Red Lines



As we enter 2017, can we think positively about the future? “Yes,” we say, “if we adopt an action-oriented way ahead in lieu of past apathy”.
RINJ - Can we seek New beginnings in 2017

Can we seize opportunities to make our families safer and enrich their lives. How would a united global community deal with:

  • a rapidly changing world?
  • leadership that robs our prosperity?
  • a global thirst for accelerated change?
  • massive, widespread anger among divided communities?
  • the diminishing value of human life?
  • our collective mistake of ignoring rogue leaders who smashed moral boundaries; our red lines?

Around the world, angry electorates have forced radical change, some for the bad. Let’s make sense of that. Believe if you will that change is the focus, not the choice made in forcing change. Once change has been forced a better choice can follow.

Be prepared to change the way you think. Fixing the world and the human experience in 2017 requires basic humanitarianism and the rule of law we all so crave even if apathy once overruled our wishes.

  1. Communities need to change their thinking to prioritize children and their families in a caring and sharing context.
  2. The global community must universally condemn and seek to end the kleptocracy that has permeated the leadership and institutions of most countries around the world. Corruption within our governments and institutions must be overruled in 2017.
  3. The global community must terminate the mystique and power of despots like Bashar al-Asaad or foolish old tyrants like Robert Mugabe. We must not be ruled by fear any longer. We all have authorities in our lives and many of us must follow orders. We must not however carry out an order that willfully brings injustice to others.
  4. A despot may be many things but above all a despot implements government policy that uses the state apparatus (the military, police, security, and ad hoc vigilante militia) to bring fear, harm and even death to its constituents.

    I want these people killed.

  5.  Examples of authors of crimes against humanity:
    • Vladimir Putin of Russia
    • George W. Bush, a past US president.
    • Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri of Iraq. The birth name of the leader of a despicable terrorist group claiming to have statehood.
    • Massoud Barzani the kleptocrat dictator ruling the Kurdish Region of Iraq, whose term expired August 20, 2015 but he refused to step down.
    • Bashar al-Asaad, of Syria, and
    • Rodrigo Duterte, Republic of the Philippines.
    • Each of the foregoing must be indicted by an International Criminal Court and held for trial in 2017. The aggregate malfeasance of these men has slaughtered  millions of innocent civilians. Humanity bleeds on their hateful whims. When are we going to say, “STOP”?
    • Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan has already been indicted and needs to be captured. He needs to be brought to the Hague alive and in custody by his own people.
  6. The global community must unite in love for each other and for their defiance of violent extremist terrorist groups & the malicious and hateful ideologies that fuel violence & terrorism around the globe.
  7. Elect only leaders who put first the safety and enrichment of the lives of children and their families. Insist that current leaders adopt those values and stay clear of our red lines.

Stop Evil Men Crossing Red Lines With Impunity

The way the global community says “stop” is by both abiding the rule of law and demanding the rule of law. Violence is not the way ahead. We need to imprison those who offend under the law and keep our homes and our streets safe from them.

Vladimir Putin
Under no circumstances can the global community tolerate the terrorist act of undermining democratic process of a country. The muzzling of mankind’s voice by it’s worst elements is a red line that must not be crossed. The essence of our civilization is threatened by such a crime against humanity. The red lines in Vladimir Putin’s history have been ignored too often. Putin must be indicted for his latest crossing of humanity’s red lines.

George W. Bush
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed when foolish but ambitious men were driven by religious fundamentalism and persuaded to hate beyond reason Iraq’s despotic leader, Saddam Hussein.  Mr. Hussein should have been indicted using the then new Rome Statute. Mr. George W. Bush’s casting aside the rule of law (“in the name of God”?) plus bullying Iraq away from the ICC/Rome Statute backfired as a malfeasance that ended in a bloodshed of epic magnitude.
What have you done, America, the America we all trusted, when  anger and fear’s exploitation should have been your red line? The blood from this crime continues to pour red all over the world. We sense a regret in the hearts of every American we talk to. We must say that George W. Bush, despite love and gratitude for his family,  must be indicted in 2017 for unlawful aggression that occurred in 2003. His defence might well be that terrorism was his own personal red line that pushed him to irrational conduct. Nothing mitigates this crime against humanity, especially not a world leader exploiting a despicable terrorist act in 2001 to win favour for acting out a personal vendetta against an oil-baron thug. There are plenty of those in the world and they belong in prisons. Killing their constituents is a crime against humanity.

Massoud Barzani
Probably the most slippery psychopath in this list is the charming Massoud Barzani whose kleptocratic family dynasty has amassed many billions of dollars on the backs of poor constituents. Barzani himself takes from the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI) a salary of $400,000 US Dollars per month. ( More than thirteen times Barack Obama’s annual remuneration.) Barzani is not an elected official. His term expired but he refused to leave office. More than that Barzani is personally responsible for collusion with the Islamic State in the genocide of the Yezidi Kurds, and the prevention of medical care to the survivors. Your red line should have been in 2014 when the Yezidis told you that first militant forces to attack and rape them were Barzani-led “Peshmerga” militiamen. Then the Kurdish militants left town and the Yezidi were left to the butchery of the Islamic State by Mr. Barzani’s order. Barzani’s corrupt dynasty continues. More of that story will be unearthed in the days and weeks ahead as a revolt in the volatile Kurdish Region of Iraq has begun silently. The exposure of many nations’ leaders who are propping up Barzani, including a former leader in Canada is pending.  Massoud Barzani must be indicted in 2017 for the crime of genocide.

Bashar al Asaad
The evil of this man is hard to discuss but a jury of his peers must do that and fast. The slaughter of peaceful demonstrators and chemical weapons used to kill children in Syria should have been your red line five years ago. Bashar al Asaad must be indicted, imprisoned and tried. His cohorts too. Above all, his criminal brutality must be stopped.

Rodrigo Duterte
Clinically diagnosed as a psychopath in 1998 this despot has likened himself to Adolf Hitler. He ruthlessly elminates criticism from politicians and journalists. The murder of little children across the Philippines should have been your red line. The murder of a Filipino journalist was an unspeakable scream to action you missed.  Duterte says they are family members of drug users. Tolerance of Duterte’s crimes should be a crime of itself.  This despot you Filipinos elected out of frustration for the klepto-rot in Manila is destroying your country. The Philippines is a nation once again steeped in fear and aggression. Filipinos are treading through the blood of 7,000 of Duterte’s victims with their heads down. The troubled, impoverished Filipino innocents afflicted with pervasive health problems and substance abuse were slaughtered in cold blood. Many victims never even took an Asprin, they were Duterte’s critics. Duterte is systematically removing the women from government, muzzling or killing his opponents and encouraging his supporters to do the same, promising them impunity.  Duterte is stirring up fear within the population of the Philippines over “drug-induced-terrorism” and an imagined plague of what amounts to truck driver’s keep-me-awake pills or bad-pharmacological dieting shortcuts.

Omar al-Bashir
Darfur rape, murder, extermination, forcible transfer and torture of civilians, as well as the pillaging of numerous villages and camps should have been your red line. Omar al-Bashir has multiple warrants against him for a long string of war crimes and genocide. The haunting reality of Darfur. Sudan is that the world hasn’t cared. We all need to start caring for each other across the globe.

Misogyny
The end game of misogyny is species extermination. There is an undeniable link between misogyny and severe mental health issues. Misogyny springs from problems that began maybe even in the womb but certainly in childhood. When failure to bond to the mother  is fueled by cultural or environment pressures, misogyny and anti-social personality disorder walk hand in hand.

Your red line should be the moment a person harms another, unprovoked, for some kind of gain or no reason at all.

How do you feel about that? Hopeful? Encouraged?
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