US Visit: Pine Gap to Athenian Tragedy – Virtue or Vice?

I wasn’t going to write anything about the visit of US President Obama to Australia, although my eye brows did rise with the announced Uranium sales to India, the number one nuclear flash point in the world and a non signatory to the UN Non Proliferation Treaty (nuclear weapons). Interestingly the build up of Marines in Darwin was another area I was not going to comment on until I heard the media reminding all Australians of the bombing of Darwin by Japan during the Second World War. I wondered why do Australians need to be reminded of an event that happened in 1945? Could it be that it was to remind Australians that they are vulnerable to the north of Australia, to plant the seed of fear, that they need the protection from the United States? Are we going to see news shift from middle eastern refugees to Asian? Who is the next enemy?

I wondered at the culture of fear in the media and how it divides us and creates enemies. As a person trained in Conflict Resolution I can see clearly that the key issue is fear of economic collapse which creates imagined scenarios of a shifting balance of power to China, as the major source of economic power in the world. Money talks and money is god for many. Yet I like Gandhi’s notion ‘truth is god’.

The Australian Government mentioned recently the Asian Century indicating the focus on Asia economically, particularly in the mining/commodities industries. So they are clearly in the middle of a balance beam. They must please the eagle and the dragon. Interestingly the Hydra comes to mind (many heads). Given our symbol is the kangaroo I am sure there will be a lot of jumping. The question is – how high? Perhaps the move to sell uranium to India is to ensure Australia’s GDP is not affected by the last decision. Moreover, the US Indo nuclear relationship was signed in 2006 and the Russian/Chinese/Pakistan union formed which illustrates geopolitical lines drawn in the sand. I recall at the airport in India reading a sign that said ‘Can India become a Global superpower overtaking the United States – QUESTION MORE’. I think the US and Australia should question more. I find it interesting that the two most populous nations are in this equation. Interestingly the mythical Hindu god Genesha comes to mind, perhaps the Indians will find their wisdom and intellect to guide the world to peace. The Chinese had Lao Tzu as one of their greatest teachers, he was known as Old Master. He was quoted as saying: “Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.” The latter part is the message of our times.

Just magine when we work from first principles and master ourselves (virtues), the vision gets clearer. When we follow the all mighty dollar we get lost in complex games where there is always a win/lose, such is the nature of power over others. Again, similar to Europe we are at choice points, who are we in relationship to this? Do we work for unity or do we work as separate economic interests? Are we with them, against the other or are we for a peaceful world where all win. That is an interesting third way. This evokes the notion of the Third Sider, this is an approach in Conflict Resolution. Imagine if Australia chose to be international mediators interested in facilitating wise agreements in the interests of all parties. Years ago Gareth Evans (former Foreign Minister) attempted to position Australia as a peacemaker in Cambodia, he also had hopes to become Secretary General of the UN. In truth, Australia could have played that role. However, Australia hooked its wagon to the ‘coalition of the willing’ and joined in an “illegitimate war of aggression” as stated by Scott Ritter (former US Weapons Inspector in Iraq). Thus we lost political credibility and face I would venture, in this region and worldwide. So the plot thickens me thinks, or digging a deeper ditch comes to mind – perhaps that is why we are called ‘diggers’. Resonates with mining as well. I see poetry there.

So I felt inspired to write a poem. It would have to be my longest as it just flowed. I never know where it goes until it gets there, I so enjoy this process.

I started with Pine Gap as the US does not need to inform Australians about what goes on there, even if those activities affect the security of Australia. It is US soil. I try to find democracy in that… hmmmm

Here is a poem the international chess game inspired.

FROM PINE GAP TO AN ATHENIAN TRAGEDY: I ASK VIRTUE OR VICE?

The Gap between the synapse,
Does not pine for intelligence gathering,
For the genuine central intelligence has no thought,
As it lives in peace.

Defence signals directorates,
Foreign bases,
Alliances,
Security cordons,
Theates of war,
Is the language of defence in search of war.

The international chess board,
International cap and trade,
General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade,
World Trade Organisation,
International Monetary Fund,
Are pieces of puzzles in confusion,
That strategize and second guess,
For they work to maximize profit,
To win the game at all costs,
Yet in truth the earth has one game,
Which is aware of the missing peace.

This prose is a light to all governments,
To those invested in business-as-usual,
That the first move of defence,
Is the beginning of war,
It sends out ripples rustling the Bushes of Asian tigers,
For armaments and training exercises are fit for war,
In the absence of peace,
Rattling the Talisman Sabre,
Does not reinforce power,
It reduces real power,
When others profit from suffering and famine,
A bazaar free market,
That was never a free for all.

I smile at secrecy for I am open,
Eaves dropping for advantage rather than communicating differences,
As drift webs of telecommunications scour the globe of key words,
Geostationary satellites can pinpoint a gold coin,
Searching for signs of enemies and hegemony,
Signs of discontent,
Signs of opposition,
Taking positions yet not petitions…

For the wise say to those in great fear:

“What you resist persists,
What you look at disappears”

Hence, what you resist you put in place,
What disappears has no reality,
When captives are released from your mind.

Shadows on the walls of division loom larger than life,
Scare the small child imagining monsters are coming,
For the unchecked shadow of the mind terrorizes
with imagined demons,
Many huddle behind trade walls as economic blankets,
That seldom keeps them warm,
Although the climate has changed.

The Prisoners Dilemma is the real China Syndrome,
It is the rubrics cube of shadow puppets,
Where puzzles are no longer military build ups,
But learning to see another way,
To turn one way, then another to see differently,
To find the logic or intuition?
Where vertical leylines become horizontal hexagrams,
As the peace comes together when we stay below,
From broken lines of conformity to moving lines of unity,
The World Book of changes,
Challenges all governments to change,
To represent all peoples above board,
For this is the one game where the outcome is
a win/win,
This becomes the Findhorn Foundation
upon which all community and nature grows together
integrating into a new common era post war.

True power is …

Freedom from ‘unquestioned’ fears,
Freedom from the ‘need’ for security,
Freedom from ‘unseen’ manipulation,
Freedom from ‘masked’ interests,
It is being free to ‘be’ who you truly are,
Not what you do,
For when you live what is natural,
You will naturally be working for the best interests
of all human-kind,
For that is the shape of a kind human.

For all peoples of the world live in the …

Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, Russia, Middle East, Greenland, Australia as one human family,

And all are seeking freedom from war,
They are protesting for peace and sustainability,
Not to be spied on, exploited and used as cannon fodder,
They are seeking happiness and REAL HOPE,
The sunrise of the true life,
For life is the gift
when realised,
For you are one in billions that came to earth,
And this is a fortunate journey not a hopeless job,
As we will no longer rob Peter to pay Paul,
Or buy media to manufacture public consent,
For all people seek dominion over their lives,
As the internet sends billions of messages,
As a new security umbrella is erected in cyber space,
Of uncensored opinion pieces sited in:

MyBlog, Twitter, Facebook, Flicker, Youtube, MySpace,
Scoping from Wikipedia to Wikileaks,

The global community are seeking real information,

As they are inspired for change…

“to know thyself and be true”

For the future of children must be pure,
For we are no longer landlocked and under control,
As all global citizens seek life, liberty and happiness,
As a global mantra capturing the hearts and minds,
For we have more in the global commons,
Then divides us,
And this is the good news,
That is not on tonight’s news,
Tele-caste.

For unity and peace is the new security foundation,
With no need of frameworks,
As the structure collapses into neural networks of renewable energies,
Finding focus in harmony
as the synchronicity of a new super continent
comes together as a real superpower of unity,
Emerging movements from melting icecaps of imbalance,
As Pangaea is Gaia,
Poseidon emerges from a stationary orbit,
As the wars of many worlds sink beneath the sea,
As Gaia frees itself from systems theories that are unregulated,
Where the world is divided by nation states and unquestioned thoughts,
For this is the cell division out of control,
Bought and sold without values,
As business men try to maintain control,
Over living systems of intelligent life,
For one cannot hold sand in an hour glass,
Suspending life supports divided by greed,
No holes barred is the ethos of today,
As mind identity pays,
As love stays,
below self interest.

The mythos of impending chaos is an Athenian tragedy,
Poetica speaks of change – For good fortune or for bad?
Does the bad turn to the good,
Or the good turn to the bad?
Good fortune for all?
Or the fall in the Garden of Eden?
For it is Adam eating genetically modified fruit from the tree of life,
As Eve watches the apple in her eye
die.

The illuminated ask:

Egoic limitation (imprisonment) or liberation (freedom)?
Illuminati or free will?
Ignorance or true knowledge?
The plot or intent?

For each reflects the character,
As emotional guidance systems favour ethics,
Egoic consciousness favours world war,
As Thor finds his thunder downunder,
As Iceland turns Green,
A bolt out of the blue,
Is the wild card,
That is the shard of light,
A break in the glass ceiling story,
Awakening all to a new morning glory,
Where love reins supreme,
And this is the waking dream
of all Dreamkeepers.