Opinion (Parag Khanna, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation and author of The Second World: How Emerging Powers Are Redefining Global Competition in the 21^st Century and How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance): “Every five years, the United States National Intelligence Council, which advises the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, publishes a report forecasting the long-term implications of global trends. Earlier this year it released its latest report, “Alternative Worlds,” which included scenarios for how the world would look a generation from now.

“One scenario, ‘Nonstate World,’ imagined a planet in which urbanization, technology and capital accumulation have brought about a landscape where governments give up on real reforms and subcontract many responsibilities to outside parties, which then set up enclaves operating under their own laws.

“The imagined date for the report’s scenarios is 2030, but at least for ‘Nonstate World,’ it might as well be 2010: though most of us might not realize it, ‘Nonstate world’ describes much of how global society already operates. This isn’t to say that states have disappeared, or will. But they are becoming just one form of governance among many.

“A quick scan across the world reveals that where growth and innovation have been most successful, a hybrid public-private, domestic-foreign nexus lies beneath the miracle. These aren’t states; they’re ‘para-states’ — or, in one common parlance, ‘special economic zones.’…

“The broader consequence of these phenomena is that we should think beyond clearly defined nations and ‘nation building’ toward integrating a rapidly urbanizing world population directly into regional and international markets. That, rather than going through the mediating level of central governments, is the surest path to improving access to basic goods and services, reducing poverty, stimulating growth and raising the overall quality of life. …

“Our maps show a world of about 200 countries, but the number of effective authorities is hundreds more. … This is why weaker states must band together into regional groupings, or risk succumbing to the equally ancient principle of divide-and-conquer. … The Arab world will not be resurrected to its old glory until its map is redrawn to resemble a collection of autonomous national oases linked by Silk Roads of commerce.”

My Comment: But this is a short-term step to eliminate states and borders, and further there will be greater unification with equalization, by the path of suffering or awareness.
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In the News (from TechHive): “As the Internet evolved into a ubiquitous part of #ModernLife, we’ve witnessed a rise in the number of distinct mental disorders directly tied to our use of digital technology. These afflictions, which range from benign to destructive, weren’t recognized by the medical community until very recently, and didn’t even exist before the Clinton administration.

“Phantom Ringing Syndrome: When your brain punks you into thinking your phone is buzzing in your pocket.

“Have you ever reached for the vibrating phone in your pocket only to realize that it was silent the whole time—or weirder still, it wasn’t even in your pocket to begin with? While you may be slightly delusional, you aren’t alone. …

“Nomophobia: The anxiety that arises from not having access to one’s mobile device. The term ‘Nomophobia’ is an abbreviation of ‘no-mobile phobia.’…

“Cybersickness: The disorientation and dizziness some people feel when interacting with certain digital environments. …

“Facebook Depression: Depression caused by social interactions, or lack thereof, on Facebook…. One possible reason is that people tend to post only good news about themselves on Facebook: Vacations, promotions, party pics, etc. So, it’s very easy to fall under the false belief that everyone else is leading far happier and successful lives than you (when this may not be the case at all). …

“Internet Addiction Disorder: A constant and unhealthy urge to access the Internet. … Internet Addiction Disorder (sometimes referred to as Problematic Internet Use) is excessive Internet use that interferes with daily life.

“Online Gaming Addiction: An unhealthy need to access online multiplayer games. …

“Cyberchondria: The tendency to believe you have diseases you read about online. That’s the kind of thinking that goes on in the head of Cyberchondriacs—a downward spiral of medical factoids strung together to reach the worst possible conclusions. And it’s far from uncommon. A 2008 Microsoft study found that search-engine-aided self-diagnosis typically led the afflicted searcher to conclude the worst possible outcome. …

“The Google Effect: The tendency of the human mind to retain less information because it knows that all answers are only a few clicks away. Thanks to the Internet, a single individual can easily access nearly all the information civilization has amassed since the beginning of time. And as it turns out, this ability may be altering the very way our brains function.”

My Comment: Our egoism is constantly evolving and looking for new sources of contentment, corresponding to its development. Therefore, all these temporary Internet attractions will pass; they will be replaced by new aspirations: to reveal the secret of our existence.
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In the News (from Vox): ”Although worries about cannabis are usually based on prevalence rates of cannabis use in the population, age of the first use of cannabis is important as well. Early onset age of cannabis may have serious short-term and long-term negative effects on individuals. Previous studies find that early cannabis use increases the intensity of use and the probability of subsequent drug use (Yamaguchi and Kandel 1984). Van Ours and Williams (2007) find using Australian data that individuals who start using cannabis early in life are less likely to quit at later ages. Van Ours (2007) finds for cannabis users in Amsterdam that quitting rates increase with the age of onset. Van Ours et al. (2013) find using data from New Zealand that early onset of cannabis use may lead to mental-health problems i.e. to suicidal thoughts.

“Cannabis policies across the world differ – cannabis use can be: Legal, Illegal but decriminalised, Illegal but unenforced, or Illegal.

“The slight difference between decriminalisation and non-enforcement is that under decriminalisation there is no legal punishment, whereas under non-enforcement there is a punishment, but this is rarely enforced. Only four states in the world have legal or quasi-legal cannabis use: the Netherlands, the states of Washington and Colorado in the US, and North Korea. Several European and South American countries and states in North America have decriminalised cannabis use. However, countries which forbid cannabis use still outnumber the others …

“Our recent paper investigates if cannabis shops in the Netherlands have had negative spillover effects on youngsters by analysing to what extent living near a coffeeshop affects the age of onset of cannabis use (Palali and Van Ours 2013). If there was a negative spillover effect, then we would expect those who are living close to coffeeshops to have a lower age of onset of cannabis use. …

“…Furthermore, we would expect the closure of all cannabis shops to lead some potential users to go on the black market in search of cannabis, where they will be more likely to come across dealers of hard drugs. All in all, although existence of coffeeshops seems to have an adverse effect on the uptake of cannabis among youngsters, this is insufficient reason to advocate closure of coffeeshops. …”

My Comment: The task of the elite is to put all the extra people in the world on soft drugs to calm them. There is nothing to occupy them, and their number needs to be cut by wars or natural population decline.

The method of integral education (Kabbalah) says that everyone in the world carries his spiritual information, which he is required to realize, and the sooner the better for him and for the world. Therefore, it is necessary to explain what the meaning of human existence is and civilization and how we can reach the goal, set by nature, (the Creator), in the best way.
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In the News (from Business Insider): “Here’s a great little visualizer of how the world’s wealth is broken down among the ultra-super-rich, the super-rich, the rich, and everyone else.

“It’s from Credit Suisse and it shows how 32 million people, representing 0.7% of the world’s adult, population control $98.7 trillion or about 41% of the world’s wealth.

“On the base of the pyramid we see that 3.2 billion people, representing 68.7% of the world’s adult population, control just 3% of the world’s wealth, or about $7.3 trillion.”

My Comment: No comment—this is the world of today and it is rolling into the abyss.
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In the News (from svpressa.ru): “Most of the world’s hungry live in developing countries. According to the latest Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics from 2013, there are 842 million hungry people in the world and 98 percent of them are in developing countries. They are distributed like this: 553 million in Asia and the Pacific, 223 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, 47 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 4 million in the Near East and North Africa, 16 million in developed countries.“ Source: World Food Programme

“In Africa, the problem of hunger is due to the dependence on food imports that give considerable profit to companies in developed countries. Dependence arose because of Western policies: the United States collects billions of dollars in donations. But under U.S. law, humanitarian aid should be made in the USA; thus the state provides work for its farmers. In Africa, humanitarian aid is not distributed but appears on the market at a very low price, with which local farmers cannot compete. As a result, they cease to grow crops.

“For example, Bulgaria no longer grows peppers; they are imported from France at dumping prices. Lithuania ceased to produce dairy products, Portugal – to fish. They can barely make ends meet. Russian shops are filled with imported products, but the fields are overgrown with forest.”

My Comment: If the world had been connected with good ties, such integration would have been beneficial for everyone. But the development according to the plan to bring us to similarity with the Creator leads strong countries to crisis, even greater, than those countries that they put pressure on. Because of egoistic development, and especially global international egoistic development, all the countries, without exception, will suffer in a form that will force each country to realize the need to change itself to the opposite.
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Opinion (Boris Kagarlitsky, Director of the Institute for Globalization): “The prediction of those opposed to globalization has come true, for the collapse of the neo-liberal model were characteristics that were predicted by them. The ‘managers’ no longer understand what they are doing; they just turn the dials of the mechanism that has long since gone out of control. People want changes, social progress, but not at the price of disasters and victims.”

My Comment: Pretending that we run the world or playing at managing the world have been the common misconceptions of humanity throughout the ages. Today we begin to reveal the basic truth: The world is managed but not by us, but rather by the Creator, nature, and our existence depends upon our similarity to its laws. When humanity was forced to become global in its development, it transformed into being obligated to maintain the laws of nature in relation to human society, to become a single whole.
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In the News (from The Independent): “An independent report commissioned by the influential All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform has urged that coca’s illegal status be reviewed and research conducted into the possible legal uses of the leaf which, it is claimed, could benefit the lives of millions of the world’s poorest people.

“Evidence from the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy last week found cocaine was 51 per cent cheaper than in 1990 while its potency had increased. Group chair Baroness Meacher said that the war on drugs had ‘disastrous consequences’ in the developing world. ‘The employment of poor farmers and their families by the drug barons in Colombia continues to be irresistible while few, if any, alternatives exist,’ she said. ‘But these farmers could earn a legitimate income growing a crop to generate products with positive therapeutic… functions.’

“Rather than waging war on producers, governments should consider using aid budgets to create regulated markets in which the alkaloid that makes cocaine was safely removed from the leaf and alternative products found, the report says.

“As well as being a rich source of protein and calcium, coca can also be used to make wine and treat muscular pain. It also offers a potential treatment for cocaine dependency. The report said companies such as Coca-Cola already have special permission from the US Drug Enforcement Administration to import dried coca leaf, while it is also legally imported into Europe to make energy drinks such as Red Bull.”

My Comment: This blog pointed out this not once. Not once the “comments” drew attention to the smoking ban, as a prelude to the legalization of drugs. The main thing is to lull concerns by caring about people’s health – “may he die healthy,” it would be spent less on medical care.

This issue has been addressed repeatedly in the blog. It has been pointed out in several comments that banning smoking is a prelude to legalizing drugs. The key is to sedate public awareness under the pretense of caring about people’s health: “Let them die healthy,” which would reduce spending on healthcare.
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In the News (from DailyMail): “Scientists have discovered that despite an overabundance of polyester flares and bouffant hair, 1978 was the year that the world’s quality of life peaked, after which it has gradually deteriorated ever since.

“Australian experts used a novel method to track the social and economic progress of the world, taking into account various economic, lifestyle-related and ecological factors to come to their conclusion.

“Until recently the standard method of measuring progress in a society was by assessing its Gross Domestic product (GDP) – basically a measure of all the money spent and earned in a given society.

“’GDP was never designed to measure social or economic welfare, and yet, today, it is the most commonly used indicator of a country’s overall performance,’ the study, led by Dr Ida Kuniszewski and Dr Robert Costanza of the University of Canberra’s Crawford School of Public Policy, said.

“So, for example, an oil spill would be interpreted as a boost to GDP because large sums of money would be spent to mount a clean-up operation. …

“They said that a more accurate measure of how a society is faring would need to take a variety of factors – including economy, the state of the environment, and society – into account

“One alternative measure – and the one they used – is called the Genuine Progress Indicator. (GPI). GPI starts by using the same figures as GDP, but uses 24 other factors including crime rates, pollution levels, loss of wetland, car accident rates and even the amount of people who volunteer and enjoy housework to give a country its rating.

“The study analysed data collected between 1950 and 2003 and followed 17 countries – equating to half the world’s population – to come to their conclusion.

“They found that on average, where GDP steadily increased without interruption, GDI peaked in 1978 and has tapered off ever since.

“Experts said the results show that social and environmental problems have cancelled out any monetary wealth the world has accrued. …

“The study concluded that in order to enjoy a ‘desirable and sustainable future we need to rapidly shift our policy away from maximising production and consumption (GDP) and towards improving a genuine human well-being (GPI) or similar.

“’This is a shift that will require far more attention to be paid to environmental protection, full employment, social equity, better product quality and durability.’”

My Comment: Again, the conclusion is correct. It is just not understood how to implement it. To correct society through correcting the human being himself , no one agrees with this. So, suffering awaits us again, which will force us to reconsider our attitude to the only means: the method of integral education and upbringing. Then, our golden age is yet to come!
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In the News (from eurostat): “At the end of the first quarter of 2013, the government debt1 to GDP ratio2 in the euro area3 (EA17) stood at 92.2%, compared with 90.6% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. In the EU273 the ratio increased from 85.2% to 85.9%. Compared with the first quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 88.2% to 92.2%) and the EU27 (from 83.3% to 85.9%).”

My Comment: This suggests that we have reached the end of and have left the capitalist economy and are floating, or rather, rushing to no one knows where. But since politicians and economists do not know our future state, they are carried in the same boat, or rather raft, with us … The only way out is to write off the debts not through the war, but through transition to the integral economy. But this is only possible to the extent of the preliminary re-education of people. Otherwise, it will happen as under the communist terror in Bolshevik Russia.
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Opinion (from psyfactor): “A person who tells lies creates around himself a space, different from the real one, less traumatic, more comfortable and happier.

“1. It’s hard to take the image of oneself as it is: this could be caused by low self-esteem, stressful situations in the past; he has been often criticized, not accepted, his feelings were ignored.

“2. It is difficult to accept the events as they happened: the poor, drinking, uneducated parents, one’s low social status, low salary, failed personal life.

“Protective mechanisms outperform, protecting him from stress, so he does not think about his problems, but lives in a dream world.

“As a rule, all these people experienced some hardship, humiliation, rejection, both moral and material, in childhood or adolescence. It could come from parents, classmates, teachers or first employers. Thus, now they are constantly forced to defend themselves in a way so to avoid going through these emotions again.”

My Comment: Therefore, in our time, so many people go into virtual environments, drugs, games and more. But the increasing egoism grows above these distractions from reality because the program of development should lead us to the revelation of our Source: the Upper Light.
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