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The World: on a winding road to nowhere
The state of the world is visibly deteriorated in front of our eyes. The signs are difficult to ignore. You
can watch then on your TV screens and read about them in the headlines. Most people know something awful is happening to their world, but can’t put their finger on what it all means.One of the latest big crises to hit the media is a sinister terrorist plot to blow up passenger jet bound from Britain to the United States, apparently designed to explode in the midair or over several major American cities, potentially taking for more lives than 9/11 did.British authorities, in cooperation with their American counterparts, were able to discover and counter the threat. More than 20 people are in custody. The financial costs to the airlines will undoubtedly prove monumental. A whole range of highly inconvenient, but very necessary, new security measures look inevitable.Baghdad has been suffering about 1000 tragic deaths a month on average. Then in July, according to CNN, that figure jumped to 1700. Next door, some observers believe Iran is only six to 12 months from having the capacity to construct nuclear bombs. North Korea has been firing test missiles, and previous reassurances about the demise of the Taliban in Afghanistan now ring somewhat hollow. As always, several points in Africa are in violent turmoil or civil war.In many ways it’s a world going mad. Nuclear weapons appear on the verge of proliferating on a major scale. According to an august 1 article in the International Herald Tribune,” over the past few years, Pakistan has been hard at work building a powerful new plutonium reactor that when completed will be able to produce enough fuel to make 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year.” Archival India is also planning to expand its production to similar levels. The institute for Science and International Technology (ISIT) is a U.S. think tank that keeps track of nuclear weapons. It reported that “South Asia may be headed for a nuclear arms race that could lead to arsenals growing into hundreds of nuclear weapons, or at a minimum vast stockpile of military fissile materials”We also learn that “Iran is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima Bomb”Are you concerned about the darkening character of current world news? You should be!
Published: November 26, 2006
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