I woke to the sound of gunfire.  Looked at the clock — 4:17 a.m.  Waking to gunfire is nothing new here, but still, it took several cigarettes and …

A Cautionary Vision

By Jeremy Kuzmarov Covert Action Magazine Leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group, including its national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, have been …

Alleged Instigators of Capitol Riot Indicted For Sedition but Questions Remain About Government Infiltration and Incitement

By Jeremy Kuzmarov Covert Action Magazine Leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group, including its national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, have been …

Alleged Instigators of Capitol Riot Indicted For Sedition but Questions Remain About Government Infiltration and Incitement

I do not need eyes to see ears to hear feet to move my spirit that inner “me” lives in a world beyond reality Take everything I have of this world I …

That Which I Am

What the Dalai Lama is thinking:

Every day, we drive 150 species of plants and animals to extinction, expand the deserts by 50,000 hectares, and spew 150 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the air. Essentially, we are fighting a World War Three against nature. Religions have not been able to stop this development. 2016 was the warmest year on record. The Himalayan glaciers and the polar ice caps are melting. What can secular ethics accomplish in these circumstances? What are the core tenets of secular ethics?

An Appeal to the World by the Dalai Lama 2017

Do you or I think about this on a daily basis? That is my question, and I believe it is an important question. I will admit to you, I don’t think about it every day. I think about it often, and try to do what I can do, but I don’t think about often enough.

I guess I should stop here and say that the Dalai Lama was born in Tibet. It is believed that he is the reincarnation of a previous Dalai Lama, and he is therefore both the political and spiritual leader of the country. When he was a teenager, one night the Chinese invaded in the middle of the night. The people around him got him and his family out, and many other Tibetans were able to escape with them, by climbing down the terribly high mountains into India, and India supported them and gave them refuge and a place where they could live in exile.

The Chinese still claim Tibet as their own. They have destroyed many of the Tibetan temples; they have killed and raped many of the monks and nuns who felt they were called to stay in Tibet.

To me, the saddest thing was that the world did nothing to stop China in this horrific invasion and takeover.

The Dalai Lama believes that humans can get by without religion, but not without inner values; not without ethics.

The difference between ethics and religion is like the difference between water and tea. Religion-based ethics and inner values are more like value. The tea that we drink is made mostly of water, but it contains other ingredients as well. Tea leaves, spices, perhaps a little sugar, and, at least in Tibet, a pinch of salt, and that makes it more substantial, more lasting, something that we want to drink every day. No matter how it’s prepared, its main ingredient is always water. We can live without tea, but not without water. Likewise, we are born without religion, but not without the basic need for compassion, and not without the fundamental need for water.

I see with ever-greater clarity that our spiritual well being depends not on religion, but on our innate human nature, our natural affinity for goodness, compassion and caring for others. Regardless of whether or not we belong to a religion, we all have a fundamental and profoundly human wellspring of ethics within ourselves. We need to nurture that shared ethical basis. Ethics, as opposed to religion, are grounded in human nature, and that is how we work on preserving creation. Empathy is the basis of human co-existence. It is my belief that human development relies on compassion and not competition. This is scientifically proven. We must learn that humanity is all our big family.

Namaste,

Idealisticrebel

The U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres has called for an end to military activity around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Complex after the plant was hit five times.

Moscow and Kyiv again blamed each other for the renewed shelling that hit the plant’s administration office and fire station today.

This was serious enough that the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the situation. Russia seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in March after invading Ukraine on February 24.

The plant is still run by its Ukrainian technicians. Ukraine’s Energoatom said that the area was struck multiple times today, including the site where radioactive materials are stored.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement the Ukrainian shelling had partly damaged a thermal power plant and splashed pools that form part of the reactors’ cooling systems.

Mr. Guterres urged the withdrawal of military personnel and equipment and for no more forces or equipment to be deployed. He called for Russia and Ukraine not to target the facilities or the surrounding area. “The facility must not be used as part of any military operation,” Mr. Guterres said in a statement. “Instead, urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarization to ensure the safety of the area.”

The United States backed the call for a demilitarized zone around the plant, Bonnie Jenkins, the U.S. under-secretary for arms control and international security told the U.N. Security Council today. She said, a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “cannot wait any longer.”

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy accused Russia of using the nuclear power plant “to threaten the entire world.

“Only a full withdrawal of the Russians from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station and the restoration of full Ukrainian control of the situation around the station can guarantee a resumption of nuclear security for all of Europe.”

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi addressed the U.N. Security Council today at the request of Russia. Mr. Grossi said he is ready to lead an IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station as soon as possible.

Russia and Ukraine will need to cooperate.

“We believe it is justified for IAEA representatives to go to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as quickly as possible, even before the end of August,” said Russia’s U.N. ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. He also said that the world was being pushed “to the brink of nuclear catastrophe comparable in scale to Chernobyl.”

U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Dujarric has said the U.N. has committed to doing everything possible to getting the IAEA technicians to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

It is easy to make statements about Chernobyl and Nuclear Weapons and it is very dangerous to play chicken with Ukraine using an active Nuclear Power Plant.

If either country accidentally or with forethought strikes the actual Power Plant and damages it, the results would be catastrophic and widespread, as the potential fallout could impact any part of Europe. Where such devastation might occur is dependent only upon the prevailing weather patterns, since the Ukrainian Power Plant sits pretty much in the center of Europe. It also sits beside the Dnieper River, which could be contaminated should a reactor leak occur, carrying potentially deadly irradiated water to other parts of Ukraine and Europe, running as it does to the Black Sea. The potential for deaths directly due to a reactor core meltdown is high, but the possibility of heavily radioactive water travelling all the way to the Black Sea, and thereby affecting crops, livestock and people for a huge swath of Europe would be even more devastating.

This is a game of Russian Roulette with the lives of thousands, if not millions. This is a game you can only play once, and no one can win.

Namaste,

Idealisticrebel

We live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Photography is one of my passions. I thought I would show you a little bit of the Blue Ridge.

I hope that you enjoy them.