THE THAW OF WAR - a documentary film in the making

Obama gets out of war business?

THE THAW OF WAR — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:13:04 +0000

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?

THE THAW OF WAR — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:07:16 +0000

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?

THE THAW OF WAR — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:32:51 +0000

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?

THE THAW OF WAR — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:39:37 +0000

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.

THE THAW OF WAR — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:00:05 +0000

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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A real danger of WWIII.

THE THAW OF WAR — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:22:47 +0000

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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Security theater.

THE THAW OF WAR — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:51:13 +0000

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

THE THAW OF WAR — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:34:14 +0000

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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Just recently…

THE THAW OF WAR — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:56:18 +0000

… 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:

The first casualty of War is…

THE THAW OF WAR — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:43:22 +0000

…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!