Tag Archives: Hiroshima Dome

The Iran Nuclear Arms Deal Or Why It Is Still Unsafe To Visit Iran

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The Iran Nuclear Arms Deal or Why It is Still Unsafe To Visit Iran

“The only people who should be allowed to govern countries with nuclear weapons are mothers, those who are still breast-feeding their babies.”
Tsutomu Yamaguchi

This is how I feel about the Iran Arms deal. You don’t give nuclear weapons to an unstable country in an unstable part of the world. I don’t care about the political ramifications. I care about the human ones.

Isn’t this the same Iran that when the Ayatollah came into power, he kidnapped the Americans there? Isn’t this the country that thousands of people were forced to evacuate and can never come back? Isn’t this the same Iran that funds terrorists groups? Isn’t this the Iran that is holding American journalist Jason Rezaian and others on trumped-up charges? Will the Mullahs suddenly decide that an international community is the way to go? What happens when a new even more unstable regime takes over? Do they return the weapons to us?

I recently wrote a blog on the ten most dangerous countries not to visit now and there are many more than ten. I was torn based on my research on the tenth one between Iran and North Korea. I ultimately chose North Korea but Iran was a good choice as well. I am confused about why we would give nuclear weapons to a country that is very dangerous for us to go to without the nuclear weapons.

I imagine from a financial point of view it is profitable. If Iran buys nuclear weapons the surrounding countries will need  more weapons to defend themselves. Everyone in the Middle East will be buying more weapons.

We are the self-proclaimed “watchdogs of the world” and giving Iran nuclear weapons is not protecting our world in any way. Is the hope that if we trust them they will behave with integrity? I believe Winston Churchill thought the same about Hitler when he signed the Munich Agreement in 1938 to avoid war. The Munich Agreement has become synonymous with the futility of giving power to totalitarian states.

Hate is irrational and there appears to be a lot of hate in these countries – especially for Jews and Israel. I imagine the Jews who signed a petition in favor of the Nuclear Arms Deal with Iran probably would not have left Nazi Germany in time. Many intelligent wealthy Jews held out hoping that the threat of persecution and death would pass. – that rational, intelligent thought would prevail over the death camps.

Have any of the Jews who signed the petition or people in favor of the Arms Deal with Iran been to the Hiroshima museum in Japan? Every Japanese school child has to go. The motto is No More Hiroshimas. The symbol is the Hiroshima Dome (Genbaku dome), the only building left standing in the area where the bomb exploded. Anyone who has spent time in this museum and listened to the stories and continued health problems would know the only good use for nuclear weapons is to keep people from using them. Ultimately what would be our defense against Nuclear Weapons? Nuclear Weapons.

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Fly safe,
JAZ

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

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Unesco World Heritage Sites. (photo above  by Emilio White, Iguazu Falls, Argentina)

“The list could surely go on, and there is nothing more wonderful than a list, instrument of wondrous hypotyposis ”  Umberto Eco

“And this is a Unesco World Heritage Site”, says the Tour guide proudly at Quebrada de Humahuaca, Iguazu Falls, Dubrovnik, Machu Picchu, Selim Mosque,etc.  ( Dubrovnik, Croatia )

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I finally did it. I looked it up. I knew it had something to do with the United Nations. I know it was a part of UNESCO. (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) (Machu Picchu, Peru)

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In case you don’t know what UNESCO  is I took this from the website. “The main objective of UNESCO is to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication in order to further universal respect for justice and the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion. “ (Great Wall, China)

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In my head I check off the places. Oh good another World Heritage Site, I must be near the end of the list. (Ayutthaya, Thailand)

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What is it about us and lists?  Lists make us feel better.  There is a finite number of things to do. There is less time for our brains to process our choices. We know a Unesco World Heritage Site is an important thing to see  and we do it. Everyone agrees to do it. Lists help us make sense of the world. ( Venice, Italy)

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The World Heritage List includes 981 properties which the  World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. It is ongoing. (Mt. Fuji, Japan)

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To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. (Cappadocia, Turkey)

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(If you are interested in reading the requirements,  this part it is from their website)

“(ii)  to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

(iii) to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

(iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

(v)  to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

(vi)  to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

(vii) to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

(viii) to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

(ix) to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

(x) to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations.

Since 1992 significant interactions between people and the natural environment have been recognized as  cultural landscapes.

Only countries that have signed the World Heritage Convention, pledging to protect their natural and cultural heritage, can submit nomination proposals for properties on their territory to be considered for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Like other lists, it requires an extensive nomination process. (St. Ignacio Mission, Argentina)

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The World Heritage committee is represented by 21 countries and the elections are held at the General Assembly meeting annually.  . Each country can hold a place for six years but some step down voluntary after four to give other countries a chance. (Hiroshima Dome, Japan)

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The  current 21 Committee Members are: Algeria,Colombia, Croatia, Finland, Germany, India, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Republic Of Lebanon, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Poland,  Portugal, Qatar, Senegal, Serbia, Turkey and Viet Nam  with a third of them leaving this year. (Uluru, Australia)

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In my last trip I’ve knocked off the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, The Daintree Rainforest, Tasmania Parklands, Port Arthur and the Sydney Opera House. I only have several hundred more to go …… but they keep adding them, so I will keep traveling. 

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Fly Safe,

JAZ