world peace

[Blah11]

Perhaps not for our generation, but maybe for our children, and their children.

At the moment, every country is operates on the basis of "self-interest". Even acts which appear to be altruistic/humanitarian in nature, are usually driven by self-interest. The wars in the middle east are an example. Even with Libya. The "heroes" only entered that war because they had a vested interest in the oil produced by the country. It is very telling that in countries that have nothing "real" to give, they just sit idly by. A good example is Zimbabwe. The US and its allies probably don't see the reward that might come with ousting the dictator.

What it boils down to is that people always see themselves as "them and us". The fact that we are all one people escapes many people, and in effect many leaders. There is a lot of ego as well.

In Africa, the leaders do not think twice about going to war about the most trivial things, and all this boils down to is an egoic need to be superior to someone else, whether someone of a different ethnicity, religion, tribe etc. People are not taught how to live in harmony even when we differ in our opinions and beliefs, and case in point is all the arguments that take place on BnB. On this forum, an internet forum, people will gang up against others on the basis of a difference of opinion, its no wonder world peace seems like an unreachable ideal.

I am all for world peace, but I think at this stage it is so unrealistic, the focus needs to be on peace with oneself. A significant amount of individuals are not even at peace with themselves evidenced by the number of addicts, insecure people, anti-social behaviour, inferiority complexes, superiority complexes, the hate etc.

In the words of one of my fav guys of all time "if we want to make the world a better place, we have to look at ourselves and make that change." Its too easy to sit in a detached manner assessing the plausibility of world peace, because that peace shall never come until we are all at peace with ourselves. After that, we need to be peaceful with our friends and family. Then the world at large.

x

Syria! no oil, nothing for us to gain so we just leave it alone.

isnt it funny how us and uk leaders are supporting somalian war right after oil exploration began honestly its disgusting

 

[indy and lara]

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[OmarsMum]

Syria! no oil, nothing for us to gain so we just leave it alone.

isnt it funny how us and uk leaders are supporting somalian war right after oil exploration began honestly its disgusting

It's more complicated. They are not "leaving it alone" because it has no oil. It has to do with it's location bordering Israel. They don't want the government to change. It has been securing the borders with Israel for 40 years, if the government changes, they will not have control over the area.

 

[Blah11]

if there was oil in syria you can bet we'd be in there, don't kid yourself. Its absolutely tragic watching the news reporting from syria. People begging us to help them as theyre standing on a civilian street in the middle of their town with gunshot in the background. Awful.

The red cross have stepped in to help women and children evacuate thankfully. Im still hopeful that we'll help a bit as theyve now stopped shipments with arms, asset freeze, oil trades etc until assad ends the violence.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

It is pretty much down to Oil. No Oil= No interest!

 

[OmarsMum]

if there was oil in syria you can bet we'd be in there, don't kid yourself. Its absolutely tragic watching the news reporting from syria. People begging us to help them as theyre standing on a civilian street in the middle of their town with gunshot in the background. Awful.

The red cross have stepped in to help women and children evacuate thankfully.

I'm Syrian Hun, trust me, it's more complicated. If there is a green light to stop it or to interfere, the Gulf countries will be more than happy to fund the attacks & your governments will make loads of money out of it. It's not always about oil.

& people don't want foreign intervention, it will make things worse, they learn from others mistakes (Iraq & Libya).

Almost all those I know are against foreign Intervention, even those who have families & relatives who got killed recently.

What's going in Syria is purely a civil war now, even those "harmless" protesters are killing innocents for revenge. There are random kidnaps for ransoms, college students are killing their colleagues when they go through a disagreement, etc. The country is out of control.

Foreign intervention will not give them what they're seeking for. Take a look at Iraq, the government keeps changing, there is no peace although the war ended almost 9 years back.

I don't think you will understand what those people are going through or what they really want unless you're one of them or you're living among them.

 

[Lightworker]

I am not fully famliar with the situation in Syria, but I get the argument against foreign intervention. However, what is the point of having an international community set out to maintain world peace.

The genocide in Rwanda was put down to being a mere civil war. The international community dragged its heels, and so many lives were lost needlessly. I get that its difficult to understand a situation fully unless you are on the ground, but its not impossible, not in the age of technology.

I think there should be a uniform way of dealing with unrest in member states of the international communities like the UN. There's no point being a signatory to all the relevant conventions, and expect your fellow members to sit and watch while you (not you directly lol) let the country go downhill. Thats what these organizations are for. To maintain a universal standard of peace and human rights.

Otherwise they might as well bring it down and every jurisdiction does whatever it wants, however it wants.

 

[trgirl308]

I don't think world peace is realistic at this point because we are too far apart and it is too easy to abuse and make enemies of ppl that you don't see. And our leaders are not altruistic.

That being said I don't agree with foreign intervention because you are inteferring in a culture-country that you know nothing about and forcing your views-culture on that country. Or at least, I don't agree with it in the way that it has been carried out, if a country helped in a peacekeeping manner it wouldn't be so bad... but declaring war to 'help' that country doesn't really help anyone.

I don't want to sound sexist, but I can't help but think (or hope) that if there were more women leaders around the world there would be less war. I just feel that female leaders try to find alternative solutions or at least do not jump to the idea of war.. while male leaders don't. And of course the fact that war is so profitable and distracts a people from issues at home.. well that doesn't help.

Sorry for the rant, this is a topic that makes me a little sad. I really want children, but I can't help but worry what kind of world will be left for them.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Wow I didnt know that about Syria, thanks OM.

Its sad, world peace would never happen. We are in too deep!

 

[tina3747]

I don't think world peace is realistic at this point because we are too far apart and it is too easy to abuse and make enemies of ppl that you don't see. And our leaders are not altruistic.

That being said I don't agree with foreign intervention because you are inteferring in a culture-country that you know nothing about and forcing your views-culture on that country. Or at least, I don't agree with it in the way that it has been carried out, if a country helped in a peacekeeping manner it wouldn't be so bad... but declaring war to 'help' that country doesn't really help anyone.

I don't want to sound sexist, but I can't help but think (or hope) that if there were more women leaders around the world there would be less war. I just feel that female leaders try to find alternative solutions or at least do not jump to the idea of war.. while male leaders don't. And of course the fact that war is so profitable and distracts a people from issues at home.. well that doesn't help.

Sorry for the rant, this is a topic that makes me a little sad. I really want children, but I can't help but worry what kind of world will be left for them.

I think women can be more ruthless sometimes, have you heard of Margaret thatcher?!
I'm not sure there's one good reason why we went to war with argentina... A piece of land that's nowhere near us geographically. The ownership of countries taken By 'great britain' seems so archaic now!
They've found oil there not long ago, maybe that's why....

 

[smelly07]

its a complex, corrupt world, fuelled by power and money. x

 

[Lightworker]

I like the idea of more female world leaders. Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson has just taken up office in Liberia, and she is a nobel laureate. I think with women comes a certain level of compassion and empathy that is intrinsic to females. I look at them as fellow mothers, sisters etc.

HOWEVER, there was an article written by a Nigerian author (for those that don't know, Nigeria has one of the highest levels of corruption worldwide), there is an argument that even where men are the leaders, these men have women behind them that motivate their actions. Their wives etc. In Malawi for example, the first lady (not incumbent, perhaps previously), was behind the president's move to ban women wearing short skirts.

Again in reference to the Rwanda genocide, one of the biggest culprits in the systematic rape and mutilation of women was a woman herself.

Thus I don't think that merely being a woman would alleviate the problems, but perhaps, if we had a balance and mellowed out all that testosterone, we would stand a better chance. Incidentally, in our current generation, I know alot of women in their mid-late twenties and thirties who are really doing well in their areas of expertise, and perhaps with more experience they will get into positions of leadership and help change things.

 

[Lightworker]

Smelly this thread rocks

 

[tina3747]

I think with regards to women in power, I feel they can maybe have more to prove hence makingthem more ruthless. I think alot of women who want the world peace ect wouldn't want power In the first place, power and ruthlessness goes hand in hand. Hopefully this will change in time.. And I think people wanting power such as dictators have a certain level of narcasism as well... Not a good trait in a leader!
How'd nelson Mandela end up with winni by the way?!

 

[Blah11]

in regards to the culture thing.. im sorry but whatever your culture, there is no room for dictatorship in this world.

 

[indy and lara]

I am not a great fan of intervention. I don't believe that ANY country should be imposing their culture on another. However, I am angered by the number of times countries have sat by and let innocent civilians be slaughtered by their own country.

I really do not think women leaders would make that much difference if I am honest. As Lightworker says, there have been many examples of women behind the dictators actually being responsible for much of the misery. I think that power often corrupts and gender makes little difference.

 

[OmarsMum]

in regards to the culture thing.. im sorry but whatever your culture, there is no room for dictatorship in this world.

I wish it's that simple.

who made those dictators? Do you think their people voted for them? Those "leaders" were chosen by higher powers to serve their interests in the area.

The west wanted it this way, they don't want democracy around the world as it will threaten their power. If there is democracy around the world, the existence of some cultures & countries will be questioned.

Did you know that in 1980 there was a Massacre in Hamah- Syria by the government with weapons bought from the west? It was supported by "the higher powers", but at that time there was no proper media, no satellite mobiles or Internet in the area to show the world what was going on there.

In 1982 there was a Massacre in sabra & shatila in Lebanon, civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese while the camp was surrounded by the Israel Defense Force.

Those leaders are tools in the hands of the "higher powers" to keep the area under their controls, they don't want democracy all around the world as it will threaten their power.

It's politics

 

[Blah11]

in regards to the culture thing.. im sorry but whatever your culture, there is no room for dictatorship in this world.

I wish it's that simple.

who made those dictators? Do you think their people voted for them? Those "leaders" were chosen by higher powers to serve their interests in the area.

The west wanted it this way, they don't want democracy around the world as it will threaten their power. If there is democracy around the world, the existence of some cultures & countries will be questioned.

Did you know that in 1980 there was a Massacre in Hamah- Syria by the government with weapons bought from the west? It was supported by "the higher powers", but at that time there was no proper media, no satellite mobiles or Internet in the area to show the world what was going on there.

In 1982 there was a Massacre in sabra & shatila in Lebanon, civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese while the camp was surrounded by the Israel Defense Force.

Those leaders are tools in the hands of the "higher powers" to keep the area under their controls, they don't want democracy all around the world as it will threaten their power.

It's politics

of course they werent voted in or it wouldnt be a dictatorship there arent actually that many countries under dictatorship now but there are enough for it to still be shocking.

 

[OmarsMum]

Blah- they were not voted by their people but they were empowered by them. If they stopped them from the beginning instead of waiting for 40 years, things wouldn't have ended this way.

You don't know how the civilians benefit from their corrupted governments, this is why they never seek or asked for change. It's a corrupted society leaded by a corrupted government.

What you see on the TV are the minorities, the majorities who live there don't want the change as it will negatively affect their personal affairs.

 

[smelly07]

thanks lightworker, (i didnt think it would get past page 2 lol)

Did you watch the ross kemp documentaries and in particlaur the one about Congo?