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The Knowledge That Great Powers Ignore, at Everyone’s Expense
While the UN and many civil society actors continue to advocate for a more just, cooperative, and compassionate global order, the knowledge needed to build such a world is consistently overlooked, especially by the most powerful nations, whose priorities remain entrenched in rivalry, deterrence, and domination. This neglect now threatens…
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Strategy for Survival
A civilizational collapse rarely happens suddenly. Most often, it’s a slow, creeping unraveling. We won’t wake up one morning and find civilization gone. It will dissolve, one system at a time, not everywhere at once but in waves. In my previous article, Heading for the Brink, I highlighted Stephen Hawking’s…
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Heading for the Brink
I recently wrote about two thinkers I discovered in the early 1960s: Erich Fromm and Bertram Dybwad Brochmann. Both gave me hope that I would grow old in a good society and a peaceful world. That hope is now shattered. I believed that their powerful warnings—and equally powerful hopes—about how…
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How Stoicism Helped My Wife Find Peace Without Losing Her Faith
My wife, Grace, is Catholic, and her religion means a lot to her, just as it does for most Filipinos I’ve met. But what surprised me was how deeply she was drawn to Stoicism. It wasn’t something she often mentioned initially, but when we began working together on this blog,…
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Lies or Cultural Misunderstandings? An Everyday Story from the Philippines
I recently read a post in Philippines Expats by an American living in Manila. He had left his headphones at a restaurant and returned shortly afterward to ask if they had been found. A polite young employee told him, “Sorry, sir, we already looked—we don’t have them.” The American was…
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The Philippines – Open Arms in a Closed Region
While many Asian countries are tightening their refugee policies, the Philippines continues to keep its doors open. Here, compassion is not just an ideal; it is a tradition. The story of the Philippines’ open-door policy begins in earnest in the 1930s. As Jews in Europe faced persecution and most countries…
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How Life Is Crushed
There are universal truths, experiences that humanity has passed down from generation to generation. Yet we struggle to follow them. Every child born must be re-educated. Here lies a challenge we have not yet been able to solve collectively, and which now threatens us with destruction of biblical dimensions. A…
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Rodrigo Duterte: From President of The Philippines to Detainee in The Hague
The former President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested on March 11 this year and flown to The Hague, charged with crimes against humanity. The arrest can be seen as a goodwill gesture toward the West by the current President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as well as a strategic attempt…
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A Minor Procedure, a Memorable Stay in Marrakech
Spain’s public healthcare system is excellent, especially regarding serious diagnoses that must be addressed quickly. That was certainly the case when my husband, Eldar, was diagnosed with cancer and received immediate, high-quality care — something he has written about here. But getting help can take time for less urgent conditions.…
Recent Posts:
- GaffGaff Galleri: Ecstasy and Clarity (Part 2)
- When The Widows’ Tears Water The Tree
- Film Retrospective: A Chinese Woman Meets a Deaf Pianist, and Soon the Dance Begins
- Film Retrospective: Lars Øyno and His Theatre of Cruelty (Part 2)
- Film Retrospective: Lars Øyno and His Theatre of Cruelty (Part 1)
