Mind Soup

James Wolfensohn [Communicated via e-mail to the AUB community] Dear AUB faculty, students, staff, and friends, You will have heard that Sir James Wolfensohn has decided not to attend the Commencement ceremonies on June 25, during which the university had intended to award him an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters and had anticipated hearing him give the keynote speech at graduation. His decision was taken in the aftermath of a petition that was organized by several faculty members at AUB, then circulated to the faculty and student community, as well as to our alumni, who were specifically encouraged not just to sign the petition but to write letters of protest. In the wake of predictable coverage by the media, the press in Lebanon have given wide notoriety to the issue as well, apparently based primarily on the wording of the petition, which is highly selective in the information it provides. The coverage has been mostly, and unfairly, critical of James Wolfensohn...

President Sleiman while delivering his speech (10:30 AM) Mohammad: The Arab Thought Foundation is having its 9th Fikr conference today in Beirut. The event started with the word of Dr. Soliman Abdel Moneim, Secretary General of the Arab Thought Foundation, as well as HRH Khalid Al Faisal, Chairman of Arab Thought Foundation and His Excellency Michel Sleiman, President of the Republic of Lebanon. Also attending the event was the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Speaker of Parliment Nabih Berri. (11:50 AM) Eman:   The first speech entitled “Arab’s Role in Shaping the Future”, his majesty Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdelullah, the Minster of Foreigners Affairs in the Sultanate of Oman, was interviewed about his experience in various field concerning the future. The main questions lied within politics, economics and culture. (details follow later.) (12: 35 PM) Mohammad: Parag Khanna, Expert in International relations and Director of the Global Governance Initiativ...

Today in Operations Management class, the professor showed us a video called "The Hidden Face of Globalization". This video shows how humans are abused in developing countries by western corporations to do all the labor is sweat-shop conditions, violence and being paid less 3-5 dollars per week. Off course, in class we were focusing on the business concept of sweat-shops, the efficiency, the processes, the decisions, etc.. but we did not focus on the ethical perspective. I thought it would be very interesting to share this video with my readers to make them aware of what goes on in the world. This should make you think twice before buying a standardized product from your favorite brand company. [If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz,  click here  to see the video]

Put pressure on politicians to end hunger. Sign the petition, and push for action wherever you are. [If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz,  click here  to see the video] Join me and around 130,000 people to put pressure on our useless politicians in hopes of taking action about the 1 billion starving humans in the world. If you care just a little bit, if you belong to this race, if you have humane blood rushing through your veins, you should take action. It is not these people's faults that they were born in poor countries, it is not their faults that their natural resources are being abused by western governments and corporation, it is not their faults that their governments are not taking care of them. The least you can do is sign the petition. Click here to join my path towards aiding in spreading awareness and pressuring those in power to help. God bless you all.

I have, of course, been outraged at armed men boarding ships in international waters, killing passengers on board who attempt to resist and then forcing their ship to the hijackers' home port. I am, of course, talking about the Somali pirates who are preying on Western ships in the Indian Ocean. How dare those terrorists dare to touch our unarmed vessels on the high seas? And how right we are to have our warships there to prevent such terrorist acts. But whoops! At least the Israelis have not demanded ransom. They just want to get journalists to win the propaganda war for them. Scarcely had the week begun when Israel's warrior "commandos" stormed a Turkish boat bringing aid to Gaza and shot nine of the passengers dead. Yet by week's end, the protesters had become "armed peace activists", vicious anti-Semites "professing pacifism, seething with hate, pounding away at another human being with a metal pole". I liked the last bit. The fact that ...

The story of how secondhand clothing, given away as charity in the west, ends up in Zambia, Africa.