Political

I had mentioned in my blog earlier last month that I sat down and wrote a proposed Inauguration Address for President OBama and posted it to him, and a copy to his speech writer. I didn’t receive a reply and didn’t expect. The White House staff said the new President receives around 40,000 letters per day. …

The Incident of the Tibetan Scarf and President Obama’s Inauguration AddressRead More »

A couple of weeks ago,  I  read on line the inauguration speeches of about 10 US Presidents.  George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and F.D. Roosevelt gave insightful, honest and concentrated statements of their vision.  Other inauguration addresses consisted of swathes of rhetoric, a litany of platitudes, instantly forgettable – sometimes reminding me of the Peter Sellers film “Being There.” …

A Proposed Inauguration Address for President-elect Barack ObamaRead More »

There is a common belief in the West that the solution to this terrible 60 year-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people can only be resolved through a two state solution.

What would a two state solution mean? …

A One State SolutionRead More »

Read this report of the UN Climate Talks in Poland earlier this month. It doesn’t need any comment.

“At the UN climate talks in Poznan, Poland, no farewell tears were shed for George Bush, whose rejection of the landmark Kyoto Protocol in 2001 almost destroyed multilateral efforts to roll back global warming. …

He’s no longer hereRead More »

My three grandchildren are of mixed heritage – Caribbean-British. My eldest grandchild was born from my precious daughter, Nshorna, a 19 year-old teenage mother.  Her name is from American Indian for “Spring.” An excellent age, incidentally, to give birth. Along with countless others, I appreciated last week the election of  Barack Obama. He is a man of mixed heritage, born from a teenage pregnancy, with his roots in Africa, lived in  Indonesia and educated in Hawaii (subjected to a 19th century conquest by the USA). …

The Buddha would squirm at such a responsibility …Read More »