We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Syria: Has Anyone Stepped Back from the Brink?

Click here to access article by Michael Jabara Carley from Strategic Culture Foundation.

 The new peace process adopted by the UN with the backing of all major powers has me puzzled. Carley in this article expresses most of my doubts about how this quagmire in Syria/Iraq can be solved given the wide and dedicated conflicting interests that are involved.

 (Note: Carley must be from Texas because he uses a metaphor that completely escaped me--"asps". I initially thought it was a typo error that was meant for "wasps", but I finally realized that he was referring to a stinging caterpillar commonly found in Texas.)
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