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Iraq-Jordan
Desert campaign to save humanity
2005-05-18
The Dalai Lama and a host of Nobel prize winners have joined actor Richard Gere for a conference aimed at righting the wrongs of modern humanity.
Yeah, when I think about saving the world, Richard Gere is the first person who comes to mind.
King Abdullah of Jordan is hosting the two-day meeting at the ancient desert city of Petra. Authors Elie Wiesel and VS Naipaul are among the artists and scientists in Petra to discuss the way things are - and the way they should be. Former US President Bill Clinton is also due to join the conference.
Psssst, Abdullah, I'd keep a close eye on the wife
In his opening address to the conference, entitled A World in Danger and held ahead of a World Economic Forum meeting on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea, King Abdullah said the modern world was at a "critical crossroads". He called for renewed efforts for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a fresh emphasis on Islam as a religion of peace.
Keep trotting that old ROP meme out there, maybe somebody will believe it
"A process begins here - a process that all of you will shape, and by your effort, help shape our world," the king told delegates.
We're doomed!
Mr Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1986, wondered whether the 21st century could escape the legacy of its violent predecessor. "At the dawn of the 21st century, the planet is already in peril. The world is thirsty for stability," he said.
Why do they keep thinking stability is a good thing? Stabilty means a lack of change, and change is what we need in this region
"Will wars persist, will disarmament remain utopia? Terrorism, particularly suicide attacks, are preaching a culture of death. What can we do to stop that?"
Kill the bad guys
Delegates will discuss four key themes: terror and peace, economic development and poverty, health and environment, and education and media. Recommendations will then be presented to political and business leaders gathering for a three-day meeting of the World Economic Forum, beginning on Friday. Israeli Vice-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, former Northern Irish political leader David Trimble and Nigerian author Wole Soyinka are among a total of 44 delegates, 25 of them Nobel laureates. In his address, King Abdullah said the growth of extremism demonstrated that more effort was needed "to reinforce the basic values of humanity". Young people in the Middle East have known no existence without conflict and see a world wracked by division, he added. "They see diseases that wealthy nations have wiped out, that are still crippling people in the developing world.
SEE: Islamic clerics against vacinations
"They see gender inequality, holding back talents of half the world.
SEE: Islamic clerics against womens rights
They see the harm as well as the hope brought by globalisation."
SEE: Moonbats against free trade, development, democracy, etc....
Posted by:Steve

#25  Why do I have the feeling that if Tibet was ruled by priests again that it would be much like life under the Taliban?

It's better to keep quiet and be thought an idiot, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Posted by: Pappy   2005-05-18 19:49  

#24  I thought it he was a UT Tiger fan meself...
Posted by: Pappy   2005-05-18 19:47  

#23  I'd go to the conference, if it meant I'd be able to explore Petra in peace!

.... What's that? I'd have to attend the meetings and give a paper? Oh. Never mind.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-05-18 19:21  

#22  You can tell by the way that the Dalai Lama dresses that he's a serious 'nole fan.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-05-18 16:33  

#21  I don't have documentation for this but I have a quote on a mousepad supposedly by the dali Lama. "If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." I'll research and see if it's legitimate.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2005-05-18 16:19  

#20  The Dalai Lama came to Austin once. Made me wonder if the Dalai Lama wore Tony Lama's.
Posted by: SteveS   2005-05-18 15:09  

#19  Sweet Mike!

I have a license to kill ........ terrorists
Posted by: mmurray821   2005-05-18 13:51  

#18  Why do they keep thinking stability is a good thing? Stabilty means a lack of change, and change is what we need in this region

Change threatens their status.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2005-05-18 13:44  

#17  Anonymoose: I suggest you travel over to amazon and type in the dalai lama's name under the book section. Pick any of his works at random and order it. Any one. Once you have read it, pick several others. Then the Buddhist bible(a collection of works, there is no actual "bible"). Then go where you will. Then come back and explain how the buddhists beat people over the head with sticks. Or tell us about a particular war or conflict they have started. Or participated in. At all.
Posted by: Weird Al   2005-05-18 13:41  

#16  mmurray: The use of deadly force in defense of innocent life does not demonstrate a lack of respect for life. Coming to the defense of innocent life is not only permissible, it is often required. See, e.g., St. Augustine.

In other words, go kill all the terrorists you like, it's cool.
Posted by: Mike   2005-05-18 13:36  

#15  Former US President Bill Clinton is also due to join the conference.

Methinks Bill has finally found himself. He always wanted to be a combination of the Dalai Lama and Richard Gere (genifers, not gerbils, please).
Posted by: thibaud (aka lex)   2005-05-18 13:13  

#14  I guess I have a lack of respect for life. I want to see the terrorists dead, the people threatening my countrymen dead....
Posted by: mmurray821   2005-05-18 12:40  

#13  . . . that is the bottom line: the culture of death, be it in Islam (screaming suicide bombers), or in secular humanism's destruction of the elderly and disabled (euthanasia laws in the Netherlands), is what is at the root of a lot of this. A lack of respect for life, and the subsequent lack of valuing life . . .

Well said, Spook. Well said.
Posted by: Mike   2005-05-18 12:32  

#12  You never know.

Elie Wiesel and VS Naipaul have been known to depart from the usual PC blather. Weisel refused to join the peace at any price campaign during the 80s and Naipaul has written some withering stuff (mostly descriptive) about islamic culture.
Posted by: mhw   2005-05-18 11:54  

#11  Yeah, Richard Gere is a wanker for the most part, and so are a lot fo the people on the bandwagon because its trendy & "counter cultural".

One thing they did get right:

"Terrorism, particularly suicide attacks, are preaching a culture of death."

Aad that is the bottom line: the culture of death, be it in Islam (screaming suicide bombers), or in secular humanism's destruction of the elderly and disabled (euthanasia laws in the Netherlands), is what is at the root of a lot of this. A lack of respect for life, and the subsequent lack of valuing life.

Seriously, Anonymoose - your anti-religious bias/bigotry is showing through again. You're as rigid as a Marxist when it comes to religion.

Do you know anything at all about Tibetan Buddhism?

If you did, you would not have made such an ignorant, lowminded comment.

Posted by: OldSpook   2005-05-18 11:52  

#10  Today must be fatuous day.

GO, if you had explained, y'know - made your comment worthy of the bandwidth, you might have become a valued member of the RB University Faculty. But, alas, you didn't and, thus, you're not. Sigh. Goldem opportunities lost, episode googleplex.

Thanx for nuttin'.
Posted by: .com   2005-05-18 11:49  

#9  probably because you dont know much about Tibetans.
Posted by: Glerens Omamp1477   2005-05-18 11:39  

#8  Why is it that when the Arab leadership talks about how Islam is really a religion of peace it is always in english to Western diplomats? The people he should be telling that to is the Cleric's Mufti's and Madrassa's that teach this kind of crap

http://www.memritv.org/

There is a segment of Islam that is a peacfull religion the problem is the islamic version of the Aryian Church is in control and ulike the regular MAJORITY of christian churchs in the west condem or speak out against when faced, the cough "majority" of islam churches cant wont or dont have the sack to do anything exept tell the western diplomats in english that the majority is good and islam is peacefull but they do nothing to spread that idea at home.
Posted by: C-Low   2005-05-18 11:27  

#7  Desert campaign to save humanity

We are waa-ay ahead of you. That is what the Iraq war is about.
Posted by: badanov   2005-05-18 11:16  

#6  Why do I have the feeling that if Tibet was ruled by priests again that it would be much like life under the Taliban? That's the trouble with laws "written in heaven", they keep changing unpredictably based on what the current priest beating you with a club thinks.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-05-18 11:03  

#5  Recommendations will then be presented to political and business leaders gathering for a three-day meeting of the World Economic Forum, beginning on Friday.

Recommendation #1: Money.

Recommendations #2 to #5634: See #1.
Posted by: Pappy   2005-05-18 10:52  

#4  aimed at righting the wrongs of modern humanity. Again the implied premise that the modern world is making things worse. By any objective standard this is false. I could summarize this conference and a hundred others as 'Explaining how, when things get better it really means they are getting worse.'
Posted by: phil_b   2005-05-18 10:34  

#3  Y'know what? We should just hand the whole world over to the poor. They're doing such a bang-up job with their own lives, let them manage everything.
Posted by: BH   2005-05-18 10:29  

#2  dirka dirka..mohammed jihad
Posted by: 2b   2005-05-18 10:04  

#1  How about saving us, Richard? What about us? Aren't we worth saving, or do you see us as useless playthings only good for your own gratification!
Asshole!
Posted by: Terrified Gerbil   2005-05-18 09:10  

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