Monthly Archives: January 2015

What is so special about becoming 28? Age is just a number right? Wrong! Age is not just a number. I live with an astrologer (or used to because she just flew back to Vienna.) She told me that Saturn goes around once every 28 or so years. I looked up the exact orbit and it is more like 29.5 years. However, since the planet is so far away, you will be very influenced by its effect by the time you are 27 and until you are around 31 which is exactly what happened with me.

In any case, when your Saturn goes around once, you become a lot more mature. I remember being very childish about business, having silly ideas, and having none of the work habits to back up my ideas. When I got to 27 I started getting very serious. I began to understand that life is about hard work, struggles and disappointment. I decided that I would keep the pedal to the metal. When I was 26 I would work really hard for a while and then slow down. This strategy didn’t lead to any real success. So, I started working really hard, advertising more, being tougher, and taking risks to get ahead. Not all of my risks paid off, but a few paid of in a huge way. In a sense you could say that I became a man at around 27 or 28. I became much more responsible. Of course, every year that passes I become a little smarter, wiser and more responsible, but that was a huge milestone or planet-stone in my life.

But, astrologers claim that once you hit 56, big things happen in your life. Men in management often get promoted to very high executive positions as their wisdom and maturity peak at that age. On the other hand, between the ages of 84-90, if you are still alive, your Saturn will come around for the third time. I don’t know too many people who are working at that age besides Warren Buffet who invests and analyzes companies. But, gurus often live to that age. Imagine how wise they would be at that age if their minds still work.

Okinawa is an interesting part of the world. Their environment and lifestyle enabled many people to live to be 120 years old. I think that having Kentucky Fried Chicken and other fast foods come to their island shortened their life expectancy by a few decades. But, they might see Saturn come a fourth time.

In any case, astrology is not something that interests everyone. In India they tend to pay a lot more attention to it than we Westerners do though. But, pay some attention to the planets as they do have a huge effect on your life. Remember, the planets do not dictate your life, but they influence your luck, maturity, destiny and much more.

The World Today
I wrote a few other articles about how great it would be if America copied China in having free economic zones. However, an even better idea came to me. In an age that went from corporate bankruptcies to bank bailouts to national bankruptcies like Greece and Portugal, we need a solution. If companies, organizations or countries aren’t responsible enough to manage their finances, why create artificial mechanisms to keep them afloat. In the animal kingdom it is survival of the fittest — why not in the financial world?

An International Zone
If a business is broke, they can sell off their assets if they have any. Why should it be any different if a country is broke. They have land, why not sell part of it. But, who would the buyers be? The only two countries that are in the black are China and Korea. Should they buy up the world for pennies on the dollar? America and Japan are both up to their necks in debt with Germany and the other Northern European countries going in the same direction as their debt is manageable now, but keeps going up and up. In fifteen years Germany will be near default too — just you wait.

Sell an Island
I feel that if an international government was set up, they could have land, citizens, and an army. They could have dual citizens which would enable you to be a citizen of your home country and also of the international zone. Or, perhaps you wouldn’t need citizenship to be in the zone as they would accept everyone. This would be a wonderful boon for the stranded Syrians as an international zone could provide humanitarian relief and host companies who would give jobs to people as well.

Conflict Resolution
In addition to the other salient features of an international zone, leaderless countries like Libya, Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan would be better off under the wing of a larger and more powerful organization. In the old days they were colonies. I personally feel that colonization is exploitation. However, we didn’t see mass extermination under the British or Portuguese colonial powers. They helped countries build railways, roads, industries and stay organized — what is the crime in that?

Assets and Cultural Management?
Would an international zone gain assets by contributions from all the countries in the world which would have to pay a yearly tax? Or would they derive power from their citizens or residents? Would they have permanent citizens or a floating population of residents — whomever felt like being that at a particular time? How would they decide which language or languages would be official? How would the decide on cultures? Or would they have different zones where different cultures are practiced? Personally, in this world we live in where so many people are living outside of their countries of ancestry or origin, it would be easier if you could go to a foreign country and have the choice of living in a cultural zone from your part of the world. If you went to Dubai as an American, wouldn’t it be easier to have an officially designated American zone where English is spoken and liquor is allowed? Sure, many Americans wouldn’t mind living in what I call a “Halal zone,” but many prefer the comforts of home. What if America had small international zones sprinkled throughout the nation where Korean, Chinese, and Swahili might be official languages in certain sub-zones. The world would become a collection of microcosms and that would be interesting.

Military Power
Who would finance the military of the international zone? Once again, would they collect a tax from all the countries in the world? Would they be the global police man instead of the United States? What a relief that would be. Would the international zone invade Iran to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, or would they demand that all nations give up such dangerous weapons? What about corporations? Would corporations be powerful in an international zone? Personally, I feel that many corporations as so powerful, they should control their own countries. Exxon should have their own country where their oil fields are — that way their military can protect their assets directly which is much easier than what is going on now.

Summary
In any case, it seems inevitable that in the future the world will become more united. Europe can never get their collaboration worked out, but at least they are trying. America has free trade with Canada and Mexico which is a start. China is collaborating all around the world for resources and economic development. We’ll see what develops. But, when an international zone does become a reality, remember that it was MY IDEA!!! I thought of it first. I should get the credit — unless it doesn’t work out well in which case — forget about it!

What makes me feel that the refugee crisis is a disaster is multi-fold. When I watch the news on television and youtube I see stranded and hopeless people risking their lives to take inflatable boats to Europe in search of a better life — or at least a chance at survival. Many of these refugees face drowning, deportation, imprisonment, or being scammed by human traffickers. There are several things that bother me here.

1. How is it that not one country in the world will offer these refugees a safe boat to get them to wherever they are going? We have plenty of money to start unnecessary wars, but when someone desperately needs help, the entire world leaves them stranded.

2. The refugees often do not have passports as their identification documents were often stolen by ISIS. In Europe, their identity will not be definite, and the refugees could be dangerous to their host countries and pose a very dangerous security risk.

3. ISIS engages in regular recruitment in various parts of Europe. More Muslims in Europe means more recruitment and more dangerous incidents like Charlie Hebdo, etc.

4. Europe has neither the resources or the skill to deal with such an influx of refugees. Additionally, the culture and religious clash will cause long-term problems in Europe. Many European countries are already having serious clashes between Christians & Muslims, Jews & Muslims, not to mention between Kurds and Arabs among other more “internal” problems that got transplanted into Europe.

5. Turkey allows refugees to stay in their country but doesn’t allow them to work. How can someone survive without work? The same situation happened to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The inhumanity is just staggering.

6. Since Iran and Syria are “Allies,” how come none of the refugees want to set foot in Iran?

7. Why don’t South Korea and China take in a few million refugees. China already has 1.3 billion. What’s a few more million? They won’t even feel the difference. It is baffling that all of the migrants want to go to the same two destinations in Europe, but none even think about China.

8. It is interesting that Saudi Arabia has not taken in any refugees. Arabia has a long history with Syrian workers, and a few decades ago decided to invite Pakistanis and Filipino workers instead since they are less aggressive. In the old days when Lebanese and Syrians were the main workforce in Arabia, there were too many problems with unruly behavior, and perhaps Arabia doesn’t want to repeat its mistakes!

What if the world was prepared?
What if there was a system in place where thousands of dwellings could be put up in days? What if all of the big countries would coordinate resources for transporting refugees ahead of time so when a crisis hit everyone would be ready? What if the next time there was a war, huge container ships would be waiting around the corner to take refugees to safe harbors? Yes, this is all possible, and not even that expensive. It takes something that I like to call planning.

Walking to Europe seems insane!
It seems illogical to have people walking from the Middle East to Northern Europe only to find a door slammed in their face. What makes more sense to me is to have safe spots in the Middle East, perhaps in Turkey, Syria, or Jordan which are protected by large militaries — where people can work and be housed properly. I saw that in Germany they created a beautiful neighborhood out of shipping containers. Windows and doors were drilled into these containers. A family could comfortably live in two containers merged together. Such housing is comfy and cost effective too. Imagine if several million units could be constructed somewhere in a special economic zone in Turkey and then manufacturers set up shop there too. Nobody will invest without military protection, but Turkey is a militarily strong country and they seem to me to be the best suited.

India is not even on the map in this crisis
I will also note that India is the most talented country at taking care of millions of homeless people. There are countless slums in India where mass amounts of people live. India seems to be able to get enough resources to these slums so that people can survive. How a clumsy country like India manages better than the West at catering to the very poor baffles me, but they have a lot more experience since there are so many poor there. India’s poor do not live in what I could call “comfort,” but they survive which is something that Syrian and Afghani refugees cannot take for granted. I will also note that India doesn’t enforce labor laws, and the Syrians would easily be able to work and in five years gain citizenship in India. India has always had immigrants from ancient times. Persians have been coming to India for 20,000 years with the Parsis being one of the later migrations. Bengladeshis cross the border daily. They are almost impossible to tell from the local Bengalis, and the government doesn’t seem to care.