Daniel Lubetzky

Amr Hamzawi provided an unusually frank self-admonition in Al Ahram Weekly about writing what his audience wanted to read, rather than what he truly felt, resorting to common scapegoats (ie, the West) rather than piercing through tougher truths.  This problem is particularly acute amongst Arab academicians and commentators, but it plagues all societies to some degree, and the advent of the internet has in a sense actually exacerbated the phenomena of media sources that "affirm" rather than "inform" beliefs.

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This article by Nathaniel Fick and Vikram Singh provides very practical and sensible prescriptions for progress in stabilizing Afghanistan.

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Besides the fact that Jeff Sachs (the uber-economist) is a smart and good guy, I just realized he looks like Mark Wahlberg’s older brother (or young Dad).  If you don’t believe me, watch him on the Fareed Zakaria GPS interview of Oct 12.  But in the meantime this will have to do as proof:

To be fair to my earlier posts here and in the Huffington Post warning about the irresponsible incitement being fomented by the McCain campaign, John McCain at a town hall meeting on Friday Oct 10th reminded me finally of the John McCain I had admired in the primaries, in his acceptance speech, and in the last 10 years prior to his general election run and his selection of Sarah Palin as his VP.  Here is some proof:

If the campaign continues to spew out terrorist innuendos through proxies including Sarah Palin, while McCain acts as the nice guy, then he should actually get even more blame for irresponsibility and hypocrisy.  Indeed, some of the ugly comments you see in the video were to be expected – once you bring out the genie of racism & hatred, it is hard to bring him back in.

But McCain displayed extraordinary leadership in standing up in the midst of all his supporters and providing principled responses that visibly shook up the partisan crowd and channeled them towards the higher road.  It sounds easy, but it takes enormous courage to tell your supporters, "No", and reject any support you get if it is ill-founded.

Here is hoping that the remainder of the campaign – on both sides – focuses on issues and is more principled.

And on the very negative side, as reported here, small mistakes led to what is already a tragedy: 3 days of violent attacks between Arabs and Jews in the ancient site of Akko (Acre), within Israel.  If it is not managed through political and communal leadership into an aberration in an area normally known for peaceful relations, it could be an omen for terrible things to come.

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The Associated Press reported that Zakariya Zubeidi, who used to be seen as a major terrorist organizer just two years ago, has been granted full amnesty by the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet.

This is a major milestone to a significantly underreported transformation of Jenin from a hotbed of extremism into a pillar of progress, thanks to progress by Prime Minister Fayyad and President Abbas, with support from the US Military envoy.  It could be a critical turning point not just in the construction of a vibrant and secure Palestinian State, but of course also in the process of achieving a comprehensive Israeli-Arab agreement – if only more people were informed about these positive developments.

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Further proof about how people themselves are not the problem, but the solution…

Iranian boy gets cancer treatment in Israel

Friday, October 10, 2008

TEL HASHOMER, Israel: (Reuters) A 13-year-old cancer victim from Iran came to Israel for treatment on Friday, the hospital which received him said, attracting media interest in a country used to decades of hostility with Tehran.

The boy, who has an advanced brain tumour, had travelled from Turkey with his parents after undergoing surgery as well as chemotherapy and radiotherapy in Iran that failed to cure him, Chaim Sheba Medical Centre director Zeev Rotstein said.

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You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out – and what we are witnessing at some of our largest financial
institutions is an ugly sight."

- Warren Buffett

Sent from my iPhone – pardon typos

From an email I got from my sister:

Spirituality is a direct measure of how much joy we experience in our lives…It is not how much we pray, meditate, prostrate ourselves; it is in direct connection to how much joy we give to others that surround us, and how much joy we experience ourselves."

- Guru Baghavan

I have no idea who this Guru is, but I liked the sentiment, expounded on by my sister Ileana in her email:

I really believe that. The people that I consider the most spiritual also are the ones who had the greatest capacity to laugh, to joke, to love others, to make someone’s day better even if they were perfect strangers.

This sentiment is at the core of our work with KIND ambassadors and the KINDED campaign.

I just learned from Daniel Sachs about this think tank – the Glasshouse Forum – to encourage serious thinking towards a more enlightened version of capitalism, one that reflects on the dangers of rampant consumerism (same which we can now witness more clearly with the current financial crisis, not to mention related environmental consequences from consumerism) and related problems like short-term financial objectives and behavior, as well as the impact of globalization on the middle class.

A couple of provocative thoughts about the studies they are setting out on:

…the fact that capitalism is a necessary basis for a free society does not mean that it is a sufficient basis.

…There are tendencies within capitalism itself which cause it to saw off the branch on which it itself is sitting. (ie, the reduction of the Middle class and its buying power)

Capitalism has constantly to stimulate our desires and encourage us to want to satisfy them immediately. This stimulates an infantile character, whose attitude to life can be summed up in three words: I. Everything. Immediately.

[Under unfettered capitalism], Is it our duty to consume more and more in order to keep the economy going, even if we then as households live above our means? While we are focusing on the bubbles in the financial markets – sub-prime, asset-backed securities and others – the largest bubble in terms of long-term impact is the consumption bubble. At some point, the Western world will come into a period of considerably lower consumption levels. This is a structural change that will obviously have a dramatic impact on retail and consumer goods companies as well as on advertising, media and ultimately on our standard of living. Can we cope with such a development?

Has the time come for not-Only-for-Profit models like PeaceWorks to become the rule rather than the exception not just in business but in our economic structures and frameworks?