Persiflage & Paroxysm

We have all sensed something was very different. Since 2016, certainly! Instead of boring, jovial late-middle-aged men with silver crowns debating endlessly and arriving at a deal that satisfies all to some degree, but snubs none, today we see arm twisting being used as a legitimate diplomatic tactic. From dealing with his own legislature to talking trade with major economic powers, the US President has introduced a new way of doing business. And its not just him, politicians in my own country, Lebanon, long known for shady politicking and where dirty tricks are de rigueur, is resorting to much the same arm twisting technique with raised pain threshold. We are tough after all! Trump's insistence on a border wall and the Democrat's refusal to allow it has seen a prolonged Federal government shutdown in the US. Similarly, stubbornness and steadfastness has seen months pass without the formation of a new government in Lebanon, each side holding fast to its position in so far as...

The age old ‘good guy’ institution, fruit of 18th century enlightenment, i.e. western liberalism, is proving increasingly impractical in dealing with modern challenges: first, consider free will and following your heart. How, when your heart can be hijacked by targeted, surreptitious social media campaigns that cleverly aim misleading, sweet sounding messages that appeal to easily swayed individuals, which include 80% of humans; Democracy! Why are the masses uniquely qualified to make complicated decisions of national significance, like Brexit? They are not, nor should the masses be asked to make such decisions and study copious volumes on Brexit’s complexity in order to make an ‘informed’ choice, it’s a job for technocrats not the general citizenry; Global migration and wealth disparity, this is not going to get better any time soon, existing structures are incapable of dealing with this major challenge, a middle ground of global cooperation, somewhere between national State and worl...