Daily Notations While Working Away: On Our World, #Turkey, #Iran & Other Thoughts

It has been an interesting 24 hours yet again as I worked on supporting the team with the Daily Social Grid curation and assessing our World.    I was not too shocked as I saw Tony Abbott in Australia being toppled by Malcolm Turnbill which I hope will see a more sensible Australia emerging after the chaotic time in Australia.  I suppose when Tony Abbott lost Rupert Murdoch, it was only a matter of time.    Australia is the "A" in the "NASIIM" concept our team is working on which will be a regular series in #Outsiders.    I have also been fascinated by the latest out of Singapore (The "S") as they just had elections.  

What I continue to be worried about is the inferno engulfing the Middle East.   As our team continues to review the horrific daily reports, it again brought home to me personally the gut-checking article Walter Russell Mead did for the Wall Street Journal.   I wanted to again release this here from his own Twitter Feed for all to review:

We are witnessing today a crisis of two civilizations: the ME and Europe. Immigration is where the two collide. http://t.co/2B3pzTjnvv

— Walter Russell Mead (@wrmead) September 11, 2015

His article was a hard read for me especially in the way he characterized Iran and Turkey.   Turkey is continuing the path of self-destruction after so much achievement during the enlightened years of AKP rule as Edrogan is continuing a misguided policy that is on the verge of tearing the country apart with an economy that is teetering, a security situation that is perilous and the inferno of the Kurdish insurgency that continues in such a profound way.   I commend the team at +BipartisanPolicy as they released this which I received on my personal inbox that underscores another domino that would fall:

Political, Ethnic Violence Tearing Turkey Apart Is Turkey on the brink of civil war? Both Turkish and foreign commentators have asked, following the collapse of the two-and-a-half year ceasefire between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The renewed conflict is playing out both within and outside Turkey’s borders, as Turkish warplanes bomb PKK camps in Northern Iraq and PKK militants launch attacks in Turkey’s cities. The intensification of violence has claimed the lives of at least 70 Turkish servicemen and hundreds of PKK fighters since July, causing widespread concern that Turkey may be returning to the violent conflict that consumed much of the 1980s and 1990s. The renewed violence is having disastrous spillover effects in Turkish society, encouraged by the charged rhetoric of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), that threaten to tear the social fabric of the country apart. The Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Turkey Task Force warned of this possibility in itsfirst report, stating that failure to address Turkey’s remaining democratic deficits, particularly the Kurdish question, could cause Turkey to “fall victim to some of its unresolved social tensions, potentially destabilizing the country and setting back its political and economic progress as well as its aspirations for regional influence.” If allowed to continue, this could lead to the “Syrianization” of Turkey, bringing ethnic conflict once again to Europe’s doorstep.

 I hate to use the "Domino" analogy--but the old rules and new alignments do not apply as we are witness to the profound implosion of the Middle East.  

On the "Virtual Run" w/Daily Outsiders: Personal Thoughts 4 the Night......

It has been a challenging 24 hours in our World as the World has yet again been witness to atrocities beyond the pale.    As I worked away supporting the work of the Daily Outsiders, I released two personal tweets which I wanted to report on here:

😓😓😓 as I reviewed this on Death in #Syria - The New York Times http://t.co/RwGgdMFKEC

— Mike Pouraryan (@mikepouraryan) September 14, 2015

Don't mind noting driven to tears by this: Our lives were saved by #Lebanon: the people who fled #Syria – in pictures http://t.co/jImz5Ch2rN

— Mike Pouraryan (@mikepouraryan) September 15, 2015

As the World has been witness to death and destruction, what especially struck me was the story of the 10-year little girl and the fact that she started a school.      

I just saw a Tweet cross my desk whereby a migrant boat heading to Greece from Turkey sinks and 13 are dead.   When can we make sure that there are no stories like Barra?    

Working Away: Brief Thoughts on "Life".......

It has been a busy weekend in #Outsiders as the team has geared up for a new week of Notations on Syria, Iran, The US Elections and the on-going Europe migration crisis.     As I was working away supporting the work and tending to my own on-going projects, I took comfort in this excerpt from the team at Simple Truths which I am also sharing with my Students.   There is no other way--is there?

Onward!!

You Can Live Every Day of Your Life
from Attitude
by Nido R. Qubein

The law of inertia holds that a body at rest tends to remain at rest, and
a body in motion tends to remain in motion, at the same speed and in the
same direction, unless acted upon by an outside force.

With one major difference, that law applies very well to the pattern of our lives.

People who are successful tend to remain successful.
People who are happy tend to remain happy.
People who are respected tend to remain respected.
People who reach their goals tend to go on reaching their goals.
So what’s the major difference?

In physics, inertia is controlled by outside forces; but the real changes in the directions of our lives come from inside us. As William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a person can alter his life by altering his attitude of mind.”

You can live every day of your life. You can be alive to the tips of your fingers. You can accomplish virtually any worthwhile goal you set for yourself.