Turkey quake tests Erdogan's all-powerful rule

Yahoo – AFP, Fulya Ozerkan with Burcin Gercek in Ankara, February 16, 2023 

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assumed sweeping powers in 2018, he swore the state would deliver more under a centralised system that his critics compare to one-man rule. 

Five years on, an agonisingly slow response to a catastrophic quake has undermined that idea, boosting the opposition's case in  polls planned for May, experts say. 

Erdogan has acknowledged "shortcomings" in the government's handling of Turkey's deadliest disaster of its post-Ottoman history. 

More than 36,000 people have died in Turkey and nearly 3,700 in neighbouring Syria. The toll is expected to keep climbing for days to come. 

Under pressure like at few points in his two-decade rule, Erdogan blamed obstacles such as freezing temperatures and quake-damaged airports and roads. 

No government in the world could have done better, Erdogan said. 

The opposition counters that the February 6 quake underlines why Turkey must switch back to a parliamentary system under which agencies have more freedom to act on their own. 

"You have centralisation in all Turkish institutions, which is reflected in institutions that specifically should not have it," such as the disaster agency, said Hetav Rojan, a disaster management expert who follows Turkey closely. 

'Critical hours' 

Rojan argued that the system, which Erdogan secured through a constitutional referendum in 2017, had hamstrung disaster response agencies that need to make snap decisions on their own. 

Help took days to arrive in many areas, with distressed residents forced to use their bare hands to try and pull relatives from the rubble. 

Others were left without water, food or shelter in freezing temperatures. 

Many volunteers who rushed to the region shared on social media how they were forced to wait for authorisations or how equipment was slow to arrive. 

The government has since dispatched tens of thousands of soldiers to the scene, reinforcing support for millions of people left homeless by a 7.8-magnitude quake. 

But many are still fuming at the initial delay. 

The main opposition leader, who is running neck-and-neck with Erdogan in opinion polls, has spearheaded the criticism. 

"There wasn't any coordination. They were late in the critical hours," Kemal Kilicdaroglu thundered this week. 

"Their incompetence cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of our citizens." 

Unseemly arguments 

For example, it was impossible for crane operators -- who offered critical assistance to rescuers -- to be deployed without the disaster agency's approval. 

This cost crucial time, Erdogan's critics say.

Others point to unseemly arguments between state agencies and independent rescue and relief workers on the ground. 

AFP journalists witnessed disputes between volunteers and AFAD state disaster responders in Elbistan, near the epicentre of a huge aftershock in Turkey's southeast. 

"We started working on this rubble even though the disaster agency discouraged us from it," a volunteer, who did not wish to be named for fear of retribution, told AFP. 

"When we finally heard the voice of a survivor, AFAD teams pulled us away and took over our work," he added. 

Murat, 48, waiting for news of his loved ones under the rubble in Kahramanmaras, witnessed similar scenes. 

"When miners discovered a person alive under the rubble, they were pushed away and people who wanted to appear on camera took their place," he said, also fearing to disclose his last name. 

Controlling the narrative 

Even a non-profit group run by rock star Haluk Levent, as well as opposition-run municipalities that sent in their own rescue teams, have provoked the government's ire. 

"The necessary actions will be taken against anyone that tries to rival the state," threatened Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. 

"The (ruling party) government and its institutions are really trying to control the narrative of the current rescue management," Rojan said. 

An advertising campaign, called "disaster of the century", had been prepared by an agency close to the government, Turkish media reported. 

The aim, critics say, was to convince Turks that any shortcoming is because of the gigantic size of the disaster -- that no one could handle such a catastrophe. 

In the face of a public outcry, the campaign was withdrawn. 

For Rojan, it's still "too soon" to see if the government's narrative will work. 

"It is definitely a political test for Erdogan with upcoming elections," he said.

‘Frugal four’, including the Netherlands, present EU recovery plan

DutchNews, May 24, 2020

Photo: DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden have submitted their own Covid-19 recovery plan to the European Commission as debate over the EU’s strategy for offsetting the impact of coronavirus continues. 

The Netherlands and its partners, known as the ‘frugal four’, say they support the establishment of a one-off emergency fund but do not back debt sharing or a ‘significant’ increase in the EU’s next seven-year budget. 

The Netherlands has been at the forefront of a campaign not to ‘give gifts’ to southern European countries and this proposal is based on a ‘modernised’ EU budget that will make sure countries are ‘better prepared for the next crisis,’ Politico reported. 

The fund would be temporary and one-off and should not lead to ‘debt mutualisation’ Politico quoted the four countries’ position paper as saying. 

The ‘loans for loans’ approach is in line with the fundamental principles of the EU, the Financial Times said, and recipients of loans would have to display a ‘strong commitment to reforms’. 

Last Monday, Germany and France submitted their joint deal involving a €500bn recovery fund offering grants rather than loans. The move was welcomed by southern EU countries and praised as an important breakthrough. 

The Franco-German plan envisages borrowing from the market in the name of the EU and says that countries benefiting would not have to repay the cash. 

‘We are convinced that it is not only fair but also necessary to make the funds available now… that we will repay gradually through several future European budgets,’ German chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference. 

Solidarity 

The seriousness of the crisis meant ‘solidarity’ must be the order of the day, Merkel said. 

The plan was welcomed by EU chief Ursuala von der Leyen as constructive and as acknowledging the ‘scope and size’ of the challenges the EU faces. 

The European Commission is expected to unveil its own proposals for funding the recovery on Wednesday. Insiders suggest it is a combination of grants and loans. 

All 27 member states will have to agree to any recovery plan before it can be implemented. SER Last Thursday, Dutch government policy advisory group 

SER 

said the Netherlands must show solidarity with the EU member countries which have been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, in its own interest. 

Instead of a strict system of loans subject to conditions and reforms, the government should show more leniency and aim for ‘a responsible form of risk sharing’, SER’s Coronacrisis think-tank said. 

The think-tank, which includes unions, employers, advisory bodies CPB and SCP and Dutch bank DNB and was set up in March, ‘deviates from the government line’, chairwoman Mariëtte Hamer told the FD. 

It is in the Dutch interest to makes sure the southern European countries in particular do not drown in debt and find their way out of the crisis as soon as possible, Hamer said.

Related Article:

Dutch government must show more solidarity with hard-hit EU countries: SER

World's first academy for humanitarian relief to be launched

Humanitarian Leadership Academy to train aid workers from over 50 countries in organising rapid responses to disasters and emergencies

The Guardian, Julian Borger Diplomatic editor, Sunday 22 March 2015

Local residents receive humanitarian aid in the city of Debaltseve, Ukraine.
The world’s first academy for humanitarian relief will train aid workers in
responding to disasters and emergencies. Photograph: Sokolov Mikhail/
Sokolov Mikhail/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

The world’s first academy for humanitarian relief is to be launched, aimed at training 100,000 aid workers from over 50 countries in organising rapid responses to disasters and emergencies.

The Humanitarian Leadership Academy, launching on Monday, is a response to the growing number of humanitarian crises around the world, driven by climate change and conflict, combined with a severe and worsening shortage of people with the skills necessary to coordinate the large-scale response required in the critical first days to prevent mass casualties.

The HLA is being set up by a global consortium of aid organisations with initial £20m funding from the UK Department for International Development, out of a target of £50m. The Save the Children charity has paid the startup costing and is hosting the academy’s hub in London.

Further centres will open in Kenya and the Philippines later this year, and by 2020 the plan is to have ten training centres around the world, which would offer both classroom and virtual training for the surrounding regions, in mobilising the rapid response in resources and manpower needed in the wake of a disaster.

Jan Egeland, a former UN head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, will be the academy’s first chairman. He said the initiative “may revolutionise the entire humanitarian sector”.

“Investment in a new and better trained generation of humanitarian workers closer to where we find the greatest needs will bring development and sustainability to many of the world’s most fragile communities,” Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said.

Last year witnessed a record number of severe global humanitarian emergencies and the highest number of refugees the world has seen since the second world war. 50 million people were forced to flee their countries.

  

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said: “If we are to save more lives in some of the toughest places in the world we need to train and support local people themselves to become the humanitarian workers and volunteers of the future. The academy will do this by bringing together an extraordinary and unique coalition of actors to train and share best practice, transforming the humanitarian system.”

The idea behind the establishment of ten national and regional centres around the world is that each should be able to tailor responses to crises in terms of local conditions and local culture. Aid experts have said that previous attempts to increase local and regional capacity to react to large-scale emergencies have foundered because they were seen as impositions of practices developed far away.

The plan is for each centre to provide a common pool of knowledge, the latest technology and examples of best practice, as well as solid career structures for humanitarian workers, with internationally recognised certification for successive levels of achievement, recorded in ‘humanitarian passports’. The end result should be to expand the pool of people available in every region to manage the humanitarian response in the first 72 hours of an emergency.

“This is potentially one of the most transformational projects I have been involved in,” said Gareth Owen, Save the Children’s director of emergencies, who has been working on the academy project since 2007. “It is based on the recognition that many studies of humanitarian disasters and emergencies point to leadership and decision-making as the critical factor. Really by now we should have a global capacity that we can draw on that is far greater and more diverse. We haven’t invested enough in people on the ground.”

Owen said that climate change was adding to the relentless annual toll of humanitarian crises: “We used to have a big natural disaster about once a decade and that has come down to one every two or three years.”

Global funding for emergency relief has largely stagnated. Owen said the $20bn (£13bn) spending on the response to humanitarian emergencies is a third of the amount the world spends on yoghurt, for example, and that there is no comparison with the $1.5tn spent on arms.

“The Humanitarian Leadership Academy will help create a faster and more effective disaster response system by empowering local people in the most vulnerable countries to be the first responders after a disaster strikes,” Justine Greening, the secretary of state for international development, said. “The high quality training and expertise delivered by this academy will mean humanitarian responses not only provide immediate, life-saving relief, but also help build a more secure and resilient world.”

Related Article:

Ebola report slams slow WHO response

Costs of cleaning old Sellafield nuclear site soar

The British government has been forced to admit that it doesn't know the ultimate cost of closing down and cleaning up its hazardous nuclear site Sellafield. The latest figure was 53 billion pounds.

Deutsche Welle, 11 March 2015

The cost estimate of cleaning up the hazardous waste at Sellafield reached 53 billion pounds ($79.18 billion, 74 billion euros) in February, a new National Audit Office report said. That estimate is up 5 billion pounds from March last year, and the figure is expected to rise above 70 billion pounds.

Last year, Britain's Committee of Public Accounts criticized the management of Sellafield for huge cost over-runs, delays on projects and expensive staff.

The committee, which assesses whether taxpayers' money is being spent properly, on Wednesday asked the government, the site's owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Sellafield Ltd and former managers Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) whether costs would continue to rise.

The NDA is aiming to clear Sellafield, called Britain's "largest and most hazardous nuclear site" by the NAO, by 2120.

'Unprecedented difficulties'

"It is impossible to know that (...) we find difficulties at the site which are pretty much unprecedented," Stephen Lovegrove, permanent secretary at the government's Department of Energy and Climate Change, told the committee.

Britain's worst ever nuclear accident happened at the site in 1957. Sellafield stopped generating electricity in 2003.

It is now a reprocessing and waste storage facility which deals with spent nuclear fuel from Britain and other countries.

Despite the dangers of nuclear power - illustrated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011- the EU in September recommended approval of Britain's ambitious plan to build its first nuclear plant in a generation - the Hinkley Point project - with backing from French and Chinese energy giants, after ruling that it met state aid rules.

bk/hg (Reuters, AFP)

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German cabinet approves 2022 nuclear shutdown

Swiss to phase out nuclear power

"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear  (> 20 Min)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

k"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

EU to discuss punishing Putin following MH17 crash

The EU's foreign ministers are meeting to discuss new sanctions on Russia following the destruction of the MH17 passenger plane. Only the Netherlands - of all nations - is delaying proceedings.

Deutsche Welle, 22 July 2014

"I'd like to arrange a funeral, but I can't. I don't know where they are," a distraught Silene Fredriksz said on Dutch TV station NOS. Fredriksz is the mother of a young man killed with his girlfriend on Flight MH17 last Thursday (17.07.2014), "I want them back. They must come back. Mr Putin, send my children back! Please!"

The Netherlands has been shocked and outraged in the past few days by the undignified and unprofessional recovery of bodies - nearly two-thirds of which are Dutch - from the wreckage of the Boeing 777 in eastern Ukraine. TV and print images have shown bodies having belongings taken off them. In response, the Dutch banking association announced that banks had already blocked the accounts and credit cards of victims in order to stop their money being stolen.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the Dutch parliament in The Hague on Monday (21.07.2014) that most of the bodies were being stored on refrigerated railway cars. "I can confirm that the first team of forensic experts has reached the train," said Rutte. "The train is being sealed, but it is not yet clear where it will be driven to."

The Netherlands is in mourning

Careful with blame

Rutte said he was doing all he could to bring the bodies back to Amsterdam for identification as quickly as possible, but whether Ukraine will accede to this is not yet certain. "There are still 50 bodies missing lying in the fields," Rutte pointed out.

The Dutch Prime Minister said he was in contact with both the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, but he has been notably cautious with his blame. "I want to know that the bodies are safe before I share out the blame," he said, apparently wary of the unpredictable behavior of pro-Russian rebels in the region. The Dutch government had to accept that the separatists have the crash site under their control, said Rutte, dismissing suggestions from parliamentarians to send Dutch troops to the area.

Britain wants new sanctions

Now the European Union's foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the political consequences of the plane crash, and it is the British, rather than the Dutch, who are proposing tougher sanctions against Russia. The new British Foreign Minister Phillip Hammond told the BBC that there should be tough and lasting consequences for the Russian economy if the Kremlin continues to support the rebels by allowing weapons deliveries across its borders.

Mark Rutte ruled out sending
Dutch troops to the area

Prime Minister David Cameron has also said he was ready to impose sanctions such as stopping export of high-end technology to Russia. The EU could take steps like this, but an embargo against whole economic sectors would require a leaders' summit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, who called counterparts around Europe, are both said to be in favor of getting tougher. Whether this will mean the comprehensive so-called "stage 3" economic sanctions is another matter.

Last week the European Parliament in Strasbourg called for a weapons embargo on Russia, but France opposed the move, largely because two French warships - together worth 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion), are soon to be delivered to the Russian navy. Russian soldiers are already in France being trained to use them.

European solidarity

Though Rutte has been avoiding harsh rhetoric for fear of antagonizing separatists, he told the Dutch parliament that the EU would stand together. "Sometimes we have this debate about Europe, about what doesn't work, but the sympathy and support I have received in my calls with almost all of my colleagues… has really moved me," he said. "That shows me that Europe is standing shoulder to shoulder in this crisis."

Camerons wants to get tough with Putin

Following an "intensive" phone call between Mark Rutte and the Russian president on Sunday, Vladimir Putin released a video message on Monday indirectly calling on the separatists not hinder the recovery of the bodies and the securing of evidence.

But that is not enough for many. US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking ahead of a trip to the Middle East, said "the moment of truth" had come for Putin. He said it was time for the Russian president to show whether he was a part of the solution or a part of the problem. Meanwhile, Kerry's predecessor Hillary Clinton called on Europeans to finally get tough with Putin.

In the Netherlands, members of the royal family met relatives of the victims - with no media presence. There is still much anger in the country. Some Dutch sporting federations have even called for a boycott of the soccer World Cup in Russia, set for 2018. As Dutch sports marketer Frank van den Wall Bake put it on Twitter: "That would touch Putin's soul."

Related Article:

Putin 'will help recover bodies, black boxes': Dutch PM

Putin 'must take responsibility' for crash site access: Dutch PM

Yahoo – AFP, 19 July 2014

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks during a press conference at the Ministry
of Safety and Justice in The Hague, on July 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/John Thys)

The Hague (AFP) - Vladimir Putin must act to allow access to the Ukranian rebel-held crash site of flight MH17 so bodies can be removed, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday after a "very intense" conversation with the Russian president.

"He (Putin) must now take responsibility vis-a-vis the rebels," Rutte told journalists in The Hague after pro-Russian separatists hindered access to the crash site where 298 died in Thursday's plane crash, 192 of them Dutch.

"The Netherlands and the world will see that he does what needs to be done," Rutte said.

"Given today's developments and the images from this morning, I sent a message to the president to once more exert his influence on the rebels," Rutte added.

"Everyone saw how the plane wreckage, the passengers and the personal belongings are still spread around the site.

"He (Putin) promised me his cooperation yesterday.

"I told him that he must show the world that he wants to help."

Rutte said he was "shocked" by news images of "shameless" rebels handling passenger possessions and walking around the crash site.

Rutte said that he had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and that they also said Putin must act.

"Unimpeded access and quick recuperation of the bodies is the number one priority," Rutte said.

The MH17 crash site is controlled by armed pro-Russia militia, who are

 carefully supervising access to journalists and investigators. Photograph: 

Robert Ghement/EPA

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Putin 'will help recover bodies, black boxes': Dutch PM - New

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Dutch PM: Russia must take 'responsibility' in plane crash (+Video)

Furious Dutch prime minister tells Putin to exert his influence

Dutch banks act on MH17 credit card looting reports

Malaysian Airlines MH17 passenger manifest (Pdf)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

Florida jury slaps RJ Reynolds with $23.6 bn in damages - New

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Catastrophic floods bring down Bosnia ethnic barriers

Yahoo – AFP, Rusmir Smajilhodzic, 20 May 2014

A photo shows houses over a ravine after a landslide occurred in the flooded

 village of Kosova, near the northern Bosnian city of Doboj, on May 19, 2014

(AFP Photo/Elvis Barukcic )

Zepce (Bosnie-Herzégovine) (AFP) - When Ibro Begic decided to tackle the hazardous mountain road to reach those stricken by record floods near his Bosnian town, he was also challenging deep ethnic divisions left over from the brutal conflict of the 1990s.

When news reached him last week that the Serb-populated town of Doboj had been inundated, Begic immediately called on 10 friends to put together a relief operation.

It was a generous move, made remarkable by the fact that Begic is a Bosnian Muslim and a former soldier who fought the Serbs during the country's horrific civil war between 1992 and 1995.

"During the war, we were in enemy armies," he told AFP. "But the war is history. Humanity is something else."

Villagers inspect damaged road after a

 landslide in the flooded village of Kosova,

 near the northern Bosnian city of Doboj,

 on May 19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Elvis

Barukcic )

Having gathered supplies including milk, sheets and rubber boots, Begic set off along the mountain pass -- the only road still open to Doboj from his town of Tesanj in central Bosnia.

He says the response he received from the Serbs in Doboj, one of the worst-hit towns where at least 20 people have died or are missing from the floods, was immense gratitude mixed with "shock".

"God asks us all to help each other in need. I am certain that the Serbs would do the same," Begic said.

'A turning point'

It is certainly not the only instance in Bosnia where the difficult legacy of the war -- which has left the country politically divided between Serbs, Croats and Muslims -- was put to one side during the devastating flooding of the past week.

The small town of Zepce, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) further south from Tesanj, is mostly populated by Croats.

When a stream of Muslims began to arrive here from villages dotted around the region, few expected a warm welcome. The experience was a painful reminder of the war when tens of thousands were expelled from their homes by both Croats and Serbs.

But this time around, they were met with nothing but friendship.

A local high school gym in Zepce was ready to shelter the first group of evacuees from the Muslim village of Zeljezno Polje.

One of the villagers, Elvir Cizmic, a soldier during the war, told AFP: "Honestly, I did not expect such a solidarity. In just a few hours, people brought food, clothes and offered their homes to the families."

Around 30 to 40 people, mainly elderly women, were sheltering in the school when AFP visited, while dozens of young volunteers moved between them offering assistance.

"No one asked us for our name or our religion. They helped us in a way that I would not expect even from Muslims," Hanifa Masic, a 68-year-old evacuee, told AFP.

She hugged one of the young volunteers, a Croat called Ivana Grlic, who looked happy to help.

For Cizmic, the disaster marks a "turning point in relations between the three communities".

"I believe it will greatly help to regain trust between the people who had been pushed into the war," he said.

'Solidarity'

Like nothing else in the past two decades, the natural disaster has allowed people to ignore the divisive nationalism spouted by many of their political leaders.

Bosnian Hanifa Masic (2rd L), 68, from the village of Zeljezno Polje, is comforted

 by young volunteers at a refugee collective center in Zepce, after she lost her home

following a landslide in her village, on May 19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Elvis Barukcic )

Even Milorad Dodik, the fiercely nationalist president of the Bosnian Serb entity, had to express his gratitude to the Muslims who came to help their Serb neighbours in the northern town of Samac.

"I thank you on behalf of all residents of Samac to whom aid was brought by the (mainly Muslim) town of Gradacac, which provided inflatable boats and rescuers," Dodik said.

The compliment was returned by Edhem Camdzic, an Islamic mufti from the northern town of Banja Luka, who said he had come across an "honourable man, a Serb, who has been rescuing people with his inflatable boat regardless of their ethnicity" during a tour of Muslim villages.

"Amid this tragedy, I am so delighted to see this solidarity between people who generously helped each other," said Camdzic.

More than a quarter of Bosnia's 3.8 million population has been affected by the worst floods in a century.

The Bosnian war claimed some 100,000 lives and displaced two million people, almost half the country's pre-war population.

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Thousands flee floods in Bosnia and Serbia as death toll rises

At least 25 dead and fears that landmines will be exposed after torrential rain causes 'horrible catastrophe'

theguardian.com, Associated Press in Maglaj, Bosnia, Sunday 18 May 2014

People evacuate in boats from Obrenovac, south-west of Belgrade, on
Saturday. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters

Packed into buses, boats and helicopters, carrying nothing but a handful of belongings, tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in Bosnia and Serbia to escape the worst flooding in a century.

Rapidly rising rivers surged into homes, sometimes reaching up to the second floors, sending people climbing to rooftops for rescue. Hundreds were also evacuated in Croatia.

Authorities said on Saturday 25 people had died, but warned the toll could rise. Tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity or drinking water.

Landslides triggered by the floods also raised the risk of injury or death from land mines left over from Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The landslides swept away many of the carefully placed warning signs around the minefields.

Three months' worth of rain fell on the region in three days last week, creating the worst floods since records began 120 years ago.

From the air almost a third of Bosnia, mostly its north-east corner, resembled a huge muddy lake, with houses, roads and rail lines submerged. Admir Malagic, a spokesman for Bosnia's security ministry, said about a million people – more than a quarter of the country's population – lived in the affected area.

"Bosnia is facing a horrible catastrophe," said Bakir Izetbegovic, the chairman of the Bosnian three-man presidency. "We are still not fully aware of actual dimensions of the catastrophe ... we will have to take care of hundreds, thousands of people."

Izetbegovic was touring Maglaj, hard hit by the floods. As the waters mostly withdrew on Saturday, Maglaj was covered in mud and debris, with residents checking damage and bringing furniture out in the streets to dry.

"Everything is destroyed, but we are happy to be alive," said Maglaj resident Zijad Omerovic.

In the eastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina, some 10,000 people were being evacuated on Saturday after the rain-swollen Sava river pushed through flood defences, endangering four villages outside the town.

"We need everything, we are underwater," mayor Mico Micic exclaimed.

In eastern Croatia, the overflowing Sava spread over villages and farm land, sending hundreds fleeing.

Officials in Bosnia said 17 people haddied and more bodies could be found as water receded from dozens of cities. In some places, people had to be rescued by helicopter from their roofs.

Many in Bosnia lost homes they had only just rebuilt after the war, which claimed 100,000 lives and devastated the impoverished country.

In Serbia, eight deaths were reported and emergency crews and soldiers were using boats and helicopters to rescue thousands trapped in the town of Obrenovac, near Belgrade. Authorities also ordered residents of another nearby small town, Baric, to leave immediately on Saturday afternoon. Many hurriedly climbed into buses and military trucks to get away.

Officials said more than 16,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit regions in Serbia, many finding shelter in schools and sports halls. Lines of mattresses covered the floors of Belgrade schools, with frightened survivors describing unstoppable torrents that surged in a matter of minutes.

Mirjana Senic, who lives in the centre of Obrenovac, said that "we thought we had it pretty bad ... [but] only when they evacuated us and when we actually saw the amount of water in other parts of town did we realise that we were lucky."

The flooding in Obrenovac is threatening the Nikola Tesla power plant, Serbia's biggest. Plant capacity had already been cut after a nearby coal mine was flooded and authorities urged residents to save energy to avoid brown-outs.

Prime minister Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference a new wave of flooding on the Sava would hit on Sunday evening.

"Our primary concern is to protect the power plant," Vucic said. "We are doing all we can."

International help poured into the two nations to support thousands of volunteers. A Russian team joined the rescue efforts in Serbia. Rescue teams from Luxembourg, Slovenia and Croatia were already in Bosnia, and others from the UK, Austria and Macedonia were expected.

Aerial footage showed flooding near Serbia Tesla power plant

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