To convert to a peaceful economy is something every ´one´ performs in one´s own way, by accepting That What Is, exactly at this Very Moment and be at peace with it.

One cannot build one´s expectations on anyone else except oneself.

Be the change oneself and if that will not work in one´s world, then one should ask oneself: how can I serve (oneself)?

Amen

Your vision for peace is absolutely correct Dr. Chopra! While all of your suggested steps are vital to the hope of bringing peace to our world, I expecially love step four, "convert military bases to housing for the poor".

Can this world even imagine such a thing happening; I know I always do.

Peace

How can any reasonable mind disagree with your 9 steps, Dr. Chopra?
But shouldn’t we add one more, and maybe it should be step number one?

# 1
Understand the world. Figure things out and accept the astonishing truths that have emerged in the last few centuries. Give science a chance. It never claims to know the absolute truth but makes the point that an evidence-based conclusion is the closest approximation to the truth.

The opposite would be some dogmatic conviction that faith produces anything remotely resembling the truth.

Faith produces faith
Assembly is required
The God-honest truth

Hi Deepak, you wrote back two years ago "A Peace Economy" Click my name.

To which I responded with something I wrote on Newswire back in 2005.

Deepak, you make good points, I really think we need a marketing campaign to sell Peace and lay out a path. I have always had this vision of the occurance of a natural disaster and within 60 minutes 100's of helicopters come flying over the horizon to save and aid people.

I have said before ask any soldier and he would much rather be building bridges, drilling wells, handing out food to starving kids, and just shooting and blowing up things during target practice.

We have a major job ahead spreading rock dust on the worlds soils if we are going to offset CO2 in the atmosphere and produce large mineral rich vegetables for consumption. It also get this stops pests which means you don't need to use all the pesticides, it also allows plants to be grown with less water. It turns poor soil into healthy soil. So this could be a large scale function.

I wrote this more than a year ago for sort of a marketing campaign to sell Peace.

Peace it’s Good for the Economy

Conflict only benefits a few and not even them, in the end.

Benefits of Peace

1. Lower Oil Prices lower gas prices
2. Lower Taxes
3. Lower costs to support Military
4. Government does not borrow as much on behalf of US citizens putting them in debt
5. More money to spend on leisure, entertainment, travel, house improvements
6. More money to spend on beneficial programs, and public infrastructure including National Parks
7. Reduces stress related illness and associated medial costs
8. Allows legislators to focus on more important issues
9. Improved trade
10. Market stability, less fluctuation and potential loss of life savings
11. Increased earnings on your 401k
12. Makes markets more stable less fluctuation and loss of life savings
13. Happy people are nicer to work with
14. Eliminates fear and uncertainty
15. Eliminates depression
16. Reduces the amount of personal debt
17. You don’t need to worry when you, your friends and family travel
18. Less security inconveniences
19. Less invasion of your personal privacy
20. Shorter waits at the airport
21. Happy neighbors, family, coworkers, retail employees
22. Improved job security
23. Better job market
24. Less of your money spent on security
25. Less worry, a good nights sleep
26. Reduced dependency on drugs for depression
27. No future reduction in social security benefits
28. Your kids will not grow up exposed to “real” violence on TV.
29. Teenagers will be easier to deal with
30. Less desire to abuse drugs
31. Employees are more productive
32. More many to spend on the products and service you make
33. Increased corporate earnings
34. More energy spent producing things with economic value
35. More disposable income to support jobs providing services, and the travel, restaurant, and entertainment industries, fancy toys and devices.

Still need convincing? We didn’t think so.

I also posted in response.

You know it might be feasible to ban war profits the people could pass such a law. This would allow for defense but would take the benefit it out of it for the few that benefit to the detriment of the many.

This would be where only material costs and labor could be charged. No profit margins attached.

Furthermore any nation state or company that derived profits form war or conflict including finacial institutions would have a

PEACE TARIFF APPLIED on all goods imported into a country that supported the Peace Tarrif International Agreement.

Yes I just made that up and it could work.

AND

We can also as a nation ban war. That is right an outright ban on war by the the entire nation. All war powers are removed.

What we permit as a people is Conflict resolution programs and operations. This still allows for defense and force to disarm if required as a last resort, we still support a strong and effective military, we change our entire methodology and therefore the nature and name for our actions.

"War" becomes a historical term no longer used on the planet because this is no longer our intention, our intention is that there are no losers in a conflict, everyone benefits.

I forgot to mention the Peace Tariff funds the Peace Department and conflict resolution programs.

We can also as a nation ban war. That is right an outright ban on war by the the entire nation. All war powers are removed.

What we permit as a people is Conflict resolution programs and operations. This still allows for defense and force to disarm if required as a last resort, we still support a strong and effective military, we change our entire methodology and therefore the nature and name for our actions.

"War" becomes a historical term no longer used on the planet because this is no longer our intention, our intention is that there are no losers in a conflict, everyone benefits.

I forgot to mention the Peace Tariff funds the Peace Department and conflict resolution programs.

Deepak, you write "ending our dependence on war is far more important than ending our dependency on foreign oil"

It is important to realize that oil is what many are fighting over, eliminate oil dependency and it will be one less big thing to fight over. That still leaves fear and disease as profit centers but this will change as well with the awareness that is coming.

Barack Obama is one of the people on the planet that has bothered to read and digest a good portion of my material. Some of which he had apparently encountered before some mysterious force orchestrated my meeting him, to hand deliver The Wisdom Based Presidency Papers which headlined with a great wisdom and insight.

"If not for the cost burden of fear we would all be living in paradise" ~Myself

The papers mapped out a partial plan of execution and fundamental strategy to secure the presidency, (spirit trumps ego) and execute a divinely inspired plan utilizing technology to establish balanced equitable holistic systems. Which you are all about to see manifest in a big way.

Many of you that have followed my comments here since 2005 will have insight into a portion of what is in there and what is going to unfold.

The challenge now is for him to remain steadfast in transcending the forces of ego, which is why I wrote a few weeks ago.

The Dynamics of Ego around Leadership and Power Holding Individuals which stressed awareness of possible attempts made to isolate a leader and control information flow to the leader and manipulate perception in the mind of the leader, it applies to anyone in a position of power. Click my name and scroll down to read.

A good sign is the other day he mentioned publicly, “he fears becoming isolated and losing touch with the world outside the White House "bubble".

This way one stays in touch with reality not an illusion presented to one as reality by those around them that may be deluded.

America has been on a war footing since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, sixty-seven years ago. We spend more on the military than do the world’s next sixteen big-spending war-based economies combined. Now Barack Obama has been elected by the first U. S. anti-war majority since the one that seated Dwight David Eisenhower in 1952 based on Eisenhower’s campaign promise to end the Korean conflict. For President-elect Obama, damping the fires of one of our more visible current active wars will certainly be a good start and a step in the right direction. Then we as a nation can move farther down that same road toward the vital business of actively building peace.

Ending our national economic dependence on war-related activities is an important component of a realistic vision of change that goes to the heart of this country's deep domestic and international problems. Domestically, the massive U. S. reliance on defense spending and defense-related exports tends to shift federal funding away from vital areas such as the environment, the infrastructure, education, and health care. Internationally, we as a society have declared by our vote that we want peace and that we want to be seen as a nation that promotes peace; therefore, bearing in mind that ultimately empire does follow the dollar, we must begin to derive our dollars from other kinds of activities—peaceful activities.

Beating some of our rustier swords into plowshares will require thought, effort, and investment, but the results will be worth it. A paring down of our military and war-related economy to fighting trim and a rethinking of our national priorities would result in huge economies and in the release of a massive amount of energy and funding toward more vital objectives. A staunchly determined national commitment to conversion of our present war economy into a peace economy is essential, because aerospace and military technologies remain one of the United States’ most lucrative exports, fostering weapons-hungry wars around the world, Without such a commitment to peace, we will find that the high profits of the military-industrial complex are an insurmountable obstacle.

What steps can we take to build a peace-based economy? The eight basic steps suggested here are just the beginning, awaiting fleshing out by all the talented actors on the U. S. economic stage. Our nation does not lack for creativity in coping with change. Some of these eight steps may at first seem unrealistic or fanciful, but various other countries have in one way or another already adopted measures very similar to these. For instance, in the former Soviet Union the army is now occupied with farming and other peaceful work as part of its regularly assigned professional duties. Here then are the steps.

• Scale down and phase out arms dealing and make it illegal by the year 2020.
• Write into every defense contract a specification for a counterpart peacetime project to be performed by the supplier.
• Provide tax incentives and direct funding to promote conversion of war-related commercial enterprises to peaceful product lines.
• Call a moratorium on development of new weapons technologies.
• Scale back on armaments like destroyers and submarines, originally intended to defend against a now-nonexistent superpower enemy.
• Phase out our foreign military bases and whenever possible convert any unneeded domestic military bases to housing for the poor.
• Require military personnel to devote part of their time to rebuilding our outworn infrastructure.
• From our enormous defense and homeland security budgets, fund social services for needy U. S. civilians (food aid, emergency medical care, and the like).

To quote Deepak: "The former Soviet army is occupied with farming and other peaceful work, for example"

I guess Russian warships were on a holiday cruise to Cuba and Venezuela and that little romp in the woods with Georgia, just a picnic?

I guess when Deepak and Rabbi Lerner urges us to follow Putins' example, well what can I say?

Pass the Vodka comrades,

Steve

Oh yes you forgot to include one crucial word in your blog title:

"Surrender" Memo to President-Elect Obama

Open Letter to Barack Hussein Obama President- elect of the United States of America
**=============================================**

Dear Mr. President,

I did not vote for you in the Presidential Election because I am Malaysian.

But I consider myself one of your constituents because what you do or say will affect me and my country as well.

I welcome your promise to change. Certainly your country, the United States of America need a lot of changes.

That is because America and Americans have become the best hated people in the world. Even Europeans dislike your arrogance. Yet you were once admired and liked because you freed a lot of countries from conquest and subjugation.

It is the custom on New Year's day for people to make resolutions. You must have listed your good resolutions already. But may I politely suggest that you also resolve to do the following in pursuit of Change.

1) Stop killing people. The United States is too fond of killing people in order to achieve its objectives. You call it war, but today's wars are not about professional soldiers fighting and killing each other. It is about killing people, ordinary innocent people by the hundreds of thousands. Whole countries will be devastated.

War is primitive, the cavemen's way of dealing with a problem. Stop your arms build up and your planning for future wars.

2) Stop indiscriminate support of Israeli killers with your money and your weapons. The planes and the bombs killing the people of Gaza are from you.

3) Stop applying sanctions against countries which cannot do the same against you.

In Iraq your sanctions killed 500,000 children through depriving them of medicine and food. Others were born deformed.

What have you achieved with this cruelty? Nothing except the hatred of the victims and right-thinking people.

4) Stop your scientists and researchers from inventing new and more diabolical weapons to kill more people more efficiently.

5) Stop your arms manufacturers from producing them. Stop your sales of arms to the world. It is blood money that you earn. It is un-Christian.

6) Stop trying to democratize all the countries of the world. Democracy may work for the United States but it does not always work for other countries.

Don't kill people because they are not democratic. Your crusade to democratize countries has killed more people than the authoritarian Governments which you overthrew. And you have not succeeded anyway.

7) Stop the casinos which you call financial institutions. Stop hedge funds, derivatives and currency trading. Stop banks from lending non-existent money by the billions.

Regulate and supervise your banks. Jail the miscreants who made profits from abusing the system.

8) Sign the Kyoto Protocol and other international agreements.

9) Show respect for the United Nations.

I have many other resolutions for change which I think you should consider and undertake.

But I think you have enough on your plate for this 2009th year of the Christian Era.

If you can do only a few of what I suggest you will be remembered by the world as a great leader. Then the United States will again be the most admired nation. Your embassies will be able to take down the high fences and razor-wire coils that surround them.

May I wish you a Happy New Year and a great Presidency.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad

http://www.chedet.cc/

In 1974, Mahathir was appointed Minister of Education. He had always believed in the need for "education for the masses", with greater emphasis on maths and science, at high school level, in order to achieve his dream of a developed Malaysia. He continued to strongly promote his agenda of quantity-and-quality higher education during his term as prime minister.