THE INVISIBLE HAND BEHIND .....

No matter how many American citizens object or call their political representatives, certain policies will invariably continue to sail through Congress, the State Department, and the administration, on the federal level and state levels .

The main principle behind it all, governing our political minds are based principally on certain old rules dictating ; that the public must be put in its place, marginalized and controlled, of course for its own benefit and interests. People are too stupid and ignorant, to be allowed to know and understand all matters of politics, and more so foreign affairs. So these difficult tasks should be left to the intelligent specialized experts, who generally must be shielded and sheltered from the ignorant masses.

The role of the general population is to be transient spectators, approving, but surely not participants or advisers, and that applies to all strong and authoritarian regimes, as well as functioning democratic societies. These state policies could be very regressive, serving very limited special interests and select individuals. even if at the cost of social inequalities and abusive wealth distribution, and totally against the interests of the majority, still , spectators must not be allowed to see nor understand too much, and whistle-blowers are consequently always harshly punished and exiled .

The theatrical proceedings of the Supreme Court nominee, his accusation and the quiet denial of the Senate majority to a fair investigation , the security surveillance on too many Americans, the immigration total rage and inhuman proceedings , are all examples of what I'm talking about. Not long ago the NY Times reported that two thirds of Americans support the US joins a binding international agreement to curb green house gas emissions, and by a 5 to 3 margin, Americans regard the climate as more urgent than the economy, but it doesn't matter, public opinion is dismissed.

But I'm going to cite few other examples of policies being pushed through our system presently, without American public attention or interference . One is the huge aid package of almost 40 billion Dollars, or the equivalent of 11 million tax payer Dollars per day for the next 10 years to Israel. It was initiated during the Obama administration, and scrumptiously followed by the Trump administration, and the GOP led house. With intelligent twists and amendments, such as it was to be a ceiling when originally conceived, and now it's called a floor, opening the door widely to future increases as Israel might arrogantly dictate.

And requiring the full cooperation of NASA, with Israel's space agency, even after it was caught and openly admitted of Israel's spying on all vital and highly classified pertinent technologies. The package is considered the largest military package in US history. America could cover all universal health care costs, and education shortages, which by the way are presented free to all Israelis .

Another concern of these hidden forces, are to always introduce better controls over the institutions responsible for the indoctrination of our youths. Schools, universities and churches are the focus of these procedures, where the Texas State Board of education, voted lately to amend high school textbooks ; to read that Arab rejection of Israel has led to the conflict perpetuation, requiring schools to blame Israeli/Arab conflict on Arabs. The board also voted to remove certain previous political figures from the teaching syllabus, pertaining to previous democrats, top politicians and administration officials, while all students are now required to study and learn about the current president and the Texas governor. The Dallas morning news reported .

Another unmentioned topic in its full details , are the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on many of our trading partners, the biggest of course being China, increasing by 10% charges on hundreds of billions of Dollars. While it sounds like fair punishment to unfair trading practises on their parts, the real looser and payer will be the American consumer. A very nice Chinese made wall-hanging clock, bought at a Walmart store for $3.50 , it might now be priced at $3.85 , all consumers will still find it a steal, and buy it, American clock makers cannot compete with both prices anyway, the same applies to most goods imported from China, American consumer will pay the difference .

The Trump administration will pocket tens of billions in added tariffs , and guess what , not spend a dime of it all on health care, social security, education, student loans or even basic infrastructure. And of course not a dime to the needy or poorer social benefits. It will further cut taxes for the richest half percent and keep feeding the armament industries through the Pentagon and its affiliates corporations. Wall Str. will get its share of course. They are enforcing the invisible hand anyhow . 

The role of the general population is to be kept strictly as innocent spectators, and never as participants in action or decision advisers . N.Chomsky through his recent writings was an inspiration to the logic behind the article .   all my thanks to all as always .   

                 

SUICIDE .... A SYMPTOM OF OUR TIMES

September 10, few days back, was the world suicide prevention Day, a first to me , addressing the grave ever growing epidemic world wide. claiming over a million lives each year globally , causing untold grief and tremendous losses. It is world wide and increasing in alarming numbers, and being classified now as one of the leading causes of death .

Depressed people in general, and youths more particularly are very vulnerable nowadays to lack of opportunities , secure futures and huge wealth discrepancies and incomes, discrimination and a culture of bullying against all forms of nonconformity are becoming the norms in our schools, universities and work places, especially in more advanced societies.

An estimated 1.3 millions per year die by suicide, and there are approximately 20 attempts for each actual successful suicide. According to WHO, the suicide rates (per 100,000) of world population, goes as follows ; Europe 13%, South Eastern Asia 26%, Western Pacific 25%, Americas 14.5%, Africa 13%, Eastern Mediterranean 8.5% . Suicides have a number of complex, interrelated and underlying contributing factors, that adds to the feelings of pain and hopelessness, having access to means of killing oneself, most typically are firearms, medicine and poisons, they are all risk factors.

Stress in our lives and work, is becoming very common, we live in a culture where many if not most of us , want continuously only the best for ourselves and our dependents, and to be at all times very distinguished, different and superior, but we all fail to realize that specifically this pattern of reasoning is the source of our stresses and depressions in life, leading eventually to serious crises .

To be a happy person, we don't necessarily have to have the best of everything , nor be the best always. Reflecting on our present situations, world wide, 21st century Sapiens are facing a deteriorating resiliency of its youth, their desperation of modern times and conditions, makes it some of our darkest times historically, Sapiens were never through history more depressed, more anxious, more worried about economical and living standards and continuity, more desperate about their image in life among their peers.

The more our societies are advanced at least economically and technologically, the more disparity of wealth distribution, and more brutality in all aspects of life, and tighter controls on behavior from institutions, manufacturers, and big conglomerates and corporations, the more we observe desperation, depressions and rebellions.

Not all suicides are just simple individual acts as it appears though, I consider collective injustices, economical or political, an important factor in the general suicidal trends, Palestinian youths committing different acts of resistance, with bare hands against their occupiers' brutality, hegemony,  and their willful and determined dehumanization, are sort of simple and different suicide forms . Or escaping extreme dangerous places, and riding the high seas on dinghies with a 50/50 chance of survival are another form of suicides by desperate fugitive individuals.

Wars, and civil wars and mass deportations, are of course further reasons for total desperation and suicidal tendencies. US veterans of adventurous wars , were in an alarming upward spike of suicides, as the death toll from suicides in the US is approx. 50,000, per year. of all ages . globally, rates by age are around 55% for the 15 to 44 years of age, and 45% for the 45 and older .

Still in much of the world, suicide is much stigmatized , ignored and condemned, mostly for religious, social and cultural reasons, rendering suicides often a secretive act, surrounded by taboo. Preventing serious help, or adequate open discussions to alleviate the seriousness and gravity of the high numbers of futile deaths.

As always my many thanks to all, all over the world.                                     

UNRWAying .....

The United Nations agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees, few days ago criticized the United States decision to cut their funding , saying the agency has a proven record of providing high quality essential services to those in need .

The US administration's top senior representatives, including Nikki Haley at the UN , Mike Pompeo at the State Department , the spokes person at the White House as well as the president himself and his Israeli chief strategists Kushner, Bolton, our ambassador to Israel and others, none of them had the spine or the decency to speak the truth of what's behind the cuts to UNRWA .

They all invariably came-up with different excuses and explanations and contradicting statements, camouflaging the real motives of the sudden move, and against 6 decades of established Us policy, ranging from the interests of America and Americans, the saving of money for other different elsewhere causes, to ideological statements about the perpetuation of the status of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, no mention at all though of a final solution to this terrible tragedy.

No one had the spine, from the normally very talkative president, all the way down to mention the deliberate and calculated pressure behind the move on the remaining Palestinian leadership in the occupied territories, to unconditionally accept the coming US proposal for its non practical deal of the century.

A deal that entirely eliminates the right of Palestinian refugees to return to any part of a future settlement, and or their original lands. Pressure on neighboring host countries, Jordan Lebanon and Syria is going in line with the same policies. I have serious doubts that the sudden recent US interest in reshaping the Syrian picture has something to do with relocating the majority of Palestinian refugees under a Syrian citizenship and permanent future residency .

These policies, tactics and financial cuts to the international agency and the mentioned countries, to pressure them to naturalize the refugees, possibly against a meagre compensation, paid by Golf Arab Kingdoms and Emirates. Meanwhile young children schooling, desperate hospitals for staff, equipment and medicine, plus the many other humanitarian essentials insuring the survival of the refugees, are all being deliberately and willingly cancelled. Even Israel's hawkish and blood thirsty rulers and top military are timidly cautioning the administration of possible reversals of stability due to humanitarian consequences, But Mr. Kushner and his father in law are a deaf wall.

Of course all have deaf ears , as why should we care about Palestinian kids schooling and sick children, and elders miseries, when we here in the States deliberately and in the most willful and calculated steps, are killing our own public schooling system, social welfare as well as our health care and seniors benefits.

We not only refuse to come-up with improving suggestions and long-term solutions and strategies for all our social services, but we're striving to kill every past achievement toward the betterment of the general population. Should we care then for others around the world ?? Or show compassion to grave injustices of our own doing ??  Of course not . 

This disruption will further disrupt and condemn the lives of 5.5 million Palestinian, who are totally dependent for their vital services on UNRWA. It will as well directly affect countries like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Where in all these countries the unemployment rates among Palestinian youth is nearly 70% .

Finally, to add a little personal political American factual note, whereby Mr. Trump, his family and his oligarchy, are without any doubt, willingly and deliberately ushering all Americans into a constant battle, having to choose between people who refuse to accept domination, dehumanization and total injustices, versus those who are trying to force people to accept them .

All my thanks to all , as usual .