Somewhere Syria

In Syria, as elsewhere, Arab Spring continues to bleed.

Will "Democracy" truly save the day?

A "Friends of Syria" parlay hopes so:

[U.S. Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton leaves London for a visit to Tunisia to participate in the meetings. The State Department said the meeting was "part of our ongoing efforts with our friends, allies, and the Syrian opposition to crystallize next steps to halt the slaughter of the Syrian people and pursue a transition to democracy in Syria."

A report from the independent international commission of inquiry on Syria found the government has "manifestly failed" to protect its own people.

"The present situation risks further radicalizing the population, deepening inter-communal tensions and eroding the fabric of society," the panel found.

The panel, in a 72-page report published Thursday (2/23), said there was a "reliable body of evidence" to suggest officials at the "highest level of government" were responsible for crimes against humanity in Syria.

More . . .

Yes, we have

Eat your vegetables!

Shooting (and other) Stars

Fleeting Light: The High Desert and the Geminid Meteor Shower from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.

Fear and Loathing in North Korea

Or more to the point: Bow or Die!

A report by Donald Kirk of East-Asia-Intel.com seems to explain the current environment in the post Kim Jong-il, new Kim Jung-un North Korea fairly well.

The rise of the son as "supreme commander" of North Korea's armed forces gives
rise to nostalgia. Already the reign of the father is beginning to seem like the
good old days.

At least as long as Kim Jong-Il was around a certain sense of security
prevailed. South Koreans could be sure, despite "incidents", that North Korea
was not going to stage more than isolated attacks. And North Koreans could be
sure, as long as they suffered in silent acceptance of their fates, they would
not be consigned to the country's vast gulag system or some lesser form of
torture and imprisonment.

Now, as Kim Jong-Un begins to throw his considerable weight around, that sense
of security is gone. The rules are tightening. Families are subject to execution
unto the third generation if one of their members is caught sneaking across the
Yalu or Tumen River borders into China. Authorities are cracking down on private
markets, the lifelines for millions in the starving countryside.

More than anything else, the specter of purge hangs over the populace.

It's begun with confessions and punishment for those who did not mourn
convincingly over Kim Jong-Il's death; those who missed mass weeping and wailing
in cities and towns around the country or who did not seem sufficiently sincere . . .

>>>>>Read more
 

In sum, North Korea remains the scary place of the worst possible nightmares . . . 


북한정치범수용소(The North Korea Gulag) from Minyong Shin on Vimeo.

Grace and Glory

The Hour of Power goes on (whether in - and of this world) or not:


Church Chat (...the latest) from Crystal Cathedral Ministries on Vimeo.

and somewhere God?


North Korea, with its capital P'yongyang, the "Jerusalem of the East," opens a crack (once more) amidst royal succession and other family matters.


Rev Hyung Jin Moon Visit to True Parent's hometowns in North Korea with EnglishTranslation from True Love on Vimeo.

To put it mildly: Faith remains a mystery.

For what is man (and woman) without [their] God?

And vice versa?

2012: A Whale in Time

Dreams of new beginnings or great moments, particularly, on occasions of certain mathematical confluences have arisen throughout the few known centuries of man's brief existence.

Augustine's, City of God, Nostradamus' quatrains, the Mayan calendar, various so-called new religious and political movements as well as modern movie manufactured magic have all in some way left either temporary or indelible marks upon the human psyche that both motivate and mystify.

Sadly, on the human level, at least, it would appear that real insight into patterns, principles and guidelines for the purpose of possible better outcomes have remained elusive, despite various individual best efforts whether collectively co-opted or simply, cleverly marketed.

It is hard to be fully human while also being totally happy.
Perhaps it is impossible.

However, as even our animal cousins somehow know, instinctively, inherently, social interaction generates ever more interaction leading to creative adaptations that often astound as well as excite.

Some call such things "love" or even "God" while most organic organisms simply move along their excited way within the greater whole presently enveloping it.

Witness the history of our mammalian cousin, the large whales (cetaceans), as one example of intelligent design and/or creative adaptation gone both forward and backwards.

How to explain such apparently logical, yet epochal and monumental change, except that it happened?

Meanwhile, some say the challenges of adaptation (or "evolution") are so few these days that human beings have simply stopped "evolving" (or put another way: growing).

I hope and pray that such declarations are simply foolhardy hyperbole.

In any case, onward and forward.

And if whales don't do it for you:

Ghastly Protocol

Perhaps it should come as no surprise, since North Korea is, after all, a FULL member of the 193-nation organization, but U.N. offices around the world have lowered their flags to half-staff in commemoration of the funeral of North Korea's dictator [Dear] leader Kim Jong-il.

U.N. headquarters spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the gesture had been requested by Pyongyang’s U.N. mission and was normal for the funeral of any head of state.

"It’s a matter of protocol," said he.

So which was it, really?

A request or protocol?

And well, "normal" should surprise no one anymore.

Meanwhile, UN Watch, the Geneva-based advocacy group, made note that the U.N. human rights message was "at serious risk of being blurred today" because of the honoring of Kim, who died on Dec. 17.

[Blurred? How about totally irrelevant?]

"Today should be a time for the U.N. to show solidarity with the victims - the millions of North Koreans brutalized by Kim’s merciless policies of starvation, torture and oppression - and not with the perpetrator," the group’s executive director, Hillel Neuer, said in a statement.

Last Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly granted a request from North Korea and held a few moments of silence for Kim, although Western delegations boycotted it.

North Korea’s U.N. mission made a similar request to the 15-nation Security Council, but Western diplomats rejected it. “We didn’t think it would be appropriate,” one diplomat said.

Pyongyang is under Security Council sanctions due to Kim’s nuclear weapons program, which Western officials say ate up huge sums of money that could have been used to help feed North Korea’s starving population.

Historically, the U.N. General Assembly and its Security Council have often been at odds.

Of some ghastly irony (along with the aforementioned protocol) the newest council of the United Nations (under the General Assembly) is the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which replaced the UNCHR in March 2006.

May it forever rest in peace.