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Leo’s Letter
Leo was worried. He had crossed an ocean and fled a new and terrible tyrant, as a continent fell under his power. But the ocean was not wide enough. And he was afraid. Soon, the tyrant might have a weapon to which there would be no answer. Leo, you see, worked with the tiniest, most invisible of things. And he had discovered that they could be linked together in a daisy chain of power and death. And in it he thought he also saw a crown for human knowledge. But others, across the ocean, also knew of these invisible things. So Leo worried. And Leo went to his friend Albert.…
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Hiroshima
An old eucalyptus tree grows in the ruins of Hiroshima Castle. Although only 750 metres from ground zero when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at 8.15 am on 6 August 1945, the eucalyptus tree survived and still lives. All around it for miles about was destroyed. Warfare has not been central to the discussion that has unfolded on this site, but it cannot be ignored. It is only foreigners or rebels that we kill in war. To label someone a foreigner is potentiality or in reality a licence to deprive them of life in “the national interest”. Moreover the logic of war provides a licence to deprive our…
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Fifty Million Refugees and Displaced People
Not since World War II have there been more than fifty million refugees and displaced people in the world. On 19 June 2014 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced that this total had been exceeded in 2013. Half of those displaced are children.The primary cause of this increase in human suffering are violent conflict in places such as Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. With fifty million refugees and displaced people in the world it is fair to call it a global crisis. yet the global response has been business as usual. Some countries have actually reduced their refugee quotas despite the global crisis.
