Budget cuts, austerity programs, multi trillion debts (Yes, Multi trillion), sovereign debt defaults, food shortage, price increases, civil unrests almost everywhere, famine again in East Africa, crime, natural and manmade disasters. It's not looking good, is it? In fact, maybe it’s better not to look at all.
But acting like an ostrich when facing danger is no longer an option. Maybe it is time that the 'silent majority' challenges some of our so-called leaders and demand that our political masters face their responsibilities by ensuring that they come together in order to preserve and improve the quality of the lives of the citizens of the world.
But right now, it looks like we're approaching one minute to midnight, and our leaders (such as they are) are clueless, like the proverbial rabbits in the headlights just waiting for the economic and social meltdown that looks increasingly likely to be coming our way.
Let's look at the evidences, Europe is in shambles. Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain all, to varying degrees, are looking down the barrel of a big gun and will have to accept much lower standards of living for their people for many years to come.
The UK, is facing a similar battle. In the US, lawmakers are busy fighting each other, rather than battling the 14 trillion budget deficit and taking care of the disadvantaged. And as for Japan, that one-time 'economic miracle’? Well, Japan was written off years ago.
How about the Middle East? Well, which one? The “poor” Middle East or the “rich” one? The “failed” revolutions in Egypt, and Tunisia or the civil rifts in Libya, Yemen and Syria? Either way you look, its not very promising. Slogans such as “The people want to topple the regime” are taking them nowhere least because the slogans themselves are misleading. What about the “rich” Middle East? Well, most are behaving like “filling stations” with cheap gas and expensive stop shops. Many countries in the Middle East are still involved in longstanding wars or conflicts, and political change may be coming but at considerable cost both in terms of human lives and personal sacrifice.
All in all, the picture is not very pretty. Furthermore, many feel that we are close to a tipping point - unless lawmakers around the world raise their game and show some leadership, they will lose control to extremists, fundamentalists, anarchists, opportunists and thugs. And then there really will be meltdown, as social unrest morphs into social uprising, characterized by class warfare and, eventually, the breakdown of law and order. Dramatic? Hyperbole? Possibly. But impossible? Not at all.
And how about our leaders? Well, therein lies the problem – what leaders?!.
The ones that dither, talk clichés, mired in sex scandals, feudalists, senile, mired with fatal illnesses and superiority complexes? You can also forget the leaders of China and Russia showing any kind of solidarity with the rest of the world, while those in the Middle East are either worried about their own survival (literally), or their gas stations. Where, then, is the leadership we so desperately need at this time ? ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man', they say. Well, the hour is surely nigh, but that man (or woman) is unfortunately nowhere in sight.
But acting like an ostrich when facing danger is no longer an option. Maybe it is time that the 'silent majority' challenges some of our so-called leaders and demand that our political masters face their responsibilities by ensuring that they come together in order to preserve and improve the quality of the lives of the citizens of the world.
But right now, it looks like we're approaching one minute to midnight, and our leaders (such as they are) are clueless, like the proverbial rabbits in the headlights just waiting for the economic and social meltdown that looks increasingly likely to be coming our way.
Let's look at the evidences, Europe is in shambles. Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain all, to varying degrees, are looking down the barrel of a big gun and will have to accept much lower standards of living for their people for many years to come.
The UK, is facing a similar battle. In the US, lawmakers are busy fighting each other, rather than battling the 14 trillion budget deficit and taking care of the disadvantaged. And as for Japan, that one-time 'economic miracle’? Well, Japan was written off years ago.
How about the Middle East? Well, which one? The “poor” Middle East or the “rich” one? The “failed” revolutions in Egypt, and Tunisia or the civil rifts in Libya, Yemen and Syria? Either way you look, its not very promising. Slogans such as “The people want to topple the regime” are taking them nowhere least because the slogans themselves are misleading. What about the “rich” Middle East? Well, most are behaving like “filling stations” with cheap gas and expensive stop shops. Many countries in the Middle East are still involved in longstanding wars or conflicts, and political change may be coming but at considerable cost both in terms of human lives and personal sacrifice.
All in all, the picture is not very pretty. Furthermore, many feel that we are close to a tipping point - unless lawmakers around the world raise their game and show some leadership, they will lose control to extremists, fundamentalists, anarchists, opportunists and thugs. And then there really will be meltdown, as social unrest morphs into social uprising, characterized by class warfare and, eventually, the breakdown of law and order. Dramatic? Hyperbole? Possibly. But impossible? Not at all.
And how about our leaders? Well, therein lies the problem – what leaders?!.
The ones that dither, talk clichés, mired in sex scandals, feudalists, senile, mired with fatal illnesses and superiority complexes? You can also forget the leaders of China and Russia showing any kind of solidarity with the rest of the world, while those in the Middle East are either worried about their own survival (literally), or their gas stations. Where, then, is the leadership we so desperately need at this time ? ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man', they say. Well, the hour is surely nigh, but that man (or woman) is unfortunately nowhere in sight.
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