It is of passing interest to those interested in karmic events that both Burma and China have experienced cataclysmic disasters within a week of each other. Does repression carry its own energy?

I’ve talked about Burma but for China this is becoming a very difficult year. It was supposed to be a huge celebration, the coming out party for the slightly post-communist leviathan and a party to show the world what an amazing country it was. Alas the Tibet demonstrations rained on that parade and now the earthquake has really taken away the focus. Indeed many Chinese were unhappy that the Olympic torch procession was carrying on as normal and this saw an immediate response by the authorities who scaled back the daily relay.

This shows that the Chinese government is very senstive to public feeling within China and is keen to always be on the right side of its citizens if not those who live outisde its borders. This sensitivity has been increasing over the last 10 years and with the Olympics putting China centre stage, the rallying call for a strong sense of nationhood has been blasted out from all points. From all accounts it seems to be working.

It’s nearly 20 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre. It holds memories for me because I was in Northern Pakistan at the time, coming to the end of nearly 2 years away backpacking and working during my OE from London, and getting ready to cross the Khunjerab Pass into Western China. The idea was to head across China and catch the Trans Siberian home. It didn’t happen. I was with my Kiwi girlfriend (now my wife!) and we met an English guy who had just crossed over from China and told us the news. We were completely cut off and had no idea what ws going on. This was from the days of getting your post from the GPO Poste Restante service. Oh for an internet cafe. It was clear then that it wasn’t a good idea to cross over so we abandoned that idea and headed back down.

China has come a long way in 20 years. Sure it still is pretty ruthless when it comes to repressing dissent or “dangerous groups” like Falun Gong. And yes it still executes a lot of criminals though they say that rate is falling. It has built an enormous economy with a massive trade surplus which has enabled it to move overseas to secure resources and assets. It is however still unsure of its rightful place in the world. It’s military continues to expand posing a threat to Taiwan as well as giving itself plenty of muscle in the worlds’ oceans historically the preserve of the US Navy and before that the Royal Navy.

2008 is a big year for China. How it handles it should give us some idea of how it will turn out in the years ahead. Can it open itself up and with that accept the good and the bad, the praise and the criticism or will it revert to control and repression. Let’s hope its the former.

I wanted to share this story about the rehabiltion of child soldiers in Africa. It’s nothing short of a human tragedy and deserves our attention. About 10 years ago I did a course on the International Dimensions of Human Rights. One fact that really troubled me was the sheer numbers of children who had been co-opted by force into becoming soldiers and ultimately killers. The use of drugs and torture was commonplace and the results horrific.

Yet out of this comes a story of healing which has lessons for all of us especially those in developed countries where teenage crime is on the rise. I’ll leave you all to draw your own conclusions.

I was reading an obituary today for Dith Pran, the man who brought the “Killing Fields” of the Khmer Rouge to a global audience. Not only was it a moving story as portrayed in the film but it was a first hand account of the Cambodian genocide. It reminded me of some of the news stories recently about the men involved in carrying out orders from their leaders.

There was Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who processed thousands through S-21, a prison and torture centre. As he tells it he simply followed orders and after a time realised either he carried on or he and his family would be killed like all the others. This is a common theme: the chance of survival at any cost or certain death. Once you’ve killed a few another hundred or thousand is just numbers.

What about Joseph “Zig Zag” Marzah, a “lieutenant” of Charles Taylor, Liberian warlord. He recalls a culture of fear and severe repression within which there was no escape. Henchman who failed to carry through vicious killings were dispatched in similar fashion, on one occasion completely dismembering a former rebel leader and eating his liver. Cannibalism was encouraged as a weapon of fear.

Anyone who has seen “Blood Diamond” or even the new “Rambo” film will have seen theatrical glimpses of the way ordinary civilians are routinely tortured and killed in various parts of the world.

Never mind the 20th century as the bloodiest on record the 21st is shaping up to be pretty wet also.

Branton posted recently on the film “Beowulf” and how the myth demonstrates that we manifest what we truly believe about ourselves. The birthing of monsters is something we see all the time today. Did the US not support and fund the Khmer Rouge initially? Did they not fund Saddam initially as well as the Taliban?

So what can we learn from all this? Not that there is somehow a solution to genocide or that, as was said post-Holocaust, it will never happen again. It will happen again, somewhere and somehow. Sure we can make changes to the system that generates conflicts and doesn’t provide for all but really it’s ourselves that need to change. What we believe about ourselves is what comes out into the world. Will we continue to be like Hrothgar or will we be like Beowulf? Will we unite with the source or continue to separate ourselves and descend into a world of monsters?

The choice is ours.

Two interesting piece of news on the geopolitical spectrum caught me eye this week: Firstly Gordon Brown and his secret talks with other world “leaders” to establish a “new world order”. This will have the conspiracy theorists running amok with versions of the Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group stories. Suffice to say that the “New World Order” project has been going quietly in the background for over 30 years.

Alongside this is a new manifesto from top Pentagon, Nato and EU players, past and present. The premise is that a first up nuclear strike is a legitimate and warranted policy option. Their reasoning is that it will be impossible to control the proliferation of nuclear weaponry and that the best approach is to simply nuke those nations who might be a bit aggro with the odd nuclear warhead.

So that probably takes the Middle East, North Korea and other such spots off the tourist map for a while. Unfortunately this sounds like one of those crazy ideas that gets the green light. Time to re-watch “V for Vendetta” and “Children of Men”.

Brave New World and all that.

I guess the upside is that NZ property prices will hold up for some time.