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p.10    THE RAINBOW GATHERING - UPDATE ON THE LAST HOLDOUT AGAINST THE NEW AUTHORITARIANISM. 

p.12    THE 2ND SUPERPOWER REARS ITS BEAUTIFUL HEAD!

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Dear Iraqi Citizenship Claimant,

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an economic parallelanalysis CONTINUED
A World Nation remix by Brandon Prince
worldnation@ntlworld.com
Other than the core driver of the dollar versus euro currency threat, the other issue related to the Iraq War appears related to some disappointing geological findings regarding the Caspian Sea region.  Since the mid-late 1990s this part of Central Asia was thought to hold approximately 200 billion barrels of untapped oil(comparable to Saudi Arabia’s reserve base). Based on an early feasibility study by Enron, the easiest and cheapest way to bring this oil to market would be a pipeline from Kazakhstan,through Afghanistan to the Pakistan border at Malta.   In 1998 then CEO of Halliburton, Dick Cheney, expressed much interest in building that pipe line.
In fact, these oil reserves were a central component of Cheney’s energyplan released in May 2001.  According to his report, the US will import 90% of its oil by 2020.   Thus tapping into the reserves in the Caspian Sea region was viewed as a strategic goal that would help meet growing energy demand and also reduce dependence on oil from the Middle East.
According to the French book, The Forbidden Truth, the Bush administration ignored the UN sanctions that had been imposed upon the Taliban and entered into negotiations with the supposedly ‘rogueregime’ from 2 February to 6 August 2001.  The Taliban were apparently not very cooperative based on the statements of Pakistan’s former ambassador, Mr. Naik.  He reports that the US threatened a ‘military option’ in the summer of 2001 if the Taliban did not acquiesce to their demands.  Fortuitous for the Bush administration and Cheney’s energy plan, Bin Laden delivered to us 9/11.  The pre-positioned US military, along with the CIA providing cash to the Northern Alliance leaders, led the invasion of Afghanistan and the Taliban were routed.   The pro-western Karzai government was ushered in.  The pipeline project was now back on track in early 2002,well, sort of . . .
After three exploratory wells were built and analysed, it was reported that the Caspian region holds only approximately 10 to 20 billion barrels of oil (although it does have a lot of natural gas).  The oil is of poor quality, with high sulphur content.  Subsequently, several major companies have now dropped their plans for the pipeline citing the massive project was no longer profitable.  Unfortunately, this recent realisation about the Caspian Sea region has serious implications for the US, India, China, Asia and Europe, as the amount of available hydrocarbons for industrialized and developing nations has been decreased downward by 20%.  (Global estimates reduced from 1.2trillion to approximately 1 trillion).  The Bush administration quickly turned its attention to a known quantity, Iraq, with its proven reserves totalling 11% of the world’s proven oil reserves (112 billion barrels).  However, no geological surveys have been conducted in Iraq since the 1970s. Russian, French, and US oil companies were eager to lease Iraq’s unexplored fields, which may contain up to 200 billion barrels.
On latest estimates, US liabilities to the rest the world are more than $2.7 trillion, nearly 30 per cent of GDP, a scale of indebtedness associated with basket-case economies in Latin America.   Its industrial base is so uncompetitive it consistently imports more than it exports; its current-account deficit, the gap between all its current foreign earnings and foreign spending, is now a stunning 5% of GDP, continuing a trend that has lasted for more than 25 years and which is the cause of all that foreign debt.  As a national community, it has virtually ceased to save so that government and individuals alike live on credit.  To finance the current-account deficit, a reflection of the lack of saving, the US relies on foreigners supplying it with the foreign currency it can’t earn itself. . . .
One of the stated economic objectives, and perhaps the primary objective, when setting up the euro was to turn it into a reserve currency to challenge the dollar so that Europe too could get something for nothing.  This would be a disaster for the US.  Not only would they lose a large part of their annual subsidy of effectively free goods and
services, but countries switching to euro reserves from dollar reserves would bring down the value of the US currency.   Imports would start to cost Americans a lot more and as increasing numbers of those holding dollars began to spend them, the US would have to start paying its debts by supplying in goods and services to foreign countries, thus reducing American living standards.  As countries and businesses converted their dollar assets into euro assets, the US property and stock market bubbles would, without doubt, burst.  The Federal Reserve would no longer be able to print more money to reflate the bubble, asit is currently openly considering doing, because, without lots of eager foreigners prepared to mop them up, a serious inflation would result which, in turn, would make foreigners even more reluctant to hold the US currency and thus heighten the crisis.
The obstacle to this happening is oil.  The most important commodity traded internationally, the lifeblood of all modern industrialised economies.  If you don’t have oil, you have to buy it.  And you usually have to have dollars.  Only one country has the right to print dollars the US.
If American economic dominance came to an end, Japan, which imports over 80% of its oil from the Middle East would convert a large portion of its dollar assets to euro assets.  Japan is the major subsidiser of the US because it holds so many dollar investments.  The US on the other hand, being the world’s largest oil importer, would have to run a trade surplus to acquire euros.
President Bush and his administration appear unwilling to initiate the structural changes to the economy needed to adapt and compete with the euro as a second international reserve currency.  Instead, they intend to enforce US dollar hegemony for oil transactions via the application of superior military force.
www.indymedia.org
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PROUD TO LIVE IN THE UK
Journalists on all the news broadcasts showed us the obscene opulence (they all used that word) of old Sadd’s palaces.  Marble flooring, gold bath taps, pompous pictures of him all over the place.
AND THIS WAS ONLY ONE OF SEVERAL PALACES, all built and maintained at public expense while there are people in that country who can’t afford to feed themselves properly.
It made me so glad to live in the United Kingdom - we’d never have an unelected head of state with palaces like that!
Merrick xx / uk
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STEP OUT AND MAKE HISTORY!
Dear Fraser:
TALK-what izzit good for?  The UN was UN-successful.  What we need is outposts of sanity with E-economic clout.  Saw Jack Straw in parliament on tv going um-going er going going gone-the STRAW MAN. OUR FOREIGN SECRETARY IS NO DIPLOMAT, ALAS, EVEN IN EXTREMIS UM, ER.  How do we fund the devolution?  How do we motivate the undermining of psychosis dressed up as our leaders?  Metempsychosis, they have to be turned into cockroaches in the public eye and the business community too.  Big business uses little men.  WHERE IS GREATNESS? Who will not just stand up and be counted BUT STEP OUT AND MAKE HISTORY?!  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?  Who will guard the guardians?  Otherwise, Metropolis the movie will manifest as real, and Babylon will follow what is scripted for it in the Revelation of St John the Divine, the Great Beast will be upon us.
Rosemary Charlotte Appleton ./ Thailand
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SMART HEURISTICS
Many people are ill-equipped to handle uncertainty.  But the study of smart heuristics shows that there are strategies people actually use to make good decisions that deal openly with uncertainties, rather than denying their existence.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/artRedirect.html?artID=555&m=5435
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“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.”  Samuel P. Huntington
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THE RAINBOW GATHERING
UPDATE ON THE LAST HOLDOUT AGAINST THE NEW AUTHORITARIANISM.  THE FORESTRY SERVICE HAS BEEN TRYING FOR YEARS TO CONQUER THESE MASSIVE FREE PEOPLE’S EVENTS BY FORCING THEM TO APPLY FOR A “PROPER PERMIT” (which most believe would be the beginning of the end)

Hello Floppy here,
_I am writing this statement to express my opinion about an action that will be imposed by some individuals. The action is an intent to sign a special use permit for a Rainbow Gathering.  I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not support this action 100% and have decided not to feed this action in any way, shape or form.
 Even though the title of this proposal would not include the title of Rainbow, it is my belief that it will still be profiled as a Rainbow event.
The two main reasons why I do not support this action are
(1)     Complying with the forest service (a branch of the United States Government, who has never upheld a treaty agreement) is a bad idea.
(2)     It will Create a wall of division from within.
 My belief is that this action aids the government more than it aids the function.  By complying with the government, you give them a more concrete foundation for regulation, which could lead to even more control and later to payoffs.  An example of this is what has happened to the Burning Man festival.
 I believe this action is being motivated by fear. Which is very modern american (giving up freedom for comfort).
 As an individual, this brings up the question: how much I can support this event? (if this is the pattern that will be created).  Part of my calling to attend these functions is that I can practice my right as a human being to peacefully assemble on public lands in a non-commercial event, and practice my right to my own religious beliefs.  Signing for permission takes that right away. (remember, i believe this will still be profiled as a Rainbow event). It also gives law enforcement more right to patrol and  control, PERIOD!
I have been told that this permit will create a space for people, who have the fear in them, to attend the function and practice their rights, and will abolish the energy of dealing with law enforcement.  This is false.  First, law enforcement will still be there at annual gatherings.  Also, by complying, it gives them more right to patrol for illegal activities (I know certain spiritual sacraments are illegal).
If the law enforcement relaxes for a year or two because of this action (a show of false good faith), they may create more regulation for control gain down the line. The energy will then go from Hippy vs. Cop movie to the line of division : Hippy vs. Hippy movie.  This aids the government.

_Another thing that bothers me is that this action is being presented as being in the open.  Although it won't be a secret meeting, what bothers me is that it's not open for discussion.  I was told that, no matter how many people opposed this action, it would not make a difference in the action itself.  So lets be real, the action will be available for open viewing but not open process.  So lets cut the sugar coated crap.
 Once again, the wall of division this action will create only aids the government and not the family, PERIOD!!!
  This statement of mine was also motivated by someone spreading propaganda that I support this action.  Once again let it be known - I 100%!!!!! DO NOT SUPPORT THIS ACTION!
 This statement (believe it or not) is also motivated from love and concern as a human being.  I really hope the feds reject this proposal.  But I would like to add, for anyone who supports this action, I will be happy to work with you during Clean-Up.   Not just a couple days, but till the final walk through.  This means  staying all the way through the clean up process, not leaving and coming back for the final walk.  If you support this action that aids the government, you should support the function by cleaning up.  We need more indians not more chiefs.
Love, 
Floppy.  America.

NOTE: However anyone gets this statement. This statement is from myself and myself only.  It has not been influenced by anyone but myself.

P.S.  Those who sacrifice their freedom for security deserve neither.T. Jefferson. (I didn’t say that - he did!)
UP!


MINE EYES ARE OPEN NOW DO WE REACH THE MASSES?
Sadly, it took this war and 9/11 to open my eyes to the world outside my Florida home. In seeking answers to simple questions that logically followed the 9/11 attacks, I got more answers than I knew how to deal with. The US officials’ and the media's answer of terrorists didn't cut it with me. Everyone has motives behind their action and I was curious as to what could motivate such hatred.
Well, needless to say I have managed to uncover a history of US terrorism that they don't teach us in school,and am left with so many emotions that I feel I am drowning.
The only way I see to get my head above the water is to figure out a way to inform people about the need for us to educate ourselves. We have been brainwashed into letting emotions like fear and anger take over any logical thinking, and the Path it is taking us is one I do not want to follow. How then, in a culture where violence, greed and sex are spoon-fed to us from day one, can we reach people of whom many look at the reality as "anti-American"? 
I don't think that protests work, and despite the fact that I have sought answers to questions in places not readily available (corporate media) I don't think the majority of people in the US are motivated to do that. Too many forces are against it including work, school, television, radio, the government itself.
Since we live in a nation fuelled by Starbucks and with people so caught up in daily routines built around consumerism and productivity, what is a realistic approach to convincing them of the necessity of informing themselves of the reality of the world we live in so that we can actually have a chance at reshaping the US role?
Just some thoughts that I need to share. I want to do something other than hold signs that are only looked at by those who agree, or read books that I know most Americans would never pick up, or browse web-sites that the average American doesn't even know exist. I want to reach out to people in a way that they will respond to without anger.

What do you think?
April Cartwright / Florida
>>> all we need is another million people like you, april :)  why, a Syrian War might just do the trick  sorry Syrians! 
many people have asked themselves the question you pose.  this is what i myself do; it’s not for the masses, i suppose, but one of my hopes would be that it might inspire someone like you, an opinion former, to create a more accessible version for them. 
i can’t find you on our HipList and so have added you to it.  remember it’s a long slow learning process and things are probably quite a bit WORSE than you have yet realised.  and, yes, i think the masses probably need a good kick up the pants to KEEP OUR DEMOCRACY STRONG AND HEALTHY!! INFORM YOURSELF OF THE TRUTH, NO MATTER WHO DISAGREES (INCLUDING THE GOVERNMENT)
UP!


THE 2ND SUPERPOWER REARS ITS BEAUTIFUL HEAD!
James F. Moore / Berkman Center for Internet & Society
As the United States government becomes more belligerent in using its power in the world, many people are longing for a "2nd superpower" that can keep the US in check. Indeed, many people desire a superpower that speaks for the interests of planetary society, for long-term well-being, and that encourages broad participation in the democratic process.

WHERE CAN THE WORLD FIND SUCH A 2ND SUPERPOWER?
No nation or group of nations seems able to play this role, although the European Union sometimes seeks to, working in concert with a variety of institutions in the field of international law, including the United Nations. But even the common might of the European nations is barely a match for the current power of the United States.

AN EMERGING 2^ND SUPERPOWER
There is an emerging 2nd superpower, but it is not a nation. Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the "will of the people" in a global social movement.
The beautiful but deeply agitated face of this 2nd superpower is the worldwide peace campaign.

The body of the movement is made up of millions of people concerned with a broad agenda that includes social development, health, environmentalism and human rights. This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole - and who recognize that we are all one at a fundamental level. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world - and not just the members of one or another nation.

Consider the members of Amnesty International who write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience, and the millions of Americans who are participating in email actions against the war in Iraq. Or the physicians who contribute their time to Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres.

While some of the leaders have become highly visible, what is perhaps most interesting about this global movement is that it is not really directed by visible leaders, but, as we will see, by the collective, emergent action of its millions of participants. Surveys suggest that at least 30 million people in the United States identify themselves this way - approximately 10% of the US population.
The percentage in Europe is undoubtedly higher. The global membership in Asia, South America, Africa and India, while a much lower percentage of total population, is growing quickly with the spread of the Internet.

What makes these numbers important is the new cyberspace-enabled interconnection among the members. This body has a beautiful mind.  Web connections enable a kind of near-instantaneous, mass improvisation of activist initiatives. For example, the political activist group Moveon.org, which specialises in rapid response campaigns, has an email list of more than two million members. During the 2002 elections, Moveon.org raised more than $700,000 in a few days for a candidate's campaign for the US senate. It has raised thousands of dollars for media ads for peace - and it is now amassing a worldwide network of media activists dedicated to keeping the mass media honest by identifying bias and confronting local broadcasters.

NEW FORMS OF COMMUNICATION
New forms of communication and commentary are being invented continuously. Slashdot and other news sites present high quality peer-reviewed commentary by involving large numbers of members of the web community in recommending and rating items.
Text messaging on mobile phones, or texting, is now the medium of choice for communicating with thousands of demonstrators simultaneously during mass protests. Instant messaging turns out to be one of the most popular methods for staying connected in the developing world, because it requires only a bit of bandwidth, and provides an intimate sense of connection across time and space.
The current enthusiasm for blogging is changing the way people relate to publication, as it allows realtime dialogue about world events as bloggers log in daily to share their insights. Meta-blogging sites crawl across thousands of blogs, identifying popular links, noting emergent topics, and providing an instantaneous summary of the global consciousness of the 2nd superpower.
The Internet and other interactive media continue to penetrate more and more deeply all world society, and provide a means for instantaneous personal dialogue and communication across the globe.

The collective power of texting, blogging, instant messaging, and email across millions of actors cannot be overestimated. Like a mind constituted of millions of inter-networked neurons, the social movement is capable of astonishingly rapid and sometimes subtle community consciousness and action.

Thus the new superpower demonstrates a new form of "emergent democracy" that differs from representative democracy. Where political participation is exercised mainly through rare exercises of voting, participation in the 2nd superpower movement occurs continuously through participation in a variety of web-enabled initiatives. And where deliberation in the first superpower is done primarily by a few elected or appointed officials, deliberation in the 2nd superpower is done by each individual - making sense of events, communicating with others, and deciding whether and how to join in community actions.

Finally, where participation in democracy in the first superpower feels remote to most citizens, the emergent democracy of the 2nd superpower is alive with touching and being touched by each other, as the community works to create wisdom and to take action.

HOW THE 2ND SUPERPOWER TAKES ACTION
Not from the top, but from the bottom. That is, it is the strength of the US government that it can centrally collect taxes, and then spend, for example, $1.2 billion on 1,200 cruise missiles in the first day of the war against Iraq. By contrast, it is the strength of the 2nd superpower that it could mobilise hundreds of small groups of activists to shut down city centres across the United States on that same first day of the war. And that millions of citizens worldwide would take to their streets to rally.

The symbol of the first superpower is the eagle - an awesome predator that rules from the skies, preying on mice and small animals.  Perhaps the best symbol for the 2nd superpower would be a community of ants. Ants rule from below. And while I may be awed seeing eagles in flight, when ants invade my kitchen they command my attention.

In the same sense as the ants, the continual distributed action of the members of the 2nd superpower can, I believe, be expected to eventually prevail. Distributed mass behaviour, expressed in rallying, in voting, in picketing, in exposing corruption, and in purchases from particular companies, all have a profound effect on the nature of future society. More effect, I would argue, than the devastating but unsustainable effect of bombs and other forms of coercion.

Deliberation in the first superpower is relatively formal - dictated by the US constitution and by years of legislation, adjudicating, and precedent. The realpolitik of decision-making, as opposed to what’s taught in civics class, centres around lobbying and campaign contributions by moneyed special interest - big oil, the military - industrial complex, big agriculture, and big drugs - to mention only a few. In many cases, what are acted upon are issues for which some group is willing to spend lavishly.
By contrast, it is difficult in the US government system to champion policy goals that have broad, long-term value for many citizens, such as environment, poverty reduction and third world development, women's rights, human rights, health care for all. 

By contrast, these are precisely the issues to which the 2nd superpower tends to address its attention.  Deliberation here is evolving rapidly in both cultural and technological terms. It is difficult to know its present state, and impossible to see its future. But one can say certain things. It is stunning how quickly the community can act - especially when compared to government systems.

The Internet, in combination with traditional press and television and radio media, creates a kind of "media space" of global dialogue. Ideas arise in the global media space.  Some catch hold and are disseminated widely. Their dissemination, like the beat of dance music spreading across a sea of dancers, becomes a pattern across the community. Some members of the community study these patterns, and write about some of them. This has the effect of both amplifying the patterns and facilitating community reflection on the topics highlighted. A new form of deliberation happens. A variety of what we might call "action agents" sits figuratively astride the community, with mechanisms designed to turn a given social movement into specific kinds of action in the world. For example, fundraisers send out mass appeals, with direct mail or the Internet, and if they are tapping into a live issue, they can raise money very quickly. This money in turn can be used to support activities consistent with an emerging mission.

The process does have its flaws and weaknesses. For example, the central role of the mass media - with its alleged biases and distortions-is a real issue. Much news of the war comes to members of the 2nd superpower from CNN, Fox, and the New York Times, despite the availability of alternative sources.
The study of the nature and limits of this Big Mind is just beginning, and we don't know its strengths and weaknesses as well as we do those of more traditional democracy.

Perhaps governance is the wrong way to frame this study.  Rather, what we are embarked on is a kind of experimental neurology, as our communication tools continue to evolve and to rewire the processes by which the community does its shared thinking and feeling. One of the more interesting questions posed to political scientists studying the 2nd superpower is to what extent the community's long-term orientation and freedom from special interests is reinforced by the peer-to-peer nature of web-cantered ways of communicating - and whether these tendencies can be intentionally fostered through the design of the technology.

THE ROLE OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Which brings us to the most important point: the vital role of the individual. The shared, collective mind of the 2nd superpower is made up of many individual human minds - your mind and my mind - together we create the movement. In traditional democracy our minds don't matter much - what matters are the minds of those with power of position, and the minds of those that staff and lobby them.
In the emergent democracy of the 2nd superpower, each of our minds matters a lot.  For example, any one of us can launch an idea. Any one of us can write a blog, send out an email, create a list. Not every idea will take hold in the Big Mind of the 2nd superpower - but the one that eventually catches fire is started by an individual. And in the peer-oriented world of the 2nd superpower, many more of us have the opportunity to craft submissions, and take a shot.

The contrast goes deeper. In traditional democracy, sense-making moves from top to bottom. "The President must know more than he is saying" goes the thinking of a loyal but passive member of the first superpower. But this form of democracy was established in the 18th century, when education and information were both scarce resources, and when news of an invasion could take weeks to reach the capital.  Now, in more and more of the world, people are well educated and informed. As such, they prefer to make up their own minds. Top-down sense-making is out of touch with modern people.

The 2nd superpower, emerging in the 21st century, depends upon educated informed members. In the community of the 2nd superpower each of us is responsible for our own sense-making. We seek as much data - raw facts, direct experience - as we can, and then we make up our own minds. Even the current fascination with "reality television" speaks to this desire: we prefer to watch our fellows, and decide ourselves "what's the story" rather than watching actors and actresses play out a story written by someone else. The same, increasingly, is true of the political stage - hence the attractiveness of participation in the 2nd superpower to individuals. 

WHERE WAS THE 2^ND SUPERPOWER RECENTLY THEN?
Now the response of many will be that this is a wishful fantasy. What, you say, is the demonstrated success of this 2nd superpower? After all, George Bush was almost single-handedly able to make war on Iraq, and the global protest movement was in the end only able to slow him down. Where was the 2nd superpower?

The answer is that the 2nd superpower is not currently able to match the first. On the other hand, the situation may be more promising than we realize. Most important is that the establishment of international institutions and international rule of law has created a venue in which the 2nd superpower can join with sympathetic nations to successfully confront the United States.
Consider the international effort to ban landmines.  Landmines are cheap, deadly, and often used against agrarian groups because they make working the fields lethal, and sew quite literally the seeds of starvation. In the 1990s a coalition of NGOs coordinated by Jody Williams, Bobby Muller and others, managed to put this issue at the top of the international agenda, and promote the establishment of the treaty banning their use. For this, the groups involved were awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

At the Kyoto meetings on global climate change, a group of NGOs coordinated by Nancy Keat of the World Resources Institute joined with developing nations to block the interests of the United States and its ally, big oil. The only way for the U.S. to avoid being checkmated was to leave the game entirely.
In the World Trade Organization, the 2nd superpower famously shut down the Seattle meeting in 1999, and later helped to force a special "development round" focused on the needs of poor countries. That round is currently underway - and while the United States and others are seeking to subvert the 2nd superpower agenda, the best they have achieved to date is stalemate.

And finally, while George Bush was indeed able to go to war with Iraq, the only way he could do so was to ignore international law and split with the United Nations. Had he stayed within the system of international institutions, his aims likely would have been frustrated. The French and the Germans who led the attempt to stop him could not, I believe, have done what they did without the strength of public opinion prodding them - the 2nd superpower in action.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FORCED TO PULL OUT
Now we all know that the Bush administration has decided to undermine, in many cases, the system of international law. Some argue that by pulling out, the administration has fatally damaged the international system, and ushered in a new era where the United States determines the rules - hub and spoke style - through bilateral deals with other nations. The result, some will say, is that the 2nd superpower no longer has a venue in which to meet the first effectively. In my view this is an overly pessimistic assessment - albeit one that members of the 2nd superpower need to take seriously and strive to render false by our success in supporting international institutions.

International law and institutions are not going away. Too many parties want and need them.
First, individuals around the world are becoming more globally aware, and more interested in international institutions.  Global media, travel, and immigration all contribute to citizens being aware of the benefits of consistent approaches to everything from passport control to human rights. It is striking, for example, that up until the final days before the war, a majority of the US population wanted the president to deal with Iraq in concert with the United Nations.

Second, business organizations want global rule of law. Global trade is now central to a vast majority of businesses and almost all nations - and such trade requires rules administered by multilateral bodies.

Third, most nations want a global legal system. In particular, European nations, wary of war, outclassed in one-on-one power confrontations with the U.S. have become strongly committed to a post-national world. They are pouring collective national resources of enormous magnitude into continuously strengthening the international system.


The key problem facing international institutions is that they have few ways to enforce their will on a recalcitrant US government. And this is where the 2nd superpower is a part of the solution. Enforcement has many dimensions. When the United States opts to avoid or undermine international institutions, the 2nd superpower can harass and embarrass it with demonstrations and public education campaigns.  It can put pressure on politicians around the world to stiffen their resolve to confront the US government in any ways possible. And it can also target US politicians and work to remove at the polls those who support the administration's undercutting of international law.

Longer term, we must press for a direct voice for the 2nd superpower in international institutions, so that we are not always forced to work through nations. This means, as a practical matter, a voice for citizens, and for NGOs and "civil society" organizations. For example, the Access Initiative of the World Resources Institute is working to give citizens' groups the ability to influence environmental decisions made by international organizations such as the World Bank. The Digital Opportunity Task Force of the G8 group of nations included a formal role for civil society organizations, as does the United Nations Information and Communications Technology Task Force.

THE PROSPECTS FOR THE 2^ND SUPERPOWER?
Overall, what can be said for the prospects of the 2nd superpower?  With its mind enhanced by Internet connective tissue, and international law as a venue to work with others for progressive action, the 2nd superpower is starting to demonstrate its potential.
But there is much to do. How do we assure that it continues to gain in strength? And, at least as important, how do we continue to develop the mind of the 2nd superpower, so that it maximises wisdom and goodwill?  The future, as they say, is in our hands. We need to join together to help the 2nd superpower, itself, grow stronger.

First, we need to become conscious of the "mental processes" in which we are involved as members of the 2nd superpower, and explore how to make our individual sense-making and collective action more and more effective. This of course means challenging and improving the mass media, and supporting more interactive and less biased alternatives. But more ambitiously, we will need to develop a kind of meta-discipline, an organizational psychology of our community, to explore the nature of our web-enabled, person-cantered, global governance and communication processes, and continue to improve them.

Second, and ironically, the future of the 2nd superpower depends to a great extent on social freedoms in part determined by the first superpower. It is the traditional freedoms - freedom of the press, of assembly, of speech - that have enabled the 2nd superpower to take root and grow. Indeed, the Internet itself was constructed by the US government, and the government could theoretically still step in to restrict its freedoms. So we need to pay close attention to freedom in society, and especially to freedom of the Internet.
There are many moves afoot to censor the web, to close down access, and to restrict privacy and free assembly in cyberspace. While we generally associate web censorship with countries like China or Saudi Arabia, tighter control of the web is also being explored in the United States and Europe. The officials of the first superpower are promoting these ideas in the name of preventing terrorism, but they also prevent the open peer-to-peer communication that is at the heart of the 2nd superpower. We need to insist on an open web, an open cyberspace, around the globe, because that is the essential medium in which the 2nd superpower lives.

Third, we must carefully consider how best to support international institutions, so that they collectively form a setting in which our power can be exercised. Perhaps too often we attack institutions like the World Bank that might, under the right conditions, actually become partners with us in dealing with the first superpower. International institutions must become deeply more transparent, accessible to the public, and less amenable to special interests, while remaining strong enough to provide a secure context in which our views can be expressed.

And fourthly, we must work on ourselves and our community. We will dialogue with our neighbours, knowing that the collective wisdom of the 2nd superpower is grounded in the individual wisdom within each of us. We must remind ourselves that daily we make personal choices about the world we create for ourselves and our descendants. We do not have to create a world where differences are resolved by war.  It is not our destiny to live in a world of destruction, tedium, and tragedy. We will create a world of peace.
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Dear Fraser,
As the world becomes increasingly turned on to and in need of newsy questioning such as you pose, bless you for all you do!
Crystal Pomeroy   Mexico
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cheers mate it's being wicked reading your stuff ,
from now on will use website as email account is nearly full
so need to sort it
wicked wicked wicked mag
you are keeping it real
b.t.w have heard about "palladium"
new p.c. control chip and internet grass on any illegal ideas
it needs checking see attachment
we must come together to defend our freedom
use it or lose it!

cheers dude,
"keep on rockin' in the free world"
hope you like the poem too
cheers fraser keep up that funky phrasing!
indigo / berlin
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YOU TALK A GOOD PEACE TALK BUT CAN YOU WALK IT?
I’ve seen too little evidence of us, as a species, being able to foster and sustain peaceful co-existence, and I’d like to challenge us all, as members of the YOUniversity... perhaps it would be good if we all enrolled in the MEniversity for a bit as well... Here’s the course curriculum’s goals