More Promises for Tourism - Iran.

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In looking at a recent map in the popular press about Iran, the image showed six nuclear installations in various parts of that territory, the operations of which are at stake in the latest multi - nation talks involving mostly the U.S., European participants in the talks, and Iran, the home country allegedly now in violation of non - proliferation rules about nuclear energy and how it has used this mode as a medium for aggression, or for some other again allegedly belligerent purpose in the Middle East.  It is possible, and while the Iranians are really smart about this, there are many more nuclear installations in Iran at this time than meet the public eye about the current NPT and related talks.  I do not know if Iran is a signatory of the international nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty, but assume this country is not insofar as the terms of its pledging to such an agreement would have long since done away with the activity Iran appears to engage in with respect to processing plutonium and other belligerent and offensive technical gestures in the areas of things like rocketry, Rouhani's sophisticated wrangling administratively about such things, and other, lesser moral infractions that are hurtful and angering to those countries with a defensive attitude and policies on such things and an ideological umbrella to dispel any effort at legitimizing political jostling with respect to nuclear power and its offensive capabilities that are a simple extension from the technologies, materials, processes and other factors that make for a successful and peaceful nuclear strategy.

It is not absolutely clear in my own view as the literature with respect to the NPT is varying in its approach to this issue, while quite vast, and one is obviously not at liberty to read all of it; probably a task for a very large team of people, even in places like Iran.  There is, however, one powerful overriding them that materializes on a high level when a people even begins to desire nuclear power and then nuclear weapons, even if they are so - called defensive weaponry along former - soviet style terms:  When nuclear weapons are on a country's political and scientific agenda, mutual assurance, a common - sense and practical view with respect to either wide - area or massively destructive weaponry, when forgotten as it apparently has been de - emphasized in the approach to Iran due to issues involving places like Israel, for example, and other Mediterranean countries like Turkey that could popularly be sympathetic to Iran, can become an overriding factor in replying to the offenses of those who have nuclear power, but who are non - signatories and who are non - compliant with NPT

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provisions or even with fundamental nonnuclear provisions such as the 1960's ABM treaty (in spirit and by the letter of the law.)  It shows from the talks involving U.S. State Secretary Kerry that mutual assurance is a reality, but so far is largely not addressed in meetings with Iran, and needs be addressed in scheduled meetings when parties arrange for this again, presumably now in December 2013.  With respect to Iran and the dancing of politics around mutual assurance, it will be captivating and at least interesting to see how and in what way that country certifies its nuclear inventory, potentialities, policies for offensive or defensive weapons already in place or in development, ... .  The issue that remains a danger is anti - U.S. sentiment even among the great powers now, not just the nuclear powers and proliferators, and the antipathy is only palpable - so sophisticated and technical as not to be overt.  This as well during any future talks with Iran on the nuclear subject matter, needs to be addressed and remedied and the type of cowing that Iran is subjecting its peaceful neighbors to at this point, including Saudi Arabia and others, needs be looked at as well.  It is possible that Iranian nuclear policy right now is just as dangerous for Iranians as it might be for anyone targeted by its arms outside that country.  The news in December about such matters, if publicized, might make Iran a peaceful country again and Iranians and Americans abroad can get along again.

BBC Story.

Mortar Shelling A Damascus Mission.

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Links to this story:

a.  Reuters.

b.  Xinhua.net.

c.  News from the U.N.

d.  Russian News (in English).

e.  Fox News - Van Susteren.

1 : Universal Compassion.

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Belated Book Review:  Beyond Religion:  Ethics for A Whole World (2011, His Holiness The Dalai Lama:)  Written apparently mostly from his residence in India at Dharamsala, and supplanting but not superseding a previous book,  Ethics for The New Millennium (ca. 2004,) this classic and varietal Buddhist text examines ethics from the author’s perspective in the more and more rapidly changing world at this time, and change as perceived in an increased awareness not only from the author, but from his followers and others that things like preparation for change and its rewards take place over gradual and painstaking efforts and dedicated time spent not in containing everyone.  Without being doctrinaire and pedantic, this text that addresses the kind of humanistic cosmology that is characterized by Buddhism and its modern issues that address human rights, health, the environment, politics, the sciences, ethics and morality of course, and individual conduct in society among other things as the Dalai Lama fleshes out for us the ongoing debate between religious and secular influences in our modern times.

The author speaks of “attachment” in the text that concerns the kind of identification, psychological, religious, moral and political, etc., that people in the modern world must have in order to be fully engaged in their lives among others.  In short, the book makes the point the world is a denser place and there are other people in it besides just the first person singular for everyone:  The text outlines the problems with what are today inappropriate and aggressive, and over – aggressive self – assertion and self – importance as a way to overcome the everyday challenges, and even extraordinary challenges we sometimes face in our somewhat different, then again parallel, paths through life.  The change, but in integrating it into a peaceful, secular framework as presented in this writing.  The main theme of the text is compassion in its essence as accompanied and made of alleviating the suffering of others, and promoting the well – being of others.  The foundations of the spirit of universal compassion are thus the pursuit of a kind of collective or societal happiness and contentment of the family of civilizations in view of and derivative of efforts to lessen and properly address the attention of the world public on suffering in order to end the destructive forces that cause the negative effects of suffering in its various milieus.  The Dalai Lama speaks of karma under the circumstances as having a relation to causality with respect to the multi – faceted events affecting in various degrees the lives of writing emphasizes themes such as selfless individuation and altruism, service to others in the name of happiness and the pursuit of happiness, social justice, political freedoms, passive resistance to aggression and tyranny, selfless (again) righteousness, and more in a way that appeals to the majority of ideas about humanism, freedom, justice, and morality, etc., in the mindset of anyone who believes in self – autonomy and morality, be it from any of the main cultural centers we all know and read and see in the media every day.  The author as well tells the reader in a chapter on “Discernment” that the openness and dedication to success in one’s life and the lives of others in its effectiveness depends greatly on the sense of autonomy in everyone, perhaps even appealing to the idea that such a quality is innate and is then refined through life’s experiences without the real possibility of being taught from previous times.  

The outward compassion the Dalai Lama has in this text, a holy book for Buddhists, for his fellow colleagues, associates, the extended human family; and the awe, respect, and attachment not only to other people but to the environment and to nature is remarkable in this writing and shows the indomitable attitude of the Buddhist faith against destruction, negative influences in society and among the greater family of humans everywhere.  In its influence as a cosmology book, the text ranges in content and context, directly and indirectly from topics like interpersonal relations and psychology, learning and morality, the sciences including the author’s knowledge of the neurosciences, the social sciences including the more negative and utilitarian subject matter of economics, the development of and role of religion in modern life including the importance of genetics and human and biological possibilities and differentiation, languages and other arts, world and regional politics, the history of India, and other quite important topics of discussion by everyone.  Overall, the type of universal compassion talked about in this text might not be at home, for example, with those whose perspective dates no further back than the Middle Ages, but the text might prove extremely valuable, again not only for Buddhists and the followers of the Dalai Lama, but for anyone interested in the discussion of psychology, religion, and life sciences and their roles vis – a – vis each other and more in the modern era with its many influences and religions and secular mindsets alike.  

Benjamin Bernanke's Federal Reserve: 2005 - 2013.

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Benjamin Bernanke, at the time he inherited the job as Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve had more challenges ahead of him that any Fed. Chief in recent memory.  His predecessor, Mr. Alan Greenspan, arrived at his Fed. Reserve Chairman appointment with a stellar resume from business and industry and had followed an empirical path through the economics and banking world to his job at the U.S. Federal Reserve starting on or about 1987 and ending in 2005 (eighteen years.)  Bernanke was a change from Greenspan as a tough act to follow, and as the new Fed. Chairman confirmed in 2005 had a career in academia that dealt with the same level of statistical detail and analysis as his predecessor, though the emphasis of the Bernanke Federal Reserve was necessarily anti – inflation targets, troubled assets, interest rate targets, Quantitative Easing, and easing monetary policy among other things that have been his calling for the past seven or eight years.  The Federal Reserve has many schools of capitalist economics just in the air and around its various personalities and public figures, of which a Keynsian framework that has had overall a great influence on economic modernism and to which Ben Bernanke has made substantive and substantial contributions including that of easy money and a methodological approach to and adaptive use and interpretation of economic information and statistics.  This has been primarily due to Bernanke’s Chairmanship at the Fed calling for and integrating the features of faster rates of market economics change into its models and processes in view of simulating the overall surrounding economy as an modern and rapidly changing entirety.

Ben Bernanke who is apparently being replaced by Janet Yellen (who is herself apparently an inflation and quantitative hawk more in parallel with Greenspan than his successor Bernanke,) conducted a simultaneous “war on inflation”, overall efforts at price stability and crisis management given the effects of the internet bust and the housing constructions and mortgages bust during the 2000’s and more.  He has been a consensus Fed. Reserve Chairman using pragmatic business tools, “gut instincts,” the usual computerized and arcane modeling in addition to the traditional economics models, encouraging different voices and opinions among the members of the Board of the Federal Reserve, and as a major emphasis of his tenure – better and more communication and transparency with respect to public availability of details, press, and information about the Fed from the beginning of his appointment in 2005.  While following the policy path set in place by the current democratic administration in Washington, D.C. during 2005 – 2013, the Fed. Chairman was well versed enough in economics and business to know capitalism suffers more in its reputation from boom and bust cycles, that cannot really be controlled by central banks and other factors that call the Fed. to act in supporting business and commerce from the point of view of Washington, D.C., Wall Street and Main Street.  Recently, this institutional conduct has continued with the adverse remembrances of the 1930’s Great Depression, the “lost years” – 1990’s – in Japan as a policy backdrop, and the related climate of the credit markets during both recent downturns and their effects that were so negative and uninviting to commerce, business and industry.  Despite some of the work Bernanke’s Fed. carried out to cure some of the nation’s economic ills due to systemic weakness and delayed recovery, the typical self – regulating features of our economy, and the Chairman’s control over rates as well and probably due at least in part to the public trust and government insistence, Bernanke was not fully vested in his work as Fed. Chairmnan at first due to public criticism (even from Greenspan) and for some what was the integrations of labour economics and statistics and the further integration of bright – line employment and inflation targets.  During the crises of his Fed. Reserve term, the Fed.'s Mandate of Employment and Inflation itself was almost as important as the general integrity of the financial system as centered in New York City.  Whenever a decision was made during the Bernanke years, New York remained of important consideration, but places Like London, Berlin and Saint Petersburg and their economic considerations were looked at too in view of husbanding the U.S. public and private finances in the correct way and with the highest integrity.  Bernanke believed in adjustments versus taking an overall (sometimes leviathan) problem – solving approach.  

For the Federal Reserve at present, computing power has been developed and related real statistics and their processes of “synthesis” and interpretation that lead to internal reporting and policy decisions and implementation since the 1960’s and the technology the Fed has is part and parcel of high – tech development on the institutional level, centrally and regionally among the country’s twelve reserve banks scattered around the U.S.  Bernanke followed a school of economic thought that includes strict governance with goals of growth and anti – inflation levels of unemployment.  This type of economics is characterized by the results of economic stimuli with adjustments that are frequently called for to keep the U.S. economy growing if not functioning smoothly.  This modern Keynsian – style oversight also integrates the proviso that deliberate stimulation of the economy and its frequently called – for adjustments can cause and result in as many problems and difficulties it promises to cure.  A book about the Bernanke Fed. by Ethan Harris illustrates the “synthesis” approach after 2004 that prevailed to promote flexibility, draw on an eclectic series of economic theories and a consensus approach to internal discussions and decisions on monetary policy.  This is a measure of the classical approach to economics in which, i.e., unemployment identities in the social sciences provide a set of “traffic laws” that show the potential and changes in demographics, for example.  There are numerous such identities in the economics of labor and many have been used, the related analysis tools have names like NAIRU and Phillips Curve, all of which when used properly and when producing proper effects add to individual and business incomes, again as a rule.  The book gives and illustrates a considerable discussion between Keynsian and Classical influences in economic doctrine and policy at the Fed. and that Bernanke came from academia into his job where mostly crises and the Classical view (as working theory and its ramifications) provided most grist for the mill for the FOMC and Chairman and Federal Reserve Board in addition to the regional governors around the country.  The text (Harris, 2007)  delves into great detail as to theoretical examination of both the Greenspan and Bernanke Fed regimes alike.  Both are considered successful for various reasons, but Greenspan primarily for traversing some fifteen different crises and keeping the economy in the U.S. on a path of steady growth.  Bernanke is credited with maintaining liquidity in the “Great Recession” with inflation targets, his policy use of labor economics, and his judicious and wise handling of various lending facilities during his eight – year tenure in holding inflation and prices stable and steady in time of chaos, even panic, and alarm in the markets in economic terms.  The Harris text emphasizes the “new” rules of the macroeconomic game and Bernanke’s survivability and adaptability in making several key decisions about policy that enabled the U.S. economy to traverse the crises of 2007 – 08 and more.  One also obtains from a good reading of the book a good notion of ordinary Federal Open Market Committee workings, especially the key indicators it might be using and about the meaning of its various communications with investors, the public, officials and other parties and stakeholders.