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The Turkish Republic of Cyprus and the International Community

Since the dominance of the Ottoman Empire during the middle of the last millennium, Turkey - in various forms - has been a prominent force in both European and middle eastern politics. It has continually exerted a sphere of influence over the two continents, and never committed to both; in that respect it can be compared to Russia, who have historically felt that their dominance can be justified on its western borders in Europe, and in Asia on its eastern border.

As the two major nations that close off what is traditionally classed as Europe’s borders, and the nations who feel neither fully European or fully Asian, they have been the centre of several diplomatic and cultural conflicts with Europe’s major powers over modern history; the Crimean war and Britain clashes with Russia over China are prime examples.

In recent years the perceived cultural anomaly that Europe perhaps attributes to these nations has been best embodied by the ‘Cyprus Dispute’, and Turkey’s invasion of the island in 1974.

After independence was granted in 1960, there were disputes between Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities as to the prevailing social demographic of the island. With Greece pushing for a more European island, and backed by the strong European ally, the U.S, tensions came to a head when an attempted coup resulted in a Turkish counter-invasion, establishing the North of the island as the ‘Turkish Republic of Cyprus’.

The island has remained partitioned since then, and is indeed a perfect geographical and metaphorical embodiment of the uneasy relationship that Turkey has with its European neighbours; the island, recognised by the E.U as part of Europe, is subject to the whims of two very traditional European and Asian cultures. It shows just how Turkey has traditionally been a nation that flirts with ideas of Europeanism, but will never quite fully commit to the continent.

It is an understandable hesitation. With the roots of modern Turkey laying in the Ottoman Empire, which stretched far into Arabia and along the Persian gulf, Turkey has historical claims to European and Asian possessions, and Cyprus is no exception.

What makes the ‘Cyprus Dispute’ so interesting, though, is that the E.U recognises Cyprus as essentially European; Greece, a member state of the European Community since the 1980s, holds control of the ‘Republic of Cyprus’, which is the only government on the island that the E.U recognises. The ‘Turkish Republic of Cyprus’, as far as they are concerned, does not exist.

Turkey’s options are in that sense limited. Either they align themselves with the European community, or risk further isolation. The most obvious step is to join the E.U, for which it has been intermittently applying since the early 1980s itself. But the monopoly of the major European powers on the ideology of European diplomacy is so strong that Turkey would have to concede its fundamental belief in its status as both European and Asian.

With Turkey perhaps understandably not willing to give up that position, the ‘Cyprus Dispute’, but also Turkey’s wide position as a member of the European community, will continue to cause problems for European diplomacy.

Chris Woolfrey is an expert on European politics, and specialises in the history, politics and diplomacy of Northern Cyprus. He writes for http://www.whiterocksbafra.com

A Brief History of the Turkish and Greek Partition of Cyprus

It was announced this week that genuinely committed talks on the reunification of Cyprus would come into effect in September of this year.

Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot president, met with the Turkish Cypriot president Mehmet Ali Talat on the 28th of August, and both are reportedly keen to discuss a potential reunion of the island. It is the fourth time Talat and Christofias have met to discuss union issues since the latter came to power, signaling a potentially serious reconstitution of what it will mean for citizens on the island to call themselves Cypriot.

With discussions now proposed, it is important to remember that the ‘Cyprus Dispute’ is a substantial historical division. Certainly, The Republic of Cyprus now claims possession and influence over 97% of the island’s land - split into Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus - and Britain maintains control over the remaining portion, but this was the outcome of numerous conflicts.

Long before the division, though, and indeed long before the U.K held any claims, Cyprus had been under the colonial possession of the Ottoman Empire, of which Turkey was the centre. At that time it was a united island, though it had a strong ethnic mix; the Ottoman Muslims cohabited with the Christian Greeks.

It was only during the late nineteenth century that Turkey suffered any challenge to its domination in Cyprus, and this is generally attributed to the crumbling of the Ottoman Empire, which saw many of Europe’s Great Powers competing for the empire’s border territories. The most famous of these conflicts, the Crimean War, saw the Ottoman Empire supported by an alliance of Great Britain, France and Sardinia against the territorial ambitions of Russia, who were at that time viewed by many European diplomats and heads of state as the most dangerous threat to the continent’s status quo.

But when it came to Cyprus, it was Great Britain who looked to shift the balance of power on the Ottoman Empire’s borders, though it was cloaked within a commitment from the U.K to once again protect the balance of power against Russian expansion. Administrative power over the island was given to Great Britain in 1878.

After the Ottoman Empire allied with the defeated powers in World War One, it was decided that Cyprus be annexed as part of post-war negotiations. 11 years later, Cyprus became an official colony of the British Empire.

Under the British Empire, and fueled with Woodrow Wilson’s post-war implementation of self determinism, Greek Cypriots established the ‘National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters’ in 1955. Turkish Cypriots countered with the ‘Turkish Resistance Organisation’, and both groups sort for independence on their own terms.

Independence was indeed granted in 1960, with both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots maintaining constitutional rights, and the island became ‘The Republic of Cyprus’.

From there, a number of flash points occurred. In the 1970s, a Greek coup funded by the United states attempted to unite Cyprus with Greece. turkey invaded Cyprus in order to ratify the original constitution, and a civil war raged. Its consequence was the partitioning of Cyprus into Turkish and Greek sections.

That is the position in which the island currently stands today. If Christofias and Talat are to succeed in reunification talks, they will have to be aware that they have the weight of history on their shoulders.

Chris Woolfrey specializes in the history and politics of Cyprus, and writes for http://www.whiterocksbafra.com

The Reunification of Cyprus and the E.U

The Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Chrisofias took office on 28th February 2008, and there have already been three major meetings between him and his counterpart, the Turkish Cypriot president Mehmet Ali Talat. A fourth is scheduled for the 3rd of September, making the presidents already two of the closely partnered Cypriot heads of state since the partition. Indeed Mehmet Ali Talat has called explicitly for an end to the division of the island, and Chrisofias seems keen to concur, with peace talks expected to flourish in that fourth meeting in September.

That said, the genuine possibility of a united Cyprus has many skeptics, and a number of historians and political commentators have voiced their concerns.

One key problem area for a number of experts is the insistence of the mainland Turkish government of the strategic importance of the island to the nation’s security; indeed the island has a distinguished history as a buffer zone for some of Europe’s traditional Great Powers, from its use as a gateway to the Suez Canal for the British Empire, and before then, as protection against expansion into the centre of the Ottoman Empire by rival powers.

But in a political climate now dominated by the European Union and the United Nations, and under the protocol of collective security, it becomes difficult for the Turkish authorities to justify the importance of Cyprus as a strategic land point; the founding principles of collective security in essence preclude fears for national security because the concept of the ‘nation’ and its rivalry with other nations is marginalized under a system that preaches the inherent virtuousness and brotherhood of its member states.

Certainly there are two points of contention in that issue. The first, that Turkey is not currently an E.U member state, perhaps justifies their claim that Cyprus stands to Ankara as a vital military possession. The second - the more universal point that collective security is covers in words what national security continues to practice in deeds - is more difficult to qualify.

On the subject of the validity of collective security, the open Turkish commitment to the need for national security is an interesting and potent one. Since the original formula for the concept of collective security first rose after the Napoleonic wars in 1815 and fell at the start of the First World War in 1914, historians have debated the true commitment of nations to the well being and security of its supposed allies.

Indeed, many critics of the system argue that the original ‘Concert of Europe’ was simply a new set of terms; heads of state preached brotherhood, collectivity and security, but it was simply new rhetoric for the age old diplomatic motivations of power politics and hegemony. Some would argue that hegemony - the political dominance of one nation over other nations - has always driven government and diplomacy, and that the same fact can be stated as legitimately now of the E.U and the U.N as it was of its earlier prototypes.

The problem with that summation with relation to Turkish and Greek unrest over Cyprus is simply that - whilst the concept of hegemony might still rule all diplomatic relations - the influence of the E.U over European affairs means that it will always be couched in different terms.

For Turkey to preach the need for national security, then, is to distance itself from the European community, and that ties to the first point, that Turkey is not a member of the E.U. As it uses terms outside the protocol, and as it is directly outside the E.U itself, its weight for political bargaining is severely weakened.

Indeed Greece, which has been a member of the European Community since the 1980s, perhaps holds greater sway with the rest of Europe, because its suggestions and supposed motivations are under the correct rhetoric.

With reunification of Cyprus being tabled as a possibility, what could bring action to a halt might simply be a matter of definitions.

Chris Woolfrey writes for http://www.whiterocksbafra.com, and specializes in the politics of Cyprus.

London and the Environment - Ken Livingstone’s Legacy and the Work of Boris Johnson

Since the role of Mayor of London was created at the turn of the millennium, Ken Livingston has been synonymous the position; he won the first two elections, in 2000 as an independent candidate, and then as a representative of New Labour in 2004. Of the last decade, then, it has been through his policy that Greater London has experienced its relationship with the environment.

Perhaps the most environmentally minded of Livingstone’s policies is also seen by many as his most controversial, and that was the introduction of the London congestion charge, which came into force in 2003. Though it continues to divide opinion on Livingstone’s political credentials, it is generally deemed praiseworthy by environmentalists, who highlight the 21% drop in traffic and the 83% increase in cycling across the congestion zone. With experts estimating that 20% of the U.K’s annual carbon emissions are being released by cars, the environmental impact of the congestion charge policy cannot be criticised.

Indeed London is now reported to be the first major city in the world to affect a genuine shift from public to private transport; a shift that Livingstone is always keen to promote:

“The congestion charge and the biggest investment programme since the second world war has enabled London to become the first major city in the world to achieve a shift away from the private car to public transport. The charge is also reducing pollution and I am building on this by altering the charge to penalise the big vehicles which contribute most to climate change and exempting the cleanest cars. Nationally and internationally cities are following London’s example and considering introducing a similar charge. The congestion charge has made London a world leader in doing something about traffic congestion and pollution rather than just talking about it.”

During his eight years of leadership, Livingstone also passed policies that have resulted in an 83% increase in recycling, and a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions from construction projects. But his commitment to environmental policy is perhaps best characterised by the London Climate Change Action Plan, which set a CO2 emissions reduction target of 60% by 2025.

On the back of these policies, the environmental organisation Friends of the Earth named Livingston the most genuinely eco-friendly candidate for the mayoral elections in 2008, though he lost to Conservative candidate Boris Johnson.

Now, following Johnson’s first 100 days as the Mayor of London, the same orginsation have published a scathing report on his recent environmental policies. It details the Mayor’s plans to increase flights from London terminals by 50%, and proposals to scrap any legislation that would include congestion charges based on climate change concerns.

With estimates showing that Britain is the European nation with the most CO2 emissions from air trips, and some experts suggesting that the emissions rate for the sector could raise by as much as 10% per year, many environmental orginisations are seconding the criticisms of Friends of the Earth.

In defence of Mr. Johnson, he has just accepted the position of chairman in the newly formed The London Waste and Recycling Board, which he granted a £60m budget. But with the guardian also reporting that the Mayor has canceled an order for what is possibly the biggest hydrogen car collection in the world, critics of his first few months in office can be forgiven for remaining skeptical.

Whether or not Johnson will continue to build on the environmental policies of Ken Livingstone remains to be seen.

Chris Woolfrey is an expert on politics and the environment. He writes for http://www.ecoswitch.com.

Reluctance: Food For Thought (It’s All Connected)

The foundation of world religions was formed when a few men dug under a tree and pulled out some of the most beautiful mushrooms. The men consumed the mushrooms, and they subsequently created every god known to man – gods faithfully followed and worshipped by many.

Are you familiar with that Old Norse myth called Doomsday? Judgment Day? The end of the world? In my study (not following) of world religions, I have discovered many items that have me flummoxed and astounded. In my Christian study (again, not following), I’ve repeatedly asked myself one question: Who really rules the world?

Many people would blindly and boldly answer, “God, who else?” But according to the Christian bible, not Jesus Christ, nor his Father, or Mother, or what have you, is the real ruler. In John 12:3, 14:30, and 16:11, Jesus said, “The ruler of this world will be cast out and that the ruler of the world is coming.”

He, she, or it also stated that “this ruler has no hold over he.” Therefore, the ruler of this world, no matter the proclaimed belief system, is in direct opposition to Jesus Christ. People, go ahead and, aloud, ask yourself the question making its way through the cortexes of your mind: Who could this be?

The feeble efforts of humanity make me sick to my stomach. The world has suffered and continues to suffer to this day, proving one fact: nothing has changed. Everyone says they want peace on earth and good will toward man. However, we kill one another, hate one another, plot against one another. We do it every day. Humanity, that collective which wishes for peace on earth and good will toward man, is the inventor of cruelty; of merciless and heinous methods of slaughter; of napalm bombs, physical and psychological torture, gas chambers, flame-throwers, concentration camps, even a possible escaped biological weapon called AIDS.

What lures us to take part in such deeds? What coaxes us into situations where we feel compelled to act with such viciousness? Is someone leading the way – an invisible force tempting you and I to commit inhumane acts?

Many of you accuse Satan of this deviance. In my study and in my research, I have come to an opinionated conclusion. If, in fact, this world is some sort of Middle Earth nestled between heaven and hell, then man is both the god and the devil, battling within himself. Are you contemplating the possibility? I pray that you do.

I believe, as do many people who are faithful to the Christian faith or the study thereof, that the Christian bible contains information about the future. That is if this ingeniously written and fanatically marketed text is the work of truth and not of fiction. The Christian bible tells its faithful followers to turn the other cheek. In clear contradiction, the text also tells its faithful followers that for an eye, an eye shall be taken.

We, as a species, are just as backwards as this age-old text. Why is it that when we refer to the entity known as God, we refer to he, she, or it as He? Who are we to place labels upon an entity supposedly so powerful? I know the bible promotes God to be a man, but the literature written within this Christian text has always been the work of man. Am I supposed to believe that this entity known as God – he, she, or it – pulled out a Universal Underwood typewriter and pounded out a few things? That God wrote this text, which has manifested as one of the greatest stories told?

It is a blind following. People, followers, collectively refuse to comprehend that their belief system is a product of evolutionary conditioning. Man has even conditioned and manipulated women, our precious givers of life, into believing this “He” mess as well. Ladies, you might as well pay homage to Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis – the most hated man known by women.

We have been backwards since day one, when Mother Earth (Gaia) permitted us to populate her surface. We have been backwards since the time when this planet lie barren, and from the heavens dropped the DNA of a piss-poor race: the human race, a subservient hybrid planted on this world from an extended extraterrestrial existence. We have been backwards since the time when, for fear of interplanetary extinction, a plan to procreate a species was put into play by this extraterrestrial race, upon a planet mankind eventually named Earth.

To this day, our creators remain with us, constantly categorizing, monitoring, and evaluating this species of their strategic creation. The purpose for our species is still unknown. Planet Earth could, in actuality, be a sort of cattle farm, raising free-range humanoids for extraterrestrial diets. Who really knows? The human race might be, thus far, the kings and queens of this planet, but one notch lower on the evolutionary food chain than assumed.

Our creators have revealed themselves to us throughout the centuries. This is what motivated the first of the humanistic species to write, however undeveloped the ability to convey a clear message. This subspecies, the humanoid, did what it has always done: record the baffling anomalies surrounding it from day to day. People wrote of these sightings and appearances as if they were looking upon gods, for these creatures obviously had abilities far superior to their own. Beings with the power of flight, winged creatures – angels, they wrote! Beings able to move unmovable stones with no hands, with only the whistle of sound, creating structures that, to this day, remain an architectural mystery.

In every arrival of these anomalies (as written, the arrival of God, the creator), their entrance has always been by way of smoke and fire. As time evolved, these beings continued to appear to our species. This experiment elevated and moved into its next phase, which traveled the psyche of generation after generation of humanity’s ongoing, futile existence. The Holy Bible, and the contradictory literary contents therein, were created!

This text came after the death of a supposed man who is now a lasting symbol for mankind. An extraterrestrial was cloaked in the skin of a humanoid and the first of a successful intermingling was initiated: Jesus Christ was born. Jesus was written of as the only begotten son of smoke and fire, for into this the anomaly levitated and vanished following resurrection.

Mankind will never understand the alien within, as man is but a shell ignorantly referring to this alien as a soul. This is how it has been since the world and mankind came into existence. The infinite purpose of these internal aliens is, has, and will always be to deceive mankind, to inveigle mankind, and primarily, to obfuscate mankind.

Pragmatic author A.K. Kuykendall has a passion for writing conspiracy, espionage, horror, and suspense literature that blends the concepts of fact and fiction. For more information on his projects, visit The Writer of Books or, to email the author directly for Q&A on this article, write to foodforthought@thewriterofbooks.com.

Wake Up, America!

Let’s get real. Forget all the Gobbledegook about foreign oil fields peaking and the rapid increase in worldwide consumption…

1. Oil production in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, HAS either peaked, or it has NOT peaked. (Consider that each of those countries have poor records in the benevolent treatment of their own people — so why should their attitude toward anyone else be different? I’m saying that you are not going to get the truth about how much oil any or them have left in the ground, or how much oil they are capable of producing over any given period of time. Nor do these producing countries give a hoot about your creature comforts or the harmful effects to your pocketbook)

2. Indonesian oil has undoubtedly peaked. OPEC has just kicked them out of its organization as a “producer.” They are now a net importer — a once stellar producer, reduced to beggaring for their oil…a bit like you and me.

3. Brazil, in addition to refining ethanol from sugar-cane, has a major off-shore discovery called Tupi. It’s huge (50 billion barrels of crude). It’s deep, 2 miles down and locked in rock. With oil at $138 a barrel, the 100 billion dollar financing to extract it will be forthcoming. It won’t come cheap.

4. Russian Oil and gas, plenty of it at the moment, but they don’t love us any more than the Arabs do. And the Russian record for loyalty, truth, and fair play is about as dim as anyone’s. Forget them as a dependable supply source.

5. It’s a given that India and China import nearly all their oil needs and currently have an increasing demand spurred on by a 2 billion+ citizenry.

6. Bakken, on U.S. soil in South Dakota, is 2 miles deep and locked in thin layers of dolomite. At 413 billion barrels, it is potentially larger than the Saudi Ghawar field. Horizontal fracking of the complex layers of rock to release the petroleum will definitely make it expensive. Soaring oil prices are pushing this field toward a development consideration. Again, this oil won’t be cheap.

7. How much faith do you have in U.S. oil companies giving you the honest truth about anything, yet oil production and consumption statistics? If you are anything like men — ZILCH!

Now let’s turn over, in our numbed minds, a few simple thoughts regarding oil and our daily lives here in these great United States of America.

1. Why are pump prices, state to state, pump to pump, varying only a penny or so — one from the other? (Can you remember a time when there was a free market in gasoline…when there were gas wars and bargains to behold, gas station to gas station? Believe it or not, when I was a kid, that was a fact.)

The U.S. Congress will solve the problem.

2. Did you watch the recent Congressional charade, wherein oil company execs were interrogated, presumedly, by their own loyal subjects? (You will be pardoned for the suspicion that nearly every Congressman profits from gifts dispensed by oil industry lobbyists and/or contributions to their PACs.)

3. Did you hear Congress raise a hue and cry about SUING SAUDI ARABIA for withholding oil production? Yes? And last week, Congress was going to get to the bottom of Oil Speculation…those horrid “speculators” who have been driving oil prices higher…

Isn’t it wonderful that oil prices promptly dropped — dignifying Congress. I retired to my bed, pleased and eased. At last, lower oil prices! Hmm…just give the oil boys a day or two….

Okay, while we are individually suffering a collapse of housing prices, along with our family budgets, the big oil companies are making BILLIONS and BILLIONS in obscene (reportable) profits. How much more are they hiding?

Hunnh?..

1. Where is Congress on that one? Why are we accumulating horrendous personal and national debts, while big oil companies are allowed to pile up unconscionable profits?

(Oh, yes… Now I recall — it’s the NIMBY tree huggers. They’ve stopped all the new refineries from being built, all the offshore drilling from going ahead.)

How about a national energy policy?

1. Hunnh?… We have one — ethanol. It’s a dandy…costing more in fuel to cook up a gallon of ethanol than it saves by burning in your car’s engine. It throws carbon into the atmosphere during its manufacture and provides less mileage per gallon than a gallon of diesel or gasoline. Worst of all, it has thrown many square miles of Midwest ag. land out of soybean and grain production (in favor of corn for ethanol production) thus creating a monumental shortage of corn for animal feed, raising chicken and beef prices. And the lost acreage shrinks grain production, raising bread and cereal prices in the grocery store.

And just to make sure none of that cheap Brazilian ($40/barrel) sugar-cane ethanol gets to our shores, Congress slapped a 54 cent/a/gallon tariff on it some time ago in a U.S. farm bill…note that the cast-off sugar cane stalks feed Brazilian electric power plants.

Dwell with me a bit longer on our (invisible) national energy policy. And forget about drilling up more oil. (Let’s assume the oil industry is hastening its own demise.)

2. Nuclear fuel (Uranium) is cheap and mineable in the USA and Canada. Consider that 80% of French electric production is nuclear, and, so far, no accidents. Why haven’t we moved ahead with more nuclear (no atmospheric pollution) electric production? It’s tree huggers and Greenpeace, they tell us…

3. Why have we neglected public Bus, Trolley, and Train transportation?

.(See Japan for countrywide 200 mph trains.)

4. The other night on TV, I observed a $27,000 bug-like car that provably carried two people 300 miles on ONE gallon of gas, at speeds up to 90 miles an hour and had amazing acceleration from a standing start.

DETROIT, WHERE CAN YOU BE?

(Too busy building Hummers…)

5. Hats off to those busy Detroiters who, over the years, bought up patents that would advance more fuel-efficient carburation and develop super-storage batteries for electric cars — then sat on those patents.

6. How about converting natural gas to fuel — why is that industry invisible?

7. Coal gasification and coal-to-fuel? The Chinese are into it. The Germans fueled their WWII effort with petroleum extracted from coal.

On nightly TV, you can observe a major industry disappearing before your very eyes:

THE AIRLINES…

1. Loose regulation paves the way for chaotic conditions at understaffed flight control centers and airport control towers. Too many new carriers; too many scheduled flights; ramp accidents and mid-air near misses.

2. Free food is reduced to snacks; seating jammed to the max. Nonetheless, public rushes to book cheap flights — bound for every spot on the globe.

3. Loose regulation of maintenance procedures raises few questions. Aircraft and airframe safety quietly, but steadily, nosedives.

4. Annual fuel costs jump to an industry-wide $65 billion, squeezing profits and tripling fares; passengers hesitate. Airlines fight back, cutting out snacks, charging for baggage, on-the-spot canceling of flights not filled. Passengers search web for last minute price cuts as lines try to fill seats 100%; arrive at airport to find seat and flight canceled — line just declared bankruptcy. No one wants to hear about the wheel that fell off your baby stroller…customer rage. Sour counter people. Smoldering pilots and crews…

At the risk of running you off the far end of the runway — a final blast… Have we, in America, been put totally to sleep by the hucksters of Madison Avenue?

In the 1950’s, Madison Avenue was held in the kind of awe later directed toward Silicon Valley and our various bubbles — technology, housing, and, most recently, commodities. Lusting for financial gain, we’ve ignored the transference of advertising industry wiles to corporations, Washington think tanks, lobbyist groups, Congress — permeating even the inner circles of White House administrations… absorbed so beautifully that we’ve been totally rocked to sleep in comfortable cradles of SPIN.

Is it possible our leaders have blinded themselves with their own spin? Twin emergencies now upon us — energy and credit. Busy coddling one industry after another, our leaders have blatantly ignored preparations to combat these crises.

“Industry will govern itself perfectly,” has been the cry of the regulators, letting foxes guard the chicken house. And the results: Bear Stearns; the mess at the gas pump; the airline chaos; the sub-prime housing and credit collapse, with its ugly offshoot — the yet-to-be felt trillion dollar, derivative phantasia.

Why don’t we, ALL OF US, take TWO weeks off from work? Stop driving! Stop flying! Stop shopping! Live on what you have in the cupboard…take a walk around your community… shake hands with the neighbors… go to your church or temple and volunteer for three days of something that will benefit anyone but yourself. HOW BAD COULD THAT BE, IF WE ALL DECLARE ALLEGIANCE TO ONE ANOTHER, OUR FLAG, AND OUR COUNTRY? (Don’t forget, we have boys and girls in Iraq doing that very thing…)

Richard Ide is a writer of realistic, action-adventure and romantic-suspense fiction. On May 26th, 2008, Button Top Books released 3 ACES, his first published work. Now available on Amazon.com or by special order (ISBN: 978-0-615-15821-1) in bookstores. For more information on Richard and 3 Aces, visit: 3 Aces.

Peace in an Unsettled World

I listened to a story on National Public Radio on the 7th June 2008. It was a moving story told by a woman whose mother had dedicated and even risked her life to give medical guidance and service to pregnant women in Iran sometime during the sixties and seventies. According to her daughter this wonderful person lived her entire adult life in Iran, she married and Iranian doctor and raised a family while continuing to render medical advise and service to women.

Following her death the Iranian authorities began looking for a way to memorialize this beloved member of their community, and they found a historic and wonderful solution, they named a mountain after her “Mount Hellen.” This monument has remained unchanged to this day and it begs an important question. Is it true to say that within the hearts and souls of the Iranian people there is a genuine desire for peace and friendship with their neighbors and indeed with America?

It would seem to me that Mount Hellen stands as a Beacon that could guide us to peace and harmony; however the road could be rocky and difficult and we will need leadership with a genuine desire for peace, and the nimbleness of intellect to achieve it, what do you think?

I have spent many years in a fruitless search for a formula that would achieve universal peace. This is not to say that any individual or group could ever implement such a formula. I believe that I am a part of a silent but ever increasing majority that yearns for the quiet and comfort of a world at peace. We are beginning to face the reality that these yearnings are merely dreams that are unlikely to come true in our lifetime. However, there is a glimmering of hope at the end of this long and dreadful tunnel.

I will cite a few examples where peace was achieved, not at the point of a gun but around a conference table. In the 1970’s an obscure little country called Guyana (Former British Guyana) became involved in political conflict over territory with Venezuela who was much larger and well armed. Rhetoric was flying fast and furious across the airways and from both directions and troops were building up on both sides of the border. The situation worsened when sporadic fire was exchanged across the Barima River and war appeared to be eminent and inevitable. Doctor Eric Williams was at that time the Prime Minister of the twin Islands of Trinidad and Tobago and his timely intervention, which was supported by the Regional powers of America and England, prevented the catastrophe. An agreement called the “protocol of Port of Spain,” guaranteed peace between the antagonists for thirty years. The time has come and passed, and peace prevails between Guyana and Venezuela.

We must move on and make a brief stop in Yugoslavia and the ethnic cleansing orchestrated by a vicious and stubborn Dictator Malosavich. He ignored stern warnings from America and the rest of the NATO alliance and military intervention was necessary to stop the carnage. Malosavich was eventually arrested and put on trial at the international court for crimes against humanity but he managed to die of a heart attack before facing the justice and outrage of the civilized world. My point, military intervention to achieve peace and prevent the slaughter of innocent men, women, and children is acceptable.

The Christians and Catholics of the Republic of Ireland were at war for many decades. The British were caught in the middle and all attempts to broker a peace were unsuccessful. In the meanwhile mayhem prevailed as the apposing sides rained death and destruction on the innocent men, women, and children of Belfast and the surrounding areas. A noted American politician of Irish decent visited the country and brokered a peace agreement that remains intact to this day, and I will add that following the cessation of hostilities Ireland has become a show piece of peace and prosperity.

The date is June 21st 2008 and the news is not good. The Israelis have stated that they will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, and war exercises were conducted by the Israelis as recently as June 16th/17th. Is it too late to reach an agreement and prevent another war 1? I hope not. Did I mention that Costa Rica does not have an army?

I will conclude by reminding you that trillions of dollars and millions of lives have been expended in pursuit of conflict within the last one hundred years. We must think of what we could have achieved if our human and material resources had been put to work for the benefit of mankind instead of war, war, and more war.

Bernard Steele is a veteran law enforcement officer (operational and administrative), now retired. He was the former chief security officer of the National Banking System of Guyana S.A. To learn about his new book visit Death in Small Doses.

Our Matrix: Choose Your Pill Wisely

Propaganda (noun): publicity intended to persuade or convince people.

It is imperative that you see in propaganda the probabilities and possibilities. I forewarn you, even if you do wake up – if you choose to heed my propaganda – the only thing you will gain is awareness. You will gain further knowledge of and for yourself. You will gain knowledge of the truths that have been hidden from you.

You will gain if you choose to consider this plethora of speculations and move on to the next level to answer the questions I will plant in your head. You will gain if you choose to research further for self-knowledge. You will gain knowledge the conspirators do not wish you to have or strive toward, for your knowledge diminishes their stronghold over you.

Choose your pill wisely: remain the pawns in a never-ending game, or see just how far the rabbit hole goes?

I speak of a society that questions propaganda, that questions mass speculation, that questions rhetoric. I speak of a society that questions the media’s motivation and agenda, that questions the political processes of a governing body from the top of the structural pyramid to the bottom, that questions and evaluates itself and its place in this complex world. I speak of a society unplugged from a forged world as intricate as the Matrix.

In a world managed by sentinels, which are the politicians? The agents are within the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Pentagon, Secret Service, Homeland Security, and the Special Cavalry Services. All of this is manned by the architect, the political official who claimed the seat in the White House: the President of the United States. That cloaked conspirator who hovers above us all is our Agent Smith, the viral element in our society and in our world. I am your self-proclaimed Neo in this soap opera.

We exist in a forged world for which the average man, woman, and child play a vital role: to continue the succession of this world, and to keep in power those who man it. The world in which we live needs us just as much as we need it. This world and its processes wouldn’t be if no one existed upon it to do the controlling. The average man needs this strategic structure. We crave this terrain, this oppression, this hovering dominance.

I cannot take you into pinpointed details, for I do not have pinpointed details. My source will not allow me to be privy to those facts. He, she, or it has informed me that there are plenty of other authors from whom you can choose, American and international, who have attempted to do so in their controversial publications. My words are simply speculation fueled by decades upon decades of ingenious corruption, of which I have taken note. My words are meant to cause you to question your strategically conditioned belief systems and to open your minds to the probabilities and possibilities of your world, of your country, and of the society in which you live.

The aforesaid authors attempt to pinpoint truths of corruption in their literature, but the fact of the matter is that they are no different from me. It is all still speculation. A conspiracy is somewhat like a corporation. It is a fortified union fueled by people. You see, the fundamental principles of a corporation in any society are based on the mass manipulation and hidden control it has over its consumers, whom these corporations supposedly serve. In actuality, this union controls the consumer, keeping itself above the consumer at all times. This is why corporations spare no expense in a marketing campaign.

The same can be said for political campaigns – the Presidential campaign, for example. Collective manipulation is not cheap. The price, if executed properly, will be paid by voters through campaign contributions. Money talks. With a conspiracy, mass manipulation and hidden control are fundamental. Conspirators control the media, Hollywood, literature, and more, focusing us on so many distractions that we miss the truths right in front of us. We can’t see through the propaganda.

The conspirator’s coup survives primarily by dumbing down the masses. Think about it. Our government, its political processes, and its political agenda continue to stay afloat because conspirators keep Americans in their pockets. Think about it. Lives that once required average America one job to support now demand two to three jobs. This triples the taxes forked over to our government. These taxes initially caused average America to seek extra work in the first place. Here is the primary means of controlling people, but it remains only a platform for mass manipulation and hidden control.

Think about it. When the average American is tired out financially, physically, and psychologically, what’s left is an American so absorbed in his or her own fundamental survival that little attention remains for anything else. Everyday survival is top priority, until we are slapped in the face with the reality that the people we blindly voted into office are pissing on the world in which we live.

Your decisions are not your own, my fellow Americans. Strategic unknown beings dictate what you will do, what you will say, and how you will live. Think about it. When a politician is plastered on television, going on and on about subjects that fit into our current hopes and dreams, this politician gets our attention.

With the time constraints placed on us by the forged society in which we live, we are prone to “believe the hype.” A politician speaks on fewer taxes, better jobs, increased pay, a secure economy, better health benefits, homeland security, recession prevention, government refunds. So we flock to this politician. We flock like a pack of seagulls bearing down on a fallen potato chip. We are lured to baited hook because we do not know a single truth about this politician. We know nothing but what we have been told, because we are too swamped with the full-time job of survival to think about researching. Politicians know exactly which of our buttons to push when competing to govern us. Conspirators strategically plot and project that the average American will be too exhausted to question anything.

Hey, America, I could go on and on about mass manipulation and hidden control, but I feel it superfluous, for it is never-ending. In addition, I am somewhat biased. I, too, am a victim of this control. We all are, as I hope you understand.

Pragmatic author A.K. Kuykendall has a passion for writing conspiracy, espionage, horror, and suspense literature that blends the concepts of fact and fiction. For more information on his projects, visit The Writer of Books or, to email the author directly for Q&A on this article, write to chooseyourpill@thewriterofbooks.com.

None of the Above: Democrats and Republicans Say “Two’s Allowed, But Three’s a Crowd”

Did you know that unaffiliated voters are the fastest-growing voting bloc in America? In more than a few states, independents now outnumber both Republicans and Democrats, creating a huge swing vote that could determine the outcome of this year’s election.

Ross Perot ran the most successful independent campaign for president in U.S. history sixteen years ago. During his 1992 campaign, Perot was invited to participate in the televised presidential debates watched by almost 100 million people. On election day, he received nearly 20 million votes.

The major political parties were determined not to let this happen again. Before the 1996 election, the Republican/Democrat-controlled Commission on Presidential Debates concocted requirements to keep both independent and alternative party candidates out of the debates. As a result, Perot received less than 9 million votes that year.

How desperate were the established parties to prevent access to the debates and media by alternative party candidates and their supporters? One answer is shown in the following excerpt from my book, “The Perot Legacy: A New Political Path.”

Donna Donovan, the national Reform Party communications chair, explained:

“When Ross Perot was excluded from the Presidential Debates, his Connecticut supporters decided to stage a ‘Demonstration for Democracy’ in Hartford, the state capital, while one of the three debates was taking place on October 6, 1996. Our goal was to create a big enough media event to bring attention to the stranglehold that the two major parties and their accomplice, the bipartisan Debate Commission, maintained on the debates….We planned to march through the city to the park a block from Bushnell Theatre where the debate was taking place….That night, nearly 700 people…converged on the park…where we encountered police, who immediately herded us into a ‘corral’ constructed of a snow fence in the center of the park….They marched in military formation, eventually surrounding us completely….

“Police officers on horseback formed another ring around the riot squad. Then, unbelievably, National Guard forces arrived with tanks and took their places in the street around the park…

“A freelance cameraman was shooting footage for C-SPAN, but days later we were told it was too dark to use. And what about the rest of the media? … We later heard from some that police and other security told them there was no one in the park, and since the direct-access streets were closed off, they assumed it was true.”

Because of a charismatic leader with access to millions of dollars, the presidential campaign of Ross Perot and the newly created Reform Party were perceived by the major party leaders as a threat to their established two-party system. Rather than viewing this event as an exercise in democracy and an expansion of choice, the party operatives did all they could to prevent the establishment of a third option.

Some of the other attempts to exterminate the Reform Party’s influence included misuse of ballot access laws, attempts to gain control of any federal election funds available to the Reform Party after the 1996 presidential election, and the use of a politicized judicial system.

In spite of it all:

* The Reform Party still survives today.

* A new issues organization (ICAN—Independent Citizen Action Network) is being established.

* The number of independent voters in the United States continues to grow dramatically.

* A tell-all book has now been published so that more people will know the facts, and can learn from our na

Soldier/Soldier: The Convoluted Vietnamese Agenda(?)

America, you have no idea what atrocities took place during the Vietnam War. One item on the list was the mass assassinations of innocent Vietnamese citizens by Americans. John Kerry knows. The orders came down from politicians – self-proclaimed gods – who pulled the strings and watched it all unfold from their cozy recliners at home, sipping their scotch on the rocks and puffing their smuggled Cuban cigars.

John Kerry knows. He witnessed more than his share of these atrocities – these mass assassinations of innocent Vietnamese citizens – during his award-winning stint in Vietnam. Yet the propaganda he spewed in his race for the White House cannot be proved or researched, because it is a matter of National Security. It is safe to say it’s classified. Right, Mr. Kerry?

My bet is that the decorated soldier John Kerry, who thought he fought for truth and honor, did not know the fundamental purpose in the blatant war crimes that took place in Vietnam. That’s why, when Kerry wiped his hands of the military and of the Vietnam War in whole, his fight turned on the war itself. Right, Mr. Kerry?

Though details of the Vietnam atrocities will never come to light, Kerry – a soldier morally catapulted from the core – was, is, and will forever be fully aware of the military’s industrial complex. Right, Mr. Kerry?

As all soldiers eventually come to realize during their service, no matter how high one might rise on the military’s massive pyramid, soldiers don’t play the game. They are simply the pieces played on the board. Right, Mr. Kerry?

When a soldier begins his or her career, one tends to believe he or she is doing the work of a patriot. In fact, our warriors are nothing but toy soldiers following orders. These orders ultimately further objectives they and no one else will ever know about. Right, Mr. Kerry?

Many people say the greatest threat to America comes from other nations, and some say the greatest threat comes from within. I concur with both assumptions, yet I fear only the second of the two. Considering his observations from the bloody lines in Vietnam and his subsequent boisterous reactions post-involvement, I suspect Kerry is on the same page with this fear. Right, Mr. Kerry?

Baffling is the redundant, scandalous corruption taking place in our United States. Even more of an anomaly is the blind eye many American people seem to take toward this corruption. America, know this: our elected governing body took an oath, from the top of our massive political pyramid to the bottom. Our politicians made the oath not to themselves, the secret societies of which they are members, or to the body of government for which they punch a clock each day. They made the oath, and they gave their word, to the people of our United States of America. True patriots, like me, are here to remind these corruptive power mongers of their fundamental duty.

CASE IN POINT:

Fraudulent politics – This is my stand on today’s plethora of issues and the actions taken therein by politicians. The countries that are collaborating with the United States are a fraudulent coalition brought about by a bullying and intimidating administration! This is what I think of President Bush and his administrations seemingly pressuring tactics in his push for war, not to mention his and the Republican parties strategy at controlling the flow of world politics. From his backward ass State of the Union speech, to his boisterous United Nations good-old-boy plea for assistance in operation “Iraqi Freedom.”

America was lied to prior to the Vietnam War and today we’re being lied too as well! America, deep within the evolutionary today, but as always: big corporations in affiliation with essential political officials, past and present, of the “south” run this country. This is an ingenious operation brought on by a supposedly banished organization from American and our political society: the Ku Klux Klan, the John Birch society, etc.

Many Americans, of all ethnicity’s, have actually forgotten the days where the Knight Riders ran free. A fanatical society that had their hands in any and every category within the southern territories of America! This until their plan extended and they took notice the power of the political process and in the strength of corporate conglomeration. These fanatics saw an opportunity to achieve what they’ve always desired to achieve and that is the retrieval of America for the supposed true American.

These conspirators hide behind the titles: “Republican and Democrat,” emphasis on the Republican, for the Republican Party’s covert infiltration of the Democratic Party, as in Watergate, was just a necessary evil in the projected complete occupation of the country. Don’t get me wrong my fellow Americans, neither one of these parties can be trusted, for both have agenda’s that stretch far beyond the average American.

The average American, in both parties eyes, are nothing but a necessary vessel that keeps the country alive. Without the average American, they know that America would cease to exist! The military for one, procreation, jobs, consumers, but most importantly taxation! Both their fundamental philosophies are that “taxation needs representation.”

This is a reality!

Their corporate headquarters are, check this; nestled in the heart of Texas. Their essential brethren in this well-orchestrated coup: Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and California. Understand one thing America, the success of this southern coup relies solely on mass manipulation, conquered territories, and the control of worldwide mineral resources. Primarily, their strengths derive from financial growth!

These are the reasons we are in Iraq people!

“We will not be intimidated!” President George W. Bush boldly stapled into the minds of Americans and into the minds of the whole world.

Listen closely America! This man was not talking about you or I; he’s speaking as a spokesman of this ingenious southerners coup. Believe it or not America, he’s using the blood of those at his leisure to further this collective coup. Those whom I speak of are our soldiers: our sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers who are presently at arms within the United States military.

I reiterate America, deep within the evolutionary today, but as always: big corporations in affiliation with essential political officials, past and present, of the “south” run this country.

Think about it people!

Think hard about the southerner’s coup I speak of, and of how grandiose it really is. Out of all the Democrats that have ever been elected president, did you know that they’ve all been southerners? Odd! Strange maybe! Yea, odd and strange for you, not me.

Pragmatic author A.K. Kuykendall has a passion for writing conspiracy, espionage, horror, and suspense literature that blends the concepts of fact and fiction. For more information on his projects, visit The Writer of Books or, to email the author directly for Q&A on this article, write to theconvolutedagenda@thewriterofbooks.com.

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