The pictures document the unbelievable human plight of thousands of Africans fleeing Goma for refugee camps this week. It also documents the convening of the U.N. to discuss a solution when their biggest peacekeeping force in the entire world, 17,000 strong, isn’t enough in this central african nation.

What can I do? I can’t make anyone put down their grenade launcher, I can’t hash out a ceasefire and I definitely can’t talk to the leader of the Congolese army or rebel general Laurent Nkunda.  My emotions seem to have no answer because guns will fire still fire, and bellies will still ache for food, and there will still be death, regardless of the depths of my feelings.

Do you ever find yourself feeling completely helpless about world conflict? What do you do with what you read, the pictures you see and the emotions you feel?

Image credit: cyclopser

“If we want to move from a culture of war to a culture of peace then we are going to have to unite”

Not only did he advocate a day that would promote unity and a worldwide ceasefire, but he discovered that on this day, instead of fighting, children could be immunized, aid could be distributed, and lives could be saved.

To think that one man pushed the first domino that saw every member state of the United Nations sign on for Peace Day is incredible. I always think of the calendar as this be-all-and-end-all written in stone. Not as something I could actually influence. Yet Gilleys, demanding the ideal for peace on our planet, walked up to the calendar with a permanent marker.

What are your thoughts on Gilleys and Peace Day? Did you know Peace Day existed?

To visit the website, go to: www.peaceoneday.org or to watch the YouTube video, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FmEIP46B-E

Image credit: jcolman

An online Newsweek article gave me some insight via a three-page interview with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Keep in mind that Georgia has been independent of Russia since 1990, but that hasn’t meant peace between Russian and Georgian military, or even the end of internal fighting between separatists and Georgian troops.

What I learned from him is this:

· Russian troops have been gathering in North Ossetia (in Russia, but on the border with Georgia) for the past four months saying “exercises” were underway. Yet the Russians publicly said military action against Georgia was coming.

· There were some confrontations in South Ossetia (part of Georgia), but nothing out of the ordinary.

· Then an even bigger confrontation happened, the attacking of villages, but still, nothing too alarming.

· It wasn’t until Saakashvili felt something was very wrong that he tried calling the Russians, NATO and some European presidents, to no avail.

· The Russian foreign minister, after claiming the separatists were the ones who started opening fire, said they were trying to contain the situation.

· Georgia said it would do something to quell the conflict and asked Russia to do the same. Saakashvili announced a unilateral ceasefire.

· But while Russia made it appear as though they are trying to end the conflict, tanks and armored personnel carriers went full-steam ahead.

· To defend themselves and stop the assault, Georgia engaged back with artillery fire.

· War.

Yes, a rough timeline (and Saakashvili’s side of the story), but it gives you an idea. Often I wish world disasters and wars could be simply laid out in point-form so that I would understand the who’s and the why’s of them.

Are you following the ongoing war between Georgia and Russia? Do you invest time to understand different world conflicts?

To read the entire Newsweek article, go to: http://www.newsweek.com/id/152254

Photo credit: pntphoto