Word Stack or A Pile of Thoughts

Reaction to the news of Iran continuing its nuclear energy program after
the UN imposed deadline on August 31

Why is Iran so adament about pursuing its nuclear energy program? 
Although it claims to be developing nuclear energy capability for civilian
application, it is clear that military grade uranium will eventually be
produced, and that’s just a skip away from actually putting it on the tip
of missle.  The record of subterfuge and misdirection, as well as
downright denial of UN and IAEA inspectors access to the Iran’s nuclear
facilities points to the question: what do they have to hide?  So let’s
not kid ourselves with saying that Iran isn’t developing weapons,
because the evidence says otherwise.  However, that doesn’t mean that
nuclear weapons is their only concern.  They could also be constructing
actual energy plants.  So, in the face of these conclusions, lets think
of reasons why Iran is doing what its doing.

- The politics of nuclear weapons- being a nuclear power is a trump card 
in foriegn relations.  As Iran makes itself a modern power, able to
stand up to its neighbors China and Russia, as well as present a strong
political face to the Arab countries to the south, the possession of
nuclear weapons (though not the use of them) is a major motivation for a
the Iranian state.  The problem is that everyone who wants to be someone
wants nuclear weapons, and if everyone has nuclear weapons, the political
value of owning nuclear weapons diminishes.

- Oil issues and China- China is highly dependant on both Iranian and Saudi oil. 
But unlike the Arabs, Iran doesn’t have the surplus to give to both itself
and China (oil is highly subsidized in Iran).  To make more out of its oil
(by selling it),Iran can develop nuclear energy to take the burden of
providing energy from off of its oil reserves.  China also sees this as
beneficial because of the need for oil in order to continue economic growth.
Right now, China’s economy is counted among the fastet growing economies
in the world.  In order to sustain that growth, China must have oil to fuel
its industries, transportation and commerce.  To get it from the Arabs is
well and good, but a direct pipeline from Iran is the sweet spot.  That
pipeline will be possible once Iran is no longer dependant on its own oil
reserves and can share them with China.

- National pride- probably more subtle in its manifestation, Iranian culture
surely has something to do with the strong articulation of defiance coming
from the Iranian state.  Iran has a long history, and traces its cultural
heritage back to the Persian Empire.  This inheritance is not a light matter,
and it affects Iranian outlooks on international relations.

Because of the government’s failure to comply, Iran is now facing
serious economic and political sanctions, such as limiting the travel of
Iranian clerics and diplomats, as well as the freezing of foriegn assets,
and trade embargos. The reasons listed above are pretty obvious.  They
are nothing new. But the question isn’t what the reasons are; the
question is are the reasons good enough to risk what Iran is risking? 
Additionally, should the international community be willing to recognize
these reasons as legitimate? 

Are the reasons good enough?

From where I’m seeing it, it depends on how far the Iranian state is willing
to take the battle.  And that’s the problem.  It’s become a battle, between
Western calls for a halt and Iranian insistance.  It’s not about finding a
solution, because the solution being proposed by one side is directly
opposed by the other.  The reasons are well and good, we can see why the
Iranians want nuclear energy.  But if the game continues to proceed the way
it has been proceeding, then there could be some serious consequences.  In
other words, the reasons are right, but the pursuit of those reasons is
wrong.

The international community

We’re getting two messages, with subtle but significant differences, from
GWB in Washington and the UN Security Council in New York.  The former is
calling for regime change, with the typical use of terrorism, nuclear
weapons and security "for the American People" as reasons to take action. 
The latter is ready to enforce UN rule through diplomatic action, mainly
because of Iran’s failure to comply with UN ruling.

I’ve constantly held the view that both George Bush and Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad are being unneccessarily aggressive with their public
rhetoric.  They’re words are a throw-back to times when people could be
whipped up into a nationalistic fervor over the fancy words of a demagogue.
However, as personally ineffective as their words may be, publically, in
the media, they still count for something. 

George Bush wants to present a strong face to the American nation, as a
"war-time" leader, continuing the fight against terrorism.  Five years
after 9/11, and the Americans find themselves with a government that is
bordering on the paranoid, squandering political good-will in the
international arena and making more enemies the friends in the Middle East.

Then we have Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose fiery words are causing undue
concern in the West.  Does he really mean what he says?  A week ago, the
New York Times reported on the Iranian culture of Ta’Rof, the penchant of
saying one thing but actually meaning something else (Filipinos do this a
lot).  So, does he really mean what he says?  I don’t think Ahmadinejad, or
the Iranian people want to risk a war.  But they don’t want to be bullied
either. 

The UN is being cautious, as they usually are.  The Security Council will
take action, but that action will be tempered by the presence of Russia and
China, both who have interests in the development of a nuclear Iran, as well
as closer ties to the Iranian state then other members of the Council.

This caution is what the international community needs.

Keep the lines of
dialogue open.  The UN must be able to assert itself over the United States
in order for these lines of dialogue to be open.  Only the Bush Administration
has shown itself to be willing to flout the UN; someone needs to deal with
Bush at the same time we deal with Ahmadinejad. 

It is said that one can learn international politics simply by watching
children on a playground.  Sure enough, it looks like Bush and Ahamdinejad
are about to start a rock fight, and the UN needs to be the grown-up and
step in between, and deal fairly with both America and Iran.

He still bears the scars of the grenades at Plaza Miranda.  His voice is paced and steady, yet beneath the quavering words of an old man, there is still a ring of fire and passion when he speaks of the country that he so obviously loves.  "There is a Spanish saying," he explains, "’La mala hierba es dura de matar‘, it means ‘Bad grass is hard to kill."  He smiles at his own joke.  "Maybe, I’m like the bad grass."  Dr. Jovito R. Salonga, at age 84, is still as outspoken, humored, and sharp as he ever was.

"I’ve given my life twice for this country.  The first time was during the war, when I went underground to fight the Japanese for the atrocities they committed against the children and women in my town," Salonga says, recalling his days as a guerilla in Pasig.  In 1942, the young Salonga, at the age of 22, was captured by the Japanese forces and tortured.  In 1943, he was released by virtue of the Kigen Setsu, the Japanese Founders Day.  "The second time was during Martial Law."  In 1971, Senator Salonga was running for re-election as a member of the Liberal Party of the Philippines, or LPP.  On August 21, the LPP held a rally in Plaza Miranda, in Quiapo, Manila, both as part of their political campaign and as a move against the abuses and electoral cheating being committed by the Nacionalista Party, under the leadership of the soon-to-be president Ferdinand Marcos.  Two grenades exploded on the stage, killing 8 people and wounding a hundred civilians as the blasts and shrapnel rippled through the crowd.  Senator Salonga was critically injured, with concussions to the head and traumatic injuries to his right arm and leg.  Today, he displays the scars proudly. "The doctor’s said I was going to die.  But here I am," Dr. Salonga says with a smile.  He explains that most of the surgical team who operated on him that night are now long gone, the head surgeon having passed away several months ago.  "I’ve outlived my doctors," the old man explains, his eyes twinkling. 

As ever before, Dr. Jovito R. Salonga takes an active role as a private citizen of the Philippines.  Salonga’s opinions today ring with clarity and edge, as he writes for Kilosbayan and provides advice for Bantay-Katarungan.  "Most of the media today– print as well as broadcast– are simply telling the stories given to them from people of the likes of (Ignacio) Bunye and (Mike) Defensor." Dr. Salonga, an outspoken commentator on the affairs of the adminstration, speaks with easy candor about the problems of the Philippines. When asked about the idea that Filipino students today are characterised as "apathetic and uninterested with the society and government", his reaction was swift and biting: "No, I don’t agree with that.  The students today are not apathetic; they just have to be challenged."  Dr. Salonga explains that a recent survey conducted by the Bantay-Katarungan organization among young people in the city of Antipolo reveals much about the state of mind among the youth of today.  "An overwhelming majority, around ninety to nintey-five percent, were in favor of proceeding with an impeachment trial for President Arroyo.  I believe," he continues "if an independant survey from SWS (Social Weather Station) were conducted, it would find close to the same results." 

Dr. Salonga knows of the troubles of our country.  He has been at the forefront of two EDSA’s, and is now an outspoken critic of the moves of the administration to kill the impeachment petition.  "The impeachment is the only legal method to hold the president accountable to the people.  It is an opportunity for the president to confront and clarify the issues against her."  Dr. Salonga breathes a sigh that sounds like steady exasperation.  With the failure of the petition to be recognized in the Congress, he explains, the only avenue left is extra-judicial action.

We talk about how the Filipino people are tired of taking to the streets, tired of hearing the same rhetoric, tired of politics and tired of changing governments.  But Dr. Salonga, in all his many years of fighting for the Philippines, as a lawyer, a soldier, a congressman, a senator, and now as a private old man, is not tired.  He continues to press on, driven by his love of country and led by his balanced analysis of the Filipino nation.

***For me, the opportunity to interview Dr. Jovito Salonga was perhaps the single best experience i’ve ever had as a student of journalism. 

I don’t belive in using the blog as a rant for personal reflection; I use bedside notebooks for that.  However, tonight, I’ll make an exception.

"Great Khaldaran!" I exclaimed, staring up at the monstrous figure looming out of the clouds.  Each of its six wings moved with steady power, propelling it through the mist.  Its maw gaped open, like a cavern filled with glittering jewls.  Only those are no jewls, my mind echoed, as I stared blankly at the creature’s teeth, each as tall as the very mast of our ship.

Random fantasy fic for the day.  All this talk of ships and masts is getting to my head.  The School of Communication (soon to be College of Communication, if my sources are speaking the truth) has built a wonderfully unique and outstanding booth for the 2006 Hibalag Festival here in Silliman University; in this little corner of the world, people are gathering together and whooping and jumping and yelling with spirit to celebrate the founding of our university.  For a single week, all the enthusiasm and school spirit is expressed in what could almost be a collective orgasm.  I sound like a party-pooper, and I apologize for it…

…however, its simply just a reaction to the trend of sudden rising emotions gripping people around me.  That’s not to say that I’m immune to the Founders Day Fever; I had my fun.

And I thought I had successfully deviated from my original idea of writing about the booth.  The reason I’m quite content tonight is simply because our booth is awesome.  Jian and I decided to model our booth this year after a three-masted English frigate, a man-of-war, a ship from the Age of Sail.  All the other booths(except for the Biology Society booth, which is a filipino outrigger boat docked to a pier)  are simply two story huts, each with little variations.  We have a working poop deck with holes for cannons and red sails (Mass Communication colours: red and black).  The name of our humble vessel: V.M.C. Vox Populi (although Jian managed to spell it "Populae", go figure).  Naturally, after the whole opening ceremony stuff for the Hibalag Festival, we decided to christen the ship with a spray of 7Up (no alcoholic drinks allowed in the booth area).  Then, we got up on the deck and started sword fighting, for the benefit of random onlookers.  Too much fun, mateys, too much fun.

However, I’m not one for action these days, and long nights tire me easily.  For some reason, my body can’t keep up, and I get sick quite quickly.  No, I must rest, and that’s why I’m staring at the computer screen writing all this when my friends are out there having a ton of fun in Hayahay for the reggae night which I miss all too often.  Instead, I must rest, or else my body gives out and I end up in bed with a slight fever and aching joints.  Fuck stress.

Used to be, I could stay up all night, until the next day, working on a project or a paper, or playing D&D with the buddies.  Used to be, I could multi-task and get a whole load of work done, making phone calls, organizing activities, making sure everything is in place for three different organizations.  I could fill up my nights, from one meeting to the next, then finish my homework and get to bed at one. 

But a few things happened, and my constitution broke.  When I used to go to the gym, my trainer warned me that when building physical strength, it’s more important to start with torso strength before working on the limb strength.  In other words, the center is critical; if it breaks, everything goes.  The damage on my stamina is simply, I believe, a result of damage to the center; not the physical body per se, but to the real center, an emotional and mental center which forms the background for my ability to cope with emotional and mental stress (oooo, almost sounds like some Eastern spiritualist philosophy thingy…whatever).

So what could have harmed me that way?  Hmm…back track to last year, and multiply that event with what happened two years prior. 

There are two ways I can view those events: one is to blame them for what happened, and attempt to bring my retribution about by rectifying my mistakes of the past; or I can simply accept what happened as part of my past and move on, dealing with whatever consequences come my way.  Sure, my body is a sort of a wreck; nothing a dose of daily vitamins can’t fix.  And guess what?  I feel emotionally and mentally superb. No, there is no problem when the problem has already been resolved.

Life is a highway.  Drive it, and don’t look back.

    I’ve been reading a book called Einstein’s Dreams.  My mum let me borrow it when i got "indisposed" last friday, thanks to my weak constitution.  It is a fictional work, with each chapter describing a different dream Albert Einstein had while working on his paper that introduced the special theory of relativity.  His dreams take up one chapter each, describing different worlds with different times.    
     In one world, time flows backwards.  A woman sits, wizened and weary of a life utterly spent.  Then her husband is carried back into her home, and she watches as he coughs and wheezes.  They discover he has cancer.  He comes home after a day at the pharmacy.  Her hair returns, and she teaches history at the school.  Her daughter comes back, and comes to live in thier home.  The woman watches her daughter grow younger.  She gives birth.  She and her husband have their honeymoon in the Alps.  They get married.  She meets her husband for the first time, on the steps of their college. 

    In another world, there is a place where time slows to a standstill.  Here, at the center of time, parents embrace their children, lovers kiss, and tears of parting hang motionless.  Here, at the center, every moment is captured for a hundred years.  The child will never grow up and leave, the lovers will never part and break their hearts, and the tears will never strike the ground.

    In another world, time is a sense; some people are better at sensing it then others.  For some, events are rapidly occuring around them.  Cars flash by, and steps clatter, balls whisk through the air, and days and nights flicker with every percieved minute.  Other people sense time more slowly, a conversation taking hours to end, the fire burning ever steadily, a single leaf taking an hour to fall.   In this world, there are those who are time-deaf, who cannot percieve time.  They live in a world of motionlessness, where nothing happens, where events simply occur, without sequence or coherency.

    While reading this book, i found a world that I felt I could actually live in, a sense of time that even now, i lapse into.  In this world, time is a quality, not a quantity.  Events occur, not when it is time for them to occur, but when they are preceded by another event.  A young woman waits by the fountain, because she had met a young man who had promised to meet her there the next day.  He arrives shortly before midnight, and the two of them walk away hand-in-hand, beneath the streetlamps.  A train does not leave until it is full of passengers.  An appointment does not happen until the client arrives.  Time, as a quantity, does not exist.

    And last, another favorite: a world of infinite time.  Everything exists forever, and the people who live in this world can be classified into the Now’s and the Later’s.  The Now’s believe that with infinite time, they must do everything they can to make the most out of it.  They become doctors, engineers, politicians, business-owners.  They do everything they want to do and more.  The Later’s have all the time in the world.  They sit in the coffee shops, wearing flowing robes and reading poetry.  They spend entire days sitting by the lake, waiting for the sun to set.  They move through lif with an easy grace and a sincere smile, taking their time and being distracted by everything. 

     I believe that time is what we make of it.  Some people live in the past, dwelling on the medals and plaques of days long gone.  Others live in the future, working and struggling to make the next day a better day.  For me, I choose to live in the present, without regret for yesterday, without anxiety for tomorrow.

I can’t really call it dedication; no, that would be a misnomer of this strange ritual we engage in.  Dedication indicates something of sacrifice, of discipline– that even when the winds blow across the sails in an unfavorable manner, the captain pounds on.  Even when the feet are heavy and the soul is tired, what must be done must be done.  That would be dedication.  What we do is not that.

Call it "collective imagination".  Because somewhere outside of reality, there is a locale that exists only in the shared minds of a group of friends, huddled and snickering over a their latest imagined adventure.  Escapist?  A valid view of the opposed observer.  For us, the merry band of adventurers, it’s simply a way to pass time… a game of infinite possibility, like Calvin Ball.

Our band of friends comes from a range of human existence:  a teenage father and skimboarder who dreams of being a surgeon; a college council vice-president who grew up in Saudi Arabia and looks to his heros and dreams of an ideal world; a half-german, half-filipino WWII buff who lifts weights and regularly joins mountainbiking competitions; his girlfriend, an Aikido blackbelt and graduate student who grew up in Alaska; a Catholic school boy, spoiled and bratty, who claims his Cebu descent with uninhibited pride; and a 21-year old who writes shit and has weak lungs. 

Now would be the perfect paragraph for me to enumerate and describe the characters who we play in our game of chance, imagination and mathematics.  But that would be pulling the blinds on so many people who don’t share our game (and we are so vastly outnumbered by them).  If i started ranting on about F/R/W and AC 21, HP 63 and 4d6’s, then we’d have a problem on our hands instead of an illuminating discussion.  Instead, I must dispense the story as anyone can understand it…as, well, a story:

The rain fell incessantly upon the wooden wall of the palisade-fort.  For several weeks, the displaced city-folk had been forced to call this refuge their home, this hovel of mud, fleas, blood and splinters.  They had no choice.  Such is the fortune of war.
In the smoky halls within the wooden bailey, the nobles of the city of Istivin argued back and forth, just as they had before their city had been taken by the enemy armies and they, the elite of society, had been forced to the foothills, into this existence as rats and beggars.
Amidst these days of shadow, a group of strangers arrived, weary and worn, traveling along the eastern road.  The nobles would not spare them much heed, having troubles of their own.  But the travelers asked of the road south, and the nobles knew, as everyone in the palisade knew, that the road south would lead only to death, destruction and ruin. 
The travelers agreed to aid the city-folk, in exchange for gold, food, and magic.  But what could so few do against so great an enemy?  Giants, the nobles claimed, wizards and dragons.  No one could stand against the forces that had taken the city. But the travelers cocked their eyebrows, readied their swords, winked at the ladies, and pressed forward.

And such is how time is passed on a weekend after midterms.

It’s a shame, a bleeding shame. The point of the impeachment petition is to lay bare the questions that are hounding the administration. Not only was it shot down in the Congress, but it is being dismissed as the mere noise-making of leftist "troublemakers". Why is this the attitude of the government? Why is there no serious effort try and face the questions that have not been answered?

Ladies and gentlemen of the Filipino people, an impeachment trial does not automatically mean impeachment. What it does mean is that we get to take a closer look at our leaders and electoral system and work that republican system of checks and balances to be sure, once and for all, that the administration we have is legitimate. Whatever the decision is at the end of the day, must be respected as final…litigation always has a limit.

If the administration and Congress allow the impeachment trial to continue, and go through all the proper mechanisms to establish the legitimacy of the election outcome, and whatever else is hiding behind the curtains (such as human rights violations), then they should settle it once and for all in the court of law. Questions will continue to be raised until the questions have found answers.

Of course, one can argue that the activists and protestors will simply, in the face of an unfavorable ruling i.e. PGMA is NOT guilty, call the trial a farce, and take to the streets and say the judges were paid off and that Malacañang hijacked the trial, in the same way it allegedly hijacked the election. Is that proper? Is that legitimate?

In a democracy, sure it is. The administration labels this kind of behaviour as "destabilizing" and a threat to the integrity of the Filipino nation. I beg to differ from the this perspective, saying that in a democratic space, the freedom to express must ultimately be protected. I say, let the activists take to the streets, but only after both they and the adminstration have used all the mechanisms within thier means to settle the issues legally. Now, street rallies and demonstrations are extra-judicial, and are therefore not subject to the assessment of the courts of law. They are now subject to the assessment of the Filipino people. Let the people decide.

And I think that a majority of Filipinos have already decided, but of course, that’s not to say that people can change their minds. If we decide that the administration is illigitimate, then we need to change it; that’s how it works in a democracy. If we find it to be legitimate, then we stick to it, and respect its decisions as a manifestation of the will of the people. But the question is hanging in the air, and the issues have not been addressed.

People tend to want quiet, peaceful lives apart from all the mess in the country. They want to think of the "Filipino people" as an amorphous mass of unknown human beings. However, give that mass a face, give that mass a voice, and things get very uncomfortable. Things get "unstable". If its democracy we’re talking about, instability and change is a fact of life.

Somewhere between the donuts and the coffee, she took me by surprise.  That grin, her twisted smile, her promise of things to come and endless nights with naught but our dreams and wishes, our breaths lost to the maze of each other, the dips and folds and taste of sweet each other.  Feet twine in endless patterns, and we breathe night, we taste laughter, we see the melting moon.  Lost until morning.

Hmm… a mild attempt i guess.