Consider this setting; Jerusalem, Israel, its a little after dusk one early June in 2005. An Arab gentleman settled in the US, an American Jew who had immigrated to Israel, an Israeli Jew and me an Indian Hindu settled in the US are sitting together at a roadside cafe to share a dinner meal. All of us come from different places, practice different religions, different educations, variety of political ideals, yet we had a wonderful meal and a great conversation. The fact that Jerusalem was (& continues to be) in turmoil with its Arab neighbors had no visible or perceptible impact to the dinner party. Our discussions were wide ranging that I can not recall it, but I do remember that it was warm, friendly and that we left smiling and happy.
That incident has since been playing at the back of my mind, never quite clear why until recently I realized that the dinner was about "Unity" of mind, needs and spirit.
When President Obama went to Cairo to deliver what turned out to be yet another articulate and passionate argument for the world at large to change the way it goes about its business, it struck me that perhaps the way everyone seems to be heading towards a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian is actually wrong. Yes it is a cliché! But the reality is that this multi-flavored single dimensional solution to an age old problem is not practical as history has shown us. So my proposal to eliminating the problem is "Unification"...yes, the "United States of Israel and Palestine" and let us not get hung up about whether it should be Israel or Palestine that should come first in the naming convention. The unified state is not by any means a new or radical idea. It has been explored since the mid 1940 under a proposal called “Binational Solution”.
The UN decided in 1947, in its post WWII wisdom to partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state, and a UN-administered Jerusalem. Sure enough the Arab states rejected it as is still the case that they have not recognized Israel (sans Egypt and Syria). Israel accepted it and later in 1947 declared its Independence. While the land of Palestine has been fought over for centuries from crusades on to now for religion, power, money and more, I don’t believe there ever has been a victor. However I believe the future has a chance if looked at from a new lens, one that is devoid of too much attachment to the history and the hate that typically is associated with it. As such I will resist going in to anymore history since this essay is forward looking and will defeat the purpose if we look too much in the rear view mirror.
The rational behind the unification idea is essentially a default stemming from the failure of existing proposals;
I. Two state solutions have been proposed, attempted and failed miserably for a variety of reasons.
Since the 1949 Armistice agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria to the Camp David accord of 2000 between Israel and Palestine, there have been about 7 different treaties that got signatures in addition to several more plans that have been published. The key to all this is that both the Palestinians and Israelis have their own piece of sovereign land and that they exist as peaceful neighbors. Reality is that Israel can never really and truly live peacefully in a region that is intrinsically predisposed to hate it. So while by some miracle of fate, two states are formed the likelihood of sustaining that new reality is flimsy at best. Also I question that if 60 years of treaties and plans have not been able to move the needles, what is the wisdom in continuing to pursue this TwoState agenda.
Starting to look at it from a security perspective, Israeli’s will never feel secure as an island nation; surrounded by its enemies. It really does not change anything from today’s status quo. Israel today spends about the equivalent of 8% of their GDP on their defense which is a significant number and that number will continue to grow higher as the sovereign state of Palestine will look at arming itself. A right it will gain with total independence. Add on to that others in the neighborhood will add on to their own spending (2008 est military spending as a percentage of GDP Jordan 8.6%, Saudi Arabia 10%, Iraq 8.5%) which before one knows will turn in to a middle east arms race.. a real nightmare. This will accentuate the instability that will by now be exacerbated by social issues that will worsen, such as
Lack of education – Increased government spending on military typically makes education and other social programs a casualty, e.g. Pakistan, Central American banana republics, Iraq (pre “post Saddam”), North Korea.
Higher unemployment – Considering that spending by the government is taking their money out of the country, the internal economy suffers by way of trade imbalances.
Spread of disease – Inherently medical care in the region is not one of any merit, with less money put away for medical care, impacts will hurt the population directly.
End result is the increasing spread of hopelessness amongst the youth, violence, political upheaval and regional instability that will require Arab countries and Israel to take offensive actions against each other as a deflection tactic, i.e Status Quo
Also the fact that the Palestinian territories are not contiguous makes it an inherent challenge to manage. An example is Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were part of one country (Pakistan) though not contiguous, till splitting to form two independent countries.
II. The United States of America faced a fairly similar situation with racial segregation that is solved (& continues to evolve). This is similar in that, 2 large bodies of people differentiating upon something they did not have control over.
The history of the US of A is deeply ingrained in racial segregation that stemmed from slavery. While by way of law segregation has been eliminated and by way of evolved thinking of our good citizens the practices of racial discrimination has been minimized though not completely eliminated, for humans will use racial differentiation as a tool of identification and self actualization and perhaps will always do as any living species does in some form, the key though is that America has progressed under one flag. While the nation's history post independence is over 200 years, the evolution towards true unification of minds and spirits has taken a while and continues to evolve.
A basic lesson from America's history is that people no matter where they come from or what their religious affiliations are or what they do or not for a living can live in reasonable harmony with each other if united. Unification was the key. If the result of the civil war had gone the other way and the confederates had won, we would not have been part of this great nation as ours has turned out to be. Ours is a living testament to unified power.
III. Two state solutions have failed all over the world that was created in a number of different flavors and iterations.
While the failure’s have been for a variety of reasons and the implications of failure plural, the key remains that when one looks at a geographic mass that was and perhaps is homogenized from a people, culture, economics, aspiration, race, food, language, etc. perspective and is then split for political reasons, it can not sustain the division. Let us look at some specific examples of failed two state’s, a. India-Pakistan: Some may claim this has not failed since the countries have existed for 60 years now albeit with multiple conflicts that both sides claim victory. That India is now a fairly prosperous country laying claim to some of the brightest minds of our contemporary times is not quite the success, since Pakistan's survival as a nation is a doubt now with the Talibanisation of its western regions, their treasury has no money and their people continue to lack education. India's poverty is increasing with its burgeoning population not decreasing with its prosperity. India has no friends in its neighborhood and bears little influence in the new political world. India has not helped Pakistan avoid its impending doom aside from assiduously breaking it up aka Bangladesh. b. East & West Germany: No argument needed they are one country now. c. North and South Korea: One a growing, vibrant and prosperous democracy and the other a tottering dictatorial regime with no real economy. d. North and South Vietnam: No argument needed they are one country as of 1975.
There are others that in the recent time that have formed their own countries like Bosnia, Herzegovina and others. I think it is too early to say much but based on my logic they are doomed to fail.
Further merit to the unification notion is the European Union, which is showing us that economic unification has merit to it and could be viable enough to be expanded towards geographic and political unification. Strobe Tallbott of the Brookings institute in his new book “The Great Experiment” makes a fair argument that the world in 100years will see nationhood as we know abandoned and all states will except one global authority. I am not convinced, but 100 years from now is light years in terms of knowledge evolution of people in this internet age, so who knows.
Why I think the United States of Israel and Palestine will be successful;
People – They are essentially the same people. Any one who has walked through the old city in Jerusalem will tell you that while there are separate quarters to the naked eye, if one paid more attention you will see more similarities than differences. The same harsh weather and water scarcity have taught them to adapt in a similar fashion. The foods they eat, the cloths the modern Israeli or Palestinian wears, their worldly aspirations for good education, good life, family etc are identical. They are both in quest for that elusive peace. In addition both their populations are very close in numbers, approximately 5Million each. This ensures that one group does not suffer the vagaries minorities typically tend to suffer. The fact that 130K Israelis live in settlements in West Bank today symbolizes a level of integration, albeit one that is not quite looked at that way yet. However once there is unification and the walls and fences are brought down, the land grabbing usurpers of today will become the friendly neighbors of tomorrow.
Economy – Israel’s economy is fairly robust, with a GDP of $205B in 2008, low inflation and unemployment. It also has the advantage of having some of the brightest minds in the world combined with a can do attitude. Palestine on the other hand has a rather poor economy with a GDP of only $11B, high inflation and very high unemployment. While it may not seem in pure business terms to try to merge a profitable company with an unprofitable one, consider that it is a strategic merger that will help increase substantially the stability of the region which has a direct impact to the economy. Also consider that much of the Palestinian potential has not been leveraged due to the insistent fighting, inherent poor infrastructure and lack of opportunities. The unification will by default correct that, unleashing a very potent potential of the youth of both groups.
Security – To me this is the key driver. Unification will inherently reduce and minimize greatly the tensions in the region, since the enemy is now part of the family and the family takes care of its own. Well even if it is not that dramatic, the motivations for tensions today will cease. Lebanon will have no cause to shoot rockets in to Israel, Palestinians will have no cause to throw rocks, Iranians can stop plotting with the Hamas and so on. The regions political dynamics will change and yes they may find something else to bicker about, but those will be minor compared to where we are currently.
So when the sums of all these parts are looked at holistically, it is hard to see the differences while the similarities stack up exponentially.
Challenges with the unification;
While I am convinced that unification is the only way to progress peace in the region, it is not going to be easy. Here are some challenges that I can foresee;
I. Formation of the government
While the type of government may not be a challenge since they are both democratically elected governments, the challenges will be with the governance model and how the government will be populated. If an Israeli becomes the Prime Minister, will a Palestinian be their Defense Minister? How do the two nations share what were once very closely guarded secrets, a larger issue for the undeclared nuclear Israel? What will be the level of trust? That said we have precedence’s from the unification's of Germany and Vietnam that could be leveraged, though the fact that Israel is a nuclear state does pose a fresh set of challenges. At what stage will all the secrets of both sides be disclosed to the new government and what happens from then on.
Governance of a new country is typically a challenge since processes, procedures, policies, etc need to be developed. However in this case a lot can be leveraged from the two functioning governments, but there will still be challenges in the way every day administration works.
II. True integration of the neighborhoods
It is likely that the true integration of Israeli and Palestinian neighborhoods may never happen. But some level of assimilation is bound to happen by way of free movement of population and basic real estate economics. It is very likely that there will be reconstruction and redevelopment efforts that will occur and attract a mixture of people. Improved economy will help with integration as people of specific income brackets will come together no matter if they were Palestinians or Israelis. So while this challenge is not one different from any where else in the world, its mitigation will occur gradually over time based on social, political and economic progress.
III. Integration of minds and spirits
How do you replace hatred and distrust developed and built over 60+ years with one of trust and common patriotism for a new nation? This is going to be the biggest struggle. On a positive note, this will correct itself with new generations as they will not grow in the tension and the hatred their parents experienced. But the 1st several years, this is a true challenge that will need some work. Unfortunately I am not aware of precedence’s, short of getting Gandhi, King and Mandela out there on an extended mission. But jokes aside, this is the biggest challenge that will confront the unification.
While there may appear to be more challenges than I can list or articulate, it is certainly a better problem to solve than what happens on a daily basis trying to falsely mitigate the tensions. What sort of life is that?
So for many peace in the middle east has and may remain a joke, but I believe a new look at old ideas is perhaps our best chance of giving peace a real chance.
PS - For anybody set to accuse me of being an idealist here, consider that for a foundation to be built, a level of idealism has to be instilled. The 21st century did not take nobility of action out, but in a way is forcing us to go back to those roots and admit right and wrong, no matter the consequences. To me the unification of Israel and Palestine is that corner stone, peace to the holy land and prosperity to a tortured population is a much desired outcome and I hope we are closer to it than we care to admit.
This is my 1st attempt at a travelogue and so it may be more detailed than folks care about, but it certainly allows me to keep our memories.
My lovely wife Saritha and I decided to get down to Buenos Aires, Argentina for a few days to get away from it all. It was a wonderful trip that started at Dulles International on 5/21 a late Thursday night direct flight to Buenos Aires. We got on a red eye about 10pm and were in Buenos Aires at about 9am the following morning.
Day 1 Friday 5/22 (pics); Landing was smooth that even Saritha commented. We landed 20 mins ahead of schedule, walked out of the plane with masks. Yes, the Argentines decided that all visitors should don masks to reduce the risk of the swine flu. So masks on, multiple entry forms completed we walked out of the plane in to the immigration lines, which took less than 5mins to be done and out to collect our bags. Then on outside to exchange money. Money exchange is tricky in Argentina since there are limited places that do it and since counterfeit currency is a real menace. Thankfully we do not experience any. With new Argentine peso and feeling 3.5times richer, we went to look for transportation to take us to our downtown hotel. Folks at the information were particularly friendly and so based on information we received, we found a shuttle service from Manuel Tienda that was about 40% cheaper and equally convenient as a taxi. These folks drive in to central bus station in downtown Buenos Aires (San Martin) and then take you by car to the final destination. We arrived at our hotel (Plaza Marriott) in San Martin that was celebrating its 100 yrs and home to one of the top 9 bars in the world (more about that later). We got an early check in and were out of the hotel by 1pm. The weather was beautiful, sunny and 70F in early winter (while beautiful, very worrying from a global climate perspective). There was classical band playing infront of San Martin plaza at the beginning of Florida Ave with close to a hundred appreciators. We grabbed a sandwich from a take away place called Aroma on Av Florida and found a city tour operator. City tour has been our standard form of day 1 recon of any new place we visit in collaboration with a travel book like lonely planet, it gives you a good idea of what we can visit again indepth. A $20/person fare gives us a 4.5 hours tour of both south and northern part of this beautiful city aptly called the Paris of South America. The boulevards are wide (as many as 6 lanes on each side), lovely architectures with tall doors and windows set in the classical European patterns, the buildings are old giving them an even more dignified look. Amongst the stops were the pink presidential palace at the foot of the Plaza de Mayo where we stared at the 2nd floor balcony at length trying to visualize Eva Peron singing "Don't cry for me Argentina". Other spots included La Boca; the bohemian fun town, Recoleta; including the cemetery were Eva Peron is consecrated, then to San Telmo which is known for weekend fairs, Palermo and finally to Peurto Madero; the newly built water front touristic restaurants which is where we went for our 1st dinner. In fact we walked down from the hotel, about a mile or so...proving that BA is a fairly safe city, just need to be aware of your surroundings. We also booked a day trip to go to Colonia in Uruguay by bottom on Sunday. Dinner was all right, very tourist, non of the Argentine flavours except for a small bottle of Malbec (Faber) we polished. One thing to remember is to always have the restaurants call a cab for you vs hailing one on the street, which can be very dicey the folks tell me. Cabs are quite cheap, $1 minimum and a 20min ride could cost up to $6.
Day 2, Saturday May 23(pics); We wake up late, but rested surely. Breakfast in the hotel, standard international fare, nothing exotic...however I did find a caramel spread; very nice and worth a taste or more. So now we are looking 3 specific things we want to, a. A trip to an estancia (ranch) to meet some gauchos (cowboys), a tango show off-course and trip to Tigre'. The concierge at the Marriott while was helpful it did not quiet get us the tours we were looking for so we stroll down Florida avenue and around and find a tourism office that looks credible and a very friendly and helpful agent. Banks are closed here on Saturday and Sunday and so money exchange is not going to happen, however everyone is happy taking US $'s. About 2pm after a quick take away sandwich again, we are picked up to go to Tiger, north of BA on the banks of Rio De La Plata. We drive to Maipu in the province of Buenos Aires (the province of BA is different from the federal district of BA, the capital) to catch the tourist train that costs 12 times more than the local train (1 peso vs 12peso) to San Sidro. Its a short train ride about 15-20mins if that much. We hang out in San Sidro for about 30mins eating gelato @ Freddo (its worth a try, especially the banana creme), visiting the local cathedral (like any former Spanish colony, there is no shortage of cathedral's) and the fare of crap, uh I mean antiques and other sundries. Then we get on a bus to drive to Tigre which is about 15mins away and then hop on to a catamaran for a 1 hour ride down the river. The banks have very cute homes and the guide tells me they cost between 30-40K US.....yeah I am thinking what you are thinking ;~). Bus ride back in to BA through easy traffic and we are now ready for dinner. Now dinner is a big family and friends thing in Argentina and does not start until late....like 9-10pm (bit of a challenge for me since that is bed time for me). For dinner we head to La Troupe about 20mins by taxi from our hotel in Plaza San Martin. Javier Milstein who manages the restaurant is the quintessential host, who ordered our wines and dinner....all very delicious. This is a typical BA restaurant sans tourists and out of the way, it has trees that grow from inside the restaurant that shoots out of the roof. I definitely recommend the restaurant. The parilla or grilled meats typical come with 10-15 little sides and are replaced with every course. The Malbec's especially from the Mendoza region....oooh, they are giving the Shiraz that I love so dearly a run for their money. Meals are fairly inexpensive and this one cost us about $40 which would have been, I am guessing about $120 or so at home. Taxi ordered by the restaurant takes us back to the hotel, where we find our selves at the Plaza Bar. Apparently Forbes Magazine chose the Plaza Bar as one of the top 9 hotel bars in the world....now I am really not sure why that is. Again not expensive at all, couple of Quilmes(Argentine beer), wines & tips set us back only about $20.
Day 3, Sunday May 24(pics); An hour's boat ride on the Buquebus ship at Puerto Madero gets us to Colonia in Uruguay. Immigration is in Argentina for Uruguay and vice versa. Its funny to have the Argentine immigration office stamp our passports and then give it to the Uruguayan immigration office sitting right next to him for his stamps. Never seen that before and all so simple and efficient. The ship is big and based on the safety sheet (yes I read that on boats since I can't swim) I figure it can carry about 600 people. Uneventful on the Rio De La Plata which is supposedly the widest river in the world and it certainly seemed liked that gets us to Colonia, Uruguay little past noon. We walk to the historic district through very quiet and quaint streets. There is a slight wind, the trees are shedding in this late fall early winter time, stray dogs lie still in the warm sun as do the few Uruguayans....beautiful all around. Historic Colonia is a typical Spanish town, pretty little houses, bunch of ruins, couple of plaza's (got to have those) and yes couple of cathedral's too. We wander around absorbing this beauty and I wonder why I should not just stay....still don't have that answer and yet I am back home! Its lunch time and so we select this cute restaurant on the water and seat ourselves (you generally seat yourselves unless its crowded and there is a host/hostess around)....10mins go by and nobody comes around, so we leave. Repeat restaurant 2 and 3....perhaps we don't have the patience or were hungry or just don't get that there is no rush in Uruguay & for good reason. Me on the other hand have to be places....yeah right!!! Anyways restaurant 4 greets us and gets us a menu in minutes, sandwich and pizza and big bottle of beer in 10mins, all very tasty & costs us $11 with a handsome tip.....Boy!!! if this recession does not correct fast, we are heading back to Colonia for sure....for good that is. More wandering, but this time towards the ship for a 5.30 cast off. In BA by 6.30pm, walk back to the hotel that is about 1.5miles away. The trip to Uruguay is about 200peso/person, perhaps a little high for an afternoon away, but we enjoyed it very much and highly recommend it. Late night dinnerat La Cabrera in the Palermo district which is again not a usual touristy restaurant rather a local eatery. While most restaurants in BA do take reservations, La Cabrera will only do so for an 8.30 pm sitting. Since we were planning on doing what most Porteno's do, i.e eat after 9.30pm we arrived at the restaurant without reservation. The hostess very kindly took our names down and offered champagne while we waited on the sidewalk with about 10 others who had arrived there before us. She offered us some hors d'oeuvre still on the sidewalk. While we waited and new guests arrived, we are surprised by the way folks were being seated, there was really no pattern or logic. So close to an hour in to our wait and 2 glasses of very bad tasting champagne, Saritha decides to act. She goes in and sits in the foyer and tells the hostess she is tired, all while the hostess is telling everyone it would take another 30 mins. The hostess quickly returns and seats us!..moral: If you want a seat in a BA restaurant, feign tiredness. The meal was good, the wine was excellent and the desert of chocolate ice cream and truffles had me die and go to heaven. This was probably the priciest meal we had in BA and cost about $50, which would cost us $150 at home. Oh just to clear the air, the reason I did not catch a cab to go elsewhere in a huff for making us wait for an hour was that we were having fun talking to other guests, commenting on an older gentlemen make a meal of the hors d'oeuvre, reused peanuts and olives, the Aussie bloke who was the only one in shorts on a chily night......so do try La Cabrera, but know you know what to expect. Oh by the way that hostess was so calm and smiling all the time and did not let any pressure get to her. I wish I could learn that from her. Again restaurant got us a cab to get back....clearly a standard operating procedure. Day 4, Monday May 25(pics); Yipppieeeeeee its time to go check the gaucho's. Well the reality is that there are at least 2 kinds of estancia's....the real ones and the touristy ones. If you are in BA and not in Patagonia, you get stuck with the touristy ones and that is where we ended. About 90KM/60miles from BA, Don Silvano is glorified hay ride with teenagers dressed as gaucho's giving us horse back rides. They did serve some wicked empanada's and I regret not over indulging them. They have a large grill at the back where they grilled a variety of meats and sausages. The lunch had a variety show of songs and dances from the local artists that included a tango show. Our group had folks from the US, Guatemala and Chile. Also at lunch was a gentleman tourist from Nepal, apparently the 1st at Don Silvano, and they had him go up the stage and sing a song. It sounded like a Nepali nursery rhyme, but I give him credit for singing it and the crowd loved it. Interestingly we kept bumping in to this guy at the hotel, airport and he also landed at Dulles....hmmm. The elderly lady sitting next to me from Indianapolis who while kept thanking for taking care of her as I poured her wine and got her food, argued vehemently about how President Obama was not good for the country, tsk tsk some people never know what a vacation is. After lunch they took us back and showed us some gaucho stuff like herding horses, racing horses, tripping horses....you get the picture. If you go to BA, skip this $60 waste of time. Also remember for those of us returning to the US, we get to go to "special customs" since we were on a farm with farm animals. Another uneventful drive back to BA and we get picked up to go to a Tango show. We get a 1 hour tango class, which was fun and it reaffirmed that both Saritha and I have a pair of left foot each :). They serve us dinner and some cheap cruddy Malbec. At the table with us is a teacher from the DC area on vacation and a guy from India on a world trip. He claimed he has traveled all of Africa, Asia and 2 months in South America...I say claims because when the teacher said she was from Washington DC, he asked "Where is that". I pray god be with him if he is truly traveling the world. The Tango lasted a little over an hour & "yawn" and well we are glad we did it, else we would have returned home wondering. Its late, almost past midnight and time to hit the sack.
Day 5, Tuesday May 26(pics); Time to go home :~( and back to the daily grind. Time has flown but I think I have liked BA. It has been many years since I was in Paris and very briefly, but I see why BA is called the Paris of South America, the wide boulevards, the architecture, the plaza's, the outdoor cafe's, the attitude of the porteño's (Folks from BA are called Porteño's but careful not call the folks from the province of BA that). We spent most of the day walking around the centro and doing some souvenir shopping, the advantage of beautiful weather and a walking city. At lunch time we went toCafe Tortoniwhich is about 150 years old and a gathering spot for the elites to discuss politics etc. While the guide books and people said it was pricey, a lunch of sandwiches, quiche/salad pie, beer, cafe cost us about $15. This cafe is a tourist spot, so there we were clicking pictures and posing. After lunch we wandered to the Plaza de Mayo again and tried to visualize Eva Peron in the pink palace that is today the Presidential office. The plaza is a little decrypt, which is shame considering the President can see it everyday and assume it would bother her to have it cleaned up. We walk through the financial district of BA and find lots and lots and lots of banks whose names I had never heard before. A quiet cathedral in the middle of the money makers catches our attention and we go in to bow our heads and calm ourselves. We head back to the hotel, check out and head to the airport. The taxi ride is about 40 mins during rush hour BA, which surprisingly does not exist. Efficient airport processes, last beer in BA, check email, browse duty free to reaffirm that the priciest shops in the US are cheaper than airport duty free around much of the world, then on to one of the least friendly airlines "United" for the ride back home.
We enjoyed the downtime very much and glad we selected BA for as long as we did. Lovely city, friendly folks, great weather and easy on the pocket book. Ciao as they said in BA to us!
I have been thinking about a variety of issues as have a lot of people, issues that concern us directly everyday or those that have the potential to, those that the media has made the central focus of such as the suffering economy by way of rising unemployment, foreclosures, tanking stock market and investments or political challenges or now the swine flu. Unless these impact you directly, it is just news on the TV or other media, however I suspect many have good and viable ideas to solve some of these challenges that may never see the light of the day. I would like to encourage those ideas to come out as often as possible and shared as virally as possibly as there could be a real solution that may work.
Here is a solution to the growing Islamic fundamentalism and its negative implications to many parts of the world. I truly believe this can work, however there are some tactical challenges I envision. Solutions to those will be some that I will explore in the days to come, but for now here is how I look at it holistically.
The way I understand Islamic fundamentalism, is that groups of individuals around the world have chosen to preach and practice the Koran in a very narrow and strict manner. Perhaps a simplistic view, but true nevertheless. My meager attempts of reading of the Koran do not indicate that those who do not follow the prophet are infidels and hence should be killed. Nor did I find anything to do with how a way of life should be followed or else….While the genesis of how we got here is widely documented by the many experts in this field, one thing is clear, that it took many decades from the 60’s when the US helped the Pakistani’s create a force of Jihadi’s to fight a proxy war against India, to a fairly similar strategy to fight the Soviets in the 80’s in Afghanistan. The Iraq-Iran war also fed the growing ranks of this class of mercenaries who were nurtured by religion rather than the money. The sudden hole left by the Soviets in Afghanistan allowed for a large part of this group to organize themselves under the banner of the Taliban and form a working government. Most of us know the story from then on to where we are. While all of this was happening, the world from an economic perspective was getting more and more intertwined, i.e. a global economic village in the works. The technologies that supported economic globalization, also allowed for social collaborations across the globe which was and is generally good. However it also provided a platform for the group now being fashioned as Islamic fundamentalists to reach further and wider to preach and recruit. The influence this group was having on the wide fringes of desperate, hopeless and perhaps even the religiously motivated was increasing and is still.
While the US government with our many allies around the world battles, (what one president so inappropriately and unintelligently called the crusades), I am not sure I have seen or read any strategic plans for the ultimate quelling of the scourge of Islamic fundamentalism. I am sure there must be such well thought of strategies within the deep think tanks of the governments or other intellectual bodies, but I want to share my solution blue print nonetheless.
The plan I propose resolves in to three parts with a timeline that would take that of at least one human generation. There are tactical attributes of this plan that need to be implemented everyday starting today, but the ultimate result will take at least half the amount of time it took to create it for sustained solution that becomes routine.
The solution is three fold;
1. Population control There in an uncontrolled rise in population in the pool of sympathizers, this at the very least exacerbates the problem. While religious followers of the faith of Islam are given the right to have 4 wives at any time, it all computes to having very large families. The social hierarchy manifests itself in that the head of the family decides the course for the family. In a situation where the head sympathizes or actively participates in the activities of the fundamentalists, there is little to no choice for the rest in the family but to follow. There is no greater and purer form of recruiting than from your own blood. Controlling this population is critical and necessary. So then begs the question, how does one do it in a humane and legal manner with out depressing the sensitivities involved? Here are a few that I can think of; a. Education – Educate the perils of over production inside, both from a social as well as an economic perspective. If ever marketing of thoughts could be put to good use, I can not see a better opportunity. I am sure they would appreciate a bowl of rice for one person is meager as is, but for 2,3 or more people would constitute hunger. How can hungry people fight? b. Birth control – If air dropping leaflets disparaging your leaders or food products was acceptable, I think airdropping condoms should be ok too. There are multiple other ways to distribute birth control items. Barter is an acceptable trade practice in many of the mountainous regions, home to burgeoning jihadi’s, 2 kebabos for birth control! c. Incentives – The Chinese did this well for years though they are suffering now with not having an optimal mix of their large population in the age groups they should be. Some lessons from there combined with pure capitalistic pay for performance (or lack of it in this case) for not producing children. A years worth of food @ $100 as many philanthropic advertisements insist, could feed a family. Let us put it to use for where it may be worthwhile.
2. Science and Math Children in this realm are taught the Koran in Madrasah’s and from what I understand, a version of it that is clearly extreme. This education is complimented by from what the media and other books by the experts claim, a doctrine of hate of the non-Islamic ways or the ways of the infidel. These children would not know then that 2+2 =4 or that the earth revolves around the earth and is round or other basic math and science elements. In my opinion this is a detriment to their overall learning and needs to be remedied. My second solution proposal is to get these children on an educational diet of science and math. Encourage them to be scientifically curious, to question what they learn and what the implications are. The critical question in this case is not so much an agreement on the need of science and math in their educational diet, but as to how would one go about delivering it. The world or us have had enormous experience with propaganda wars, some popular and some not so. I am sure a very creative roadmap to delivery could be developed by our friends in the media, movies, some religious groups who will still knock on my door and certainly the government. We have done this successfully world over, drawn many millions of immigrants to the shore of our great nation, while skillfully selling coke and Nike products to both friends and foes (click here for a hilarious illustration in support of what I mention). Airdrops are a great source of educational delivery. Every one of those relief food packets could include a birth control artifact and a lesson in Math and Science. I have some specific ideas on how we could deliver without inciting anymore hatred or consequence than that is currently on the table, and will address them separately.
3. Optimal leverage of the new talent pool Now consider we have a population that is not as fundamentalistic as it is today, less in number and definitely more educated than today. What do we do with them, since if that is not addressed; our problems will have quadrupled by having a vastly more dangerous enemy. Smartly looking at it, the resources can help themselves if the right environment is created. Creating the right environment would now be a basic by product of what we may have achieved by a lower in number but a vastly better educated population. a. In order to sustain all this education we are talking about needing teachers. b. In order to provide organization and control to what is proposed, we will need a government that continues to improve, c. Business around the world may now have a viable market where they can actually start making some money. Our quasi reengineered population can feed in to this cycle of capitalism. In reality on April 17, 2009 several countries, presumably those that are at the most risk by the vengeance of the jihadi’s agreed to provide as much as $5Billion to the Pakistani’s to combat Taliban and the jihadi’s. The US itself will be spending $1.5B every year. My sense is that we take this war gradually away from the urban battlefields to the class rooms, from the mountains of Waziristan to a sustaining economic situation for the participants. Take this battle away from religion to a way of life of improved life all around. Let us put these billions of dollars in efforts to improve the hopeless situations, to better education. I say get the Halliburton’s and other contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan and others to use local staff up to 90% including the leadership. Empower people with their own destiny and please don’t be patronizing….the west may be superior economically, but yet there is lot to learn from the east. Let us be humble as the new president is eloquently doing time and again these days. Get collaborations with the local talent, business leaders going vs. hemorrhaging the billions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Admittedly some of this sounds very easy or perhaps naïve, and the reasons why this can not work lengthy. My perspective is that we need to learn from the past and fight with our strengths. We need to take this fight away from the religions, simply because no prophet, “wanna” be prophet or god almighty himself would condone violence or hatred being perpetuated against his children…all of us. Once you take it away from religion, it boils down to a group of people whose want to fight or hate is generally stemming from a certain level of hopelessness about their own situation. Lack of basic human needs, intense sun (I suspect that has something to do with all this craziness) in the middle-east, lack of understanding of our way or life and yes some of our poorly developed foreign polices (Iraq, Pakistan, Cuba(!!!), North Korea, China, India, Libya, Israel and so on). All that said we need to re-set this now. We need to be able to call a timeout and reset how we look at things and what we do from there.
So while multiple discussions and debates occur about how bad things are and will get, here is my solution.
Well it’s not a philosophical question as much as a political and geographical question. I ask that since for a while now I have been naturalized in the USA and I feel very much at home. So what I have been wondering is where is some one from? Where they were born or where they grew up or where they live the longest or where they want to be from?
I have traveled the world over and often times I am asked where I am from….and before I can answer, the curiously presumptuous questionnaire responds India, like they were an expert about India and could physically identify one anywhere. While this is annoying when some one in the middle of Peru or Turkey or Philippines would say considering what I would think is the limited interaction with people from India, not withstanding it is the 21st century and India is at the doorstep of having the worlds largest population and that if you trip over yourself pretty much anywhere in the world you are more likely to hit an Indian rather than a rock is becoming abundantly clear….still annoying. So I have taken to saying Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or Mauritius when they ask where I am from and the look I see on their face is amusing to me as it is of immense confusion…mostly because they either have not heard of these smaller countries or that they can not believe that they were wrong.
The other good one is when they ask where I am from and I say America….I get that “Your not serious” look which is followed by “where are you originally” from. So does that mean where I am from now is untrue? This happened quite recently on a trip to south east Asia and I asked why, the questionnaire was puzzled and the response was quite interesting. I was told all Americans are big and white! Yes….that is exactly what the response was. I plan to blog about the fuss about colors separately, but felt it was relevant to share this here since it was not sufficient to know where you were from but where you were from originally?
Also does “originally” have an expiry? Do subsequent generations with similar features of their ancestors continue to keep them from a particular part of the world? I know lots of folks here in the US are particularly proud of their Irish, German or other European heritage, despite either never having been to that part or that they are 3rd, 4th or further removed from the “original”. I have heard such folks respond to the primary question of this blog in numerous different ways.
I am an arm chair sociologist with absolutely no grounding in the discipline, but figured a big dose of common sense and experience gives you directional understanding of why people are curious about the other persons origins. I think it is to do with a sense of belonging with perhaps a very small flavor of curiosity. Very much like the animal kingdom I suspect that people will form natural affinities and bonds with others who share the same origins since it translates in to a similar language, mindset and faith perhaps….not mention the food. It is for this reason I think people really want to know where you “originally” are from, despite the fact that originality may get diluted over time if become from some other part by virtue of living there longer.
So I am still not sure what the right answer should be? It might not matter and the questionnaire may not really care about it either…..but would love to know what the answer!
Over the last 6 years I have been intimately involved in customer service in various capacities, various roles, various countries………..various so many things. I want to think that I know a lot about customer service, perhaps not as much as what I don’t know, but nevertheless quite a bit to make a decent living out of it. All that said I have been a customer longer in my life and will most likely be a customer even after my association with customer service as a professional ceases.
So as I look around myself and contemplate the service I am given at the local Macy’s, the Chinese take away down the road, on an American airline in business class, in a 5 star hotel some where in America’s or a customer service agent who is more focused on following her script rather than helping me, the “Customer”…..one thing becomes more and more apparent. American businesses in America mostly don’t give a rats ass about me the “Customer” anymore. Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but what I am truly keen on trying to understand is what happened? When did the key ingredient of any businesses success anywhere in the world, the customer become an annoying necessity? When did American businesses come up with a new equation for profitability with out the customer in it? When did this happen? and did I the customer incite this change?
What happened to “Customer” Service in America?
More and more the lady behind the counter at the airline counter, the gen Y dude at Best Buy, the “Customer Service” manager at BJ’s, the forever in a hurry waiter/owner at a Chinese eatery, at the mall, at the outlet, at the grocery…………………..it goes on and on, they don’t seem to care any more if I the customer am happy with their service. I have more money now than I did 10yrs ago and yet they don’t care. I treat service people better than I did ever and yet they don’t acknowledge. It appears more and more that there is a sense of entitlement amongst the service providers and thought that they are doing me a favor, when in reality they are doing their job and getting paid for it. Yes they may feel they are not getting paid enough, but hey who does anyways….(if you do, let me know where you work and I think we can change that!). To me the simple explanation to this fast deteriorating situation that I hope more folks pay attention to; is two fold. 1. No pride – The service providers do not have pride in their work anymore. They lack commitment which is reflection of the increasing poor leadership more American business have. If you don’t believe me….look at the quality of corporate leadership…..tax evaders, money swindlers, fraudsters and hence the American economy in its current dilapidated state. 2. Customer’s have given up – More and more customers are letting it slide. Case in point the recent incident where a group of Muslim travelers were kicked out of Airtran. The gall of Airtran, but even more the customers who allowed that to happen.
So while I can rant on and on, the question is what does this all translate in to? Slipping in to social anarchy where customer service providers will hold us at ransom, take our money and not provide service. Ok, little too dramatic, but you get the message. This behavior will dilute our social fabric, encourage poor attitudes, manufacture/develop subpar products and before you know America is at the bottom and not the top.
The solution? Well here are 3
1. You are the solution….where ever you work, you have customers. Ask yourself if you are treating and servicing that customer like you would yourself? If not what would you do to make the change? Evangelize that across your sphere of influence & you are more influential than you think you are, when you try to push a positive agenda. 2. Thank and acknowledge good service providers. Everybody likes a pat on the back, do that if you are pleased. Again careful that you are only doing it when you are pleased….i.e. stop tipping those idiots who drip water or wine on your dress. 3. If you are not happy…..please make it known. Don’t vent in the privacy of your car. It only increases your blood pressure and reduces your life expectancy. Let the service provider know that you are not happy. We all have our ways, follow it. Don’t let them get away, it will only get worse.
Will this change anything? I believe if enough people do it, it will stop the deterioration and start encouraging good positive behavior. This is the season of change…..& I don’t want to miss on the opportunity…..nor should you.
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