December 13 2007 by The Systemic Analyst.

Here is a pragmatic approach to foreign policy as reported by Kerala News:

“Nobody should feel that our growing ties with other countries are at the cost of old friends,” the minister told reporters…His comment came in response to a specific question on whether the Russian demand for virtually doubling the price of an aircraft carrier the Indian Navy has purchased would sour ties between the two countries.

“Our relations with Russia are not one-contract or one-issue specific. Our relations have stood the test of time for 60 years. If problems arise, we will sort them out,” Antony maintained.

“Previously, our relations with the US were not good. Now they are improving. We are also improving our relations with other countries like Israel, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia. But, nobody should feel this is at the cost of our old friends,” he added.”

The current instability of the world as a result of apparent shifts in global power suggest that aligning the fate of a nation with any one sphere of influence is entirely impractical. The approach India is adopting to befriend ever more nations while maintaining good relations with historic allies makes perfect sense.

If only countries such as Canada could see that while the traditional ties to the U.S. should be maintained, our future will hinge on our ability to forge new, lasting relationships with many other countries. Perhaps even some with countries that currently clash with our prevailing ideological bent, which is not to say that those countries are incorrect in their thinking, just that we are both blinded by messaging that is misleading. After all, survival requires pragmatism as well as compassion, but certainly not compassion at the expense of practicality.

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December 13 2007 by The Systemic Analyst.

Reuters has reported that “Russia warned the West on Monday that recognizing a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) by Kosovo could set off a “chain reaction” of problems in the Balkans and beyond.” Most people educated in the West will read this quote and brush the comments made by Russian leaders off as nonsense. After all, somehow, somewhere along the line, the people of the West have been subtly convinced that the Soviet Union never went away and the big Red enemy still lurks about.

What’s so very unfortunate in this case, is that the statements made by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are much closer to the truth than the idealistic, short-sighted thinking of those powers which feel that a unilateral declaration of Kosovar independence makes long-term sense. Our blindness in believing that Russia is the West’s natural enemy prevent us from seeing what the future consequences of such a declaration would be. How soon we forget the bloody aftermath of a newly reunited Germany’s unilateral declaration of Slovenian and Croatian independence. Was it really so long ago that the decimation of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Croatia should be so easily forgotten - much less the precipitous accelerator of such misfortunate in the meddling countries blinded by ideological euphoria? Or has the maintenance of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the direct interference of Western nations by, quite literally, standing in between the different peoples trapped in this precarious country been such a pillar of Western success that we still cannot admit our culpability in the recent Balkan wars?

Undoubtedly, those who believe that granting Kosovo independence makes perfect sense, are the same people who argue that if Serbia wants to be a part of the European Union (EU) the continued piecemeal destruction of this small nation should occur without incident. Such an argument is akin to attempted inducement of an atheist through promises of access to heaven. Serbia no longer wishes to be a part of the EU, and with good reason, what has Europe done for her? In fact, if the Serbs hadn’t been so adroit at stabilizing their own economy, the on-going persecution of what seems to be Serbian war leaders only combined with the already lost Republika Srpska in Bosnia and the pending loss of Kosovo (not to mention what this might mean for Vojvodina in the north of the country with it’s considerable minority populations), the “reparations” imposed upon Serbia resemble, albeit on a small scale, yet another historical European mistake - think Germany after World War I.

It’s anyone’s guess what a unilateral declaration of Kosovar independence might mean for the region, but if history is any indicator the warnings put forward by Russia seem the most likely. Although tired of war, the people of the Balkans seldom react well to such Western intervention of domestic affairs in the region. It’s too bad that we in the West seem quick to shoot the messenger.

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December 13 2007 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Jerusalem Post has reported that “Desalinated water…lacks many essential plant nutrients, and is more harmful than helpful in irrigating certain crops…While water experts had long thought that desalinated water’s low mineral content was beneficial to crops, new research reveals that it actually damages plants like tomatoes, basil and certain varieties of flowers due to a lack of magnesium and calcium.”

The referenced research comes from Dr. Alon Tal of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research on the Sede Boker campus of BGU and several other scientists published in a recent report, “Rethinking Desalinated Water Quality and Agriculture”.

Although science will undoubtedly be able to assist humans in answering our problems, there are some aspects of nature which just cannot be copied effectively. The only viable solution to our pending water crisis is to change our current approaches to water management (or waste, rather) today.

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