Power, Self-Interest and Hypocrisy

I cannot emphasize how much power and the employment of this power makes China the domineering and overbearing country it is to-day. I remember as a teen-ager feeling so much sympathy for the Chinese people when attacked by the much smaller country as Japan was at that time. But not only with military strength. If allowed to go to the ultimate extremes and it will unless the world unites against the leaders of this powerful country, with information  technology China will try to dominate, literally everything in human interactions. They say they control the South China Sea, and there are small islands on it which they build up so they can land and take off jet fighters There is no end to this so human short coming .Power, Self-Interest and Hypocrisy govern all human activities whether done as individuals, corporations,  religions, nations or as international bodies. Economic and technological power describe the policy of China  backed by military might. Not the weakling at the end of the 20th century when bullied by Japan. It is the one of the strongest points of democracy that democracy ,as much as humanly possible, fights the short-comings of human nature, even though I would be less than honest if I did not admit that they also exist in democracies. It is a problem with the Chinese government, not the people. The Uyghurs and their treatment is a perfect example of the anti-democratic actions of the Chinese communist government, although why they call themselves communist is anybody’s guess.

I therefore can call the United Nations a qualified failure. It is a qualified failure because it is active, functioning, and can be used quickly to facilitate negotiations between nations with disagreements. It is a failure because the nations involved place their own interests above everything else.

Haiti had an earthquake which shook the nation. The world was shocked with the intensity of the wreckage and all nations rushed to pledge aid. It was the thing to do. But it has come out that only 1/3 of the money and aid pledged arrived. 

Lightning does not strike twice in the same place. It did in Haiti. The cholera epidemic is an unmitigated disaster, but it is easily curtailed. Haiti need drugs, doctors, nurses and health –care workers immediately and the disease can be stopped. The problem is so easy to solve if the world’s nations acted at once. There is a question about the derivation of the epidemic. It seems that the disease is related to one that struck Nepal, and there are Nepalese peace-keepers nearby. An investigation was called for by local people. Will it happen, not very likely? It would reflect negatively on the U.N Nations to use the U.N. to advance their own agenda.

Saudi Arabia has just secured a seat on the governing board of the United Nations Women’s Rights Council. In this country women are not allowed to drive an automobile, cannot vote, cannot hold public office, own property in their own name. In addition every woman must have a male guardian who makes all decisions about schooling and marriage. In the World Economic Forum’s study of gender equality Saudi Arabia ranked 129 out of 134 nations surveyed. Yet Saudi Arabia was allowed on this Women’s rights Council .The main purpose of the U.N. is to facilitate cooperation in International Law, International Security, Economic Development, Social Progress, Human Rights and World Peace, HOWEVER only if it does not interfere with the needs and aspirations of the members of the Security Council who have a veto on all that occurs.

There are 43 million people around the world who have left their homes fleeing conflicts and natural disasters, yet the U.N. commission for refugees spends a vastly disproportionate amount of time on the Palestinian Refugees who should have been resettled years ago. This, of course, is facilitated by Islamic Arab States who are able to avoid the need to repair the shortcomings of their dictatorships by diverting the masses from their own problems. Also the Arabs in the West bank want to keep the problem with Israel on the world`s agenda. 

Individual groups within a nation thwart the needs of the nation. I speak of the religious right in Israel who continue, legally and illegally, to build settlements in the West Bank against the the wishes of moderate Israelis who represent the majority of the nation.

Health care corporations have a reputation of hiding results which do not advance their interests in promoting products for sale to the public but high-lighting clinical trials that do.

In a tennis match it is common for a player to apologize, with a hand gesture, when a ball goes over by just hitting the top of the net ,drops over, making it impossible for the opponent to reach the ball and return it. Recently I saw a match where Rafael Nadal hit a ball but it touched the top of the net, but DID NOT go over. The look on his face was pure anguish., yet I am sure if the ball had gone over he would have made the gesture to apologize. Hypocrisy is alive and well with individuals.

In the U.S. there is an act called the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). It allows tribal governments the final say for the adoption of an Indian child even if the child has never set foot on a reservation, even if the biological mother thinks a non-Indian family might provide a better home, even if the family has no particular connection to Indian culture, and even if the adoptive family off the reservation promises that they will expose the child to Indian culture. Why does the tribal government want this power? It is in a constant fight with the federal government for power and the more people registered as Indians the more power is in the hands of the tribe.

Power, Self-Interest and Hypocrisy are built into the psychological structure of humans and are here to stay. and to be honest I do not have an answer for the problem nor does anybody else.

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