We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

50th Anniversary of Cuban Missile Crisis Offers Lessons for Iran

Click here to access article by Jim Lobe from Inter Press Service.

The author explains how the real nuclear-holocaust-saving resolution of the Cuban crisis offers some lessons for both sides. However, a new factor complicates the present scene in the form of reckless Israeli fanatics.
The fact that Israel, which has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear sites unilaterally, actually has the assets to act on those threats makes the situation today more complicated than that faced by Kennedy.