Mountians of the Moon

Its rather strange, and I don't know exactly how to describe it, but I had an incredible case of deja vu today, and suddenly several strands of my life came crashing together. Let me explain.
Several years ago, I must have been 15 or so, I was watching this program about a fellow traveling through Africa, from Capetown to Egypt. The narrator was in Uganda at the time and was roaming around some of the most incredible countryside I had ever seen in my life. At the end of this particular segment, he ended up in a place called the Mountains of the Moon, where he oversaw of vista of the most magnificent purple snow capped mountains. As I watched in awe I had this sense of forboding that somehow my destiny was tied up with those mountains, they seemed to be beckoning me, like a lighthouse beckons a ship lost at sea.
Years later I briefly dated a girl, and one of the first nights I stayed at her place she had decided to rent because she liked the title "Mountains of the Moon." It was a 1990 period peice about the journey of Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke in their expedition to central Africa which culminated in the discovery of the source of the Nile River. Well at least Speke thought they had found the Nile. Burton didn't think they had enough evidence. It led to a bitter rivalry and Hanning Speke committed suicide because of it.

The Mountains of the Moon, and here I'll quote wikipedia are:

referred to a mountain range in central Africa that was long believed to be the source of the White Nile, but whose actual location was – and remains – uncertain.

The ancient world had long been curious as to the source of the Nile, especially Ancient Greek geographers. A number of expeditions up the Nile failed to find the source.

Eventually a merchant named Diogenes reported that he has traveled inland from Rhapta in East Africa for twenty-five days and had found the source of Nile. He reported it flowed from a group of massive mountains into a series of large lakes. He reported the natives called this range the Mountains of the Moon because of their snowcapped whiteness.

Then in 2005 while interning in Washington D.C., I had a Ugandan flat mate named Beatrice Berra, famous because she was saved from poverty through the gift of a goat. In fact now so famous that she vacationed with the Clinton's and was interning in Senator Hillary Clinton's office. One night we got to talking and I mentioned the Mountians of the Moon. "That's where my village is," she says. "In Kasese."

Later in 2006, the Full Belly Project, a non-profit I work with entered into negotiations with a French cement company that had a subsidary, Hima Cement, in Uganda. As it turns out the plant is in the District of Kasese, at the foothills of the Rwenzori...the Mountains of the Moon.

Thoughts on the Present Conflict

So here is where all the Shia live. The majority of them being located in Iran. Notice that a lot of them also live in Southern Iraq, notice also that there is a lot of oil in southern Iraq. There is also a significant Shia populace that hugs the coast in eastern Saudi Arabia. Where the world's largest oil field (Ghawar is). There are also a sizeable number of Shia in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is attempting to start a war with Israel, who in return is inflaming tensions everywhere by bombing Lebanon and threatening Syria. Iran wants to change the balance of power. Israel and the US are trying to prevent this but may only give them the impetues to move there plan forward more quickly. So here are my predictions:




































1. Syria will refuse to comply with Israel's ultimatum to reign in Hezbollah. In 24 hours Syria will be bombed.
2. Iran has made a statement that if Isreael bombs Syria that it will be seen as a larger strike against the Islamic world. This really means that Iran will see it as provacation and threaten retaliation.
3. Israel will use this as an excuse to bomb Iran's nuclear reactors. Hoping that they have not yet enriched enough uranium to make nuclear weapons.
4. Iran will use this attack as an excuse to escalate its military response. To secure its borders against the US it will move into Southern Iraq capturing oil fields along the way.
5. Threatened by this action the Saudis will demand that Iran withdraw and threaten them with military action.
6. Iran may respond by moving into Eastern Saudi Arabia and seizing their oil fields, then threaten to destroy the oil infrastructure there.

At this point Iran would be in control of all the oil in Iraq, Iran (of course) and Saudi Arabia which constitutes 75% of the world's oil reserves. China and India , dependent on this oil and facing the possiblity of economic collapse will be forced to choose sides and may not do as we ask them to. Southern Iraq will be stablized, and seeing the Iranians as a welcome alternative to American occupation will be satisfied to live under this new regime. In Eastern Saudi Arabia, the Shia have been unable to practice their religion under Wahabi Sunni rule, and are also living on the bottom of the Saudi social classes. Will likely also support their new rulers.
Of course this won't stop the Sunni-Shia war that will soon emerge, with the US supporting the Sunni, and China and India supporting the Shia. This will leave the US at odds with the world's new superpower which which we might as well start referring to as Chindia (as many have), representing about 3 Billion people (1/2 of the Earth's population) each with nuclear weapons and and a GDP growing at 10% a year. Indeed they become the new hegimone, and we will be left to beg for petroleum to help our aggreved economy bursting at the seems for lack of public transportation and a new underclass unable to afford gas at $5-$10 a gallon.


Update: Ok so this didn't exactly happen...but it didn't happen only because Olmert came to his senses and pulled out. No doubt he read my blog. Please tell the King of Sweden I'm available anytime to accept the Nobel Peace Prize anytime.

An Update at the Beggining of the New

These last few weeks have been a blizzard of activity. A childhood hero of sorts came into town, and I got the wonderful chance to hang out with him for a week. He is a somewhat unlikely childhood hero...short, spectacled, and a little nervous, but with a brilliant almost frightening mind. I encountered Dr. Goreau a decade earlier researching artificial reefs. Dr. Goreau and Wolf Hilburtz, had pioneered a concept of electrolyzing iron rebar in seawater to accrete calcium carbonate onto its surface. The original purpose was to create structures at sea, but eventually this was replace by the more feasible idea of augmenting the growth of coral reefs. This was a concept that intrigued me in childhood…enough that I built one in my basement using a rubber maid container and artificial aquarium sea salts. It worked well enough to impress my high school science teacher to give me an A- and to win a science fair award.
Fast forward 10 years later, I’m about to graduate with a degree in marine science and I got an email from my buddy Matt Colligan. An organization in Wilmington called Fish for Tommorow wants to create an artificial reef and my friend Matt told them that I was aware of a new technology used to build them. A few phone calls later I’m talking to the folks and I assure them the technology is feasible just go to www.biorock.net …could I get ahold of Dr. Tom Goreau…sure. So I call him, having no idea what to expect. On the other end of the line is a posh mixture between Jamaica and Harvard Yard, an accent with no equivalent. The infamous Dr. Goreau. “North Carolina ehh…I’m very interested…I need to know if you have hard bottoms, we may be able to grow some oyster reefs.” Some research later its confirmed that we have hard bottoms in North Carolina. I book Tom Goreau to give a lecture at UNCW, he buys a plane ticket. Alas I actually have no cash, I jumped out of an airplane hoping to build my parachute on the way down, three weeks later I’m making a mad scramble across campus…tapping on every organization I know. “Nope sorry no funds, used them all up…end of school year you know.” I pass the hat around at an Amnesty International event and make $60 bucks…only $540 to go. Finally a breakthrough, ECO puts up $300, then a real breakthrough Bio Grad Students Association, then the Center for Marine Science wants to contribute. Suddenly we have to much money. I book a lunch at Boleros. Tom Goreau arrives, and we’re off. The man is amazing…he’s traveled around the world, dove every reef, lived in Panama, Jamaica, the US and Brazil. Gigs at the UN, and multiple Universities. He’s at the UN right now for the Commission on Sustainable Development’s 14th Plenary Session. Also I coordinate a Biofuels Panel Discussion, the next night Dr. Goreau gives a talk. Both are well attended.
On thursday we drop by the Duke Marine Lab, he knows nearly everyone there. See’s his buddy Joe Ramus from 30 years back (grad school days at Yale before he got kicked out for running a radical newspaper), then Karen Eckered, ( a turtle researcher from Jamaica). I leave him to his cohorts and head back to Wilmington. But the car breaks down in a storm on the way back home. I find out later that the steering columns took it where it hurts, the consequence was me losing control of my vehicle as a semi-truck hurtled towards me. I make it off the road stuck on 3 foot shoulder with trucks hurtling by on one side and a muddy ditch on the other. I mach in the pouring rain to a sign shop, the only building for miles and call Triple A. Dripping and freezing in their nice carpeted lobby.
I return the next day (my roommate Eric drove) . We meet Dr. Goreau at the Carteret Community College Oyster Hatchery, and wire up a larger version of my high school science experiment. Only this a mistake is made, and our AC/DC adapter gets its wires spliced to close to thread them onto our cables that will transmit electricity to our anode and cathode. A mad dash to Walmart, fighting the waning light and growing tides. We return in time…get the sucker in the water then head off to celebrate!!! After celebrating we hit a bar for some greasy food. Then on home. I wake up at 5AM, was supposed to wake up at 4, Tom’s plane leaves at 7. I head out…Mercedes doesn’t start. Run back inside, borrowow roommates car. Drive Goreau to airport, stop by Jock’s house, pass out.
I spend the rest of the day recovering…studying for a test, then attend a march with 300 UNCW students to downtown Wilmington to raise awarness about the plight of children in Northern Uganda who have to march every day to stay safe from Rebel/and Ugandan military forces who hunt them like so much prey, pressing many into military service.
Next week finals. I’ve got one more to go. Can’t bring myself to study so much going on. Have to finish reports (work on them weds, Thursday), Go out to morehead city on Weds. Fundraisers Weds night, Cape Fear Biofuels Thursday (also conference call), Volunteer Party Friday, Flying out on Saturday (friends leave for France same day). Meeting Dr. Maynard who then leaves for Malawi (develop approach for Nutriset), hanging out with family and perhaps some friends in St. Louis. Coming back signing up for Physics at CFCC, attending meeting for City of Wilmington on Sustainable Biofuel Venture on 24th . Preparing shipment of stuff for Uganda. Getting car fixed and sold. Writing plan for sustainable jatropha in Belize. Getting Fueling Station up and running with Jade Tank Lines. Converting Car to run on Vegetable Oil. Getting job to be financially independent. Grants for Cape Fear Biofuels…create consortium for biofuels in south eastern region. Fundraiser for Cape Fear Biofuels June 22nds. Retreat for Full Belly Project July 17th. Graduating in July!!! (pass Physics 102) a must. Oyste

Rage...

I got home late tonight after running into a friend who was gone in Australia for two years studying aquaculture. It was great to see him and we have an exciting possiblity of working on an oyster restoration project using Biorock Technology (www.biorock.net) . We stayed out to late at the Juggling Gypsy catching up. I should have been at home studying Logic, in fact I should be studying Logic right now instead of blogging. But I had to get something off my chest.

Reading the news from overseas has gone from depressing to frightening, and frightening to well...to making me visibly angry. Hamas getting elected, Hizballah gaining seats, and the Sammarra bombing appear to be setting off a wave of anguish in the Muslim world that I think is about to crash across the landscape of the middle east. In its wake who knows what will be left, but the wave is coming, its crest is building, and soon I believe it will crash with the force of tsunami, and I don't think we're at all prepared.

Just take a look at Baghdad Burning, a blog kept by a young Iraqi woman on the subject of a raid that was recently conducted in her neighborhood:

I could feel my heart pounding in my ears and I got closer to the kerosene heater in an attempt to dispel the cold that seemed to have permanently taken over my fingers and toes. T. was trembling, wrapped in her blanket. I waved her over to the heater but she shook her head and answered, “I.... mmmm… n-n-not… c-c-cold…”

It came ten minutes later. A big clanging sound on the garden gate and voices yelling “Ifta7u [OPEN UP]”. I heard my uncle outside, calling out, “We’re opening the gate, we’re opening…” It was moments and they were inside the house. Suddenly, the house was filled with strange men, yelling out orders and stomping into rooms. It was chaotic. We could see flashing lights in the garden and lights coming from the hallways. I could hear Ammoo S. talking loudly outside, telling them his wife and the ‘children’ were the only ones in the house. What were they looking for? Was there something wrong? He asked.

Suddenly, two of them were in the living room. We were all sitting on the sofa, near my aunt. My cousin B. was by then awake, eyes wide with fear. They were holding large lights or ‘torches’ and one of them pointed a Klashnikov at us. “Is there anyone here but you and them?” One of them barked at my aunt. “No- it’s only us and my husband outside with you- you can check the house.” T.’s hands went up to block the glaring light of the torch and one of the men yelled at her to put her hands down, they fell limply in her lap. I squinted in the strong light and as my sight adjusted, I noticed they were wearing masks, only their eyes and mouths showing. I glanced at my cousins and noted that T. was barely breathing. J. was sitting perfectly still, eyes focused on nothing in particular, I vaguely noted that her sweater was on backwards.

One of them stood with the Klashnikov pointed at us, and the other one began opening cabinets and checking behind doors. We were silent. The only sounds came from my aunt, who was praying in a tremulous whisper and little B., who was sucking away at his thumb, eyes wide with fear. I could hear the rest of the troops walking around the house, opening closets, doors and cabinets.

I listened for Ammoo S., hoping to hear him outside but I could only distinguish the harsh voices of the troops. The minutes we sat in the living room seemed to last forever. I didn’t know where to look exactly. My eyes kept wandering to the man with the weapon and yet I knew staring at him wasn’t a good idea. I stared down at a newspaper at my feet and tried to read the upside-down headlines. I glanced at J. again- her heart was beating so hard, the small silver pendant that my mother had given her just that day was throbbing on her chest in time to her heartbeat.

Suddenly, someone called out something from outside and it was over. They began rushing to leave the house, almost as fast as they’d invaded it. Doors slamming, lights dimming. We were left in the dark once more, not daring to move from the sofa we were sitting on, listening as the men disappeared, leaving only a couple to stand at our gate.

“Where’s baba?” J. asked, panicking for a moment before we heard his slippered feet in the driveway. “Did they take him?” Her voice was getting higher. Ammoo S. finally walked into the house, looking weary and drained. I could tell his face was pale even in the relative dark of the house. My aunt sat sobbing quietly in the living room, T. comforting her. “Houses are no longer sacred… We can’t sleep… We can’t live… If you can’t be safe in your own house, where can you be safe? The animals… the bastards…”

We found out a few hours later that one of our neighbors, two houses down, had died. Abu Salih was a man in his seventies and as the Iraqi mercenaries raided his house, he had a heart-attack. His grandson couldn’t get him to the hospital on time because the troops wouldn’t let him leave the house until they’d finished with it. His grandson told us later that day that the Iraqis were checking the houses, but the American troops had the area surrounded and secured. It was a coordinated raid.

They took at least a dozen men from my aunts area alone- their ages between 19 and 40. The street behind us doesn’t have a single house with a male under the age of 50- lawyers, engineers, students, ordinary laborers- all hauled away by the ‘security forces’ of the New Iraq.

It sounds like a passage from the diary of Anne Frank, and why shouldn't it. We have created a Gestapo in Iraq. A Gestapo that kidnaps and tortures innocent civilians. There are no excuses left, there is no point in waiting and seeing. I no longer have patience with apologists for this war, anyone that supported it in the past should have a deep sense of shame. Anyone that supports it presently is either inexcusably stupid or morally abhorrent. If a civil war starts in Iraq it will not end in Iraq, the Shia of eastern Arabia, the Shia United Iraqi Alliance of Southern Iraq, and the Iranians (with their newfound nuclear ambitions and conservative wackjob Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) have secured a triumvirate that will remake the balance of power. Presently the US uses the Saudis as a pawn. But the Saudis Royal Family will soon have to battle a two front war between the Al-Queda and the Saudi Shia minority who live in the north eastern portion of the country on the Iraqi border. Newly emboldened by their neighbor's grab for power they are demanding greater religious freedom, a freedom that will only embolden their compatriot Wahabi Saudi clerics to wage a low level war against them. To the winner goes the spoils of 75% of the world's oil reserves.
The US will have no choice but to pick a side, and it will likely be their old friends the Sunni Saudis that they will use as a proxy army in a war against the Shia. But as the funds flow into what for some will be a holy war, and for others (ie the US) a war to secure energy resources, we will fall into the same old trap. Funding religious fanatics, who will in turn take these funds and (at some point) use them to attack us. Al-Queda, via Zarqawi is already leading the fight in the Middle East, and by doing so they may create a situation so hopelessly unstable that the U.S. is forced to pull out.
I expect oil prices to double by this time next year. We're heading for a bottle neck, hopefully we'll make it to the other side.

Settling Into a Groove

Its strange suddenly that I've found myself embarking what appears to be an interesting life. Possibly even a good one. School is wrapping itself up, it has become methodical, I've done it for so long he hardly even requires thought anymore. Just show up for class and put the round pegs in the round holes, squares in the square ones. Sometimes though its so boring, I symphatize with rats forced to make there way through mazes again and again for the same damn reward. But soon very soon, it will all be over. Before me lies the possiblities of a road trip to Mexico, investments in Morocco, expeditions to Zambia, and creating the organizations which will allow such adventures to take place all while dedicating every ounce of my will to improving the general conditions on the planet. But then there are the small things.

Hamas Wins....What Now?

So it appears that Hamas has one the first truley democratic Palestinian elections with 53% of the vote in the vast majority of districts. So it would appear to me that two possiblities exist for where we go from here, one is disaster and the other may actually lead to a lasting peace:

Disaster

After living under the corrupt Fatah regime Palestinians seem to have choosen the only other option available: Hamas. Of course this doesn't mean a whole lot, Hamas has never been in power so the option of widespread corruption was somewhat minimized. Now that they are in power they have plenty of chances to become corrupt, impinge on the rights of women, and fund their military wing to scale up their war against Israel. However by doing so it would appear that they are going against the will of a majority of Palestinians who want peace with the neighboring state. But of course that doesn't matter much when your ideologically driven. So this could potentially lead to another Islamic Revolotion, more similar to Algeria than Iran but with similar results. It always helps to remember that the Nazis won a majority through fair election. The problem was that, in my opinion, people cannot make good choices when held under the terror of an enemy threat. It was true in Germany after the supposed burning of the Richestag by communists (still unproven), in America after 9-11, and the West Bank and Gaza after living in a state of seige. Something also worth thinking about is the prospects for Israel's hard right wing has suddenly gone up. Unless Ehud Olmert takes the election it looks like Bibi Netanyahu is going to make a comeback, and the nasent Kadima party, the hope for all moderate Israelis may arrive still born.

A Lasting Peace?

I've always been of the opinion that terrorism, like all political violence, is a sort of twisted form of free speech, when freedom of speech is compleatly stifled. The point is that terrorists often arise in a country where when groups that would otherwise be political have no forum to express their politics. However once elected these groups often have to moderate in order to govern, but left to the cold political fringe they must rely on fundemenatlist radicals to continue on their mission. History shows us many examples, the Republican Party was born from anti-slavery terrorist groups, Sine Fine used to be the political wing of the IRA until it was elected and then it replaced the IRA which was continously marginalized by their more moderate represenatives in Irelands Parliment. Even Israel had groups like Irgun that morphed from terrorist groups viaing for Israel's independence, into the modern political party Likud. Perhaps...just perhaps (especially if it is not shunned by the West) Hamas will find that in having to govern a country, and maintain its government it must represent its constituency many of which believe that a peace accord with Israel must be signed. But if they don't....see above.

Broke Down

I left St. Louis Wedsneday with hopes that by now I would be sitting in my new apartment, entertaining guests, and planning out the week ahead. Alas the fates have intervened and instead I'm in Chattanooga, Tennessee sitting in a public library with nothing better to do than blog about what happened. Before leaving St. Louis my dad insisted that I get my car serviced at our local Mobile Station. Everything checked out, and they even fixed my radio that had not functioned for the last month so I continued on my merry way content and happy that 14 hours I would be safe and sound at home.
Things went swimmingly until I hit some bad traffic in Nashville, I was planning on getting to Atlanta by dusk to stay with a cousin until I continued but it was dark as I hit the mountians going south on I-24E towards the TN-GA line. As I begin my climb up I noticed that my engine was starting to overheat. I attempted to slow down and keep it out of the red but to no avail. Pulling over at that point was pretty much out of the question. These mountain passes had steep rock faces on either side and the roads had more curves than a diamondback snake. If one semitruck swerved I'd be roadkill. I called my roomate Eric Lem to get some advice, and he told me to pull over. As soon as I got on the phone with him all my warning lights flickered on, and with little choice I pulled over the car. The hood was smoking, and I was worried that the whole thing might catch on fire, so I jumped out stupidly leaving the keys in the ignition and somehow managing to lock the door. So there I was on the side of a mountain road (in January mind you) keys locked in the car with a smoking hood. But at least I had my phone.
For some reason I also didn't have a Triple AAA card, which was on my parents account. A call home let me know the folks were out at a play, with their cell phones turned off. So I called the 911, and waited what must have been an hour and a half for the highway patrol. The officer that gretted me was a nice enough guy. Sorta pudgy with a hic moustache, and a ciggerette drooping from his lip. I got in his car to fill out a report and he called up a tow truck to unlock my car and tow it. What followed was a conversation that I'll recount for your amusement:

"Whats your name son."
"Roey."
"No, what's your real name."
"That is my real name."
"Huh...uh..spell it."
"R-O-E-Y."
"Okay...last name."
"Rosenblith. R-O-S-E-N-B-L-I-T-H"
"What kinda name is that?"
"Which one?"
"The first one"
"I'm Israeli"
"Really...wow I never met no Israelites. What they speak over there?"
"Hebrew"
"Wow...could you speak some?"
"Umm...okay...ma ani ose...what am I going to do?"
"Okay okay...that's pruty neat. So are you Jewish?"
"Yep"
"No kidding...you know there ain't no Jews were I live. So does everyone speak Hebrew in Israel?"
"Unless they speak Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino, or English."
"Those dialects?"
"Uh...yeah."
"I hope you don't think I'm some southern asshole asking you all these questions. I just don't meet ethnic types that often so I always like to ask them questions when I do."
"That's fine."
"So what's that that you celebrate now...hannaku, what's that all about?"
"It comemerates a war that was fought between Jewish zealots called the Maccabees against the Greeks and the Jews that supported Israel's assimilation into the Greek Empire. The Greeks invaded the Temple in Jerusalem and desecreted. After the Greeks were defeated the Jews entered the temple and found one lamp with enough oil to last one day but it lasted 8 days so Hannukah is 8 days, and we light candles and eat fried food in rememberance of the oil."
"So I guess that's something southerners and jews have in common."
"What's that?"
"That fried food is sacred."
"Umm...yeah I guess so."
"So what you think about them Palestinians?"

I always find it incredibly difficult to answer this question, which never stops people from asking me constantly. What makes it incredibly difficult to answer the question is that your usually operating in a knowledge vacuum with the person asking the question not knowing anything about the conflict. It would be sort of like me asking a quantum physicist about what his thoughts are on black holes. It doesn't really matter what answer he gave me because unless I had a background in the field I wouldn't understand anything that he was saying. My best attempts to simplify my opinion on this into a single sound bite has created the following answer:

"I think they need their own country and that Israel should get out of the West Bank."
"So is that whole thing sort of like when the South wanted to succed from the North? But I mean why can't those Palestinians fight fair and quite with the suicide bombings?"

Comments like these tend to hurt my brain.