![\"Tornado\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Tornado.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe rest of the country stood by like a confused onlooker. \u00a0Whatever your beliefs, whatever your fears, however good your knowledge of the situation: none of those would count. \u00a0In May, the UK\u2019s democratic system transferred our voting rights for another five years to a bunch of elected MPs to take nearly all decisions on our behalf. \u00a0We\u2019ll all get a vote on whether or not we want to stay in Europe – but that will be equally confusing too. \u00a0Just like the Scottish No vote last year.<\/p>\n
David Cameron\u2019s timing for the bombing Syria vote was lucky. \u00a0The Paris atrocities a couple of weeks ago certainly added considerable weight to the case. \u00a0His party held the line, and increased a narrow Tory majority by doing whipping deals with selected allies and the vote for the \u201cayes\u201d was further buoyed-up by the schism in the Labour party. \u00a0So the \u201cayes\u201d had it and the NATO alliance held together because that\u2019s what allies do. \u00a0Stick together in hard times.<\/p>\n
What other solutions were put forward? \u00a0What other creative ideas were framed? \u00a0What other, more effective ways of preventing further bloodshed were considered? \u00a0 What were the real options to stop further escalation the a tit-for-tat of a bomb in a beach resort or another vulnerable European city versus drone attacks and bombing raids on strategic Daesh targets in Syria?<\/p>\n
I remember visiting Beirut for a day in 1978. \u00a0I was in transit from Egypt to Cyprus. \u00a0Middle East Airlines put me up for a free night in a four-star hotel as part of the deal of flying via their country. \u00a0It was a great deal for the penniless student that I was at the time. \u00a0I took a taxi around the central part of the city on the way back to the airport. \u00a0On every street corner\u00a0there was a burned-out armoured car and a different faction guarding their patch. \u00a0Nothing much seems to have changed since then.<\/p>\n
The UN Climate Change Conference, which started in Paris this week, has given some hope that we might be reaching a level of consciousness that understands that climate change is going to continue to hit random parts of the world as a knight moves around in a game of chess. \u00a0Although ridiculed by some newspapers for his views, I can see the connection that Prince Charles made about climate change causing drought in Syria which in turn causes a shortage of natural resources (like water), \u00a0which in turn cause a refugee problem in South Eastern Europe. \u00a0The world is so connected now – more than it ever has been, perhaps. \u00a0It is the butterfly effect in action.<\/p>\n
We need to think differently and organise ourselves differently if we are going to solve the complex problems that the world is currently facing. \u00a0I used to think that X causes Y was the only way to think. \u00a0I\u2019m not so sure anymore. \u00a0Just look at the weather. \u00a0Everyone\u2019s weather in the world is apparently affected by changes in water temperature just off the West Coast of South America with the\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o effect. \u00a0And so it is with international politics and relations: everything is connected.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure computer modelling and technology can help here – but we need a lot more than \u201cbig data\u201d and analytics and advanced aerial killing machines directed from many thousands of miles away to solve these problems. \u00a0In particular, we need to understand that each of the world\u2019s primitive fragile systems of fresh water, clean air, natural energy resources and inhabitable land are themselves so interconnected that together they will have the greatest impact on the world\u2019s population migration and quality of life of all of us in the coming twenty to thirty years. \u00a0Southern Europe is currently under siege from migrants who themselves are refugees from a part of the planet that is fast burning-up. \u00a0Areas which have traditionally sustained life, but which can no longer do so.<\/p>\n
What to do? \u00a0Commentary by analysts simply isolate the issues. \u00a0Linking them together does not seem to happen so much. \u00a0It might be my associative mind, but the inter-dependencies BETWEEN the systems mean that the gaps between the systems might just hold the answers. \u00a0As regular readers will know, one of my favourite expressions is that: \u201cthe answer lies in the space between\u201d.<\/p>\n
On first glance, it was very encouraging to see Mark Zuckerberg give up 99% of his fortune to charitable causes. \u00a0Line up all the rich kids and strip them of 99% of their fortunes. \u00a0Job done! \u00a0Yet, reading between the lines, the vehicle Zuckerberg will use will be a limited liability partnership (LLP), not a charitable foundation. \u00a0The LLP will be allowed to lobby, make a profit and won\u2019t have to give away a pre-determined amount of cash to other charities every year. \u00a0 Smart man, Zuckerberg. \u00a0Maybe he is onto something.<\/p>\n
It is time to think afresh about how we take decisions and how we control the excesses – whether they be banking bonuses, lobbying for vested interests or pollution. \u00a0Relying on individual human nature won\u2019t solve these problems. \u00a0Traditional economically-driven regulation won\u2019t hack the course either. \u00a0The current systems are so stuck in the past; they need a complete rethink.<\/p>\n
Waging war by throwing deadly flying machines at an enemy who can only fire back with machine guns and suicide bombers will only dig us deeper into the proverbial. \u00a0It may well take Zuckerberg, Gates and a few others with purposeful family-centric LLPs to crack many of the problems that our more outdated institutions have failed to solve.<\/p>\n
Then again, I suppose that rich families and the dynasties that they create have always ruled the world. \u00a0All other structures are impermanent, insignificant or mouthpieces of the ruling classes. \u00a0Mr Zuckerberg for President, anyone?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The arguments raged for ten hours in the House of Commons. \u00a0The vote\u00a0was cast. \u00a0 The MPs agreed by a sizeable majority that it was a good thing to let the Royal Air Force bomb Syria. \u00a0A few hours later, the Tornado Jets were set loose like the dogs of war. The rest of the … <\/p>\n