Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Dialogue and Diplomacy
Why Dialogue is an essential part of listening to interest groups' positions. Coming to the table to have our own perspective heard but remaining genuinely open to the perspectives of the "other" is the most important part of dialogue - a deeper understanding from which we can make clearer decisions about moving forward in personal conflicts and international conflicts.
See what Jonas Gahr Store has to say:
TED talk on the importance of Dialogue in diplomacy
See what Jonas Gahr Store has to say:
TED talk on the importance of Dialogue in diplomacy
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Buddhism For Development
"Spiritual and economic development should not be separated into two separate realms. In Buddhism, one is not more important than the other. We have a saying, "Nāma-rupa" which means that mind and matter have to go together. Mind affects matter and matter affects the mind. It is the teaching of the Buddha that economic development and spiritual development need to be done alongside each other." - Heng Monychenda, founder of Buddhism for Development (BFD)
Buddhism for Development, founded in 1990, has been working to create opportunities for monks to engage in social work activities. Huffington Post published an article by Katherine Marshall (Georgetown) describing the motivation and impact of the organization over the past 20 years. Here's the full article from the Berkeley Center at Georgetown.
Thanks, CL, for sending this article!
Buddhism for Development, founded in 1990, has been working to create opportunities for monks to engage in social work activities. Huffington Post published an article by Katherine Marshall (Georgetown) describing the motivation and impact of the organization over the past 20 years. Here's the full article from the Berkeley Center at Georgetown.
Thanks, CL, for sending this article!
RSA Animate - The Empathic Civilisation
Assumptions we've created based on our educational, economic, and political institutions may be wrong. Our identities or where we feel we "belong" has shifted over the course of human civilization based on arbitrary outward situations. i.e. the "fiction" called the nationstate, religious affiliation, blood ties.
Empathy is the opposite of utopia - there is no mortality or suffering in utopia. Empathy is based on frailty and imperfections: the ability to show solidarity with other humans, other creatures, and our biosphere.
"Mirror Neurons" are proving empathetic capacity - humans are softwired for belonging, attachment, sociability rather than aggression and selfishness.
Is it possible to extend our empathy to the entire human race? the other creatures we share this biosphere with? and the biosphere itself?
To Empathize is to Civilize.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tibetan Freedom, Nepali Foreign Policy, and Wikileaks
"When caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said in October that he wouldn't let foreign powers interfere in internal matters, Nepal's Telegraph newspaper called it the 'best joke of the month.'" - LA Times
LA Times article addresses the new Nepali Prime Minister's foreign policy approach with India and China in light of the Wikileaks documents released in December 2010. The audio files have evidence that Nepali border police are sending Tibetans back to China, paid off by the Chinese government. The claims that these audio records are true have been denied by both sides.
Prithvi Narayan Shah, Nepal's Gorkha unifier (conquerer?) coined the phrase, "Yam between two boulders." This phrase continues to be tossed around today to describe the delicate relationship between these three countries. The Tibet issue is a bargaining chip China can freely use when negotiating with Nepal government - especially the factions that value strong ties with China.
LA Times article addresses the new Nepali Prime Minister's foreign policy approach with India and China in light of the Wikileaks documents released in December 2010. The audio files have evidence that Nepali border police are sending Tibetans back to China, paid off by the Chinese government. The claims that these audio records are true have been denied by both sides.
Prithvi Narayan Shah, Nepal's Gorkha unifier (conquerer?) coined the phrase, "Yam between two boulders." This phrase continues to be tossed around today to describe the delicate relationship between these three countries. The Tibet issue is a bargaining chip China can freely use when negotiating with Nepal government - especially the factions that value strong ties with China.
Water Water Everywhere
Loadshedding is not a mystery to anyone living in the Kathmandu Valley. It's a daily reality, even during monsoon when the rains come pouring down. I have often wondered, with so many hydro-power projects established and in the works along the gravity-fueled rivers of the Himalaya, why does the Kathmandu populace suffer with 14 - 20 hours of power-outages per day in the dry winter/spring time?
Journalist Kunda Dixit sheds some light on this issue with these two articles in the Nepali times - White Gold (2007) and No Light at the End of the Tunnel (2011). Complications cited are lack of government, political instability, and poor implementation of energy development strategies. Nepal is often compared to Bhutan who sells 80% of their generated hydroelectricity to India - many see Nepal's rivers as a gold mine when considered from this angle. There seems to be a leak somewhere, however, as the fountains are hardly able to produce enough energy to support the existing consumption levels in the Kathmandu Valley alone. The numbers do not seem to add up.
Another mystery linked to this issue is the interaction Nepal has had for years with foreign aid funding hydro-electric projects in the name of development. Though now a few years old, this short paper by Kundan Pokharel Majagaiya sheds some light on Nepal's dependency but reticence to foreign aid.
Journalist Kunda Dixit sheds some light on this issue with these two articles in the Nepali times - White Gold (2007) and No Light at the End of the Tunnel (2011). Complications cited are lack of government, political instability, and poor implementation of energy development strategies. Nepal is often compared to Bhutan who sells 80% of their generated hydroelectricity to India - many see Nepal's rivers as a gold mine when considered from this angle. There seems to be a leak somewhere, however, as the fountains are hardly able to produce enough energy to support the existing consumption levels in the Kathmandu Valley alone. The numbers do not seem to add up.
Another mystery linked to this issue is the interaction Nepal has had for years with foreign aid funding hydro-electric projects in the name of development. Though now a few years old, this short paper by Kundan Pokharel Majagaiya sheds some light on Nepal's dependency but reticence to foreign aid.
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