s collection of papers called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Geostrategic Triad </i>and his article in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Foreign Affairs</i> January/February 2010 Issue in addition to the political awakening concept mention the “trivialization of news” and the “CNN effect” which makes every crisis relevant. The statements by the geopolitical experts on the rising complexities of the global order do not imply any insurmountable problems. The complex world can be defined as the multifaceted, interdependent and intertwined global order in which the establishment of the new world order is only the beginning. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">The indefatigable repetition of the term “new world order” by the neo-patriots will not postpone the emergence of the global system. And those who are not familiar with the globalization nomenclature in the first place will not be psychologically inclined toward the anti-globalist stance. In addition to that what they have failed to realize is that the World Government is the next logical step from the National Central Government. The nation-state emerged from the amalgamation of princes’ and barons’ owned provinces under one polity, which in turn emerged from the integration of dispersed tribes and villages. For example, Pushkarev’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Survey of Russian History </i>explains that under the threat of outside barbaric herds small Russian regions were united into the larger political bodies in the early stages of the Russian history. In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> the states were unified under one Federal Government after the Civil War. And the nation building in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region> began under the reign of Louis XIV who enticed the noblemen and the clergy to unite under one polity. It is humorous to hear certain leaders of the patriot community and their enthusiastic remarks on the global awakening: people are getting smarter, the elites are panicking, there is an actual possibility of victory over the ruling elites and the forestalling of the “globalist agenda”. The Congress cannot even audit the US Federal Reserve Bank or Fort Knox, the US has no private property to speak of ( the property taxes nullify the very concept of private property), all the rights are being turned into privileges through licensing, etc. This has been going on for at least 100 years and the globalists’ plan is not being grinded to a halt. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">If there is an actual global awakening taking place and everyone is getting smarter, we would not be in a mess we are in right now. And what has stopped them from doing that before? <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> had more opportunities in the past to nip the creeping globalization in the bud. The anti-globalization rhetoric is the primary milieu of any patriot radio station and so far their resistance is proving to be futile. In the background we are witnessing the continuous process of domestication of the American public. When the public is unaware about the basics of their own country, how can they comprehend the intricacies of the global picture? Many voice their opinions on Democracy. But according to Founding Fathers America is supposed to be a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Constitutional</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Republic</st1:placetype></st1:place>, in which the rights of the individual supersede the stampeding desires of the majority. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">The members of the John Birch Society and many other researchers have warned Americans about the impending global government for decades and its explicit death sentence to the national sovereignty. Despite their numerous jeremiads the vitality of the New World Order has not been drained. The globalization trend which was launched in the 13<sup>th</sup> Century AD was never reversed and we are on the march toward an integrated international system. Jacques Attali, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s high-level bureaucrat, gave a historical account of the globalization phenomenon in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Brief History of the Future</i>. After the thorough examination of the movement of Capital and its designated elites Attali affirms that history flows in the stubborn direction and that not even Napoleon or Hitler could deflect it. The average person does not stand a chance against the prevailing global trend. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">The very concept of the “New World Order” is becoming passé; every politician, every big social leader and every mind molder uses it quite profusely. World leaders propagate the idea of the world government as the foremost solution to the world’s problems and a firm foundation for world peace. “Global problems require global solutions!” And what are “smart” Americans doing? Corporate revenues are a great indicator for that: eating in McDonald’s and watching sports. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">One cannot claim ignorance for his or her defense when it comes to dangerous food additives, preservatives and GMO. There are so many informative documentary movies one can watch on the dangers of junk food and horrible food processing practices. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Food, Inc. </i>(2008) on the corporate food processing practices and their harmful impacts on the environment, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Future of Food </i>(2004) about the threat that the genetically modified organisms pose on the biodiversity, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World According to Monsanto</i> (2008) on the bankrupting of small farmers by the leading company specialized in the GM seed technology and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Super Size Me</i> (2004) on the effects of McDonald’s food upon human health. Furthermore if I were to step into a McDonald’s fast-food place and ask people: “How many of you believe that fast food is bad for you?” At least 70%, if not all of them, will raise their hands. What is wrong with that picture? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">There are many so-called radical right-wing groups in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> who assign the guilt for all the problems and sufferings in the world on the international elitist families, i.e. Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Astors, Du Ponts and others. However, if one looks deeper into this conundrum he or she will find the cause in every American who supports this diabolical system through passive acquiescence or passionate justification. For example when they buy goods shipped from the Chinese slave factories, eat at McDonald’s, buy Tyson’s industrial meat, pay $150 a month for TV brainwashing, justify the atrocities committed against the Iraqi and Afghani civilians and put their personality profiles on facebook.com. Do you know that it takes several dozens of Chinese and Indian industrial slaves to manufacture your electronics, weave your clothing and make your shoes. The American consumer is a distant slave master, taking the crème from the world’s wealth, eating the fruits of somebody’s labor and keeping the surplus of production. Americans are now being told that the world is entering into an era of Global Competition. How can an American compete with 5-25 cents per hour Chinese worker? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Americans are too preoccupied with sports and cheap entertainment and they have no time to be engaged in the public discourse or in the study of their supposed republic. However, a sports fan remembers all the game scores, keeps track of all players, he or she can go into elaborate sentences on picking the best players and placing them in the suitable positions to win the game. The brain capacity is there, but it is not utilized for more elevated purposes. It is not considered “cool” or “trendy” to study history, examine the preponderance of the US and related geopolitical imperatives throughout the world, read holy scriptures and conduct private research.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Can I speak with an average American about genetic engineering, the “great crash of 2008”, Goldman Sachs and its unlimited supply of personnel to the United States Department of the Treasury and the emergence of the Bretton Woods System Part II? Can I speak with an average Christian about the Talmudic interpretations of the first chapters of the book of Genesis, certain unsavory portions of the Old Testament, the zodiacal parallels with the twelve tribes of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and the Bible being ridden with sexual symbolism?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">After several years of spirited Bible devotions at the age of eighteen I became a Christian zealot and made witnessing for Christ my personal duty. Every minute of my social life was devoted to the task of spreading the Gospel and sounding warnings about the impending Day of Judgment. Frankly, I would have had more success preaching to the sheep than to the stubborn nominal Christians. I had spent two years on the journey to spread the word which taught me a valuable lesson about the human nature and the overall social gradation. My discovery was not new to the history of thought. It was a mere personal understanding with strong spiritual connotations. People within each and every group are intellectually divided into two unequal parts: leaders and followers, independent thinkers and dull observers, actors and spectators, people with inquiring minds and those who “float” through life. If you are catching my drift, you will be of an opinion that sentient beings constitute a minority and the rest of the mass are blind followers of somebody’s bright idea. Therefore the entire structure of society depends on the wit of its leadership which can be either benevolent or tyrannical and the masses go with the flow and ride with the tide. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">When I spoke with my fellow Christians about some of the Biblical content, I received either a stare or a sense of the complete lack of knowledge on the dogmatic stances. Some would relate a personal story to hold the conversation and avoid a deeper discussion on the postulates and principles of the Christian faith. Christians are not interested in the Bible and those who do show an interest are immediately placed into the pre-structured and preconceived interpretations of the scriptures. It will take another essay to explain how the interpretations of the Bible differ from one group to another and the asinine internal strife among Christian sects. The Church is treated as a social club, where people can congregate for general human interaction, build friendships and find a suitable mate. Very few individuals pursue knowledge and truth. In addition to that, the Christians who claim to be “truth seekers” are simply searching for evidence to reinforce their existing belief systems. The intellectual horizons cannot be expanded beyond the sect’s given philosophical frames. By the way, this is a premise of the Christian fundamentalist. The undesirable and contradictory evidence is discarded in order to preserve a cordial relationship with his or her predetermined ideology. The more ardent and knowledgeable “truth seekers” become leaders in the protestant communities and sometimes they are blessed with a large following. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">The New Testament of the Christian Bible is explicit when it comes to comparing the people with a flock of sheep. Jesus Christ in the Four Gospels made it clear that people followed him because he gave them food and healed the sick, i.e. the provision of bread and entertainment. “…it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (Genesis 6:6) The mediocrity and the feeblemindedness of people have been noted many times in history. “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?”—the words of anguish uttered by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of St. Matthew to the commoner’s request to heal his son.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">After I delved into the subjects of history, sociology, philosophy and comparative religions, my educational horizons began to expand and the number of topics in my discussions with the average person swelled. As a consequence two societal instances were unveiled to me: first, people’s knowledge is limited to the education they received in their schools and second, the pursuit of the factual information is directed toward the areas directly pertaining to their professions. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">The masses are not interested in the global processes and trends which contribute to the formation of national and global structures. Every person lives inside a small circle of acquaintances and stays within these boundaries for the rest of his or her life. The burden of solving national and global problems is transferred to the elected officials to whom people lend their power. Thus, more time is freed for fun and games. The fundamental question of survival is neglected in the process and people become more prone to be misled by the cunningness of the elites. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">An individual who is truly awake has qualities peculiar to the wild animals. Alertness, carefulness, responsiveness to the changes in the surroundings and individualistic dimensions are all sound qualities of the sane person. According to the work by Charles Galton Darwin, the grandson of Charles Darwin, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Next Million Years</i>, the human beings who have retained to their original wildness are the only ones who deserve and who are fit to survive. The survival of the fittest is the basic concept of the Darwinian evolution and everyone abides by it regardless of the participant’s faith in it or lack thereof. But the fundamental question of survival has been disregarded by the majority of domesticated Americans. Henceforth, this is the true “secret” [obviously I am alluding to the popular self-help book by Rhonda Byrne <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Secret</i>] behind the success of a handful of families who control the majority of wealth in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> One of the first graphs the professors in colleges show to their students in Economics 101 courses is the wealth distribution graph. 95% of the entire <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> wealth belongs to less than 1% of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> population. So much for the equality in the great U.S. of A.! This situation is reminiscent to the George Orwell’s scenario in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Farm</i>: “All are equal, but some are more equal than others.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Another forgotten truth in our modern civilization is that the only protectorate of the mind is the conscious self. You are the guardian of your mind and you are the only one who will be held responsible for the corruption of your mind. When the primitive types of defenses are down, which are responsible for survival, the person becomes susceptible to all forms of malicious influences. Hence, the personal walls can be breached and the mind conquered. The easy way through life is to be guided by an appealing leader, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many follow it. The narrow way, which leads to life, few find it (The Gospel according to St. Matthew). “Let the dead bury their dead” (Luke 9:60). This is a common expression found in the lexicon of philosophers and sages who designated all the unawake and uninitiated people as the walking dead, spiritually asleep and the profane bunch.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the first things I stumbled upon in my stages of independent learning is the concealment of certain information by many organizations and the prevailing secrecy on certain topics. For example, the overriding power of the Federal Reserve Bank and its non-federal but private status, the 100 ruling families in the US and the real prospects of the single world government<span style="color: black;">. It was both puzzling and nerve-racking. Many independent researchers from the patriot groups label the elite’s secrecy as the greatest threat to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the rest of the world. I was of kindred spirit until I read the work by W. L. Wilmshurst <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Meaning of Masonry</i>. The author of the book [which was conveniently reprinted by Barnes&Noble in 1999] makes an argument for keeping certain truths away from the public’s eyes. The truth is too sacred to be unveiled before everyone. When the truth is released to the public, it immediately becomes corrupted, perverted and distorted beyond recognition. Wilmshurst contends that the public has a tendency to misunderstand many profound ideas and principles expressed by the world’s greatest teachers. Jesus Christ was a supporter of such a worldview when he spoke in parables and only the chosen pupils could understand him. Jesus also said metaphorically during the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:6) In other words, do not throw the gems of wisdom to the unwashed masses, because you will pay a dear price for that. The knowledge is too sacred to be handed out like thanksgiving turkeys in the food pantry.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">In my opinion it was a huge mistake to let the Holy Bible out of the monastery to the unprepared peasants in the Western World. When the Bible was first translated into the vulgar or common languages and allowed to be read by the laymen, these occurrences gave rise to the revolutionary changes in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>. It was a turning point for Christendom when hundreds and thousands of rivaling groups appeared, each battling to push through their interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Instead of brotherly charity and kindness, there are numerous sectarian battles springing up from the differences of opinion over a single Bible verse. Each protestant group claims exclusivity and superiority in their understanding of the Bible and believes that they will occupy the first row in Heaven. These are not the signs of spiritual maturity or greater cosmic understanding. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">The above mentioned observations are not some unimportant personal remarks or isolated incidents, but a set of prevalent sentiments which are becoming the perils of our modern civilization. There exists an innate inability of the large percentage of the population to come out from the ignorance and spiritual darkness into the illuminating light of knowledge and higher levels of understanding. Therefore I will make a postulation similar to the one made by Wilmshurst: it is dangerous and erroneous to give out sacred truths to laymen like Halloween candy on the streets. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Generally speaking the awareness spreads unevenly, few individuals here and there raising their heads from the ground and for the first time starting to think for themselves. It is a rare and almost a religious type of experience. Buddha’s, Lao-Tzu’s and Jesus’ message was never meant to be accepted en masse. When it is given to the larger segments of the population the original doctrine is usually watered down and remolded to be attractive and sellable to the Joe Shmoe. The average person is a cheering or a booing spectator. The average listener of the “truth” radio station is waiting to be intrigued by the latest <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/expos%25C3%25A9"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">exposé</span></a>, the dirt under some politician’s fingernails and, my god, somebody is going to take over the whole world. They are tuning in for entertainment reasons and not to amplify their global understanding or reach the next level of discernment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">What happened to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s industrial base? Why products are suddenly all made in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>? It is not that I want to work in the steamy factory, but apparently there is a growing nostalgia about the great productive American past. According to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Foreign Affairs</i> articles [e.g. January/February 2009 Issue and others] the door to <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region> was opened and all <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> industries started to move out overseas in the early 1970s after Kissinger and Nixon initiated activities with the Chinese government in secret. What was <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> doing at that time? <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> was in the deep recession, inflation and unemployment were skyrocketing and everything else was summed up in the cliché “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll”. They were busy having fun, copulating left, right and center. The whole country was in the one psychedelic dream. Nowadays, when the industries are totally gone we are forced to consume Chinese goodies which break the moment you get them out of the box. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wired </i>magazine, May 2009 Issue, had a short article on page 52 written in small print stating that there are scientists who work on formulas to ensure that the electronic gadgets go out of order and break right after the warranty expires. The product lifespans are deliberately lowered to increase sales. The best brains work on techniques to compel consumers to dish out their hard earned money and buy products which they do not really need and are not meant to last. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Another set of best brains works on Wall Street, manipulating the stock market prices and earning bonuses for sinking the entire economy. However the only thing that the public still knows how to do is to be disenchanted about the corruption, the injustice and the inequity. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Time </i>magazine, March 11, 1974 issue, in the Letters section included a complaint from a reader who was decrying the ridiculously high salaries and bonuses the executives of the oil companies were receiving. Remember this was going on in the midst of the oil crisis. And in the midst of the financial fallout of 2009 the Americans were complaining that the CEOs of large corporations and banking firms were receiving bonuses while the economy was suffering from the financial crash of September 2008. I guess the times do not change and people never learn. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">From the days of the passage of the National Security Act and the creation of the CIA the techniques of the psychological and informational warfare had become known to every peculiar researcher. However, little attention has been given to the levels of success of the brainwashing campaigns upon the populace. Aldous Huxley, a well known English writer and philosopher, clarified in the non-fictional book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brave New World Revisited</i> that not everyone is susceptible to the workings of propaganda and persuasion campaigns, but the large bulk of the population does succumb to the state approved ideas and views. The acquiescence of the overwhelming majority was well understood by Edward Bernays, who used it to create the Consumer Society in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. For further details on the exploitation of human weaknesses to produce happy consumers watch <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Century of the Self </i>by Adam Curtis, a British documental filmmaker and writer who currently works for BBC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">A large number of deep thinkers and philosophers issued dire warnings on the dangers stemming from the obsession with the technological advancements. Neil Postman, who was a professor of Media Ecology at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">New York</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>, argued earnestly in his books that it is a Faustian bargain to accept a new technological breakthrough, because the new electronic device brings forth both advantages and disadvantages. Professor Postman was also aware of the indifference about such thoughts that exists in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the country which celebrates and feels proud about its technological society. Couple it with other insightful and exhaustive works by social critics, participants and culture engineers: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hidden Persuaders</i> by Vance Packard on the workings of advertising on the human brain, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Propaganda</i> by Edward Bernays on the engineering of consent in the democratic state, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Impact of Science on Society</i> by Lord Bertrand Russell on the scientific techniques employed by the central government to control the masses and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Technological Society</i> by Jacques Ellul on the standardization of culture and its impact on men and women. These and other valuable books carry enough insight to wake anybody up and begin resisting the standardization of thought. I wonder sometimes how many Americans have read them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Human beings were created to be an intimate part of nature and given a job of stewards of the Earth, to care and tender for her and become the wise guardians of her eternal treasures. We can only reap adverse consequences from the transformation of pristine forests into the concrete jungles of the city. We were made to live on open spaces, be spread out and gaze at a distance. Conversing with nature and our fellow species is the practical cure to all diseases and mental ailments. There is no need for a psychiatrist when you have an opportunity to listen to the soothing melodies of the creek, the sounds of the forest and the chirping of birds. The above narrative is not a digression from the article’s main theme but a vivid example of the level of detachment of people from reality. For instance, I have a great concern for the food I eat and upon my discovery that all apples on store shelves are covered with wax type of compound I started speaking out. One day standing at the store’s register I brought the wax-covered apples subject to the store’s employee and without any hesitation he gave me a shocking response. Apparently all apples naturally release a wax-type of liquid and cover themselves for protection. Finally I went to the Whole Foods’ store manager and her response was of no greater merit. She kept repeating that the apples are certified organic and all the standards were met. Others were simply indifferent to my remarks. I cannot change people who are willingly ignorant and do not look for the cure from their profane states of being. These instances are illustrative of the conditions in which the majority of the public dwells in. The conditions of blissful ignorance. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">For the past 50 years Americans have complained about Big Government. The alternative media, including various patriot groups, specialized in exposing government cover-ups and sounding alarm bells on the looming one world system. However, the indignation alone did not produce any tangible results. The first step of the awakening process is getting indignant against the evils of the system, but it is not the last step. Howard Beale expressed these sentiments succinctly in the movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Network </i>(1976) and the words of his speech that he delivered on the air are surprisingly relevant today: “I don’t have to tell you things are bad, everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the streets. There’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat! And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes as if that’s the way it supposed to be! We know things are bad! Worse than bad, they’re crazy! It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house and slowly the world we’re living in is getting smaller and all we say is, “Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV, and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything! Just leave us alone!” Well, I’m not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest, I don’t want you to riot, I don’t want you to write to your congressmen because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write! I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians, and the crime in the streets. All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad! You’ve got to say, “I’m a human being, God damn it, my life has value…I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately the sheer madness and complaining will not resolve the societal and political quagmires. The author’s suggestion to the patriot groups and everyone who still resists the planetary empire is to inject a healthy dosage of pragmatism into your resistance movements, unite under the common front and tackle the beast you are fighting against. The only enemy of the international elites is your individuality, your mind and the belief that human life is sacred. By grasping those things you will place your foot on the narrow path of profound understanding. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6) is the warning to those who made the choice to remain willingly ignorant and found refuge in the acquiescence to the popular streams of thought. Challenging the conventional wisdom is the sign of the thinking individual, regardless of how correct or faulty the new proposition is. Start thinking for yourself and the path of awakening will illuminate before your eyes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.0pt;"><br />
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</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right; text-indent: 30.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Written by Arseniy A. Kozlov</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-7900967287599608312010-10-24T10:59:00.000-07:002010-12-10T19:21:25.304-08:00Southern Illinois' Premier Professional Networking EventArseniy Kozlov is going to participate at the annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. The Event will take place on November 4th-6th, 2010.<br />
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The title of the presentation: <i>Geoengineering: Mitigation or Menace? </i><br />
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<a href="http://innovativesystems.siu.edu/speakers/arseniy-kozlov">http://innovativesystems.siu.edu/speakers/arseniy-kozlov</a>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-19966241979387768952010-10-04T08:28:00.000-07:002010-10-04T13:58:22.472-07:00Have you looked at the skies lately?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5CTkLY6-HiCisRHGG4WeGGiUFIIZqtSZ3LFkBLmfNwe09I7y-zzX_euk5HjGRRvQIjJnYuzMQwmEW3O1xaBmXUiyqCubKznh6YpCQrCx4pkGqTcdNYftMwRWy6nB7zsIJkL2639B6GPS/s1600/flagtrails2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5CTkLY6-HiCisRHGG4WeGGiUFIIZqtSZ3LFkBLmfNwe09I7y-zzX_euk5HjGRRvQIjJnYuzMQwmEW3O1xaBmXUiyqCubKznh6YpCQrCx4pkGqTcdNYftMwRWy6nB7zsIJkL2639B6GPS/s320/flagtrails2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.infowars.com/have-you-looked-at-the-skies-lately/">http://www.infowars.com/have-you-looked-at-the-skies-lately/</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">If you haven’t, I urge you to do so. Observe the sky for couple of weeks and see if you notice something different, something strange there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">What am I talking about?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Long white trails emitted by the commercial aircrafts and other high flying aerial vehicles. Since the utilization of jet engines, we became accustomed to the sight of pencil-thin and short contrails that the airplanes leave behind. However, within the last 15 years the appearance of contrails has changed dramatically. Those who are a bit older might remember that condensation trails used to disappear within minutes and that was the case up until mid 1990s. Now the new types of contrails persist for a longer period of time and do not dissipate. Eventually they spread out and form eggshell color blankets, which will hang in the sky for several hours. Occasionally a careful observer will notice that the sky is being crisscrossed by the airplane condensation trails and thereby forming checkerboard patterns. Consequently, the skies above us become hazy or mushy. There are many other various patterns, colors and forms that contrails create. Unfortunately the lack of official public explanations created a breeding ground for speculation on the nature of these changes. Nevertheless, a flotilla of evidence regarding the new strange occurrences described above could be found in the scientific and government sources that are seldom looked at by the general public. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">First of all, the new development in the sky must be identified and the difference between an ordinary and a more recent phenomenon of contrails has to be understood. Ordinary condensation trails from the jet airplanes are produced when the exhaust water vapor condenses on dust particles at high altitudes then turns into ice crystals and dissipates within 20 minutes. However, the new phenomenon of contrails has a vast visual difference and longevity. The term chemtrails was coined to explain the condensation trails which persist in the sky for hours, spread wider than in the past and eventually multiple chemtrails form milky veils or create cloud like formations. Various unusual chemtrail patterns can be observed daily in many parts of the North America. They appear to be denser, have an off white color and different hues can be created when the sunlight goes through one of the chemtrails. Furthermore, there is evidence pointing to the fact that the new type of contrails has a different chemical composition and no longer consists of a mere water vapor. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes chemtrails could be seen slowly falling toward the ground and samples can be collected. Dr. Len Horowitz has submitted chemtrail samples to the EPA but they refused to analyze them. Nevertheless, concerned citizens provided samples to the several independent laboratories which have conducted tests and the particulates of Aluminum oxide, Barium, Magnesium were detected in them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Equipped with test results the concerned members of the public requested various government agencies to produce a reasonable explanation for this new strange phenomenon, but to no avail.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Why are the earth-based chemicals being delivered into the atmosphere by airplanes? The only rational answer to this mind-boggling question came forward from the global warming activists, who call it a Geoengineering option. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In the last couple of years the leading voices in the climate change awareness movement began to discuss more openly an emergency strategy to combat global warming. This scenario is now called the Geoengineering, and it is primarily based on the chemical sprayings of the atmosphere via high altitude aerial vehicles. According to the climate change leaders the geoengineering option will be carried out when all other attempts to reduce CO2 gases in the atmosphere have failed and the planet was at the brink of an environmental catastrophe. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">For instance, Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet, introduced a geoengineering idea on the TedTalks in February 2010. After his speech a question was raised regarding the implementation of the “emergency measures” when all other programs to reduce the CO2 gases in the atmosphere have failed. Bill Gates answered and spoke of geoengineering as the last option on the table to delay the heating of the planet. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Geoengineering is an artificial way to alter the global atmospheric chemistry under the pretext of curbing global warming. It will be accomplished via cloud seeding with aerosolized sulfites, chemical sprayings of the jet stream and deflecting sun’s rays with a variety of means. This option was announced by experts and promulgated by philanthropists who deemed it to be the “emergency strategy” and a last resort against global warming. Geoengineering is part and parcel of climate control technologies, various weather modification schemes and weather warfare techniques. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; line-height: 115%;">The Wilson Quarterly</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">, Spring 2007 issue, published an eye opening article with a headline “The Climate Engineers” pertaining to the large-scale weather modification experiments which are being carried out under the banner of geoengineering. The author presents an analytical summation of the scientific research on the weather control technologies, the rainmaking capabilities, the diversion of weather storms and the relevant applications thereof in the civilian and military fields. The article traces a number of scientific attempts to control the weather from the American Civil War to the present day propositions of the National Academy of Sciences on the artificial alteration of the climate. The experts from the various fields and disciplines made striking propositions and received an adequate government funding for geoengineering options. The options consist of cloud seeding with silver iodide, launching huge mirrors into the Earth’s orbit to deflect sun’s rays, for B-747s to deliver different chemical compounds into the upper atmosphere and to make clouds thicker by pumping whipped ocean water into them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">After the severity of global warming was exacerbated by a number of White House reports, the scientists began their search for a “technological quick fix” to the problem of climate change. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The physicist Lowell Wood, who among other things worked for Pentagon as a chief weapons designer and threat analyst, made a peculiar declaration at one of the NASA’s conference. Wood offered an idea of creating a “global thermostat” to control earth’s climate. In order to achieve that he proposed to use large cannons to shoot highly reflective sulfate aerosols and “specially engineered nanoparticles” into the Arctic stratosphere. Supposedly the result of such geoengineering measures would be an “instant climatic gratification”.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Since World War II the enthusiastic scientists were experimenting with the cloud seeding techniques by dropping dry ice and other chemicals from airplanes into the clouds to cause or enhance precipitation. During the Vietnam War the US Military, with a full support of both presidents Johnson and Nixon, conducted a covert operation under the name POPEYE. The Air Force delivered cloud seeding particulates over the Ho Chi Minh Trail with a purpose of reducing enemy’s traffic ability. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Thus, the geoengineering stems largely from the research on the weather warfare technologies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">James R. Fleming, the author of “The Climate Engineers”, makes frequent references to the government and university documents and a UN publication to validate the point of how serious is the discussion on the weather control. The summarized scientific papers and White House proposals have many common aspects, including cloud seeding and the sprayings of the jet stream with various chemical compounds. The rationale behind the schemes of geoengineers is to overcome the potentially disastrous consequences from the uncontrolled climatic changes on the planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The schemes listed above fit exactly with what we are witnessing in the skies, when chemtrails spread out, become cloud like and either create of enhance weather storms. The chemtrails tend to whiten the sky and create haze, which persists for hours and then transforms into clouds. After four to five days of continuous chemical sprayings, dark clouds begin to gather together and precipitation follows.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The <i>Foreign Affairs </i>periodical, a literary arm of the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations, carried a revealing essay in its March/April 2009 issue entitled “The Geoengineering Option”. A panel of professors and University directors described the possibility of utilizing the climate modifying technologies to reduce the harmful impact of carbon dioxide gases on the earth’s atmosphere. The authors introduce the topic of geoengineering through a standard climate change experts’ argument. The rapid and severe climate change will produce catastrophic consequences, the greenhouse gases are not being reduced fast enough, and therefore the governments all over the world will be forced to undertake emergency strategies for curbing the effects of global warming. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The first presidential report on the dangers of global warming was made in 1965 and the geoengineering was prescribed to be the only remedy. Henceforth, the geoengineering on the planetary scale is presented to be the only feasible solution for the world in the state of environmental crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">In the years after WWII the US and USSR developed an intense interest in the weather warfare, and the geoengineering schemes emerged mainly from the research on the weather control techniques. For example, the US military proposed to use nuclear explosions to create a “nuclear winter” which could considerably cool down the planet. The rest of the elaborate strategies against global warming were based on the “cloud seeding” to reflect sunlight or to thicken the clouds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">“So far, launching reflective materials into the upper stratosphere seems to be the easiest and most cost-effective option. This could be accomplished by using high-flying aircraft, naval guns, or giant balloons. The appropriate materials could include sulfate aerosols (which would be created by releasing sulfur dioxide gas), aluminum oxide dust, or even self-levitating and self-orienting designer particles engineered to migrate to the Polar Regions and remain in place for long periods.” (p. 69)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The above proposals were based on the observations of volcanoes, which after eruption and the release of soot and other chemicals were known to produce a cooling effect all over the globe. According to geoengineers the creation of the “chemical shield” around the planet is bound to create a similar volcano-like effect. Another scheme involves launching huge clouds of “thin refracting discs” into the earth’s orbit to deflect sunlight in order to considerably slow down the global warming effect on the planet. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Just to add to these horrific scenarios, the last section of “The Geoengineering Option” essay is headlined “Brave New World”, alluding to the Aldous Huxley’s dystopic novel published in 1932. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">The literature summarized above has some common threads. The articles lead the reader to believe that such radical options were seriously discussed by scientists, but never came into fruition and the geoengineering remains a mere consideration in the array of possible solutions to the looming climate change. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless, <i>Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming</i>, a 1991 publication that was released by the National Academy of Sciences and is referred to as a “global warming Bible”, dedicated an entire chapter to the large-scale geoengineering projects and the current implementation thereof. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">“It is important to recognize that we are at present involved in a large project of inadvertent "geoengineering" by altering atmospheric chemistry, and it does not seem inappropriate to inquire if there are countermeasures that might be implemented to address the adverse impacts.” (p. 433) <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Therefore, the combination of the personal observations of the skies and the authorized literature on the geoengineering/weather modification programs raises the unequivocal conclusion that the chemical sprayings of the atmosphere began in ‘90s and continue to this day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Can there be unintended and catastrophic consequences due to tampering with the earth’s extremely complex climate system? What are the detrimental effects of chemical sprayings in the atmosphere upon human physiological and psychological states? Is it known to produce respiratory problems, create new forms of allergies and cause other ailments? Why do jet planes deliver the earth-based chemicals into the atmosphere in the first place? These are the pertinent questions which are not properly addressed in the above publications. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">We need to become fully aware of the grand experiments under which we are being subjected. We must demand answers and the public forum has to be opened to discuss any “emergency measures” against global warming. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Similar experimentations took place in 1940s trough 1970s in England by the Ministry of Defense (“Millions were in germ war tests”, <i>The Observer</i>). Dangerous chemicals and biological agents were sprayed in the populated areas of the country, resulting in the massive health problems and fatalities. Also look at “French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment”, <i>Telegraph.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">We cannot let this happen again and become the next group of guinea pigs for the curious scientists.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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</span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Written by Arseniy A. Kozlov <i> </i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4556269649731327016.post-84055246901979850942010-10-04T08:12:00.000-07:002012-10-07T12:22:19.788-07:00Geoengineering: Mitigation or Menace?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">While we are shivering from the threat of global warming, the international managerial body is collaborating with many countries to establish a sustainable planetary regime. The climate change hysteria is permeating every governmental department, scientific body and academic circle. This crazed hype is spreading like a wild fire, consuming our minds and molding us into the proper subjects for the new pantheistic age. Coupled with the emerging holy mantras: Go Green, Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Consume Less and the like. The experts in white lab coats make assertions that science is the panacea for a perilous human kind. Blinded by this belief the scientists have been experimenting over our noses, altering our climate and wrecking our ecosystems, with the hopes that some day they will control our planet Earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">While stubborn politicians and zealous environmentalists actively discuss the reduction of greenhouse gases, some scientists are eager to offer an alternative to tackle the climate change conundrum. “CO<sub>2</sub> reductions. Forget about it,”— the enthusiastic scientists will say. “We have a quick technological fix for you.” Make the Earth brighter, send highly reflective particles into the atmosphere, bounce sunlight back to space and launch huge clouds of mirrors into orbit around the Earth. Create a “planetary thermostat”. It seems like a radical idea, but it no longer belongs to the realm of science fiction. In fact, the geoengineering on the planetary scale is presented to be the only feasible solution for the world in the state of environmental crisis. Geoengineering is being discussed by experts from various academic disciplines in the context of mitigating climate change and preventing a cascade of global environmental cataclysms. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before proceeding to the nitty-gritty stuff about geoengineering and immersing the reader into author’s analytical summation of white papers from various science programs, the historical background has to be painted. To elevate the understanding of climate engineering, one must be equipped with a wider historical perspective on the weather modification technologies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the first attempts to modify the weather for a specific purpose could be traced back to the 19<sup>th</sup> Century. James Pollard Espy, aka the Storm King, was the first meteorologist employed by the US government. He is credited with the discovery of the thermal theory, which became an integral part of meteorology. Espy believed that the weather storms are driven by what he called “steam power”. The sun heated air ascends in a column, the surrounding air rushes in, then it cools, condenses and precipitation follows. Under this premise, the thermal theory of storms, Espy suggested to burn large forest areas to raise huge columns of warm air to trigger the creation of clouds and cause precipitation. I suppose, the Greenpeace and tree huggers were not around back then, and he was able to continue with his research on rainmaking techniques in Washington, D.C. under the funding of US Navy. Espy became a pioneer in weather modification technologies and others followed suit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Moving forward to the 20<sup>th</sup> Century in the years after World War II the weather modification proposals began to gain momentum. The research Institutions across North America started to steam roll ahead with new propositions on climate projects. The US Military and its Soviet counterpart developed an intense interest in the new Cold War weapon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 1946, Vincent Schaefer, a laboratory technician, witnessed something extraordinary at the General Electric Research Laboratory in the New York state. Schaefer dropped some dry ice into a home freezer, which he used as a cloud chamber, and to his surprise the moisture from his breath transformed into tiny ice crystals. He created an ice cloud from “supercooled” water droplets. This was a crucial breakthrough point for understanding cloud properties and cloud formation. For a larger experiment Schaefer rented an airplane, flew over Mount Greylock in the nearby Berkshires, dropped six pounds of dry ice pellets into a cold cloud, thereby creating ice crystals and the snow fell along a three-mile path. On the next day, <i>The New York Times</i><i> </i>and<i> The Boston Globe</i> published articles narrating a new cutting-edge research on artificial snowstorm manufacturing. Schaefer’s colleagues at MIT performed similar experiments by employing silver iodide flares to trigger an explosive ice growth in the supercooled clouds. This chain of events marked a historical moment when the use of dry ice, silver iodide and other chemicals were known to produce a chain reaction in the clouds and either create or enhance weather storms. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In China Lake, California at the naval weapons testing center the scientists have been working on the weather modification projects, developing rainmaking capabilities with the purpose to impede enemy’s movement and to disrupt their supply routes. One of the first successful campaigns unfolded during the Vietnam War under the full support of both Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. The U.S. Military conducted a full-scale operation to prolong the monsoon season over Laos. The Air Force delivered cloud seeding particulates over the Ho Chi Minh Trail to reduce enemy’s traffic ability and to hinder the movement of personnel and material goods from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. This covert operation was carried out under several names, including POPEYE and Intermediary-Compatriot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The experimentations described above were among the first successful cloud seeding techniques and geoengineering stems largely from the development of the weather warfare technologies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cloud seeding (Picture from Wikipedia) </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As research circles started to expand and more of the qualified personnel were needed, the information on environmental weaponry started to leak out to the public and the governmental bodies were compelled to discuss it and eventually to impose restrictions on these potentially dangerous programs. In the John F. Kennedy’s speech to the United Nations in 1961 there was a call for an international cooperation on “weather control”. Consequently, in 1970s the UN organization drafted the convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD), which was ratified by nearly 70 nations and came into force in 1978. The Article III states that the convention allows the utilization of the “environmental modification techniques for peaceful purposes” and calls for an international collaboration on these matters. With a full understanding that the advances in technology will open doors to climate modification, the preamble to the convention is enthusiastic about the use of such techniques to improve the “interrelationship of man and nature” and for the “preservation and improvement of the environment”. The ENMOD prohibits the hostile use of environmental alteration techniques, but provides leeway for non-lethal civilian applications, i.e. geoengineering. Fortunately, one of the signatories of the ENMOD convention left a note requesting the clarification of the ill-explained difference between “military or any other hostile purposes” and “peaceful purposes”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first presidential report found to exacerbate the “global warming” scenario was released in November 1965. The Environmental Pollution Panel and the President’s Science Advisory Committee prepared a white house report entitled <i>Restoring the Quality of Our Environment</i>. This publication was among the first to establish the linkage between the increases of CO<sub>2</sub> gases from fossil fuel combustion and the rise of surface temperatures. One of the subpanel reports lists the dooming environmental impacts associated with the rise of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide gases, e.g. the melting of the Antarctic ice cap and the rise of sea levels. Surprisingly the only remedy that the panel of experts prescribes is “raising the albedo, or reflectivity, of the earth […] by spreading very small reflecting particles over large oceanic areas” (p. 127). The dispersed particles are assumed to remain close to the sea surface, have high reflectivity and produce the necessary changes in the amount of reflected sunlight. In addition, the injection of cloud condensation nuclei into the atmosphere will contribute to the formation of cirrus clouds at high altitudes. According to the report’s findings, these “geoengineering” methods have the potential for “modifying atmospheric circulation” to curb the warming effects associated with the increasing carbon dioxide gases. Due to the inexpensive aspect of spreading aerosolized particulates in the atmosphere, the white house science panel calls for “an early development of the needed technology” that can also be utilized for the diversion of hurricanes in the tropics. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Geoengineering is presented by professors from the world’s leading Universities as an option of last resort against global warming. This is evident from the numerous workshops and briefings conducted at the Council on Foreign Relations and the submitted white papers by the weapons scientist Edward Teller and his protégé Lowell Wood. In summation, geoengineering is an artificial way to alter the global atmospheric chemistry, which is being carried out under the pretext of offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It will be accomplished via cloud seeding techniques to thicken the clouds by injecting highly reflective aerosols at the top of the atmosphere. The leaders of the climate change movement are propagating the near-apocalyptic worldview of the global climate reaching the catastrophic tipping point, and the science committees are convincing the governments that an “emergency measures” will have to be undertaken to overcome any “climate surprises” which were not foreseen in the computerized climate simulations. Most geoengineering schemes involve a controlled enhancement of the earth’s albedo, thus more sunlight can be scattered back to space. The cloud albedo modification will be accomplished through the atmospheric dispersion of the ice nuclei and various chemical compounds to affect cloud properties and cool down the climate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Geoengineering proposition meets ridicule in 1991 </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;">From Wilson Quarterly Spring, 2007.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If one decides to gain an understanding about geoengineering schemes, first the reader of this article must grasp the technical fundamentals. The scientific basis is provided and articulated by several primary sources. Any diligent researcher will notice that geoengineers in their research papers often quote and refer the technical staff to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR4, 2007) and <i>Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming</i>, 1992 publication by the National Academy of Sciences. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) prepared and submitted the Synthesis and Assessment Product to the President and the Congress in January 2009, titled the <i>Atmospheric Aerosol Properties and Climate Impacts</i>, which was built upon the IPCC AR4, 2007. Although the report does not mention geoengineering, it lays the technical groundwork for an additional research and possible future applications. CCSP’s staff summarizes the current scientific understanding of aerosols global distribution, their properties and climate impacts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Atmospheric aerosols are minute particles of different shapes and sizes suspending in the air. The natural sources of aerosols are volcanoes and the anthropogenic (manmade) sources are a variety of combustion activities, e.g. burning coal. Aerosols travel long distances and exert a global influence, e.g. pollutants originating in China can very well end up in North America. The measurements of aerosol properties can be obtained via satellite remote sensing and field campaigns that engage in the direct contact with the object of study. This methodology is also used to measure aerosols dynamics, evolution and spatial distribution. The obtained and analyzed microphysical properties of chemical particulates grant the insight for distinguishing different types of aerosols. The gathered data is later introduced into climate models and simulations are run to calculate the climatic impacts of aerosols. By the second assessment report the IPCC started to include data on the aerosol properties to determine if the cooling effects of aerosols can compensate for the positive radiative forcing of greenhouse gases. Levitating aerosols play a role of cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei on which water droplets form. Due to the fixed water content the increase in aerosol particles will lead to more cloud droplets, diminished droplet size and the outcome of brighter clouds, also known as the enhancement of “cloud albedo”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The sun is the main engine for the earth’s climate. About 30% of sunlight is immediately reflected back into space and the rest is absorbed by different land surfaces. The reflected fraction of sunlight is called the “planetary albedo”. The large-scale studies and climate models suggest that by spreading highly reflective substances in the stratosphere, a space-based sunshade can be created and the earth’s albedo will increase.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The conclusive remarks of the US CCSP are that aerosols exert a negative radiative forcing and produce a net-cooling effect. Therefore additional large-scale deployments of aerosols are bound to induce a cooling effect and curb the greenhouse warming process. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Geoengineering claims are substantiated by citing numerous examples of volcanic eruptions in the past and their impact on the earth’s surface temperature. For instance, in 1991 the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines injected large quantities of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. The chemicals remained in the upper levels of the atmosphere for several years, positively contributing to the formation of high cirrus clouds. The amount of reflected sunlight away from earth has increased, causing a cooling effect on the global scale of 0.5°C. Some scientists suggest that the greenhouse warming associated with CO<sub>2</sub> emissions was delayed in ‘90s because the volcanic eruption added sulfate particulates with backscattering properties to the stratosphere. If similar mechanisms are replicated up to par in a controlled manner, climate engineers believe to produce results akin to the natural volcanic activities. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are three prominent scientists who have led the climate modification techniques into fruition and civilian application. Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb, Lowell Wood, Teller’s protégé and one of the Pentagon’s chief weapon designers and threat analysts, and Paul J. Crutzen, the Nobel prize recipient for chemistry. This high-class troika pulls the carbon-friendly carriage with the burden of climate engineering promotion in an attempt to resolve a global warming policy dilemma. The advocates for climate engineering label weather modification as a remedial or mitigating action against the severe climatic changes and promise to cure the earth’s ills with an innovative technological approach. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Edward Teller, Lowell Wood and Roderick Hyde of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at the University of California have prepared a white paper in 1997 under the name <i>Global Warming and Ice Ages: I. Prospects For Physics-Based Modulation of Global Change</i>. Since the programs to reduce fossil-fuel production and putting limitations on burning carbon based fuels are awfully expensive, this research paper proposes to apply novel, inexpensive techniques and avoid all climate failures in the process. The major challenge is to cancel the magnitude of greenhouse warming and to affect the rise of global mean temperature. The insolation-modulating scattering systems must be applied to accomplish the reduction of the incoming solar radiation. Different types of scattering material can be introduced at various altitudes in order to scatter sunlight back to space. Furthermore, the scattering material can be successfully recalibrated to be used in the project for preventing another Ice Age. The stratospheric deployment of several million tons of chemical material into stratosphere can reach the goal of 1% reduction of incoming sunlight and prevent the rise of world-wide average temperature by 3±1.5°C in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century. According to the studies conducted at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, it is technologically feasible to disperse large quantities of sulfur or aluminum oxides in the atmosphere to delay the greenhouse effects of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and induce global cooling. While most scattering systems were designed to be deployed at close proximity to the Earth, there is one option under review comprising the deployment of small metallic discs to the final destination between the Earth and the Sun. The highly durable metallic scattering materials will remain in outer space for indefinite period of time and be endowed with a capability to direct sunlight toward the earth for warming or backscatter sunlight for cooling purposes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Suffice to say, the common themes which are prevalent in the geoengineering literature have not escaped this piece of work: the dispersion of aerosolized sulfates, the deployment of electrically-conducting sheeting in low Earth orbit and the call for an international cooperation on the research phase of these types of projects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Due to the continuous propagation of Global Warming via mass-media the dangers of greenhouse warming have been instilled in our minds and displaced a more relevant menace to mankind: the next Ice Age. The conclusive words of the world’s preeminent scientists are: “Greenhouse warming of the Earth due to human activities is a <i>possibility</i>.<i> </i>[…]In contrast, Ice Age-severity cooling…is a practical <i>certainty</i>” (p. 17). The scientists believe that a technology-based approach will prevent the global climatic failures of all types.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the editorial essay “<i>Albedo Enhancement by Stratospheric Sulfur Injections: A Contribution to resolve a Policy Dilemma?</i>” an atmospheric chemist and Nobel laureate Paul J. Crutzen argues that the warming of the earth can be countered by backscattering solar radiation to space by increasing the cloud albedo. Based on the calculations from climate models, the effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and other CO<sub>2</sub> emissions are already being countered by sulfate particles originating from natural sources. Naturally occurring sulfate particles act as cloud condensation nuclei affecting cloud properties and in end result increasing cloud albedo. The imminent threat of global warming and the failure to swiftly reduce anthropogenic (manmade) CO<sub>2</sub> emissions by 60-80% will prompt governments to provide an alternative solution to this dilemma. The artificial enhancement of earth’s albedo by adding sunlight reflecting aerosols in the stratosphere is a quick mitigating response to the unraveling climate change. The task can be achieved by burning S<sub>2</sub> (disulfur) or H<sub>2</sub>S (hydrogen sulfide) to produce SO<sub>2</sub> (sulfur dioxide) and deliver it up into the stratosphere using artillery guns or balloons. Sulfur dioxide in the upper layers of the atmosphere will be converted through various chemical and micro-physical reactions into microscopic sulfate particles with stratospheric residence time of 1-2 years. The aerosols will reduce the amount of sunlight penetrating the atmosphere and compensate for the global warming process from CO<sub>2</sub> gases. Artificially introduced aerosols are measured to be smaller than volcanic or naturally occurring sulfate particles, thereby increasing the amount of time the particles will remain in the stratosphere and reducing the cost of continuous deployment of aerosolized material. In addition to that, Paul J. Crutzen explores the alternatives and substitutes to burning sulfur. For instance, shooting up specially designed reflecting and self-orienting nano-particles, launching large clouds of mirrors between the earth and the sun and to replicate a “nuclear winter” conditions by dispersing soot particles in the atmosphere. In a nutshell, these remedial attempts seek to mimic and supercharge natural processes to deny access to the sunlight and decrease surface temperature. Unfortunately the paper does not dwell on the side effects likely to occur from such radical measures. Lastly, the atmospheric chemist makes a call to intensify research in this area, and refers for further reading to the National Academy of Sciences 1992 publication, <i>Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Scott Barrett, a professor at Columbia University, argues in his seminal paper <i>The Incredible Economics of Geoengineering </i>that climate engineering to combat global warming is one of the cheapest alternative options to the poor governmental attempts at general reductions of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from burning fossil fuels. The feasibility of deliberate manipulation of the climate is substantiated by the low dollar value, easily attainable and cheap deployment schemes. The techniques to control global climate are receiving proper attention among leading scientists and technicians at major laboratories work tirelessly on the implementation phase of this grand project.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dr. David W. Schnare from Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy stresses, in the testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works, the inevitability of utilization of large-scale geoengineering projects. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Essentially the climate engineers seek to replicate natural processes and geoengineering is presented in the publicly available documents as a solution for uncontrolled climate change. However, there is an ominous dimension to a “climate change Manhattan project”, speaking in the frightening words of Jay Michaelson (JD Yale). Apart from whitening the skies and making sunrises and sunsets more vibrant, the geoengineering has a host of adverse impacts—dangerous and unintended consequences upon humanity and ecosystems. Generally the geoengineering schemes focus on the amplification of the Earth’s albedo and not on reducing the concentration of CO<sub>2</sub> gases in the atmosphere. Henceforth, the acidification of oceans, the depletion of ozone layer and acid rain from burning sulfur are the most frequently mentioned side effects and undesirable consequences stemming from the deliberate addition of aerosols into the stratosphere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The psychosomatic effects upon human beings are seldom explored in the literature copiously cited above. One can only engage in a meticulous study of statistical data supplied by national and global organizations to determine how ill people are getting in a new changing global environment. New types of allergies, widespread bronchitis, asthma developing in the adulthood and various respiratory diseases appear almost daily in the medical journals. According to the <i>Expert Panel Report 3: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma</i> (2007), published by the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the prevalence of asthma has been steadily rising from 1970s to the present times. Air pollution is listed as one of the exacerbating environmental factors linked with the significant increase of the rates of asthma. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the most concerning impacts of aerosolized chemicals is the detrimental influence upon human respiratory system. This predicament of grave importance is not properly elaborated upon in the publicly attainable sources on climate engineering. <i>Atmospheric Aerosol Properties and Climate Impacts</i> mentions briefly that aerosols “when concentrated near the surface, have long been recognized as affecting pulmonary function and other aspects of human health” (p. 12), unfortunately the statement does not unfold into greater details.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If the idea of spraying dangerous chemicals over our heads is not enough to cause indignation, consider the effects of climate engineering on the global hydrological cycle. The gathered evidence from the past volcanic eruptions, e.g. Mount Pinatubo in 1991, indicates the possible hydrological impact from the injection of aerosolized sulfites into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Climate models suggest that the creation of the chemical shield by the planetary geoengineering will cause droughts and flooding in many regions, thereby impacting fresh water supplies and disrupting agricultural production. Human tampering with the global complex climate system may result in the decrease of precipitation over tropics and increase of precipitation over sea areas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Since many folks are visually oriented nowadays and watch plenty of movies I will end this list of detrimental effects caused by geoengineering on the sci-fi note. Sooner or later the scientists can permanently wreck the sky and induce a constant precipitation akin to the movie <i>Blade Runner</i> (1982), where in each scene it was raining. <i>The Matrix </i>trilogy is hopeless as well, the clouds were artificially thickened and darkness covered the earth for many generations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Regardless of what one believes about the reality of global warming, the geoengineering is extremely relevant today. As alarm about climate change is spreading, the Universities and various think tanks are submitting proposals, announcing projects and conducting workshops on climate control. According to the National Academy of Sciences the geoengineering on the planetary scale is being currently deployed; the scientists are busy working in the field campaigns to study the impact of aerosols on the climate. The Texas Department of Agriculture supports the climate modification projects in some parts of the state and the US Air Force announced in their 1996 research paper, <i>Weather as a force multiplier</i>, that by the year 2025 they will “own the weather”. It is utterly important to start practicing your civil duty, i.e. being informed on issues, and demand the opening of the public forum to discuss weather modification projects under the condition of equal participation from the working class people. Given the sophistication of such technologies and their futuristic appeal, the military and private institutional implementation thereof is inescapable. Thus the procrastination of the American citizenry on this crucial subject is destined to become an instrument of our own demise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Written by Arseniy A. Kozlov</span></div>
Arseniy A. Kozlovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520709767146996132noreply@blogger.com0