Quotations and comments on "The Secretary" - A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power by Kim Ghattas
"Even today, while America is deeply in debt again, exhausted by two wars, its influence challenged by rivals big and small, millions of people around the world still believe that the United States can snap its fingers to make things happen, for good or bad .."
"As ever, interpretation of any statement depended on your political leanings: you were either looking for a sign that help was on its way or looking for a clue about America's nefarious designs."
"Governments everywhere that instinctively and narrowly pursued their national interest somehow expected the United States to suspend the pursuit of its own interests to please them. The Arabs wanted the United States to ditch the Israelis; the Israelis wanted the United States to bomb Iran; the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted Obama to wait with him for the Shiite messiah; Pakistan wanted to be given Afganistan on a gold platter; India wanted the United States to say it could have Kashmir; Japan wanted Washington to make Beijing go away."
Was there a murder of an American special representative, or envoy, for Afganistan and Pakistan? Kim Ghattas says or asks no such thing. She only writes that he "died suddenly" and, "Not everybody had agreed with Holbrooke, and there was much infighting within the administration about him, but he kept people's minds focused on the issue."
Kim Ghattas writes extensively about the very embarrassing revelations and exposures in 2010 by WikiLeaks; but since none of them were "top secret", they apparently did not cause very serious or lasting damage.
Kim Ghattas was a very close witness and reporter of the Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and seemed to move infectiously on to Egypt and Libya and Syria.
Of course, the author also writes about many other subjects from her 300,000 mile journey with the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In the acknowledgements section at the end of her book Kim Ghattas writes, "Living through war is nothing to be thankful for but it did push me to always seek meaning in life." And, "my parents taught me never to give up and to never blame anyone or anything else for what's going wrong in my life."
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Experimental Blog # 162
Comments on "The Roberts Court" - The Struggle for the Constitution by Marcia Coyle
This book is so complicated and detailed that it is very difficult for someone who is not well acquainted with American law and the judicial system to understand rather large parts of it.
The Supreme Court and the American judicial system probably have more to do with American government and politics than many people realize. The White House and its current occupant, the houses of congress, and the public activity of both the Democratic and Republican parties can be so distracting that the real governing, that is control, of the American people through its many courts might sometimes hardly be noticed. People might think that since they never go into them, any of the courts that is; they then have nothing to do with them.
There are so many laws passed by so many governing bodies, and the acts of the federal government can be so long, even 2 or 3 thousand pages, that millions of American citizens and their lawyers can continuously find ways to question the "constitutionality" of laws and acts of all kinds that they don't like. Or, at least, so it seems.
It is tempting to say that the "brains", or intelligence, of the American government, that means control, are concentrated in its juducial system; with the Supreme Court at the top. The well thought out arguments carried out before the 9 Supreme Court justices, and involving them, too, must be among the best examples of America's strongest minds; or, at least, strongest in the use of carefully chosen words in carefully composed sentences.
This book is so complicated and detailed that it is very difficult for someone who is not well acquainted with American law and the judicial system to understand rather large parts of it.
The Supreme Court and the American judicial system probably have more to do with American government and politics than many people realize. The White House and its current occupant, the houses of congress, and the public activity of both the Democratic and Republican parties can be so distracting that the real governing, that is control, of the American people through its many courts might sometimes hardly be noticed. People might think that since they never go into them, any of the courts that is; they then have nothing to do with them.
There are so many laws passed by so many governing bodies, and the acts of the federal government can be so long, even 2 or 3 thousand pages, that millions of American citizens and their lawyers can continuously find ways to question the "constitutionality" of laws and acts of all kinds that they don't like. Or, at least, so it seems.
It is tempting to say that the "brains", or intelligence, of the American government, that means control, are concentrated in its juducial system; with the Supreme Court at the top. The well thought out arguments carried out before the 9 Supreme Court justices, and involving them, too, must be among the best examples of America's strongest minds; or, at least, strongest in the use of carefully chosen words in carefully composed sentences.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Experimental Blog # 161
Quotations and comments from "Plutocrats - The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland
"The rise of the 1 percent is a global phenomenon .."
"The 1 percent is outpacing everyone else in the emerging economies as well."
"Today two terrifically powerful forces are driving economic change: the technology revolution and globalization."
"Globalization is working - the world overall is getting richer. But a lot of the costs of that transition are being borne by specific groups of workers in the developed West."
" ..Credit Suisse calculated that there were about 29.6 million millionaires < > in the world, about half a percent of the total global population. North Americans .. account for 37 percent .. 37.2 percent .. are European ..Asia-Pacific is home to ..19.2 percent .. there are just over 1 million in China{3.4 percent}."
"Forbes classifies 840 of the 1,226 people on its 2012 billionaire ranking as self-made."
"In 2011, after Viktor Yanukovych, whose candidacy was backed by several eastern Ukrainian oligarchs, was elected president, he imprisoned Ms. Tymoshenko, in a politically motivated case redolent of Mikhail Khodorkovsky."
"When it comes to the creation of twenty-first-century billionaires, the USSR's sale of the century is also the most powerful driver, more important than Silicon Valley's technological revolution or the flourishing of finance on Wall Street and in the city of London."
"The fire sale of the assets of the former Soviet Union stands out because it marked such a sharp shift from nearly total state ownership ..But it was also part of a wider global trend."
" .. the seventy richest members of the NPC{National People's Congress in China} made more money in 2011 than the total combined net worth of all the members of all three branches of U.S. government - the president and his cabinet, both houses of congress, and the justices of the supreme court{all 660 members of the three federal branches}."!!
" .. there were 271 billionaires in China in 2011 .."
"China's plutocrats don't fight the state because they are the state - and when any of them forget that, they are treated with summary brutality: between 2003 and 2011, at least fourteen Chinese billionaires were executed."!!{also quoted as a fact in blog # 154}.
"The rise of the 1 percent is a global phenomenon .."
"The 1 percent is outpacing everyone else in the emerging economies as well."
"Today two terrifically powerful forces are driving economic change: the technology revolution and globalization."
"Globalization is working - the world overall is getting richer. But a lot of the costs of that transition are being borne by specific groups of workers in the developed West."
" ..Credit Suisse calculated that there were about 29.6 million millionaires < > in the world, about half a percent of the total global population. North Americans .. account for 37 percent .. 37.2 percent .. are European ..Asia-Pacific is home to ..19.2 percent .. there are just over 1 million in China{3.4 percent}."
"Forbes classifies 840 of the 1,226 people on its 2012 billionaire ranking as self-made."
"In 2011, after Viktor Yanukovych, whose candidacy was backed by several eastern Ukrainian oligarchs, was elected president, he imprisoned Ms. Tymoshenko, in a politically motivated case redolent of Mikhail Khodorkovsky."
"When it comes to the creation of twenty-first-century billionaires, the USSR's sale of the century is also the most powerful driver, more important than Silicon Valley's technological revolution or the flourishing of finance on Wall Street and in the city of London."
"The fire sale of the assets of the former Soviet Union stands out because it marked such a sharp shift from nearly total state ownership ..But it was also part of a wider global trend."
" .. the seventy richest members of the NPC{National People's Congress in China} made more money in 2011 than the total combined net worth of all the members of all three branches of U.S. government - the president and his cabinet, both houses of congress, and the justices of the supreme court{all 660 members of the three federal branches}."!!
" .. there were 271 billionaires in China in 2011 .."
"China's plutocrats don't fight the state because they are the state - and when any of them forget that, they are treated with summary brutality: between 2003 and 2011, at least fourteen Chinese billionaires were executed."!!{also quoted as a fact in blog # 154}.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Experimental Blog # 160
Quotations from "Secrets of Silicon Valley" - What Everyone Else Can Learn from the Innovation Capital of the World by Deborah Perry Piscione
"Silicon Valley is a meritocratic culture that rewards innovative ideas, independent thinking, and hubris. It .. also embraces youth, failure, and transparency."
" ..Silicon Valley technologies impact the world's most basic ideas about work, learning, and lifestyles."
"We're just beginning a global startup revolution in talent development and idea creation , a movement so widespread that it could redefine the foundational concept of business and work in the twenty-first century."
" ..Silicon Valley is responsible for creating almost every technological innovation that has and will continue to change the global world in the way we live, work, and socialize."
"No longer does China want to be known as the world's manufacturing plant, but rather seven strategic emerging industries have been targeted for growth: next-generation information technology, biotechnology, new enegry, energy conservation, clean energy vehicles, new materials, and high-end manufacturing equipment."
"Silicon Valley is essentially a one-industry town < > all of its energy and resources go toward creating the best possible high-tech economy."
"Silicon Valley is a meritocratic culture that rewards innovative ideas, independent thinking, and hubris. It .. also embraces youth, failure, and transparency."
" ..Silicon Valley technologies impact the world's most basic ideas about work, learning, and lifestyles."
"We're just beginning a global startup revolution in talent development and idea creation , a movement so widespread that it could redefine the foundational concept of business and work in the twenty-first century."
" ..Silicon Valley is responsible for creating almost every technological innovation that has and will continue to change the global world in the way we live, work, and socialize."
"No longer does China want to be known as the world's manufacturing plant, but rather seven strategic emerging industries have been targeted for growth: next-generation information technology, biotechnology, new enegry, energy conservation, clean energy vehicles, new materials, and high-end manufacturing equipment."
"Silicon Valley is essentially a one-industry town < > all of its energy and resources go toward creating the best possible high-tech economy."
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Experimental Blog # 159
Quotations from "Bend, Not Break - A Life in Two Worlds" by Peng Fu with MeiMei Fox
"When I was little, I thought dragonflies chose to hover just above my family's garden because they liked to admire its beauty."
"I read somewhere that men learn from studying theories, wheras women learn by observing others."
"The Chinese have a proverb:
"The number one strategy is retreat." "
" I possess no extraordinary talents. I simply was born with the couriosity to learn, the tenacity to make a better life, the desire to help others, and a great deal of resilience."
" ...challenging experiences break us all at some point - our bodies and minds, our hearts and egos. When we put ourselves back together, we find that we are no longer perfectly straight, but rather bent and cracked. Yet it is through these cracks that our authenticity shines."
"When I was little, I thought dragonflies chose to hover just above my family's garden because they liked to admire its beauty."
"I read somewhere that men learn from studying theories, wheras women learn by observing others."
"The Chinese have a proverb:
"The number one strategy is retreat." "
" I possess no extraordinary talents. I simply was born with the couriosity to learn, the tenacity to make a better life, the desire to help others, and a great deal of resilience."
" ...challenging experiences break us all at some point - our bodies and minds, our hearts and egos. When we put ourselves back together, we find that we are no longer perfectly straight, but rather bent and cracked. Yet it is through these cracks that our authenticity shines."
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Experimental Blog # 158
Comments on "Animal Wise" - The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morell
Although the 18th century philosopher Voltaire and the 19th century scientist Charles Darwin seem to be exceptions, the science of animal cognition, or cognitive ethology, did not become genuinely scientifically respectable until later in the 20th century.
This science attempts to describe the mental lives of other animals, from "ants to apes"; and more specifically in this book: fish, birds, rats, elephants, dolphins, dogs and wolves.
What do their minds contain? Images, smells, sounds, emotions, memories, self-awareness; even imagination and abstract concepts?
The contributions of contempory science women are very noticable and fundamental. In this book they include: Jane Goodall, Victoria Braithwaite, Irene Pepperberg, Karen McComb, Cynthia Moss, Diana Reiss, and Rachel Smolker.
Although the 18th century philosopher Voltaire and the 19th century scientist Charles Darwin seem to be exceptions, the science of animal cognition, or cognitive ethology, did not become genuinely scientifically respectable until later in the 20th century.
This science attempts to describe the mental lives of other animals, from "ants to apes"; and more specifically in this book: fish, birds, rats, elephants, dolphins, dogs and wolves.
What do their minds contain? Images, smells, sounds, emotions, memories, self-awareness; even imagination and abstract concepts?
The contributions of contempory science women are very noticable and fundamental. In this book they include: Jane Goodall, Victoria Braithwaite, Irene Pepperberg, Karen McComb, Cynthia Moss, Diana Reiss, and Rachel Smolker.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Experimental Blog # 157
Comments on "Gold Rush in the Jungle" - The Race to Discover and Defend the Rarest Animals of Vietnam's "Lost World" by Dan Drollette
During the War in Vietnam, or the American War, or the Second Indochina War, hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs and over 12 million gallons of herbicides destroyed over 850 square miles of forest.
The destruction in Vietnam, although enormous, was concentrated in selected areas of the country's 127,240 square miles of total area. There were many remarkable places where native wildlife flourished; including 63 new species of vertebrates, up to and over 200 pounds, that were unknown to science before 1992.
But, finally, came peace, developement, and "prosperity", as well as, extinction.
During the War in Vietnam, or the American War, or the Second Indochina War, hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs and over 12 million gallons of herbicides destroyed over 850 square miles of forest.
The destruction in Vietnam, although enormous, was concentrated in selected areas of the country's 127,240 square miles of total area. There were many remarkable places where native wildlife flourished; including 63 new species of vertebrates, up to and over 200 pounds, that were unknown to science before 1992.
But, finally, came peace, developement, and "prosperity", as well as, extinction.
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