Obama gets out of war business?

In today’s New York Times US-President Obama said: “I don’t want to run auto companies. I don’t want to run banks. I’ve got two wars I’ve got to run already. I’ve got more than enough to do. So the sooner we can get out of that business, the better off we’re going to be.”—– So does Obama refer now to the auto, the bank or the war business?

What do you think?

BTW: If you have any input on who to interview, what other topics to cover in our documentary THE THAW OF WAR and/or research please leave us a note here.

What to do in times of crisis?

I don’t know. Is it just me or do you hear the war drum beat harder as well?

Many press commentaries compare the years 1929 and 2009 – both years of economic crisis. Both culminating into a World War? We will not let it come this far. I hope. But for now there’s the war in Iraq, then the drones in Pakistan, social unrest in China (and soon in your backyard?), chaos in Afghanistan, North Korea launches the next rocket and now the pirates in Somalia.

For the media the pirates stand for great headlines, powerful imagery and stories on a grand scale. At least for a while. But what beats the war drum is not so much what they report but how they do it. In the western media the pirates are presented as deadly and greedy, disrupting peaceful civilian sea transports for money. But to the Somalians these are not pirates but coast guards.

At least according to this interview with Somalia born rapper Knaan. I have no means of proving his comments right or wrong. But I found them new and coming from a different angle. And looking at things from different angles does help in times of crisis.

BTW our research for our doc THE THAW OF WAR continues: If you have any other different angles or input on who to interview, what other topics to cover and/or research please leave us a note here.

Are we at risk of a nuclear attack?

Imagine. You’re in Japan. It’s August 6, 1945. You are in Hiroshima on a business trip. An American B-29 drops an atomic bomb on the city. You witness the apocalypse. You get burned but you survive and return to your hometown. Nagasaki. And three days later it’s apocalypse again when the second atomic attack in human history is launched. And you survive again.

This is exactly what happened to Tsutomu Yamaguchi, now 93 years old. He just has become the first person certified as a survivor of both atomic bombings by the United States.

Researching for our documentary film THE THAW OF WAR we found that the risk of us witnessing something similar in our lifetime is growing. Peeps who grew up in the 70′s and 80′s remember how aware we were made of nuclear annihilation. But now it doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar so much anymore.

Disaster-medicine expert Irwin Redlener reminds us the threat is still real. He looks at some of history’s farcical countermeasures. But he kicks off with the big question: ARE WE AT RISK OF A NUCLEAR ATTACK? Redlener’s presentation is part of the TED series, which I think is just brilliant and worth coming back over and over again.

BTW: If you have any input on who to interview, what other topics to cover and/or research please leave us a note here.

Genocide is not enough?

Why do we humans still engage in war although the next global confrontation will end civilization as we know it? One of the central questions in our doc THE THAW OF WAR.

In our research we’re going back in history – way back – in order to find out how evolution has its share in this. And it certainly does. There are clues that our “team aggression” is something we inherited from our ancestors. And we still act by it on a daily basis.

And I stumbled over something else: It’s very likely that we humans had our share in the extinction of the Neanderthals. This would make the Neanderthals the very first species we “modern” humans annihilated in our history. At least that we know of. So genocide is not where we draw the line? We also go for “specicide”?

I added a video about DID MAN KILL NEANDERTHALS. One thing in this video: Towards the end they talk about determining the genes of Neanderthals. Since they put this video online this process evolved. The Max Planck Institute in Leipzig now completed a first rough draft of the Neanderthal genome just a month ago. The genetic evidence suggests that humans and Neanderthals are very similar, but that the two species probably didn’t interbreed.

By the way if you want to listen to something your and my ancestor has possibly “specicized”:
Using 50,000-year-old fossils from France and a computer synthesizer, a science team has generated a recording of how a Neanderthal would pronounce the letter “e.”

This film is your film.

Just got back from Berlin. Got a lot of writing done on a feature film which will also be war themed. Seems like I’m not parting with this subject anytime soon.

I wanted to put the word out: As you know we are currently researching for our doc THE THAW OF WAR. Now since our efforts are as big as they can be – we want to open it up and ask you to be part of it. Meaning I would absolutely appreciate any hint you might have. So hit me up with thoughts that might cross your mind over the next months regarding people you think would make great interview partners, research topics you think should be in the movie etc.

And I just found this interesting piece of film here: As US and the UK forces struggle for a way forward in Afghanistan, John D McHugh’s unique film from one of the US military’s most dangerous outposts shows just how western forces are losing ground to the Taliban.

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We are at the summit.

Social Business sounds like an interesting answer to a lot of questions asked in these tumultuous economic  times. So far in my research I’ve found that the way people treat economics has a lot to do why and how wars happen. Since I don’t want another war to happen I thought I’d check it out.

Social Business inside the Henry Ford Building.

Anyway, we’ll hang with the Social Business crowd in Berlin this weekend. I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on there. Btw the location of the summit is quite neat. They definitely have taste.

Check out the link here.

vision summit

What can we do?

We probably all agree on the need for a more sustainable way to live. Cutting carbon emissions, pushing renewable technology, upping energy efficiency and so on. Question remains: Are these efforts enough?

More and more experts argue that personal carbon virtue and collective environmentalism are futile as long as our economic system is built on the assumption of growth. So if we are serious about saving earth, we must re-structure our economy.

What can you do to help this process?  I  let some experts do the talking on these issues.

“Buy less stuff. Join and support Friends of the Earth.”

Herman Daly ecological economist, University of Maryland, US

“Vote. Or better yet, get involved in politics at any level and advocate green economics.”

Julia Marton-Lefèvre director general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature

“In a speech in April 1967, Martin Luther King called on the US to undergo a radical revolution of values – to shift from a ‘thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society’. It is a message that resonates with today’s challenges.”

John Beddington, chief scientific adviser to HM Government, UK

find more on Newscientist.com

At the Summit talking about social biz.

We’re hanging here with the crowd of the Vision Summit in Berlin. Social Business is all the talk here. Meaning adding social aspects to greed-driven capitalism. We just met with Peace Nobel Prize Laureate Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

A very inspiring man indeed. He described the motor of the economy as selfishness which now needs to be  rounded out by adding selflessness.

Running out of time…

Lots of talk about Global Warming. And while in some parts of the world we’re still debating who might be responsible for the rising temperatures, in other parts the water is already up to people’s necks.  “…on some islands you can only move back so far before you have to start worrying about the water at your back door as well as the water in front.” says this article. Check it out!

that explains the ups and downs of markets these days…

Vladimir Putin ‘wanted to hang Georgian President Saakashvili by the balls’

Just found this article on Times Online and thought i’d share it with you.

Mr Sarkozy’s chief diplomatic adviser reported an exchange between Putin and Sarozy in a news magazine before an EU-Russia summit today. If the account is true it’s an interesting glance behind the curtains of international diplomacy to say the least. Heres an excerpt:

“With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia’s Government. According to Mr Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” Mr Putin declared.

Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. “Hang him?” — he asked. “Why not?” Mr Putin replied. “The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.”

Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: “Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: “Ah — you have scored a point there.”

and here’s the link to the article.

glance at the other side.

Not too long ago I’ve been traveling to the Hofer Filmtage with my previous film South Of Pico. There I did watch a film which made me look at a warzone in a very different way. The film is called NOMAD’S LAND by Gael Metroz.

This documentary tells the tales of traveling through Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan down to India and Sri Lanka. I was especially taken by the director’s glance at the tribal area in bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan – a terrorism hothouse as it is depicted in main stream media. Nomad’s Land doesn’t hide the area’s “lawlessness”  but also presents great imagery and insights on an area and people we really don’t know much about to begin with.

Check out a glance here on this link.

But the harshness of war also needs to be addressed. Over and over again. And it’s children who suffer the most. Watch this report here about an UN inspection of an Afghan refugee camp.

No dehumanizing here.

Just traveled back to Los Angeles to check the footage we filmed over the course of last months. And while doing more research one fact appears frequently when we talk about war: Dehumanizing the enemy prepares the killing machine. Today I stumbled over this short little film which does just the opposite. It tells you more about your very own ancestors in just a few minutes. Thought you might like it:

Tumultuos times.

Street Terror in Mumbai, West Bank and Peshawar. Joblessness rising in the US to a 34 year high. Recession Worldwide. Lots of not so good news raining in today. So I wasn’t sure if I needed my today’s share of “Dr. Doom” whose optimism is usually very limited. Dr. Doom is Nouriel Roubini, almost a regular in this blog by now and Professor of Economics at NY University’s Stern School of Business.  Not only did he foresee the entire recession but also in surprising detail. Of course now everybody listens when he talks.

And in these “dark hours” he sheds some light and promotes slight optimism. Even though he likes to pinpoint that what we see at the end of the tunnel is not the light but the trainwreck. In this video he even talks about economic recovery by the end of 2009. Hang in there, till then.

On a sidenote I’m very happy to let you know that Global Warning’s facebook plattform is doing very fine. If you haven’t checked out our facebook fan site feel free to do so and if you have any questions you can post them on the discussion board there. And last but not least: Global Warning’s Youtube Channel.

Next war. Not a question of if, but where?

A cynical question. Do we have to increase work pace to get our documentary done in time before the next big war breaks out? The sarcasm was triggered by Terror Expert Bruce Riedel’s explanations on how he sees current affairs in the world and its hotbeds. Riedel is an advisor to President-Elect Barack Obama on South Asia and terrorism and recently gave this interview to German News Platform SPIEGEL.

Here are four interesting quotes from CIA veteran Bruce Riedel in case you don’t want to read the entire interview:

1 “These attacks (Mumbai Attacks) dominated global news for 72 hours non-stop. Achieving that amount of media coverage is exactly what the terrorists wanted. With the exception of Sept. 11, we have never really seen such global coverage.”

2 “We know the airline business is high on their (al-Qaida’s) target list. In addition, al-Qaida has decided that if and when it attacks in the US again, it has to outdo Sept. 11.”

3 “If there is any place in the world where al-Qaida might hope to steal nuclear material, Pakistan would be the most logical.”

4 “South Asia is the most likely place where in our lifetimes we might see a nuclear war.”

Not very thrilling all this. Here’s the link to the entire interviewagain. In case you got curious.

The first casualty of War is…

…TRUTH.

Ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus coined this quote. They call him the father of tragedy for a reason.

Following the latest war on our planet (don’t forget several more wage as we blog) this quote goes a long way. First: No outside journalists are allowed into Gaza which pretty much puts a damper on possible truth-hunting from that angle. On the other hand each fraction presents it’s own truths online now in this new age of war-journalism.

The Israeli Defence Force has established their own channel on youtube.

People trapped inside Gaza  have their outlets as well. Found this blog showing a

view from within Gaza.

Witnessing this slew of horrible images makes me realize how important the work on our doc GLOBAL WARNING – THE THAW OF WAR is.

On a side note: For our blog readers who speak German: Austria’s TV-newscast ZiB2 covered the production on our film. Check it out!

Just recently…

… I was talking to a guy at an opening in a somber downtown L.A. art gallery. He teaches art at two well established graduate schools and told me how enrollment is down since not a lot of people can still afford the high tuition. But what if you come out of school into such a hostile economic environment, I thought? And just now I stumbled over a similar question and Dr. Doom – Nouriel Roubini – who foresaw this strong recession in great detail a while ago answered.

What do you advise students coming out of school?

Roubini: I think this country (U.S.) needs more people who are going to be entrepreneurs, more people in manufacturing, more people going into sectors that are going to lead to long-run economic growth. When the best minds of the country are all going to Wall Street, there is a distortion in the allocation of human capital to some activities that become excessive and eventually inefficient.

Who would have called Wall Street activities “eventually inefficient” just a year ago? Anyone?

Oh, and by the way. Our doc “Global Warning – The Thaw of War”has been covered on 3SAT in Germany/Austria/Switzerland: It’s German Language Only. still some nice footage, I think. Check it out:

How much do you pay for the Iraq war? Personally?

The major costs of the Iraq War – and all other wars for that matter – are first and foremost many, many lives of innocent children, women and men. Not to talk about the psychological damage thousands and thousands of kids will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

But in numbers. The war in Iraq so far cost the U.S taxpayer somewhere between 590 and 636 billion US$ depending who you ask. Do you want me to write out the number? Let’s make it a round one.

600.000.000.000,00 US$

So far.

When all is said and done it will be around 3 Trillion US$. Or more. Do you want me to write out the number?

I’ll spare you. But do check out the following link, then punch in your numbers and see how much you personally spent on the Iraq War. If you live in the U.S. of course and/or pay taxes here. And if you live outside the U.S. punch them in anyway.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar/individual

peace,
ernst

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Security theater.

I’m standing in a line. People in front of me pull off their jewelry, drop their belts, unlace their shoes.

I’m waiting for the security check at LAX airport. Thinking how I’m not in the mood to undress myself in front of this TSA dude (TSA=Transportation Security Administration). Then a guy in his late thirties and trendy pink turban walks through the detector. Beep. The TSA guy gives him instructions. Guy with turban doesn’t understand. The TSA guy repeats. Still communication is one-way. The TSA guy yells. I can’t understand what he wants. But he yells again. And again. Finally TSA guy gets whatever detail he wanted and lets him pass. Other TSA people laugh, cheer. They seem entertained.

What a sad theater: Because the knife I carried unbenownst in my backpack for at least five transatlantic flights was never detected. Several people told me the same thing happened to them. According to security expert Bruce Schneier the fact that we have to go through this at almost all U.S. airports now only takes away from the real threats. The only improvements since 9/11 are: Fortified cockpit-doors and the fact that passengers now know that they have to resist against terrorists.

A very important part in our research for our documentary THE THAW OF WAR goes into this false sense of security. And something else even more important:

If we let go of our freedoms and civil rights, the terrorists win even when they get caught before they hit. Or in reverse: If we don’t let ourselves terrorize, the terrorists loose even when they hit.

check out Bruce Schneier’s BLOG AT: http://www.schneier.com/

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A real danger of WWIII.

William Engdahl, a political economist and author based in Frankfurt, Germany says he fears that, the U.S. may turn to military might as their financial powers weaken. Engdahl continues that “certain powerful actors will turn to the U.S. military power projection around the world,” and that, “this is the real danger of a World War III.”

Not a very optimistic prediction of the author of the best selling book “A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order.”

Check out this video interview with Engdahl on Real News.

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