Social Darwinism and Detroit

I've seen numerous videos on the downfall of Detroit. This one is brief and to the point. I enjoyed the guy by the burn barrel. He knows more about economics than Thomas Sowell does!

The Capitalist system is little more than Social Darwinism and these are the people marked for extinction. They're a mess but they've also been wronged. Just because some of them have turned to bad behaviour doesn't mean the corporate criminals are off the hook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrUFZrWQRhE

Diplomatic Hubris

American arrogance manifests itself in many different ways an on many different fronts.

Cultural arrogance can be just as provocative as throwing around military and economic weight.

I have often thought of this as I watched the US send short-skirted feminist-type diplomats to conservative Muslim countries. Are you trying to offend them? Do you think you're going to impress them with how progressive you are?

All it does is emphasize the cultural difference and it makes those involved very conscious of what the US stands for...

Taking the Picture but Missing the Sunset

There we were standing on the shores of Lake Chautauqua watching the sun sink below the horizon. People were fishing, others were taking in the beautiful evening, a few kids clamoured about the base of a small lighthouse.

A couple walked up and the woman stepped near me, held up her phone and snapped a picture of the glorious sky.

'Got it!" she proclaims half turning her head to her husband.

And then she walks away.

What a snapshot (no pun intended) of our present cultural milieu.

Accounting for Atheist Ethics

I saw an email come in today from an old thread on another site. An atheist attacked a bunch of stuff I said quite some time ago. He's sort of the perfect picture of why I've completely abandoned Facebook and all the online discussion stuff. It is truly pointless and can hardly be called edifying. We've reached a point in our cultural dialogue that anything longer than a few lines is too much for people to follow. It's just cyber-shouting and doing your best to insult the other person.  In other words a waste of time and something I no longer pursue.

The End of Paisley

I was enjoying a pleasantly cool and overcast late summer afternoon. As I was scraping the side of an old house back in the woods, the news came over the radio...

Ian Paisley is dead at 88.

These moments always hit me. It will stay with me forever.

Ignatius in Different Contexts

Here's a link to a good article by Cal over at Lead Me. Always helpful, he has some good insights.

The Need for the Bishop: Leadership in the Church

Inbox: The Christian Response to ISIS/ISIL?

Q. Your last post was a non-response. What is the Christian position in response to ISIS?

A. There isn't one. At least not a geo-political response.

Looking for a Christian solution to the Middle Eastern situation is like saying...

The remnants of the Achaemenids are rising up and resisting Alexander the Great's installed governments across Central Asia. What's the Jewish or Christian response?

Different Faces of Evil and How Sometimes the Lost Still Seek Truth

Here's a tough lesson to explain to your kids. Mine are now mostly teenagers and while they can certainly grasp more than they could a few years ago, in some ways it's getting more and more complicated. I'm sure those of you who have adult children will smile and nod your head. You've already been down this road.

We've been talking about the Mexican-American War and I found this recent video from RT. I realize many people hate RT (Russia Today) and consider it to be nothing less than Russian propaganda.

Inbox: Christian support for NATO vs. ISIS?

I've paraphrased the question...

Q: Shouldn't we as Christians support and be thankful for NATO's moves against ISIS?

A: Yes and no.

NATO Redivivus

After the fall of the USSR in 1991 everyone wondered would NATO fall apart? What reason did it have to continue? There was no more Soviet bloc or Warsaw Pact.

The BRICS Development Bank and Other Challenges to the IMF/World Bank Hegemony

The US Empire appears to be floundering on many fronts.

Perhaps the most profound areas are in the realm of economics. There's a growing cadre of world leaders that are finding ways to not only irritate American hegemony but in some cases openly defy it.

Sometimes the messages are subtle and other times they're pretty outspoken.

The move by the so-called BRICS countries...Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to create their own development bank is a geo-political throwing down of the gauntlet.

Two informative videos on Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan

As a supplement to the Central Asia discussion here's a link to short documentary on Kyrgyzstan and the growing ethnic tensions at work within that country. The documentary only hints at the real issues but also captures the fact that there are forces at work within the society that are generating division. The people are caught in the middle.

The Great Game II: A More Complex and Dangerous Sequel

http://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/energy_watch/plan-07282014110245.html

The situation in Central Asia has grown so complicated that it almost defies description. It is a truly a new and more complex version of the 19^th century Great Game. Except this time the stakes are bigger are there are more players.

Overlapping interests coupled with political and economic spheres have created a kaleidoscope of relationships that are hard to keep track of.