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The Union flag was set on fire today, as Iranian protestors broke into the British Embassy in Tehran.  Over the chants of “Death to England”, glass was broken and at least one car was set alight.  In this hodgepodge of chaos, it seems that no personnel have been injured.

Later, a second group of protestors entered another building connected with the British Embassy and reportedly stole classified documents, while Iranian police stood by watchfully.  Iranian police, charged to protect international diplomatic missions, stood by while the buildings were ransacked, and only after, reluctantly engaged.  Needless to say, no one is impressed.

The US said in the BBC online, “We stand ready to support our allies at this difficult time,” while France “expresse[d] its full solidarity with the UK.”.  Even Russia, a long time ally of Iran, said the attack was “unacceptable and deserving condemnation”.

Of course, this attack sprang out of the sanctions placed on Iran by the US, Canada and the UK.  The sanctions were placed to remind Iran that nuclear weapons are unacceptable.  Of course, the sanctions are probably too late.  Russia has nuclear capabilities, and as a close ally to Iran, it is quite possible that Iran already has nuclear options.  Regardless, the issue is not that Iran may or may not have nuclear capabilities.  The issue is that a country with diplomatic ties and relationship to Britain, stood by while protestors swarmed into a place where diplomatic immunity should reign.  Iran broke their promise to protect an embassy in their country.  As a result, there is no real reason to suspect the same will not happen to an embassy of any country that displeases the will of Iran.  Iran is a wildcard, as evidenced by this attack, and it is for that reason especially are sanctions dropped heavily onto Iran.

If a country allows embassies to be attacked when it has guaranteed safety for those diplomatic missions, there can be no real diplomacy with that nation.  Trust begets trust, and contrarily, mistrust begets mistrust.  If this is the statement Iran wishes to make to the world, then it should be prepared for the world to be against it.

I have never seen anyone burn the Iranian flag, and I have never heard of an angry mob storming an Iranian embassy.  Interesting.

South Korea has announced that it will be adding two robotic prison wardens to help patrol its prisons.  This is a move by the South Korean government to establish their country as a world leader in the field of robotics.  It all sounds fine and dandy.

Robots will take care of our prisoners, society’s anarchists and outcasts.  We don’t need to people to take care of them anymore, because we can make machines do it.  Progress!

If people don’t fit in, and it is socially awkward to deal with the situation, we simply can assign a robot to take care of the situation.  I mean, who wants to deal with people who aren’t nice and flowery?

It works brilliantly for prisoners (we assume) so why not use the same thing in health care?  It would cut down costs, see that each person receives the exact care and attention needed, and all that without a single complaining nurse or brusque doctor!  And from that, it is a short step and robots are in education, teaching delicate young children, all without bias or prejudice!  It is a perfect world.

Of course, due to robot efficiency and mechanical logic, we would beg to put the robots in government.  No inappropriate government spending there.  The robots will be able to deal with everything quickly, efficiently and without flaw.  Why hasn’t this happened earlier?

Robotics is an excellent technology, but in this correspondent’s opinion, it is merely technology.  Technology enhances our lives, it does not, or should not, run them.  While a robot may never lose its temper or be in a grumpy state, it will never be able to build a relationship on its own free will.  It may be programmed to form relationships, but if someone is forced to be your friend, are they really your friend?  While you may avoid negative moods and results with robots, you will lose human interaction.  And mankind, humanity, is the most social animal.  We are, to a great extent, defined and formed by our social circles.  To take that out, even in the most base of places, is taking away a part of our humanity.  We are who we are.  We can excel or we can fail, but we, at any given moment, are that which we are.  The striving to better ourselves, or contrarily not to do so, is a choice we humans make daily.  Robots are useful for menial tasks that we cannot find people for, or are not able to do as people (The Canadarm, for example…).  However, robots cannot ever replace human choice and dare I say, soul.

While robots may be more efficient, or even more “nice”, let us not forget who envisioned and created them.  Humanity cannot be replaced with machines.  Of course, this is all doom and gloom.  Let us celebrate that we humans have been able to create machines to do what we want them to do.  But let us not mistake the creation for the creator.

Or, maybe I just watched the Matrix a few too many times…

Undoubtedly, things are stressful down south.  The USA is not impressed with their leaders.  Inefficiency, political games, and seeming obliviousness to the oblivion that is hanging over their country has changed the normally optimistic American electorate into a jaded and slightly irreverent bunch. 

On the CNN, some reporter thought that the deals that Congress was failing to make is affecting the American people.  Paraphrased, he says that the NBA lockout happened because the owners were not happy with the deals being made.  Is the country so different.

An inflammatory idea, but yet oddly enough, I agree.  If the government is actually responsible to the people, then it should be held accountable.  Obviously, there are limits.  But in this case, someone needs to shake some sense into Congress’ collective brain.  “Bad things are going to happen, and are already happening, if you don’t do something serious now!”

Of course, that message is embraced by the different factions in Congress in the form of pointing to the other guy. 

And, with an election 13 months away, there will only be more of that going on.  Still, the c of the idea remains, something in Washington needs, and will be shaken up. 

The ball is in Congress’ court, and the time is now…

(Below is the full article mentioned above)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/21/opinion/obeidallah-congress-failure/index.html?hpt=op_r1

Splat.

That is the sound of Spanish debt.  It is hitting a point of no return.  With borrowing costs of 6.5% according to the BBC, and which I believe are slightly higher than that now, there will be little chance of recovery, even with Spain’s new government.

Let’s face it, Southern Europe cannot hold to the Euro.  Germany cannot right the sinking ship of the South.  It is all going to collapse, but I don’t want to be a naysayer or doom-ist…

Starting in the cradle of Western civilization, the financial storm really let loose.  Greece, one little country, valiantly battled against the hordes of debt it had not dealt with.  As heroic as the Spartan stand was against the Persian hordes back in the old days, so was Greece in her fight to the death.  Germany and France came to the rescue, and little Greece seemed to be stabilized.  Cheers of relief echoed around the world, and the markets went up.  But this storm was but beginning.

It swept across the Adriatic to Italy, the seat of Imperial Rome.  For all her former glory, the Wolf of the Tiber could not withstand the pressure of accumulated years of spending without thinking.  With borrowing debt of 7% or so, even legendary Italian Prime Minister Silva Berlusconi was affected.  An economist was elected, but it is widely believed to be too late.  Germany insists the Euro zone will hold because it must.

But then, the storm splashes across the Mediterranean, bypassing France and the Côte d’Azur, and slaps into Spain.  The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, freshly elected, vows that “Forty-six million Spaniards are going to wage a battle against the crisis” to the BBC.  But is it too late?

Portugal looks to be next, if the pattern is true to form.  Portugal has already faced some issues and already been bailed out.  But another round could be in order.

There does not look like there are too many positive options or opinions in Europe at this time.  What will happen?  No one really knows.  “Keep on keeping on” seems to be the motto, but there will come a time when the German people will not be able to pay for the debts of Europe any longer.  When that time comes, God help us all.

And even now, Spain moves on.  Mariano Rajoy spoke to the BBC and said, “There won’t be any miracles. We never promised any.”

Well, he may put no stock in miracles, but he undoubtedly seems to be banking on Germany…

Remember those days when you were in Elementary school, and everyone hung out with the cool kid?  Those people became the cool kids, and everyone who wasn’t part of them hated them, because they wanted to be them.  Then in high school, how you wanted to be the jock or popular person that everyone just couldn’t live without?  But your feet were twice as long as your shins and seemed to be irresistibly attracted to each other?

Then you went to post-secondary school, accumulated debt, and realized that you might not have the glittering life that you always dreamed of?  And how you saw some of these same schmucks, just like you and me, all succeeding wildly and making money hand over fist.  They had things that you could not buy and so you told yourself that it was stupid to have those kind of things.  They were just material possessions anyway, as you cast your eyes upward and cross yourself.  Haha, yes, I have most assuredly been there, if you haven’t.

The sad part is, this is actually happening today.  The 99% (which, if you put the 99% into the spectrum of wealth of the whole world, becomes basically the 1%, or 12% or whatever the correct ratio is…) is protesting bitterly that life is not fair.  They are having a hard time succeeding like the 1%, and so focus their ire on the “evil” one percent.  Down with greed and capitalism, and war, inequality, and taxes!  They have formed miniature cities of tents to prove their points.  Unfortunately, they have yet to solidify and present which points they are trying to make.  But they are there, and that is half the battle I suppose…

Michael Moore, the acclaimed documentary maker, has closed ranks with the Occupy movement.  He claims to be a part of the 99% because he does not associate himself with the 1%, and because he pays his taxes, “all of them” and gives money to charities, according to the MSNBC.  Apparently, a statement of wealth has now become something different.  Now, the 1% is a group of people, determined by the people!  This brings me back, quite a few years ago, to Robespierre and the French Revolution, albeit in a much more subdued form.  A man of privileged, associating with the people because it suited him for various reasons.  He was an underprivileged person, yet he killed thousands to see that equality was firmly established on the land.  He killed the thousands, not because he was an immoral dictator, (At least, he wouldn’t say so.  History may beg to differ…) but he killed them that virtue in each man and woman would be free to rule and so the Glorious Republic would thrive.  Founded on ideal of the innate goodness of man, Robespierre, in his attempt to show the world a Republic of character and virtue, showed the unstoppable cruelty of a man obsessed.  While I would not say the Occupy or Michael Moore are obsessed, I would say that they are walking a very short, thin, and dangerous line that will lead to persecution based on class.  As the world was turned upside down in the French Revolution, so it could be here.

Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy movements are founded on the deep belief that having money is bad.  That is a philosophical point and can be debated.  The risk for the Occupy(s) is that they will draw the very easily drawn line from having money being bad, to those who hold money to be bad.  In the rush for virtue for all, regardless of whether they want it or not, wealthier people may indeed be persecuted for wealth they own, whether self-earned or not.  It does not matter.  They have more money then most, so they must be bad.

This is actually affecting wealthier people.  In the blog, http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/we-stand-with-the-99, wealthy people are saying that they are joining the 99%, regardless of what their family does with the wealth.  One youth said he was ashamed of what he was born into, of what his background was.

That is unacceptable.  People, regardless of how much they make or how little they make should put their value in who they are, not what they or others have or what ideals they espouse.  If we want everyone to be equal, we have but to look to the former Soviet Union or to the results of the French Revolution, or to Cuba.  If we want everyone to be seen as equal, regardless of what they have or do, we have to work hard.  Because the cool kid is a person, no matter how many friends she/he has.  And they are still a person, as great as you or I, when they fall out of “coolness”.  The amount of wealth a person has does not determine what kind of person they are, as Michael Moore seems to be trying to say.  And that, as it stands right there, is totally right.

No matter what the current popular storm is, I will not stand for the propagation of class warfare.