Changing humanity

On January 20 the bush man will be out, the new president will be sworn in. But it is important for the incoming one to demand from the outgoing one that during the interim period the U.S. does not take any kind of initiative that might threaten peace and stability without the consent of the incoming president. The bush man administration must be made to understand that it is now a caretaker one and as such cannot take initiatives that may be contrary to the policies of the incoming administration.

We say this because the outgoing administration during the last eight years has followed reckless policies that were not in the interest of the U.S. but in the interest of certain members of the administration. Much has been written about the invasion of Iraq and the Cheney man’s connections to Halliburton, a company that was assigned to reconstruct Iraq and did it ineffectively, and the question marks about where the funds went to. Certainly not to the reconstruction of that country, that has not yet been reconstructed.

The military attacks of the U.S. on Pakistani territory without the consent of Islamabad, that led to the deaths of many innocent civilians, cannot continue. The Oct. 26 attack by U.S. helicopters on Syrian territory, that led to the deaths of eight humans, must not be repeated again and must be condemned by the international community. Any thought of attacking ıran must be eliminated. The U.S. has no right to continue attacking countries selectively in order to protect its so-called national security.

What is considered to be national security for the U.S., is the territorial integrity of the country that is being attacked. What was preposterous about the attack on Syria is that the U.S. military pretended not to know about it and refused to comment on it since it did not have any information.

But Syria must also share some responsibility here, since had Damascus protested stronger and more vocally when Israeli planes destroyed a nuclear plant under construction, instead of pretending that nothing had happened, then the Oct. 26 attack might have been avoided. And of top of it all, what better way to create more panic in an already catastrophic situation in the global economy, than by attacking other countries. It makes the U.S. bank bailout plan more ineffective.

So such initiatives or any other illegal or destabilizing activity should cease during the interim period until Jan. 20. And hopefully forever after.

Some good news, showing the good traits of humanity, comes from Colombia this time. It is about the human who has created a mobile library. We quote from the International Herald Tribune of Oct. 21, an article entitled "4,800 tomes, 2 burros and a mission":

"In a ritual repeated every weekend for the past decade here in Colombia's war weary Carribean hinterlands, Luis Soriano gathered his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, in front of his home on a Saturday afternoon.Sweating already under the unforgiving sun, he strapped pouches with the word "Biblioburro" painted in blue letters to the donkey's backs and loaded them with an eclectic cargo of books destined for people living in the small villages beyond...

A whimsical riff on the bookmobile, Soriano's Biblioburro is a small institution: one man and two donkeys. He created it out of the belief that the act of taking books to people who do not have them can somehow improve this impoverished region and perhaps Colombia..."

In moments of global greed, it is indeed encouraging to see some of the fantastic positive aspects of humanity working. We are also happy to see members of our species participating actively in this wonderful deed. So be inspired humans.