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<div class="MsoNormal"><b>Security in the Age
of Ebola</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Batanes of the northern Philippines wakes up to rooster crows
from Formosa, but the neighboring folks cannot legally exchange chicken without
the consent of Manila and Taipei.
Sovereign borders are a creation of the nation-states that folks of
Batanes ignored until Portugal and Spain, later China and Japan, made them pay
attention to it. We know that European
imperial forces fought over territories in the Pacific in the 18th and 19th
centuries, leaving Spanish and German worldviews in Chamorro and Carolinian lifestyles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">For all the socialist bluster of Russia and the democratic
aspirations of the United States, the reason the Kims are shooting at each
other across the 38th is because of the two Koreas alliances with the
aforementioned entities. With the US
inheriting the mantle of British imperialism, it took the highroad of "American
exceptionalism" and "manifest destiny", while taking advantage
of the cheap labor and accessible resources of their good will's recipients. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The former USSR had the good sense not to hang around
NoKor. The invisible hand behind South
Korea and Japan heretofore have markings that read: USFK and USFJ. Meanwhile, every one is taught to sing
"Michael row your boat ashore."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">American business already knows war is profitable, and with
the biggest military budget in the world, we are not about to give up conflict
earnings. NATO and SEATO were not set up
so folks can hold hands around the table and sing <i>Kumbaya! </i> We are no more interested
in protecting Kurds in Kudani than blasting the bejesus out of the Islamic
State.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Fishermen in an atoll close to the Philippines alerted their
Chinese counterparts that the "police are coming" and that they should
make themselves scarce. There was never
any of "this atoll, this island is ours" when it came to
fishing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">While living in Majuro in the Marshall Islands, we had Taiwanese
fishing boats dock to replenish provisions.
Boats from Japan go "whaling" in Oceana - Tasmania to the
Aloha lands of the Pacific including Tahiti.
Though engaged in catching the depleted resource of sharks and whale, dolphin
that swim with the tuna, the fisherman were never called to account for their
ethical norms. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Humankind rules over all earth creatures, with a social
stratification developed in the last 6K years rated according to race (pale
top, dark bottom) and pedigreed schooling (Ha'vard and Harrow will do), on the
one hand, and today, one's money-making ability in the nation-state of one's
patrimony, on the other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Survival is, however, Mother Nature's prerogative, and in
the evolutionary process, a critical ingredient in the transmittal of genetic
information are little creatures "at the edge of life" too small for
microscopes but may be filtered to be recognized and catalogued, particulates
called <i>viruses. </i>Parasitical, they
live off their hosts; viruses by themselves are harmless until they start messing
up with their hosts.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">In the "civilized" understanding of how life is
sustained on Earth, human chutzpah takes precedence over all living organisms
in the food chain. Only when we have pandemic
occurrences of diseases are we reminded that our pre-eminence is more humbug
than innate skill.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Emergencies like the outbreak of viruses do not recognize
nation-states. Ebola from West Africa now
alarms the world with the little critters playing games with Texas Health Presbyterian
and Carlos III in Spain. Meanwhile, the tropical
virus causing dengue wreaks havoc in China this year. Two mysterious viruses are infecting Columbia
and Colorado girls. Though down with the
ordinary sneeze in <i>Dong Bei </i>cold, it
is still my immunity to a virus that determines my response to the added carbon
in the air.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Genetic engineering, a cutting edge of our scientific
endeavor, has been suggested to cause this viral proliferation, a consequence
of our messing up with Mother Nature's processes. Regardless, viruses are not aberrations. Our bodies are full of them, and our primary
posture to defend ourselves from it is more from the kneejerk response to
threat from the religion of fear rather than the science of health.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Immunity develops in healthy bodies that co-exist with germs
and viruses. Vaccines have short-term
effect as the adaptation process often results in stronger strain we are
supposed to be protected from. No, the
human specie needs to mutate so that it can be healthy enough to live with
germs and virus rather than be obsessed with secure boundaries, most
particularly the imagined ones like those developed by nation-states, as if a
virus and germ would stop just because there is a political line in place!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">In a recent trip to North America, friends and kin alike spent
most of their time and resources in defense of their way of life, accent on
"defense". Ninety percent in
the expenditure vs. Ebola is combating fear.
Our preoccupation with boundary security needs to mutate! Fear constricts the mind! Health is living <i>sans </i>fear. In our hands, not
in the fear of the Ebola, lies destiny!</div>
<br>
<div style="clear:both"><i>j'aime la vie</i><br>
<a href="mailto:pinoypanda2031@aol.com">pinoypanda2031@aol.com</a><br>
<div><i>yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!</i></div>
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