Category: business

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“Weapons of Mass Destruction” – The Trump-Bush Similarity – Then Iraq and Now Iran: There’s Oil There…

Image of the three flags of the US, Israel and Iran
Image licensed via Adobe CC

When you look at some of the news in relation to the recent strikes from Israel into Iran, at recent Trump ‘messages’ – you cannot help but wonder…

Who is using whom here?

When in the early 1990s the 2nd Gulf war started – and when finally in 2003 more strikes against Iraq led to Saddam Hussein’s capture and death, it was clear already that contrary to US-interests Hussein after decades of support from the US and oil prices to their advantage started to cut loose.

So, to the world the US announced that there were “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq to be taken care of. And thus they went in. The results can be seen to this day: Iraq after more than 20 years is still struggling to get to its feet.

For Hussein in Iraq it was his ‘Swan song’: Iraq has too much oil for the US to ‘let him go’.

The same holds true for Iran.

The whole of these operations and war have been at least partly prepared for during the first stay in office of that sorry excuse for a man called Trump.

He cancelled the contracts with Iran that had been reached after 10 years of negotiation to control Uranium enrichment.

Netanyahu is proven to have needed support to stay in office in Israel. He has for many years driven the situation in Gaza to breaking point  – the age-old method of kings as well as dictators and other leaders of state to cover up internal problems with a war in foreign countries; in order to try and ‘unite’ people behind them again.

Not only does the Israeli people not want all of it!
All the cruelty and killing could have been prevented. Long ago!
And still, my greetings also to all the good people in the US, because there are more against Trump’s politics every day! And they protest, loudly and consistently.

But, here comes the ‘scoop’:

Should this war lead to the downfall of the present regime in Iran, the ‘olden times’ of suppression of Iran by the US will return:
Because, just as during the regime of the last Shah in Iran, the US received the lowest possible prices for oil and gas in return for their support.

Blackmail. Extortion. That’s what this is. Shame on Trump, Netanyahu and also Putin, should he support them.

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The View on Things and People — Perspective or Judgement?

Photo of lighted glowworms in a forest clearing at night
Image by Yuri from Pixabay — Glowworms at night

Perspective is another word for a view on things — or the world. Our view on the world can be mutli-faceted — or rather singular.
It depends on how we grow up, what we see and learn – and how we learn to deal with people and things — and how to judge them.

What now? ‘Judge’?
I am just thinking here, you might say.

Of course, in a broader sense, judging is what we do when we determine our view on something, or somebody.
In many cases what we see and hear is what we go by.

But blind people for example will tell you that going by your visual impression alone can easily lead to mistakes.
Equally, deaf-mute people will tell you that ‘going by’ the sounds or words spoken will easily lead to mistaken impressions.

But if that’s so easy to mistake what would you ‘go by’ then?

It needs an open mind and it needs patience. Neither people nor things can be judged quickly — although many people tend to do that — and a good understanding comes with time — and knowledge.

A very popular example is the reported reaction of a group of deaf-mutes watching the former US president Clinton when he spoke on his relations to the young lady that eventually caused his resignment from office: They smirked and laughed out loud until asked what was going on? And they answered: “But he is lying, it’s so obvious…”

Whatever the reason or the occasion, if we want to make this world a better place we would want to check our view — our judgement — of people as well as situations carefully.

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Cruelty and Violence, the ‘dreadful Sisters’ — Remedy: Real Values: Other than Unlimited Wealth

Image of a father teaching his children by reading books with them - and 2nd image of an open book with two pages shaped into a heart
(Images licensed via Adobe CC, my graphics)

The founding myth of a society such as the US-American one is simple and as follows: Work hard or even harder to get rich — that way proving to all and God that you are favourable to God. Since the rich are God’s favourites.

That value is probably the most damaging and destroying one ever to be posed throughout the history of mankind:
All is fair — that is any means to that end: becoming rich — is good and even fair in God’s eyes.

Religion in general is one way of posing understandable values and rules for a society to live by.
It also fulfils the human need for transcendence, so the philosopher Fromm tells us.

When we are lucky, those rules are not just about limiting everything to a bare minimum — but about the real health and joy human life has to offer:

Combining heart, soul and body in ways that make you smile, like yourself — and thus enable you to like others (more).

And interact with a sense of community so the welfare of all is at the back of people’s minds.

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The Deals: Politics and Business Rolled Into One – Ukraine for Gaza – Corruption on Large Scales

Image of two hands shaking in front of a digital network of lines
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Be that Trump or Putin, they are about money, and more money – and their networks: They depend on the lobbyists behind them. They are not the only ones, but at the moment the most noticeable ones.

That’s why we see what we read and hear about: Trump has been best buddy to Putin at least ever since Trump’s first run for office. His family was actively maintaining contacts in Russia and with Putin. These facts have been proven. By newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Since then amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has acquired the Washington Post and already he not only has reduced its staff: The quality and reliability of the content and the reporting has become rather superficial not to say doubtful.

Another dependent and buddy is Elon Musk, who at this very moment is firing thousands of US-government officials in the administration. A cover-up for the government funds he received for development. The Teslas failed and he would have to return billions of dollars and be bankrupt. This way: He just might be save…

The New York Times are a reliable source of information yet, but we can only hope that Trump as well as the several courts over there will let it stay that way. He certainly has done all he could – and had it done for him – to make sure that he practically cannot be drawn into court again. For none of his proven crimes.

In Europe we need to stay united, all those that are not yet compromised by money or power – but know what the true values of a democracy are:

Freedom, equality and fraternity.

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There’s a Method to the Madness – Or: When Male Life Runs Berserk – Or: When Business Meets Cruelty

Image by Bárbara Cascão from Pixabay

It can be one of those dark days in life when you face real evil in your own life for the first time. I have read so many books and ‘digested’ so many stories, those that were told in person and those that you see on the big screen; yet, to see real evil is new to me, even.

A few patterns emerge:

I. The Patriarchal Hierarchy and Willfulness in Play Again

    • Patriarchy not for decades but for thousands of years has enforced the stereotypes:
      Man is the ‘hunter’ – and not just for game (deer, wild boar, etc.); women are the ‘hunted’, the ‘booty’.
    • Any man who is really interested to be counted among ‘the guys’ will do what he can to ‘get it’ as often as possible.
    • If it should so surface, the management power in business can be used to ‘serve’ the ‘booty’, the ‘dish’, right up – nice and ‘easy’:
      • *Women, single and apparently easy to fool into believing they did something wrong can be used in order to ‘try one’s luck’:
      • Hire them under a pretense then do your best to get them into the ‘prone position’.
      • Should that not work legally, in a manner of a certain time, fire them under those pretenses.
      • Repeat from *.
      • And so turns the merry-go-round of jobs and people who seem to be job hopping – when in effect they are part of that secret game of ‘push and shove’…

II: Intricate Business Calculations

    • Say, your branch of business is facing a severe slump. No sales, much and that due to a saturated market segment.
    • Yet, you need to take care of customer demands in a certain department.
    • But the budget doesn’t allow to hire a person or persons over a longer period of time.
    • Additionally you have found that searching these people takes time, effort and some experience to filter the really good ones.
    • What do you do?
      • *Find an agency that does the searching and finding.
      • Hire the good ones.
      • Make them work hard and almost reach the finish line.
      • Bother them and intimidate them in a tough market with ridiculous claims of misbehaviour.
      • Even invent false claims of shortcomings and spread those by and by among colleagues and the rest of the management.
      • Use the accumulated ‘reasons’ to base a lay-off on and – fire them, after a year.
      • Then pretend to be searching another, better fitting employee – for another year.
      • Finally, hire the next candidate.
      • Repeat from *.
    • What’s the result?
      • You get the agency ‘on the cheap’ because firing those employees too soon for reasons of being unfit saves the fee due to the agency – who will have to return at least part of it.
      • You save lots of money on salary, you actually pay half the price, because, in alternating years there’s an employee.
      • Then, there is not….

III: Intricate Business Calculations No 2

    • Say, you need to lend employees to other companies.
    • But the economy is slow, salaries are too high for some businesses.
    • In addition, really well-trained employees are hard or impossible to find.
    • *So, you start actively searching.
    •  Make them an offer of the appropriate high salary.
    • Hire.
    • Let them work in the actual customer’s place.
    • After a little while start bothering them, s.a., with ridiculous claims of misbehaviour, intimidate them.
    • After a few months working this method get them to sign a ‘reduced-hours-per-week’ agreement.
    • After a year, fire them.
    • Result: Cheap salary; except for the employee facing unemployment and job hunting all over again – all concerned are satisfied.
    • Repeat*…

IV: Intricate Business Calculations No 3

    • The business you have runs well, but sales are slow.
    • The economy’s contracts with trade unions rule that every four years salaries have to be raised.
    • Also, that beginners in the company or a certain job earn less than the ones already in place for more than four years.
    • What do you do?
      • *Hire employees, sign the contracts.
      • Every four years, make lay-offs appear necessary, firing the previously hired employees.
      • Fire under pretenses, also after four years.
      • Hire from other countries, even far away where knowledge of local conditions, contracts, systems, taxes and prices is nil.
      • Keep a couple of employees – perhaps even with different contracts out of trade union conditions – to make the image credible that you have employees in place for long periods of time, the ‘faithful ones’.
      • Repeat*…
      • Result: The salaries stay low and the employee turnover is not too apparent so the company’s reputation is safe.
Whatever the patterns – they are shameful to watch and cruel to suffer from.
Additionally, it’s a huge waste of resources for any country’s economy…
Make it stop. Now.
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In War there is Conflict – Conflicts need Solutions – War is NOT a Solution!

(Image licensed Adobe CC)

Whoever told us that life is either wonderful harmony – or we will have war? In the sense that you cannot have it both ways?

Da…n and blast to all who believe it! Is it that male (patriarchal) idea that you have to have predominance and prove ‘strong’ by shouting at people a lot? Because that way you establish ‘authority’?

Maybe. But war is not a question of gyms and some old-fashioned training ideas!

The civil society brought an even more wide-spread understanding of responsibility and the preference for peace and calm that let us thrive for a good life and good relations in peace.

Conflicts are a natural part of human life – always were, always have been.
(Cruel) arguments or wars are not ‘natural’.
They are the consequence of a mindset that values predominance and ‘first place’ the most. To force your opinion or your preferences on people is  – according to that idea – a sign of strength and power.

BUT – and this is one of those BIG BUTS – it is a question of perspective:

Because anything that causes pain and suffering to many people – and additionally over a long period of time – is not a good thing! Period.

There are many ways out of conflict, some are short, because the conflict is small.
Some ways are long, because the conflict is large.
But whatever it is, if we respect the fundamental human rights we will do all the negotiating it takes, even if years, to avoid pain and suffering. Full stop.

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Life – People – Kaleidoscope – or Black and White?

Image by un-perfekt from Pixabay

“My way – or the highway?” In many parts of the world we can see people believing that there is only one way – or another. That other people or their behaviour or their ideas are one of two things: Black or White. A duality concept.

In truth, life and situations and people are colourful, like a kaleidoscope. Sometimes, when you are full of emotion, such as anger, wrath or a loving passion, the emotion has no ‘colour’ in the mind — it’s more of a temperature, perhaps, rather cold, or rather hot… and if you would start thinking and getting to know yourself or your emotion(s) better you would find out more details – and start finding words for them.

To think that there are only two sides to a coin is a rather narrow concept. You wil miss out on all the other possibilities – or colours.

Sometimes, when we are very sure that only one way or solution is right — at least for us — we tend to judge harshly.

That way we will overlook all the other — even beautiful — colours, in a situation, a solution to a problem — or a character.

Even peace or peaceful coexistence become easier to find, if we allow for alternatives, see the ‘other colours’, the full picture.

The big idea.

And should you wonder if that was too much bother — you may want to think again: Is peace really so much more difficult, than war — or conflict? And when was it written that the good or the better things always are easy…?

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“Stands with a Fist” – Dancing with Life

Image of two flamingos in a lake embracing with their beaks
“Stand with a Fist” is the name of a character in a movie, a young Indian woman in the movie “Dances with Wolves”. I had to think of it recently and what these two expressions mean to me these days:

In this modern world we are supposed to be strong, independent and always up-to-it – whatever ‘it’ may be.

In business and increasingly so in private life if you admit to ‘weaknesses’ you may be looked at askance. And what are those, really? You may lose the confidence of others into your abilities, your skills and your powers of thought or ideas.

‘Weakness’, I think that’s a grave misconception of what humans are, in effect: We all are living and breathing entities, who all their lives are looking for that decisive ‘connection’ with another, that lifting of the ‘veil’, the ‘barrier’ between us – and the conquest of that feeling of separateness as Erich Fromm called it: Love.

Often ‘weaknesses’ means ‘just’ everyday life occurrences that are not ‘pretty’ in a character, such as cheating at cards, telling tall tales for the truth – or eating the last piece of cake.

But much more often ‘weakness’ is equalled with ‘being vulnerable’.

‘Strong’ being identified as what warriors are supposed to be like: Always know the way, always be cool, calm and collected – and never take anything to heart.
If needs be – women and children are to be saved first. Fight for a cause. And die for it, if it so happens.

Well, not all is ‘fair’ in love and war’, because – we are not at war in everyday life!
And we should also not strive to be fit for war, first and foremost. Because:
“Be careful what you wish for.”
Or
If you focus on one thing in your mind’s eye, you cannot focus on the other.

It’s rather simple, in many ways: Our mind is a powerful tool to invoke images and those in turn ‘make’ our emotions, and are informed on by our emotions. And so on.

That’s why focusing on the good can be so important, not to say, crucial!

Focusing on Love.

In essence, love is what keeps us alive, and strong, and self-confident and – positive.

Love? Isn’t it food, and drink and clothing and shelter that makes us stay alive? Yes, but after that?

I think what makes us all stronger really is to focus on all that is part of a peaceful, and fine life, in a community: Not be a warrior carrying your harness all day long – but a sensitive and humane person with feelings that allow us to laugh, to love – and to feel friendship.

But why should I take the first step? What if someone else is there – and hurts my feelings – and I will perhaps even be made to look a fool?

Well, that’s why I called it ‘dancing with life’: It’s not easy. You take steps and you reverse them, you try again and sometimes someone steps on your foot. But who said it should be – easy?

Is war easier? Or better – or nicer? It hurts more – and it kills people.

 

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Compete, Competitive, Competition – “Mainstream” or: Quality vs Quantity

Gladiator in ancient Rome fighting lion – Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, public domain

My father was apt to express his opinions rather drastically at times. One of them was:
“If 1 million flies sit on sh…t – you have to sit there too?”

Both our parents always encouraged, even urged us to look behind images and the mere surface. Don’t be satisfied with the second best, too.

I learned at an early age that in philosophy there exists the subject of ‘epistemology’:
It states basically that humans will best understand based on previous lessons. So, if you have learned about some types of people, your own family and friends, major contacts and their ideas, you will be best at recognizing those in others, again. But more ideas and very different outlooks will be hard to grasp – or stay invisible.

There is the idea of competition: It‘s a major concept in capitalism; originally stemming from mercantile surroundings it has invaded our whole lives with that idea of constant competition, at least where it took over earlier modes of thought and evaluating people:

What is best, is determined based on the majority – or the perceived majority – of high numbers. Since high numbers promise profit.

For some reason people started to confuse the high numbers, the majority, with quality: As if adhering to fashionable, even if only apparently, fashionable ideas and appearances would make you finer automatically…

Well, depending on one‘s own measurements, the yardstick, or aspirations, one might think that high profit is good, therefore high numbers are.

But history also has shown and actual events still show that for one thing, those screaming loudest are not always right; in marketing, for example.
And that loud screaming does not always represent the real, the ‚silent‘ majority.

To boot, quality is really determined by intrinsic values or criteria, not outside ones. Always has. Always will be.

In some cases it can hurt to find yourself outside a group… but only until you start realizing that not all groups are desirable to be a member of, just because they seem to be large.

Values and measurements exist for things, and for people as well as their behaviour.

Should you be wondering on what to think about a person or some concepts, facts – or ‚screamers‘ – check values, the basic, fine values that make people and the community strong – and happy(ier).
That‘s a good starting point.

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1 Among a 100 People – The Iceberg Phenomenon – How to See with Your Heart

drawing of a heart and a brain connected by two lines and a knot
Image courtesy pixabay.com – Free license

If we want to understand our peers better, it is vital to be able to relate to others: The basics of human existence, the basic needs and sorrows and joys. Knowing about them in yourself makes your ‘heart’ ‘clairvoyant’: You start to see the other’s pain, their need, you understand – and you can relate to them in new ways and find new solutions to old problems.

People are like icebergs, rarely is everything visible at once. It’s a fact that we all know to be true, at least more or less: Especially in business it’s a common idea that one should be always competent, never make mistakes…, always be fit and never lack enthusiasm. Perhaps even smile, if you can, to show that you are happy.

That means many people, even if half-consciously, behave that way; because we learn early in life from our surroundings, namely parents, family, friends and later kindergarten and school, and so on.

But sometimes people start realizing at some point that there is “more to it than meets the eye”.

Human beings have fine sensors especially as children about what is accepted behaviour and what is not. Therefore starting with early childhood they adapt to what is expected. The culture and personal background therefore are decisive aspects of what makes for the personality you meet one day around your workplace. And the personality you are.

The hidden emotions and less accepted tendencies and urges and wishes and the yearning sometimes to fulfill an inner need for something else – love perhaps, passion, adventure, or just true self-confidence because sadness and fear and childlike joy have a place again – can be strong. The self-control usually is too.

If we take into account that any culture in this world has these limitations imposed on people’s behaviour and even their thoughts and ideas that are basics for that self-control preventing them from speaking up – we will start to be able to look beyond the image. Relate to the true human being behind the business personality.

Daniel Goleman in his bestselling book called it “EQ”: Emotional Intelligence, the ability to realize the emotional side to any human thought and reaction. He states it clearly that science did eventually prove what has been part of literature, music and stories for as long as mankind exists: Emotions are the basics and central. Without them we become incapable to decide – anything.

That’s how heart and brain are connected – in a nutshell.

Statistics show too that 1 among a 100 people will speak up or contact someone when they have a problem or an issue. Therefore, looking at the small numbers in this respect can be crucial.

That’s why I use this blog to post about perhaps unusual subjects – to some of my readers. In the hopes that one or the other of them finds realization and perhaps even consolation in the fact that they are not alone with those thoughts, ideas or puzzles of human existence.

Understanding our emotions and relate to others better that way, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put this way in “The Little Prince”:

“Here is my secret. It is very simple: you only truly see with your heart.
What is essential is invisible to the eyes.”

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